Microsoft

The state Democratic convention in Spokane was both inspiring and stultifying. Among the delegates who bothered to show up, there was passion, tedium, booze, sunshine, and a desire for change.

Outsourcing is so yesterday, or last night, or whatever time it is in Bangalore

Posted Mon, May 26, 8 p.m.

By Steve Clifford

Nonsourcing is the way to go. And to ensure quality service, this article may be monitored for quality control or training purposes.

Educated abroad, they are France's new foreign legion

Posted Tue, May 6, 2 p.m.

By Cynthia Rose

Seattle's French Underground: Today's graduates are more likely to have studied abroad, and they're more open to leaving France for career opportunities – glamorous and humble. Many of them are settling in metro Puget Sound. Part 3

Parlez-vous a software language?

Posted Mon, May 5, midnight

By Cynthia Rose

Seattle's French Underground: Thousands have invaded metro Puget Sound, many of them in search of opportunities and attitudes in technology that simply don't exist at home in France. Part 1

What made the Seattle style of business a success

Posted Thu, Apr 24, 2 p.m.

By David Brewster

As civic icons like Safeco drift away from their Puget Sound roots, here's a look at the components of a Seattle way of doing business that built up such brands. The key was motivated employees. The poison was rapid growth.

Shanghai Surprise

Posted Tue, Apr 22, 5 a.m.

A group with Northwest ties is aced out of a pavilion bid for Expo 2010 in China. Instead, the U.S. State Department has given the go-ahead to a team with connections to Warner Brothers and a major D.C. law firm. Now all they have to do is raise $80 million.

Conspicuous Seattle

Posted Wed, Apr 2, 5 a.m.

A town of modest pleasures has become a city of cringe-inducing excess, even in the little things like coffee, booze, and movie tickets.

Jean Godden on Seattle: My, how you've changed!

Posted Thu, Mar 27, 5 a.m.

By Jean Godden

The longtime columnist for Seattle's dailies casts an affectionate eye over the many sweeping transformations of the city, and wonders if all the newcomers will learn to cherish the uniqueness of the place.

We are not 'the next Silicon Valley'

Posted Mon, Feb 18, midnight

By Margaret Pugh O’Mara

Nor should we be. An expert on the original high-tech nexus explains why all these technology clusters are unique and not able to be imitated. Instead, Seattle should build on its local strengths while remaining a key part of the global network of technology industries.

Microsoft, Yahoo, and betrayal in China

Posted Tue, Feb 5, 5 a.m.

By Pete Jackson

The two companies have been walking a not-so-fine line as they tap into an enormous but ethically challenged mainland Internet market. Yahoo, especially, has been deferential. Maybe their merger should have conditions.

Hey, Yahoo: Looking for a white knight? How about Exxon?

Posted Sat, Feb 2, 11 a.m.

By O. Casey Corr

As Microsoft gears up for a takeover battle with Yahoo, there could be an Exx factor.

Microsoft's $528 million Washington tax break

Posted Sat, Feb 2, 5 a.m.

By Jeff Reifman

The Redmond company makes products here but records software sales to PC makers and high-volume customers through an operation in Nevada, where there is no corporate tax. So Washington is missing out on revenue it could use for badly needed infrastructure needs – like replacement of the 520 bridge.

Inside the minds of Microsoft's libertarians

Posted Thu, Jan 10, 5 a.m.

The appeal of Ron Paul sheds some light on why techies are attracted to minimal government. It's like smart software.

Anatomy of a one-party state

Posted Thu, Dec 27, 8 a.m.

In Washington, the Democrats are "routing" Republicans in money, recruitment, and centrist ideology, so much so that GOP defector Fred Jarrett says his former party has positioned itself outside the "governing coalition."

A jury sides with BusinessWeek in a lawsuit brought by a former Microsoft director

Posted Tue, Dec 18, 10 a.m.

By O. Casey Corr

Plaintiff Peter Tilton said a reporter broke her word in naming him in an article about difficult coworkers. But the jury said no promise existed.

Google's scan of user e-mail: fair or creepy?

Posted Sun, Nov 18, 5 p.m.

By O. Casey Corr

As the Internet behemoth introduces more online services, it's finding ways to gather data about you that are increasingly expansive, specific, and valuable. Is it time to get nervous, or should we just continue to enjoy the free services?

Lou Dobbs, the unlikely populist

Posted Wed, Nov 14, noon

In Seattle, the CNN star whacks Boeing, Bill Gates, and the Bush-Clinton dynasty – plus he predicts that none of the current 2008 presidential candidates will make it to the White House. Or perhaps that's just wishful thinking.

How Sputnik 'beeped' Seattle into the 21st century

Posted Wed, Oct 3, 5 a.m.

Fifty years ago, the launch of the first satellite changed the world, but one of the places that felt the impact most was Seattle. Not only did the orbiter alter the city's course, it influenced the generation of world-shapers that includes Bill Gates and Paul Allen.

Mossback updates: Poet Roethke, surveillance, and more obesity

Posted Fri, Aug 24, 5 a.m.

Exploring bipolar brilliance, Big Brother's guinea pigs, and the deep-fried Twinkies diet.

SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER

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Other media

Ballmer says Windows 7 test version about to be released New Windows on track for release by next Christmas, he says, also announcing Google-beating deals with Dell and Verizon

FINANCIAL TIMES (LONDON)

Citing the poor economy, Microsoft nixes further expansion into Seattle office space The company pulls out of negotiations over South Lake Union building.

Holiday sales help Microsoft's Xbox 360 widen lead over Sony PlayStation 3 Nintendo's Wii is still the runaway leader as video game segment proves strong in recession.

TODD BISHOP'S MICROSOFT BLOG (TECHFLASH)

Cost-cutting steps about to begin at Microsoft Most jobs cuts will be through attrition or non-renewal of contracts, rather than the sweeping cuts blogs had predicted earlier.

MSNBC

Microsoft faces some big decisions in 2009 As the market for PC applications softens, will the company make cuts? Will it make a deal to improve its search share? Todd Bishop runs through the issues.

TECHFLASH

Blog posts

Let the infrastructure roll!

Posted Sun, Nov 9, 12:10 p.m. 2008

It's time to prime the economic pump, and local infrastructure needs are acute. But will the politics enable us to emulate China?

A new site uncovers Bill Gates' new company

Posted Wed, Oct 22, 12:51 p.m. 2008

TechFlash launches as part of Puget Sound Business Journal, with two respected technology reporters who jumped from

Putting science back in the White House

Posted Tue, Oct 21, 11:29 a.m. 2008

Two local luminaries join a forum proposing ways to turn around the Bush administration's neglect of the nation's technological competitiveness.

Is the local sky falling, or just getting grey?

Posted Sun, Oct 12, 1:20 p.m. 2008

The gloom may be overstated, but that's no reason for the business leadership of this region to keep abdicating from civic leadership.

Microsoft: Loving its buses more and Sound Transit less

Posted Wed, Sep 24, 3 a.m. 2008

by Clark Fredricksen

Now, we all know Microsoft was a big – like $200,000 big – supporter of Sound Transit's 2007 measure to expand light rail around Puget Sound. But as Mike Lindblom at The Seattle Times reported on Monday, the Redmond tech giant only plans to give $10,000 to the supporters of Proposition 1, this year's Sound Transit measure.

Sorry, Sound Transit. You are out of luck.

Sausage Links, finance-crisis-free edition

Posted Fri, Sep 19, 10:18 a.m. 2008

by Chuck Taylor

Update: GOP challenger Dino Rossi leads Democratic Gov. Chris Gregoire in the latest poll, by Strategic Vision, reports Horse's Ass. The numbers: Rossi 48, Gregoire 46, undecided 6, margin of error 3. Rossi now has led in three of four September polls. ...

Seattle outpaces Portland in income growth

Posted Wed, Aug 13, 11:05 a.m. 2008

The current issue of Marple's Pacific Northwest Letter ($) tallies up personal income figures for Northwest metro areas. One shocker is how low the figure is for Portland, a booming area that is still shy on high-paying jobs. Or, conversely, how affluent Seattle is.

Seattle and the elixir of growth

Posted Thu, Jul 24, 11 a.m. 2008

In some moods, I think that Seattle's business renaissance has peaked. Starbucks is contracting, Microsoft is stumbling, Boeing is losing bids, Safeco is sold, and Washington Mutual is sinking. Has our formula of rapid growth spreading across the globe run into the wall?

But then I look at the front page of today's "Marketplace" section of The Wall Street Journal, where three of the four stories are about Seattle-based companies. There's the story of Microsoft's scramble in the executive suite, with the sudden departure of Kevin Johnson, formerly in charge of the Yahoo merger campaign; Costco reporting an earnings squeeze as the prices for merchandise are rising faster than they can pass along costs to its value-seeking customers; and Amazon doubling its second-quarter profits as customers shift from shopping by car to shopping by online.

Can Bill Gates also reinvent capitalism?

Posted Mon, Jul 7, 5:12 a.m. 2008