Microsoft just received confirmation of a patent that hands the company the intellectual property of shutting an operating system down.

Microsoft Russia's press site, on August 25, posted information and a photo that seem to be connected to the coming IE 9 beta. (The site has since pulled their post, but I grabbed the information and screen shot in the nick of time.)

Microsoft invited T3 for a UK exclusive, all-access tour round the labs at the company's HQ in Redmond, Seattle to see exactly how Kinect works, and the work that's gone into it. Kinect is made up of three distinct subsystems that each marries hardware and software.

Microsoft has some sort of new hardware product in the works, and it's revealing it only one tiny corner at a time. The kooky crew from Redmond created a new Twitter account '@msfthardware' and has been using it to send out subtle clues about its latest creation.

The day has arrived when Windows 7 is finally being used on more computers that Microsoft' Vista operating system, a mere ten months after Windows 7 was released to the public last October.

Microsoft is hard at work preparing a Windows-based alternative to Apple's already-popular iPad tablet, the company's CEO Steve Ballmer told analysts on Thursday.

Microsoft has perhaps become entangled in BP's Gulf of Mexico oil catastrophe thanks to an oil rig worker's claim that a computer used to monitor Transocean's Deepwater Horizon drilling platform crashed with a blue screen of death (BSOD).

Much-anticipated Xbox motion controller will be £130 in the UK, no date yet, but at least we know that Microsoft is admitting there are 40m Xbox 360s out there.

Despite ever-increasing Mac sales, Microsoft's still has an undisputed dominance over the computer industry. With such a vast presence, much has already been written about Microsoft: Its history, its products, even its former CEO Bill Gates. For those itching to know even more, we've dug up 10 snippets of info that you might not have heard before.

Speaking at Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Conference, the Vole's COO Kevin Turner roasted the faulty smartphone recently released by the cappuccino company.

The strokers of beards and people who keep their ears to the ground have been working out what will be under the bonnet of the next Windows operating system. Obviously it is early days yet but there are some pointers. Be aware that some of these will not work, or will be dropped at the last minute.

Microsoft is set to release a series of Windows-based, tablet-style computers this year as it seeks to see off the challenge posed by Apple's iPad. Steve Ballmer, Microsoft's chief executive, told delegates at the company's annual worldwide partner conference that they would find the range of devices “quite impressive”.

Tired of the endless 'but what have you done for us lately?' comments that follow Microsoft's every move, no matter how successful, communications head Frank Shaw rounded up some fun statistics to underline the fact that Microsoft is still the heart of the PC industry and the PC industry is still the heart of mainstream computing.

In a blog post on Monday, Barbara Gordon, who heads Microsoft's customer service and support, argued that her company's offerings beat Google's hands down.

An Italian Windows website, Windowsette, has got its paws on a confidential PowerPoint presentation outlining many of Microsoft's cunning plans for Windows 8. The report, complete with its NDA, shows many of Microsoft's thoughts for Windows 8 including the expected release date of "sometime in 2012".

With Sony's Move setting a benchmark and coming in at well under £100 there is pressure on Microsoft's new motion control gear

3-D displays that don't require you to wear glasses are a devilishly tricky problem. But Microsoft's Applied Sciences Group has created a novel solution, in the form of a TV with a specially shaped lens that adjusts the image you see, depending on your viewing angle.

Things used to be so much simpler: you were either a PC person or a Mac person. But with Microsoft developers wielding iPhones and presenting with MacBooks, times have changed.

According to a message sent out to Xbox live subscribers, Microsoft is planning to unveil something even bigger than the pre-launch Project Natal during their press conference tomorrow at this year's E3 expo.

Microsoft has reminded OEMs that as of October 22, it will forbid them from loading Windows XP on netbooks. But if you still want one, there's always China.