Eagle-eyed Redmond Media Group Online Editor Kurt Mackie found something interesting from a close look at the 10-K document Microsoft recently filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission. Mackie wrote an in-depth piece detailing Microsoft's assessment of the threat it faces from open source. Check it out
here
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Posted by Scott Bekker on August 06, 20082 comments
Microsoft reached a major milestone in its journey to market with SQL Server 2008 with the
release to manufacturing of the product today
.
Microsoft's launch channels and processes are so massive, varied and complex that a little explanation is required. RTM in this case means that SQL Server 2008 is available now for MSDN and TechNet subscribers. An evaluation download will be available tomorrow. Meanwhile, SQL Server 2008 Express and SQL Server Compact editions are available now. Pricing is unchanged from SQL Server 2005.
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Posted by Scott Bekker on August 06, 20084 comments
This whole race to cloud computing is getting more interesting by the day.
AT&T
officially
joined
the list of major participants this morning. There are parties coming
in from nearly every side -- software players like Microsoft, Internet players
like Yahoo and Google, hardware/software players like
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Posted by Scott Bekker on August 05, 20080 comments
Virtualization specialist VMware Inc. added another facet to its channel efforts
today with the addition of a dedicated program for system builders.
The VMware
System Builder Program includes pre-sales technical support, training and
marketing tools. System builders who join the VMware VIP Partner Program under
the new system builder designation will also be eligible for standard VIP program
benefits such as financial incentives for new account sales, registering deals,
influencing deals, partner-to-partner deals and deals that leverage utilities'
energy efficiency rebate programs.
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Posted by Scott Bekker on August 05, 20080 comments
So I'm watching MSNBC's "Morning Joe" this morning at the gym, and
they started talking about Bill Gates. (I think that's reason enough to ask
my boss to start reimbursing my gym membership as a business expense, don't
you?)
It seems Microsoft's chairman has a column in the next issue of TIME
magazine about how to fix capitalism. Anything that the ultimate symbol of late-20th-century
capitalism has to say about the subject should be interesting.
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Posted by Scott Bekker on July 31, 20080 comments
On Tuesday, I
blogged
about Citrix's move to concentrate all North American efforts on one distributor,
Ingram Micro, ending relationships with Alternative Technology, Avnet and Tech
Data. One poster had this response for Craig Stilwell, a vice president whose
explanation of Citrix's reasoning was included in the blog post:
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Posted by Scott Bekker on July 31, 20080 comments
Tech news sites, including
our
own
, are abuzz with details of a new Microsoft operating system, codenamed
"Midori." There's no official confirmation from Microsoft, other than
that Midori exists as one of many incubation projects.
But some sources describe the OS as being componentized, Internet-centric and
designed for cloud computing. The project is separate from the Windows 7 effort,
which is based on the Vista code-base.
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Posted by Scott Bekker on July 31, 20081 comments
One of the things I thought was missing from the Microsoft Worldwide Partner
Conference earlier this month was a speech from Ray Ozzie. While Microsoft made
substantive announcements about its
Software
Plus Services strategy
and the role it hoped partners would play, the conference
didn't include any kind of overarching vision on S+S from the company's chief
technical officer and resident expert on the subject.
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Posted by Scott Bekker on July 30, 20080 comments
So after years of pitting IIS against the Apache Web server, the famous "A"
in the open source LAMP stack, Microsoft is
now
backing
the Apache Software Foundation. Redmond Media Group Editorial Director
Doug Barney
has
an opinion
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Posted by Scott Bekker on July 29, 20080 comments
A few weeks ago, a senior Microsoft executive told partners that the company
was drawing a
"line
in the sand"
that it would not allow Vista critics to cross.
Well, chalk up a first victim. Forrester Research analyst Thomas Mendel got
a face full of sand from the software giant late last week. On a Vista blog,
Chris Flores, a director at Microsoft on the Windows Client Communications Team,
lambasted Mendel and his report. Wrote Flores of the Forrester report: "This
appears to be more focused on making sensationalist statements."
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Posted by Scott Bekker on July 29, 20084 comments
Citrix Systems Inc. is causing some channel controversy with a decision to
dump all North American distributors except for Ingram Micro Inc.
The move means Alternative Technology (owned by Arrow Electronics), Avnet and
Tech Data are out of the North American Citrix distribution business on Aug.
30. Starting on that date, Citrix's 1,900 North American authorized Citrix Solution
Advisors will rely solely on Ingram Micro for distribution of Citrix's XenApp,
XenDesktop XenServer, NetScaler, Access Gateway, WANScaler and Provisioning
Server.
More
Posted by Scott Bekker on July 29, 20083 comments
Seattle-based SME networking vendor Napera Networks launched a channel program
this week. A company spokesperson said Microsoft channel partners will be a
good fit for the new Napera Advantage Partner Program, in part because the company's
products leverage Microsoft Network Access Protection protocols. For more information
about the program launch, go
here
Posted by Scott Bekker on July 24, 20080 comments