Microsoft, in a move to court developers away from the train wreck that is now webOS, is offering a bundle of goodies to any published webOS developer who will now code for the Windows Phone platform. The companyhad this to say: Brandon Watson, one of the more public members of the Windows Phone team, clarified how developers can get their hands on the freebies in alater tweet:“@akanster Shoot me an email — ThePhone at Microsoft — and we can go from there....

Another day, another massive leak. That seems to be the name of the Microsoft game lately, with today’s new goody being a Milestone 2 build of Office 15, version number 15.0.2703.1000. TNWmicrosoft does not advocate torrenting or file sharing websites, but if you, ahem, know where to look, you should be able to find the build in the wild, all ready for download. Chief among this leaked version of Office 15 is theinclusion of Moorea, an application that is almost akin to a pin-board for content and text that is not well-known, except among those with two eyes focused on Office 15....

Microsoft as todaycut the ribbonon the official release of its cloud-based productivity suite,Office 365. Aimed at businesses rather than individuals, the service comprises Exchange Online (for email and calendars), SharePoint Online (for online collaboration), Lync Online (for text, audio and video messaging and conferencing), plus browser-based versions of Microsoft Excel, Word, and PowerPoint in addition to the traditional installed versions. Priced between $2 and $27 per user per month, Microsoft is targeting enterprise customers, small businesses and the education market with Office 365....

Due to rampant piracy, Microsoft’s revenue in China this year will only be about 5% of what it gets in the U.S., in spite of the comparable PC sales in the two countries, said Chief Executive Steve Ballmer. Speaking at the opening of the new Microsoft Asia-Pacific R&D Group headquarters in Beijing, Microsoft CEO Ballmer claims that PC sales in China will be “as big as the U.S. market this year, yet revenue in China will be about a twentieth of our revenue in the United States....

The Age of Empires series of computer games is an iconic chapter in real-time strategy gaming. Microsoft has been the games’ publisher since the first installment, the originalAge of Empires,was released in 1997. In the history of the franchise, over 20 million copies of the games have been sold. Microsoft is currently prepping the next edition of the series. CalledAge of Empires Online(AoEO), and set to release this year, AoEO is perhaps the most audacious version of the franchise’s life....