Singapore may have cleared its pirated stores years ago, but folks going on the Internet instead for pirated software may now be the biggest reason for infected PCs in the country, according to a Microsoft study.

These users unknowingly open their PCs to attack when they download “keygen” software, which promise to generate serial numbers to unlock popular applications such as Microsoft Office, but often open a back door to hackers. …

Folks who have been holding out for Microsoft’s Surface Pro in Singapore should save up for one when it arrives in stores here by the end of June.

Singapore will join more than 20 other places, such as Malaysia, Hong Kong, Australia, where the much-watched tablet will be sold, Microsoft said on its blog moments ago. Currently, the Surface Pro is sold in the United States, Canada and China. …

The arrival of touch-screen tablets and other designs with screens that flip, turn or rotate has not revived the fortunes of the ailing PC market.

Instead of providing a much-needed reboot, these Windows 8 machines may actually have made things worse by plunging the market into its steepest ever decline, according to research firm IDC. …

Months after it first appeared in American stores, the much-talked about Microsoft Surface RT finally made it to Singapore over the weekend.

It’s a first for a couple of things. It’s the debut tablet from Microsoft and it uses the first Microsoft operating system made just for tablets - Windows RT.

In the end, the Surface RT is just going to split opinions. It’s got so much going for it, yet it is limiting in ways that can be frustrating. …

The Microsoft Surface RT is finally here in Singapore this Friday, starting from S$668 for a basic model, months after its entry in the United States as a challenger to Apple and Android tablets.
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Seven nursing homes in Singapore have turned to cloud and mobile technologies to cut down on day-to-day manual processing, raising productivity by a claimed 10 per cent.

Developed by local healthcare IT vendor PulseSync, this IngoT II project uses a mix of several Microsoft technologies including Microsoft Dynamics CRM, SQL Server, Silverlight, and .NET framework to make the running of such facilities smoother.

The project costs S$2.65 million – S$2 million of which is funded by the philanthropic organisation Lien Foundation.

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Microsoft today brought out recent wins in its Big Data efforts in Asia-Pacific, promising its technology will be easy to use for anyone who knows how to set up a Powerpoint slide.

Well, anyone who is backed up by a team of competent IT experts, who would be doing the tough job of putting the data into the mix with Microsoft database tools like SQL Server, said executives here in Singapore. …

Companies in Asia-Pacific could spend US$39 billion this year to counter problems that are caused by malware found in counterfeit software, with the cost going up to a staggering US$129 billion if data loss is considered.

Globally, the number goes up to US$114 billion in direct costs and almost US$300 billion, if data loss is included, according to a recent study by research firm IDC.

Released last week, the study commissioned by Microsoft also predicted that one in three enterprise PCs using pirated software will be infected in 2013. This is due in part to the amount of such software exceeding two billion programs this year, three times that in 2006. …

Singapore users will finally get their hands on the Microsoft Surface, though only on the less powerful “RT” version, when the company starts shipping its much-touted tablet in more countries this month.

The first Windows tablets from Microsoft, the Surface RT and more powerful Surface Pro, had been positioned as alternatives to Apple’s iPad and rival Android tablets when they went on sale in the United States in October last year. …

Microsoft is selling its new Office software for S$138 a year, or S$11.50 a month, to home users  in Singapore, as part of a new subscription service that it hopes will change its fortunes against Google and Apple this year.

Available today, that offer gives users five licences, which means they can install Office on multiple devices at home, including PCs and Macs.  …