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
          
	
 
            
                
                
 
    
    
	
    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
          
	
 
            
                
                
 
    
    
	
    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]
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	Posted by Lee Pender on November 30, 20070 comments
          
	
 
            
                
                
 
    
    
	
    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
          
	
 
            
                
                
 
    
    
	
    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
          
	
 
            
                
                
 
    
    
	
    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 
  
 
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	Posted by Lee Pender on November 29, 20070 comments
          
	
 
            
                
                
 
    
    
	
    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
          
	
 
            
                
                
 
    
    
	
    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. 
 
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	Posted by Lee Pender on November 28, 20070 comments
          
	
 
            
                
                
 
    
    
	
    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
          
	
 
            
                
                
 
    
    
	
    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.
 
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	Posted by Lee Pender on November 28, 20070 comments
          
	
 
            
                
                
 
    
    
	
    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
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	Posted by Lee Pender on November 27, 20070 comments