Tim O'Reilly, as influential in cyberspace as Bill O'Reilly is on the air waves,
is fed up with Internet bullies, especially those that intimidate and threaten.
What really got under O'Reilly's skin (Tim, not Bill) are the increasing number
of death threats against bloggers. O'Reilly is so riled he's calling for a
code
of conduct for the blogosphere
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Posted by Doug Barney on April 02, 20070 comments
Office Communications Server 2007, a new package designed to integrate Voice
over IP with traditional telephony,
is
in widespread beta
in preparation for release this year (hence the 2007
product designation).
One neat trick lets users make phone calls from within Office. This sounds
like one of those whiz-bang features that only a technophile would use. I can't
imagine crafting the perfect @function and suddenly deciding to call and brag
to my best girl. But that's just me.
Posted by Doug Barney on April 02, 20070 comments
Ever buy a product for a critical function, only to have the vendor go out of
business? What did you do? How did you support a tool with no vendor to back
it?
And when buying from a startup, which may or may not make it, what special
precautions do you take? Do you demand to see the balance sheet, get source
in escrow or come in with a backup plan in case they go under?
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Posted by Doug Barney on March 29, 20070 comments
When Microsoft Research built technology that brings smoother video, better
content organization and Web navigation to mobile devices, the company could
have turned it into a Microsoft product, or perhaps added it to its Smartphone
and other mobile OSes.
Instead, Microsoft decided to spin it off as a separate company, and then invest
in it as a venture capitalist.
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Posted by Doug Barney on March 29, 20070 comments
You might think I'm writing the same story twice, as Microsoft this week talked
about new technology to improve the browsing capabilities of mobile devices.
Instead of ZenZui, Microsoft was
extolling
the virtues of Deepfish
, a technology that makes cell phone and PDA browsers
look more like their larger PC or laptop brethren.
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Posted by Doug Barney on March 29, 20070 comments
My standard search engine went from AltaVista to Google four years ago (I'm
a late bloomer, I know).
That may have to change now that I've found
SearchWithKevin.com
.
That's Kevin as in Kevin Federline. Do enough searches and I may win a T-shirt,
an autographed picture or, the grand price,
an autographed K-Fed CD!
Posted by Doug Barney on March 29, 20070 comments
Google often seems like its strategy is driven by what Microsoft is doing (a
mistake Novell and WordPerfect made years ago). Just as frequently Microsoft
makes plans, products and pronouncements based on Google's latest plans, products
and pronouncements.
Don't believe me? A week or so ago, Viacom
sued YouTube (owned by Google) for copyright infringement. Faster than you
can say "Ask
a Ninja," Microsoft struck
a deal with NBC and Fox to legitimately distribute video over MSN.
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Posted by Doug Barney on March 28, 20070 comments
Visual Studio Team System is an important development tool for Microsoft, partly
because it truly offers deep collaboration, but also because it has a high-end
price tag and presumably large profit margins.
But not all are willing to pay big bucks to access Team System, which is where
devBiz,
just acquired by Microsoft, fits in. This company, now part of Microsoft,
offers Web access to many of Team System's collaboration features. This could
improve your development project and save a few bucks in the process!
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Posted by Doug Barney on March 28, 20070 comments
MOM, Microsoft's way of watching over Windows networks and correcting them
when they go wrong, is passing its apron over to the new boss --
System
Center Operations Manager
, one in a new line of forthcoming System Center
management tools.
Microsoft, though, seems confused as to what to call this thing. Ordinarily,
we'd just use the acronym -- Microsoft loves acronyms and even uses them to
refer to beta software (CTP, RC) and licensing (SA, EA).
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Posted by Doug Barney on March 28, 20070 comments
The U.S. Department of Transportation
just
says no to Vista
. Actually, the agency is simply saying that users cannot
upgrade existing machines to the new OS.
If I was smart enough to be in IT, I'd order the same thing.
Installing Vista on any computer that didn't come with it is a waste of time
-- probably a lot of time. The way to move to Vista is to do so with new machines
so you know it'll work out of the box.
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Posted by Doug Barney on March 28, 20070 comments
I once tried to become a Microsoft licensing guru. I read a book by
Scott
Braden
and a report by
Directions
on Microsoft
.
Struggle as I might, I finally realized that becoming an expert meant total
immersion in a complex, often arbitrary, artificial construct designed to prop
up Microsoft's stock price (and how well is that working out?).
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Posted by Doug Barney on March 28, 20070 comments
Microsoft employee Jeff Jones ran an
analysis
of Vista's first three months
compared to the Mac and Linux, and found Vista
has far fewer security flaws.
While a report from Microsoft about Microsoft security has the scent of bias,
I have no evidence to contradict Mr. Jones. There hasn't been a large quantity
of Vista vulnerabilities, and so far no show-stoppers.
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Posted by Doug Barney on March 27, 20070 comments