MS plans to enter cloud computing

Software major Microsoft is planning to enter the area of cloud computing in a big way. This week, it will offer free software enabling those using Windows operating systems to connect with Windows Live services in the Web. Cloud computing is geek lingo for virtual desktops which can be accessed from anywhere. MS, which sells desktop software, has identified it as a major threat of the future.
With companies such as Google offering storage facilities in the Web, MS obviously cannot fall behind. It has already laun-ched a Skydrive service which offers Hotmail users storage of up to 500 MB. MS does not want to lose customers to Google and others and is aiming to build up a model which will integrate desktop software with internet services.

Google still tops search terrain

Google is still the undisputed king of the search terrain, says a new study. According to research firm ComScore, about 55.2 per cent of all sea-rches conducted on the Internet are thr-ough Google. Yahoo is a distant second with 23.5 per cent searches and Microsoft is even further away with 12.5 per cent. They were followed by Ask.com at 4.7 percent and Time War-ner Network (AOL) with 4.4 per cent.
Google’s supremacy was never in doubt but the ComScore study has revealed that it has surged ahead when compared to last year, when it accounted for 46.2 per cent of searches. On the other hand, Yahoo has taken a beating in the search terrain coming down from last year’s 29.8 per cent. ComScore had revised its parameters for the study by including searches conducted from within websites too.

Yahoo Vs Google

A new survey has found that Net users are more satisfied with Yahoo than Google. Yahoo scored 79 points while Google got 78 points in the survey conducted by the University of Michigan. Though Yahoo has only a slight edge over Google, it has much to gloat about. Last year, Google had a five point lead over Yahoo.
It was the comprehensive services offered by Yahoo’s portal which shifted votes in its favour, researchers said. Though Google is still the favourite search tool, it has not been able to promote its other services as robustly as Yahoo.
Larry Freed, president of Foresee Results which did the survey for the university, pointed out that users don’t see anything different in Google’s portal from what they saw three years ago. But Yahoo has refurbished its portal and gained in points.

Google to charge

Google will take a fee of $20 per year from those who want additional storage in its Gmail and Picasa applications. As of now, Google offers free storage space of 2.8 GB for Gmail and 1 GB for Picasa. By paying $ 20, users can have extra 6 GB storage.
Yahoo, on the other hand, offers unlimited storage in its mail service. Microsoft has also refurbished its Windows Sky drive application and now offers 500 GB storage for free.You can put your files there and access them fr-om anywhere in the world. All you need is a Hotmail ID.