It's Shakeup Time for Microsoft Partner Program

There's an old expression that people use in lots of different parts of the U.S., although the people who use it always think that it only applies to where they live: "If you don't like the weather here, wait a few minutes and it'll change." (Incidentally, we have not at all found that expression to hold true in New England in February or March, when it's pretty much cold and gray all of the time -- but we digress. And, on a sunny, 80-degree day in May, we won't complain.) More

Posted by Lee Pender on May 31, 20071 comments


Redmond Brings Tabletop Computing to the Surface

In case you haven't seen demos of (or even heard of) "Surface," Microsoft's new tabletop computer , trust us when we say that it's pretty cool. It also could be coming to a hotel or casino near you.

Are any partners out there involved in selling Surface? If so, tell me your story at [email protected]

Posted by Lee Pender on May 31, 20070 comments


Feds Looking Into Google Deal...Because of Microsoft?

Anybody with even a feeble sense of irony will have to chuckle at least a little bit at this one: The Federal Trade Commission is looking into the possible antitrust ramifications of Google's proposed purchase of DoubleClick. (This doubles Google's investigation trouble, as the ever-nosy European Union is More

Posted by Lee Pender on May 30, 20071 comments


Google and Salesforce.com: Microsoft's Waterloo?

You might remember from history a little Corsican named Napoleon Bonaparte , who ran rampant in Europe for a while before invading Russia (never a good idea, by the way) and finally losing his empire on the battlefield at Waterloo More

Posted by Lee Pender on May 24, 20070 comments


Microsoft Mixes Messages on Patents

On one hand, Redmond is barking about open source software violating its patents , but on the other hand, Microsoft -- no stranger to losing big patent judgments itself lately -- wants Congress to make it tougher for patent holders to sue and collect More

Posted by Lee Pender on May 22, 20070 comments


Will Vista Be Microsoft's Last 32-bit OS?

After Microsoft announced that R2 of the forthcoming Windows Server 2008 (nee Longhorn) will only come in a beefy (get it?) 64-bit version, rumors spread that Microsoft might not release another 32-bit operating system after Vista. That might or might not be the case, though -- because Redmond hasn't decided yet

Posted by Lee Pender on May 22, 20070 comments


Cure Could Be Worse Than Disease for IE7

So, you've run the latest batch of patches and now, suddenly, you can't open Internet Explorer 7. You're not alone . It seems as though sometimes Microsoft's cure is worse than the disease it's meant to prevent.

Posted by Lee Pender on May 22, 20070 comments


You Can't Get No Satisfaction: Readers on Microsoft's Low Rating

Last week, in a rather innocuous RCPU entry , we linked to a study put out by the school of business at the University of Michigan that suggests that Microsoft's rating for customer satisfaction is getting worse. We wanted to get your take on that and how it affects partners.

Let's just say that we touched a nerve. RCPU's inbox quickly filled with e-mails about dissatisfaction with Microsoft -- although not all of them were as angry as you might think. Here's the best of what we received, edited in some cases a bit for length. (And, lest you think we've lost our grammar skills, yes, the headline of this entry is an allusion to the classic Rolling Stones song. We hope you knew that already, though.)

More

Posted by Lee Pender on May 22, 20070 comments


Microsoft's $6 Billion Ad Firm

If you're old enough, or just enough of a fan of TV trivia, you might remember the tastefully named Lee Majors starring in " The Six Million Dollar Man ." The actor played a test pilot who was horribly injured in a plane crash and subsequently rebuilt by the U.S. government with all sorts of high-performance bionic parts in his body -- hence the reason his reconstruction cost $6 million, a hefty price tag back in the mid-'70s. (That kind of money might get you a decent middle reliever today, but we digress.) More

Posted by Lee Pender on May 18, 20070 comments


Is SAP Making a Deal With "the Devil"?

Unlike some other commentators, we're not big fans here at RCPU of referring to Microsoft as "evil" or "the devil," so let's put the headline of this entry into context. SAP -- the big, German, still mostly dominant enterprise resource planning vendor -- has been snuggling up to Microsoft lately More

Posted by Lee Pender on May 17, 20070 comments


Gates: Vista Is Fastest-Selling OS Ever

Bill Gates says that Vista has sold 40 million licenses in its first 100 days on the market, and, given the new operating system's impressive numbers , who are we to quibble More

Posted by Lee Pender on May 16, 20072 comments


Microsoft: To Spend and Not To Spend

Whether or not the latest (and oddly persistent) flare-up of the Microsoft-to-buy-Yahoo rumor turns out to be true -- and we're not betting that it will -- Steve Ballmer does seem to have a hankering for a bit of shopping. Ballmer said this week that he wouldn't rule out dropping a bundle of Microsoft's dwindling pile of cash More

Posted by Lee Pender on May 11, 20070 comments