At this week's PDC, Microsoft
showed
off Windows 7
and handed out pre-release code to thousands of curious developers.
We'll learn a lot more as testers put the code through its paces. For now,
we know a few things -- namely, that Microsoft has improved the taskbar and
enhanced its touchscreen abilities. Microsoft is also trying to make it easier
to network machines in the home.
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Posted by Doug Barney on October 29, 20080 comments
Bill Gates has never been one to sit still. In fact, if you've ever met him
or seen him, you know he literally can't sit still, but instead rocks forward
and backward as he talks.
Those who thought the energetic Gates would retire from his day-to-day Microsoft
duties to play Canasta were sadly misinformed. Besides heading The Bill &
Melinda Gates Foundation and remaining chairman of Microsoft, Bill has a brand
new gig: bgC3.
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Posted by Doug Barney on October 28, 20080 comments
Yesterday, at Microsoft's Professional Developers Conference, Ray Ozzie
announced
Azure
, a new system to create internal and external clouds and link them
together.
Details were a bit sketchy, but here's how I understand it: Azure is an operating
system of sorts because it manages and runs applications, which in this case
exist in some sort of cloud. The platform, at this point, is aimed at developers
who can use .NET and Visual Studio to build these apps.
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Posted by Doug Barney on October 28, 20080 comments
Last week, Doug shared some of his
confusion
over Windows 7
. Here are some of your thoughts about the direction Microsoft
should go with its next OS:
Microsoft is running out of time to GET IT RIGHT. If Win 7 doesn't hit
the mark directly on the head, then no one will really care after that. I
feel the new OS should be based on the Singularity core, be x64-based and
use VM technology for any compatibility issue with older programs. Microsoft
should not spend one more second working on x32 except for security patches.
All of its OS development efforts should be focused on getting a core with
legs, without messing it up with all sorts of features. Something like Win
2008 Server Core.
-Rob
Here's my list of advice for Win 7: Make it capable of virtualization
as Server 2008 Hyper-V and App-V. Make it as light as possible (Google did
that with Chrome and it works). Remove IE from Windows. Eliminate drivers
and services from its core and keep them on the installation DVD for further
installation when needed. Make it more video-efficient without the crashes
caused on Vista. Make it 64-bit with 32-bit capability for legacy apps. Eliminate
Windows Media Player and Windows Media Center; videos, pictures, music and
folders should open and organized without any delay. Increase touch-screen
use and features.
-George
You are on the wrong side of this one. The reason many of us dislike existing
desktop OSes and are moving away from the them is even more compelling with
super fat clients. They need even greater capacity and more expensive end
user machines; they have huge patch management issues, as well as end user
usability complexity and manageability issues; they're an IT support nightmare
and need massive training schedules for IT staff; they're overkill (90 percent
or more of users only use an Office suite, including e-mail and a browser);
they add unnecessary complexity which adds risk to systems; they come at a
higher cost in all IT departments that consumes funds at more stategic areas.
Long live the thin client and cloud computing. Down with fat clients
and non-virtualized servers.
-Ray
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Posted by Doug Barney on October 28, 20080 comments
Late last week, Microsoft put out an
out-of-cycle
patch
that fixes Remote Procedure Call (RPC) problems in some older software
including Windows 2000, Windows Server 2003 and XP (XP may be old, but it clearly
ain't going anywhere soon).
Hackers can exploit these RPC holes to run code remotely and, unfortunately,
is the perfect platform for a worm. It just might be time to fire up Shavlik,
WSUS or your patch system of choice.
Posted by Doug Barney on October 27, 20080 comments
Our economy is clearly messed up -- and the overseas market is crashing again
as I type. The weird thing is that stocks are tanking more based on what's going
to happen than what
is
happening. The real impact of frozen credit will
be felt when giant retailers go under and millions lose jobs.
That's why it's not surprising that in this latest quarter, Microsoft had its
normal stunning
results. Revenue came in just north of $15 billion and profits nearly hit
$6 billion, margins any self-respecting capitalist would be proud of. And for
the current quarter Microsoft expects things to get even better -- maybe hitting
close to $18 billion. That's a lot of Christmas Xboxes.
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Posted by Doug Barney on October 27, 20080 comments
Microsoft's Professional Developers Conference started today, and lots of goodies
are to be unveiled. Topping the list is pre-release Windows 7 code given to
all attendees. Microsoft is calling this code "pre-beta" (isn't that
what the word "alpha" refers to?).
Microsoft promises improvements to the Windows kernel, but I'm still waiting
to find out if there is, in fact, a new kernel altogether. I'll report back
on what I learn.
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Posted by Doug Barney on October 27, 20080 comments
VMware had
another
stellar quarter
. Often, setting sales and earnings records isn't enough
for Wall Street -- but it was this time around. For the quarter, VMware yanked
in almost a half-a-billion dollars, up a third compared to the same quarter
last year. And net income of around $100 million was up more than 50 percent.
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Posted by Doug Barney on October 23, 20080 comments
There's a lot of talk these days about Windows 7. Users are interested because
many are trying to figure out if they're going to go with Vista, skip it for
Windows 7 or go in an entirely different direction. And Microsoft isn't entirely
shy about it, either, as it hopes to keep the world excited about Windows.
I became instantly less excited about Windows 7 when Microsoft seemed to say
it would be based on Vista. That means a big client using an old kernel. Recent
rumors (fueled at least in part by Microsoft itself) point to a new, much smaller
kernel based
on something called Midori, which may or may not be based on Singularity
(a new kernel coming out of Microsoft Research).
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Posted by Doug Barney on October 23, 20080 comments
Most of you had few qualms about Microsoft's idea to
censor
online gaming dialogue
"on the fly":
Great! Especially if they can apply it to the game characters, as well.
There are actually some people out here who enjoy a good, violent game but
can't stand the gratuitous profanity. We still watch our language and have
found ourselves having to avoid whole game franchises because the swearing
is so prevalent for absolutely no good reason.
-Steve
I like the "censors on the fly" idea for gaming. As an educator
in a community college, I use gaming as an educational tool. My classroom
is aimed at PG-rated content. When I do not have such confidence, I avoid
using the games.
-Jack
I'm all for it. A technology used to be available for doing that based
on the closed caption stuff and built into certain models of TVs. I think
it's a great idea but they killed it due to altering copywritten material.
If we could edit it out, then we would watch a lot more of the trash they
put out and play more games, but due to the language, I don't want or let
my kids play it and can't even do it myself. I'd spend more money if this
were available.
Then again, they could just clean up the language in that stuff in the
first place instead of making us buy a technology to do it for us.
-Ernie
The danger I could see in such a technology (and now that it has been
invented, it will be deployed by someone) is not in using it to censor out
objectionable words, but to insert objectionable words of a different sort.
We are in the last days of a presidential election. Each election has become
more contentious, more strident and more divisive. If we currently have even
a few people so worked up that they are publicly threatening to kill one candidate
or another, what will we have when spin masters can use software to change
"on the fly" live statements by the candidate they oppose by substituting
incendiary words for innocent ones? Will anyone hear or care about corrections
made after the fact when they have heard with their own ears a "live"
statement which confirms the fears whispered to them in earlier ads? We should
be very afraid.
-Gary
A person's free speech rights allow them to say anything they want. I
support that. They do not, however, have the right to force me to listen to
it. I reserve the right to flip a switch and turn off what they are saying
within my own domain. As I understand it, that is what the Microsoft real
time censor tool provides.
-Dana
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Posted by Doug Barney on October 23, 20080 comments
I'm sure you've watched G-rated versions of R-rated movies -- the ones where
the curse words are replaced with reasonable facsimiles, like Samuel L. Jackson
calling someone a "mother-loving mother lover" before blasting away.
Microsoft now has a patent that could allow online gaming dialogue to be cleaned
up on the fly -- without need for an expensive Hollywood video and voice
editor.
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Posted by Doug Barney on October 22, 20080 comments
Microsoft yesterday shipped a
new
management tool for virtual machines
, especially those spawned by Microsoft's
own Hyper-V. So what's the snappy new name for this snazzy new tool? System
Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 (while the product is virtual, the name
is really, really long).
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Posted by Doug Barney on October 22, 20080 comments