When it comes to reputation, Gartner is as well-respected as the pope, John
McCain and Mother Teresa put together -- despite the fact that a decade ago,
Gartner overestimated the cost of owning PCs by about ten-fold. It seems that
somehow the gurus from Stamford, Conn. can do no wrong.
In the case
of virtualization, Gartner is mostly right, but I have a few bones to pick.
First, Gartner says that through 2012, virtualization is the "highest-impact
trend in [the] infrastructure and operations market." Check.
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Posted by Doug Barney on 04/07/20080 comments
Our new magazine/Web site/blog/newsletter
Virtualization
Review
is fully up and running. In fact, we just printed and shipped
tens of thousands of copies of the very first issue.
Leading our virtualization charge is former Redmond Editor Keith Ward,
now editor of Virtualization Review. (Keith is so good, we hire him back
every time he leaves for what he thinks are greener pastures. Now he knows the
truth: Ain't nothing greener than virtualization!)
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Posted by Doug Barney on 03/31/20080 comments
I try to avoid being political in this newsletter, but in this case I'm making
an exception.
Here's the backdrop: Bill Gates has long argued for loosening
our Visa rules so companies such as Microsoft can bring in smart people.
Bill made this same case in a speech
a few weeks ago in front of the U.S. House of Representatives.
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Posted by Doug Barney on 03/31/20080 comments
Last week, Google
turned
its page black
to raise awareness of energy conservation.
My first thought turned to hypocrisy. Google uses millions of kilowatt hours
powering massive server farms so we can look for Kim Kardashian videos.
Turns out, there was a deeper irony. Apparently, it takes more electricity
to power a black screen than a light one.
Posted by Doug Barney on 03/31/20080 comments
Microsoft is taking a fresh stab at enterprise search with
Windows
Search 4.0
, designed largely for Windows shops.
This is a pretty big area, and one that is very easy to test. Any clown can
tell you which search works best -- that's why Google rules in Web and desktop
searches. It only takes one or two queries before the depth of its indexing
proves superior.
The new Microsoft software is in beta, and now works with OneNote (should be
called OneCustomer) and Outlook.
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Posted by Doug Barney on 03/31/20080 comments
VMware made news last month when Dell, HP and IBM
all
agreed
to bundle a small, tight version of VMware with its servers. This
made it seem almost like VMware is the only game in town, the Microsoft of virtualization.
The reality is the field is far more complex and competitive.
It's not just the looming threat of Hyper-V, which will be huge as Microsoft
is making all the right moves with pricing and enticing developers. Citrix is
also playing big-time in this space with its acquisition of Xen. Sun is basing
its new xVM hypervisor on Xen, and last week HP
announced that it will embed a version of XenServer on HP servers -- just
like it's doing with VMware.
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Posted by Doug Barney on 03/24/20080 comments
Call it Redmond Report Take 2. Last week, we launched a new Web site that's
so simple in concept, even I could've thought it up (but I didn't; my boss Henry
Allain did).
Redmond Report (yup, it shares its name with this here newsletter) is simply
a bunch of links from a bunch of sites to a bunch of stories about Microsoft.
Like I said, pretty dang simple. Already, the site has stories about Vista
Service Pack 1, a new Word exploit and advice about what company Microsoft should
buy (instead of Yahoo).
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Posted by Doug Barney on 03/24/20080 comments
You, I'm sure, have heard that Sir Arthur C. Clarke
left
us last week
at the age of 90. Clarke was a true renaissance man. Many forget
that he was a real scientist and technical visionary. He invented the idea of
orbiting satellites and later proposed them as a way to bring the Internet to
the Third World.
I was lucky enough to correspond with Sir Clarke for several years. Even though
he was way over in Sri Lanka, Clarke read AmigaWorld while I was editor
in chief. Clarke loved the Amiga and used it to explore Mandelbrots, geometrical
shapes that expand inward and out infinitely. The shapes they form also make
great hippy T-shirts. These fractals drove his novel The Ghost from the Grand
Banks.
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Posted by Doug Barney on 03/24/20080 comments
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer last year famously remarked that in 10 years, all
media will be digital -- meaning print will be deader than a run-over Texas
armadillo. Maybe Steve really believes such an absurd idea (despite iPods and
CDs, the LP is the hot ticket for young music-philes). Or perhaps he's trying
to will it into happening so Microsoft can take over the publishing business.
Like Google and Yahoo, Microsoft isn't really planning on doing publishing
the traditional way -- the hard way -- where you actually hire journalists and
editors and produce content. No, Microsoft and its ilk want to monetize content
produced by others. They want advertisers to connect with Microsoft by advertising
on Microsoft sites, or for advertisers and publishers to use Microsoft as the
Web advertising go-between. Here's
a rundown of what Microsoft has to offer.
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Posted by Doug Barney on 03/17/20080 comments
The ordinarily press-shy Ray Ozzie
recently
opened up
to blogger Om Malik on cloud computing and the role of the desktop
OS.
After making the obvious statement that today's desktop has a '70s and '80s
feel (something other Microsoft execs likely agree with but cringe at hearing),
Ozzie pointed out that young developers, students and startups build for the
Web first, and this is the audience Microsoft must now address (Silverlight,
anyone?).
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Posted by Doug Barney on 03/17/20080 comments
Over the last few years, almost no one launched new computer magazines. Of course,
the exception is 1105 Media, which started
Redmond
magazine in 2004,
Redmond Channel Partner
in 2005, and broke out
Redmond Developer News
in 2006.
Later this month, 1105 lets loose with Virtualization Review, and I'm
lucky to be a part of it. The premiere issue includes profiles of VMware, Microsoft
and Citrix/Xen; a roundup of top PC virtualization tools; a treatise on the
state of storage virtualization; a peek at Hyper-V; and loads of industry news.
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Posted by Doug Barney on 03/17/20080 comments
TechCrunch, a blog which everyone says is cool but isn't actually read by anyone
I know, is reporting that Google and Microsoft may be
fighting
over Digg.com
. Apparently, Google is willing to pay up to $225 million,
while Microsoft, saving its big bucks for Yahoo, is coming in a bit lower.
I gotta tell you, Digg these days is far cooler than Yahoo. People who don't
need to show an ID to get a senior citizen discount use Yahoo, while the Red
Bull and pimple cream set flocks to Digg. Which do you think has more of a future?
Posted by Doug Barney on 03/10/20080 comments