Lately, I've been harping on about our new site
RedmondReport.com
,
a portal for news about Microsoft. I've been bragging so much I figured I'd
take a look this morning and see if it's as good as I said it was -- and it
is!
My favorite story is one we picked up from Wired. It turns out that
one of worst high-tech companies for the environment is that touchy-feely
outfit from Cupertino with Al Gore on its board.
More
Posted by Doug Barney on May 12, 20080 comments
I just wrapped up a 2,500-word feature story about Dell's virtualization strategy
for our new magazine
Virtualization
Review
. I also spent weeks deciphering Sun, IBM and HP plans. These
last three vendors have multiple hardware environments, their own management
tools and, in two cases, homemade hypervisors. This was all as intricate as
a Dennis Miller commentary (though far more interesting and less pretentious).
More
Posted by Doug Barney on May 12, 20080 comments
Server and PC virtualization aren't exactly old hat, but they are established
markets -- and established technologies that are proven to work.
A lesser-known area that's ripe for take-off, I believe, is I/O virtualization,
where connections to networks and storage lose their physical constraints and
gain the flexibility of virtual connectivity. Setting up a new server, for instance,
doesn't have to involve the manual installation and configuration of NICs, HBAs
and all the rest.
More
Posted by Doug Barney on May 05, 20080 comments
Software-as-a-Service isn't yet the dominant way that applications are delivered,
but it's the
No.
1 thing on the minds
of enterprise software customers -- at least, according
to a survey by venture firm Sand Hill Group and consultancy McKinsey & Company.
The No. 2 trend is actually similar: Web services and SOA.
More
Posted by Doug Barney on May 05, 20080 comments
Late last week, Microsoft made it clear that Yahoo
wasn't
worth the money
it would take to buy it. This was after Microsoft raised
its offer from $44 billion to nearly $48 billion.
I couldn't agree more. Yahoo isn't as large as you might think, and its growth
isn't as impressive as, say, Google. In the last quarter, Yahoo brought in a
bit less than $2 billion in revenue and only $112 million in operating income.
The only way a company this size would be worth almost $50 billion is if its
growth were truly staggering, which it's clearly not.
More
Posted by Doug Barney on May 05, 20080 comments
Sometimes an idea is so brilliant that my weak mind can't grasp it. Other times,
I'm confused because the idea is too complex or the explanation unclear. Microsoft's
new Live
Mesh initiative
clearly falls into one of these categories.
The basic concept is fairly simple. The mesh refers to the fact that most of
us have multiple computing devices which will be able to communicate and synchronize
by turning into our own private mesh. This mesh, which lets my laptop and phone
have the same files as my desktop, also ties into to the "cloud" so
our storage and services can be Web-based.
More
Posted by Doug Barney on April 28, 20080 comments
Microsoft Research is at it again -- doing good, that is!
The group's latest noble cause is green
computing, and to that end Microsoft Research is working with Harvard, Stanford
and a couple of big state universities to dramatically reduce datacenter and
x86 processor power consumption. The University of Tennessee, for instance,
is working on reducing the power demands of virtualized datacenters. Sounds
pretty slick.
More
Posted by Doug Barney on April 28, 20080 comments
If you want a new PC with XP, you best get to steppin' before the end of June.
After that, machines
will
come only with Vista
.
Now, here's the weird catch: For the next year, you can buy a Vista PC and
then have XP installed in its stead -- so-called downgrading. This sounds more
convoluted than a Britney Spears press conference.
Posted by Doug Barney on April 28, 20080 comments
One of our sister publications is
Visual Studio Magazine
(if you care
about development, check it out
here
),
and its editor in chief, Patrick Meader, recently told me about a couple of
"Vista software" sites that have little to do with Microsoft.
Vista Software Inc.
sells a database engine that works with Clipper, FoxPro and other DBMSs. Meanwhile,
another Vista Software Inc., this
one from Tucson, Ariz., sells a souped-up automation system for Microsoft applications,
kinda like macros on steroids.
More
Posted by Doug Barney on April 21, 20080 comments
Microsoft security gurus are
hunting
down and trying to kill
off a bug in Windows XP, Vista and Server 2003 that
lets already-authenticated users gain more privileges.
While this bug mainly supports inside hacking jobs, smart social engineers
could also gain a foothold (like your password) and then wreak havoc. As for
the insiders, the mostly likely attackers are admins who script and programmers
who host their code on your machines.
Posted by Doug Barney on April 21, 20080 comments
Keith Ward, the editor of
Virtualization
Review
(our new mag/Web site/newsletter about all things virtual) recently
visited an elementary school in Baltimore. No, Keith wasn't there to bone up
on his grammar skills, but to find out how this school is using virtualization
to literally multiply the access kids have to computers.
More
Posted by Doug Barney on April 21, 20080 comments
There's an area where Microsoft gets far too little credit: helping to save
the world. Sure, Redmond didn't jump on the One Laptop Per Child initiative
soon enough. But Microsoft Research is doing amazing work on the world's biggest
problems, hooking up with top scientists to tackle disease, global warming,
pollution, and more.
How do I know? I spent months researching Microsoft and wrote a couple of stories
about what
it's doing and how.
More
Posted by Doug Barney on April 21, 20080 comments