With a new Windows operating system on the way, it's tempting to put off buying a new computer.

Facebook has raised $16bn after launching its IPO on the Nasdaq, making it the third-biggest offering ever in the US. Here is a selection of other tech floats that have either gone on to soar or disappoint.

Facebook has raised $16bn after launching its IPO on the Nasdaq, making it the third-biggest offering ever in the US. Here is a selection of other tech floats that have either gone on to soar or disappoint.

Microsoft has unveiled its biggest redesign yet of Bing, its search engine, in a bid to better organise information retrieval and incorporate the social web into its results.

Microsoft is experimenting with a new mobile phone-style contract to sell its Xbox 360 video games consoles.

Microsoft's new Windows 8 operating system will not play DVDs unless customers buy an extra upgrade, the company has announced.

British businesses using Microsoft products face massive increases in their bills, after the software giant said it would increase its wholesale prices by up to a third.

It was immediately christened a win-win deal. Win-win is one of corporate America's less irritating phrases and, in this case, an accurate description of Microsoft's $300m (£186m) tie-up with US bookseller Barnes & Noble.

Motorola Mobility has won an injunction against Microsoft potentially banning sales of the Xbox 360 games console and Windows 7 operating system over patent infringement claims.

To tackle the dominance of Apple and Amazon, Microsoft needs allies, writes Shane Richmond. Hence its investment in US bookseller Barnes & Noble's Nook business.

Microsoft is investing $300m (£185m) in Barnes & Noble's digital and university book business.

Matt Warman talks to BrandonGenerator.com director Edgar Wright about how HTML5 allows for a new kind of web experience

Microsoft has rushed out a fix for a bug in password security for Hotmail

Microsoft has unveiled the twelve shortlisted designs and final winner of its inaugural PC Hardware Design Project, a competition to find the computer designs of the future.

Facebook is buying a portfolio of 650 web technology patents from Microsoft for $550m, as part of an effort to bolster its defences against a volley of intellectual property infringement claims.

Intel has launched a range of processors built with '3D transistors', promising more power and better efficiency.

Shares in Microsoft jumped in extended trading after the latest profits from the world's biggest software maker beat Wall Street's expectations.

Microsoft has unveiled the different editions of its new operating system, including one specifically for tablets.

Gordon Frazer, one of the executives drawn into the party sex scandal which engulfed Microsoft last year, is to relocate to China.

Apple's iPad will dominate the tablet computing market for years to come, according to the latest analysis from Gartner.

AOL has signed a $1.06bn (£664m) deal to sell more than 800 patents to Microsoft, and to license the software giant to use its remaining 300 patents.

More people are now using their Microsoft Xbox 360 consoles to watch television and films, than to play games with their friends in the US.

Google's web browser overtook Internet Explorer briefly last weekend - Matt Warman examines its apparent success.

Google Chrome briefly became the world's most popular web browser at the weekend, overtaking Microsoft Internet Explorer for the first time, according to independent figures.

After three years of negotiations, the BBC iPlayer has finally launched on Microsoft's Xbox 360 consoles.