In a blog post Thursday, Microsoft executive Charlie Kindel, who handles contact with outside software developers, said that jettisoning support for older applications was necessary to make the new operating system as powerful and user-friendly as possible.
The announcement is perhaps most disappointing to companies that have created their own software to run on Windows phones issued to their employees. The news also leaves software developers with a dilemma: they can write applications for Windows Mobile 6.5, which will soon be a dead end, or they can write for Windows Phone 7, which isnt coming out until later this year.
Phone providers [...]

More than 2,400 organizations, including financial institutions and energy companies and federal agencies, were infiltrated by the “botnet,” according to the NetWitness Corp. security firm, which discovered it.
NetWitness didnt name the companies or agencies whose computers were compromised. The Wall Street Journal said the affected companies included Merck & Co., Cardinal Health Inc., Paramount Pictures and Juniper Networks Inc. Merck and Cardinal Health said in statements Thursday that one computer in each company was among those in the botnet but no sensitive information was taken. The other two companies didnt return messages from The Associated Press seeking comment Thursday.
The victims [...]

The attack can force heavily secured computers to spill documents that likely were presumed to be safe. This discovery shows one way that spies and other richly financed attackers can acquire military and trade secrets, and comes as worries about state-sponsored computer espionage intensify, underscored by recent hacking attacks on Google Inc.
The new attack discovered by Christopher Tarnovsky is difficult to pull off, partly because it requires physical access to a computer. But laptops and smart phones get lost and stolen all the time. And the data that the most dangerous computer criminals would seek likely would be worth the [...]

The foundation was set up in 2008 after Nokia Corp., the biggest maker of Symbian phones, bought out the consortium that made the software. Nokia decided to give the software away starting Thursday to make it more popular with other manufacturers, a move not uncommon in the technology world.
Lee Williams, executive director of the London-based foundation, said it has now completed the largest-ever conversion of proprietary software to “open source,” which means the source code, or blueprint for the software, is available to anyone. However, software associated with some phone features has yet to be released.
Symbian software is used on [...]

The hacking that angered Google Inc. and hit dozens of other businesses adds to growing concern that China is a center for a global explosion of Internet crimes, part of a rash of attacks aimed at a wide array of targets, from a British military contractor to banks and chemical companies to a California software maker.
The government denies it is involved, and it reiterated that on Wednesday. Speaking in Paris, Chinas foreign minister, Yang Jiechi, said China itself “is the victim of pirate attacks” and the international community must fight the phenomenon together.
But experts say the highly skilled attacks suggest [...]

The worlds biggest business software companys new product, that allows customers to subscribe and pay on a monthly basis, will begin being sold by July, about three years late. At about 40,000 euros ($55,800) a year for a 25-user outfit, compared with large SAP contracts that go into millions of euros, it may be a drag on margins, said Peter Goldmacher, an analyst at Cowen and Co. LLC in San Francisco.
“Theres no way they are going to get the margins they are historically used to in [...]

The tablet - also known as a slate, a one-piece portable computer without a physical keyboard - was one of several new PCs Ballmer demonstrated Wednesday as he delivered Microsoft Corp.s customary keynote presentation on the eve of the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
During the talk, which was shown live over the Web, Ballmer said the HP tablet will be available later this year. He also gave a glimpse of two similar devices from Archos and Pegatron Corp.
Tablet-style computers that run Windows have been available for a decade, but HPs new machine is bound to draw extra attention [...]

A startup company is selling a $35 computer mouse with two unusual features - its round, and its covered in a smooth, gel-like coating. Theres nothing amazing about it, but it raises an interesting idea: Because we spend so much time with our devices, shouldnt they feel a little friendlier? Does everything have to be hard and sleek?
The company behind the gel-covered mouse, Jelfin LLC, is betting that there are enough people out there who want to enliven their dorm rooms or cubicles by spicing up the prosaic computer control device.
Jelfins mouse, which is slightly smaller than a tennis ball, [...]

Among the new offerings being unveiled this week at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas: lightweight, medium-sized laptops meant as a step above netbooks in price and performance. There also will be at least one “smartbook” - a tiny computer that combines elements of netbooks and so-called smart phones.
That is not to say the netbook has reached the end of its line. PC makers including Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo and Toshiba are expected to show off new netbook offerings with such features as touch screens and the latest Intel Atom processors, which offer improved performance over the earlier Atoms that [...]

Cybersitter LLC, whose software is designed to help parents filter content seen by children, seeks $2.2 billion in damages in the federal lawsuit filed Tuesday in Los Angeles.
The company alleges that the Chinese copied its codes and incorporated them into software used to block Chinese citizens access to sites deemed politically undesirable by the government. Seven computer manufacturers, including Sony, Lenovo, and Toshiba, also were sued for distributing the Chinese program with PCs sold in the country.
“I dont think I have ever seen such clear-cut stealing,” said attorney Gregory Fayer, who represents Santa Barbara-based Cybersitter.
He said the alleged piracy was [...]