In news less shocking than a Lindsay Lohan relapse, a research report finds that Windows 7 is taking off while IE is steadily losing market share.
The gloom-and-doomers love to criticize IE, calling it bloated and insecure and predicting its demise. But despite the retreat, IE still has 64.8 percent share, according to Janco Associates. In presidential politics, that's a landslide!
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Posted by Doug Barney on February 24, 20107 comments
If you thought the breakup of Britney Spears and K-Fed was messy, HP and Cisco are bringing it to a whole new level. Until recently, HP was a Cisco systems integrator. Then two things went wrong: Cisco entered the server market and HP bought 3Com.
Like Britney, Cisco was the one to break things off, fearing that HP would use inside info against the networking giant. Feeling slighted, HP countered that plenty of competitors also cooperate.
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Posted by Doug Barney on February 24, 20101 comments
SQL Server 2005 and 2008 will get some new features late this year when service packs for both ship.
SQL Server 2005 is winding down, so this will probably be the last pack for this package. Unfortunately, Microsoft didn't release any details on either of the packs.
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Posted by Doug Barney on February 22, 20100 comments
Lately, Mac users have had most of the newest Office features, but were either stuck with -- or blessed with -- the older-style pull-down interface. But later this year, those folks will have to use the ribbon interface if they want the latest goodies in Mac Office 2011.
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Posted by Doug Barney on February 22, 201016 comments
Microsoft last week released a new Windows 7 anti-piracy tool with a unique marketing proposition: By allowing Microsoft to check your PC, the machine will actually be more secure.
At first blush, this sounds like a cop protecting your safety through a strip search. But Microsoft counters that there are as many as 70 exploits that attack Windows activation files, and this tool can make sure these files are protected.
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Posted by Doug Barney on February 22, 20104 comments
A recent survey of Windows 7 users suggests that they're mostly pretty happy with the OS. But a few of you, like Doug, are still having issues:
I suppose I'm "pretty happy," but I still have XP boxes around, and I am afraid to get rid of them. Windows 7 64-bit is pretty good, but I was expecting better. Pros: fast, as you'd expect a new piece of hardware to be; after getting used to the search box, I love never using cascaded menus again; and my kids only want to use the new computer because they say their homework gets done a lot faster.
Cons: a new HP computer has serious problems printing to an HP Photosmart 2400 printer (OK, it's 5 years old, but please); Quicken runs but has serious printing problems, too; Check Point VPN software doesn't support 64-bit; and annoying magic directories like "My Documents" (or sometimes "Doug's Documents") have now been replaced (yeah!) with equally confusing magic "libraries." Why can't we all just learn to deal with path names?
-Todd
I was having an occasional blue screen when trying to wake my desktop from sleep (I have Windows 7 Ultimate x64). That latest reliability update -- the one people have said is making their systems unreliable -- seems to have fixed it for me. I'm speculating that it's the issue with the log in screen saver, although my symptom was a blue screen rather than unresponsiveness.
-Dave
I haven't experienced any crashes when Windows 7 sleeps, but I have noted a couple of recurring anomalies when it wakes back up. First, if I was logged out when Windows 7 went to sleep, when I wake it back up and attempt to log in, my first attempt always fails. No message is displayed. Instead, the first time I select a user and enter the password, Windows 7 says that it's logging in, but then just returns to the top-level screen with the user list. A second log-in attempt at this point will then successfully log in.
And second, sometimes when I wake up Windows 7 from a sleep state, it refuses to restore the monitor display. Instead, the monitor goes right back into power save mode. The only way to restore the system is to force it off by holding down the power button, and then restarting. When the system comes back up, it then restores itself to a waking state. The system does not appear to go through a normal boot sequence when power is reapplied -- it simply emerges from the previous sleep state. Very odd.
-Anonymous
Given the amount of custom-rolled software out there, it should not surprise anyone that Windows 7 has a lot of software issues. With that said, most of the issues I personally have had with Windows 7 are with software vendors' profound desire the make it look different. For most of the interface changes they made, I can think of no functional reason other than to make it look different.
I have been able to fix most of the issues I have had, but I am only running out-of-the-box COTS on my desktop. Some of the more complex issues with drivers and such are still nagging. I think Windows 7 will probably be a pretty good operating system by SP3. Not better than the one it replaced (XP) but good.
-Anonymous
After doing the (free) manufacturer's upgrade on my laptop from Vista to Windows 7, I no longer can use the built-in microphone for voice recognition. It works otherwise for sound recording. I can use an external mic plugged into an external jack as that works. Go figure.
-Anonymous
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Posted by Doug Barney on February 19, 20100 comments
Windows 7 is a major leap forward, but it's by no means perfect. I mentioned recently how my Windows 7 Latitude D520 hangs when it goes to sleep, leaving me to sort through recovered documents. (Why is it that when I auto-save every five minutes, the recovered document is often a shell of its former self?)
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Posted by Doug Barney on February 19, 201012 comments
It usually takes three iterations for Microsoft to rule a market. In the case of mobile phones, it may take seven.
Microsoft has been in the mobile PDA and phone space for a decade-and-a-half with little success. Its Palm alternatives were kludgey and beat on batteries worse than my daughter's Barbie Jeep. And Windows phones were just like Windows PCs -- they crashed (and more than the last five laps at Daytona).
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Posted by Doug Barney on February 19, 20100 comments
Visual Studio 2010 hit a minor glitch recently when beta testers complained of performance issues. Microsoft took a very public stance, detailing the issues and pushing back the product release.
Now VS 2010 is back on track, having reached release candidate status, which means it's feature-complete and basically tuned and ready to go. Testers think the extra time is worth it as the product is far faster than the beta.
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Posted by Doug Barney on February 17, 20100 comments
Windows 7 users getting warnings that their batteries are on their last legs thought it was all a bug. Instead, it's simply Windows 7 giving more detailed information about the true state of your battery. If Windows 7 says the thing is dying, chances are it's really dying.
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Posted by Doug Barney on February 17, 20100 comments
A recent report from Forrester Research shows that early Windows 7 users are pretty happy with their decision. While the company only interviewed 40 customers (this is far more anecdotal than scientific), it found they like the new features that replace third-party products such as VPNs and encryption.
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Posted by Doug Barney on February 17, 201010 comments
Microsoft bought its way into the enterprise search market when it bought Fast Search & Transfer ASA, with its semi-eponymously named FAST line of search tools (makes it almost easy to remember). FAST was a multiplatform system and is just as easily installed on Linux or Unix boxes as it is on Windows.
That will all end with next round of Windows-only search tools. The good news? While FAST won't install on Linux/Unix, future versions will still be able to search across them.
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Posted by Doug Barney on February 17, 20103 comments