I've been following the slow, downward track of IE's market share, and have been watching Firefox take most of the missing share, with Google Chrome steadily building a minority share. Last I checked, IE had a solid majority (you tell me whether it is deserved or not at [email protected] and we'll publish your thoughts).
Suddenly, here come a report from an obscure company saying IE is now in the minority (but in this case, the majority share is shared by several minorities such as Opera, Safari, Chrome and, of course my favorite, Firefox -- which somehow still likes to crash regardless of which OS I run).
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Posted by Doug Barney on 10/08/20101 comments
Way back in the '80s I visited the Redmond campus when it had two buildings -- one for apps and one for the OS. Insiders explained that the cafeteria was set between the two so the groups could talk. Later on, when competitors accused Microsoft of giving its apps folks inside dope, Microsoft rather famously declared there was a "Chinese wall" between the two groups.
As a reporter for Infoworld, I helped bust this thesis by proving that Microsoft apps developers used secret API calls to make the most of Windows. (Major credit here goes to Brian Livingston and Stuart Johnston. I played a minor role verifying ISV claims.)
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Posted by Doug Barney on 10/06/20106 comments
Here are some reader thoughts on the free OpenOffice:
I started using OpenOffice version 1.01 when the company for whom I worked evaluated it and Lotus Domino / Notes. Currently, I have version 3.2.1 installed on one of my laptops and also on an old MacBook. I find the old menu system a compelling reason to use the product, along with the fact that it is less resource intensive (disk space). For my needs, I can do everything that Office 2007/2010 (used at work) can do without the excess expense.
-Eric
I use OpenOffice on five personal PCs and have been spreading the news to local nonprofits. A few of them are now using it. Everything works great and converts to/from MS Office.
-Russell
I use Linux, therefore I use OpenOffice. I don't see why Oracle doesn't want to continue with OpenOffice. Sun supported it as integral part of their software "offerings" and it worked out fine.
-Greg
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Posted by Doug Barney on 10/06/20100 comments
While many key execs at Microsoft, such as Steve Ballmer and Bob Muglia, have had stable jobs for years, reorg is a constant for many others. This week Ballmer promoted three Redmond-ites to division president roles.
First up is Kurt DelBene, the new head of the Microsoft Office Division, replacing Stephen Elop, who eloped with Nokia and is its new CEO.
Next up is a reorg in the gaming and mobile space, where Redmond is doing great on the first part and far less on the second. This all used to be one unit, but is now two, with Don Mattrick to run entertainment and Andy Lees to run the mobile space, which is either distressed or up and coming, depending on your perspective (or whether you work for Microsoft or not!).
Posted by Doug Barney on 10/04/20100 comments
I'm sure I've mentioned ad nauseam how much I like Windows third parties. One of my favorites is Vancouver, WA-based TNT Software. In fact, company exec Brent Skadsen flew down to Tech-Ed in New Orleans just to come to one of our famous parties (not sure much how much the open bar defrayed Brent's travel expenses. Skadsen had never been to the French Quarter so I obliged him with a late night walking tour.
With this in mind, I couldn't resist promoting the event log and monitoring company's latest news that it wants more folks to know what it is all about and is turning ELM Event Log Monitor 6.0 into shareware.
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Posted by Doug Barney on 10/04/20100 comments
Patents are great -- if you happen to own one. They are not so great if you are on the other side, being sued for infringement. In the world of technologies, these fights have gone on to give millions to lawyers and patent holders (probably a pretty even split).
Microsoft has a huge patent portfolio and are using this might to threaten Linux providers. In the case of i4i, the shoe is on the other foot as that company successfully sued Redmond for violating XML patents.
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Posted by Doug Barney on 10/01/20103 comments
Readers sound off on the idea of IT Debt, coined by Gartner:
No doubt about it Barney, Gartner is full of themselves.
If your operating system is still being supported/patched by your vendor and your AV software is up-to-date, you are not any more vulnerable to malware than anyone else. System efficiency and user productivity is another matter. Here is the point:
As a matter of principle, it is important for every enterprise to maintain an IT budget with strict hardware and software lifecycles. (With IT, three-year lifecycles are optimum. Bean counters and tax types prefer five-year lifecycles. IT can usually live with that. However, after five years, hardware starts to become unreliable and the technology has left you in the dust. Trying to add updated software to five-year-old hardware may be penny-wise but it is certainly pound-foolish. Hardware should be purchased with cradle-to-grave warranty coverage. Three-year warranty coverage is usually a good investment. Years four and five tend to be more expensive, but if your mission-critical hardware fails, you will be glad you bought it.
At the end of each lifecycle, the chosen hardware and software should be re-evaluated, along with alternatives. Once a selection is made, all software should be maintained at the current version level. Updates should be applied as they are announced (after they have been tested in your environment). Version updates of software in the middle of a lifecycle need to be evaluated carefully before proceeding as mission-critical software can be sensitive to changes in the other software which you support.
-Marc
The thing is we have gotten much better at building security and resiliency into our applications. Newer applications take advantage of the advances in processing power, storage capabilities and systems management improvements much more so than something written / published 5 - 10 - 15 years ago. Further, over time an organization's brand new application has accumulated a number of dents, had countless rolls of duct tape employed to keep things together and been repaired with mismatched nuts and bolts. I would venture that the amount of extra effort going into maintaining obsolete systems outweighs the cost to get systems current. Further, the hardware/software vendors would probably cry foul if everyone stopped needing to pay through the nose for extended support agreements.
-Kevin
IT Debt seems really to be referring to entropy and the tendency to disorder. That's just life. Things lose their luster. However, like an old pair of blue jeans, sometimes things are just as good with a little wear!
-Anonymous
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Posted by Doug Barney on 10/01/20100 comments
Leo Apotheker was CEO of SAP, but was sacked this year because he didn't move SAP software to the cloud fast enough. HP has no such concerns and just tapped Apotheker as its new CEO, replacing the recently defrocked Mark Hurd, who just landed a cushy job at Oracle (guess at this level it doesn't really hurt to get fired!).
Speaking of Oracle, HP also hired former Oracle president Ray Lane as "non-executive chairman." I'm not sure what that means, but I'm sure it pays better than any of our jobs!
Posted by Doug Barney on 10/01/20101 comments
The Wall Street Journal, (in general) a paragon of accuracy, reports that Windows Phone 7 smartphones will be announced in 10 days and will hit the street in 38 days.
I'm not sure finding out the announcement date is much of a scoop. What does the announcement of a product everyone knows about actually mean anyway? In this case, the news may not be so much about the OS, but the devices that use it. Samsung and others are expected to show off their new Win Phone 7 wares.
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Posted by Doug Barney on 10/01/20101 comments