The economic downturn wreaked havoc on banks, auto makers and millions of mom-and-pop operations. But Microsoft has come through relatively unscathed. Sure, its profits are down, but it still has plenty of them.
But that's not enough for Redmond. Microsoft wants to go back to the days of rising cash. Its plan? Continue to push search, get netbook customers to buy higher-end versions of Window 7, and successfully move to a subscription-based software model. Sounds like a plan to me.
More
Posted by Doug Barney on September 11, 20094 comments
Microsoft's relationship with third parties is a bit like a high school romance, full of love, conflict and talking behind each others' backs. In the virtualization space, Microsoft is laying on the charm, trying to woo partners away from VMware. It ain't so pretty in security, an area that's been testy for years.
Now, I happen to be a fan of many of Microsoft's security initiatives; monthly patches, more secure software and a general openness all leave me impressed. But I also respect the third parties who are actually manning the trenches, doing battle with hackers and, increasingly, fighting Microsoft itself. Case in point: Microsoft and third-party bloggers are doing battle through some increasingly emotional blog postings.
More
Posted by Doug Barney on September 09, 20092 comments
Every Patch Tuesday has the self-same theme: fighting remote code execution flaws. And that makes sense. If a hacker can access a network and run their own malicious software, they can officially call themselves a big-shot (feel free to replace the word "shot" with a more accurate term).
This month, Microsoft fixed a range of RCE problems. First, the JScript engine, which can be exploited through malicious Web pages, is repaired. So is a wireless LAN hole in Windows Server 2008 and Vista. Microsoft also offered a TCP/IP fix that can apply to certain Cisco gear, as well.
Posted by Doug Barney on September 09, 20090 comments
Many months ago, I spoke with storage and virtualization guru Jon Toigo about the IBM System z, otherwise known as a mainframe. This puppy isn't your father's mainframe; it runs on Power6 processors (a lot of them), the same basic chip that drove Macs for years. The latest System z was touted as being able to operate up to 1,500 virtual machines, so for those seeking green datacenters, that mainframe is pretty darn compelling.
More
Posted by Doug Barney on September 09, 20090 comments
Recently, I've been asking Redmond Report readers to e-mail me about Bing (I'll be in touch soon, I promise).
Now I need more help. Do you use any of Microsoft's enterprise search products, or Google's enterprise search? If so, shoot me an e-mail and tell me what you like and don't like. I'm at [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on September 09, 20091 comments
Every year VMware holds its VMworld show, and for the past few it has drawn in excess of 10,000 people. I was there last year and it made Tech-Ed seem small in comparison. This year VMware didn't make a lot of hot announcements. Instead, it reiterated its wish to own the cloud market, both real external clouds and internal enterprise clouds.
More
Posted by Doug Barney on September 02, 20091 comments
As you know, every year VMware holds its VMworld show, and for the past few Microsoft has crashed the party with a few announcements. This year, Microsoft unveiled Hyper-V Server 2008 R2, a far more enterprise-worthy product than its departmental-oriented predecessor.
More
Posted by Doug Barney on September 02, 20091 comments
Directions on Microsoft is one of my favorite research firms. In fact, I don't trust many firms or analysts, but Directions on Microsoft I do trust. Nearly all (or maybe all) of its analysts are ex-Microsoft executives.
Analyst Michael Cherry is particularly smart and particularly opinionated. So when Mr. Cherry argues that Windows 7 is a great fit for businesses, I believe him. Cherry's main point is that Windows 7 is a huge improvement over XP and solves the most glaring Vista problems.
More
Posted by Doug Barney on September 02, 20093 comments
The Associated Press is a venerable news institution that has brought us solid reporting for 163 years. AP syndicates articles, which means newspapers around the world pay to run them, and that money pays for more reporting and AP's staff of over 4,000 employees. It was a nice little virtuous circle -- at least, until Google and the other aggregators came along and began killing off AP's biggest newspaper clients.
More
Posted by Doug Barney on August 31, 200910 comments
So you think your Web e-mail account is safe? Wrong. An increasing number of users, including some Redmond Report readers, are reporting that hackers are breaking into their accounts and using them to mail out worm-laden messages -- to their contacts! Most hackers use brute-force methods to crack your password, and then they're off and running.
More
Posted by Doug Barney on August 31, 20092 comments
System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2 (SCVMM 2008 R2) evaluation version -- whew, what a mouthful -- arrived this week.
Rambling name notwithstanding, it must work fairly well because System Center products remain a bright spot in Microsoft's recently slumping financials. IT pros can give SCVMM 2008 R2 a spin for 180 days and see if they want to buy it when the complete product rolls out in October. The new R2 can even manage virtual machines running on VMware vSphere 4.0 -- imagine that.
Posted by Kurt Mackie on August 28, 20091 comments
Two of Microsoft's PC manufacturing partners are supporting Redmond's appeal of a final judgment against it in a patent dispute with Toronto-based i4i LP.
Dell and HP both filed amicus curiae documents with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Monday. Their briefs support Microsoft's appeal in the case which, as Doug covered last week, involves i4i's "custom XML" technology, found to be used with Microsoft Word's .XML, .DOCX and .DOCM document formats. Microsoft will have to stop selling copies of Word that use the technology by Oct. 10.
More
Posted by Kurt Mackie on August 28, 200911 comments