Have you greened your datacenter, server rooms, desktops or even storage arrays? If so, how'd you do it? Your advice and experiences could help drive an upcoming feature story on green computing and datacenter efficiency. Let me know how you can help at [email protected].
Posted on October 30, 20090 comments
If you want attention, you must do something outrageous, even if it's falsely outrageous. We have Madonna kissing Britney, celebs purposely leaking risqué tapes, and now Gartner publicly questioning whether Microsoft is still relevant. And, like a dope, I'm falling for the Gartner bait.
More
Posted by Doug Barney on October 28, 20098 comments
OK, now that I've lambasted Gartner, I do have to admit the group was one of the first to push the idea of giving Windows 7 a virtual machine to run older apps. Actually, this was an idea I and a few others also promoted and, as I recall, slightly before Gartner made its pronouncement. Microsoft -- being, I believe, far smarter than me or Gartner -- was apparently already working on what's now known as Windows 7 XP Mode.
More
Posted by Doug Barney on October 28, 200910 comments
Last Thursday, Steve Ballmer was in New York announcing the availability of Windows 7. Meanwhile, I was clear across the country, in Redmond, meeting with Microsoft executives on another matter.
Before I give my take on Windows 7, I have to comment on the very notion of a product launch. For an important product, Microsoft starts by leaking details literally years before it ships. As it moves along, the company announces the various alpha and beta versions. By the time the product formally ships, hundreds of thousands are already using it.
More
Posted by Doug Barney on October 26, 20096 comments
The recession is finally catching up with Microsoft as its profits dipped nearly 20 percent compared to last year.
While it's easy to see the sky falling, keep in mind that Microsoft is still very profitable, pulling in $3.6 billion in the last quarter. Given the circumstances, the Wall Street intelligentsia congratulated Microsoft for doing so well. (And after the trillions Wall Street has lost, they'd better!)
More
Posted by Doug Barney on October 26, 20092 comments
Doug is still in transit today, but he'll back for Monday's edition of Redmond Report. Filling in for him is MCPmag.com Editor Michael Domingo.
Fallout from the Oracle-Sun Microsystems deal rained down on Wednesday, as Sun announced 3,000 employees would be cut. The damage amounts to 10 percent of the workforce.
More
Posted by Michael Domingo on October 23, 20091 comments
Doug is still in transit today, but he'll back for Monday's edition of Redmond Report. Filling in for him is MCPmag.com Editor Michael Domingo.
One rumor floating around the blogosphere is that Microsoft is making a deal with Twitter and Facebook that would allow Bing to search status updates. Twitter would be an easy one to do, but Facebook is problematic, as most of those updates are private.
More
Posted by Michael Domingo on October 23, 20091 comments
Doug is traveling today, so filling in for him once again is Online News Editor Kurt Mackie.
Windows 7 hits the streets on Thursday, and some retail stores will be open at midnight tonight to let the teeming hordes get their hands on boxed copies of the OS, as well as new PCs running it.
But let's face it: That's the general public that's been watching those Kylie TV ads. IT pros are a different, tougher breed, unimpressed by the ease of taking pictures of pet fish and transferring them to your PC. Windows 7 means hard work ahead: app compatibility testing, hardware assessments, deployment planning, image packaging, migration and management. Does that spell excitement...or dread?
More
Posted by Kurt Mackie on October 21, 20093 comments
Doug is traveling today, so filling in for him once again is Online News Editor Kurt Mackie.
Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE), Redmond's free anti-virus software for consumer users, is on the job and has detected nearly 4 million malware threats in a week's time after its full release. The United States leads the malware tally, particularly with trojans, according to Microsoft's findings.
More
Posted by Kurt Mackie on October 21, 20093 comments
We've had some interesting discussions about netbooks lately and even have some fresh letters on the topic here. Some see netbooks as crippled, neutered or otherwise barely capable computing devices.
That, apparently, is the minority as these puppies are leaping off the shelves, with sales rising an astonishing 264 percent this year.
More
Posted by Doug Barney on October 19, 20093 comments
Microsoft got a bit of a shiner last week when users of T-Mobile Sidekick discovered their data had vanished into the cloud faster than a Richard Heene balloon.
At first, it was thought that all was lost, and Microsoft offered customers $100 in free services to make up for the missing bits and bytes. Loath to give up, Redmond techies went to work carefully restoring the databases and attendant backups. Voila! Much of this data is now coming back!
Posted by Doug Barney on October 19, 20094 comments