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.
The idea is simple: A full rev of XP runs alongside Windows 7 so all your old apps and drivers still work. The implementation is a bit more complicated. First, your PC's processor must be virtualization-enabled. Second, you need a high-end version of Windows 7 (Home Basic users need not apply).
The biggest issue involves security and administration. Let's face it -- you're now running two complete operating systems which must be managed, secured, updated and patched. Is all this worth the trouble just to run a handful of older apps? You're the expert, so you tell me at [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 10/28/2009 at 1:17 PM10 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
And another reader gives his vote for best mobile phone OS:
I used to be a huge WinMo fan. I had an AT&T 8525 then migrated to the AT&T Tilt, and after putting some after-market ROMs on there, those phones were amazing. Then about four months ago, I had the opportunity to give the Blackberry Bold a spin. It really surprised me. I lost some screen space, the keys are smaller, I lost the predictive text that learns entire phrases of WinMo, and I miss a few games, but for how I use a phone, the Bold is great. Multiple IM programs open all the time, great Slacker streaming (and caching), Viigo is a great RSS/podcast/weather program, Rove Mobile Admin's remote desktop feature works, and I love the Message center, which pulls messages from my three e-mail accounts, IM accounts, Facebook, and -- as of today -- visual voicemail into one place.
It is also more stable than WinMo was. My Bold rarely ever skips a beat when program switching or anything else. And now with 6.5 and the upcoming Windows Phone 7, WinMo really seems to me to be becoming an iPhone wannabe. (I don't like the interface of the iPhone and relying on touchscreen, so that really pushes me away.) The Bold also handles logging in to Wi-Fi points much better than the Tilt did. When I walk in range of a Wi-Fi point, it logs right on without me thinking about it, and programs just work over it. WinMo always seemed a bit hit-and-miss with that.
-Anonymous
Tell us what you think! Leave a comment below or send an e-mail to [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 10/26/2009 at 1:17 PM0 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.
So what's the point of launching a product that's already been launched? Publicity! Only Microsoft has the clout to make such an approach work.
While I'm usually against this hype-factory launch strategy, it's justified for Windows 7. After using 7 for the last few months, I'm not blown away by the features -- but that's not the point. The real revolution is in its stability and enhanced security. This combined with some nice interface tweaks give Microsoft an OS that stands up well to the Mac, saves IT time and headaches, and is fun to boot!
Is Windows 7 all it's cracked up to be? Answers welcome at [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 10/26/2009 at 1:17 PM6 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!)
Microsoft has taken some dramatic steps to keep profits on course, slashing expenses and handing out a Redwood tree's worth of pink slips. This bodes well for a recovery. A leaner, meaner Microsoft can really take off when this economy finally comes around.
What is Microsoft's financial future? Predictions welcome at [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 10/26/2009 at 1:17 PM2 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
This week, Doug bid good riddance to Microsoft Works, which will soon be replaced by Office Starter. But Steve, for one, will be sorry to see the application go:
Sure, I thought that Works was useless and basic -- more like Word-Lite. But I was wrong. When I first got a PC after being a Mac fanatic, I found Works on my new HP desktop computer. Well, I thought, this is probably not much better than Notepad. Actually, it was way better. I really liked the spreadsheet and database functions -- just as good as any. Being an apartment manager, I kept track of tenants and payments with it, and created many forms I needed, including some math functions.
Now I've got the latest Word. Horrible. To me, it's a bloated mess with a bunch of nearly useless features. (Oh, I get to add the most-used tools like "save" and "save as" myself. Wow.) Works reminds me of the old ClarisWorks and AppleWorks. Elegant? No. Easy to use? Yes. And good enough for everyday use without tearing your hair out. Some people just want to write a letter, for chrissake. So bash Works if you want, but it has enabled me to get a lot of "work" done.
-Steve
Doug's favorite word processor ever ran on the Amiga. One reader shares his pick, while another just tries to get the name down:
You brought back some great memories. My favorite office suite by far is PFS First Choice. It is very functional and intuitive to use. If I could find a 5 1/4-inch floppy drive, I would use it instead of Word, Excel and Access in a heartbeat. Microsoft just doesn't get that more complex doesn't equate to more functional -- or better.
-Mitchel
What was the name of that Amiga word processor? I'm drawing a blank!
-Anonymous
Finally, do numerous font choices drive you crazy?
They sure do!
Phew! I'm glad I finally got that off my chest.
-Dan
More letters coming on Monday. Meanwhile, share your thoughts by writing a comment below or sending an e-mail to [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 10/23/2009 at 1:17 PM2 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 10/23/2009 at 1:17 PM1 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.
It's funny, but as I was writing this and looking for confirming reports straight from the Redmond campus, like a shot across the bow, Google straight-up announced its own Twitter updates search deal.
Looks like Google is taking Microsoft and Bing seriously now. Does that mean we have a real war brewing or has it been brewing all along? Tell us what you think by e-mailing [email protected].
Posted by Michael Domingo on 10/23/2009 at 1:17 PM1 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.
Live from New York, it's Steve Ballmer stating "I'm a Windows 7 PC, effective immediately" at the official launch event. (I'm guessing when he made that proclamation, he wasn't as adorable as the little girl in the ads.)
Now, if Ballmer really were a PC, I'd guess that he would be the shiniest, most souped-up, Windows 7-sporting Alienware desktop, not an underwhelming ASUS netbook.
Windows 7 officially went on sale a day earlier in the U.K., on Oct. 21, because of a postal strike. The early launch doesn't matter much; Windows 7 has been tested, debugged (for the most part) and manhandled by well over 8 million beta testers, so we weren't expecting any surprises.
For consumers, an upgrade is likely to come from the purchase of a netbook or a new computer. And for enterprise folks, there's a modest list of upgrade-worthy features, outlined here.
Worth an upgrade? Especially if you're running Vista, the answer is yes.
Posted by Michael Domingo on 10/23/2009 at 1:17 PM2 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?
It turns out that the IT pro crowd was particularly unmoved by the last big Microsoft OS splash, namely Vista. IT organizations ignored Vista in droves and continued to run XP, such that 79 percent of PCs running in organizations today run XP, according to a Forrester report.
Forrester is warning IT pros that their days of resisting the Microsoft OS refresh cycle are coming to an end. Like some cataclysmic apocalypse, support for the venerable XP will eventually come to a close, and then IT personnel will be judged -- maybe by a bad job performance rating, or something, if things go awry.
Those preparing for doom need a date, and Forrester gladly provides it. It's "the end of 2012" -- that's when organizations should be off XP to avoid app compatibility issues, Forrester says. Those poor IT souls not heeding such advice face additional torments, such as the end of the security patch delivery cycle. On April 8, 2014, no more security patches will be issued by Microsoft for XP.
If all of the neat features in Windows 7 haven't convinced you to move off XP, maybe fear will. And maybe you'll want to buy a little Software Assurance while you're at it. The Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP) is a set of tools that's one of the perks to Software Assurance licensees. It contains MED-V, which lets large organizations continue to run legacy apps while also centrally managing those apps. In fact, Microsoft just announced that MDOP 2009 R2 has just been released to its volume licensing customers.
Even high Microsoft officials tend to downplay Windows 7, suggesting that OS upgrades will happen with the PC refresh cycle, rather than, say, tomorrow. But really, won't you repent for ignoring Vista and just upgrade to Windows 7? Confess your OS migration plans to Doug at [email protected].
Posted by Kurt Mackie on 10/21/2009 at 1:17 PM3 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.
Shouldn't everyone be happy now that Microsoft has gotten involved in the industry it helped spawn (the software security industry)? Companies like McAfee, Symantec, Computer Associates and others have followed close to Microsoft's software like a barnacle to a ship's hull. In fact, their anti-virus and anti-malware solutions now tend to dog Windows. Consumer users are hit with daily security uploads and installs on power-up, and a complete virus scan of a machine can take multiple hours.
Perhaps this security software "bloatware" is one aspect that moved Microsoft to get involved in the business of its partners. Moreover, MSE is free, without the annual subscriptions of third-party security software.
Microsoft has said that MSE is solely aimed at providing basic protection for users who wouldn't buy anti-virus software anyway, such as in the developing world. However, based on Microsoft's own stats, it seems people in the United States aren't buying security software either, or their subscriptions have lapsed. And we're not the developing world...yet.
Software security experts still seem to be assessing MSE's impact. In particular, there's worry that the sharing of security information will break down if proprietary concerns become more important than cooperation. Some unkind words have been exchanged over MSE's release by software security vendors, who say Microsoft just can't cut it.
Will Microsoft Security Essentials spell the end of third-party anti-virus companies? Will Microsoft bury its partners this time, meaning fewer eyes looking out for malware? Is the road to good intentions going to have a bad side effect, or will you be glad to be finally rid of security bloatware under Microsoft's watchful eyes? Tell Doug at [email protected].
Posted by Kurt Mackie on 10/21/2009 at 1:17 PM3 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
Doug has just one issue with netbooks: They don't have built-in synchronization software. A few other readers agree this is a problem:
Yes. I have needed this for years. But I don't want my files on a cloud some place and I don't want to configure my machines with file sharing. One solution with these restrictions would be a sync program that would sync between a hard drive and an external hard drive, always keeping the newest versions of each file. Put the software on two or more machines and specify the folders. You could move the external drive between machines to make sure all files are in sync and have a good external backup in the process.
-Amy
I agree, nice sync software would be good for netbooks, but I think the need is more fundamental. I think that unified simple/solid/secure Internet or cloud sync software has been missing from all computing devices for quite a while. I assumed by now we would have some sort of cloud-based, always accessible storage available on any device. To be truly seamless, this sort of accessible storage would have to be a core component of the OS.
We have the technology to give your phone, desktop, laptop and notebook shared synchronized storage with a decent degree of security. It's a constant surprise that one of the major players (MS or Apple) hasn't tried to build this into their OSes. It makes logical sense: Each of those companies has sufficient market share in devices that cover all those sectors. It is my firm belief that when an OS does this, it will be game-changing, just as big as the transition from DOS to Windows was. Initially, it will have a rough start and a tough road to adoption, just like Windows 1x and 2x. However, it is where the future will be going.
-Dennis
But for every problem, there's a solution -- and here are yours:
Mesh.com is great for synchronizing data. I use it on my netbook to sync up favorites with all my other machines, and I use it on other machines to sync up everything else. I only wish Microsoft would integrate storage with SkyDrive to expand from the 5GB that Mesh.com offers to the 25GB at SkyDrive.
-Ilya
Mesh.com.
-Michael
The best sync tool I've used is Windows Live Sync (sync.live.com). It has worked very well, even with an iMac I have. It's quick to set up and it just works in the background.
I have a laptop I take between home and work (behind a firewall) and it just keeps working. I've traveled overseas and used it to move files back home. When I need to copy files from work to home, I find sync much faster and more effective than doing a file copy (and possibly having to restart if the connection is dropped). I just drop files into a shared filed on my work PC (I remote in) and the files show up on my laptop at home.
-Scott
More letters coming on Friday! Meanwhile, send in your thoughts to [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 10/21/2009 at 1:17 PM1 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.
Maybe our stimulus money should've gone to a netbook startup rather than cutting hiking trails and building museums for politicians.
Posted by Doug Barney on 10/19/2009 at 1:17 PM3 comments