OK, now that I've lambasted Gartner, I do have to admit the group was one of the first to push the idea of giving Windows 7 a virtual machine to run older apps. Actually, this was an idea I and a few others also promoted and, as I recall, slightly before Gartner made its pronouncement. Microsoft -- being, I believe, far smarter than me or Gartner -- was apparently already working on what's now known as Windows 7 XP Mode.
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Posted by Doug Barney on 10/28/200910 comments
One reader shares his thoughts on Microsoft's free anti-virus effort:
Microsoft Security Essentials has been released; now what? A couple of thoughts: First, as a freebie, users get little more than the value they paid for. But then again, MSE is better than nothing (right?). Second, I wonder why (besides the test of time) reviewers of MSE have not issued their findings. Third, I think MSE will make it more difficult for even the larger competitors, like McAfee and Symantec, to SELL their products. And I foresee a number of the smaller and/or free security competitors to either die or get swallowed by Microsoft. Fourth, I am leary of the kind of information that Microsoft might collect from installations of MSE.
And fifth, if MSE is so basic and minimal, what's down the Redmond brick road? If Microsoft wants to provide MSE with more muscle, will Microsoft buy those muscles? If MSE gets more muscle, will Microsoft start charging for it?
-Anonymous
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Posted by Doug Barney on 10/26/20090 comments
Last Thursday, Steve Ballmer was in New York announcing the availability of Windows 7. Meanwhile, I was clear across the country, in Redmond, meeting with Microsoft executives on another matter.
Before I give my take on Windows 7, I have to comment on the very notion of a product launch. For an important product, Microsoft starts by leaking details literally years before it ships. As it moves along, the company announces the various alpha and beta versions. By the time the product formally ships, hundreds of thousands are already using it.
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Posted by Doug Barney on 10/26/20096 comments
The recession is finally catching up with Microsoft as its profits dipped nearly 20 percent compared to last year.
While it's easy to see the sky falling, keep in mind that Microsoft is still very profitable, pulling in $3.6 billion in the last quarter. Given the circumstances, the Wall Street intelligentsia congratulated Microsoft for doing so well. (And after the trillions Wall Street has lost, they'd better!)
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Posted by Doug Barney on 10/26/20092 comments
On Wednesday, Kurt Mackie (writing in Doug's stead) wondered if Windows 7's arrival will finally signal XP's decline, and asked readers if their own migration plans bear this out. Here are your thoughts:
The feeling I'm getting from IT pros I talk to is that they're not resisting upgrading; they're resisting Vista. That's why everybody's still running XP. With Vista, Microsoft released an operating system that is, by many accounts, inferior to XP. So it wasn't worth slogging through the upgrade process to deploy Vista because it would actually lead to a worse computing experience.
However, according to many accounts, Windows 7 is at least comparable and quite possibly a superior operating system to XP. So many are excited about upgrading and about what Windows 7 brings. With that excitement comes at least a reluctant acceptance of the work that comes with upgrading. Microsoft execs are downplaying Windows 7 because of the egg on their face from Vista. But it wouldn't surprise me to see Windows 7 adopted at a far more rapid rate than Vista was or ever will be.
-Roy
I have been testing Windows 7 since the beta, and so far, like it a lot. I am planning to migrate all my office machines to the new OS. I haven't been building any new machines for sale with XP since Vista, which I also like a lot. However, the new OS appears to be more robust and seems to be superior to Vista and XP for hardware compatibility and networking. Microsoft's mistakes in past have been the lack of compatibility drivers for new software. If Microsoft has done their homework with most of the hardware manufacturers, then the new OS will be a great success.
-Dan
What you did not address in your article was the giant chasm of no upgrade path. The business adoption of Windows 7 will be retarded by the nightmare of having to do clean installations on huge numbers of desktops. (Not sure if "chasm" and "nightmare" is a mixing of metaphors. I guess it depends on your dreams.)
-David
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Posted by Doug Barney on 10/23/20092 comments
Doug is still in transit today, but he'll back for Monday's edition of Redmond Report. Filling in for him is MCPmag.com Editor Michael Domingo.
Fallout from the Oracle-Sun Microsystems deal rained down on Wednesday, as Sun announced 3,000 employees would be cut. The damage amounts to 10 percent of the workforce.
It's a move that wasn't unforeseen, according to this SFGate.com piece that has Sun bleeding red at the rate of $100 million a month.
Posted by Michael Domingo on 10/23/20091 comments
Doug is still in transit today, but he'll back for Monday's edition of Redmond Report. Filling in for him is MCPmag.com Editor Michael Domingo.
One rumor floating around the blogosphere is that Microsoft is making a deal with Twitter and Facebook that would allow Bing to search status updates. Twitter would be an easy one to do, but Facebook is problematic, as most of those updates are private.
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Posted by Michael Domingo on 10/23/20091 comments
Doug is traveling today, so filling in for him once again is Online News Editor Kurt Mackie.
Windows 7 hits the streets on Thursday, and some retail stores will be open at midnight tonight to let the teeming hordes get their hands on boxed copies of the OS, as well as new PCs running it.
But let's face it: That's the general public that's been watching those Kylie TV ads. IT pros are a different, tougher breed, unimpressed by the ease of taking pictures of pet fish and transferring them to your PC. Windows 7 means hard work ahead: app compatibility testing, hardware assessments, deployment planning, image packaging, migration and management. Does that spell excitement...or dread?
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Posted by Kurt Mackie on 10/21/20093 comments
Doug is traveling today, so filling in for him once again is Online News Editor Kurt Mackie.
Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE), Redmond's free anti-virus software for consumer users, is on the job and has detected nearly 4 million malware threats in a week's time after its full release. The United States leads the malware tally, particularly with trojans, according to Microsoft's findings.
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Posted by Kurt Mackie on 10/21/20093 comments
The discussion continues over whether Michael Dell was right in saying that consumers would be better off buying regular old laptops instead of netbooks:
Michael Dell is missing the point. Netbooks are not a desktop replacement, but they are not bad performers either (at least, my Toshiba isn't). If I'm traveling, I can access my e-mail via the Web -- don't need a heavy laptop for that. I can do MS Office apps very smoothly from my netbook -- don't need a heavy laptop for that. I can VPN into a domain and use remote desktop to do any heavy lifting from my office computer -- don't need a heavy laptop for that. Guess the only drawback to using my netbook instead of a laptop is I don't get the exercise of lugging around the additional weight and larger luggage needed to carry it in. But most hotels/motels I stay at have a gym for exercise -- guess I don't need a heavy laptop for that either.
The screen is smaller but my netbook has a full-size keyboard, is faster than my last notebook, has three times the storage as my last notebook, and the battery runs forever on one charge. Even the price was lighter. Maybe that's why Michael and Steve don't like netbooks.
-Rick
Wasn't it just a few short years ago that laptops were the computer we used on the road? And isn't that still the point? Laptops are becoming lighter all of the time and I wouldn't want to use a laptop as my primary computer unless I had to choose between it and a clunky desktop machine. Netbooks are great, but I think they still have a ways to come before they take the place of laptops as a primary machine.
However, that said, I wouldn't mind having a laptop as my primary desktop machine if I had dual monitors on it.
-Larry
I think what Michael Dell is saying is that people and corporations do not want to two machines plus a smartphone and the extra costs that go with owning two machines. Netbooks are really are a good concept, but I think a slightly bigger format with some horsepower is a much better direction until everything is running in the cloud.
-Jason
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Posted by Doug Barney on 10/21/20091 comments
We've had some interesting discussions about netbooks lately and even have some fresh letters on the topic here. Some see netbooks as crippled, neutered or otherwise barely capable computing devices.
That, apparently, is the minority as these puppies are leaping off the shelves, with sales rising an astonishing 264 percent this year.
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Posted by Doug Barney on 10/19/20093 comments