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Microsoft has ramped up its battle with Google in wooing business customers with its next generation cloud-based product. While the software giant dominates the office space with a 94% market share it has been facing increased competition from Google. At a San Francisco event, Microsoft unveiled Office 365. The product brings together Microsoft Office, SharePoint Online, Exchange Online and Lync Online. ...

Apple’s CEO says that Android is fragmented and that the open vs. closed dilemma is not important as long as Apple’s proprietary mobile operating system manages to provide a better user experience. “Many Android OEMs install proprietary user-interfaces to differentiate themselves from the commodity Android experience. The user is left to figure it all out. Compare this with iPhone where ever handset works the same. (…) We think the open vs closed is just a smokescreen to try and hide the real issue, which is: What’s best for the customer? Fragmented vs. integrated. We think Android is very very fragmented and becoming more fragmented by the day.” ...

Google just took a jab at Microsoft. Oh, the search giant already did that last week, and it wasn’t the first time? Yes, you’re right, but now it’s Google CEO Eric Schmidt targeting the software giant’s biggest product, the latest version of which is particularly successful. Schmidt recently made comments about Windows 7 during a question and answer session at the 25th anniversary celebration of MIT’s legendary Media Lab. In a wide-ranging discussion with National Public Radio journalist John Hockenberry, Schmidt proclaimed that the goal of great technology is to get people to use computers less so they can be more productive. That’s fine, but he didn’t stop there. “The hours I spend reprogramming my PC in Windows 7 is not a very good use of my time,” he told students in the MIT Media Lab auditorium according to CRN. “Why I choose to do that in the first place is a problem with judgment,” he added. ...

Apple’s chief executive, Steve Jobs, said that Google’s mobile platform was “fragmented” and bad for developers and consumers. Steve Jobs launched in to an astonishing five-minute critique of rival companies, operating systems and platforms during the earnings call, in which Apple announced record profits of $20bn for the quarter. He said that the Google Android platform was “fragmented”, and not as open as some people made out, while also saying that iPad-style tablet computers with smaller 7in screens would be “dead on arrival”. ...

Google is set to expand into television production by joining forces with Sony to release new TV sets that allow viewers to browse the Internet. The high-definition sets, which were unveiled in New York, will have LCD screens ranging from 24 inches to 46 inches and a remote control system that comes with the standard QWERTY keyboard to enter search requests, send emails or make comments on the Web whilst simultaneously whilst watching television. ...

Google found a nice way to wish you Happy Birthday. If you visit Google’s homepage when you are signed in and it’s your birthday, you’ll see a special doodle that links to your Google profile. When you go to your profile, you’ll find colorful confetti and a Happy Birthday message, but that’s not new. “Because doodles are such a fun part of the search experience, we thought we’d share a fun little way Google will help celebrate your birthday. When you include your date of birth on your Google profile, you may notice a special treat on the Google homepage on your birthday (be sure to sign in). Click on the doodle for another birthday surprise,” informs the Google blog. ...

Posted by Diana Phan, Gmail Support Team October is National Cyber Security Awareness month and a good time for a reminder about why hijackers do what they do and how you can protect your account. Check out the Online Security blog to learn about common hijacking techniques and security practices that will help you stay one step ahead of the bad guys. To help ensure your Gmail account is safe, take a minute to visit the Gmail help center and complete their new security checklist. ...

Gmail has a feature that lets you unsubscribe from a newsletter or a mailing list when you report one of the messages as spam. “You’ll see the unsubscribe tool when you mark a message from particular types of mailing lists as spam. If the particular message is a misuse of a mailing list you like to receive, you can Report spam as usual. But if you never want to receive another message or newsletter from that list again, click Unsubscribe instead. We’ll send a request to the sender that your email address be removed from the list.” ...

Windows/Mac/Linux: Chrome has hit version 8 in its Dev builds, adding more solid graphics acceleration to the web using your video hardware, along with a few new Labs features that herald the coming of Chrome OS. If you’re using the Dev channel, open up a tab and type in about:labs. You’ll notice features there to turn off outdated plug-ins, enable “Remoting” support for Chrome, turn on the very useful Google Instant in the Chrome Omnibar, and enable a few other useful features, including GPU acceleration of the HTML5 Canvas feature. ...

Google has finally decided to allow users to turn off the controversial ‘conversation view’ threading functionality in Gmail. Conversation view has been a characteristic of Gmail ever since it launched, but Google software engineer Dong Chen admitted in a blog post yesterday that it is the webmail service’s “most hotly debated feature “. “Threading enthusiasts say they spend less mental energy drawing connections between related messages, and that their inboxes are much less cluttered,” he wrote. ...