The dog days of summer have started to heat up at RCPU, with lots of great comments and e-mails on browsers, how they do or don't make money, why they're important and whether having IE embedded into Windows is really that big of an advantage for Microsoft.
We've had quite a lot of activity on the blog site itself (spurred on by a great e-mail from reader Andy, which you can see here), which is fantastic. And we've had some great, thoughtful e-mails that have followed Andy's contribution. Let's get to some, shall we?
David starts us off by saying that the real problem isn't whether Microsoft is trying to use Windows to build an IE monopoly; it's that browsers have simply gotten out of control:
"Despite what the far-out think tanks convey to us from their ivory towers in Redmond and Palo Alto, the world would be much better off if IT chose to manage change much better (i.e., if it ain't broke why change it?). This message comes to you from a machine that runs on IE 6, something that is no longer available from Microsoft as a standalone download or even on a CD that you pay to get, which is a shame because it works admirably with the OS and weighs in at less than 200 MB of memory.
"To run IE 8 on XP, you need at least 400 MB now just to open one tab, which makes you wonder: Where have we gone and at what price? Mozilla 3 with its memory leaks is even worse. You will need 512 MB for that. Better to stay with Firefox 2, if you can.
"So why do we find ourselves on a treadmill? It seems that we lost sight of the objective: 'Build it right the first time and make it last.' That is what my dad always said. At one time, my associates called me the Maytag man because I build it to last just like my dad, who engineered the Lockheed C-130 Hercules, which has been the mainstay flying to the South Pole and in and out of hurricanes now on a regular basis for the past 50 years. And that is what I do for my customers.
"By the way, I have been writing cross-browser Web applications for 15 years now. The world is not going to change just because IE 8 broke it."
David, we see where you're coming from. Maybe some consumers, at least, are starting to understand the appeal of simplicity; that could explain in part the netbook craze. But building something right the first time and making it last is, unfortunately, not a great business model for the software industry. (Well, maybe it could be, but nobody really seems to have tried it thus far.) Look at Microsoft with XP. XP is actually too good, and its longevity is hurting the company. (Of course, Vista being a dud didn't exactly help Redmond.) But we're with you philosophically and in spirit; we'd love to see cheaper, smaller apps and fewer updates.
Meanwhile, Peter, serial e-mailer and a shoo-in for the RCPU e-mail hall of fame (to be built, perhaps, in the now-empty former law office next to RCPU's headquarters), says we're a bit two-faced on the browser issue:
"I very much enjoyed your browser article, particularly the contribution from Andy [Here it is again. --L.P.], which I think you didn't quite get. Andy is quite correct in what he says. The amusing thing is that on the one hand, you're defending Microsoft against the 'evil, Microsoft-bashing EU,' and then immediately following Andy's contribution, which I'm impressed you printed, you follow with examples of the nasty competitive things Microsoft is doing to take out the opposition."
Peter, as always, you make a good point here. First off, we love running dissenting opinions here in RCPU. This is a place for rational debate and discussion, as is the online blog site (that is, of course, if you consider your editor to be rational to begin with -- but that's another story).
But to clarify what we've said about Microsoft and IE, our take has long been that Microsoft should be able to do whatever it wants with its operating system, including cramming a browser into it. Again, Firefox has managed to compete pretty effectively with IE without any OS or major Web presence -- hello, Google Chrome -- to support it.
On the other hand, for the sake of computing -- and here's where things get a bit unrealistic, we'll admit -- Microsoft should respect standards-based browser development more than it does now, not only in an effort to level the competitive playing field a bit (something Microsoft doesn't care about) but to make the lives of developers, partners and customers easier (something that should be very important to Microsoft). Of course, we understand that Microsoft keeping IE in Windows and embracing browser standards are probably mutually exclusive things, so, yes, we're rethinking our position on this whole thing a bit.
Let's see if Warren can help us out a bit with this issue:
"I think you and Andy both have the question backwards. You make my point yourself when you say:
'What we don't like, though, is the lack of respect for browser standards (or the lack of real standards themselves) that Andy alluded to. Browsers should be commodities -- it really shouldn't matter that much which one someone uses, and Web-based applications should work as well in one as they do in another.'
"If you believe that, how can you argue in favor of 'officially supporting' multiple browsers? In theory, a developer should be able to develop to the standard and not worry about different browsers. In fact, even with standards-compliant browsers, there can be (and are) different interpretations of a standard. The question then becomes which one is right and leads into de facto standards -- the 'right' interpretation is the one the most people use.
"I say the onus is on the niche browsers to conform. Sure, they may have a better idea (or not), but as we learned from the VHS/Betamax wars, if no one uses it, it doesn't matter. If Opera wants to matter, I should think that they would try real hard to make sure that they could run Microsoft applications, rather than expecting Microsoft to conform to them."
This is a great, market-based, capitalist position, and we're kind of leaning toward adopting it right now. Let the market decide who has the best browser, and let the challengers conform to the de facto standard and win with innovation and better ideas. This might not be fairness, but it's realism.
Of course, it really doesn't seem fair that Microsoft should be able to get such a head start with IE already in Windows. Then again, we don't like the idea of government telling Microsoft what it can and can't do with its products -- even though we realize this happens all the time in every industry all over the world. The bottom line seems to be that, whether IE comes bundled in Windows or not in the future, Warren has an excellent grasp of reality here. IE is here; it's popular, and it's not likely to go away. It might be a good idea for its competitors to conform to its standards, fair or not.
As for whether browsers really matter, though, we realize now that they do -- and we're a bit undecided on what Microsoft should do about bundling IE. That puts us, we figure, in a very large category of industry observers.
Let's keep this discussion going, at least until some news starts up again in the fall. E-mail your take to [email protected].
Posted by Lee Pender on 08/20/2009 at 1:22 PM3 comments
Good news for the channel, everything considered: Apparently Red Hat realizes the value of partners in the enterprise and is
making improvements to its partner program.
Posted by Lee Pender on 08/20/2009 at 1:22 PM0 comments
It didn't seem possible, but Microsoft's Windows Mobile strategy now seems less comprehensible than ever before. Apparently, Redmond is going to some sort of two-platform approach, through which it'll see a couple of different versions of WinMo -- one updated and one not so updated. Om Malik's take? Disaster. And we can't see why he'd be wrong.
Posted by Lee Pender on 08/20/2009 at 1:22 PM0 comments
Down in East Texas, there's a large area known as the Piney Woods, given that it's home to pine trees that aren't exactly common in much of the rest of the state. There's some real beauty to East Texas; Caddo Lake, the state's only natural lake, has a certain swampy appeal, and Tyler -- native city of football legend Earl Campbell -- is home to famous rose gardens.
But East Texas can get a little scary, too. Those Piney Woods get awfully dark at night, and some say that the town of Jefferson is haunted. But the scariest thing about East Texas has nothing to do with ghosts, shadowy lakes or even a circa-1978 Earl Campbell barreling through a defense like a runaway train. Oh, no. The scariest thing about East Texas is that it is home to the "rocket docket," a court district that is the setting for an unlikely number of patent and intellectual property cases.
It was down in East Texas that Microsoft lost a patent lawsuit and got slapped with a ban on selling Word, the application your editor is using to type this newsletter right now. And it's in East Texas where a company called EMG is now trying to take a bite out of Windows Mobile (although we're wondering how much there really is to nibble on there).
So that's more legal fees for Microsoft and more hassle for everybody involved with the company. Although we figure Microsoft can afford it, we're no fan of patent squatters. Whether these cases fit into that category or not, we're not sure (although the i4i Word case seems to have lots of characteristics of patent squatting), but it really doesn't matter. The good folks of East Texas do a nice business getting companies to sue each other down in the Piney Woods, so plaintiffs are likely to keep winning these battles.
Of course, it's not really the fault of your editor's fellow Texans that these patent cases keep popping up. While we're no expert on software patent laws (otherwise your editor would be rushing around Marshall, Texas, right now), some clear-headed reform does seem to be in order. We're virulent defenders here of intellectual property and the ability of companies to protect it, but we'd prefer that those companies that claim it actually do something with it rather than waiting to pounce on a firm that's actually trying to make and sell something.
First things first, though: Microsoft has to try to stave off the Word-sales ban which is its priority right now. After that, maybe legislators, judges, the software industry as a whole and even the good folks of East Texas can re-think how software patent laws work. To twist (and possibly misuse) an old expression, it seems as though right now a lot of folks can't see the Piney Woods for the trees.
Are patent lawsuits out of control? How does it affect your business when Microsoft has to defend itself from this sort of thing? Sound off at [email protected].
Posted by Lee Pender on 08/19/2009 at 1:22 PM10 comments
The big distributor has signed a load of deals that focus on (to quote its statement rather directly): "mobile computing, security, video production, document management, virtualization and professional IT services solutions." Wow, that's a lot of stuff. There's more detail straight from Tech Data here.
Posted by Lee Pender on 08/19/2009 at 1:22 PM0 comments
This could be a lot of fun. Just hear us out on this. As we know, the recent denial-of-service attacks on Twitter (whole-heartedly welcomed by RCPU, despite our own membership http://twitter.com/leepender) and other Web sites appear to have been the work of a bunch of Russians attempting to knock one Georgian guy off the Web.
Well, apparently, "the Russians," as we simply called them back during the Cold War, have been up to more than just messing around with Twitter. A couple of them were allegedly part of the biggest ever identity-theft case, which U.S. officials now say they've cracked and which led to the reissuing of your editor's debit card (there's a Hannaford grocery store down the street from RCPU's home office).
But that's not all. U.S. officials said this week that the Russian civilians who carried out denial-of-service attacks against Georgian Web sites last year did so with the cooperation of both the Russian military and organized crime. This, American officials said, could be the new face of war -- cyber attacks carried out to coordinate with actual attacks, with everybody from generals to consigliore (or whatever they're called in Russian) involved. And apparently, the Russians are at the forefront (such as it is) of this sort of thing. We at RCPU, of course, see this news as being absolutely, completely...awesome!
The Russians are back, baby! After two decades of boring Olympics and real terrorist attacks that got really scary, Cold War icons like Ivan Drago can officially be bad guys again, except without the hammer-and-sickle emblem, which was, objectively speaking, one of the better-looking logos of all time.
Finally, we'll get back to decent spy movies (or even spy-slash-gangster movies -- spectacular!), NHL players coming from places like Quebec and Minnesota, and the rebirth of the greatest sports rivalry ever: the U.S. versus the USS...actually, versus Russia, but a bad Russia that does nasty things online and really doesn't want Georgians starting Web pages. Yeah! John Hughes and Michael Jackson might not be around to see it happen, but the '80s are coming back.
There are negatives to all of this, of course. Without Russian players in the NHL, the league will be less exciting -- although the Bruins might actually have a real shot at the Stanley Cup -- and we'd hate to lose TV access to all those lovely Russian female tennis players. (Seriously, how much has the image of the Russian female athlete changed over the last 20 years or so?) But some sacrifices are worth it, and these days we like the old Cold War better than the hot wars we're engaged in now.
So, break out your throwback 1980 USA hockey jersey, watch Red Dawn on VHS (if you still can) and get ready for it to be us vs. them again, but this time online. It'll be an even colder war than before, with the weapons in this one being cyber attacks and malicious code. We're pumped about the 2012 Olympics already (let's face it -- 2010 is a lost cause, as they almost always clobbered us in the Winter Games, anyway). USA! USA! USA!
OK, OK. We're just kidding about all of this. Seriously. Yes, it's a little scary that U.S. officials are saying that Russian civilians are carrying out cyber attacks with the cooperation of their country's military and mobsters. But we have nothing against Russians at all -- really, we don't. Your editor has Russian friends, loves Russian food (and drink...) and has a brother-in-law who is fluent in Russian and used to live there. No kidding, there's no real hatred here, only a lame attempt at humor. We were just trying to spice up an otherwise dull August news day. After all, how could we not like the Russians? They're the ones who knocked out Twitter -- at least for a while.
What's your biggest concern about cyber security? What concerns do your customers or users share with you most? What's your favorite moment in U.S.-USSR Olympic history other than the 1980 hockey game, which was obviously the greatest sports moment ever? Answer any or all questions at [email protected].
Posted by Lee Pender on 08/18/2009 at 1:22 PM3 comments
Finally, some time in 2010, "Entourage" will be nothing for Mac users but a fairly entertaining HBO sitcom. The e-mail client in Mac version of Microsoft Office will be Outlook, at last.
Posted by Lee Pender on 08/18/2009 at 1:22 PM0 comments
One study says that 40 percent of what's on Twitter amounts to "pointless babble." The other 60 percent, of course, is RCPU updates at http://twitter.com/leepender. That is, if the Russians haven't taken down the site altogether.
Posted by Lee Pender on 08/18/2009 at 1:22 PM0 comments
It's all good news on this mid-August day, right? Microsoft, in a bolt of wisdom, has signed a deal with Nokia to offer Office on Nokia handsets.
Finally, Microsoft is admitting that Windows Mobile isn't ever going to be what Windows is on the desktop. Not even close, in fact. (Well, OK, Microsoft is still giving Windows Mobile lip service, but let's face it -- the mobile operating system is something of a dud and is getting less popular, not more.)
In letting Office break free from the shackles of Windows Mobile, Microsoft, with Nokia (which runs its phones on the Symbian mobile OS), can launch an assault on the BlackBerry (in fact, that's an actual headline in The New York Times) and carve out a profitable niche in the mobile market with a product everybody knows and lots of people love. So, that's all good, right, partners? A nice little moneymaker there?
Um, maybe. Or maybe not. Because, as you might have read by now, a judge in your editor's home state of Texas has banned sales of Microsoft Word as part of a ruling in a patent case. No, seriously! Not only does Microsoft owe the perhaps appropriately named i4i Inc. $290 million, but the judge in the case (which i4i obviously won) has stopped sales of Microsoft Word in the U.S.
Or he will, anyway, in 60 days, when the ban will take effect -- which means he probably won't because Microsoft will surely appeal the ruling and will likely win. So, Microsoft mobile partners and Office fans, you'll probably be free to buy and sell Word and the rest of Office for a Nokia cell phone (or for anything else that runs Office) for the foreseeable future, even 60 days from now. And that is some good news on a mid-August day.
What's your take on Microsoft's mobile strategy? Is the Nokia deal the end of Windows Mobile? Should it be? Sound of at [email protected].
Posted by Lee Pender on 08/13/2009 at 1:22 PM2 comments
Apparently unimpressed with VMware's plan to buy SpringSource, a Microsoft executive this week went to great lengths to explain to investors why the purchase will fail. VMware, of course, might have a different take on the matter...and is, after all, still the undisputed king of the virtualization mountain. So, let's not forget about that.
Also this week and on a not-unrelated note, Microsoft's general manager of investor relations laid out some of the company's financial strategy -- which, if recent earnings reports are any indication, needs to get better.
Posted by Lee Pender on 08/13/2009 at 1:22 PM0 comments