We start Friday's mailbag with a comment on the shelf life of Windows' Service Pack support:
Service Packs are FREE and operating systems which are not at the latest patch-level -- including service packs (which are mostly bundled security patches) -- pose a threat not just to the users of those systems but to all systems on the same network.
Despite the naysayers, Microsoft has always been reasonable about troubleshooting support, has (unlike Applicationle) always provided free patches and service packs. Aside from emergency troubleshooting, Microsoft is right to tell mean to install the latest service pack. There is no reason not to.
- C. Mark
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Posted by Doug Barney on 04/23/20103 comments
To the Microsoft naysayers and economic pessimists, I have but one thing to say: $14.5 billion. That is how much money Microsoft brought in last quarter setting yet another revenue record (wish the stock would do the same).
Windows 7 and the Windows division led the growth charge. In fact, the Windows division brought in $4.4 billion. I've got to watch this puppy more closely.
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Posted by Doug Barney on 04/23/20101 comments
With his constant obscure references in his comedy, Doug thinks that Dennis Miller is full of himself. Here's what you think:
I like Dennis Miller and think he's a comedic genius. But one pretty much has to have a notepad or computer handy to look up his references that make you go "Huh?" Hmm, I smell justification for an iPad here.
-Anonymous
Dennis points out a lot of truth. Hurts huh?
-Anonymous
You are COMPLETELY right about Dennis Miller! Whereas I find him funny, he drops so many jokes that reference some over-educated sources, like a Bogvarian Opera (not sure if I spelled that right or really know what that is) or super political jokes that he completely loses you. It's like he's talking down to you.
Anyway, I've always felt that, and am glad others do as well.
-Dean
Used to funny but now is a pompous bag of hot gas.
-Anonymous
I long ago grew weary of listening to Dennis Miller's pretentious rants that seemed designed to showcase the fact that he thinks he is smarter than the average bear. He hit his stride as the News Guy on SNL and has been nothing but a bore ever since (including, but not limited to, his current Libertarian rants). I suspect his fans profess their undying affection for him because most of them are afraid to admit that they understand only about 70 percent of his references and thus would lose the air of superiority that they have also assumed.
-Stu
I'm glad to find out others think so too. (That he's more pretentious than he is funny.)
-Anonymous
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Posted by Doug Barney on 04/21/20107 comments
In 1986 I covered microcomputing for ComputerWorld newspaper. At the time micros, from companies like Vector Graphics and Altos, along with rudimentary LANs, drove the downsizing movement where mainframe apps were moved to these cheaper systems.
Twenty-four years later IDC claims that high-end versions of Windows (with clustering, HPC, etc.) are taking on apps that used to run on mainframes. Where have they been for the last two and a half decades?
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Posted on 04/21/20101 comments
My IT director, the awesome Erik Lindgren, wrote me recently about the death of Ed Roberts who created the first ever PC -- the Altair, and propelled Microsoft into the stratosphere with a rewrite of Basic. Oh, and he later became a medical doctor too!
Bill Gates never forgot the pioneer who made Microsoft what it is, so on Bill's personal Web site he and Paul Allen penned a touching tribute. Here's a quick excerpt:
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Posted by Doug Barney on 04/21/20101 comments
Virsto, short for virtual storage (finally a new company with a name that makes obvious sense!), came into town recently to introduce themselves and their first product. CEO Mark Davis sat down over a plate fine local seafood (I had salmon, very rare) and explained where his company came from and what it intends to do.
Virsto, as the name implies, is in the storage virtualization market, but with a twist. Its solution is based on a hypervisor. Virsto's two claims to fame are ease and speed of VM deployment through thin provisioning and maximizing I/O throughput. The whole idea is to avoid expensive proprietary disk arrays and turn white box disks into sophisticated virtual storage.
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Posted by Doug Barney on 04/21/20100 comments
You think something as potentially exciting as a series of Microsoft cloud applications would have a cool name. You'd be wrong. What name did Redmond choose for its online versions of SharePoint, Exchange, Office Live Meeting and Office Communication Server? Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS). Marketing 101 suggest that one never create an acronym with the letters POS embedded.
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Posted by Doug Barney on 04/19/201011 comments
We all know that hackers are after government and corporate computers. But someone must have been mighty curious about the Dalai Lama. Twelfth son of the Lama. The flowing robes, the grace, bald... striking.
A group of hackers managed to purloin a whole year's set of e-mail. Perhaps the hackers were looking for a little something, you know, for the effort, you know. Perhaps on their deathbed, they'd like to receive total consciousness. But that's asking a lot from a group of two-bit hackers.
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Posted by Doug Barney on 04/19/20101 comments
I'm not sure if it's Windows 7, record low computer prices or an economy just starting to get back on track, but PC sales rose nearly 25 percent in the first quarter compared to a year ago. That equates to nearly 80 million PCs sold worldwide in a short three months.
Analyst firm IDC attributes much of the growth to long delayed refreshes that are now back on track.
What about you? Is your shop refreshing key tools or still holding the line on costs? Tell me what you think at [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 04/19/20100 comments
After Doug commented on the news that Microsoft will be offering limited troubleshooting for expired Windows Service Packs, here are a few of your responses when asked how long they should support their products:
Even though I would personally like to see Microsoft support their products as long as someone is using them, I can also see that nearly everything we buy has a warranty that expires over time. If the customer chooses to continue using the product after the warranty expires, such as a car, then they need to pay out good money to get the product fixed by someone else.
When it comes to software, the Internet provides a wealth of information and free help that can keep many of Microsoft's products going for years on end. So I am torn on this issue for the home user.
However, when it comes to the corporate environment where hundreds of thousands of dollars may have been invested in Microsoft, then I feel that support should be provided indefinitely for a MODEST amount of money. Give the corporations as much time as they need to upgrade. Microsoft will still be making some money off their older products, the customer will be happy and more likely to buy their newer stuff when the need arises and users feel confident that Microsoft will support them long into the future.
-Joe
I thought they were to support a product seven years after it was retired?
Government mandate?
-Anonymous
For three years after the release of the first service pack for the next version of the product. For instance, three years after the release of Windows Vista SP1, support for Windows XP should end.
-Pat
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Posted on 04/19/20102 comments
TechNet is an amazing resource. I should know. My group now runs TechNet magazine and MSDN magazine. Thank you Microsoft!
TechNet (the overall site, not the magazine) has a new wiki that IT pros such as you can contribute to. All you need is a Windows Live ID and you're good to go.
Microsoft will not police or censor the site, but will leave that to a community council. After just a month in business, the wiki has over 500 pages (screens) of content. Not too shabby.
Do you read either TechNet mag or MSDN mag? Share your thoughts with us at [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 04/16/20101 comments
We start today's mailbag with an e-mail from a reader calling Doug out on some of his statements regarding Microsoft's riboon and sharing his own thoughts on it:
Your column in the April issue marks at least twice you have somewhat misinformed your readers on the subject of menu commands in Office 2007. The old menu commands are still there; there are just no menus to get to them. You have to remember the keystrokes (always beginning with Alt-something) on your own (which shouldn't be too hard for the "curmudgeonly users"). In fact, you generally get to the old dialog boxes directly from the ribbon interface for the more sophisticated tasks (such as changing axis features in Excel charts).
My personal opinion is that the ribbon is a disaster. It is slightly more convenient for the simple tasks, but requires many more keystrokes (or mouse clicks) to get to the really detailed stuff. More importantly, it's ugly and uses up too much real-estate; I keep it closed most of the time. I have also voted with my feet. I use OpenOffice whenever I can.
-Anonymous
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Posted by Doug Barney on 04/16/20100 comments