A vulnerability -- that word always makes us chuckle for some reason -- in IE that Microsoft tried to patch last week is
still getting hammered by hackers, apparently.
Posted by Lee Pender on 02/19/2009 at 1:22 PM0 comments
We're not totally sure what sparked this e-mail from Tom, but we like it:
"One of the problems with Live Search is the name. Multiple words make it harder to tell people the URL since you MUST use both words or else it is meaningless. Plus, if it cannot find what you are looking for, do you call it Dead Search? Google has become both a noun and a verb -- much to the chagrin of Google itself.
"Microsoft has NEVER designed a good name other than Windows for its products. Most of its names tend to be two to three words in length (or worse, that .NET moniker, which was and is horrible), and thus never flow when spoken or written. If Microsoft called its search engine or Web site DaVinci, that would have had cache -- and would be memorable -- but that is likely already taken.
"The best search engine name would be a single word of two syllables and evoke exploration, discovery or knowledge in English or a common European language (which we would easily adopt and recognize in English). But, alas, Microsoft marketing gets involved and ruins any good names that would be used."
Tom, we at RCPU are so with you on this. We find a lot of Microsoft product names really ponderous. Where do they come up with this stuff? In many cases, the product does what the name suggests (System Center Operations Manager comes to mind here, as does Windows Server). Other names, like SharePoint, actually seem pretty appropriate and aren't that bad, even though we're generally not fans of words getting SmashedTogether in product names. It feels a bit '90s to us.
But the spate of seemingly indiscriminate "Live" naming has led to a lot of confusion and has really muddled Microsoft's consumer Internet strategy, which has never seemed totally clear, anyway. Our favorite example is Office Live, which isn't actually a hosted version of Office but sounds as though it should be. And you're dead-on about Live Search; it has no flow and isn't even particularly memorable. Google has a nice bounce to it, but Live Search is slow and heavy rolling off the tongue and would be nearly impossible to pronounce while eating peanut butter.
What we want to know is what you, the faithful reader, would call Microsoft's search engine if you could rename it. Send your suggestions to [email protected], and have fun with it. And thanks to Tom for kicking all this off.
Posted by Lee Pender on 02/19/2009 at 1:22 PM1 comments
Obama's pick to lead the antitrust division at the U.S. Department of Justice must have stirred some mixed emotions with her comment -- actually uttered last summer -- that
Microsoft is "so last century" in terms of antitrust concerns. Christine Varney actually seems more worried about Google.
Now, on one hand, this is good news for Redmond. A little less antitrust pressure would surely be welcome at Microsoft. But on the other hand, does not being public enemy No. 1 in the antitrust world mean that Microsoft isn't as relevant -- or as powerful -- as it used to be? This might be one area in which Google beats Microsoft without wanting to.
Posted by Lee Pender on 02/19/2009 at 1:22 PM0 comments
No, they didn't try to drive after four vodka martinis (which nobody should ever do -- seriously), but Ingram's fourth quarter earnings ended in a loss due in part to "goodwill impairment." (We didn't know what that was, either, but for the truly intrepid there's an explanation
here.)
Sales were weak, which didn't help, either.
The news comes as Ingram is warning about a slow Q1 and preparing to lay off 300 workers, or 8 percent of its U.S. workforce. Bad times ahead, in other words, but then that's not unusual these days.
Posted by Lee Pender on 02/19/2009 at 1:22 PM0 comments
It's one of those statements that probably makes a lot of people say "duh," but when Steve Ballmer states the obvious -- that the economic slowdown will
affect Microsoft's sales -- it might just be a not-so-subtle little warning that Redmond's next earnings report might be as relatively unimpressive as the
last one. Partners, expect lots of communication and, um, encouragement from Microsoft on closing deals in the months to come.
Posted by Lee Pender on 02/18/2009 at 1:22 PM0 comments
Michael Phelps's recent and unfortunate reentry into the news got us to thinking about Windows Mobile. No, really.
Phelps has mastered one of those sports, swimming, that only really gets much attention every four years -- at least here in the U.S. It's the same for track and field or for downhill skiing in the Winter Olympics; most Americans only care about this stuff once every four years. Then it goes back being the domain of enthusiasts' and the participants' families. (Again, we're talking about the U.S. here; we're well aware that Australians love swimming and Austrians love skiing, for example. But we digress.)
We don't write much about Windows Mobile here at RCPU, mainly because it falls just outside the enterprise technology niche that (we hope) is most interesting to our channel audience. But recently, Windows Mobile -- which, in our defense, was kind of dormant on the news front for a long time -- just won't leave us alone. And with mobile technology already well-integrated into the enterprise, we figure more than a few partners are working with Microsoft's mobile OS, anyway.
So, there was even more news about Windows Mobile this week, albeit nothing earth-shattering, with the rollout of version 6.5 of the operating system, along with the expected announcements about Microsoft's My Phone service and the launch of a new developer site. Microsoft chose the entirely sensible occasion of a conference in Barcelona to roll out the news, and Steve Ballmer also spoke about openness and interoperability, two ideas we hope Microsoft pursues not just in the mobile space but across the board.
Of course, Windows Mobile isn't like desktop Windows in terms of market share. It's got some very stiff competition, and some observers note that the OS isn't yet where Microsoft needs it to be functionality-wise. Supposedly Windows Mobile 7, a much bigger forthcoming release, will be more of a blockbuster than the relatively pedestrian 6.5. We'll await Windows Mobile 7, then, with the same curiosity that leads us to watch stuff like bobsledding on TV every four years. Maybe by then Michael Phelps will be endorsing the product...but we doubt it.
Any thoughts on Windows Mobile to share? Share them at [email protected].
Posted by Lee Pender on 02/18/2009 at 1:22 PM0 comments
Yes, Microsoft is going to open its version of Apple stores -- a
retail store full of Microsoft stuff. This is the sort of thing that might have really upset resellers maybe a decade ago, but now that most channel players are more consultants and integrators than pure resellers, it shouldn't make that much of a difference. In any case, we find it a bit funny that both Microsoft and Apple -- two companies that have always tried to be on the edge of innovation -- have gone running back to the old-school brick-and-mortar model in order to compete with each other.
Posted by Lee Pender on 02/17/2009 at 1:22 PM0 comments
This thing really is out of control. Now Microsoft, heretofore unable, apparently, to team with the rest of the industry to get to the source of the Conficker worm, is
offering $250,000 to anybody who can track down the origin of the nasty little virus.
Posted by Lee Pender on 02/17/2009 at 1:22 PM0 comments
It was interesting enough that Microsoft announced this week a
deal with Red Hat for virtualization interoperability.
We're fans of interoperability here, as are most partners and users, so we're receiving the announcement as good news -- as is the new incarnation of ZDNet's terrifying three-headed blog. And who would want to argue with that beast?
What was more interesting, though, as many observers have already pointed out, is that the word "patent," so critical to Microsoft's landmark SuSE Linux agreement with Novell, is nowhere to be found in the Red Hat deal. Well, actually, it is, but only in specifying that patents aren't part of the deal:
"The agreements are specific to establishing coordinated technical support for our mutual customers using server virtualization. The agreements have nothing to do with patents, and there are no patent rights or other open source licensing rights implications provided under these agreements. The agreements contain no financial clauses other than test fees for industry-standard certification and validation."
And so we have something fairly rare but hopefully becoming more common: mostly non-contentious cooperation between Microsoft and an open source vendor. From what we can tell thus far, nobody is outraged by this deal, which is mildly remarkable given the outrage the open source community generally has for Microsoft. Clearly the lack of a patent clause has led to cheers and quelled jeers for the deal.
For partners and customers, this little agreement is all good -- again, interoperability is pretty much always a good thing. For VMware, it's a challenge, but we're guessing that the virtualization titan won't just stand pat in response to this news.
We're not ready to declare that there's a bright new future for Microsoft and open source working together, but the Red Hat deal is a step in the right direction. Cheers all around, then, and let's hope for more.
What's your take on Microsoft and Red Hat cooperating? Sound off at [email protected].
Posted by Lee Pender on 02/17/2009 at 1:22 PM0 comments
In case you missed it (and, um, we almost did), IBM this week
bolstered its cloud computing efforts by creating a new division for the technology and appointing Erich Clementi, who was already doing a bunch of other stuff in Armonk, as its head. See an awkwardly extreme close-up of Clementi, along with a pretty good explanation of what's going on,
here.
But wait, there's more -- namely a
deal with Amazon to offer IBM software through Amazon's cloud service to partners, ISVs and customers.
Posted by Lee Pender on 02/12/2009 at 1:22 PM0 comments
We're guessing that partners will like the distributor's new 60-day financing and leasing programs. Check out the details in a fairly well-written Tech Data press release
here.
Posted by Lee Pender on 02/12/2009 at 1:22 PM0 comments