Jerry: Take 2

In the second commercial, Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld move in with an average American family so they can reconnect with normal people. I watched it and thought it was OK. Then as I thought about it more and more, clever scenes came back to me -- and I liked 'em. Fact is, I can actually imagine this as a sitcom. And once again, Gates did a great job playing Gates.

So as much as I blasted the first commercial, I really like this new one -- very unusual, very different and very good. Tell me where I'm wrong at [email protected].

Posted by Doug Barney on September 16, 20080 comments

Sun Puts Its Best Hypervisor Foot Forward

Sun already added the Xen hypervisor to Solaris. xVM Server is actually the exact opposite; it adds chunks of Solaris to Xen, which Sun claims makes the hypervisor more secure and full-featured.

Sun's virtualization strategy is rich and complex -- that's what happens when you've been doing something for 20-plus years. I spent a solid month trying to figure it all out. Here's what I came up with. Let me know if I got it right by writing [email protected].

Posted by Doug Barney on September 16, 20080 comments

Welcome to VMworld

And that is VMworld, where I was instantly joined by 10,000 to 14,000 other virtualization freaks. Today and the rest of the week I'll give you hands-on reports from the show, along with a smattering of what's going on in the rest of the computing universe.

Posted by Doug Barney on September 16, 20080 comments

You Gotta Love Microsoft

Today, on the morning of VMware CEO (and former Microsoft powerbroker) Paul Maritz's keynote, Microsoft sent out an e-mail about a Q&A with Mike Neil on virtualization. Minutes after reading this on my BlackBerry, an attractive woman dressed in black slipped me a poker chip.

The joke? When it comes to virtualization, Microsoft is the best bet.

Once inside The Venetian hotel in Las Vegas, site of VMworld, another attractive woman dressed in black slipped me a poker chip. Thanks to Microsoft, I'm already up two bucks, and haven't even fed the slots.

Posted by Doug Barney on September 16, 20080 comments

Chrome Has a Slight Microsoft Flavor

Chrome authors also reportedly "disassembled part of the Windows kernel" in order to make the browser more secure under XP.

Posted by Doug Barney on September 15, 20080 comments

IE 8: Getting Better

So does IE 8 have the juice? According to one early report, IE is getting better with version 8, including tighter security and thumbnails for tabs. But like Firefox, it's no revolution.

And from what I can see (and hear from Redmond Report readers), Chrome is tight and fast, but not yet an overthrow of the status quo. Has Google shown all of its Chrome cards, or is there more to come? Initial impressions and further Chrome, IE and Firefox thoughts readily accepted at [email protected].

Posted by Doug Barney on September 15, 20080 comments

Microsoft in the Cloud

Two RDN reporters attended our recent VSLive! New York show and came away with a better understanding of Microsoft's cloud plans. Microsoft believes that much of what's in your datacenter right now will move to the cloud. In fact, nearly everything that's essentially me-too software -- such as database, e-mail and CRM -- will be remote.

While you may lament the lack of control, ultimately cloud computing could save us loads of electricity. And because the software runs in massive, centralized datacenters, security may well improve. Tell me where I'm wrong at [email protected].

Meanwhile, here's a cover story we did on Ray Ozzie's cloud plans.

Posted by Doug Barney on September 15, 20080 comments

New Laptop Cheaper than Used

At this price, it could be a nice little toy or a machine just for travel. If you have enough of your files in the cloud, you could get all your work done cheaply. And if it gets lost or stolen, a new machine is only a Benjamin away.

Posted by Doug Barney on September 15, 20080 comments

Mailbag: Readers Review the Seinfeld Ad, More Thoughts on Chrome

You are absolutely right. It is a total bomb. When I saw it, my reaction was, "And?" I think it is about as big a non-ad as has ever wasted money and time. I've been a Windows user almost since Day One. That would be when I stopped using CP/M. I look for much more in my operating system and I want to see good ads, too. I am totally disappointed.
-John

I enjoyed the TV ad and thought that Gates was as good a comic straight-man as some well-established comics. IMO, Gates trumped Seinfeld, indeed.
-Ron

It made me want to go out and buy a pair of Conquistador shoes with Windows in the toes!
-Charles

That commercial makes as much sense as the first release of Vista. Of course it's Microsoft's money, so if you don't like it, don't buy the stock.
-Geo

I've heard and read a lot about the commercial being a flop, but I'm not so sure. I agree that the jokes were a bit flat. However, I think the ad brought a bit more human-ness to Gates and, with Seinfeld in the mix, makes Microsoft appear a lot more accessible/friendly to the general populace. To the audience it was geared (average Windows consumer), I believe it can probably be considered a success.

The simple image of Gates wiggling his rear end is something I could have gone without. The "good" of the commercial is that it is memorable; I won't forget Gates trying on shoes in a discount shoe store.
-Kevin

The moist cake is a reference to the Drake's Coffee Cake from the "Seinfeld" show. Same with the showering with clothes on; Kramer made his meals in the shower in one episode. For those that watched "Seinfeld," it was a great commercial. Bill Gates was funny, too.
-Anonymous

I normally do not comment about anything that I see on the Web, even when asked. But I actually viewed that ad and have never seen anything more stupid in my life in regard to an advertisement for anything relating to a computer -- whether hardware or software. It was a better ad for shoes than anything else.
-Anonymous

The commercial was horrible and was painful to watch, and I really did not get the point. I never thought Seinfeld was funny in the first place. That being said, I don't find the Mac commercials funny either (only dorky Mac users find them funny), but I must admit that they are very clever and are effective in giving PCs (and of course Windows) a perception that they are inferior to the Mac. Microsoft should probably hire the same people who market for Apple, whom I must admit have been very good at selling a "perception."
-Asif

As for the ad, it's definite NYC humor, and since I'm from the other side of the Hudson, I get it. Friends in England and Ireland don't have a clue, but to them I just say, "NO SOUP FOR YOU."
-Anonymous

A complete, total, stunning waste of money, time and talent. Pointless.
-Lin

I would just like to say, "Where is the message?" What a waste of talent and money!
-Harry

I thought it was really bad. I saw it twice before I even figured out what it was for. I thought maybe after Bill stepped down he needed a little extra cash so he moved to doing commercials.
-Anonymous

I thought the ad was amateurish at 1:30 minutes. But I'll bet it will rock at 30 seconds once the lame parts are removed.
-Dan

Since I'm not a fan of Seinfeld, my approach to the campaign is a great, big yawn. I am neither excited nor disappointed. To put it another way, I couldn't care less.
-Charlie

Clinical psychologists learn a lot about their patients by discerning what the patient finds funny or sad. I cannot understand what the fuss is all about.
-Roger

The jury's still out on Chrome. Here are a few more of your thoughts on Google's browser:

I'm not sure if you are just getting desperate to defend Microsoft, or are just plain out of touch. Stop looking just in your Mailbag. Everyone I have talked to loves chrome (including myself) for just one reason: It's fast, darn fast. It totally changes how you browse. For one thing, instead of keeping tabs open, you can just move on because you know that it will open again really fast. Its few minor problems are nothing compared to IE.
-Jim

I was stunned to find no Google Toolbar functionality built into Chrome. Really! Don't Chrome developers know that there is such a thing? If they do, why did they ignore a massively downloaded add-on in the beta? If I go to download the Toolbar, the page thinks I'm a Firefox browser. Is this a case of 'IF NOT "IE" THEN "FIREFOX"' logic?

I liked the drag-tab-to-new-browser and drag-across-browsers features -- very nice for organizing. But hitting any MSN page invites slow-as molasses response times. Does MS look at the browser originating the request and "take its time"? I liked the download monitor tucked away on the page rather than a separate dialog box, and it was a faultless install after the download completed. The only page that broke was expected: internal system using ASP session state croaked with a Yellow Screen of Death. If they'd fix that, I'd be off IE in a hurry. Chrome really needs to pad its resume with gobs of add-ons like Firefox or it will likely remain a niche browser -- nice, clean, but undistinguished and uncompelling.
-Stephen

Has anyone read the EULA? Every bit of information produced by the Chrome browser is property of Google to use how it sees fit! Google has way to much information on us already. If you don't care about privacy, use Chrome.
-Howard

And Fred tries to clear up a problem another reader had with trying to open two different Gmail accounts in Chrome:

To Earl, whose "head hurts," webmail accounts such as Gmail's or Worldnet's or AOL's all store your log-in credentials in one or more cookies. Different browsers store their cookies in different places. So Chrome stores Gmail's log-in credential cookies one place, while IE, Opera, Firefox and Netscape store them somewheres (plural intentional!) completely different.

Different tabs in the SAME browser for several Gmail log-ins won't work because the latest log-in wipes out the cookies for any earlier one. Different BROWSERS for several Gmail log-ins WILL work because the cookies for those log-ins are stored in different places. Hope that helps clear up Earl's headache.
-Fred

Check in next week for more letters! In the meantime, tell us what you think by leaving a comment belor or send an e-mail to [email protected].

Posted by Doug Barney on September 11, 20080 comments

Remembering 9/11

We were sitting in a building with over 10,000 people directly across from the CNN center. We could have been a target. Wisely, we left the building and went back to our hotels, walking past hundreds of shocked Atlantans.

Two days later, I drove back up to Boston. Passing through New York, I smelled the sickening, acrid burning metal discharge from what used to be two majestic buildings holding nearly 3,000 important human lives.

Where were you on 9/11, and how did this day change your life? Memories welcome at [email protected].

Posted by Doug Barney on September 11, 20080 comments

Oh, My. Microsoft Rejoins OMG!

Now, on the software development side, Microsoft just rejoined the Object Management Group (OMG). This means that Microsoft's approach to software modeling could be compatible with Unified Modeling Language (UML) and with the ways others vendors approach the area.

Posted by Doug Barney on September 11, 20080 comments

VMware's Version of Patch Tuesday

Ultimately, holes in a hypervisor are more dangerous than a hole in an OS or application, as a single hypervisor supports many operating systems and applications.

Do you worry about hypervisor security? Fears and answers welcome at [email protected].

Posted by Doug Barney on September 11, 20080 comments