The prediction that Microsoft will have a scant 4 percent of the tablet market in 2012 at first blush sounded pretty bad. Then I realized that 2012 is this year! With Windows 8 expected to ship in the fall (and IT never willing to buy volumes of anything new) 4 percent in a few short months ain't bad. Ain't bad at all.
Sure, Apple can gloat all it wants. It will outsell Microsoft nearly 20 to 1 this year in the tablet market. That's because Apple already has a product and thousands of apps -- and it is on its third generation.
The Macintosh, on the other hand, is 28 years old, and has only 6 percent of the worldwide market.
I'm not 100 percent sure about Win 8 as a killer desktop or laptop OS. But I am bullish on Win 8 tablets because out of the box they will not just be integrated with enterprise apps, they will have the native ability to run most of them. The iPad, great as it is, can't say that. Virtualization is about as native as Iron Eyes Cody.
What do you think of Win 8 tablets vs iPads? Choose your poison at [email protected]. And how long did it take to remember Iron Eyes Cody? Did the Sopranos Columbus Day parade episode jog your memory?
Posted by Doug Barney on 04/16/2012 at 1:19 PM11 comments
I really shouldn't be working today and I'll tell you why: Despite the magazine being named Redmond, I am actually based in Massachusetts, just 25 miles west (25 years ago it would have take me an hour by bicycle, now with traffic it takes an hour on my Ducati 900) of Concord.
In fact, Henry David Thoreau, a gifted and thoroughly pretentious writer, used to walk from Walden Pond to my neck of the woods because he was unwilling to work for the money to buy a train ticket. It was a buck. Hey, he didn't even drink coffee and thought farmers were stupid, so you tell me why he was so great.
So in case you haven't guessed, I'm talking about Patriots' Day, a holiday here in Massachusetts where state workers take a break from not working and actually take the day completely off, while others decide to actually work their way across 26.2 miles of hot Massachusetts pavement.
So a tip of the hat or a Sam Adams to the heroes of Concord and Lexington.
Posted by Doug Barney on 04/16/2012 at 1:19 PM8 comments
Readers share their thoughts on Vista as the OS moves out of mainstream support:
I think of Windows 7 as Vista Service Pack 3. Vista originally took a beating because Microsoft closed so many security holes, forcing all the drivers to be re-written. And, because the holes were closed, some drivers for interactive devices (such as scanners, cameras, photo printers) had to be scrapped. A lot of the manufacturers were not willing to spend the money to rewrite them. Windows 7 Â 64-bit OS with at least 8GB of memory is so much faster and smoother than XP that you would never want to go back.
-Jerry
We finally went to Vista about two years ago at my government agency. That's after testing it for over three years. This was a massive effort for over 100,000 machines nationwide. We are now moving to Win7/Office 10 within the next few months on all these machines. As an IT specialist, I have many worries about how this rapid change will sit with my users, particularly the confusing Libraries feature on our heavily networked systems with multiple mapped drive locations. Here's hoping it goes better than I fear it may!
-Tom
I have yet to find someone, who thinks Windows 7 is great that can explain adequately what was wrong with Vista. Don't get me wrong, I like Windows 7. I think it's great, and there are minor improvements over Vista, but let's face it, they aren't much different. Both are a significant improvement in so many ways over XP. PowerShell alone is worth the switch; not that you can't run PowerShell on XP, but you'd be missing a lot. Security is much better on either system. My theory is that the only reason Windows 7 was 'so much better' was that it gave some cover for vendors to get their drivers fixed.
-Dan
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Posted by Doug Barney on 04/13/2012 at 1:19 PM0 comments
Microsoft, it seems, would do anything to help developers write Metro apps, even if it means making nice with the enemy -- in this case, the evil iPad.
Third-party Splashtop (pretty cool name, which is rare for a software vendor these days) has a lot of developers who want to build Metro apps. The only problem is many of these folks don't have $1,200 clams for a sweet Samsung tablet that, by all accounts, runs Win 8 swimmingly (not all Metro developers are from huge, well-funded ISVs).
Splashtop did find that most all of its tablet developers already have iPads. Why not find a cheap and easy way to build Metro apps on those puppies?
Turns out Microsoft was more than happy to oblige. And thus the "Win8 Metro Testbed" tool was born.
This approach is pretty simple. You have to have Win 8 running somewhere. Then you connect the iPad and stream Win 8 over the network of your choosing. Simple and free.
I'm sure when Win 8 ships there will be plenty of ways to run it on an array of devices. In fact, Microsoft is already working on tools aimed at Software Assurance customers.
The neat thing about TestBed is that it gives developers a leg up now, and taps into the brainpower that made the iPad such a success. And gosh only knows the iPad could use a little competition.
What would it take for you to ditch your iPad for Win 8? Better enterprise integration? You tell me at [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 04/13/2012 at 1:19 PM3 comments
In 2001 if you said Microsoft was the enemy of interoperability I'd have to clink your glass and pour you another. If you said the same thing today I'd look at you crosswise and pour your beer out on the floor. The company is not perfect in this regard, and its aggressive stand on patents is perhaps the best bad example -- but it is doing far, far better.
Look at its support for XML, HTML5, file formats that work with OpenOffice (not perfect but not bad), IPv6, Java support and Linux interoperability.
You have to at least give Microsoft a "not bad," if not kick 'em some heavy-duty kudos.
That's why I am taking the announcement of a new Microsoft subsidiary aimed solely at open source interoperability with such seriousness.
Called Microsoft Open Technologies Inc., the subsidiary was launched scant days after Microsoft was named one of the top contributors to the Linux kernel. The new group is run by Jean Paoli, who is one of the creators of XML 1.0. Not a bad resume filler.
Paoli's group hopes to speed the release of open source software (probably mostly as a contributor, not as a sole author I'd guess) and become a more active member of key projects.
As I am being drawn more into the world of open source, I'm gaining a whole new vocabulary, like Joomla, Hadoop and Drupal. These things all sound like exotic sauces to me.
Am I giving Microsoft too much credit for its interoperability efforts, or has its tiger traded in its stripes for a pussycat's soft fur? You tell me at [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 04/13/2012 at 1:19 PM3 comments
Readers share their thoughts on how Doug and Redmond magazine covers Microsoft:
I think it's fine to point out Microsoft's flaws, as long as it's done objectively. Otherwise, how would Microsoft know it needs to improve anything? I like Windows 7, but it's less than perfect. It seems responsive and I like its features. But it still has file-locking issues that seem to have been present since 1995. Explorer doesn't do a good job syncing the left and the right panes anymore.
By reading about what the competitors do better, Microsoft is given the opportunity to improve. Even if no one pertinent from Microsoft reads this newsletter, the information can still trickle down to its headquarters. I was surprised to read so much about other products in these newsletters -- it was a refreshing change. Most other newsletters I've read only offer marketing fluff.
-Anonymous
I have honestly started to think that I was going to have to defend Microsoft on my own, and I am glad to see I am not alone in this war. I have been reading Doug's posts for quite a while, and I do get the feeling that he is becoming a Mac lover, which would be a terrible thing. Come on Doug, don't go to the Dark Side!
-Derec
Optimists are those who see the glass as half full (Microsoft as the best thing that has ever happened to computing). Pessimists are those with a half empty glass and who think MS is the evil empire. Realists think the glass is 50 percent larger than necessary and just want to get the most value out of their investments in MS products. Keep up the good work Redmond mag.
-Anonymous
Both of the Redmond publications read like they've been overrun by Macolytes. It is one thing to challenge Microsoft products or strategy in a thoughtful manner, but when a publication written for a pro-MSFT audience drinks the anti-MSFT Kool-Aid, that is a problem. There are plenty of publications -- even some who aren't MSFT-friendly -- who have found great things to say about Windows 8 and Windows Phone. The Redmond pubs can, at the very least, lead with positives instead of the constant 'MSFT Falls Short Again' headlines. You seem to spend more time suggesting that MS Partners start promoting Google and Apple products. Stop it.
-Anonymous
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Posted by Doug Barney on 04/11/2012 at 1:19 PM3 comments
I remember the great Vista debates. When it shipped a half decade ago, reviewers and users snickered and complained, and the press had a field day.
At first Microsoft denied there was anything wrong. Meanwhile, company insiders privately admitted to problems.
Here at Redmond magazine staffers and contributors had mixed views. Some had horrible experiences. Others felt it was far better than XP and didn't see what the fuss was all about. To me it was all a matter of what software you ran, peripherals you brought along and the machine you placed it on. And a fair bit of chance.
Microsoft also had mixed views, with executives later copping to at least some failings -- even joking about it.
Now we are five years into Vista and the operating system is no longer officially mainstream. I heard about this on Fox & Friends just this morning. It reported that for the next five years Vista will have "lamestream" support or, as Microsoft calls it, "extended support."
This means there will be no warranty claims, no design fixes or improvements. There will, however, be ongoing security fixes.
Is extended support almost as good as mainstream support, and did the "lamestream" joke make you groan louder than Vasili Alekseyev doing a clean and jerk? Be as cruel as you like at [email protected]. Equally welcome are Vista experiences, especially those that don't jive with the traditional view that the thing is awful.
Posted by Doug Barney on 04/11/2012 at 1:19 PM8 comments
During the height of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and then U.S. Department of Justice antitrust investigations of Microsoft, I covered software for Infoworld. I was in the cat bird's seat, following Lotus, Borland, Novell, WordPerfect, Borland and Ashton-Tate. I knew all Microsoft competitors and they griped to me about all their Redmond gripes -- the same ones they shared with the feds.
While all these ISVs had plenty of beef, Netscape may have had the most to lose -- after all, it was nothing without its browser. And with IE the browser wasn't just free, but part of Windows.
Fast-forward 17 years (IE became part of Windows with Windows 95) and Microsoft has just now spent a cool billion to buy 800 patents from AOL. The scuttlebutt is that these patents revolve around Netscape -- which AOL bought in 1998 as part of a deal with Sun.
If true, this means that Microsoft will have great legal control over large swaths of browser technology.
Let us not also forget that Netscape also had a suite that included a host of messaging technologies so communications tools such as Lotus Notes could also be pressured by Microsoft patents.
When you consider that Facebook is paying the same amount, a billion dollars, for InstaGram (which makes new digital photos look old) Microsoft seems to have gotten a pretty good deal.
Posted by Doug Barney on 04/11/2012 at 1:19 PM2 comments
A reader breaks down his thoughts on Wyse hardware and its recent move to Dell:
As you described, we have essentially come full circle in the world of computing. From dumb terminal green screens connected, to mainframes, to stand-alone PCs, to networked PCs, to server-based networks and now back to terminals connected to thin client or cloud computing environments.
I've been installing thin client computing environments based on Citrix and Terminal Services for over 10 years. It has been fun when my clients have come to me in the past few years and said, 'I read about this could thing in the paper and I think we really need to get one.' I then say, 'but you've been running your own private cloud for six years -- we just didn't call it that then.' Thin client computing has served my clients well in terms of support and maintenance costs, and has served my business well in terms of being able to focus our resources on the management of servers and infrastructure rather than workstation support and management.
Up until very recently we've deployed HP thin client terminals based on Windows CE. While they were functional and efficient, there were several drawbacks that made them less than ideal. Over the past few months we've moved to WYSE Thin Client terminals, specifically the R10L, which has allowed us to provide a more robust computing environment to the end user and to centrally manage the configuration of the terminals without the need to make any configuration changes locally. This literally allows us to send brand-new WYSE terminals directly to a client location from the distributor and have an end user plug it into power and a network cable. As the unit powers up for the first time it downloads its configuration file and fully configures itself for the environment.
The support we've gotten from WYSE has been extremely good and I'm hopeful that Dell will leave well enough alone rather than trying to integrate the WYSE organization too tightly into Dell's organization. Being a Dell reseller as well, and using its server hardware for the heart of many of these thin client environments, I have respect for what it has done, but I do have my concerns that its recent acquisitions (Sonicwall, WYSE, etc.) will cause Dell to try to spread itself too thin. It seems to me that it's bringing together high-quality companies with well-respected products. I'm hopeful that Dell will allow the management of these organizations to continue to do what they have done well enough to make them an attractive takeover target to begin with.
-David
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Posted by Doug Barney on 04/09/2012 at 1:19 PM0 comments
As much as Redmond talks tablets, phones, clouds and Xboxes, Microsoft is still a PC-centric company. And the focus is on its PC apps -- the core of which are Office, SQL Server, SharePoint, Dynamics... Well, you get the picture.
What is changing a bit is the hardware delivery mechanism. We are seeing, under certain circumstances, PC apps running on non-PC hardware. Microsoft doesn't mind so long as you keep running licensed and paid copies of its PC software.
And sometimes it can even get paid extra. It can make money from the software itself and extra money from selling the virtual software to run the software you already paid for on other devices. Pretty slick.
If you want to be connected to your enterprise from your phone or tablet, it is probably well worth the extra coppers.
Here's a product that puts this theory into practice: the new "User Experience Virtualization (UE-V) tools for Windows 7 and 8." These, when finished, will come with the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP) which itself comes with Microsoft's highest-end licensing deal, Software Assurance. So, in a sense, it is free -- so long as you've already paid for it.
The idea behind user experience is to offer the same app experience no matter what device you're using.
There are two key uses: One is for users who switch from device to device. The other scenario is where someone loses their device or it simply putzes out.
The software right now is in beta. We'll keep you posted on its progress.
Posted by Doug Barney on 04/09/2012 at 1:19 PM1 comments
Coat your stomach because tomorrow you'll be expected to digest a six pack of patches. Four of these will be the potent "critical" variety (which are always a bit tough to swallow), while the other two are a bit of the smoother "important" blend.
If this sounds familiar, it's because you also poured down a sixer last month. We're not sure if this is a coincidence, or if the wild swings in the number of patches are over. My guess? A coincidence.
So what are we looking at? As usual, remote code execution (RCE) is the big bugaboo (at first I wrote bug bigaboo but Word, as usual, knew better). Critical RCE vulnerabilities impact IE, .NET, Office, SQL Server and Windows. Somehow Flight Simulator came out unscathed.
On the important flaw side, there is another RCE flaw for Office and an "information disclosure flaw" in Forefront United Access Gateway. I love it when security products get patched. It seems ironic -- but heck, it's just software.
Jeff Schwartz, Redmond's executive editor, Â just wrapped up a look at the Trustworthy Computing initiative, now ten years old. To my mind, one of the biggest security successes is Patch Tuesday, an open and regular approach to fixing flaws in Microsoft's growing software family.
I'm a big fan of Patch Tuesday. Tell me where I'm right or wrong at [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 04/09/2012 at 1:19 PM1 comments
One reader makes a case why Microsoft is a great company for IT:
I saw your article about Windows 7 not being sensational. Well, it has been for me  on the many systems, and client systems running it. I've been running Windows 7 for almost three years now. Its stable, secure, fast, smooth and just a pleasure to experience.
I'm not sure why many of your posts have been so negative against Microsoft. I thought Redmond was a magazine for those that APPRECIATED Microsoft Technology.
Microsoft makes the most advanced products out there, the world's leading directory services, messaging platform, Web services, database engines and the worlds most advanced operating systems. Over a billion users choose to use Microsoft products for a reason -- they work and they work well. I don't want to come down on you hard, but your articles of late have shown much more appreciation for apple products than products that ACTUALLY do something. It's true that as part of my IT department, I tested the iPad for corporate usage. I'll relate a little story from my CTO regarding this matter:
'We have people that brought in their iPads and asked for access to company applications, and so we gave it to them. Next they asked for a keyboard and next a mouse, so we provided that as well. Finally they asked for a bigger screen, so we gave them a laptop, and wished them a good day.'
Here is the crux of the matter: People need solutions that work, and Microsoft provides them. It's true in the past Microsoft had issues, but that was over a decade ago. The Microsoft of today, is humble, hardworking, agile and very responsive to customer's needs.
So, in regards to your computers issues, instead of blaming the whole of the Windows 7 architecture, for your computer running slow, I recommend you take a productive approach. Try, instead, to troubleshoot the issue and look at the event log. I bet most likely you had an issue with failing hardware (faulty memory, failing hard disk), or perhaps a malfunctioning driver. None of that is a reflection of Microsoft. Any (and I mean ANY) OS would malfunction under these same circumstances.
In closing, I would want to focus on the bigger issue I see with your publication. I would like to see an new attitude from Redmond that is current and accurate in regards to Microsoft. If I wanted to read such a daily bashing of Microsoft, I would check out cultofmac.com. Let's try to keep Redmond relevant for the future. Try something new, share with your readers the excitement and anticipation of Windows 8. Focus on the accomplishments of your readers that make the IT world function with the best of breed products from Microsoft. That is how your magazine will thrive, and be of value to those who read it.
-Anonymous
Share your thoughts with the editors of this newsletter! Write to [email protected]. Letters printed in this newsletter may be edited for length and clarity, and will be credited by first name only (we do NOT print last names or e-mail addresses).
Posted by Doug Barney on 04/06/2012 at 1:19 PM10 comments