Liberal magazine
The New Republic was so anxious for a scoop that it
let a U.S. soldier write anonymously about abuses in Iraq and
never
bothered to check his facts. Turns out Pvt. Scott Beauchamp was spinning
more yarn than a Liz Claiborne sweater factory. The lies were uncovered by
The
New Republic's right-wing rival,
The Weekly Standard.
Now, the military has clamped down on the soldier, taking away his access to
computers, the 'Net and telephones (not sure if he still gets to use his iPod).
There are two wrongs here: trusting bloggers on something so serious (um, like
career- and national security-threatening serious) and clamping down too hard
on someone who is decidedly a moron (too bad we can't bump down this clown,
but he's already a private).
Posted by Doug Barney on August 13, 20070 comments
Microsoft is crowing about Vista sales, and for any other vendor,
60
million sold would be truly huge. But this is Microsoft we're talking about,
and it's held to a higher standard.
With an installed base of Windows rounding about a billion, 60 mil is a drop
in the PC bucket. And the 60 million figure itself is taking some heat, with
critics pointing out that not all of these licenses are actually in use.
Still, I wouldn't mind being in Microsoft's shoes. Thick client PCs are still
the main way we compute, and nothing -- not Linux nor the Mac nor Google --
is currently posing a serious threat.
Have you found any good resources about Vista compatibility? Let us in on them
by writing [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on July 30, 20070 comments
Want to find out exactly where Microsoft stands on open source? Don't bother
using Google. Just pop over to
http://www.microsoft.com/opensource/default.mspx.
This spankin' new Web site details
how
Microsoft works with open source vendors, how Microsoft will support your
mixed environment, and what open source projects Microsoft has in its otherwise
proprietary pipeline. Pretty interesting reading.
Meanwhile, we covered these issues in detail months ago in a Redmond
magazine cover story. Get the skinny here.
Posted by Doug Barney on July 30, 20070 comments
A
few weeks ago, Doug wrote about the fall of citizen journalism sites, whose
effectiveness he compared to that of Eugene Tackleberry (of
Police Academy
fame). Bruce wonders how many readers missed the reference:
"You're going to school NOW, mister!" I'll bet more than 50
percent of your readers didn't even know who Eugene Tackleberry was until
they looked it up. Question: Do you have a paper copy of the orginal Police
Academy training quiz they handed out at movie theatres? I believe I have
an original of it at home.
This brings up a good point: movie history. A lot of the "great
movies" in the past 30 to 40 years are very unknown to the 20- to 30-year-old
crowd. We gave our foreign co-worker here a list of the top 100 comedies of
all time and she had a non-stop laugh riot. But many of our under-30 staff
don't relate to famous quotes like the one above. Which makes it all the funnier
when they don't get the jokes!
It is also my gut opinion that this line of movies made a star out of
Steve Guttenberg who happens to be one of my most favorite actors.
-Bruce
Thoughts? Let us have 'em! Leave a comment below or send an e-mail to [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on July 30, 20070 comments
After a
speech
last week by Ray Ozzie, I'm suddenly less confused about Microsoft Live.
At a financial analysts meeting, Ozzie told the bean counters and Gordon Geckos
in attendance that Live is an entire platform consisting of four levels:
- Global Foundation Services, which is the hardware (read: massive Microsoft
data centers) that supports Web services
- Cloud Infrastructure Services, which provides load balancing and deployment
- Live Platform Services, which includes identity management and other application
services
- And last, but not least, are the apps themselves. Here you can collaborate,
word process, surf and, of course, read all those advertisements that make
this all possible.
This all sounds a bit like the old seven-layer OSI model for networks, with
applications at the top. Except the OSI model has no provision for ads!
Posted by Doug Barney on July 30, 20070 comments
I recently wrote an editorial
arguing
that print is not dead (and filed my copy pretty much the day my old employer,
InfoWorld, killed its paper edition).
Since then, Network Computing (of which I was editor in chief for a
spell) shut down, as did Optimize and, before that, the old Network
Magazine.
These were all fine magazines, but what really gets my tears flowing is hearing
that the Weekly World News will no
longer be gracing our supermarket checkouts. This publication was one good
read. Besides aliens, Bigfoot and Bat Boy, it has some amazing prose. If you
want a perfect example of alliteration, just check out one of their leads.
There is clearly massive change in the world of media. But I still believe
that those who do print right will survive for decades to come. Heck, my group
has four magazines that all prove that point!
Do you love or hate print? Let us know at [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on July 30, 20070 comments
One reader shares his thoughts on the U.S. tech sector's $102 billion trade
deficit:
I see the problem as twofold. One, the American lifestyle to which we
have become accustomed has mutated into a self-centered gimme-gimme kind of
mindset, where all things should be cheap and disposable.
The other is that other countries are actually CULTURES; the U.S. has
no culture. So we stand alone, basically doing economic battle with people
who are held together by their belief in what they are, often bound by an
almost World War II-like desire to excel as a race. People in this country
seem to hold Japanese and German (and probably all foreign) products in higher
regard than our own. Why? Because they believe that those countries have pride
in their work and that they are unified in their efforts to supply a superior
product. Why do they believe that? Because they have jobs which reveal a total
lack in ethics by their co-workers, and they see the low quality of work.
Why is there a low quality of work? Because everything is cheap and disposable,
you don't have to work hard, and you're not a team or a culture struggling
for survival.
Myself, I know the value of the American worker, and I strive to buy
not only U.S.-made, but also U.S.-owned. I willingly pay more, something most
Americans refuse to do. I remember when all my server stuff was made in the
U.S., and only small chips came from foreign markets. Now, companies like
Intel are investing more in off-shore manufacturing, and you have to wonder
when the technology will leave with the manufacturing. People have to be willing
to sacrifice and keep those U.S. companies here, even if it means paying more
for less.
-Mel
Tell us what you think! Leave a comment below or send an e-mail to [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on July 23, 20070 comments
I wouldn't mind having the
bad
quarter Google just posted. The search engine king reported earnings of
nearly a billion dollars on sales of nearly $4 billion -- a neat little 25 percent
margin. Meanwhile, revenue was up almost 60 percent compared to the previous
year's quarter.
So Wall Street geniuses drove the stock price up, right? Not on your life.
The Street was looking for more and slapped Google upside the head by driving
the share price down 8 percent in one day.
Meanwhile, Google exec Eric Schmidt is talking cautiously about the future,
indicating that the company will slow down its hiring (is that why it hasn't
returned my calls?).
Microsoft's
results, to my mind, were also superb. It has more than three times the
profits of Google (MS had $3 billion) and over three times its revenues (MS
had over $13 billion). But as an older and larger company, Redmond's growth
rates failed to compare to Google's.
Posted by Doug Barney on July 23, 20070 comments
Marc Andreessen has never been seen as a real heavyweight executive. Many felt
he lucked into the whole browser thing and went along for the ride at Netscape.
I sometimes veered into that category, as well.
Marc, I take it all back. You're smart, inventive and a heckuva businessman.
The proof is in the results.
After Netscape, Marc (using his first name saves me from spelling his last
one) started Loudcloud. He sold a chunk of that to EDS and turned the rest into
Opsware, which he just unloaded
on HP for $1.6 billion -- despite the fact that Opsware has been losing
money. Now, that's a businessman!
Which tech exec do you think is underrated? Let us know at [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on July 23, 20070 comments
I've been a defender of Microsoft Research and the billions that the company
spends exploring the computing envelope. Other journalists haven't been as kind,
taking the division to task for not turning its research into leading-edge products
we all can use.
The more I hear about Microsoft Research demos that are all show and no product,
the more I start to agree. While there's a place for pure research, other companies
-- such as startups -- research, develop, then ship!
Last week, Microsoft
Research held a Faculty Summit where it showed off new pen and search technology,
as well as speakers that can isolate two different sounds in a single room (so
you can watch the hockey game while your spouse listens to "Days of Our
Lives," or vice versa). Oh, and don't forget the robot that uses an old
cell phone as its brain.
I'm still a fan of Microsoft Research, but would be an even bigger supporter
if I could use some of its inventions. What say you? What do you want to see
Microsoft invent? Let us know at [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on July 23, 20070 comments
Wondering what the
next
release of Windows for the desktop will look like? So am I, and so -- I
imagine -- are the developers themselves.
But here's what we do know: It already has a code-name, "Windows 7"
(Windows 95 was 4, 98 was 5 and XP was 6), it's expected to ship in 2010, and
it will run in 32 or 64 bits. Microsoft is also kicking around the idea of selling
it on a subscription basis.
Do you really want to rent your OS? And should Redmond bite the bullet and
go pure 64-bit? Let us know at [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on July 23, 20070 comments
The rise of blogs was supposed to fundamentally reshape the world of journalism. No longer would you need a degree from j-school (of course, I have the rare honor of a degree in Marxian economics, which is now useful only in North Korea and Cambridge, Mass.!).
No, news was to be driven by those closest to it: real, actual citizens.
Unfortunately, these citizen journalism sites were about as effective as Eugene Tackleberry on patrol.
The latest casualty is community news Web site Backfence, which recently called it quits, citing "business issues." What could those business issues be? No traffic and no ads?
Posted by Doug Barney on July 16, 20070 comments