Since Dell can't get its paws on the iPad, it has two main tablet choices: go full bore with Android now or wait for Windows 8.
Michael Dell, a longtime Microsoft OEM (he was an OEM when he in college in Austin) plans to wait for Windows 8.
Dell recently came out with fists swinging, arguing that Droid is a huge disappointment. He reckons Windows 8 will fare much better, and plans a large and varied product line around the upcoming OS. But there is a rub... Windows 8, which I perused recently, ain't even in beta.
It actually worked pretty well and I only saw it hang once in hours of operation. That may be because it is far from feature complete.
Dell is taking a risk here. It may be two years before Windows 8 tablets arrive -- at least as full production units. That is a lot of time for Droid to make hay. And Droid is already number two in the market with about a quarter of overall sales. The bad news? Android market share is falling.
Maybe Dell has a bad taste in its mouth since its Dell Streak -- an Android-based oversized smartphone -- bombed worse than Charlie Sheen in Detroit.
Have you tried an Android tablet? Fire it up and send your thoughts to [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 10/14/2011 at 1:18 PM14 comments
The rumors passed around last winter about the death of Zune hardware were not confirmed by Microsoft. Now they are. Zune hardware is dead, but the software lives on.
Instead of buying a standalone Zune player, which almost none of us did, Microsoft now wants us all to buy a Windows Phone 7 and use the embedded Zune software to crank tunes. In fact, if you want to ever upgrade your Windows Phone 7 software, you have load Zune first. Weird.
Zune software will still be available for PCs and the Xbox 360.
Are you going to miss Zune? Do you play music on your phone instead of a separate music player? Send comments to [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 10/14/2011 at 1:18 PM12 comments
Microsoft Research recently turned 20. And while it is still not able to drink legally in the U.S., I'm sure nearly 100 percent of its employees can.
Five years ago I wrote a couple of pieces on Microsoft Research, found here and here.
I don't know what made me do it but I started looking through all the research projects at Microsoft -- there were hundreds, and most I couldn't fathom at all.
Do you know what Self-Certification: Bootstrapping Certified Typecheckers in F* with Coq or Null dereference verification via overapproximated weakest precondition analysis? I sure don't.
After going through tens of dozens of projects and papers, what I did find is much of Microsoft's research is aimed at solving very human problems: hunger, disease, understanding the universe.
I spent a lot of time digging and found that Microsoft pays its brainiacs to work with other top researchers around the globe on all these issues. And this is all gratis.
There is another reason Microsoft Research exists -- to help build products. One of its biggest items to come out of this department in recent time was the Kinect.
Xconomy in Seattle recently interviewed Rich Rashid, long-time chief at MS Research who remembers fondly all the great stuff his group has done.
Also, Keith Ward, editor in chief of Visual Studio magazine did a similar interview some time ago.
Posted by Doug Barney on 10/12/2011 at 1:18 PM2 comments
I've know Microsoft watcher Mary Jo Foley since the late 1980s. Yeah, I'm no spring chicken, but so what?
Mary Jo has done almost nothing but follow Microsoft for her whole career and she can pull insightful perspective out of her hat in a blink of an eye. She barely has to think about it.
She recently wrote a column I totally agree with that asserts Microsoft should stop chasing Apple's tail. I know the iPad, iPhone and iPod are all cool. And the Mac is sweet, despite a market share that would get any self-respecting Microsoft head fired. Less than 10 percent don't cut it in Redmond, baby.
The old song and dance is that Apple is innovative and creative, where Microsoft plods along, making chunky software and buying its way into new markets.
Do mature companies like IBM, Oracle or HP get the same heat? No. Is Microsoft that different? I think Microsoft is a bit of both the innovator and the mature entity. We see innovations with Lync, Xbox and now Windows 8 Metro. And there is the mature side. Do we really need Redmond reinventing Windows Server or SQL Server every two years? That would drive IT bonkers.
Foley points to areas where Microsoft copied Apple's methods in ways that make no real sense. It kept the lid on Windows 8 until its big reveal at last month's Microsoft Build conference. Was it Microsoft's attempt to shock the world the way Jobs has done in many Macworld keynotes?
And Microsoft cut a semi-exclusive smartphone deal with Nokia -- just like Apple did with AT&T (one reason I never bought an iPhone).
Posted by Doug Barney on 10/12/2011 at 1:18 PM3 comments
Readers chime in on Doug's recent analysis of a Fortune article that compared Ballmer to Bush:
You must be rather bored to comment on someone else's useless sound bite article. No need to promote an article that wastes space involving politics.
A better subject with merit would be how Ballmer and Microsoft have been behind the curve on every new thing and that they have failed to market their own small successes and remain relevant (even though, of course, they still are). Crazy how the marketing guy fails at his own strength. No need to involve politics. And by the way, I don't think end results would be much different with Bill at the helm.
And the analogy of the New England Patriots is not correct. Sadly, it should be compared to my own 49ers who haven't been to the playoffs since 2002. Microsoft has won some games but when was the last time you can say they made the playoffs?
-Anonymous
Nice work on the article. I appreciate the 'backing off the political edge.' When people compare something with politics, it's like they already have an audience in mind (either to delight or enrage). Politics can be very divisive, especially in these hard economic times. That's why I like the IT world -- dollars and 'sense' usually rules the day.
Thanks so much for all you do. I think you have it right. I've always been amazed by everything Microsoft does -- and the punishment they take for it -- specifically when people tell me they try to avoid Microsoft cause they like to support local jobs (which I agree with, that is supporting local jobs).
Microsoft has indirectly made wealth for SO many people and its products that have helped SO many people (I work in IT with no small part due to Microsoft.) I love innovation and startups -- and those that are good often reap the benefits. But let's be honest about who produces the most jobs, whether directly or indirectly. Without Microsoft, software development would be much more difficult, computer building much more complex and the digital world much more risky.
-Travis
Share your thoughts with the editors of this newsletter! Write to [email protected]. Letters printed in this newsletter may be edited for length and clarity, and will be credited by first name only (we do NOT print last names or e-mail addresses).
Posted by Doug Barney on 10/12/2011 at 1:18 PM0 comments
One reader shares some thoughts on what Microsoft is and isn't doing right:
Microsoft makes an easy target for criticism. The problem is, it is easy to be a fan boy when your idol can throw away a billion a quarter on a worthless search engine that did not even need to be born. Mr. Ballmer does seem to be having a problem getting his company focused, but that is because Microsoft tries to do everything. This is what kills monopolies, not anti-trust laws.
My sons are gamers and they spend a lot of time with some serious gamers. Of the limited (less than 50) survey I have conducted so far, I have not found a single one who sings the accolades of Xbox. In fact most of the ones who use it, do so for exclusive titles not the quality of the experience. Every single one of them are Sony fans, partly because they get a very good Blue Ray player with it. And they all love their Nintendo.
I do not know anyone who uses Bing on purpose. It is not that there is anything profoundly wrong with it, it is just irrelevant. While I am not a huge fan of most of the business practices of IT corporations, at least they are not selling me the same old cur dog and telling me it is champion.
I have an iPod. I did not buy it for myself -- it was a gift. While I recognize that digital music will never be as good as analog, I have gotten used to having my entire music library with me all the time. The only Zune I ever touched was a freebee that was given away at a Microsoft show.  It was a tragedy.  Microsoft should stay out of the hardware business. They do not know enough about it. They are just not very good at it. I have used three Windows phones and will not own another. They don't understand telecommunications either.  I am currently using a BlackBerry and when it is due to be replaced, it will be with an android, most likely. I do not surf the Internet on my phone and I have an iPad  that have not figured out what to with yet.  My teenage girls like to play games on it and it does have a nice keyboard but I am not a person who needs a digital interface for society. If Microsoft spent less time chasing the latest consumer junk and more time mapping a clear direction for its products, including how to make them work with the new stuff, it would be better off.
What I see is a company that has regimented all creativity out by off shoring its imagination. I too find the political references tedious. I do not believe Fortune is some iconic bastion of good journalism. In the end it is a business and it could not stay in business if it did not tell people what they want to hear. It is not about truth, it is about money. If you got through all that, I am impressed. Â Most people stop after the third sentence.
-Anonymous
Share your thoughts with the editors of this newsletter! Write to [email protected]. Letters printed in this newsletter may be edited for length and clarity, and will be credited by first name only (we do NOT print last names or e-mail addresses).
Posted by Doug Barney on 10/07/2011 at 1:18 PM7 comments
Early Wednesday morning I wrote an item pointing to a column about Steve Jobs that recently ran in Redmond magazine. I intended it for the Friday newsletter -- this newsletter. Hours after I filed, the bad news broke.
I don't have mixed feelings about Steve Jobs passing. It was a sad day for tech, and as someone who turns 51 in December, it was a bit of a wake up call.
I do have mixed feeling about holding the item 'til today. It would have been strange to talk about Mr. Jobs in the present tense, as I did, and basically beg for a miracle. But perhaps it would have also been prescient.
So to be totally transparent, what follows is a rewrite of the original item (taking into account the recent bad news):
Even though this is a Microsoft-oriented newsletter, I spend more than my fair share talking about rivals such as Apple and Google. Let's face it, Microsoft's strategy is highly influenced by these types of forces.
So the fact that Steve Jobs has now passed, is a big deal that will impact the future of Microsoft and Apple greatly.
Jobs leaving was a pretty big deal. I started covering computers June 24, 1984 during which Apple was a major force. I even had an editor at Fortune magazine the year before I interned that pulled $10,000 out his pocket to purchase a Lisa for editing. This guy was on the cutting edge!
So I recently sat down and penned a column about the esteemed Mr. Jobs, lamenting his loss at the helm of Apple and hoping that he beats this illness. Unfortunately he didn't.
Jobs was not perfect and I am probably not smart enough to have worked for him. But the proof of his brainpower is in the product pudding. And my kids forcing me to buy them every new Apple gadget that comes out was proof that he did a great job. My bank account just wished he wasn't so great.
Honest Steve Jobs thoughts and memories welcome at [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 10/07/2011 at 1:18 PM1 comments
The idea of Green Computing or Data Center efficiency is nothing new. It's a topic I tackled in two separate articles: "Green IT: More Data, Less Juice" and "Green IT: The Gift that Keeps on Giving."
IDC doesn't think everyone gets it yet, and a recent report advices IT to develop closer bonds with facilities managers.
IDC kind of backs into the discussion by talking about the move toward virtualization, cloud computing and on-demand services. All these apparently demand faster deployment, which means the facilities folks have to get the data center ready with more capacity, more cooling and a solid overall plan for continued expansion.
CA paid for the report, as well it should -- it makes a bundle selling data center management software (DCIM).
IDC goes on to promote the concept of DCIM, claiming its makes data center more efficient and easier for IT to visualize.
Posted by Doug Barney on 10/07/2011 at 1:18 PM0 comments
Next Tuesday put your patching boots on and get to steppin'. That's because Microsoft is fixin' to send out 8 patches -- six merely "important" and two "critical" items.
While Office, Windows and IE are the usual bugaboos, this time around lesser attacked products get fixes, including Silverlight, Microsoft Host Integration Server, .NET and Forefront.
As is usually the case, patches are mostly aimed at blocking remote code execution attacks. In fact, six of the eight patches are aimed at stopping these exploits.
Silverlight and .NET should probably be patched first, since these two products are getting one of the critical fixes. This particular type of hole was fixed in August, but hacker found new vectors.
Posted by Doug Barney on 10/07/2011 at 1:18 PM0 comments
In my last item I shared some good SharePoint news. But not all is grand in SharePoint land. It seems there just aren't enough qualified people to keep up with the demand for new apps. That's at least according to Osterman Research, which argues that the lack of talent drives up the cost of managing SharePoint -- which is a rather staggering $46 a month. That ain't chump change for just one app.
Exchange, in contrast, only costs $15 to $25 a month to manage. To be fair, SharePoint does tend to require more customization, while a lot of Exchange installs offer quick and dirty e-mail and calendaring.
Does your shop lack SharePoint brainpower? Yays and nays welcome at [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 10/05/2011 at 1:18 PM0 comments
Readers share their thoughts on Facebook after its recent design changes:
I had never thought Facebook had any redeeming values and these new features push my opinion further (if that was possible) in that direction. Meanwhile this generation that is supposed to be so interested in being 'green' is wasting massive amounts of electricity on manufacturing and running the massive servers and network resources needed to keep this waste-of-space working.
-John
Call me an old timer; I just don't understand why people want to expose every element of themselves in a medium that is forever. I suppose personal privacy is becoming a thing of the past.
-Anonymous
If you look back, its really nothing else then a BBS board on steroids, so its nothing new, but the difference is that anyone can use it with ,no training required!! I personally have never used it, nor will I ever, ,but I do believe that it is a magnet for every creepy person out there, that owns a computer, and if you have children, then you got to keep an eye on what's going on.
-Mike
Share your thoughts with the editors of this newsletter! Write to [email protected]. Letters printed in this newsletter may be edited for length and clarity, and will be credited by first name only (we do NOT print last names or e-mail addresses).
Posted by Doug Barney on 10/05/2011 at 1:18 PM1 comments
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is offering IT pros guidance on how to measure and map cyber threats.
Huge organizations often have disciplined staffs and procedures, along with hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of software and gear.
We are not all so lucky. In fact, most shops pretty much guess or rely on their gut to keep criminals at bay. In these days of network complexity that just isn't good enough.
NIST replaces the haphazard with a clear model that maps the path that criminals might take to get through your network and its defenses. It then helps determine which of these entry points and links are most in danger of attack.
This kind of analysis can guide spending decisions and allow paying more to protect vulnerable and less on those difficult to crack.
Does network security lack discipline? Hit me up at [email protected] with your answer.
Posted by Doug Barney on 10/05/2011 at 1:18 PM0 comments