Microsoft Spits on Cloud Doc

• By Doug Barney
• 03/30/2009

Microsoft shot back, apparently even before the document was released. Microsoft argues that the document is far from egalitarian and is in fact one-sided, allowing a small cadre of vendors to control the means of cloud production and therefore acquire all the das kapital thus created.

So what is the Cloud Computing Interoperability Forum? While it has several sponsors such as IBM, Sun and Cisco, from what I can tell it's largely the work of one man from one vendor. Not sure if it's worth Redmond getting spitting mad over.

Vista an Official Dud
Microsoft hoped that Vista, with its new features and slick new interface, would explode on the market like Little Boy. Instead, this dud is barely ticking. Forrester's latest report states the obvious -- that enterprises are sticking to XP like grim death while waiting for some Windows 7 relief.

For a normal company, a failure on the scale of Vista would be fatal. But Microsoft's hold on ISVs and OEMs thoroughly protects the Windows monopoly.

What would it take for your shop to move to non-Microsoft desktop operating systems? Answers welcome at [email protected].

Windows 7 to the Early Rescue?
Reports are surfacing that Windows 7 may ship sooner rather than later, good news for OEMs, ISVs, IT...and the HTWE (High-Tech World Economy). A Web page mistakenly put up on TechNet indicated a May date for the release candidate. This could give an approximate commercial release date well before the end of the year -- meaning it could and should be a merry Windows 7 Christmas!

Your Turn: IT Gone Good
Two-and-a-half years ago, I wrote a story about IT abusing its power -- blackmailing executives, spying, stealing and sexually harassing.

I'd love to do the opposite, to show where IT uses its power for good. Do you volunteer and use your skills for good? Does your organization itself do good and have IT systems to support those efforts? If so, tell me your tale at [email protected].

Mailbag: Enterprise Adoption Takes Time, More
Marc shares his own take on Vista's dismal enterprise adoption rates, and what that might mean for future OSes:

About as many in the enterprise adopted Windows 2000 before XP came out as will have adopted Vista by the time that Windows 7 ships. And enterprise adoption always lags well behind consumer adoption. The reasons? First, many enterprise-owned programs were developed in-house, while many others are industry-specific and might be costly to upgrade. It can take months to thoroughly test and upgrade all these applications under the new operating system.

Second, most enterprise customers replace hardware based on three- to five-year lifecycles. Operating system upgrades tend not to happen until at least half of the company workstations have been replaced with new hardware. The fact that service packs are released every 18 months or so may simply be coincidental.
-Marc

Last week, Doug described himself as "more of an old sow than a young buck," prompting one reader to make a very significant correction:

You might want to know that a sow is "an adult female swine." I guess I might as well get used to such city-slicker-style errors as we now have a whole generation of kids who've watched "Barnyard" the movie (which is now a TV servies) where the cows walk upright and both the male and female bovines have udders.

You do know that only female cows have udders?
-Anonymous

Tell us what you think! Leave a comment below or send an e-mail to [email protected].