Pieces of Flash are now in the hands of the public thanks to a
generous
contribution from Adobe to the Mozilla Foundation. The scripting piece of
Flash was handed over so that Flash can play a more integral part of Firefox.
I'm now using IE6 and Firefox 2, and although I browse for hours a day (all
work-related, I can assure you!), neither bowls me over. What do you think?
Let me know by posting below or e-mail me at [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on November 08, 20061 comments
The coupons and other guarantees given out to deal with a delayed Vista have
forced Microsoft to
defer
$1.5 billion in revenue. That's pretty rough, until you realize that's about
how much Redmond spends on Jolt Cola and pizza every year (and even with that,
the software is still late!).
Posted by Doug Barney on November 08, 20060 comments
Narus, a company that helps monitor Internet traffic, just got a
big
cash infusion. For companies protecting trade secrets and countries tracking
terrorists, this technology can be a very good thing. But for those concerned
with privacy, such spying is as distasteful as 10-year-old Moxie.
One of its bigger uses is to block Internet phone calls, something the phone
companies just love!
Posted by Doug Barney on November 08, 20060 comments
Office Live, a set of services to manage contacts, build Web sites and more,
will end its beta and actually
go
live (or is that Live?) on Nov. 15. If you can put up with a bunch of ads,
the services are free. If you want more features and fewer intrusions, it'll
cost you $20 a month -- still cheaper than HBO.
Posted by Doug Barney on November 08, 20060 comments
A Microsoft exec recently mentioned the possibility
the
company might leave China over the massive country's equally massive repression.
Microsoft has only been tangentially involved in the ruckus over U.S. high-tech
companies actually helping the Chinese government repress citizens, but I'm
sure that deep down, counterfeit versions of XP are the main tool keeping the
Chinese populace down. My guess is it will never happen -- Microsoft could never
fully cede a billion customers to open source or some other alternative.
Posted by Doug Barney on November 07, 20060 comments
At first, it seemed like a blockbuster. Microsoft, for whom open source is the
Saddam Hussein of software, formally agreed to
support
Novell's version of Linux. I've gotten more questions about this than almost
any other subject (except "Is that your real hair?").
After my heart stopped racing, I realized this is a huge deal for Novell, but
far from a seismic shift for Microsoft.
What Steve Ballmer announced was Microsoft's intention to treat Novell's Linux
server software as if it actually exists. There will be no patent disputes,
and Microsoft will answer questions about Novell's Suse software -- if you have
a coupon and a pre-existing Microsoft support contract, of course.
If you think about, this is akin to Microsoft agreeing that IBM mainframes
have a right to exist and interact with Windows servers. If this was all about
the desktop, where Microsoft has two monopolies (Windows and Office), now that
would be something to write about.
Posted by Doug Barney on November 07, 20060 comments
Explain this to me, please. We have three new Microsoft products about to ship.
They've all been in beta, so millions have used them. Meanwhile, dozens of books
have already been written. When it comes to Vista, Office 2007 and Exchange
2007, they hold fewer secrets than Paris Hilton's Sidekick.
But this is Microsoft we're talking about. For Redmond, you leak that you're
going to build something, and -- after several hundred stories are written --
you publicly disclose such plans. Then, after a few thousand more articles,
you announce your intention to actually build such a thing. After a few months
and many more articles, it finally makes it to beta and tech journalists fall
all over themselves to discover the next little feature.
Eventually, the code is gold and all the secrets are known and dissected. So
it should just ship, right? Not for the masters of PR. For Microsoft, it's time
for launch. So break out the Moet et Chandon, crank up the tunes and bring in
the celebs. This is a press event as shallow and contrived as a new Madonna
hair color.
So on Nov. 30, when Vista, Exchange and Office are all launched, ignore the
tech press -- as we'll simply tell you all the things you already know.
But if your PCs and servers have a few hundred spare megabytes, it might be
fun to download these
babies. They should all be far superior to their predecessors.
Meanwhile Microsoft loosened Vista licensing after IT had a major conniption.
Read the good news here.
Posted by Doug Barney on November 07, 20060 comments
The name SQL Everywhere is dead. Fortunately, the product isn't. SQL Server
Mobile Edition was supposed to get the Everywhere moniker. Now it'll just be
called
SQL
Server Compact Edition.
Apparently, the Everywhere name was too close to Sybase's SQL Anywhere. Heck,
Microsoft got its SQL Server code from Sybase -- why shouldn't it snag the name,
as well?
Look for the tool to ship later this year.
Posted by Doug Barney on November 02, 20060 comments
Microsoft has a pretty good track record for making old apps work on
new OSes. In fact, Redmond has been so concerned over the years with backward
compatibility that it didn't push as aggressively as it could to new technologies.
And all the code to support 8- and 16-bit apps made Windows 95, 98 and XP less
stable and less modern than it could have been.
Vista, as I understand, dispenses with some of that legacy code, so compatibility
might be an issue (you mean MultiPlan, WordPerfect 1 and dBASE 2 might not run?).
To help figure out what will work and what won't, and make broken apps whole
again, Microsoft has launched the Application
Compatibility Factory, where large systems integrators will help ensure
enterprise apps are ready for Vista.
Posted by Doug Barney on November 02, 20060 comments
Hey, good lookin'!
Domain registrar
Dotster wants you! The company is searching high and low for spokesmodels,
and is holding its latest auditions tonight in Los Angeles. I wonder how many
of the contestants will know who Dotster is, or what a domain registrar does.
Posted by Doug Barney on November 02, 20061 comments
I got a little bundle of gold code last week as my new daughter Kiley Marie
was released to manufacturing. While only a few days old now, she already has
a razor-sharp wit and well-defined political views. No word yet on whether she'll
standardize on the Mac or Vista. As for desktop Linux, she maintains it's "too
immature."
Posted by Doug Barney on November 02, 20060 comments
Remember that bully in school that always stole your hat and tossed it in the
garbage? For Red Hat, Larry Ellison is that bully. Larry announced that Oracle will
happily support Red Hat software -- for half-price! That news had Red Hat investors
seeing red as the stock
sank
almost $6 in a day. At least Red Hat is still in the black!
The company itself still believes in the stock and last week announced plans
to buy back $300 million worth of shares.
Posted by Doug Barney on November 01, 20060 comments