Windows Mobile on the Ropes

There's a new version coming out next month, apparently, but Windows Mobile development is down and the platform's future seems to be hanging in the balance. Stay tuned...

Posted by Lee Pender on January 29, 20094 comments


Reader Feedback: Cutbacks at Microsoft

As any partner knows, Microsoft doesn't operate in a vacuum. So when Redmond decides to cut costs , all sorts of organizations feel the pinch. Kelly wrote last week, the day Microsoft announced layoffs, to tell us that she was feeling it already:

"We were just informed today that our highly valued (and highly paid) MCS consultant was off our company project because as of today he is no longer employed with Microsoft. I don't have all the details, but it happened without any warning and right at the beginning of our Vista deployment."

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Posted by Lee Pender on January 29, 20090 comments


EU Might Force Browser Bundles, Microsoft Says

Just when Windows needs to be getting lighter, the pesky EU might force Microsoft to include every browser under the sun in its operating system. Then again, it's Microsoft putting out this news, not the EU. So maybe there's some jockeying for position going on here. Once again, stay tuned...

Posted by Lee Pender on January 29, 20091 comments


Google GDrive Drives Hype

If you've taken a spin around the blogs this week, you've probably read that Google's rumored GDrive, which supposedly will give users access to all of the files on the computer via the Internet, is going to KILL THE PC AS WE KNOW IT RUN FOR YOUR LIVES AAAAHHHH!!!! More

Posted by Lee Pender on January 29, 20092 comments


Microsoft Cost-Cutting Hits Enterprise Apps

This isn't what we wanted to hear from Redmond about how cost-cutting would affect Microsoft's product offerings. Apparently PerformancePoint Server is up for the chop -- more specifically, it'll be folded into SharePoint -- in the months to come. More

Posted by Lee Pender on January 28, 20090 comments


VMware Posts Good Numbers, Warns About Future

Champagne in the Valley for VMware, which beat analysts' expectations with its Q4 and fiscal-year earnings . But not too much champagne -- and not too expensive -- as the company, like most other vendors, is signaling that 2009 might be a bit difficult. In fact, VMware is following the trend of not forecasting for 2009 at all. Not a particularly good sign, if not surprising.

Posted by Lee Pender on January 28, 20090 comments


IE 8 RC1 Released

For those of you still not using Firefox (oooh, snap), the first release candidate of Internet Explorer 8 is available . And, bonus! Here's one reviewer's first look at it.

Posted by Lee Pender on January 28, 20090 comments


Cisco Goes Green with New Partner Program

We want to believe. We really do. We love the IBM commercials with the cartoon pixies dancing around executives, and we're ready to buy into the promise of green technology -- the cost savings, the benefits to the planet, the overall feel-good nature of the whole thing.

But last time we checked -- and that's not meant to be a cliché; we literally mean the last time we checked -- green technology, green IT or whatever you want to call it was still more hype than reality. Way more, actually.

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Posted by Lee Pender on January 28, 20091 comments


Windows 7 Beta To End on Feb. 10

It's all the rage online, but if you want to be a part of Windows 7 madness, you'd better hurry -- download availability of the beta is scheduled to end on Feb. 10 .

Posted by Lee Pender on January 27, 20090 comments


Cost-Cutting Continues at Microsoft

Last week's announced layoffs made news, but there's more than just pink slips to Microsoft's cost-cutting measures.

This week, Microsoft announced that part of Iowa will remain prairie for longer than planned, as Redmond is delaying construction of a datacenter in West Des Moines. OK, we know -- West Des Moines (probably) isn't prairie land, but we like to think of Iowa as a verdant alternative to slushy suburban Boston.

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Posted by Lee Pender on January 27, 20090 comments


'Lives' Come Together in Redmond

Windows Live and Office Live, the somewhat amorphous concepts that (at this point, anyway) aren't hosted versions of either application, are now under the same umbrella in Redmond. And if rumors prove to be true, they might end up with a new name: "Kumo," a Japanese word that apparently can mean "cloud" but also "sea spider." That should make for one heck of a mascot.

Posted by Lee Pender on January 27, 20090 comments


'Vista Capable' Fiasco Could Cost Microsoft Billions

Remember the lawsuit that led to the release of so many hilarious internal Microsoft e-mails ? We know you do because it just keeps coming up. And last week, we found out that the suit could -- but, let's face it, probably won't -- cost Microsoft $8.5 billion More

Posted by Lee Pender on January 27, 20090 comments