The U.S. Department of Transportation
just
says no to Vista
. Actually, the agency is simply saying that users cannot
upgrade existing machines to the new OS.
If I was smart enough to be in IT, I'd order the same thing.
Installing Vista on any computer that didn't come with it is a waste of time
-- probably a lot of time. The way to move to Vista is to do so with new machines
so you know it'll work out of the box.
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Posted by Doug Barney on 03/28/20070 comments
I once tried to become a Microsoft licensing guru. I read a book by
Scott
Braden
and a report by
Directions
on Microsoft
.
Struggle as I might, I finally realized that becoming an expert meant total
immersion in a complex, often arbitrary, artificial construct designed to prop
up Microsoft's stock price (and how well is that working out?).
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Posted by Doug Barney on 03/28/20070 comments
Visual Studio Team System is an important development tool for Microsoft, partly
because it truly offers deep collaboration, but also because it has a high-end
price tag and presumably large profit margins.
But not all are willing to pay big bucks to access Team System, which is where
devBiz,
just acquired by Microsoft, fits in. This company, now part of Microsoft,
offers Web access to many of Team System's collaboration features. This could
improve your development project and save a few bucks in the process!
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Posted by Doug Barney on 03/28/20070 comments
MOM, Microsoft's way of watching over Windows networks and correcting them
when they go wrong, is passing its apron over to the new boss --
System
Center Operations Manager
, one in a new line of forthcoming System Center
management tools.
Microsoft, though, seems confused as to what to call this thing. Ordinarily,
we'd just use the acronym -- Microsoft loves acronyms and even uses them to
refer to beta software (CTP, RC) and licensing (SA, EA).
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Posted by Doug Barney on 03/28/20070 comments
Microsoft employee Jeff Jones ran an
analysis
of Vista's first three months
compared to the Mac and Linux, and found Vista
has far fewer security flaws.
While a report from Microsoft about Microsoft security has the scent of bias,
I have no evidence to contradict Mr. Jones. There hasn't been a large quantity
of Vista vulnerabilities, and so far no show-stoppers.
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Posted by Doug Barney on 03/27/20070 comments
Adobe is taking a stab not just at Web development, but at rich application
building, as well.
Apollo,
now in alpha test
(how I've missed that term, overwhelmed by a tidal wave
of CTPs, RCs, RTMs and other inane Microsoft names for test software), takes
the best of what Adobe has learned with Web development and ties this to OS-style
services such as printer drivers and personalization.
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Posted by Doug Barney on 03/27/20070 comments
Our friends from FullArmor recently treated us to some sushi at the local buffet
(I used all my willpower and only had one heaping plate), and between sips of
miso soup, chomps of calamari, mounds of mackerel and tons of tuna, we talked
about their latest product:
FullArmor
Endpoint Policy Manager
, a tool that lets admins build and enforce security
and other policies for fixed desktops and roving laptops.
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Posted by Doug Barney on 03/27/20070 comments
It's rare that I find myself jealous of those in less-developed countries, but
hearing what Dell is doing in China has me pleased and steamed simultaneously.
I'm happy because
Dell
built a $230 desktop for China
that runs XP and has a 40GB drive and a quarter-gig
of RAM.
Then I got mad wondering why we can't all buy a brand-new, low-priced XP machine.
Before sinking into total depression, I did some fact-checking (yeah, I do this
occasionally) and found a $350 Dell Vista desktop with an 80GB drive and half-a-gig
of RAM. If I were in the People's Republic, I might just order my machine from
Austin!
Posted by Doug Barney on 03/26/20070 comments
The Slashdotters have struck again. The popular discussion site (what is it
about the Internet that releases inhibitions faster than a double Grey Goose
martini?) picked up our cover story about Microsoft's fledgling effort to work
with the open source community.
We praised Redmond for its efforts to build quasi-open products and its more
serious stab at interoperating with the open community.
As you might expect, zealots (God bless 'em) came out of the proverbial woodwork
with comments.
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Posted by Doug Barney on 03/26/20070 comments
Palm Inc., longtime maker of hand-held devices that are actually easy to use,
is reportedly
up for sale
, with either Nokia or Motorola as the presumed buyer.
This has been an interesting space, with Microsoft getting better and better
at making smaller and smaller operating systems, and Apple set to get into the
market with a phone that comes stocked with all the hand-held computing basics.
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Posted by Doug Barney on 03/22/20070 comments