Virtually Gone
In an effort to keep its next generation of virtualization from slipping further,
Microsoft is
delaying
a raft of key features.
Viridian (which, besides being a codename, is a real word for the color blue/green)
will lose the ability to move a virtual machine that's running to another box.
Hot swapping is also getting the cold shoulder. I bet VMware engineers are breathing
real sighs of relief.
Patent Storm Brewing
Fortune magazine has an extensive
(read: long) report on Microsoft's strategy of using patents to squeeze
money out of the free software community. Microsoft apparently has over
200 patents that are violated by the Linux kernel (isn't this based on the old
Unix kernel?), OpenOffice (this one I can believe) and Linux GUIs (maybe Apple
or PARC have a better case here).
The fear is that Microsoft can win licensing fees from the free software makers,
making the software suddenly unfree!
I don't think the sky is falling here. Most open source has its legacy in software
that predates Windows, and companies like IBM have plenty of patents to spit
back at Redmond lawyers.
So I'm not terribly worried. They again, I run XP and Office -- not Linux and
OpenOffice! What do you think? Does Microsoft have a case? Let me know at [email protected].
Longhorn Name Dropping
Here's a shocker: It seems that "Longhorn," cool as it sounds, will
not be the name of the next Windows Server.
Brace yourselves! Longhorn will be called "Windows Server 2008."
Microsoft won't comment on the name, mistakenly
posted on its Web site, but this is far from a surprise.
I think they are substituting a great name, Longhorn, for one as boring as
an Al Gore press conference. What do you think? Let us know at [email protected].
New 'Net Names Near
A little more than a year from now, ICANN is expected to release
a bevy of new 'Net names. I'm not sure what new suffixes it'll approve,
but suffice to say Web squatters will be snapping up the most common names and
selling them to the highest bidder.
More Flash for Flash Cards
SanDisk is working with Microsoft on a new
generation of flash drives that make it easier to take your computing environment
with you.
Many smart IT folks long ago figured out how to bring their files and applications
anywhere they go. In the old days, some even toted around hard drives and slapped
them into PCs at remote offices or at home.
Flash drives make this much easier, and the U3 technology from SanDisk is supposed
to add core application functionality such as e-mail and browsing to the drives.
Maybe I can finally stop lugging my laptop wherever I go!
How do you deal with having multiple computers? Do you have a common set of
data? Does anyone actually use Briefcase? I'm dying to know at [email protected].
About the Author
Doug Barney is editor in chief of Redmond magazine and the VP, editorial director of Redmond Media Group.