The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) believes that Google and DoubleClick
already know too much about us, and the combination will be a disaster for personal
privacy. The group is
filing
suit with the Federal Trade Commission to stop the merger.
EPIC members worry that the two companies can blend Web surfing histories and
search histories, and find out just what kind of creeps many of us are.
Do you worry about Web privacy, and should we have to opt in to such intrusions?
Let me know at [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 04/26/2007 at 1:15 PM0 comments
I've always liked Sun Microsystems. It's feisty, clever and always doing new
things (kinda like our friends up in Redmond).
Unlike Microsoft, Sun hasn't been consistently profitable and doesn't have
any monopolies it can leverage. But Sun can be proud of one thing: It
rang up a decent profit -- some $67 million -- this past quarter.
That wasn't nearly enough for Wall Street, which wanted a little more ching.
Sun's stock fell sharply right after the profits were announced.
Posted by Doug Barney on 04/26/2007 at 1:15 PM0 comments
I know plenty of people who are addicted to their BlackBerrys, and the only
thing I can figure is they must all have tiny fingers. I love checking my e-mail,
but writing anything on the darn thing turns out like this:
Tjanmks fir yoyr niote, I'll bei inm towen nexrt weaek and hopoe to getr
togfether. Taklk to yoiu soopn.
My fingers aren't huge, but if I only hit two keys at once, I'm doing well.
Research in Motion is now offering
its software to makers of other mobile devices such as the Palm Treo. Now,
if Palm can make a unit with BlackBerry features and a keyboard I can actually
use, then we can talk.
Have any of you tried the BlackBerry 7130, where one key represents two letters?
It took me 20 minutes to type in my e-mail address. I'd get to "dbarne"
and then it would change it to "fbarne." How did you figure this thing
out? Let us know at [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 04/25/2007 at 1:15 PM0 comments
A small Texas software developer claims that
.NET
is .NOT entirely original, and that the concept of having an object framework
where each object can "be accessed or modified separately" is the
creation of Vertical Computer Systems Inc., covered by a patent, and not the
brainchild of Microsoft Corp.
I haven't dug too deeply into all this, but this patent seems to speak to a
fairly fundamental precept of object-oriented programming.
Worst case scenario? Microsoft digs into its petty cash fund and pays Vertical
off.
Posted by Doug Barney on 04/25/2007 at 1:15 PM0 comments
Microsoft, now that BlackBerry software is open to other device makers, will
be
adding some
BlackBerry features to Windows Mobile 6, allowing devices to tap into the
BlackBerry Enterprise Server to get corporate e-mail.
Dang, wish Redmond had done this earlier. Then I could use a smart phone instead
of my bulky BlackBerry 8703.
Posted by Doug Barney on 04/25/2007 at 1:15 PM0 comments
A week or two ago, I asked faithful Redmond Report readers if they
love
or hate the Office ribbon interface. First, I want to thank the 50 or so
folks that took the time to write. Your work was not in vain.
About half of your letters were posted in the newsletter, and I showed the
other half to an Office product manager when I was in Redmond last week. His
eyes bugged out a bit when he saw just how disruptive the new interface is.
While many would never return to the standard toolbar, most of you wish Microsoft
would go back in time and reverse its decision to go with the ribbon.
Venture Architects Labs feels your pain. If you've got a spare Jackson in your
wallet, the company will send you ToolbarToggle,
which implements the old toolbar in the new Office 2007 suite.
I can save you that $20 and hundreds more. Send me $5 and I'll tell you in
person to stick with Office 2003 and download the free translator so you can
work with newer XML-based files. Now, that's a bargain!
Posted by Doug Barney on 04/24/2007 at 1:15 PM0 comments
Brands become huge when they're used as common words. A Kleenex is a tissue
to most -- doesn't matter who cut down the trees to make it. A Coke is a cola,
and most of us would gladly accept a Pepsi or even an RC if the real thing wasn't
available.
And when we search the Internet, we don't MSN Live Search it -- we Google it,
baby!
And that ubiquity is the main reason why Google
is the most valuable brand in the world today, two places ahead of Microsoft.
While I often cast doubt on just how broadly Google competes (I see it as a
search and ad company), this brand gives it a huge leg up in any new markets
it cares to enter. If it made a super-caffeinated cola beverage, I'm sure we'd
all be asking for a Google instead of a Coke. Then Coke could strike back with
a killer search engine!
Posted by Doug Barney on 04/24/2007 at 1:15 PM0 comments
We talked last week about a
Windows
Server DNS vulnerability that has had IT hopping -- both hopping to fix
it and hopping mad!
Well, folks, Microsoft is on the case, working around the clock to build what
observers call a "mega-patch" which could be delivered before next
month's Patch Tuesday.
In the meantime, Microsoft suggests blocking port 139, and tweaking IPSec and
all your firewalls.
Posted by Doug Barney on 04/23/2007 at 1:15 PM0 comments
The Google train keeps a-rolling, pulling in more money, more press and more
search market share.
All this momentum pushed
revenues to $3.6 billion for the latest quarter with profits of over a billion
dollars (who says software doesn't have healthy margins?).
While pundits see Google as perhaps the future of end user software, the vast
majority of Google's dough comes from good, old-fashioned ad dollars, which
are spent in new-fashioned ways.
The real question is: What will Google build (or buy) with its increasingly
large cash reserves?
Posted by Doug Barney on 04/23/2007 at 1:15 PM0 comments
Always spunky AMD put a hurt on Intel with faster chips for game PCs, cheaper
prices, a killer 64-bit strategy and by leading the dual-/multi-core charge.
You had to know Intel wasn't going to take this guff forever, and you were
right. The chip giant took the gloves off and whacked AMD soundly with even
lower prices, an aggressive dual-core plan and by leveraging its many OEM relationships.
All that helped drive
AMD results down faster then a 2001 Enron share price, as AMD lost over
$600 million in its latest quarter.
Here's hoping the company gets back on its feet. Intel fights way harder when
it has a little competition.
Posted by Doug Barney on 04/23/2007 at 1:15 PM0 comments
Late last week, news broke that
Dell
was once again offering XP to home users wary of Vista.
Offering old OSes is old news for the corporate market which upgrades far more
slowly than power users, gamers and your run-of-the-mill teen. But critics have
come out of the woodwork, arguing that the Dell move means that Vista has entirely
stalled. I don't think that's true at all.
I'm sure there are some consumers that actually do prefer XP to Vista, but
my guess is that the real demand for XP from Dell is one-off corporate purchases
where a home/consumer PC is cheap and easy to buy.
Posted by Doug Barney on 04/23/2007 at 1:15 PM0 comments
Microsoft, locked in a pitched battle over virtualization with VMware, is
seeing
some key products slip. Delayed products include Virtual Server 2005 and
a test version of Windows Server virtualization (dubbed "Viridian").
These delays are far from fatal. I expect the VMware/Microsoft virtualization
war to rage for years.
Which vendor do you prefer? Let us know at [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 04/17/2007 at 1:15 PM0 comments