What's your favorite soap opera? "Days of Our Lives"? "Guiding Light"? How about Microsoft and Yahoo?
These two have been negotiating on and off for months, and every time talks break down, execs lash out like petulant lovers. Apparently, these two companies either have a real reason to work together or they just love the drama, because they just can't stop negotiating.
More
Posted by Doug Barney on July 29, 20092 comments
More and more, it seems Microsoft is releasing patches separate from its once-a-month Patch Tuesday. The latest out-of-band patches include an easy fix for Visual Studio and a more serious remedy for IE.
The Visual Studio patch is only for developers building custom apps, and allows programmers to craft code that hackers can't easily bypass.
More
Posted by Doug Barney on July 29, 20090 comments
The Black Hat conference includes an eclectic group of weirdos, geeks, security crusaders and a healthy dose of posers. While it used to have a slight aura of evil, now the conference attracts major vendors seeking major security solutions. This week, Microsoft made an appearance and pledged its undying cooperation with friends and foes alike.
More
Posted by Doug Barney on July 29, 20091 comments
The good ship Microsoft didn't make it unscathed out of troubled waters. The company's fourth-quarter financial results showed 29 percent hit on its Windows side, with Windows revenue dropping nearly a billion dollars quarter to quarter.
And there was trouble all around. Every Microsoft division showed a loss for the quarter -- a new low. Microsoft's biggest moneymaker, Windows, was its biggest loss leader. The only other division close was the Entertainment and Devices Division, down 25 percent quarter to quarter.
More
Posted by Kurt Mackie on July 27, 20098 comments
Microsoft last week announced a proposal it placed before the European Commission that will let new PC users install the browser of their choice through a so-called "ballot screen" in Windows.
Of course, EU users have always been able to use a different browser than IE. To date, IE use in Europe tracks somewhat closely with Firefox use (48.6 percent versus 37.6 percent, respectively, according to StatCounter). Earlier, Microsoft announced a Windows 7E (for Europe) edition that lacks IE. (IE is actually there in the Windows bits, but you have to check a dialog box to add the browser.)
More
Posted by Kurt Mackie on July 27, 20096 comments
A coalition of industry and academia is trying to push the U.S. government more in the open source direction, at least in terms of the software it uses.
Sometimes, open source is derided as just an alternative marketing scheme, but it really just provides greater control over software. Even Microsoft appears to be willing to play ball with open source Linux in some situations -- especially when it means broader use of its Hyper-V virtualization technology.
More
Posted by Kurt Mackie on July 27, 20091 comments
Jonesin' for Windows 7? This puppy is one step closer, having made it to the release-to-manufacturing (RTM) stage. This means it just needs to be packaged up and sent off to OEMs.
I'm not surprised. I've been using 7 as my exclusive OS for the last month. In my opinion, the Windows 7 release candidate isn't quite finished -- but it's way more finished than XP! Yeah, 7 crashes (I recovered from a crash 10 minutes ago and had to use a recovered version of this very file), but it crashes far less than XP, and is way, way, way faster. And I'm using beta software.
More
Posted by Doug Barney on July 24, 20095 comments
The concept of Windows Home Server is pretty cool. Instead of setting up your own server, just have a pre-configured unit that lets the fam share files. Even better, if you keep your files there, you can get at 'em no matter where you are, or what device you have. Forget synchronization -- just store files on the server and back them up. Case closed.
The concept is so good, Microsoft is now aiming it at businesses -- not big businesses, but small businesses and perhaps remote offices and departments.
More
Posted by Doug Barney on July 24, 20098 comments
As a recent Office 2007 convert, I now have first-hand knowledge of the ribbon interface. In some ways it's easier; commands are organized in clusters, and it's easier to customize how commands are presented. But after a month of solid use, I'm still often befuddled. (But even after 20 years of Office use, the old interface is pretty befuddling, too!)
More
Posted by Doug Barney on July 24, 20098 comments
Microsoft this week released some 20,000 lines of driver code to the open source community, all to help Linux run efficiently under Hyper-V.
Before you start thinking Microsoft is a true-blue open sourcer, the move is a strategic one aimed at boosting Hyper-V relative to VMware. What's different here from other MS open source moves is that this time, the code is fully in compliance with open source licenses.
More
Posted by Doug Barney on July 22, 20091 comments
After hearing complaints that IE 8 can be slow, Microsoft code jocks took a look and now claim that IE 8 isn't slow -- but third-party add-ons sure are!
A lot of these add-ons, such as toolbars (don't you love how these install themselves, but make you jump through hoops to get rid of them?), are invoked in each and every tab. Other performance culprits? Security software and Skype.
More
Posted by Doug Barney on July 22, 20093 comments
One reason the Mac is a semi-viable corporate machine is its support of Microsoft Office. For better or worse, the latest rev of Mac Office doesn't have the new ribbon interface. (As a new ribbon user, I'm torn; some parts are better and some parts are just frustrating.) Nevertheless, Mac Office is still pretty current, even more so with this week's release of Service Pack 2 for Office 2008 for the Mac.
More
Posted by Doug Barney on July 22, 20090 comments