Business Facts #5 - Bill Gates

If Bill Gates lives to be 90 years old he will have to spend a whopping $6.78 million everyday to use up his bank balance (plus interest).

Microsoft Tablet Pricing Arrives

Microsoft has revealed it will charge $899 (£560) for the basic version of its Surface with Windows Pro tablet. The device will be released in January and features an Intel chip allowing it to run the full version of the Windows 8 operating system.

The price is $400 more than the existing Surface with Windows RT tablet, which is less powerful and does not run programs such as Photoshop.

The devices are intended to challenge the iPad and Android-based tablets.

Microsoft's chief executive, Steve Ballmer, told shareholders this week that the fact his firm was releasing its tablets more than two years later than Apple might have contributed to its share price being outpaced by its rival.

"Maybe we should have done that earlier," he said. The Surface is designed to be combined with a keyboard which is sold separately He had earlier suggested that he was certain sales of the original Surface would grow.

"We've had a modest start because Surface is only available on our online retail sites and a few Microsoft stores in the United States."

Source: BBC Business News

PC v Apple Quiz

Are you a Bill Gates or a Steve Jobs type of person?

Take the PC v Apple quiz and see how you get on.

http://computer.howstuffworks.com/macs/mac-vs-windows-pc-quiz.htm

Bill Gates v Google

Everyone knows how Google has become the generic name for internet searching but now Microsoft want to take them on.

Apparently 70% of net users search via Google but the Seattle based firm are launching their own websearch engine called Bing! It is simply at www.bing.com

It is not fully operational yet but it will be interesting to see if it can eat into Google's high market share.

Ask.com resorted back to Ask Jeeves to help rebrand themselves, and Yahoo and Lycos are no longer the forces they once were in the early days of the net.

Can Google withstand this latest attack?