Being the security giant that it is, Symantec has been providing endpoint security -- making sure, for instance, that nobody sneaks stuff into or out of an enterprise network improperly on a laptop or memory stick or whatever -- for a while now. This week, the mega-vendor took the notion a step further and launched new endpoint-protection capabilities into the cloud. (Oh, OK, so "launched into the cloud" isn't the cleverest turn of phrase you've ever read in RCPU. It's been raining here in Greater Boston for days on end, and our phrase-turning abilities rely on some amount of sunshine. Speaking of clouds...)
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Posted by Lee Pender on June 23, 20090 comments
All of this looks pretty cheesy at first glance, but then again, we are talking about Microsoft here...
Posted by Lee Pender on June 18, 20090 comments
Remember that Google Apps Sync thing (the one we call GAS, very unofficially) that we told you about last week, which was supposed to spell the death of Exchange or something along equally extreme lines? Well, it turns out that it's already giving Microsoft problems...by messing up Outlook. It looks as though GAS stinks so far (oh, come on, we couldn't not do it).
Posted by Lee Pender on June 18, 20091 comments
Apparently, Microsoft is considering charging netbook makers way more for Windows 7 than it charges now for XP, which could eat into netbook manufacturers' profit margins. After all, as the linked article notes, low price is a major benefit of buying a netbook, so OEMs can't just tack an extra $50 onto the price of something that only costs maybe $300 to begin with.
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Posted by Lee Pender on June 17, 20098 comments
How '90s is this? The EU is still bugging Microsoft about Internet Explorer, proposing that Windows 7 should come with a raft of different browsers from which users could choose. Microsoft's answer? Well, we might politely call it a raised digit here in the U.S.: No browser for you, Europe.
Seriously, Microsoft is saying that Windows 7 in Europe won't have a browser included at all, although the company says that there will be a way for users to get a browser should they, you know, want one. Of course, the vast majority of Windows 7 machines sold will have some sort of browser on them -- possibly more than one -- likely bundled by an OEM.
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Posted by Lee Pender on June 17, 20093 comments
Another week, another big vendor touting a "cloud" strategy that's about as clear as...well, as a cloud itself. This week, it's IBM, which still gets keyboard keys clicking madly whenever it does anything (and, given IBM's size and reach, we understand why).
The New York Times -- not surprisingly, given that both organizations are kind of old-school -- got IBM's gift of a "scoop" on the cloud story and dutifully ran an article on Monday morning trying to explain the whole thing. Here it is for the intrepid among us.
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Posted by Lee Pender on June 16, 20090 comments
Dell has been trying to ingratiate itself to a skeptical channel for a couple of years now, but this might not be the best way to do it: the PC manufacturer has started selling Microsoft products for download online.
Sure, the deal makes sense for Microsoft, which is trying to get its basic stuff -- at this point, we're talking Office primarily -- into as many people's hands as possible as efficiently as possible. Dell has a huge Web-sales presence, after all (not that partners need to be reminded of that). And it makes sense that Dell, which is undercutting the prices at Microsoft's own online store by a pretty big chunk, would want to get its hands on some of the revenue that Microsoft's software staples can generate.
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Posted by Lee Pender on June 16, 20090 comments
Remember OneCare? (We'll wait for the laughter to die down and for the cringing to stop.) Yeah, well, Microsoft is just about ready to give anti-virus software another go. But this time, it'll be free.
Posted by Lee Pender on June 11, 20090 comments
Office 2007 might not have set the enterprise world on fire, but Office 2010 still could...and it looks as though neither Google nor anybody else is going to steal any significant portion of the forthcoming suite's momentum (or market share).
Posted by Lee Pender on June 11, 20090 comments
Now we're seeing how Google could be a serious threat to Microsoft in the enterprise. For a long time, Google seemed more bogeyman than real monster, an obvious power in search but not such a big deal when it came to actually selling to businesses and threatening the Microsoft channel. Google Apps has hardly made a dent in Microsoft Office's market share, and much of what Google has offered for the enterprise thus far has really come off to a lot of IT folks as cheap and simple but not quite useful enough.
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Posted by Lee Pender on June 11, 20092 comments
Microsoft got a little bump in market share from the launch of its obviously crooner-inspired search engine. (Seriously, would it be too much to ask to have one of those background pictures on the search page be of Mr. Crosby?)
Posted by Lee Pender on June 10, 20092 comments
Surely somebody must have seen the little red line under the name of Microsoft's new Dublin-based start-up spin-off, InishTech. Somebody go change that "n" to an "r" before the logos get sewn on the corporate dress shirts.
Posted by Lee Pender on June 10, 20092 comments