I've been looking into IE 9 recently (if you want to help me with my upcoming cover story, please write to [email protected]).
The beta so far seems solid. Some of you love it, some have had it chew your machine up and spit it back out.
Now here is where it gets confusing: There is an IE 9 beta that is pretty much feature-complete. I'm looking to interview users of that version, so again, e-mail me at [email protected] if you want to talk.
Yesterday's release was a so-called "platform previews" which is not feature complete and aimed at performance and compatibility testing.
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Posted by Doug Barney on 11/19/20100 comments
Here's a response on Doug's blog entry about Russia looking for Microsoft alternatives:
I was fortunate to spend a week in Russia back in the '90s as part of a teacher exchange program. I spent several days living with a Russian family in Ivanovo, and they scheduled a visit to the local university where I spent several hours with a physics professor. Even though their lab, test and computer equipment were ancient, they did wonders with what they had. Their students were very, very sharp and incredibly motivated and thirsty for knowledge. I was quite impressed with the whole experience.
As for ditching Windows, I could only do that if another OS appeared that offered the same feature set, hardware vendor independence, price point and wide availability.
Although I work with Linux/Unix and ESX on the server side of things, I've yet to find a Linux/Unix desktop that floats my boat.
Perhaps the Russians can exert some market influence that others have been unable to bring to bear (yeah, right)!
-Hg
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Posted by Doug Barney on 11/19/20100 comments
Microsoft has high hopes for the recently released Windows Phone 7 -- hopes that have not yet truly materialized. If this phone came out six years ago it would be a home run worthy of Big Papi (hey, I'm from Boston, what can I say?).
But Win Phone 7 emerged in the worst possible environment. The iPhone is legend, the Droid has gravitas and the Blackberry is the basic workhorse of the enterprise market. No wonder there were no huge lines for the new Windows Phone, which only sold 40,000 in its first day. While that is no true slouch, the phone generated nowhere near the frenzy of the iPhone.
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Posted by Doug Barney on 11/19/20105 comments
Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer were reelected to the board as directors by Microsoft's shareholders yesterday. They and Chief Financial Officer Peter Klein fended off some complaints that Microsoft pays out too little to its shareholders. They even fielded a question (that might have come from a Goldman Sachs analyst) about why Microsoft has not broken off and sold its core businesses.
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Posted by Doug Barney on 11/17/20102 comments
One reader shares his experience with a new Windows Phone 7 device:
I bit and bought a Samsung Focus Windows Phone over the weekend. I had been reading quite a bit about it and have been following Paul Thurrott's experiences with it as well. After verifying that it would do what my company requires for phone security, I gave up my iPhone 3Gs. I figured, worst case, I could get my iPhone fix from my iPad. With only having it a few days, I have to say I'm impressed with the first version. I especially like how the e-mail/calendar functionality works. Especially the calendar. I hate the way the iPhone's calendar works and rarely use it to set up appointments. I'd simply wait until I had my Outlook client. The look and feel of the Windows Phone is sleek and easy to use.
Are there things that I'd like to see in the Windows Phone? Yep. And I believe that I will get them in the not-so-distant future. Applications are far behind, but most of the ones I used on the iPhone are already available and there are hundreds of new apps being added to the store every day. In another six months I believe that the Windows Phone will begin cutting into the market share of the iPhone and Android, at least from an enterprise perspective.
P.S. This is only based on usage over the weekend. We'll see how it works in the weeks to come.
-Andy
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Posted by Doug Barney on 11/17/20102 comments
Cloud talk is ubiquitous, but we seldom hear why organizations can trust hosting companies to deliver their data and applications securely over the Internet. Microsoft, which went "all-in" the cloud in March, has made a few scattered attempts to address cloud security, even though security might prove to be a deal breaker in the long run for its cloud services businesses.
Microsoft's latest explanation comes in the form of a new white paper, announced this week, detailing the general approach the company follows when it comes to cloud security. The company's main emphasis is on its Information Security Management System, based on the ISO/IEC 27001:2005 standard.
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Posted by Doug Barney on 11/17/20102 comments
Last week was one of the lightest Patch Tuesdays in recent memory, with a scant three fixes covering 11 known flaws. Two of the patches involve remote code execution, that old pest, and the third handles an elevation-of-privilege exploit.
Windows came out clean as the patches are only for the Forefront United Access Gateway and Office.
However, there is still a hole in IE that Microsoft plans to fix next month. Let's hope Redmond coders are faster than the hackers!
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Posted by Doug Barney on 11/15/20100 comments
There's plenty of times where I'm overwhelmed. The phone is ringing off the hook, my inbox is flooded and I'm behind in all my writing assignments.
Based on a new survey, I now believe that the top bosses -- CEOs in particular --have it far worse. Kelton research interviewed over 500 C-level types. The report finds that big bosses waste time dealing with data that has no real relevance to their decision making. And over half of these execs admit to feeling overwhelmed by all the information staffers collect and present.
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Posted by Doug Barney on 11/15/20101 comments
I've long been interested in Russia. My favorite watches are Vostoks, my favorite vodka is Stoli and one of my favorite authors is Dostoyevsky.
Russians are also tops in the tech world. When I launched Virtualization Review I was amazed at how many startups had Russian origins. So when I heard that Russian government is spending nearly $5 million dollars (or 150 rubles) to create a version of Linux that will replace the need for Windows, I had to take it seriously.
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Posted by Doug Barney on 11/15/20102 comments
With this week's commercial release of Windows Phone 7 devices, Doug asks who is jumping in:
The BlackBerry Enterprise Server works perfectly well with Exchange so I cannot imagine that a Windows Phone 7 can do any better. Maybe not even as well...
-Marc
I had a few Windows phones in the past (Palm Treo) and wasn't all that impressed with them. I briefly went to a Blackberry but I never did like it.
When the HTC Hero came out, I checked it out and got hooked on the Android OS. I upgraded to an HTC Evo 4G, which I absolutely love.
I've read about the Windows phones, but I have no interest in getting one, and when I am eligible to upgrade again, the Windows phone would have to offer significantly better benefits to make me switch as I have several apps that I've paid for that I wouldn't want to have to do so again.
I think MS waited too long to come out with their phone and allowed Apple and Android to get too much of a foothold in the market.
However, history has shown that market share can be overcome. IBM was the Big Kahuna and then along came MS. Blackberry owned the market and now look where they are. iPhone looked unbeatable and then Android came along. So, if MS really innovates, they may have a chance. If they strike a good balance between the tightly controlled iPhone where Steve would like to control which screen you look at in what order, and the fragmentation of the Android community with all the versions, hardware platforms and UI skins, they may pull it off.
-Anonymous
I am not usually a first-generation buyer but I am going for WP7. I have been wanting to dump my Blackberry ever since I fell in Lake Michigan with my Motorola Q. The Zune pass, Exchange integration and the apps which will come have me sold.
-Roy
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Posted by Doug Barney on 11/12/20102 comments