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This is exactly what Microsoft tried to do on August 13 when the Redmond giant completed the acquisition of aQuantive, the advertising company that represents Microsoft’s secret weapon in the fight against Google. The software firm said on Monday that its $6 billion deal has been finalized and it is now focusing on organizing the engineers and the other employees who will join the Redmond team.

"Today we take a significant step forward in our ability to capture share of the $40 billion online ad opportunity and the larger $600 billion ad market, which is rapidly shifting to the world of online and IP-served platforms, including TV and gaming," Johnson said. "The addition of aQuantive’s technologies and people to the Microsoft portfolio is a core, strategic investment and step forward in our plans to become one of the top two online advertising platforms in the industry."

As I said, this is a sort of ‘take-this Google’ because the aQuantive acquisition was regarded as a sort of reply for the search giant’s DoubleClick offer. A few months ago, Google announced that it bought DoubleClick, a very powerful advertising name that is able to help it become the most important name in this side of the market. Because of that, Microsoft was somehow forced to make an urgent move and bought aQuantive for $6 billion but also tried to hit the Google image. Microsoft along with other important names demanded the regulators to investigate the DoubleClick acquisition because it might infringe the antitrust laws.

While everybody talks about the upcoming Windows Vista Service Pack 1 and Windows XP Service Pack 3, Microsoft makes another unexpected move on Tuesday and releases Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 1 technology preview. This new pack of improvements and updates was especially released to bring better functionality for Exchange Server as well as compatibility with the latest Microsoft operating system, Windows Vista.

"We took special interest in Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 1, and put it through a rigorous, live-user test with over 7,500 soldiers and civilians around the world," said Lt. Col. C.J. Wallington, director of the Army’s Advanced Technologies. "SP1 gives us more secure access to communications and information, and the cost savings with improved security in Exchange Server 2007 are immeasurable. We realize significant savings with respect to lower costs of user management because we now have a way for our users to authenticate to their mailbox with their Department of Defense Smart Card, which results in fewer password resets."

Among the most important updates that will be bundled in the service pack, we can mention the support for Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista, better security, "enhanced integration with Office Communications Server 2007" and "additional Exchange ActiveSync policies." Microsoft added that Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 1 is expected to be released in the fourth quarter of this year.

Since Microsoft officially released Windows Vista, the Redmond-based company continuously promoted the operating system and talked about it as a revolutionary product that captured everybody’s attention. Every once in a while, Microsoft presents statistics and numbers that underline the Vista success, a software solution which managed to record huge sales in every corner of the world. Wednesday was one of the days when Microsoft tried to promote the product as the best solution for students because – according to the Redmond company – it allows them to "stay mobile, connected and educated." Because the new school year is about to begin, Microsoft got involved into several programs and prepared new technologies, obviously bundled with Windows Vista, in order to attract the students.

"Microsoft has been working with Canon Inc., Nikon Corp., HP and several other companies to design stylish tools and technologies that fit the connected, on-the-go lifestyle of today’s student, provide them with easier access to the people and information they’re looking for, and motivate them to interact in the learning process," it is mentioned on the official page of the Redmond giant.

Besides the laptops equipped with Windows Vista, you can also use several digital cameras, some wireless keyboards and mice as well as the famous Office suite that brings excellent features for students. For a complete list of devices compatible with Windows Vista and promoted by Microsoft, you can visit this link.

Microsoft Windows Vista is described as the most secure version of Windows ever created but it was proved several times that it isn’t so. The Redmond company is continuously focused on the security of its products just like us, the consumers, because we are the ones affected by hack attacks or other security glitches. In order to make the software solutions safer to use, Microsoft conducted a new survey that revealed some shocking statistics: one of five US Internet users was the victim of malicious attacks initiated online by dangerous people.

Also, the experts said they are worried because no less than 58 percent of the respondents sustained that they know only a limited amount of information related to the Internet threats and sometimes it happens to have no idea about them. Obviously, Microsoft plans to improve the security of its products and make them more efficient for this segment of users who are not so interested in protecting their data.