Redmond magazine's online news editor Kurt Mackie and I just
talked to Mike Nash, corporate vice president for Windows product management, about IE 8.
I had my own opinion of IE 8 based on over 50 Redmond Report readers who wrote me. My take based on your take is that the beta and release candidate are far from primetime and that many of the new features were pioneered by other browsers, but if stability issues are resolved, it could be a solid enterprise browser.
Nash was obviously far more bullish, arguing that IE 8 should not just be an enterprise browser, but the enterprise browser. He argued it has the best security, is easiest to manage (many of you agree here) and has usability tweaks that make it fun and efficient. Tell me where Nash or I are wrong at [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on March 11, 20090 comments
Steve Ballmer has far more nice things to say about the economy in one speech than Barack Obama has in a dozen. While the president's teleprompter has doom and gloom down to a science, Ballmer sees the tech sector
continuing to innovate. Ballmer argues that innovation from startups and large concerns will continue, and that Microsoft will still pour billions into R&D.
In my opinion, tech -- especially software -- is far more agile than car companies or banks with trillions in suspect loans. Do Ballmer and I have a right to be at least a little bullish, or should we go back and reread Paul Samuelson? Your best macro or microeconomic analyses welcome at [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on March 11, 20090 comments
Readers share their thoughts on Vista, including how
SP2 stacks up and what it might mean for Windows 7:
Ladies and gentlemen, Windows 7 is Vista SP3. It's OK, breathe.
If Vista SP2 rocks, imagine it on Red Bull and Mountain Dew after just winning the lottery!
-Rob
I have been using the RC version of Vista SP2 for four days now and it makes a big difference for me. All of my programs load quicker and boot times are faster. Being the avid gamer that I am, I generally notice performance, compatibility and stability changes faster than the average user. Anyone still having issues with Vista needs to have their computer checked by someone who knows what they are doing as there is a good chance that person's issues are self-inflicted.
Vista is not a good choice for the average user as it tends not to be user-friendly. After installing Vista, there are a few system services that need to be turned off as it helps with resource usage and speeds up the OS considerably (UAC, System Restore, SuperFetch, ReadyBoost and Volume Shadow Copy). Turning off these functions freed up 40 percent of my RAM and slowed my initial processor and hard drive usage by more than 75 percent -- not to mention I freed up several gigs of hard drive space.
-Anonymous
Speaking of turning components off, Windows 7 will apparently let you do that to even IE. And Marc thinks he knows why:
Of course you realize that Microsoft has really done nothing more than add a switch to make the iexplorer.exe executable user-accessible. It's the same with WMP and the other applications that will be "de-selectable."
All the underlying code is still there. The APIs are still there.
All Microsoft has done is make it possible for it to leave users (and, more importantly, clueless legislators) with the impression that it has unbundled whatever the EU (or DoJ) asked it to unbundle. Since one can upgrade to another version of Windows 7 with a simple upgrade of the license key, Microsoft no longer needs to distribute multiple kinds of media, and it gets to sell these upgrades without profit-taking by the middleman. It's all smoke and mirrors -- the EU gets what it wants, users get what they want, Microsoft gets what it wants. There is more than one way to skin a cat.
-Marc
And Charles thinks he there might be a correlation between a story about the Gates family being Apple-free...and something else:
Regarding the article on Bill Gates banning the use of iPhones in his premises, it should be noted that on the same day that hit the Internet, there was another article on a former Taliban mullah getting up to-speed online with an iPhone. Is this irony or cause and effect? If the latter, which is the cause and which the effect?
-Charles
Tell us what you think! Leave a comment below or send an e-mail to [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on March 11, 20090 comments
Yesterday was a light Patch Tuesday with only three fixes, but Excel users may have preferred four. It seems that a publicly disclosed Excel RCE hole is
still wide open.
This is particularly troubling, argued BeyondTrust CEO John Moyer, because Excel is in high use due to the tax season. So far, the attacks are limited. Let's hope they stay that way.
Posted by Doug Barney on March 11, 20090 comments
Forrester Research now claims that the majority of large and SME shops
now use or plan to use some form of server virtualization. Of those that already virtualize, a bit over half use VMware. Hyper-V comes in between 18 and 22 percent. Not bad for a nearly new product.
This is just the beginning. As the economy tightens and power costs soar, virtualization and even cloud services will take hold. The good news is these virtual tools are getting better all the time and putting important apps on them is less risky.
Do you use virtualization to save energy? Have you pushed any other green initiatives? Are there ways to use Microsoft software more efficiently, and has Microsoft told you about them? Help me spread the word by writing [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on March 09, 20090 comments
Microsoft got in a whole heap of trouble with the U.S. Justice Department (which died down during the last administration) and the European Union. The beef was over the bundling of IE and other tools with Windows.
Microsoft's counter was that the integration was critical and that IE was so intertwined, it couldn't be extracted from the OS. We've looked at the issue and concluded that pulling IE from XP is possible, but it takes quite a bit of effort.
Microsoft apparently figured it all out and Windows 7 users can remove IE 8, Media Player and Media Center, Windows Search, and fax from the operating system. There are likely two motivations behind this. For one, users like the ability lean out the OS by removing bits they don't use. A bigger reason? The EU is still all over Microsoft for bundling.
Posted by Doug Barney on March 09, 20090 comments
Tomorrow, Microsoft will release a meager
three patches. Two address spoofing attacks and the third goes after remote code execution.
While it seems like a like minor Patch Tuesday, remember it only takes one unfixed hole to swallow your network.
Posted by Doug Barney on March 09, 20090 comments
Vista SP2 (what Doug calls a "late beta") is
now out. Here are your impressions so far:
For those of us in the trenches, Vista SP1 was fine (though I'm not surprised that your Dad had trouble considering how much CRAPWARE is pre-installed these days.) Cleanly installed, Vista SP1 is a great choice. SP1 brought with it much stability -- but little else.
I've been testing SP2 (first beta, then RC-Escrow, and now the full RC code). Vista SP2 does feel faster but it is still not nearly as fast as Windows 7 (which I am also beta testing). SP2 is rock-solid stable and I am using it in my own production environment without problems. What this means for me is that I will recommend SP2 to my father-in-law (who is running Vista SP1 now) as soon as it goes RTM, but for me, I am going to move all my systems to Windows 7 as soon as it goes RTM. Until then, I will run SP2 in whatever flavor I can get it.
-Marc
Maybe Vista SP2 will have the goodness of Win 7.
-Philip
I haven't experimented yet with the Vista SP2 "late beta." But, think it's safe to hope that the forthcoming Vista SP2 will actually upgrade Vista to a stable pre-release Windows 7? And bring some sort of fax app back into availability?
-Fred
To answer Fred's question, we don't know what the fax situation will be in future versions of Vista and Windows 7 -- but Sharon thinks it's a moot point, anyway:
Fax...ROFL! If you really still need this, there are plenty of free apps.
-Sharon
What can Microsoft do -- if it should do anything at all -- to keep the economic downturn from hitting it too hard? Here's your take:
Microsoft has nothing to worry about because first and foremost, it's a software vendor. As long as it is selling enough Windows and Office licenses to OEMs and enterprise customers, it can ride out anything. And even if sales drop off, all Microsoft has to do is lay off a few people and rent a little less office space.
That's not the same for Apple or the Microsoft OEMs. Hardware makers have to pay for the production capacity they own, whether they are producing hardware or not. And they have to store the inventory they cannot sell. They cannot just sell off production capacity or warehouse space.
-Marc
I was just reading a Computerworld item that says "Netbooks Are Killing Microsoft." It seems that "30% of all Netbooks ship with Linux."
I blame Vista for this. If Microsoft continues to sell bloatware, more and more people will change to Linux. Microsoft needs to be selling a slim-trim Windows that can be run on low-cost machines. Yes, that means Windows will have to be cheaper, too, but I think if M$ doesn't change its ways, it will find more and more people learning to use Linux and OpenOffice.
-John
How about Microsoft Visual FoxPro? MS has stated that there will be no new releases of the product past its current version 9.0. However, the worldwide developer community considers VFP a very viable product; visit http://codeplex.com/VFPX to see one example of how some of our brightest developers in the VFP community are taking charge and continuing the development of Visual FoxPro.
As a member of a local VFP developer community, the Chicago FoxPro User and Developer Group, I can attest to the fact that this 'marked for dead' product is alive and well. And we are one of many just in the U.S. The VFP community spans the globe. Microsoft could weather the storm a lot better if it worked smarter and did not hrow out the baby with the bath water!
-Tom
And Earl thinks that regardless of how the economy's doing, blaming foreign workers doesn't always wash:
One of my clients is an immigration attorney. While in their offices, I kept hearing the phrase "prevailing wage." I finally put two and two together: Foreigners must find work at the prevailing wage to qualify for an H-1B visa. They cannot be hired for less than Americans would take. Once hired, they pay U.S. taxes.
So the question "Why hire foreigners?" must be asked. The answer is two-fold. First, the foreigner probably has a greater facility with a different language and culture which would help in international situations. Second, businesses prefer the most qualified candidate. These foreigners were among the best in their countries. They will probably be among the best in our country, too.
-Earl
Tell us what you think! Leave a comment below or send an e-mail to [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on March 06, 20090 comments
The Microsoft Windows 7 hype machine
took aim at enterprise customers as executives touted its high-end features. A couple of features require Windows Server 2008 R2. The ability for remote Win 7 clients to securely connect to servers without a dedicated VPN only comes with the Windows 2008/Win 7 combo. A technology that speeds up WAN connections, BranchCache, also requires the latest and greatest Windows Server 2008.
Microsoft is also touting BitLocker, which will work with external hard drives. IT can also lock down applications and configurations through AppLocker.
What IT really wants is a solid, fast, compatible OS. So far, that seems to describe Windows 7 to a T.
Posted by Doug Barney on March 06, 20090 comments
This story has been making the rounds. I first saw it on Digg, which got it from Gizmodo. Then a while later, it showed up on Drudge, which probably got it from Digg, which got it from Gizmodo. Now everyone probably knows about it.
Apparently, Vogue interviewed Melinda Gates and she disclosed that Bill won't allow family members to use iPods or iPhones. That leaves the Gates young'uns walking around with Zunes. Totally uncool!
I'm not sure how Bill deals with best bud Bono, who did iPod commercials (Apple even created a special Bono edition). "Uh, excuse me, Mr. Bono, but could you leave the iPod at the door?"
Posted by Doug Barney on March 06, 20090 comments
Bruce thinks he knows the reason why
server sales are slumping:
I'll tell you what the issue is: Companies are FINALLY realizing you don't have to buy new servers again and again and again, and are also starting to reuse licenses. Wait until people start seriously buying machines made with AMD chips where you can get better performance just by swapping CPU chips. Then there won't be a need to buy a new machine for some time.
-Bruce
And, because we haven't had one in a while, here's another Vista rant:
My beef is with Microsoft's take on faxing. With DOS 5 and 6, every fax modem came bundled with fax software. For Win 3.1, Microsoft provided a fax application with Windows. For Win 95, 98, ME, NT 3.5, NT 4, 2000 and XP -- Microsoft included a fax app with even the lowliest version of each of these.
Now, with Vista Home Premium, the fax app is GONE. Want it back? Shell out for Vista Ultimate or Vista Business. I protest! What will be the fax story for Windows 7? A fax app with even the lowliest version once again? Or no fax app at any price?
-Fred
Tell us what you think! Leave a comment below or send an e-mail to [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on March 04, 20090 comments
I'm always excited when a Windows guru builds a new product. What's a Windows guru? It's just an idea of mine where I chose 12 technical leaders from Microsoft third parties and tried to figure out
what made them tick.
One guru is Troy Werelius, CEO of Lucid8. Troy's latest baby is Recovery Advantage. When e-mail crashes, it usually falls to IT to make it all right. With Recovery Advantage, end users themselves can recover lost or accidently deleted mail and related attachments. That way IT can spend more time on strategic work rather than on recovering a deleted e-mail with a Pam Anderson attachment!
Posted by Doug Barney on March 04, 20090 comments