Brands become huge when they're used as common words. A Kleenex is a tissue
to most -- doesn't matter who cut down the trees to make it. A Coke is a cola,
and most of us would gladly accept a Pepsi or even an RC if the real thing wasn't
available.
And when we search the Internet, we don't MSN Live Search it -- we Google it,
baby!
And that ubiquity is the main reason why Google
is the most valuable brand in the world today, two places ahead of Microsoft.
While I often cast doubt on just how broadly Google competes (I see it as a
search and ad company), this brand gives it a huge leg up in any new markets
it cares to enter. If it made a super-caffeinated cola beverage, I'm sure we'd
all be asking for a Google instead of a Coke. Then Coke could strike back with
a killer search engine!
Posted by Doug Barney on April 24, 20070 comments
A week or two ago, I asked faithful Redmond Report readers if they
love
or hate the Office ribbon interface. First, I want to thank the 50 or so
folks that took the time to write. Your work was not in vain.
About half of your letters were posted in the newsletter, and I showed the
other half to an Office product manager when I was in Redmond last week. His
eyes bugged out a bit when he saw just how disruptive the new interface is.
While many would never return to the standard toolbar, most of you wish Microsoft
would go back in time and reverse its decision to go with the ribbon.
Venture Architects Labs feels your pain. If you've got a spare Jackson in your
wallet, the company will send you ToolbarToggle,
which implements the old toolbar in the new Office 2007 suite.
I can save you that $20 and hundreds more. Send me $5 and I'll tell you in
person to stick with Office 2003 and download the free translator so you can
work with newer XML-based files. Now, that's a bargain!
Posted by Doug Barney on April 24, 20070 comments
Late last week, news broke that
Dell
was once again offering XP to home users wary of Vista.
Offering old OSes is old news for the corporate market which upgrades far more
slowly than power users, gamers and your run-of-the-mill teen. But critics have
come out of the woodwork, arguing that the Dell move means that Vista has entirely
stalled. I don't think that's true at all.
I'm sure there are some consumers that actually do prefer XP to Vista, but
my guess is that the real demand for XP from Dell is one-off corporate purchases
where a home/consumer PC is cheap and easy to buy.
Posted by Doug Barney on April 23, 20070 comments
The Google train keeps a-rolling, pulling in more money, more press and more
search market share.
All this momentum pushed
revenues to $3.6 billion for the latest quarter with profits of over a billion
dollars (who says software doesn't have healthy margins?).
While pundits see Google as perhaps the future of end user software, the vast
majority of Google's dough comes from good, old-fashioned ad dollars, which
are spent in new-fashioned ways.
The real question is: What will Google build (or buy) with its increasingly
large cash reserves?
Posted by Doug Barney on April 23, 20070 comments
Always spunky AMD put a hurt on Intel with faster chips for game PCs, cheaper
prices, a killer 64-bit strategy and by leading the dual-/multi-core charge.
You had to know Intel wasn't going to take this guff forever, and you were
right. The chip giant took the gloves off and whacked AMD soundly with even
lower prices, an aggressive dual-core plan and by leveraging its many OEM relationships.
All that helped drive
AMD results down faster then a 2001 Enron share price, as AMD lost over
$600 million in its latest quarter.
Here's hoping the company gets back on its feet. Intel fights way harder when
it has a little competition.
Posted by Doug Barney on April 23, 20070 comments
We talked last week about a
Windows
Server DNS vulnerability that has had IT hopping -- both hopping to fix
it and hopping mad!
Well, folks, Microsoft is on the case, working around the clock to build what
observers call a "mega-patch" which could be delivered before next
month's Patch Tuesday.
In the meantime, Microsoft suggests blocking port 139, and tweaking IPSec and
all your firewalls.
Posted by Doug Barney on April 23, 20070 comments
Microsoft dialed into the National Association of Broadcasters convention in
Las Vegas and
showed
off Silverlight, a new tool for building rich interactive Web apps and for
running TV-quality video in a browser.
The widespread perception is that Microsoft is way behind Google and other
competitors when it comes to Web apps and Software as a Service. But as one
of the founders of Redmond Developer News
magazine, which covers Microsoft's
development tools, I'm not so sure.
I'd argue that if you are trying to write these kinds of apps, no one has a
deeper portfolio of tools than Microsoft.
Posted by Doug Barney on April 17, 20070 comments
Here's a cool twist: Microsoft is arguing that Google, with its
impending
purchase of DoubleClick, will have too much monopoly power. Not only that,
but Google may simply know too much about our private lives,
the
boys from Redmond argue.
Of course, Microsoft wanted this monopoly power and the ability to know too
much about our private lives, too, as it was also bidding for DoubleClick. Sour
grapes? Perhaps.
Is Google too powerful and does it know too much? Answers welcome at [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on April 17, 20070 comments
Microsoft, locked in a pitched battle over virtualization with VMware, is
seeing
some key products slip. Delayed products include Virtual Server 2005 and
a test version of Windows Server virtualization (dubbed "Viridian").
These delays are far from fatal. I expect the VMware/Microsoft virtualization
war to rage for years.
Which vendor do you prefer? Let us know at [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on April 17, 20070 comments
Microsoft Word can't win for losing these days. First, it has critics like
me who, after two decades, still can't figure out how to use the software properly.
But more problematic are the holes that security experts keep finding. In April
alone, a handful of vulnerabilities were found for Word, including
a big one for Word 2007, the latest and greatest in a long line of Microsoft
word processors.
By the way, do you love or hate the ribbon interface? Let us know at [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on April 16, 20070 comments
I just saved $2,000. I was all set to buy a Mac laptop as soon as Leopard, the
new OS, shipped this spring. Fortunately for my bank account,
Leopard
is being pushed back to this fall. It seems that Leopard developers are
being switched over to the iPhone project so that it can stay on track to ship
in June.
I wouldn't mind an iPhone, but $500 is a mite steep. What about you? Will you
be lining up come June to pick up one of these little beauties? Let me know
at [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on April 16, 20070 comments