Leaving So Soon?

• By Doug Barney
• 03/13/2007

Meanwhile, Google returns a more gratifying 17,100 pages.

So is it any surprise that Christopher Payne, the Microsoft exec leading the Microsoft search charge, is moving on to greener pastures?

Here's more insight into Redmond's search troubles from BusinessWeek.

MS Spruces Up Dynamics
This week, the Dynamics faithful, largely resellers and customers, flocked to sunny San Diego to learn how to sell and use the line of ERP software, and to see what's new in the world of Microsoft enterprise apps.

Many of the new programs are aimed at recruiting resellers and helping them to, er, sell the software. But there are also new versions of the software, which unfortunately still represents three to four largely overlapping tools.

Microsoft also showed off some new client tools that work off of Office and SharePoint, not only making it easy for clients to use the software, but -- with low pricing -- easier to buy, as well.

Small Macs in the Offing?
Reports have it that Apple is working on a line of subnotebooks, a class of machines it has never built before. These machines will have a scaled-down version of Mac OS and use flash drives in place of hard drives.

Could be the perfect traveling companion. Whadda you think? Let me know at [email protected].

Doug's Mailbag: Patch-Free at Last!, More
No patches on Patch Tuesday? Surprising, but true. Carlos reels from the shock:

This has connotations of religious proportions. Like reincarnation, it is an event many people believe may happen but not a single human being in our lifetime has actually seen it occur. IT life as we know it will never be the same.
-Carlos

So, what will you do with all this extra time? Here's what some of you have planned:

I'm going to fill out my NCAA bracket.
-Michael

This will probably be one of the oddest responses you'll get, and though it wasn't planned this way, it works out well.

What'll I be doing on Patch-Free Tuesday? My wife will be in surgery, and I'll be standing by, without the additional worry of what's not being patched if I leave Auto Update off, or what damage is being done if I turn it on.
-John

Finish catching the dozens of fully patched, Exchanged patched, TZMoved, etc. computers that still have the time off by an hour.

Fix: Click the clock in the lower right-hand corner, click "time zone," unclick "automatic DST" box. Click it again to check it, click OK. Voila! All fixed.
-Brent

And one reader takes issue with my description of Vista's User Access Control feature:

I can't believe you said this: "Basically, Vista asks for permission before you can do just about anything." I happen to run Windows Vista not only with UAC enabled but also as a limited account, like I have run Windows XP since I first loaded it to my PC, during the beta. I have yet to answer the UAC prompt in a normal work or play day.

I may get the prompt when I knowingly go to install something or to change a power setting, but not during normal work. I hope your non-Vista-using readers don't think what you said is true.
-Rodney

Got anything to add? Send your thoughts my way at [email protected] or comment below.