Miss that interview with Bill O'Reilly on "The Daily Show"? Just
go to The YouTube and watch The Video.
That all might end soon, now that The
Viacom is suing The YouTube, now owned by The Google, for posting The Copyrighted
Content without giving The Viacom The Big Bucks.
And we are talking about a lot of content, as The Viacom runs The Comedy Central,
the now nearly music video-free MTV (can anyone over the age of 12 watch their
horrible reality shows?) and The VH1 -- which actually shows a video every now
and again.
I happen to think The Viacom is right, although I personally enjoy watching
The Purloined Viacom Video on The YouTube.
What's your take? Let us know at [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 03/14/2007 at 1:15 PM0 comments
I love an underdog, especially one that pokes the big dog in the eye, which
is exactly what AMD has done to Intel.
AMD was on the financial ropes when it decided to stop just building Intel
clones and push the envelope with 64-bit machines that kick server and PC gaming
butt.
You can only push Intel so far. Sure, the processing giant fought back with
faster clock speeds and a more aggressive multicore strategy. But what Intel
can really control is the cost of volume production and pricing.
AMD is now in
a world of Wall Street and balance sheet hurt, and may need to be bought
or find a new investor. I know a few dozen teenage gamers that will kick in
their allowance!
Posted by Doug Barney on 03/14/2007 at 1:15 PM0 comments
Longtime ally Quest Software last week
agreed
to license Microsoft communication protocols under the exact same terms
the European Union found so expensive and egregious.
Microsoft, however, claims that since Quest was so willing to sign the agreement
and pay the royalties, it can't be a bad deal.
Microsoft has argued that its royalty rates are far below those of competitors.
But at over 5 percent of new revenues, it seems a tad steep to me. But what
do I know -- I don't write software, I only make it crash!
Posted by Doug Barney on 03/14/2007 at 1:15 PM0 comments
Reports have it that Apple is working on a line of subnotebooks, a class of
machines it has never built before. These machines will have a scaled-down version
of Mac OS and
use
flash drives in place of hard drives.
Could be the perfect traveling companion. Whadda you think? Let me know at
[email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 03/13/2007 at 1:15 PM0 comments
Microsoft has been trying to become the Google of Web search, first with MSN
search and now with Windows Live Search, which, last time I checked (two minutes
ago), gave an ego-deflating 3,928 results for "doug barney." But it
did have a
cool
first result.
Meanwhile, Google returns a more gratifying 17,100 pages.
So is it any surprise that Christopher Payne, the Microsoft exec leading the
Microsoft search charge, is moving
on to greener pastures?
Here's more insight into
Redmond's search troubles from BusinessWeek.
Posted by Doug Barney on 03/13/2007 at 1:15 PM0 comments
This week, the Dynamics faithful, largely resellers and customers, flocked to
sunny San Diego to
learn
how to sell and use the line of ERP software, and to see what's new in the
world of Microsoft enterprise apps.
Many of the new programs are aimed at recruiting resellers and helping them
to, er, sell the software. But there are also new versions of the software,
which unfortunately still represents three to four largely overlapping tools.
Microsoft also showed off some new client tools that work off of Office and
SharePoint, not only making it easy for clients to use the software, but --
with low pricing -- easier to buy, as well.
Posted by Doug Barney on 03/13/2007 at 1:15 PM0 comments
I wish that this could be a new tradition -- Patch-Free Tuesday.
That's right, patchers: Tomorrow you can take the day off as there are no
patches on Patch Tuesday!
While that sounds great, the news is not 100 percent good. There is still an
unresolved Word zero-day exploit that Microsoft is working on.
What are you going to do with your Patch-Free Tuesday? Let us know at [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 03/12/2007 at 1:15 PM0 comments
Reader responses to this newsletter are truly incredible, and they're the No.
1 reason I write the darn thing four times a week.
For instance, when one of you had trouble
with Exchange and the BlackBerry, dozens of faithful readers wrote
in to help. Thanks!
And when I wrote a few paltry sentences in praise of FoxPro, eight readers
from Russia, France, Canada and the good, old USA posted comments to thank me
(I even got an invite to the Bashkir Republic out of the deal).
Check out the FoxPro comments here.
Posted by Doug Barney on 03/12/2007 at 1:15 PM0 comments
If any one feature has caused Vista controversy, it's User Access Control. It's
even the butt of the latest round of Apple ads. Basically, Vista asks for permission
before you can do just about anything. Disable it, and all that malware comes
diving on in.
BeyondTrust, a new company formed by former DesktopStandard chief John Moyer,
has an answer. Privilege Manager 3.0 lets IT fine-tune application privileges.
Essentially, users operate with least privileges, but if more rights are needed
to run a certain app or do certain things, this can be set up by IT. There's
a lot more to it than that, so if you want to know more, wander over here.
How secure have you found Vista? Tell me at [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 03/12/2007 at 1:15 PM0 comments
Dell, currently getting its hat handed to it by HP, is contemplating
Linux
as an option for desktop and laptop computers. This is great news for Linux
lovers, and could be a market-changing event. But for Linux to make desktop
headways, I need to see real ease of use and some serious low-ball pricing!
Posted by Doug Barney on 03/08/2007 at 1:15 PM1 comments
SQL Server 2005 got a bunch of new features and fixes two weeks ago with the
release of Service Pack 2. Now, there's a fix for the fix. Apparently, there
was a problem with integration services and some cleanup tasks.
Get the skinny here.
Posted by Doug Barney on 03/08/2007 at 1:15 PM2 comments
Critics have long charged that Microsoft gets little for the billions it spends
on research. I've covered this area and am convinced that Microsoft is right
in not looking at it in terms of pure dollars and cents. Microsoft researchers
aim instead to push the frontiers.
At
this year's TechFest, researchers showed off a way to make custom sticky
notes, a way to convert a handwritten sticky note into voice mail, a new approach
to WiFi advertising and a video game that introduces kids to the fundamentals
of programming.
In homage to Jim Gray, a brilliant researcher who is still missing after an
apparent sailing mishap, TechFest featured a way for PC users to tap into massive
high-powered telescopes. This work was one of Gray's many achievements! Learn
more about Jim here.
Posted by Doug Barney on 03/08/2007 at 1:15 PM0 comments