I just got a new Dell dual-core running Windows 7 (thanks to my IT guy, Erik!). So far, Windows 7 is working extraordinarily well, though I haven't moved over all my old apps or connected to all the printers I use.
Office 2007 is a different story. I opened Word looking for the basics. You know -- creating a doc, opening a doc, saving a doc. I couldn't find the commands anywhere. Turns out I had to configure the darn thing so these were exposed. It felt bizarre. I'll see if Word 2007 gets more normal the more I use it.
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Posted by Doug Barney on June 10, 200912 comments
Microsoft has long been an international company. It has operations overseas and hires a ton of international workers. That's why Bill Gates has always been so concerned with expanding H-1B visas. And if the Obama administration and Congress have their way on taxes, more Microsoft employees than ever could be in other countries.
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Posted by Doug Barney on June 10, 200922 comments
When Microsoft begins to lose control of a market, it doesn't just break out new products -- it also breaks out the speeches and press conferences. And so it was that Microsoft announced its vision for netbooks at a conference in Taiwan, where a good many netbooks are made.
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Posted by Doug Barney on June 10, 20097 comments
JavaOne, a show put on by Sun, has been a big and vibrant event. This latest show, however, was overshadowed by the
$64 million question
: Will Java's new steward care as much about the language/system? Oracle, as you likely know, is buying Sun and thus buying a controlling role for the open source Java. (I know it sounds strange that a company drives an open source project, but someone has to lead, eh what?)
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Posted by Doug Barney on June 05, 20091 comments
Any of you who've read this newsletter for more than a week or two know I'm a bit of an old-timer, at least in computer years. So when I hear that Office has turned into an actual development platform, I'm not surprised. I fondly recall conversations with Steve Ballmer back in the '80s about Visual Basic for Applications which replaced basic batch files.
Office has grown since then, and is now positioned as a front-end to database, ERP, BI and other back-ends. So why was a planned Office developer conference cancelled and merged into a SharePoint event?
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Posted by Doug Barney on June 05, 20091 comments
Last year, I attended VMworld in Las Vegas and it was pretty much awesome. There were 12,000 to 14,000 people there, as I recall -- more than double what Microsoft just pulled in for Tech-Ed. It was also an industry show, where Citrix and Microsoft pitched their wares right alongside VMware.
Maybe it was too much of an industry event. And maybe it was Microsoft's in-your-face Hyper-V marketing that took place right under VMware's nose. In either case, VMware is looking to turn its show into one that promotes VMware, not competitors.
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Posted by Doug Barney on June 03, 20092 comments
Service-oriented architecture (SOA) is a way of developing and deploying applications so that components and the apps themselves can easily connect. And this component-based approach also makes it easier to drop in new functions. (If I've got the definition wrong, feel free to correct me at [email protected].) The end result should be faster development and deployment, all leading to cost savings and a better return.
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Posted by Doug Barney on June 03, 20091 comments
In decades past, Microsoft pre-announced products and then promptly blew each and every delivery date. Recently, though, Redmond has been more circumspect in announcing dates, always saying it will ship no software before its time.
But when it comes to Windows 7, Microsoft is beating the drums more than the Blue Man Group. The message is, barring some unforeseen disaster, Windows 7 will be out before the year is done. In fact, it will be out before Halloween, on Oct. 22.
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Posted by Doug Barney on June 03, 20095 comments
On desktops and laptops, Linux has made less of a dent then a feather on an Abrams tank. On netbooks, though, Linux and now maybe even Google's Android pose a real threat. Microsoft got the message and will do whatever it takes to rule the netbook roost, which is exactly why it's doing away with the anticipated Windows 7 restrictions that would let just three apps run on netbooks.
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Posted by Doug Barney on June 01, 20093 comments
Microsoft has been flailing around in the search space for years. It built up the horribly named MSN Live Search into an also-ran, tried to buy Yahoo and bad-mouthed Google every chance it got. Now Microsoft has a new approach -- a built-from-scratch engine with a name that could either be the dumbest idea ever or could actually catch on. Bing was launched late last week.
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Posted by Doug Barney on June 01, 20092 comments
Maybe they're just trying to prop up their sagging stock, or maybe they really believe it, but both Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer recently argued that the high-tech economy has a bright future and that we ain't seen nothin' yet.
Thirty-four years after the founding of Microsoft, both believe we're still in the early stages of the computer revolution. Gates' comments focused on what technology can do to help the world, an area that The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is devoted to.
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Posted by Doug Barney on June 01, 20091 comments
This week, Service Pack 2 for Vista and Windows Server 2008 made it to broad release. One can choose a full download as long as your network or machine won't choke on the 300MB-600MB beast. You can also opt for a tidy 43MB download through Automatic Update.
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Posted by Doug Barney on May 29, 20099 comments