Once, Twice, Three Times a Patch

Just three patches today? Apparently so , and none for that nasty little Excel bug More

Posted by Lee Pender on March 10, 20090 comments


Virtualization Nation Growing

There were whispers in some corners that the company that owns RCPU was crazy to start a virtualization magazine, Virtualization Review , not long ago. Well, we're looking a lot less crazy now with studies like Forrester's latest More

Posted by Lee Pender on March 10, 20090 comments


Windows 7 Falls to Pieces

The late Patsy Cline would probably have loved Windows 7. Or, at least, she might have related to it. In her tragically brief career (and life), Patsy was famous for falling to pieces, and, in a sense, that's what Windows 7 will do.

OK, so maybe falling to pieces isn't the perfect metaphor, but Windows 7 will have a modular nature that will allow users to turn off all sorts of features and applications...including Internet Explorer. Now, that last bit is interesting, as everybody is noting this week, because Microsoft has famously said for years that IE was the one "piece" that Microsoft couldn't let "fall off" of Windows.

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Posted by Lee Pender on March 10, 20093 comments


All Downhill for Dynamics Chief

Kirill Tatarinov took some time to talk Convergence with Redmond magazine for the March issue, while The Seattle Times cranked out a pretty interesting profile More

Posted by Lee Pender on March 10, 20090 comments


Tech Data Scores with Earnings, Offers Caution

The big distributor blew away estimates with its fourth-quarter numbers, even though revenue slipped a bit. There's a not-unexpected warning, though, that Q1 is going to be tough.

Posted by Lee Pender on March 05, 20090 comments


Office 14 Delay Could Be Problem for SA

Software Assurance might not be so reassuring for some subscribers, at least when it comes to the delayed release of Office 14 .

Posted by Lee Pender on March 05, 20090 comments


EU Finally Backs Off of Microsoft a Little Bit

After all the fines, the rhetoric and the general hassle the European Union has given Microsoft, EU regulators are at least backing off on their full-time monitoring of the company.

Posted by Lee Pender on March 05, 20090 comments


RCP Reader Survey: Good Times, Bad Times

In the Netherlands, there's a popular soap opera called "Goede Tijden, Slechte Tijden" -- don't try to pronounce it unless you're Dutch -- which translates directly to "Good Times, Bad Times." (You know I've had my share...yeah, we're singing it, too.)

Anyway, GTST, as it's commonly known, probably won't feature a three-episode arc about the RCP reader survey any time soon, but it could. (And if the producers are out there reading, your editor still remembers a little Dutch from his time in Rotterdam and would love a guest appearance.) Because unlike in 2007, when credit default swaps and mortgage-backed securities were still mostly wonky Wall Street terms, there's some trepidation in 2009. Imagine that.

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Posted by Lee Pender on March 05, 20090 comments


Microsoft Piles BI on the Stack

There have probably been happier occasions for Stephen Elop, head of Microsoft's Business Division, than this week's state-of-the-company address in front of the undoubtedly nervous folks from Morgan Stanley and other likely ledge-dwelling financial types.

But Elop performed admirably, it seems, answering questions that were likely beyond his (no doubt considerable) pay grade. After all, Elop runs Microsoft's Business Division -- think Office, Dynamics and unified communications -- and while that's a pretty big chunk of Microsoft, it's not the whole company, and he's not really a financial executive. Still, the up-against-the-Wall Streeters wanted to know how Microsoft would cut costs and make money online in a -- say it with us, everybody -- down economy.

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Posted by Lee Pender on March 04, 20090 comments


Gartner: Everything's Going Virtual

Looking for a category of technology that won't be going pear-shaped in the -- say it again, everybody -- down economy? Look to virtualization, which the analysts at Gartner say will be a boom technology this year . This gives us a good excuse to post a nice hypervisor comparison from Keith Ward's blog on More

Posted by Lee Pender on March 04, 20090 comments


HyperSpace To Work with Microsoft Formats

The Phoenix HyperSpace Linux quick-boot shell will now be friendly with Microsoft's Word and Excel file formats. We just love when everybody (sort of) gets along.

Posted by Lee Pender on March 04, 20090 comments


Microsoft Seeds the Cloud

Kurt Mackie delves into the future of cloud computing at Microsoft by examining an interview with the company's Cloud Computing Futures project director.

Posted by Lee Pender on March 04, 20090 comments