Microsoft

Overheard: Microsoft disagrees with GPL…again

“With open source software, there is this thing called the GPL, which we disagree with.” Bill Gates as quoted in Bill Gates on Pharmaceuticals: The System Isn’t Working

I have to admit, I am a big Bill Gates fan. Richard Stallman, on the other hand, is definitely not a Bill Gates fan. It’s seems like I read and read and read about Microsoft and open source, but I still can’t hear what MS is saying because I can’t get past the politics and the gigantic personalities of these two men.  I wish they’d both stop blowing smoke.

Video: Chris Pirillo explains why he’s upgrading from Vista to XP

 If you’ve never seen Chris Pirillo on video — or you just love Wayne’s World — here you go.

Overheard: Dual-boot XP and Vista

The question I am asked most often is “How do I install a dual-boot with Windows XP on my new Windows Vista computer?” The answer is that it’s not that difficult, it’s just very time consuming, and you need to own a copy of Windows XP. The How-To Geek, Install Windows XP on Your Pre-Installed Windows Vista Computer

Home users are pretty much stuck with Vista unless they want go to someone like The How-To Geek for help, but vendors have found a better way to continue giving enterprise customers XP. Apparently there’s a loop-hole called Downgrade Rights in Vista Ultimate and Vista Business licenses that allows the vendor to downgrade the operating system if that’s what the customer wants.

Rumors that Microsoft had confirmed a release date for Windows 7 in two years got a lot of people excited last month, but according to Ken Fisher over at Ars Technica, it was just spin.

Overheard: Microsoft Live Mesh is JBOF (just a bunch of feeds)

Essentially, Live Mesh is a collection of feeds (which can be expressed as ATOM, JSON, FeedSync, RSS, WB-XML, or POX). Every piece of data entered into a user’s Mesh — be it a file, a folder, a message, a user permission, or a new device — is rendered as a piece of information in a feed. The feeds are then synced with other devices that are part of that Mesh following rules for how to sync each particular piece of information. Josh Catone, Live Mesh: First Look at Microsoft’s New Platform

Ok…I’m loving this. Social networking all grown up. News feeds are the future and Facebook showed us how to use them.

The Live Mesh Notifier is a news feed of all the activity on a user’s Mesh. Right now that means changes made to files, folders, devices, user permissions, and comments left on files/folders. However, because Live Mesh is a platform that seeks to interact with third party services…it is easy to envision how much more could be pushed through the news feed.

Overheard: Ballmer says customers love Vista

“In the business environment, we still have customers who are buying PCs with XP because information technology departments often have to work with old machines.” Steve Ballmer as quoted in Microsoft could keep XP if customers want it: CEO

I don’t know which was more entertaining — Ballmer’s spin — or laughing at how this Reuters headline was written for search engines.

Microsoft, by the way, has announced that the cut-off date for XP will be June 30.

Overheard: Redmond is the new Armonk

“15 years ago this month, Lou Gerstner arrived at IBM. When he got there, Gerstner found a company that literally didn’t believe in its own future. The mainframe business — the core of IBM — was collapsing. Other business units were busy trying to turn themselves into stand-alone companies that could be spun off. The big blue ship was sinking, and everyone wanted off.”  Frank Hayes, Frankly Speaking: Microsoft’s woes are like IBM’s of old

Frank Hayes makes an interesting comparison between IBM in the early 80’s and Microsoft today.

I remember the culture shock of those days. Signs appeared in offices: “The mainframe is dead.” Project managers and programmers were frantic, pitching themselves to whoever held the purse strings. Life in Poughkeepsie, New York would never be the same.  Lifetime tenure at IBM was a thing of the past. People had to prove their worth each and every day. The shakeup was stressful, but it worked. It made the sleeping giant more agile.

Now who will do that for Microsoft?

Overheard: Microsoft vs. VMware

In a dig at VMware, Microsoft claims the reason less than 10% of servers are virtualized today is because the schemes available are too complicated and expensive. And in another dig at VMware, Microsoft suggested that Dell, Fujitsu, Fujitsu Siemens, Hitachi, HP, IBM, NEC and Unisys would be pre-installing the final Hyper-V code on their machines. IBM, Dell, HP and Fujitsu Siemens pledged a few weeks ago to pre-install VMware’s freebie ESX 3i bare metal hypervisor on some of their gear. Maureen O’Gara, Hyper-V Virtually Done

Overheard: MS Roundtable product placement on CSI

I was watching CSI: New York last night and spotted two MS Roundtable devices on a conference table.  Props to the UC guys for the product placement, Roundtables after all are very cool desktop video conferencing devices but maybe someone should tell the CSI chaps they only need to have one in the room. Stuff-O-Rama

Overheard: Microsoft-Yahoo vs. Google-AOL?

This time the rumors were true: Microsoft has made a $44.6 billion, $31 per share bid for Yahoo… Microsoft believes that the tie-up will give the companies needed scale in the online advertising space and is expecting at least $1 billion in synergies for the combined company. Joseph Weisenthal, Microsoft Makes $44.6 Billion Cash And Stock Bid For Yahoo; 62 Percent Premium

This also adds urgency to another possible combo: Google-AOL. Google already owns a five percent stake in AOL and a full acquisition would aid Google on the advertising side as well as with traction and traffic in portal areas it has yet to conquer such as finance and sports.

This has the potential to be the first serious threat Google has had to their online advertising business and the first time the battle cry “antitrust” has been sounded.

Diane Mermigas provides a little background for those of us who may have missed an episode of this particular soap opera. The fact that Microsoft is going into debt for the first time to fund this acquisition illustrates just how important this deal is.

Overheard: Your life is a cartoon

Microsoft is running another viral marketing campaign — this time they’re creating a comic strip about IT pros. The strip will run for six months and they’re inviting readers to send in story ideas. That’s right — you think up the situation and they’ll create the strip for it (if they chose your idea).

The HHH Comic Series is a daily web comic that adapts tech stories from actual IT Professionals and Developers - a web comic that reflects the real lives of IT Hero’s such as you. Every business day we will release a new episode driven from suggestions from the IT community. Make sure you sign up for the RSS feed so you can have it delivered straight to your RSS enabled inbox or favorite RSS client when a new episode has been released. And remember - We want you to help drive the story!

You can submit your story ideas here. I’m going to submit one about computing in the cloud.