Microsoft Gains Boston Accent

But do you know where the spreadsheet was invented (by VisiCalc) and then reinvented (by Lotus)? Where the minicomputer was born (remember Data General, Wang and DEC?). Good, old Massachusetts, my home state.

Microsoft bought a bunch of Massachusetts' best brains by buying Groove and Softricity, and got some bright New Hampshire bulbs when it bought Desktop Standard. Now, Microsoft wants to tap into New England research minds by creating a lab in Cambridge, Mass.

The Massachusetts tech economy fell on hard times after 2001. It's already on a comeback, and with Microsoft in our back yard, things should only get better.

Posted by Doug Barney on 09/24/2008 at 1:16 PM0 comments

Mailbag: Microsoft Ads Redux, Cloud Computing, More

The Seinfeld commercials were an abomination (I can't say what I said when I first saw them aired). I'm neither a PC apologist nor a MacManiac; I'm a user of the Wintel consortium products. Those commercials should never have made it off the storyboard, and the agency who created them should be immediately cuffed and tossed in jail for abuse of our sensibilities.
-Benjamin

To heck with the Jerry Seinfeld TV spots. I think that Microsoft is onto something with its new 'I'm a PC' campaign that gives us quick cuts to some pretty cool people, both famous and un-famous, that all claim, "I'm a PC." This is a subtle yet powerful way to steer consumers away from the attitude that PC users are "squares," which was brilliantly depicted in the original Mac spots.

I saw this 'I'm a PC' spot a couple of times over the weekend, and was more impressed the second time I saw it than I was at first look. I think Microsoft is right to have a campaign that, unlike the Seinfeld spots and the "Seinfeld" show itself, is actually about something.
-Ken

On Monday, Doug asked readers whether they've come across any sites that cover cloud computing. Here are a couple:

Here are some sites: Enamoly Elastic Computing and Enterprise Cloud Computing: Build Your Own With Cisco VFrame -- Why Wait?
-Hermine

Here's an interesting cloud blog: The Wisdom of Clouds.
-Anthony

But Ari, for one, isn't buying into this cloud computing business:

I'm surprised that you don't see cloud computing for what it is: a return to the tyranny of the mainframe/dumb-terminal paradigm, and the loss of jobs for hundreds of MCSE/MSCAs. Most, if not all, of our tech support is outsourced, and most, if not all, of our manufacturing is outsourced as well. The United States doesn't really produce anything, with the notable exception that we keep finding new and wondrous ways for us to murder each other. The latest and greatest innovation to come out of the dot-com disaster -- and now cloudware -- is that today, your cab driver is likely to be an MCSE.

Then, there is the issue of downtime. With a server and smart workstation, even a company of 15 employees would not notice a problem on the local network; when setting up the network, you run two servers in parallel topography for redundancy. When properly configured, if one server fails, regardless of the reason, the secondary server automatically switches to the primary server's role and sends a notification to your MCSE and your hardware vendor.

By contrast, a slowdown or drop-off of a cloud system places you, as an employer, in the awful situation where you now have 15 to 20 people drawing their hourly wage while sitting around and making paper airplanes or stringing paper clips together, and you don't have a backup server, so you are stuck behind the eightball and dead in the water (pardon the mixed metaphor). This is exacerbated by the fact that you have no idea how long it will take for the cloud to recondense (besides, with cloud computing, you always pray for rain and that doesn't mix well with electronic components).
-Ari

And Mitchell shares his thoughts on Chrome:

I find it buggy, which is not surprising as a beta. It also tends to be jumpy when scrolling through pictures and graphics on large pages. Also have found problems with Flash and other multimedia. After using it for a day, I went back to IE 7.

Now, IE 8? Many problems, as well. Oh, well -- betas are betas.
-Mitchell

Check in tomorrow for more reader letters! In the meantime, share your thoughts by writing a comment below or sending an e-mail to [email protected].

Posted by Doug Barney on 09/24/2008 at 1:16 PM0 comments

Microsoft Thinks Its Stock Is a Bargain

Since the tech crash of 2001, the stock has been stuck. Like a rocking chair, it's going nowhere. But Microsoft thinks its own company is a pretty good deal and is buying back $40 billion in shares. That's like buying a Yahoo's worth of stock. And that's on top of the $40 billion buyback already completed.

I'm no Wall Street whiz (and neither, apparently, are they), but this seems like a good long-term move. It acknowledges that Microsoft is now a mature, less volatile stock. It means there's stability and sound financial underpinnings. Oh, how I wish Steve Ballmer and Bill Gates had been running Lehman, AIG and Merrill Lynch!

During the tech crash in 2001, there were no federal bailouts -- and our business came through just fine. Investors (like you and me, I'm sure) who lost money took our lumps and went on. What lessons should we have learned from the tech bubble burst that we can apply to today's Wall Street meltdown? Thoughts welcome at [email protected].

Posted by Doug Barney on 09/23/2008 at 1:16 PM0 comments

The Highest-Performing Version of Windows Ever

The core product here is Windows High Performance Computing (HPC) Server 2008, which was just completed.

Tools like these have been mostly used by scientists and engineers, and for massive data-mining-type apps. But as the world starts thinking more about cloud computing and IT thinks about building internal clouds, what used to be the domain of the supercomputer intelligentsia could become standard datacenter fare.

Think Windows HPC doesn't have the juice for this kind of computing? Think again. Cray thinks the software is good enough to drive its supercomputers. Not too shabby.

Posted by Doug Barney on 09/23/2008 at 1:16 PM0 comments

Mailbag: Good Riddance, Seinfeld

I saw the first commercial and thought, "Wow, that has to be the lamest commercial I have ever seen! They should fire whichever agency sold 'em that load of crap." Then I saw the second commercial and I realized why Vista sucks so bad. It's because Microsoft has a bunch of morons working for it. If it can't see how lame those commercials were, they should all be fired and bring in some people with enough sense to say, "Hey, those commercials suck, let's go hire that company that made the Apple ads. At least they have a sense of humor."

Now I hear that Microsoft is scrapping the Seinfeld commercials because they "accomplished what they wanted," which I guess was proving that MS is out of touch with reality. OK, so tell me another one. More like Microsoft finally saw that people were only laughing at how ridiculous its commercials were, especially compared to the Apple commercials (I thought the latest one with PC in the pizza box was the best one so far). If MS doesn't pull their collective heads out of their behinds, they are going to end up digging such a deep hole, they will never be able to climb out of it.
-James

Tell us what you think! Leave a comment below or send an e-mail to [email protected].

Posted by Doug Barney on 09/22/2008 at 1:16 PM0 comments

Was It Something I Said?

That's right: After three installments, Microsoft is shelving the Jerry commercials in favor of a new batch starring a guy that looks like the PC guy from the Apple commercials.

I'm actually pretty bummed. The second and third installments were darn good, and way different from your average TV fare (with four kids, I know a lot about average TV fare). Just as there have been petitions to bring XP, how about one to bring back Jerry?

Posted by Doug Barney on 09/22/2008 at 1:16 PM0 comments

Microsoft Adds Depth to Security View

There's the model for development itself, which is free. On the paid side, Microsoft has SDL-trained consultants you can hire and a Threat Modeling Tool for sale this November.

As problems with Chrome, VMware, the Mac and Linux have shown, all software can be subject to hacks. It's clear that Microsoft is trying to do something about it.

Speaking of Chrome, are you using it? I'm writing an article about end user experiences and would love to talk to you. Shoot me a note with your thoughts and impressions to me at [email protected].

Posted by Doug Barney on 09/22/2008 at 1:16 PM0 comments

Clouds Ain't Always Cheap

But cloud services don't magically configure themselves or keep themselves up-to-date. Some, like BitCurrent analyst Alistair Croll (I imagine Alistair with a pipe, a smoking jacket and a shelf full of dusty old books), believe it can actually be more difficult and expensive to manage this remote software. Not only will admins have to administer this software, but their companies may add more and more applications to the mix -- increasing complexity and admin time.

Do you care about clouds? Have you found any good Web sites that cover cloud services or teach you how to build your own clouds? URLs welcome at [email protected].

Posted by Doug Barney on 09/22/2008 at 1:15 PM0 comments

Our Economy Ain't Dead Yet

But I was living in a different world. At VMworld, there were some 10,000 customers looking to transform their shops, over 200 third parties creating a brand-new and vibrant market, and a company, VMware, looking to do revolutionary things -- doing it all with a fair bit a class and savvy.

Virtualization also offers us a way out of this economic and even energy mess. Through the massive centralization of servers, PCs, networks and storage that virtualization allows, we can save mega megawatts. The energy saves are stupendous, as are the hardware and management economics.

Posted by Doug Barney on 09/18/2008 at 1:16 PM0 comments

XenServer Take 5

Some have questioned Citrix's commitment to XenServer given that the company is so close to Microsoft and such a fan of Hyper-V. Perhaps XenServer 5 will help answer that question. New features focus on monitoring, disaster recovery and more options for third-party programs.

Where do you see Xen going, and is Citrix truly committed? Send conjectures to [email protected].

Posted by Doug Barney on 09/18/2008 at 1:16 PM0 comments

Sun Adds VMware to Virtual Line

But just as Sun made up with Microsoft, it apparently isn't religious about thin client and other virtual tools. This week, in fact, Sun agreed to sell and support VMware's Virtual Desktop Infrastructure and Virtual Desktop Manager.

This software can be used to drive Sun Ray devices, or customers can opt for a purer Sun solution. Sun has a pretty cool strategy of pushing its unique technology, such as SPARC and Solaris, as well as a full complement of industry standard (read: Wintel) tools.

What do you think of Sun these days? Opinions accepted at [email protected].

Posted by Doug Barney on 09/18/2008 at 1:16 PM0 comments

Mailbag: VMware's Big Plans, Seinfeld Ad, More

A Datacenter Operating System? I think that'd be wonderful if implemented correctly. From my experience, most datacenters have a tendency to have a server per application to ensure the reliability of that application and that multiple applications won't tread on each other's territory. It also makes it easier to plan upgrades, patches and new releases.

With everything running under a virtual environment, we open up a new possibility. If all you are going to run is a Web server, then why not have an OS that is designed from the ground-up to be a Web server? You could have the same for a file server or a print server. I know that Windows Server 2008 has headed in this direction by only installing the roles needed, but there is probably still a LOT of unnecessary code that allows this one OS to be everything to everyone. Without this extra code, the OS would run much faster and would be much easier to secure. I think the time is right for someone to develop operating systems that are designed from the ground-up to maximize the benefits of a virtual environment.
-T.W.

The second installment of the Gates-Seinfeld ads is out, but the response hasn't changed much (read: lukewarm):

The second ad had funny parts to it, like the grandmother and the setup, but there were many moments where the ad was too lame (like the bedtime story). The ads need work. They lack and need a certain je ne sais quoi. I'm disappointed in the ads because MS is spending so much money on them and they're not as entertaining as Apple's Mac and PC ads.
-Christian

The first commercial seemed really bad, but it did set the tone. The second one IS better. Obviously, it's like all the foreign car commercials, where you know absolutely nothing about the car when it is over, but in this case, everybody in the target audience knows what the product and message is, regardless of how bad the delivery may become. I think at this point, we just miss Bill, and are glad to watch him in mini sitcoms on TV.
-Mel

I have no idea why Bill Gates is in a commercial; as a business person, I don't get it. Why would I care if he became a normal person or an oddball? All I want is for Vista to work quickly, correctly and with zero maintenance! The average consumer has no idea what should work or should not on their PC; if they get a Blue Screen of Death, then they think this is normal.

The Mac commercials are very accurate and, sad to say, Microsoft really doesn't care; it's all about marketing. In fact, Microsoft reminds me of Ford and GM: They have made cars which fail after so many years and now they are paying the price for this inferior "marketing" quality.
-Mike

I guess I'm thinking that these Gates-Feld commercials are going to take folks somewhere and when we get there we'll all be converts to Microsoft. I know that we'll all end up in Vista-ville down the road, though I'm dragging my feet like everyone else. Often, the changes that end up being "for the better" are often the ones that are uncomfortable to wiggle into -- maybe like the "conquistadors." The ones that are comfortable in the store end up being loose and sloppy.

Vista SP1 fixed some issues I had with one of my customers whose "dollar-store laptop" didn't want to participate in their Windows Domain. If Microsoft can continue to chip away at the nuisances and annoyances to provide a secure and stable platform, we'll move on.
-Dan

But unlike the ad, Doug's crack about the difference between a VMware CEO and a pitbull was unequivocally funny...to one guy:

I laughed at your joke.
-Anonymous

Thanks for the support, Anonymous. Everyone else, feel free to chime in! Leave a comment below or send an e-mail to [email protected].

Posted by Doug Barney on 09/18/2008 at 1:16 PM0 comments