Savvysoft
isn't
so savvy when it comes to trademarks.
The company, realizing that Microsoft hadn't registered Excel as a trademark,
launched a product called "TurboExcel," and then tried to finagle
Microsoft into paying heaps of dough to keep the name "Excel."
It didn't work, and now TurboExcel, which runs on top of Microsoft Excel, is
called "Calc4Web."
Not the catchiest name I've ever heard, but it sure does beat Windows Live
Hotmail. Is it Windows, is it Live or is it Hotmail?
Posted by Doug Barney on May 02, 20071 comments
The
second
beta of Microsoft's Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) shipped a few days ago,
and Microsoft says it is an utterly different product from beta 1.
VMM is a tool that helps track performance and manage virtual machines. And
if Microsoft wants to keep pace with VMware, it better get products like VMM
right.
In fact, I can't think of a company that has been so successful, despite being
in Redmond's crosshairs. Well, maybe Google!
Does virtualization really represent a sea change, or is it just rehashed mainframe
technology from the '70s? Let me know at [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on May 01, 20070 comments
I got a couple of reminders last week from Microsoft about how Windows Genuine
Advantage (WGA) works and why it's so important (at least to Microsoft).
The company is hoping I'll pass on this information about anti-piracy to customers
and partners so we can all do our part in protecting Microsoft's revenue stream.
But in reading the description, I was left with a nagging doubt. I'm not an
anti-piracy technology guru, so the need for WGA to regularly check the software
after it was initially confirmed as legit is puzzling.
As a user, I must prove in the first month of using Vista that I paid for the
copy. Thereafter, Microsoft pings my computer to make sure my copy is still
legit -- as if I've stopped payment on the check, or something.
Is there a technical reason that my underdeveloped brain can't fathom? Let
me know at [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on May 01, 20070 comments
There are a whole lot of big areas where Microsoft's strategy is unclear. Software-as-a-service
(SaaS) is one of them. Instead of showing leadership, Microsoft is allowing
companies such as Salesforce.com to define what SaaS is and how it's done.
Microsoft
finally went on the record, and while it didn't lay out a grand SaaS strategy,
it did define its idea of how a SaaS app is architected.
In Microsoft's view, a SaaS app has three parts. The consumption side refers
to those who use the software. There's an application architecture that is supported
by the ISVs that write the software. And finally, the delivery piece is handled
by the service providers who host the app.
Now, if Microsoft could just explain how it plans to address these three chunks,
I'll be happy.
Posted by Doug Barney on May 01, 20070 comments
Sometimes, journalists write provocatively just to be provocative. The Web
site
Light Reading
did this early in its life, and now it seems that
The
Register out of the U.K. is doing the same thing.
Last week, just before Microsoft's earnings report, The Register posted an
eight-page diatribe arguing that Steve
Ballmer should be replaced with someone like Lou Gerstner, who ran IBM in
the '90s.
First, I would like to point out that before joining Big Blue, Gerstner made
his shareholders wealthy by promoting Big Cancer. As chairman of the company
that owned R.J. Reynolds, Gerstner defended smoking while shipping millions
of butts to eager lungs around the world.
Say what you will about Microsoft, but its products don't lead to a prolonged
and agonizing death.
Microsoft and Ballmer are not perfect (though they are plenty fun to watch),
but let's look at the fundamentals. A day after The Register ripped into Ballmer,
his company announced record profits. Microsoft has also managed to hold onto
its desktop market share at the same time that it's building an impressive server
business, and is poised to become a major player in ERP with Microsoft Dynamics.
I challenge critics like the hotheads at The Register to spend a day researching
what Microsoft offers on the desktops, in gaming, for developers, in ERP and
on the server. Then match that up against any rival.
I agree that Microsoft spends too much time thinking about and responding to
Google. I don't think Google really matters all that much. Google and Microsoft
only overlap in a few markets and all these markets (search, ad-based software,
mapping) are new to the boys in Redmond -- and represent an expansion of the
Microsoft franchise.
Tell me where I'm wrong and where The Register is right at [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on April 30, 20070 comments
In a recent editorial, I argued that
print
is far from dead, and pointed out that the Redmond Media Group launched
three print pubs in the space of 25 months.
Now the editor in chief of PC Magazine,
Jim Louderback, is seeing things my way.
A PR man/blogger from Edelman PR had the unmitigated gall to write that he
tosses his free copy of PC Mag right into the garbage. This PR man/clown
apparently never paused to reflect on the countless pitches his company makes
to PC Mag, literally begging to get into Louderback's pages.
Louderback, knowing the power that print still wields, responded by musing
that perhaps
the magazine should boycott this PR company's clients.
And what did the man with the intestinal fortitude to stand up to PC Magazine
do? He shriveled up like a worm on a hot Alabama driveway and apologized
profusely.
Posted by Doug Barney on April 30, 20070 comments
The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) believes that Google and DoubleClick
already know too much about us, and the combination will be a disaster for personal
privacy. The group is
filing
suit with the Federal Trade Commission to stop the merger.
EPIC members worry that the two companies can blend Web surfing histories and
search histories, and find out just what kind of creeps many of us are.
Do you worry about Web privacy, and should we have to opt in to such intrusions?
Let me know at [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on April 26, 20070 comments
I've always liked Sun Microsystems. It's feisty, clever and always doing new
things (kinda like our friends up in Redmond).
Unlike Microsoft, Sun hasn't been consistently profitable and doesn't have
any monopolies it can leverage. But Sun can be proud of one thing: It
rang up a decent profit -- some $67 million -- this past quarter.
That wasn't nearly enough for Wall Street, which wanted a little more ching.
Sun's stock fell sharply right after the profits were announced.
Posted by Doug Barney on April 26, 20070 comments
A small Texas software developer claims that
.NET
is .NOT entirely original, and that the concept of having an object framework
where each object can "be accessed or modified separately" is the
creation of Vertical Computer Systems Inc., covered by a patent, and not the
brainchild of Microsoft Corp.
I haven't dug too deeply into all this, but this patent seems to speak to a
fairly fundamental precept of object-oriented programming.
Worst case scenario? Microsoft digs into its petty cash fund and pays Vertical
off.
Posted by Doug Barney on April 25, 20070 comments
I know plenty of people who are addicted to their BlackBerrys, and the only
thing I can figure is they must all have tiny fingers. I love checking my e-mail,
but writing anything on the darn thing turns out like this:
Tjanmks fir yoyr niote, I'll bei inm towen nexrt weaek and hopoe to getr
togfether. Taklk to yoiu soopn.
My fingers aren't huge, but if I only hit two keys at once, I'm doing well.
Research in Motion is now offering
its software to makers of other mobile devices such as the Palm Treo. Now,
if Palm can make a unit with BlackBerry features and a keyboard I can actually
use, then we can talk.
Have any of you tried the BlackBerry 7130, where one key represents two letters?
It took me 20 minutes to type in my e-mail address. I'd get to "dbarne"
and then it would change it to "fbarne." How did you figure this thing
out? Let us know at [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on April 25, 20070 comments
Microsoft, now that BlackBerry software is open to other device makers, will
be
adding some
BlackBerry features to Windows Mobile 6, allowing devices to tap into the
BlackBerry Enterprise Server to get corporate e-mail.
Dang, wish Redmond had done this earlier. Then I could use a smart phone instead
of my bulky BlackBerry 8703.
Posted by Doug Barney on April 25, 20070 comments