Longhorn Drives To Reach Market Next Year
Longhorn server
continues
to push forward, with its third beta set for release in the first half of
2007. If that beta stands up to the test, the final version should be out by
the end of next year. About a half a year later, Longhorn's virtualization technnology,
"hypervisor," should be done. The long-term plan is for virtualization
to be baked into the operating system from the get-go.
A Real IT Pro Would Know Better
The ex-IT director of publishing company Source Media apparently believes that
revenge is a dish best served cold. That's why he waited three years after being
sacked to
exact his mild revenge -- only the joke was on him. Stevan Hoffacker used
old logons and passwords to get into the e-mail system, and there learned about
impending layoffs. Hoffacker's coup de grace was sending e-mail from a Yahoo
account warning those about to get the boot. He could get up to five years in
jail (and maybe use this time to brush up on his hacking skills). How would
you punish Hoffacker? Let us know at [email protected].
To see how others have abused their IT powers, check out my story "IT
Gone Bad."
Vista Upgrades to the Tune of $13.5 Billion -- What a
Deal!
ROI guru Ian Campbell of Nucleus Research did some simple math the other day
and calculated that if only one-fourth of XP users upgrade their machines to
Vista, the overall cost would be $13.5 billion (I'm not sure if Campbell rounded
up or down).
Campbell
compares this unfavorably to Jamaica, which has a gross national product
of just $12.2 billion.
I prefer to think of Steve Ballmer, who, with $13.6 billion, could pay for
all these upgrades and still have $100 million to spend on Xboxes for needy
suburban teens.
Doug's Mailbag: Vista Poll Numbers, the O'Reilly Factor
A poll
that found 20 percent of IT folks were planning to switch to Vista had me pointing to XP's security flaws as the reason. But at least one reader
thinks I might've jumped the gun with that conclusion:
I think the results of the poll might be a bit misleading in regard to
how "people can't run away from XP security holes fast enough!"
According to most market research, XP has only a 62 percent market share
of the corporate desktop. The rest of the desktops are split among 95, 98,
ME, 2000 and various 'nixes. If MS controls 90 percent of the desktops, that
leaves 28 percent of the market that is not on XP. Since there is no information
regarding what the respondents are migrating from, it's misleading, if not
plain wrong, to say IT can't run away fast enough from XP.
For example, a LOT of government agencies are still on Win2000, not XP.
The fact that almost 91 to 100 percent of the hardware would have to be replaced
shows a definite lag as to what their existing infrastructure currently has
in place. If you were to look at a lot of businesses, they are still on Win98/Win2K
POS systems. Many of these migration respondents are probably migrating due
to the total lack of support for those older operating systems, not to mention
the hardware failures for which parts can no longer be found. So who's to
say that the 20 percent saying they will definitely switch to Vista are not
among the 28 percent or so of IT that never made it to XP in the first place?
I'm not an advocate of XP; it definitely has it's faults. But hyping
a poll which provides no basis for your headlines except as a marketing tool
for MS does a disservice to your readers.
-Frank
And here are some more of your thoughts on the Bill O'Reilly kerfuffle:
I challenge you to watch his show for a week and then decide what you
think about him. He makes more sense on the important issues of our day than
most anyone else.
-Paul
After reading from the peanut gallery about Bill O., I felt moved to
drop you a quick line. I do not write or respond frequently, but that is usually
a function of time (lack of it, more accurately). There are few things I look
forward to in my inbox as much as Redmond Report. I have occasional disagreements
with your points of view, but always enjoy your presentation of them. I think
the news and commentary RR provides is on par with, and is as reliable as,
Paul Harvey's.
Tim or "Anonymous" might find that ridiculous. I find it ridiculous
how easily some people get "pithed off." Keep up the good work!
-Dave
Per the negative comments on your opinions of Bill O'Reilly, I figure
I can sort out opinion from fact, so I say keep giving us your opinion.
My question: If using a Mac makes one a hippie, then I must assume that
using a Windows machine makes one "the establishment." What, then,
is someone who uses both?
-Vicke
Want to join the fray? Comment below or e-mail me directly at [email protected].
About the Author
Doug Barney is editor in chief of Redmond magazine and the VP, editorial director of Redmond Media Group.