Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) News: Effective Collaboration, Live Service Assurance & More

Editor’s Note: Related tickers: Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Is Yammer-SharePoint Integration Right For You? (InformationWeek)
While Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) SharePoint strives to help companies collaborate more effectively, businesses still struggle when it comes to its adoption and usability. According to a report from Forrester Research, 54% of businesses said they do not see the level of adoption they expected, while 51% said users just don’t like the SharePoint experience. But Yammer, the collaboration tool Microsoft acquired for $1.2 billion in 2012, is a viable solution that’s poised to address SharePoint’s shortcomings, according to Rob Koplowitz, vice president and principal analyst at Forrester. The challenge is determining whether or not the cloud-based solution is right for your business.

Microsoft’s new ad: Students fail if they use an iPad (CNET)
Kids, listen up. You’ll soon be going back to school, in a desperate attempt to get some kind of job, before all the jobs in America lean toward being unpaid internships. You need to garner every advantage to cast down your fellow students toward penury in Peoria. So when it comes to taking notes in class and playing FarmVille at the same time, you have to make sure you aren’t silly enough to buy an iPad. That’s a fail, youthful ones. Do not be downward dogs. You need a Lenovo Yoga, a machine that lets you multitask in class, while saluting the sun at the same time. At least that’s what Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s latest “iPad Is For iDiots” ad seems to be saying.

Microsoft planning discontinuation of Games for Windows Live service (ShackNews)
On top of shutting down the Marketplace for its Games for Windows platform, it appears Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) plans on discontinuing the Live service entirely. Although Microsoft promised the “service will continue to operate as usual,” a since deleted Xbox support update mentions a specific shutdown date for the service. The Age of Empires Online support page noted that “Games for Windows Live will be discontinued on July 1, 2014.” After that date, the server will shut down, rendering the game unplayable.

Microsoft’s latest screw-ups suggest bigger problems (NetworkWorld)
If Microsoft has screwed up worse than this, I don’t recall it. The company had to recall six botched fixes issued on Patch Tuesday and suffered outages for SkyDrive and Outlook.com that ran for multiple days. On top of that, a leaked Windows 8.1 build was greeted with an overall “meh” response and the company is being sued over the Surface debacle. Like I said in my blog on the suggested divestiture of Xbox and Bing, if Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) can manage that many irons in the fire, then let them. But now I have to wonder if they can manage.

Lenovo Yoga vs. iPad: College (YouTube)