Matthew Hicks

Microsoft Corp.s MSN division officially launched a beta of its new search engine Thursday as it attempts to make inroads into Google Inc.s dominance in the search market. As previously reported, the MSN Search beta is available as a separate site from MSNs main search service, which will continue to gather its search results from […]

In what it is billing as “e-mail portability,” Google Inc. is opening access to its Gmail e-mail service from desktop clients and mobile devices. On Wednesday, the company began providing free POP3 (Post Office Protocol 3) access on Gmail accounts. The rollout is expected to reach all users over the next two weeks, said George […]

Microsoft Corp.s MSN division on Thursday will launch a public beta of its Web search technology, according to sources familiar with the plans. The beta will expand on MSNs technology preview of its new search engine that has been available through the MSN Sandbox site. MSN launched a second preview last month with a Web […]

For the open-source Mozilla Foundation, Tuesday marks a major transition. The group has brought its Mozilla Firefox browser out of preview with a Version 1.0 release targeted to everyday Web users. Firefoxs coming of age is the nonprofits biggest release since America Online Inc.s Netscape Communications division last year spun it out as an independent […]

Mozilla Firefox 1.0 has launched following a two-month preview that drew 8 million downloads of the alternative Web browser. Early Tuesday morning, the Mozilla Foundation made Firefox 1.0 available for download. With the browser, the open-source development project hopes to attract more everyday Web users and snag 10 percent of the market in another year. […]

Waiting for a Google browser is becoming more like “Waiting for Godot.” Not only has Googles top executive denied that the company is developing a Web browser, but the Mozilla Foundation more recently has quashed speculation that it is working with the search leader. In an interview with eWEEK.com ahead of Tuesdays Firefox launch, Mozilla […]

Local search is drawing the interest of more than just the Googles and Yahoos of the world. Traditional directory publishers also are digging deeper into the market. SBC Communications Inc. and BellSouth Corp. on Friday completed their purchase of YellowPages.com Inc., an online directory, and formed a joint venture that they expect to become a […]

Signs are pointing to a growing interest in desktop Linux and open-source software at Adobe Systems Inc., the maker of popular imaging and graphics software and the standard-bearer of PDF. While details of its Linux and open-source plans remain scarce, the San Jose, Calif., company has joined a major Linux-advocacy group and is hiring engineering […]

As Election Day played out in polls across the country Tuesday, its course was tracked—in minute detail—by Internet news sites, watchdog organizations and Webloggers, much as they had done most every day over the past several years. According to reports, voters packed polling stations. Some of them encountered familiar problems such as lost voter registrations […]

Challenges to Microsofts Web browser dominance are mounting as Internet Explorer loses more market share to open-source rival Mozilla. Microsoft Corp.s Internet Explorer lost nearly a percentage point in market share in the past seven weeks and is nearing a loss of 3 percentage points since its decline first began in early June, Web analytics […]