Vista: Over 60 Million Served?
Microsoft is crowing about Vista sales, and for any other vendor,
60
million sold would be truly huge. But this is Microsoft we're talking about,
and it's held to a higher standard.
With an installed base of Windows rounding about a billion, 60 mil is a drop
in the PC bucket. And the 60 million figure itself is taking some heat, with
critics pointing out that not all of these licenses are actually in use.
Still, I wouldn't mind being in Microsoft's shoes. Thick client PCs are still
the main way we compute, and nothing -- not Linux nor the Mac nor Google --
is currently posing a serious threat.
Have you found any good resources about Vista compatibility? Let us in on them
by writing [email protected].
Microsoft Uses Web To Talk Open Source
Want to find out exactly where Microsoft stands on open source? Don't bother
using Google. Just pop over to http://www.microsoft.com/opensource/default.mspx.
This spankin' new Web site details how
Microsoft works with open source vendors, how Microsoft will support your
mixed environment, and what open source projects Microsoft has in its otherwise
proprietary pipeline. Pretty interesting reading.
Meanwhile, we covered these issues in detail months ago in a Redmond
magazine cover story. Get the skinny here.
Live Getting Legs
After a speech
last week by Ray Ozzie, I'm suddenly less confused about Microsoft Live.
At a financial analysts meeting, Ozzie told the bean counters and Gordon Geckos
in attendance that Live is an entire platform consisting of four levels:
- Global Foundation Services, which is the hardware (read: massive Microsoft
data centers) that supports Web services
- Cloud Infrastructure Services, which provides load balancing and deployment
- Live Platform Services, which includes identity management and other application
services
- And last, but not least, are the apps themselves. Here you can collaborate,
word process, surf and, of course, read all those advertisements that make
this all possible.
This all sounds a bit like the old seven-layer OSI model for networks, with
applications at the top. Except the OSI model has no provision for ads!
Maybe Print Is Dead!
I recently wrote an editorial arguing
that print is not dead (and filed my copy pretty much the day my old employer,
InfoWorld, killed its paper edition).
Since then, Network Computing (of which I was editor in chief for a
spell) shut down, as did Optimize and, before that, the old Network
Magazine.
These were all fine magazines, but what really gets my tears flowing is hearing
that the Weekly World News will no
longer be gracing our supermarket checkouts. This publication was one good
read. Besides aliens, Bigfoot and Bat Boy, it has some amazing prose. If you
want a perfect example of alliteration, just check out one of their leads.
There is clearly massive change in the world of media. But I still believe
that those who do print right will survive for decades to come. Heck, my group
has four magazines that all prove that point!
Do you love or hate print? Let us know at [email protected].
Mailbag: Eugene Who?
A
few weeks ago, Doug wrote about the fall of citizen journalism sites, whose
effectiveness he compared to that of Eugene Tackleberry (of Police Academy
fame). Bruce wonders how many readers missed the reference:
"You're going to school NOW, mister!" I'll bet more than 50
percent of your readers didn't even know who Eugene Tackleberry was until
they looked it up. Question: Do you have a paper copy of the orginal Police
Academy training quiz they handed out at movie theatres? I believe I have
an original of it at home.
This brings up a good point: movie history. A lot of the "great
movies" in the past 30 to 40 years are very unknown to the 20- to 30-year-old
crowd. We gave our foreign co-worker here a list of the top 100 comedies of
all time and she had a non-stop laugh riot. But many of our under-30 staff
don't relate to famous quotes like the one above. Which makes it all the funnier
when they don't get the jokes!
It is also my gut opinion that this line of movies made a star out of
Steve Guttenberg who happens to be one of my most favorite actors.
-Bruce
Thoughts? Let us have 'em! Leave a comment below or send an e-mail to [email protected].
About the Author
Doug Barney is editor in chief of Redmond magazine and the VP, editorial director of Redmond Media Group.