Here's a cool twist: Microsoft is arguing that Google, with its
impending
purchase of DoubleClick, will have too much monopoly power. Not only that,
but Google may simply know too much about our private lives,
the
boys from Redmond argue.
Of course, Microsoft wanted this monopoly power and the ability to know too
much about our private lives, too, as it was also bidding for DoubleClick. Sour
grapes? Perhaps.
Is Google too powerful and does it know too much? Answers welcome at [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 04/17/2007 at 1:15 PM0 comments
Microsoft dialed into the National Association of Broadcasters convention in
Las Vegas and
showed
off Silverlight, a new tool for building rich interactive Web apps and for
running TV-quality video in a browser.
The widespread perception is that Microsoft is way behind Google and other
competitors when it comes to Web apps and Software as a Service. But as one
of the founders of Redmond Developer News
magazine, which covers Microsoft's
development tools, I'm not so sure.
I'd argue that if you are trying to write these kinds of apps, no one has a
deeper portfolio of tools than Microsoft.
Posted by Doug Barney on 04/17/2007 at 1:15 PM0 comments
Microsoft Word can't win for losing these days. First, it has critics like
me who, after two decades, still can't figure out how to use the software properly.
But more problematic are the holes that security experts keep finding. In April
alone, a handful of vulnerabilities were found for Word, including
a big one for Word 2007, the latest and greatest in a long line of Microsoft
word processors.
By the way, do you love or hate the ribbon interface? Let us know at [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 04/16/2007 at 1:15 PM0 comments
I just saved $2,000. I was all set to buy a Mac laptop as soon as Leopard, the
new OS, shipped this spring. Fortunately for my bank account,
Leopard
is being pushed back to this fall. It seems that Leopard developers are
being switched over to the iPhone project so that it can stay on track to ship
in June.
I wouldn't mind an iPhone, but $500 is a mite steep. What about you? Will you
be lining up come June to pick up one of these little beauties? Let me know
at [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 04/16/2007 at 1:15 PM0 comments
The great thing about my kids having Macs is not having to rebuild the darn
things every six months because their machines have more viruses than The Andromeda
Strain. The bad part? Having to drive an hour to get a new iBook power supply!
This trip did help me get close to my son and do a little market research.
According to my salesguy, the Mac TV commercials have increased business, as
have the new line of Intel-based gear.
The real surprise came when it came time to pay. The salesguy looked suspiciously
at my card when I refused to give my phone number, then looked again and asked,
"Didn't you use to be a computer journalist?"
"Still am."
Turns out the sales consultant used to do PR for the old Digital Equipment
Corp., and once briefed me on some X.500 messaging tools. Then he pulled out
his cell phone and showed me my e-mail address and phone number from seven years
ago. Good times, good times!
Posted by Doug Barney on 04/05/2007 at 1:15 PM0 comments
I love the Bud Light "Real Men of Genius" commercials even more than
I love the beer. In fact, I can listen to a dozen or so of the commercials straight,
while I tap out after six cans of the beer.
My son Dave is also a fan, and just let me know about a bunch of PC-related
parodies. They aren't quite as good as the real thing, but "Mr. Giant E-Mail
Attachment Sender" is pretty dang funny.
Listen to them here.
To hear the real Bud Light commercials, go here.
Posted by Doug Barney on 04/05/2007 at 1:15 PM0 comments
The European Union is so tough on monopolies, it'd probably like to ban the
board game, if it could.
Now, Apple
is feeling the EU's fury as iTunes is being looked into for limiting competition.
At issue is the fact that an English music lover can download songs only in
England.
But in Europe, people travel a lot; English soccer hooligans go to Germany
for strong beer and high-quality fist fights, and the Germans go to the French
Alps to watch their riders lose in the Tour de France.
Sounds like a perfect opportunity for Microsoft to sell a few Zunes!
Posted by Doug Barney on 04/05/2007 at 1:15 PM0 comments
In the rush to embrace Web 2.0-style apps and development, some have turned
a blind eye to a problem Microsoft knows all too well: security. For instance,
did you know AJAX apps can be taken over by hackers just as Windows and IE apps
can?
Hackers
can "hijack" the JavaScript and read what's written inside the
JavaScript messages. Google and Microsoft AJAX tools are both affected.
One answer, an analyst says, is to use authentication when transmitting private
information.
Posted by Doug Barney on 04/05/2007 at 1:15 PM0 comments
I used to spend eight to 10 hours a day writing and thinking about networking
technology (God only knows how I stayed sane) as executive editor of
NetworkWorld
and then editor in chief of
Network Computing.
This experience allowed me to bluff my way through a meeting with StillSecure,
which has a new network platform that is entirely open source. While focusing
on security and unified threat management, the Java-based Cobia platform includes
a veritable smorgasbord of functions, such as routing, firewalls, virtual private
networking, DNS and WiFi.
There are also an increasing number of open source VoIP tools. Could Cisco
be threatened by open source the same way as Microsoft?
Posted by Doug Barney on 04/05/2007 at 1:15 PM0 comments
Redmond Channel Partner magazine, written for Microsoft resellers (some
partners consider this word a slur but they do, in fact, resell software), has
a newsletter written by Lee Pender. I love Lee's stuff, except when it sinks
in how much better his is than mine!
Recently, Lee tackled
Google, asking if Google knows too much about us and is using this information
inappropriately.
In fact, forget the Patriot Act, the NSA and the CIA. If Google ran U.S. national
security, they would have found Osama bin Laden surfing for girlie pictures
in Bora Bora!
Read Pender's views and highly refined writing here.
Posted by Doug Barney on 04/04/2007 at 1:15 PM0 comments
This weekend, I took my son Nick to
Blades of Glory, the new comedy starting
Will Ferrell and Napoleon Dynamite. It's a great film, once again proving the
fancy critics with large vocabularies wrong (for comedies, my family only goes
to movies that critics have utterly panned, like
Dude, Where's My Car?).
I'm not here to tell you how to spend your $12. I'm here to tell you that the
stars of this movie included the Web as part of their press junket just as much
as "Good Morning America" and "Live With Regis and Kelly."
Besides an interview with Break.com, my son David (he gives me so much Redmond
Report content that I'm going to have to start cutting him a check) pointed
me to a great interview with the one
and only "Ask a Ninja."
By the way, my youngest son Nick is stealing a page from his dad's playbook,
launching a blog just as curmudgeonly and opinionated as his old man's. Most
of the comments he's gotten are from me using fake names and fake e-mail addresses.
This 11-year-old busted me when he saw that all the messages came from the same
IP address (damn you, static IP!).
Feel free to check
out his site and leave feedback -- just don't be creepy, rude or inappropriate
(that's reserved for messages sent directly to [email protected]).
Posted by Doug Barney on 04/04/2007 at 1:15 PM0 comments