At the risk of seeming Google-centric, I have to point out that it's even possible to manage basic documents and spreadsheets online -- once proprietary to bloated Microsoft Office products -- for free with Google Docs.
New motion control systems like Sony's PlayStation Move and Microsoft's hands-free Kinect also provide novel gift options.
Golden-i is a full PC, runs Microsoft OS. offers unique Hands-Free user interface: advanced speech recognition in 26 languages with 6 axis gesture recognition.
But while Microsoft held to its hardware-free promise, the company had something else up its sleeve.
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Tweaking Microsoft, Schmidt has moved to snap up online companies that can offer desktop-style applications for free, posing at least a token threat to Microsoft's money-spewing Office suite.
The difference is that unlike those muni bonds, which pay you a stream of tax-free income, Microsoft pays you in three ways: taxable dividends, reinvested profits and share buybacks.
Immersion technology, Afshar said, is a logical next step in video gaming, which already is being transformed by 3-D screens and movement-based controls, such as those found on the remote-free Kinect from Microsoft.
Having observed the success of the no-cost Internet access offered by Freeserve in Britain, Microsoft is preparing the way for low-price or even free Internet access in America.
After a six-month free trial ended, Microsoft began charging him for the account, the suit charged.
Microsoft announced Project Natal, a new controller-free video gaming system, which reads a players body movements with cameras and mimics them with avatars on screen, will be available for purchase by the holiday season this year.
U.S. video game sector retail sales fell 9% in December from a year, according to market research firm NPD, and the total would have been even lower had it not been for the new Kinect hand- free motion controller for the Microsoft (MSFT) Xbox 360.
The determining factor: If Allen, the 55-year-old cofounder of Microsoft, could sink a free throw, the players could relax.
By eliminating junk ware and offering a meticulous configuration, built-in world-class security software and 90 days free Microsoft Signature support from Microsoft, VIZIO Touch PC users will fully enjoy Windows 8.
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Although Microsoft has touted a 12, 000-page submission and free technical support to its rivals as the answer to the EC's ruling, the Commission says the hefty manual is still not usable.
While solar energy isn't viable in rainy Seattle, Microsoft employees also enjoy free access to mass transit and company-subsidized hybrid cars.
Yet a question remains over Microsoft's promise to give rival software-makers some cost-free, additional access to its software protocols.
Apple's SteveJobsSteve Jobs, meanwhile, is free to do things Microsoft can only dream of doing--and Google's EricSchmidtEric Schmidt isn't about to complain.
And Microsoft has updated its Office Web Apps, stripped-down programs that offer free editing, via a Web browser, of files stored online.
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He compares the approach Clear Channel is taking to what AOL did when he was running that company, or the way Microsoft over the years added features that other companies were approaching as free-standing businesses.
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And the release of Microsoft's Windows 8, an operating system that works on disc-free smartphones and tablets as well as laptops and PCs, suggests that computing giant would be well positioned for such a move as well.
Microsoft's New Year's buyout of the most popular free E-mail provider, HotMail, is another sure sign that the Redmond giant is taking its portal strategy very seriously indeed.
In additional news, Microsoft has also revealed that many MSDN subscribers will receive a free, one-year developer account to the Windows Store -- eligible subscription levels include Visual Studio Professional, Test Professional, Premium, Ultimate, and BizSpark.
Much advice on offer online suggests souping up the specification of a netbook so it can run Microsoft's Windows XP operating system, rather than the free, open-source Linux system that is offered as standard on many netbooks.
The hacker's mischief-making was double-pronged: affected computers were meant to attack the Microsoft website that offered the free patch on August 16th.
The free application will initially be available for use with Microsoft's Windows 7 Mobile-based tablets and will be offered to consumers beginning Jan. 31.
It is one of the most popular free downloads for Firefox, the rival browser to Microsoft (nasdaq: MSFT - news - people )'s Internet Explorer.
He said every customer would have 50 gigabytes of free storage - far more than is offered by rival services such as Dropbox or Microsoft's SkyDrive.
This workaround relies on the fact that Microsoft is currently offering, for a time limited period, free upgrades for the Media Center add-on, and it is this process that is flawed because Microsoft does not check the validity of the original key used to activate the copy of Windows 8 Pro before dishing out another key.
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Microsoft wants to replace RIM's e-mail software with its own version, which it offers for free.
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