OK, so this isn't the most important story for Microsoft partners, but it's just darn interesting. Get this: The German government is going to fund an effort to help Windows users rid their machines of malware.
No, seriously! According to a blog entry by a guy who can read German better than we can, the German government is going to team with ISPs to find infected machines and help users clean malware off of their computers. The leader of the project is Germany's Federal Office for Information Security, which is part of the country's federal government. It's not clear at this point whether Microsoft will have any involvement in this, but we're getting the feeling that it won't -- which makes the whole thing all the more strange.
This is crazy, right? We're allocating a lot of government money to projects in the U.S. right now, many of which are technology-oriented. But a Windows-specific (which, as far as we can tell, it is) bailout for users whose computers are afflicted by malware? A help desk and Web site set up and funded by the government with the aim of keeping Windows clean? We at RCPU don't remember TARP, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (or whatever it's called) or any other government-run program covering that sort of thing on these shores.
Needless to say, as fans of government playing a limited role in business in general, we're dizzy-headed (even more so than usual) with shock over this. Even France, your editor's country of residence for a few years not so long ago and a nation with a bent for government intervention into everything, hasn't done anything like this (to our memory, anyway). It's interesting, though, that Germany is essentially giving Microsoft a subsidy, given that (dig this) Firefox recently passed Internet Explorer in market share in Germany. Hmm. Oh, and the government isn't telling anyone what it's spending on this little charity mission, either.
Anyway, we can't think of anything more to say about this. We just thought it was funny and bizarre and...well, a little bit nuts. If you have thoughts on Germany's Windows bailout, send them to [email protected].
Posted by Lee Pender on 12/10/2009 at 1:22 PM2 comments
A Microsoft sales and marketing executive said something this week about stealing Google's lunch, which made us immediately forget what we were going to say about this story and head to the kitchen for a snack.
Posted by Lee Pender on 12/10/2009 at 1:22 PM0 comments
Kathleen Richards, your editor's Framingham office mate and editor extraordinaire for the developer branch of the Redmond Media Group family, posted a little blog item on Tuesday afternoon that caught RCPU's eye.
It seems innocuous enough -- and it might be. On the surface, it's just another Microsoft reorg in which the company is combining its Azure business with its Windows Server and Solutions Group. No big deal, right? Maybe not, but dig this from Kate's blog entry:
"The Windows Azure development team is part of this transition and will no longer report to Ray Ozzie, Microsoft's chief software architect. Instead, the dev team is part of the new Server and Cloud division headed by Amitabh Srivastava, a senior VP who reports to Muglia."
That's Bob Muglia, head of the server and tools business at Microsoft, who has, to be fair, been a major driver of Azure since the project's inception. But Ozzie has become a public face of Azure recently, as well; he even delivered an Azure-themed keynote at last month's professional developer conference.
So, what does this reorg mean? Is Ozzie off of Azure? It sure looks that way. We at RCPU haven't met Ozzie, but we've heard near-universal praise of him. He's extremely sharp, we hear, and he's got the technical chops and the market savvy to move Microsoft into the next phase of technology -- primarily the cloud.
Remember, Ozzie was supposed to be the next Bill Gates when he arrived at Microsoft in 2005. He holds, after all, Gates' old title of chief software architect. And his Live Mesh idea -- a sort of personal cloud thing, as we understood it -- garnered some interest among partners, users and developers. But Azure appears to have consumed Live Mesh, at least on the enterprise side. And Ozzie's not on Azure anymore, from what we can tell.
So, what gives? What is Ray Ozzie's mission at Microsoft now? And will Azure take a different path without his influence? Muglia is more than capable of running Azure development; we're not questioning his ability at all. We're just kind of wondering why Ozzie was shaping up to be the public face of Azure and now appears to be largely absent from its development process. And we're wondering what Microsoft wants to do with Ozzie -- and vice versa.
This news leaves us with more questions than answers, as Microsoft reorgs often do. In the past, they've tended to work out pretty well. But in the post-Gates era, there's more uncertainty about Redmond's overall business and standing in the industry than ever before. Is there uncertainty inside Microsoft, too? For partners' sake, we hope not -- especially with regard to something as important and all-consuming as Azure. As usual, we'll just have to wait and see.
What's your take on Ray Ozzie and the Azure reorg? Send it to [email protected].
Posted by Lee Pender on 12/09/2009 at 1:22 PM3 comments
American folk hero and freedom-fighting journalist Stephen Colbert uncovered one of the great stories of 2009 on his show this week: the Windows 7 hamburger currently being served up by Burger King in Japan. (Go about 3:10 into this clip to see what we're talking about.) Yes, the Windows 7 hamburger (which really does have a Microsoft promotional tie-in) has seven -- seven! -- meat patties in between its buns.
Throw a little mustard (that's how we do it in Texas) and some lettuce, tomato and pickles on that baby, and we'll stop eating the XP burgers we've been wolfing down since 2001. Unfortunately, as Colbert laments, the Windows 7 burger is only available in Japan. Microsoft and Burger King, this is an injustice you must correct.
Posted by Lee Pender on 12/09/2009 at 1:22 PM0 comments
Windows 2000 fans, beware. Microsoft won't be supporting your favorite OS much longer.
More to the point, though, Redmond reminded users this week that extended support for XP Service Pack 2 (and Windows 2000) will end in July. So, it's Windows 7 within the next seven months or so, or you're on your own.
Posted by Lee Pender on 12/09/2009 at 1:22 PM3 comments
We at RCPU still haven't found all the buttons on the Office 2007 ribbon, but for those of you who are just itching to get to 2010, knock yourselves out.
Posted by Lee Pender on 12/09/2009 at 1:22 PM0 comments
Oh, fantastic. Now there'll be no escaping Twitter (where you can follow RCPU here). Google has gone real-time in search, which means Tweets will start popping up on standard Google search pages.
Hooray! No longer do we have to actually go to Twitter to see some shut-in's political rant or know how hot some 14-year-old girl thinks Tom Brady is. Those tweets might very well pop up if we search for, say, "senate primary" or "New England Patriots." (Right now, nobody knows quite where the Patriots are...but we digress.)
OK, seriously, we know that real-time search is a breakthrough and a massive coup for Google. But if it really does start throwing inane Tweets and Facebook posts into our searches, we might end up moving over to Bing after all.
Oh yeah, also on the search front, Microsoft and Yahoo have finalized their search contract.
How excited are you about real-time search? If you care, send your thoughts to [email protected].
Posted by Lee Pender on 12/07/2009 at 1:22 PM1 comments
Just in time for the holidays. It's a six pack from Microsoft, but not the fun kind. In fact, Redmond is sending six patches, three critical and three important, for December.
Posted by Lee Pender on 12/07/2009 at 1:22 PM0 comments
Worried that Google or some retailer has too much of your personal information? So is your hard(ly) working federal government, which is looking into consumer data privacy.
Posted by Lee Pender on 12/07/2009 at 1:22 PM0 comments
Microsoft's long, international nightmare could soon be more or less over, as the company is reportedly finishing up plans for its "browser ballot screen" that will appear in versions of Windows sold in Europe. Apparently, Opera wanted some fairly subtle changes to the plan...and got them.
Posted by Lee Pender on 12/04/2009 at 1:22 PM0 comments
Microsoft has been trying to spiff up its David to Google's Goliath, and the latest wrinkle (among others) is an ever-popular application: maps.
Posted by Lee Pender on 12/04/2009 at 1:22 PM0 comments
We at RCPU have been extremely remiss about running reader e-mail, which we've let back up to the point at which a bunch of really good e-mails are now too old to run. We're sorry about that, but we're going to get back to putting your thoughts in this space soon. So, if you have anything you'd like to send our way, shoot it to the usual address: [email protected].
To be perfectly honest, we're getting into a slow time of year for news, and your editor is still busy with tasks outside of RCPU. So, for today, we're going to go with a pure channel play (which we really should do more often) and tell you that mega-distributor Tech Data is buying back $100 million worth of stock.
The company seems to be in pretty good financial shape overall, which has to be a good sign for the channel in general. Its stock, as of Thursday close, is trading pretty close to a 52-week high, and its third-quarter numbers, despite a dip in revenue year-over-year (which is pretty common these days), looked pretty solid to us. Take that for what it's worth, but any news that's even somewhat good for partners right now is certainly welcome.
Posted by Lee Pender on 12/04/2009 at 1:22 PM1 comments