Microsoft was founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen on April 4, 1975. It is a multinational computer technology corporation of America that dominates the world of computing.

Microsoft is a prominent name in the field of home computer operating systems with MS-DOS and Windows being their most popular products. Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Office are the company�s bestsellers. Apart from these well-known products, Microsoft also develops and licenses a wide variety of software. Let us also take a quick look at the history that lies behind the making of this computer technology giant, Microsoft.

Microsoft History

After Altair 8800 was launched, Bill Gates offered the developers of microcomputer, MITS to demonstrate an implementation of the programming language BASIC. Following the demonstration, it was decided that Altair would distribute Altair BASIC. Gates moved to New Mexico and founded Microsoft. Its first international office was established in Japan in November 1978. In 1979, the organization was transferred to Washington. Steve Ballmer, who was to later succeed Bill Gates, as CEO, joined Microsoft in 1980.

Their development of the CP/M operating system for IBM and the striking rise in the popularity of MS-DOS showed Microsoft their first success. In 1985, Microsoft joined hands with IBM to develop OS/2. In 1989, the company came up with Microsoft Office. A year later, they came up with Windows 3.0. Windows 3.0 became immensely popular and made a record-breaking sale of 1000 copies in just two weeks. When Windows 95 hit the markets, over a million copies of this operating system were sold within the first few days. The release of every revised version of Windows and also the development of the online service MSN, the development of Internet Explorer, one of the most popular web browsers proved to be the milestones in the history of Microsoft.

Microsoft has had to face controversies and has experienced ups and downs; but it has definitely written for itself, a success story.

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Author: Karin Manning

You may have heard of Keyword Elite Software. If you are considering of purchasing Keyword Elite software then you need to read this reliable and genuine Keyword Elite review. I went to the trouble and expense of downloading Keyword Elite so that you don’t have to. Make sure you read this Keyword Elite software review before you waste your money on Keyword Elite software.

This Keyword Elite review starts with a bit of background about Keyword Elite software. Keyword Elite software, as with numerous internet marketing products, has come onto the market with much fanfare. Unfortunately people new to internet marketing believe too easily and the fanfare and quickly pull out their credit card without spending the time necessary to read reviews of these internet marketing, like this Keyword Elite software review.

It was for this reason that I went to the expense to try Keyword Elite for myself. I had to first register Keyword Elite after purchase through an email address. However, having read the Keyword Elite literature I discovered that I could actually install Keyword Elite on two pcs (just in case one stops working for some reason or another).

I was surprised when I bought Keyword Elite software that there were in fact five software programs located in Keyword Elite. These keyword software programs relate to using Keyword Elite for both Adsense and Adwords.

Here’s a short rundown of the pros and cons of the Keyword Elite software programs included in the Keyword Elite download package.

Keyword Elite Pro 1 - it has an extremely user friendly interface.

Keyword Elite Pro 2 - the first program found in Keyword Elite quickly analyses Pay per click listings including Adwords. You can also use Keyword Elite for Adwords by quickly analysing how many competitors there are in Google, Overture and Miva promoting the chosen keyword.

Keyword Elite Pro 3 - you can easily use Keyword Elite software to create a large list of up to 10,000 keywords. However, I would recommend you limit your keyword list initially to 100-500 keywords only as Keyword Elite software will become quite slow if it is searching for too many keywords.

Keyword Elite Pro 4 - use Keyword Elite for Adsense. You can.

actually create Keyword Elite Adsense pages for your websites. With Keyword Elite software you can search for the most lucrative Adsense keywords and then use Keyword Elite to create Adsense pages specifically monetized for the highest paying Adsense keywords.

Keyword Elite software Pro 5 - Keyword Elite allows you to analyse the seo otpmization of specific high ranking websites. This is an extremely useful tool for people seeking top 10 google rankings and high natural (free) search engine rankings.

Keyword Elite software Pro 6 - Keyword Elite allows you to legally spy on your Adwords competition. You can set up Keyword Elite software to “legally” spy on Adwords competitors up to 3 times daily for

given keywords. The secret is the longer their ads are running for for those keywords the more profitable their campaign must be.

Keyword Elite Pro 7 - Keyword Elite comes with extensive support, manuals and forums support, manuals and also Keyword Elite video instructions.

Keyword Elite Pro 8 - Keyword Elite comes with a risk free 60 day money back guarantee. This means you can purchase Keyword Elite and if for any reason you don’t like it simply request a refund and you will receive a refund, no questions asked.

Keyword Elite software Pro 9 - Keyword Elite updates are freely given after your purchase of Keyword Elite. Brad Callen makes every effort to constantly update his Keyword Elite software on a regular basis, taking in all the valuable feedback of Keyword Elite users. As I say, these Keyword Elite version updates are free and Keyword Elite users will always be notified of new versions of Keyword Elite available for immediate and free download whenever they start the Keyword Elite program.

Keyword Elite Pro 10 - Your Keyword Elite purchase may be tax deductible.

Keyword Elite software Con 1 - Save your energy and don’t use the keyword lists already included in the Keyword Elite program. You will build a much better keyword list yourself.

Yes, free keyword tools are available online, however, if you are wanting to create an online income through either Adwords, Adsense or bum marketing then I highly recommend you download Keyword Elite and put it to instant use.

As I have already stated, your Keyword Elite download not only comes with a money back guarantee but you may be able to tax deduct it at the end of the financial year.

Following my purchase of Keyword Elite I have used it extensively in my internet businesses and it is a key component in my internet businesses. I hope you have found this review of Brad Callen’s Keyword Elite helpful.

However, a word of warning. I recommend that you DON’T download Keyword Elite without first checking out the free Keyword Elite program package recommended below where you will receive free of charge an exclusive Keyword Elite download package valued at $2610.00 to help you on your fast way to internet marketing profits. You won’t find a better Keyword Elite deal anywhere else online.

About the Author:

Copyright 2007. Wait! Don’t download Keyword Elite unless it’s from the website below. Download Keyword Elite for your online business at http://www.Keyword-Elite-Software-Review.com and download Keyword Elite bonus videos and exclusive Keyword Elite download bonuses (valued at over $2610.00) at my special Keyword Elite review page.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/online-promotion-articles/keyword-elite-review-dont-buy-keyword-elite-without-reading-this-keyword-elite-review-first-173738.html

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Author: Yannick Morin

Did you ever purchase software off the shelf or on the Internet, only to receive an email from the company every year to buy the upgraded version, which often includes a patch to their own mistakes? If your answer is “yes”, then I guarantee that the time you spend reading this article will save you money… perhaps enough for a vacation!

Like most people, I’ve been using Microsoft Office to create my documents. To be honest, I never looked around for a similar product; I just followed what the evangelist from Microsoft told everyone… that their merchandise is the best solution for us. But recently, I opened my eyes and closed my wallet when I found out that other products can do most of what I need from them, with the added bonus of saving me a bundle!

Ask yourself… do you really need to pay hundreds of dollars for 10% of the functionality that you actually use on your software? Just think about it. What functionality do you use from a word processor? You most likely make use of the page layout, spelling and text formatting options.
So before I tell you about this product and help you save money, let me first stress that I am in no way affiliated with this company… I am just a firm believer in making money by saving money.
You probably know about those geniuses from the web… they are the second most visited site in the world. Yes you got it! It’s Google. And they are not just a search engine anymore. They have expanded their business line to web applications. It is nothing like the kind of software you are used to. No need to download anything. Just do your work online anywhere you can find an Internet connection, and just run it in a browser.

It is called Google Docs, an application that lets you create documents, spreadsheets and presentations online from scratch or from a template. You can even upload your existing Word, Excel or PowerPoint documents and convert them into Google Docs. If you are working with other team members, you will love the fact that Google Docs allows you to share your files with others. You can allow your team members to edit the current version if you choose to, and don’t be afraid to lose your changes because you can always revert to a previous automatically saved version. We all know that Google is a master at indexing content and getting the results you want from a search. Well, this same quality is found in Google Docs, which lets you search for any documents you created and organize them into folders.

Google Docs is just an example of how free online applications can provide you with everything you need from software, if not more. It may be harder to find other applications, since the smaller companies who offer them don’t have the same means as the big guys. But once you discover them, believe me when I say that you will never again pay for software.

I will save you the time to look for those applications to prove to you right now that free products can actually be of excellent quality. Check out an article written by Yoav Ezer “The Freelancer’s Toolset: 100 Web Apps for Everything You Will Possibly Need” for a list of all the best free web applications, organized into categories. From free online organization to free business & legal tools, you will discover many great online applications that will save you time and money.

If you are a disciple of Microsoft Office, then I suggest you visit a similar product called Office Live Workspace. However, it does not allow you to create and edit documents within a web page. If you own Microsoft Office software, then you will be able to open and save documents to and from the workspace via the software’s File menu.

So go get yourself online software that meets your needs without paying a penny. Not only will you save money, but you will also encourage the free software community to continue building excellent products at no cost.

Now take the money you saved and go on that well-deserved vacation!!!

About the Author:

Do you want your business to get visibility fast for FREE?
Yannick Morin, founder of bizonbytes.com has created an online business community that guarantees business growth without the cost.
Check it out at http://www.bizonbytes.com!

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/software-articles/save-money-by-switching-from-expensive-office-suite-software-to-a-free-online-solution-620617.html

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Potolook is a handy template manager and message filter plug-in for MS Outlook specially created for “heavy” e-mail users who need more options and flexibility than Outlook offers on its own. In addition to simple and rather common features, like adding custom greeting or signatures, the program offers essential options for running successful e-mail campaigns - automatic replies in the language the message was sent, database support (OLE automation interface), complete processing of incoming and outgoing correspondence and much more.
Potolook is also a great tool for companies that provide customer services by e-mail. The plug-in can automatically sort incoming messages based on “trigger” words in the message or subject line (other filtering rules are available as well). Importantly, users can assign custom templates for any folder (like Repeat Customers, Refunds, Orders, Questions, etc.) to make the process of communication with customers a prompt and pleasant one.
Potolook can create both text and HTML templates. Importantly, Potolook is open source software, so any person familiar with JavaScript can modify it or create additional modules for own use. The plug-in also can be used to create templates with active content, which is great for running e-mail surveys and contests.
Templates.
As is known, the standard Outlook does not have the full-fledged message templates. For a template, one can use a previously saved message in the forms or the so-called Stationary. Such static approach makes it difficult to automate new message composition. Using macros in templates or stationary would make the work much more productive. That is exactly what’s offered by Potolook.
Potolook templates are stored in individual files and contain all what’s necessary for composing new messages in the plain-text or HTML format. Not only its own template, but a number of templates can be assigned to each folder. In such case, the template to be used for a particular message can be selected during composition of the message. Moreover, the folder properties can be inherited from an upper-level folder or from any other folder whatsoever. This prevents one from having to rewrite templates numerous times; instead, one can create a desired template for a particular action once and then assign it to numerous folders.
The template provides an individual section for each action (New Message, Reply, Reply to All, etc.) Besides, there are common sections for all events and a common initialization section for not only all events but for all templates also. Using the parameters, the program can prompt user for any data during application of the template. For example, it can ask user about the format of the message being composed (plain-text/HTML) and, having parsed the parameter, create the message of the required format. The “Quotation” parameter is handy for composing replies; it allows composing reply messages in the default Outlook or the FIDO style alike.
Outlook is not only an e-mail program; it is also a powerful organizer that supports tasks, calendar, notes, and other objects. Potolook templates can be applied to those objects as well - just create a template for new contact, note or task the same way you have done it for the e-mail message.
Literally infinite features Potolook templates gain from using JScript scripting language. JScript allows addressing to both the Outlook object model and any objects that support automation - all Microsoft Office applications, any databases, WHS, and multitudes of others. Potolook has its own object model and a number of built-in scripting functions that utilize Outlook’s wide features. To make it easier for user to operate such power, the program uses the so-called HTML forms: selecting a value from a set, entering custom text, and many others. You can create any forms and open them from within templates manually. Thus, you can create custom user interface for automating your e-mail operations.
The majority of Potolook templates’ features are demonstrated in the powerful templates, which are installed along with the plug-in.
Highlighting.
The new version of the plug-in introduces the unique feature of message highlighting. Quite often it is rather difficult to determine, whose phrase is where; that drops the message readability greatly. The highlighting allows the phrases of different level to be marked with different colors. Moreover, it allows creating custom highlighting themes - highlighting any portions of messages and setting custom decoration styles for them. The text can be marked with more than just the color; you can as well customize its format (bold, italic, emboss, font, size, etc.), and hide it completely should that be necessary.
The plug-in default distribution set includes several highlighting themes.
Attachment Preview.
As is known, to view attachments in Outlook, the attachments are first to be saved to an external folder and then viewed with an external viewer. Potolook allows viewing the attachments in the e-mail program directly. Besides the image files, it supports previewing any text formats - just enter the required file type extensions in the settings. The same way the program can be configured to automatically preview the office files (Word, Excel) and files of any other formats if the proper software that can open the files using OLE Automation is available on the computer.
For viewing images, the program uses Windows XP’s built-in viewer, thus it supports a wide range of image formats.

Potolook’s functionality can be easily extended with the additional modules which number has been growing continuously:
Attachment Compression (including automatic compression). This module allows you to compress all attachments in a message, folder or sorting rule with a single mouse click. The program allows you to select a compression program (ZIP, RAR), minimum compression ratio and minimum attachment size to be available for the automatic processing.
Mass Mail. This module allows you to easily mail out personal messages using a template. Just create a message of any format and enter the recipient name and address in the appropriate place using the macros. Then add any number of the recipients. Upon completion of its operation, the module will have created a personalized message for each recipient. Just deliver the mail. All recipients of the wire will receive a personalized message, and they will have an impression that the message was composed for them specially.
E-mail Discussion Groups. The module provides a variety of additional features for working with e-mail discussion groups (lists): sending the most common commands to server, parsing the message content, automatic removal of ads, standardizing the subject lines (removal of recurring and non-informative characters). Some of the features will be found handy by not only the mailing list users.
Reply Using Templates. The module adds additional action for the message sorter, using which you can automatically run any template. This function is very helpful for automating the e-mail processing.
Move Duplicates. The module allows moving the message duplicates to other folders and remove them should that be necessary.

Besides all that, we are developing the CRM module - an Outlook-based customer relationship management system. This module will be helpful to small companies for classifying customer databases and convenient tracking of the correspondence.
The basic idea of the Potolook plug-in was creation of a uniform foundation for development of additional modules. The plug-in has the open architecture and is shipped with the source code of the core and the modules. Using Potolook, you can now easily extend your Microsoft Outlook e-mail client’s capabilities. If you use VBScript macros, you can easily call Potolook’s and its modules’ functions.

http://www.potolook.com/press/potolook_outlook_plugin_review.asp

This article is free for republishing
Source: http://www.articlealley.com/article_19945_11.html

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Author: Paul

Friday was another repeat, this time from May 15, 2006. However, TCR does not want to leave you empty handed and is bringing you an article by one of our staff members, Paul ( www.tiglo.co.uk ). Although Paul is from the UK, he takes a keen interest in reading about Jim Cramer’s Mad Money (and of course at the best JCMM site on the ‘Net - www.thecramerreport.com !) and hopes you will enjoy his insight into one of Jim’s opinions.

Cramer is currently favouring a buy into Microsoft (MSFT), believing the bad times are behind and it’s back on the up. An analysis of the share prices over the past few months shows that Microsoft is over its lowest points ($21.51) and gradually climbing (currently $24.40). One could argue that Cramer is right.

However, continued changes in Vista’s release date, even if it means a more stable and secure Operating System will be released (or that is the theory). Microsoft’s OS and webbrowser cycle is poor as it is:

* Windows XP was released in 2001

* Internet Explorer was released in 2001

Internet Explorer 7 is set for release in the first half of 2007 and Windows Vista is set for general release in the first quarter of 2007. Both products will offer many improvements and new features over the older versions but the reality is very little of it is new.

One feature to finally reach Internet Explorer is tabbed browser. To a non-technical person, who just uses what’s supplied on their MS Windows desktop, this may seem new and exciting, however tabbed browser has been around since 1996 (although it was a feature in a non-public beta version of InternetWorks since 1994) and has been available in popular browsers such as Opera and MozillaFirefox for several years.

Microsoft won the first browser war but now it’s coming to a battle in many areas. Product cycles are quicker for open source software such as OpenOffice.org, MozillaFirefox and MozillaThunderbird - new features, bug fixes, and security updates are released regularly. Due to the products’ open source nature it is easier and cheaper to develop plugins and compatible applications.

On the operating system side, Microsoft has competition from Linux. Linux is now becoming more mature and is being adopted by governments and educational institutes alike. Novell (NOVL) is investing a lot of money in Linux, having bought German company SuSE Linux GmbH in January 2004.

One key area that they have invested a lot in over the past year is Xen, which is virtualisation software and allows multiple Operating Systems (Linux or Windows) to be run as guests on a single system (the host, which can be either Linux or Windows). This is one threat Microsoft has seen and responded to by improving its Virtual Server support offering and making it available for free. However, is this too little too late?

Xen’s benefit is that it’s open source, therefore bugs and security issues will be fixed quicker, possibly even before the problem is public knowledge, as the source code is visible for everyone to evaluate and test for insecurities. A quick response to bugs and security is critical in a business environment and an area Microsoft can not compete within due to its closed source nature.

Virtualisation is becoming a more important area due to the increasing costs for power. Fortunately, hardware is becoming more powerful, often more powerful than is actually required, so virtualisation is definitely for today as well as the future. Why invest in hardware for 6 servers when all 6 could run from within one operating system through virtualisation?

With Vista and Internet Explorer 7, Microsoft is trying to play catch-up, but the fact is it now has seriously tough competition. There is now a big take up of alternative browsers, office applications and operating systems. While the market change might be slow, it’s definitely happening. I cannot see Microsoft being in the same market position in 10 years that it is now. Its market share will continue to evaporate.

The Bottom Line:

Microsoft is facing serious threats in the home, education and business desktop arena. It’s facing threats in the business environment as a server (aside from as a webserver, where Linux/Unix is in the majority). Microsoft might hit a high when Vista is (finally) released, however Bill Gates stepping down in the way that he is does suggest to me that the bulk of the money has been made and it’s now time to do something with it. The IT industry is often a “come today, gone tomorrow” so it’s always difficult to choose which company to invest in, especially as the current trend is “over priced ” when those companies that have managed to stick around decide to float themselves on the stock market. I won’t advise you who to invest in, but I will say don’t just look at the software/operating system area, also look at hardware and consultancy companies too. Big Blue, International Business Machines Corp (IBM), has been around for a long time and there will always be a demand for such companies.

About the Author:

Paul is an IT Professional from the UK with 4 years commercial experience with the Linux. More of his thoughts can be found in his blog http://www.tiglo.co.uk/

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/operating-systems-articles/microsoft-or-not-117752.html

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