As editor in chief of
Redmond
magazine, I should be embarrassed to admit that I don't yet use Vista. In fact, I used to feel that way.
But the more I hear from real IT experts (translation: you, the Redmond Report reader), the more I think I'm actually on the leading edge by sticking with good, old XP Service Pack 2. My printers and external hard drives still work, and it has performance I can live with.
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Posted by Doug Barney on July 16, 20070 comments
Like Vista, OneCare has seen its share of problems. This consumer security bundle was roundly criticized by users (including a
Redmond
magazine staffer who had no end of problems) for installation troubles and what some claim is substandard anti-virus protection.
Now, Microsoft is prepping OneCare 2.0, which can protect multiple computers and offers centralized backup for networked computers.
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Posted by Doug Barney on July 16, 20070 comments
Those who think that Microsoft has no Software as a Service strategy (SaaS+S) must not have heard of
Dynamics Live CRM
, a hosted version of Microsoft's current CRM offering announced last week at Microsoft's annual partner conference.
Now, before you get too excited, I have a bone to pick with the name. Microsoft's original CRM product was called, I believe, simply "Microsoft CRM." Then it became "Microsoft Dynamics CRM." Now that everything that has anything to do with the Web is somehow called Live, it's now "Microsoft Dynamics Live CRM." That sure rolls off the old tongue!
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Posted by Doug Barney on July 16, 20070 comments
Despite its detente with Novell, Xandros and Linspire, the open source community
is giving Microsoft no quarter. The latest open source license, GPLv3, specifies
that future deals between Microsoft and open source software makers will be
in violation of the new license.
Is it any wonder, then, that Microsoft wants
nothing to do with GPLv3?
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Posted by Doug Barney on July 09, 20070 comments
Windows cognoscenti all know the Blue Screen of Death. Xbox 360 users are learning
about the Red Ring of Death: This is when three red lights turn on, indicating
that your Xbox is as frozen as Ted Williams' head (thanks to my daughter Lauren
for this sweet metaphor!).
Microsoft is tackling these hardware problems, extending warranties by up to
three years and
setting
aside $1 billion
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Posted by Doug Barney on July 09, 20070 comments
As you can see from the above item, Microsoft continues to do much of its product
planning by asking the question: "What would Google do?"
If Google didn't already own the world of online advertising, it might (if
Microsoft wasn't doing it already) shell
out $6 billion to buy aQuantive -- twice what Google is paying for DoubleClick.
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Posted by Doug Barney on July 09, 20070 comments
Six patches
will
be released tomorrow
, including three dubbed critical that involve the remote
execution of code. It's an equal-opportunity Patch Tuesday, as Office, Windows
and the .NET Framework will all get repairs.
Posted by Doug Barney on July 09, 20070 comments
Microsoft is continuing to reshape itself in Ray Ozzie's image. One of the bigger
initiatives is Live, a series of Web services meant to bring in either advertising
or subscription revenue.
Before the reorg, there was one group focused on the actual services and another
to build the infrastructure pieces, such as directory and identity. Now these
two groups are unified with the new entity tightly under the thumb of Mr.
Ozzie.
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Posted by Doug Barney on July 09, 20070 comments
Last
week
, Doug asked readers if they want to work at Microsoft, despite the
Microsoft Security Reponse Center's appearance in
Popular Science
's list
of the
worst
science jobs
. Looks like these readers haven't been put off:
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Posted by Doug Barney on July 09, 20070 comments
Working for Microsoft has never been easy. The stories of long hours, unceasing
pressure and relentless rain are legendary.
Those days, stock options made it all worthwhile. These days, the stock is
as flat as a world-record flapjack. And yet, the work goes on.
According to a recent article from Popular Science, one job at Microsoft
is particularly deserving of our sympathy. Those who work in Microsoft's Security
Response Center (profiled here)
have the sixth-worst
job in science. That's because these folks fight off what could be millions
of hackers exploiting thousands of holes.
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Posted by Doug Barney on July 02, 20070 comments
Anyone who has read this newsletter for longer than a week knows I'm interested
in Third World computing. My theory is that great minds exist everywhere. By
giving access to computers, the Internet and, thus, the entire world, who knows
what a poor child from a poor country can do?
I'm half-excited and half-disgusted with the efforts made by our biggest companies.
They talk about offering cheap technology to the Third World, but their definition
of cheap ain't exactly thrifty.
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Posted by Doug Barney on July 02, 20070 comments