Browser makers, grappling with outmoded technology and a vision to rebuild the Web as a foundation for applications, have begun converging on a seemingly basic by very important element of cloud computing.

That ability is called local storage, and the new mechanism is called Indexed DB.

Indexed DB, proposed by Oracle initially called WebSimpleDB, is largely just a prototype at this stage, not something Web programmers can use yet. But already it's won endorsements from Microsoft, Mozilla, and Google, and together, Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Chrome account for more than 90 percent of the usage on the Net today.

'Indexed DB is interesting to both Firefox and Microsoft, so if we get to the point where we prototype it and want to ship it, it will have very wide availability,' said Chris Blizzard, director of evangelism for Mozilla. .

This year's Mix trade show won't be the first time that people hear about Internet Explorer 9 or Windows Phone 7 Series, but it is the event where developers will get enough information to start creating products targeting the new browser and mobile operating system.

The three-day Las Vegas event kicks off on Monday, with Windows Phone executive Joe Belfiore talking about the new phone operating system. On Tuesday, Internet Explorer head Dean Hachamovitch is slated to talk IE 9 and I would not be surprised at all if actual code is offered up this time. Microsoft offered a brief glimpse of IE 9 in November, highlighting its ability to use hardware acceleration for improved text and graphics rendering.

On the phone front, Microsoft has already tipped its hand on the basics of writing software for its new mobile operating system, confirming last week that XNA and Silverlight will be the means of developing software that works on the Windows Phone 7 Series devices that start shipping later this year.

The Zune HD is a strong music player. It's got a lot of features I wish Apple would add to its iPod and iPhone lineup, particularly wireless sync and queuing. But with the impending release of the Windows Phone 7 Series, which will include full Zune HD functionality in its 'Music + Video' hub, I've begun to wonder if Microsoft will phase out the Zune as a standalone music player.

The Music + Video hub in the forthcoming Windows Phone 7 Series interface.

(Credit: Microsoft)

Here's one clue: Microsoft developer Michael Klucher on Tuesday put up a blog post about the upcoming XNA Game Studio 4.0. Thus far, XNA Game Studio has been primarily used to develop casual games for the Xbox 360 and, more recently, to create games for the Zune HD. (Elements of the XNA platform are used by big game studios to develop other Xbox games as well, but those developers use a separate Xbox Development Kit available only to licensees.) Long story short, Klucher confirmed that XNA Game Studio 4.0 will support game development on Windows Phone 7 Series phones, but not on the Zune HD. In his words:

A beta version of the MySpace for Outlook connector lets users keep tabs on their social-networking buddies from within the corporate e-mail and calendar program.

(Credit: CNET)

If you use both Outlook and MySpace, you are part of an interesting demographic. But you are also in luck.

Microsoft and MySpace said on Wednesday that they are ready with the beta version of a tool that lets Outlook users see their MySpace connections within the e-mail and calendaring program. A new 'social connector' feature for Outlook lets users connect to social networks, including MySpace, LinkedIn, and soon Facebook, too.

Microsoft's year-old Elevate America program, which offers free technology training and certification, is coming to California.

The program was announced by Microsoft a year ago as the country was gripped by recession, with Washington state as the first government partner. Since then, other states have slowly been coming on board.

Seven states have already distributed training vouchers, while five are still in the process of issuing the vouchers, according to a map on Microsoft's Web site. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is set to detail California's participation in a Webcast due to begin at 10:15 a.m. PST.

Microsoft said on Wednesday that it is halting e-mail-based support for its suite of Windows Live services.

Instead, the company said users will have to go to online forums for help with issues. The move is effective Wednesday, Microsoft said.

In an e-mail, a Microsoft representative characterized the move as a positive.

'This means that consumers and partners will experience quicker resolution times and will be able to leverage our extensive community forums to post or answer questions, view service alerts and find solutions,' the representative said. Forum answers, Microsoft said, will come from peers, volunteer Most Valuable Professionals, as well as Microsoft support moderators.

Revealing a bit of previously hush-hush history that's relevant today, Sun Microsystems' former chief executive said Tuesday that Apple CEO Steve Jobs threatened to sue Sun for infringing on its intellectual property (IP) in 2003 for a user interface design.

Jonathan Schwartz, former Sun CEO

(Credit: Stephen Shankland/CNET)

And that's not all: Microsoft's Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer also tried to get Sun to license Microsoft Office patents for use in OpenOffice, a move that would have made open-source distribution of the competing product impossible, Jonathan Schwartz said in a blog post.

Computing industry pioneer Chuck Thacker was honored Tuesday with the industry's highest prize--the A. M. Turing Award.

Thacker, who these days works in Microsoft's Silicon Valley research lab, helped create personal computing at Xerox's famed Palo Alto Research Center and is one of the co-creators of both the Alto personal computer and of Ethernet networking.

Thacker

(Credit: Microsoft)

In an interview on Tuesday, Thacker said he was surprised that he would even be considered for the award, which typically goes to folks on the software or theory side of things.

Microsoft says MSN's new look is ready to share.

Since last year, the company has been testing new designs for the venerable portal, including one that features a cleaner, more video-heavy look for the site. Over the coming days, Microsoft is rolling out the new look to all MSN visitors in the United States.

Although portals like MSN, AOL, and the Yahoo home page are sometimes scoffed at by the digerati, such sites remain an important generator of searches and display advertising dollars.

Microsoft is giving MSN a big makeover as it tries to reach some younger and more Web-savvy viewers. Click here to see a larger version of the redesigned MSN site.

Predicting the decline of Microsoft is a favorite sport for some, and indeed, there is plenty of reason to argue that Redmond will struggle as Google and others provide cheaper alternatives to the powerfully profitable combination of Windows and Office.

But efforts ranging from Surface to Windows Phone to Project Natal also provide reason to think that Microsoft might yet be able to innovate its way through some of these challenges. The future of the world's largest software maker was the topic of Friday's CNET Reporters' Roundtable, where Robert Scoble and Don Dodge joined Rafe Needleman and me to talk about the challenges facing the company.

'The engineers are in a difficult position because they know what is happening in the world,' said Dodge, who recently left a role at Microsoft evangelizing to start-ups and joined Google in a similar role. 'They know the direction of software, but they also know where the revenue is coming from and where the customers are. That's with Windows and Office and SQL Server and Sharepoint. That's where the money is coming from; that's the way software is built. They are somewhat boxed in and can't really implement some of the ideas that they have, at least not as quickly as they would like to.'

As I noted last night, Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 Series is a clean break with the past, from the look and feel of the product down to the way software makers will write programs for the device.

Microsoft confirmed on Thursday that the primary tools for developers will be Silverlight and XNA, while the look of the device, as outlined at last month's Mobile World Congress, is closer to the Zune HD than to any prior version of Windows Mobile.

I had a chance to do a short video interview with Microsoft's Charlie Kindel and get a look at the operating system first hand. Here's a look:

More details of Microsoft's rumored dual-screen 'Courier' tablet emerged on Friday, including a rumored ship date of later this year, according to a post on Engadget.

According to the Web site, the product will ship later this year, is roughly 5 inches by 7 inches when closed, runs a version of the Windows CE operating system, and uses an Nvidia Tegra 2 processor.

A Microsoft representative declined to comment on Friday.

In a January interview, Microsoft Entertainment and Devices unit President Robbie Bach confirmed that an earlier video was indeed from Microsoft, but refused to say where the product was in terms of development.

Microsoft said on Friday that it plans to finalize the code for Office 2010 next month and, as expected, it kicked off a program enabling those who buy Office 2007 in the coming months to get a free upgrade to the new version.

In a blog posting, Microsoft said that it will have a business launch for the Office 2010 products on May 12. The company has said it expects the software to be broadly available in June.

As for the technology guarantee program, Microsoft says it will apply to those who buy Office 2007 between now and September 30 and will allow an upgrade to the comparable Office 2010 product.

Microsoft said on Friday it is axing a midmarket server product known as Windows Essential Business Server.

(Credit: CNET)

Microsoft said on Friday that it is discontinuing its Windows Essential Business Server product, a bundle aimed at mid-size businesses. The product combined Windows Server 2008, the Exchange e-mail server as well as management tools into a single software package.

'We are streamlining our portfolio and will discontinue future development of EBS,' Microsoft said in a note on its Web site. The company said it will stop selling the current version of the software as of June 30.

Unhappy with their lot, six of seven second-tier browsers have petitioned regulators for increased prominence on the screen that gives Windows users in the European Union a choice of browsers besides Microsoft's Internet Explorer.

The browser makers on Thursday sent a petition to Neelie Kroes, a European Commission vice president, and other regulators who have been dealing with the browser-choice technology that Microsoft has begun distributing to millions in Europe as part of an antitrust case against the software company. The top five browsers dominate the market, but more obscure browser makers hope the EU antitrust action will grant them more relevance.

Windows users who have IE set as their default browser will see the choice screen after a change sent via Windows Update. The resulting choice screen gives a choice of 12 browsers, but the five that always show without scrolling are IE, Mozilla's Firefox, Opera, Apple's Safari, and Google Chrome, which by Net Applications statistics are the most-used browsers today. The petitioners don't seek a change that could get their browsers onto the first screen, but rather some text or graphics that indicate there other choices beyond the first five.