The 60-Second Microsoft Roundup: Patch Tuesday, Apple War and More

It was a pretty calm week for the Redmond-based technology giant, mostly because nobody actually attacked its Windows 8 operating system or any other product wearing a Microsoft badge.

The company, however, was once again criticized on Monday for using a legal trick to avoid paying UK taxes, even though it has adopted a similar tactic in the United States too.

What’s more, Microsoft and Toyota started work on a driver gesture recognition system, while figures released by Net Applications revealed that Windows 7 remains the number one operating system in the world.

On Tuesday, a Nokia engineer published a detailed step-by-step guide on how to crack Windows 8 apps, while Microsoft and Apple have started a war on the revenues recorded by App Store programs.

The official Yahoo Mail app has landed in the Store during the same day, while the last Patch Tuesday fixes of the year have been released just a few hours later.

Microsoft confirmed on Wednesday that retail stores across the world would get the Surface tablet, while a company official said that Windows 8 is the most feature-rich operating system so far. Bill Gates has increased his stake in the Canadian National Railways, while a security company found a new flaw in Internet Explorer that allows attackers to track mouse movement.

A Goldman Sachs report released on Thursday revealed that Windows is no longer the number one operating system on the market, while Dell’s CEO confirmed that interest in Windows 8 is high.

Steve Ballmer was crowned the “most improved tech CEO” of the year just a few hours later, while a game developer said that Windows 8’s Store is full of ugly apps.

Finally on Friday, the company announced that it is retiring Windows Live Mesh, while the new Windows boss explained why users don’t really need a Start button since they have a Start Screen. Microsoft said that an IE patch to fix the previously reported flaw is in the works, while the Windows Store surpassed the 30,000 apps milestone.