Microsoft supplier K3 raises £1.5m in placing
K3 Business Technology is one of the UK’s leading suppliers of Microsoft based business solutions for the Supply Chain, focusing on the Retail, Manufacturing and Distribution markets, supporting some 3,000 customers in over 20 countries. The AIM listed software company has today announced that it has boosted its acquisitions fund by raising £1.5 million through a shares placing of 1.76 million shares at 85p.
The placing, by broker Daniel Stewart, was oversubscribed and was therefore at a 2.9% discount to the closing mid-market price of 87.5p yesterday.
Stock has been placed with K3 directors and both new and existing institutional investors where the proceeds are to go towards supporting K3′s strategy of seeking complementary acquisitions and will be used for working capital purposes.
K3 supplies, installs and supports Microsoft based business planning and management software principally to retailers and manufacturers. The software is termed “ERP” software – Enterprise Resource Planning.
Sources;
Thebusinessdesk.com/ News/ Deals Restructuring (K3 raises £1.5m in placing)
K3btg.com
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Microsoft’s Bing Closes In On Google
The new search engine from Microsoft, Bing, is beginning to challenge Google, reports Timesonline.co.uk. Research statistics suggest that in the 3 months since it went live, Bing is the fastest growing internet search engine in the U.S. and it has now has an 11% share of the market.
Google still has a huge share of the market with 65% but it is increasing at a slower rate than Bing.
This week Bing introduced Visual Search allowing users to search images rather than text links. This is only in the Beta stage at the moment and will concentrate on travel, health, leisure and shopping.
In 2010, Bing will benefit from the deal Microsoft struck with Yahoo! this year and searches on Yahoo!’s websites will be generated by Bing.
Source: http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/technology/article6837577.ece
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Microsoft Bing Goes Visual
In an attempt to add something to make it different from Google, Microsoft has added a “visual search” to its Bing search engine, reports BBC News Online. It means users will be able to look at the results of searches using pictures instead of text.
Microsoft says the ability to search visually will concentrate on four main areas for a start: travel, health, leisure and shopping. Microsoft added that the world of searching is set to change.
Investors say that the competition between Google and Microsoft is good news for consumers as “competition breeds innovation” (Ron Conway – investor).
Microsoft launched the beta version of the visual search tool at TechCrunch 50 in San Francisco and claims it allows users to carry out some searches quicker than a traditional image search, which is the search offered by Google. Microsoft claims results are processed 20% faster than text only results.
As the search facility is still in the test stage only a few topics will be available to search visually and these will include entertainment, shopping and sports.
Source and further details: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8256046.stm
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Back To Work With Microsoft
Microsoft is to help in a campaign to get 500,000 people into work by 2012, reports independent.co.uk. Microsoft will join the campaign along with Lord Digby Jones, the former government trade minister who said that the prospect of increased unemployment figures being announced next week was “frightening”.
It’s expected that unemployment figures will show that the number of people out of work has reached 2.5 million which is the highest figure since 1995.
Microsoft has said it will work with organisations and local government to deliver its target of getting 500,000 back into work. Microsoft says this will be done through apprenticeships, training and a new job matching service.
Lord Digby Jones said that many people didn’t have the skills needed for businesses in an economy that’s led by IT.
Source and further details: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/microsoft-launches-campaign-to-help-500000-into-work-1784154.html
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Microsoft SharePoint 2007 for British Waterways
British Waterways, the organisation which looks after more than 2,000 miles of rivers and canals throughout the UK, is planning to upgrade its existing intranet system from Microsoft Sharepoint 2003 to Microsoft SharePoint 2007, as part of its efforts to save £10 million during the recession, therefore saving money and freeing up funds to invest in the actual waterways, reports Computing.co.uk.
Robin Evans, British Waterways, chief executive, explained that spending on waterways must mean reducing spending elsewhere, and that their proposed new structure will allow them to redirect important funding to essential works, and will also allow them to be much more responsive to customers and partners.
British Waterways is a commercial government body and has 2,000 employees, whereby around 1,500 of these workers use PCs across more than 120 networked offices, where they already utilise voice over internet protocol (VoIP) telephony systems to help reduce costs.
Source;
Outsourcery.co.uk/ News
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Illegal Microsoft Seller Jailed
A student has been jailed for selling illegal Microsoft products online, reports telegraph.co.uk. The student made over £300,000 from the business which lasted almost 3 years.
The student, Khuram Shazad, made over £80,000 a month and at only 23 managed to pay off his father’s £27,000 mortgage, buy a £25,000 BMW and give his sister money for a deposit on a house. He even made enough money to pay £95,000 on search engine optimisation to make sure he appeared higher up Google searches.
Shazad used the company names Fullsoft, Egg Software, Exi Software and E Software among others.
Microsoft was made aware of the illegal business when people started to complain about the products they were buying. In April 2008 they carried out purchase tests and he was arrested the following month.
Source and further details: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/lawandorder/6140837/Student-jailed-for-selling-illegal-Microsoft-products.html
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Ecobutton Business Wins (Another) Award!
An East Midlands business which sells an energy saving device for computers has won a number of awards and has just picked up another, reports thisisbusiness-eastmidlands.co.uk.
The Melton business, Bright Ideas Global makes the Ecobutton. It allows users to save electricity by reducing power to their computers just by pressing the Ecobutton. The company is now getting a Green Apple Award which is part of a scheme run by The Green Organisation.
Many businesses use the Ecobutton including BT, HSBC, Microsoft, Orange and Shell and over a million have been sold throughout Europe and North America.
Founder of the business Jeff Gunn has also been named Entrepreneur of the Year in the National Business Awards.
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Microsoft Word Ban Lifted
Utility Exchange reported recently that Microsoft had been banned from selling its word processing program (see article below published by Utility Exchange on 13th August). A U.S. appeal court has now ruled that Microsoft can continue to sell Word, for the time being, reports guardian.co.uk.
The appeal court has agreed to speed up the appeal hearing and this will now be heard later this month. The hope is that the case can be sorted out quickly. The company which took Microsoft to court, i4i, is confident the original judgement was correct although they have been criticised for filing the lawsuit in Texas when Microsoft is incorporated in Washington. They argue it’s because the trial time in Texas is quicker than anywhere else.
Source and further information: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/sep/04/microsoft-word-injunction
This is the original article published by Utility Exchange on 13th August 2009
Microsoft has been ordered to pay over £175m for infringing on a patent held by Canadian firm i4i, reports BBC News Online. A judge in Texas has also filed an injunction which prevents Microsoft from selling Word.
The argument relates to a patent for the use of XML which is integral to Microsoft’s Word and specifically relates to the use of Extensible Mark-up Language or XML documents.
I4i filed a patent in 1998 for XML as a way of allowing users to format documents and earlier this year a court found Microsoft had infringed the patent and awarded i4i $200m (£120m). The latest payment forced on Microsoft is for the wilful nature of the infringement and interest. This payment totals $40m (£24m).
Microsoft has also been prevented from selling any version of Word in the United States, which can open files with the extensions .xml, .docx or.docm.
Microsoft says they will appeal against the ruling and insist they do not infringe patents. Microsoft says the i4i patent is invalid.
Source and further details: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8197990.stm
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Google Increases Pressure On Microsoft
Google and Sony have reached a deal for the Google Chrome browser to be pre-installed on some Sony computers, reports telegraph.co.uk. The move will mean Google is in direct competition with Microsoft as their Internet Explorer browser is the standard browser on many computers.
It’s not clear which computers will be affected by the deal or whether the browser will only be pre-installed on computers in the U.S.
It’s thought that the browser will be installed alongside Internet Explorer as Microsoft’s Windows operating system is used by Sony computers.
Google says that all those who use the Chrome browser react positively towards it although it only accounts for around 3% of the global browser market. In contrast Internet Explorer has 67% of the market with Firefox accounting for around 22.5%.
Microsoft initially said that it would sell the new operating system, Windows 7, in the UK and Europe without Internet Explorer being pre-installed but it has now said it will sell European customers Windows 7 with the option to chose which browser they would like to install on their system.
Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/sony/6120851/Sony-to-install-Google-Chrome-browser-on-PCs.html
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Windows Mobile 6.5 – Smart Enough?
New software from Microsoft due out in October may help improve its fortunes in the smart phone market, reports BBC News Online. At the moment Symbian dominates the mobile phone market but Windows Mobile 6.5 hopes to change that.
While Microsoft will not say how many mobile phones will feature Windows Mobile 6.5 quite a few operators have signed up to the new software include, Orange, T-Mobile, Telecom Italia Mobile (Latin America) and AT&T & Verizon (U.S.). Mobile phone makers using the software include Samsung, Sony Ericsson and LG Electronics.
Microsoft wants to make the Windows brand more prominent on mobiles to take advantage of this fast growing market. Smart phones are the fastest growing part of the mobile phone market but handsets powered by Windows Mobile dropped to 9% of the global smart phone shipments. This compares with their 14.3% share of the market in 2008.
Ned Smith of DigitalMediaBuzz.com said Windows Mobile was a good product and many people overlook the fact that devices can also run Windows Mobile Office apps such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8230923.stm