A decade or so ago, I joined
InfoWorld, and my very first order of business
was to help Stuart Johnston finish reporting a story about Microsoft giving
its own developers access to APIs that third parties like Lotus, Borland, Ashton-Tate
and WordPerfect were shut out of.
Stuart did a remarkable job on the story, and it ended up being the center
of many of the antitrust allegations made against Microsoft.
Ten years later third parties have the very same complaints.
A suit in Iowa on behalf of consumers charges that Microsoft is violating
a 2002 agreement to play fair with APIs. I'm not sure exactly what's going
on here. Maybe I should give old Stu a call!
Posted by Doug Barney on January 24, 20070 comments
Microsoft is serious about Web services like Windows Live. To support such offerings,
Redmond is building a
half-billion-dollar,
400,000-square-foot facility in Texas. Unlike Google, I doubt this puppy
will be running much Linux!
That is an interesting point, as Microsoft will be able to test its high-end
server software in a hugely demanding environment.
Posted by Doug Barney on January 24, 20070 comments
I've got to tell you, I don't think this
new
alliance between Sun Microsystems and Intel is a very big deal -- unless
you are an AMD shareholder! Sun has already had success selling Intel-compatible
AMD-powered servers. Now it will just sell Intel-compatible Intel-powered servers.
Big whoop.
What kind of servers do you prefer, AMD or Intel-based, and why? Tell us all
at [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on January 24, 20070 comments
I had heard of a virus similar to the European Storm virus, where the e-mail
teaser is that Fidel Castro is dead, and stumbled across The Security News Portal
seeking details. I didn't find what I was looking for (though an overview can
be found
here)
-- I found something better.
In the midst of numerous Microsoft patch reports was a five-disc DVD set --
"Everybody
Loves Redmond: 2007 A New Year of Hilarious Patches." An obvious spoof,
the box is not quite ROTFL, but is almost LOL.
Posted by Doug Barney on January 23, 20070 comments
Spammers have a new technique to trick the unsuspecting. Their spams
look
just like the HTML newsletters that legitimate companies like airlines send
out to customers. Besides tricking end users, the messages can also trick spam
filters. Do you prefer HTML or text newsletters and why? Tell me at
[email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on January 23, 20070 comments
ActiveWin.com might be in the running for a Pulitzer after breaking this whopper
of a news story. The site claims -- get this -- that Longhorn will be officially
named Windows Server 2007. Now there's a scoop of Woodward and Bernstein proportions!
Our author Stuart Johnston is guessing Windows
Server 2008 might be a more accurate name.
Posted by Doug Barney on January 23, 20070 comments
A virus released in Europe through
messages
about a recent storm has spread to thousands of computers. While this precise
tactic might not work in the States and elsewhere, it won't be long 'til some
little puke hacker finds a new e-mailer teaser to carry this viral load. One
of my old bosses fell for the I Love You virus. What would you fall for? Let
us know at
[email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on January 23, 20070 comments
Microsoft doesn't want you to go all the way to the local Circuit City to get
your Vista fix. Instead, you can sit in your chair with your bathrobe (or whatever
else you care to wear) and
just
download the darn thing. Sounds like a decent idea. I just hope there is
a darn good utility to make sure your machine can handle what is a pretty demanding
OS, and an easy way to back out of the deal if your machine chokes on all that
code.
Posted by Doug Barney on January 22, 20070 comments
Last week, I complained about a low-level private investigator forced to plead
guilty in the HP spy case. The state of California might
let
young Bryan Wagner off its Golden State hooks because the 29-year-old is
already being punished (lightly it seems) by the feds.
Meanwhile, former chairwoman Patricia Dunn and three other alleged conspirators
were offered what sounds like the deal
of a lifetime. The feds will drop felony charges if they plead to a misdemeanor.
So far, the defendants haven't taken the deal. As a longtime watcher of "Law
& Order," I've got three words of advice: "Take the deal!"
Posted by Doug Barney on January 22, 20070 comments
There have been a lot of PC leaders in the past. IBM made a run for the crown,
and further back we had the likes of Kaypro, Osborne, Eagle and the very cool
Vector Graphics microcomputers.
HP (with Compaq under its belt) is now the clear and decided leader, and its
recently gained edge over Dell is growing
quarter by quarter. HP now has 17 to 18 percent of the worldwide market
while Dell has 14 to 15 percent.
I contributed to HP's success when I bought my daughter a new laptop late last
year. It turns out that replacing the screen on her old Toshiba was almost as
much as a new lapper. Whadda ya bid for a sweet Toshiba with a dead display?
Posted by Doug Barney on January 22, 20070 comments
A
tenth
of a billion people have already downloaded IE7, and it seems that complaints
about the browser have calmed down considerably. I still haven't upgraded, and
switch between the old IE and the new Firefox. I like Firefox's tabs, but still
find scrolling through bookmarks clunky. Why should I upgrade to IE7? Let me
know at
[email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on January 17, 20070 comments
This weekend, Microsoft started a contest with a pretty cool prize --
a
trip into space! Clues were given in Las Vegas, and new ones will be released
in other cities. According to the Robb Report (I can afford to buy the magazine,
just not anything in it!), the Learjet-based spacecraft can reach 150,000 feet
(at which point you can loosen but not undo your seatbelt), and cost a cool
quarter-mil. The craft could beat Longhorn out the door, as flights could start
as early as this fall.
I find it interesting that Microsoft didn't cut a deal with Paul Allen's SpaceShipOne.
Allen's rocket can go more than twice as high as the one Microsoft hooked up
with.
Posted by Doug Barney on January 17, 20070 comments