A month after Bing launched in May 2009, Chitika Research reported that Bing's click-through rate (CTR) was 50 percent better than Google's. We thought this wasn't much of a big deal, as Bing was only one month old, but new data from Chitika shows that little has changed even six months after the decision engine's debut, and Microsoft is still beating the two other search giants, Yahoo and Google.

In a much anticipated move, Microsoft has created the Server & Cloud Division (SCD) within the Server & Tools Business (STB) that merges the Windows Azure and the Windows Server & Solutions groups. The move shows that Azure isn't just an advanced development project for the software giant, and the company is ready to make money from it. Microsoft says its strategy is to create "a single organization focused on delivering solutions for customers that span on-premises data centers and the cloud." Windows Server, Windows Azure, SQL Server, SQL Azure, Visual Studio, and System Center are all part of this strategy that includes both on-premises and cloud solutions. Microsoft notes it is the only company in the industry that can offer its customers the choice to tap into a server platform, a cloud platform, or both. The move this week comprises of the following three changes:

One of our readers recently wrote in to ask about the difference between Windows Live OneCare and Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE). We explained that OneCare has been on its way out the door since Microsoft announced the for-pay solution's death in November 2008. The company also noted in March 2009 that Windows 7 would not play nice with OneCare. Sales of the Windows Live OneCare subscription service, as well as Windows Live OneCare for Server on SBS 2008, ended on June 30, 2009. The software giant's replacement offering, Microsoft Security Essentials, was released in September 2009. In short, MSE was what our reader wanted. The question forced us to look into OneCare again, and we were a little perplexed at what we found.

Microsoft Office 2010 (also called Office 14) may not be ready to ship yet, but Redmond is already hard at work on Office 15. The tidbit comes to us from the Microsoft Access Team Blog, which starts off a post titled "Access 15 and SQL Server" with the following joyful message: "Hello everyone! As Office 2010 nears shipping, we are starting to plan Office 15. One area that we are considering improving is our SQL Server support. Based on what I've heard from the community, that would be most welcome. Note that we are very early in planning, and considering many possible areas of investment, I unfortunately can't commit to any actual improvements at this time." The post continues on with specific questions and asks for responses in the form of comments or an e-mail.

Virus Bulletin (VB) conducted its latest test in November, posting the results this month. The security research company evaluated 43 antimalware products (product submission deadline was October 28) for the 32-bit version of Windows 7 Professional. The basic requirements for a product passing the test is detecting, both on demand and on access, in its default settings, all malware known to be "In the Wild" at the time of the review, and not detecting any false positives when scanning a set of clean files. The products were pitted against about thousands of unique samples of malware that fall into four categories: WildList viruses, worms and bots, polymorphic viruses, and Trojans.

Microsoft has issued a reminder this week that it will stop providing support for Windows 2000 and Windows XP Service Pack 2 on July 13, 2010. After this date, public support for these products ends and Microsoft will no longer provide any assisted support or security updates. On the same day, Windows 2000 Server will move out of Extended Support while Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2003 R2 will move from Mainstream Support to Extended Support, which will end on July 14, 2015. For most of its software, Microsoft provides Mainstream Support, followed by Extended Support, and finishes with just Self-Help Online Support.

Windows updates have historically been a constant annoyance for IT staff. Manual updates were a huge pain, and, while the advent of the Automatic Update feature improved the situation, it brought with it problems of its own. Specifically, Automatic Updates are simply too automatic. Automatic Updates grabs the latest updates, no matter what type, and applies them according to a schedule you set. The feature has no information and makes no judgments about software license agreements (SLAs), buggy updates, or anything else; it simply downloads and applies. While this may be acceptable for most home users, it is woefully inadequate in an enterprise.

A secondary problem with Automatic Updates is that each PC must manually download the updates from Microsoft, which can be quite demanding on your Internet link. Luckily, Microsoft once again comes to the rescue with Windows Server Update Services, otherwise known as WSUS.

Reports have started trickling in that Microsoft has killed off the Windows 7 Family Pack in the United States. Although we expected this to happen eventually, it's a pity that it happened so soon: two months haven't even passed and the pack is no longer available on most retailer websites. "The Windows 7 Family Pack was introduced as a limited-time offer while supplies last in select geographies," a Microsoft spokesperson told Ars. "Response has been very positive and in some cases, the offer has sold out. Customers interested in upgrading their PCs should purchase Home Premium, Professional or Ultimate upgrade products." The company wouldn't reveal how many copies have sold so far, how many it had planned on selling, or whether there are plans to extend the offer.