Microsoft Talks UC Deliverables

Redmond has been talking up its unified communications strategy for a while now, but the industry titan is finally starting to get specific about exactly what tools will comprise its UC offering. RCPU colleague Barbara Darrow has details here

Posted by Lee Pender on December 04, 20070 comments


Report: SMBs Not Sold on Open Source

A new report tells us what we already knew: It's a Microsoft world, at least as far as open source is concerned. This time, The 451 Group (Ray Bradbury fans, perhaps?) took a look at the viability of open source software in the small and midsize business (SMB, of course) space.

And guess what? SMBs aren't so hot on open source. Why? Well, the report says that SMBs don't have big enough IT budgets to make major changes to their Microsoft-dominated systems, and besides that, they can't find the type of expertise they need to run open source systems, anyway -- whereas MCSEs are all over the place. The report also noted that the earth revolves around the sun and that Bill Gates is rich.

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Posted by Lee Pender on December 04, 20071 comments


Microsoft Buys Former Exec's Company

Michael Toutonghi is headed back to the Redmond campus, presumably a wealthier -- although maybe not that much wealthier -- man after Microsoft's acquisition of his start-up , WebFives (which, incidentally, is a name that has "dot-com boom" written all over it, even though it's obviously not from that era. No wonder the company struggled.)

Posted by Lee Pender on December 04, 20070 comments


The Microsoft Robot Is At Your Command

So...normally on Friday, we run reader feedback. But since we haven't had any reader feedback since before Thanksgiving (Thursday of last week, for those of you outside the U.S.), we're going to keep this Friday issue of RCPU fairly short and hopefully somewhat sweet. Don't let us down during this festive season, though -- an e-mail to RCPU (at [email protected] More

Posted by Lee Pender on November 30, 20070 comments


Microsoft Mixed Up Vista Marketing, Lawyers Say

Lawyers for a couple of people suing Microsoft over its use of the couplet "Vista capable" on PCs say that even folks in Redmond had no idea what the phrase meant.

Posted by Lee Pender on November 29, 20071 comments


Big Companies Back Microsoft in Antitrust Case

Visa and Weyerhaeuser are sick and tired of these pesky states that want the government to keep monitoring Microsoft for antitrust violations.

Everybody now, in your best English accent from Pink Floyd's "The Wall": "We don't need your supervision...We don't need government control...No extension of the antitrust deal...Hey, government, leave Microsoft alone!"

Posted by Lee Pender on November 29, 20074 comments


Microsoft and Google California Dreamin'

All the leaves really are brown, and the sky...well, it was blue today in Greater Boston, but not as blue as it's about to be in California for either Microsoft or Google. The Golden State, always on the cutting edge (seriously), is moving its e-mail, messaging and -- when, exactly, did this become a verb, or even a gerund? -- "calendaring" to a hosted model. And it looks as though More

Posted by Lee Pender on November 29, 20070 comments


Tests Show XP Outperforming Vista

Apparently, XP with beta Service Pack 3 trumps Vista , even with the new operating system's first service pack in place. Please, don't even pretend to be surprised by this (not that you were pretending). Actually, it sort of makes sense -- XP is a much more mature platform, and it's already on SP3. Vista will come along...in time. We hope.

Posted by Lee Pender on November 28, 20070 comments


Smaller BI Vendors Still Alive and Kicking

Robert Lendvai was as confused as anybody when he read RCPU's declaration that IBM's planned buyout of Cognos meant the end of business intelligence as we know it. The chief marketing office of Blink Logic, an Ottawa-based BI firm, even had a bit of a career crisis: "I wondered whether maybe I should resign," Lendvai said. More

Posted by Lee Pender on November 28, 20070 comments


Microsoft and Autodesk Pay Up for Patent Poaching

The owner of z4 Technologies (what, you haven't heard of it?) will soon be a wealthier man .

Posted by Lee Pender on November 28, 20070 comments


Redmond Tinkering with Windows Genuine Advantage

Just like a petulant 10-year-old trying to talk his way out of trouble, Microsoft has really learned its lesson this time! No more problems with WGA! No more nasty outages! And this time, we mean it. More

Posted by Lee Pender on November 28, 20070 comments


New Vulnerability Haunts Windows

The word "vulnerability" in reference to a software security issue always makes us giggle a little -- it sounds more like somebody's endless craving for sweets, or something someone would say on the first date after a particularly nasty end to a prior relationship. "I'm just feeling very vulnerable -- kind of like Windows when a hacker takes control of a workstation More

Posted by Lee Pender on November 27, 20070 comments