Steve Ballmer can never be called shy. Within moments of opening his appearance oat the Web 2.0 Summit this week, he started his offensive against Google with jabs about their Apps cloud collaboration software and Android, then went after the Apple iPhone. As a speaker at the event 2 years ago, Ballmer lauded the recently-released Bing. Yesterday, he noted that Bing’s reach had more than doubled since then, going from 7% market share to 15% itself and twice that when you factor in Bing-powered search such as Yahoo!. “Together with Yahoo, we’re between 25 percent and 30 percent market share,” Ballmer…

Here’s a quote from the head of the Windows Phone unit at Microsoft: “So, I think that what our strategy is is to put things in place that allow us to leapfrog, and I think that’s how we’ve gone from worse browser to the best browser, and I think the same is true with hardware.” It’s not a statement that will fill investors or potential Windows Phone buyers with a ton of confidence. I think. There is a personality and a swagger that is attached to mobile phones. It happens on the user end and is often a result of the confidence exuded from the top. When Steve Jobs launched the first iPhone, there was…

For the first time in 15 years, IBM has a higher market value than Microsoft., closing at $214 billion yesterday compared to Microsoft’s $213.2 billion close. It marks a symbolic victory for a company that has been under investor scrutiny for 6 years ever since abandoning their roots of hardware when they sold their PC business 6-years ago to put full effort on corporate software and solutions. It still trails Apple, the world’s largest tech company, by a large margin with Apple closing at $362.1 billion yesterday. “IBM went beyond technology,” said Ted Schadler, an analyst with Forrester…

It’s the most exciting release by Microsoft in years. Windows 8 is actually making the Apple-loving blogosphere open their eyes and cheer out loud. Will it be successful? Will it come out too late? In the coming months we will see how this pans out, but for the first time in a long time, Microsoft is hot. You can see the entire keynote on BuildWindows, but here are the highlights. Below it is some of the feedback coming around the web. Windows 8 Makes Microsoft A Tablet Contender Against Android, Apple Windows 8 Running on ARM: 10 Reasons This Partnership Matters Windows 8 to offer built-in malware protection…

Bill Gates and Microsoft had the right idea a decade ago when they first started releasing tablet PCs to the market. They were clunky, too expensive, and the company didn’t improve them over the years. As a result, they missed the flood when Apple turned the tablet valve to full blast a year and a half ago. Microsoft is ready to jump in, but is it too late? Next week, Steven Sinofsky, President of the Windows Division for Microsoft, is expected to show an early version of a tablet-enabled operating system code-named (wait for it) Windows 8. There was a lot of excitement when the first of a series of videos…

The drive towards domination of the smartphone market continues for Apple and Google as they approach a combined 70% choke hold. Symbian is all but non-existent, holding on to just under 2%. Microsoft has been unable to break the 6% barrier but hopes that they will be able to do so with the release of Windows 8. RIM is still in the race, though hope is growing dim. Still, they are over 20%, a mark that most expected them to sink below in the most recent report. Blackberry has lost 4% since April….

Microsoft really wants more cloud Customer Relationship Management (CRM) clients and now they’re willing to pay for them. Medium-sized companies with between 50-500 users can receive $150 cash per user if they switch to their Dynamics CRM Online service and sign a 2-year licensing subscription. The offer is open to US and Canada customers only and runs for $44 per user per month. “We feel that Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online delivers the best CRM service in the market — and at an extremely compelling price point,” said Brad Wilson, a general manager with the Microsoft Dynamics CRM division. Attached…

There is little doubt that technology has changed things completely for western society in the last two decades. Computers are smaller and much faster. Games are graphically enhanced to resemble reality. Just about anything we would want to know that used to require a trip to the library can be found on Google or Wikipedia. The internet might be the most profound technological advancement in the last 20 years, but cell phones in general and smart phones in particular have made the transition to a digitally-driven world much more pronounced. Do you remember what it was like when you got your first…

The vultures are circling the failed webOS-powered hardware victims, particularly the developers who have been making their money around building apps on the platform. Brandon Watson, the man responsible for apps and developers for Windows Phones, sent out a tweet on Friday to attract a response. The response has been huge. Currently, nearly 1000 webOS developers have attempted to take him up on his offer. To qualify, developers must have at least one application published on the webOS App Catalog. With Android and iOS exploding with apps and being hit up by tens of thousands of developers…

Japan and the US are teaming up with two automotive powerhouses announcing a deal today to develop new hybrid systems and telematics standards. The joint venture will put Ford and Toyota as equal partners to accelerate bringing advanced hybrid systems to market. They will also be working towards next-generation standards, bringing the automotive industry in line with internet and GPS-based technologies. The hybrid systems will be developed specifically for light trucks and SUVs, a market that is currently behind the smaller-vehicle market currently dominated by the Toyota Prius. While…