Cloud computing may not take over our entire world of computing, but it's clearly
going to represent a large chunk of how we conduct business. And that has some
rather huge
security
implications
.
For one, all these service companies need to ensure that their software --
and your data -- is safe. This means that the security software market is going
to be less about anti-virus on your PC and more about anti-hacker on huge server
farms.
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Posted by Doug Barney on 07/17/20080 comments
There's an old story about economics that I think my dad once told me. It seems
that Smirnoff vodka was losing market share to its lower-priced rival, Wolfschmidt,
back in the '60s. Instead of slashing its prices to match those of Wolfschmidt,
Smirnoff did something no one expected: It raised 'em. All of a sudden, Smirnoff
was a premium brand, and sales rose.
Apparently, VMware is the Smirnoff to Hyper-V's Wolfschmidt. Over in Europe,
VMware
is raising prices, at the exact same time that a nearly free Hyper-V is
coming to market.
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Posted by Doug Barney on 07/17/20080 comments
The Apple crowd is a pretty loyal lot. These are the folks that line up whenever
there's a hot new Mac, iPhone or Steve Jobs sighting.
One TV reporter, though, mistook this crowd for the Dungeons & Dragons-type
folks that camp out waiting for the next PlayStation or Nintendo. This TV reporter
thought Apple fans were pimple-faced losers with no social skills -- and no
guts.
But when he asked, on camera, a bunch of folks standing in line for the new
iPhone if they had ever kissed a girl, he got completely owned by one dude.
This guy coolly explained how uncool it was to assume that iPhone fans were
a bunch of dweebs. After this got
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Posted by Doug Barney on 07/17/20080 comments
Microsoft is
sounding
an alarm
over the Google/Yahoo ad deal, calling it a monopoly in the making.
Coming from Microsoft, this might be ironic -- but not that surprising:
Ironic? No, it's about time. Turnabout is fair play.
-Anonymous
This is just as ironic as when IBM got to finger-pointing at Microsoft
during the Microsoft monopoly hearings. Youngsters might not remember IBM's
own monopoly issues, but the rest of us do.
-Stan
What goes around comes around. I think Microsoft is justified using the
same arguments that have been used against it -- and the results should be
the same if the legal systems are balanced as they claim.
-Anonymous
Microsoft's enemies have used the monopoly chip against them and now they
want to turn the tables on Google. Having politicians and the courts involved
in this is not good for the consumer's pocket book or for technology innovation.
I trust the market to make the corrections needed.
-Tom
After reading your comments about Microsoft, the potential Google/Yahoo
deal and the words "monopoly" and "ironic" in your column,
another word immediately came to my mind: HYPOCRITE. Kind of like the pot
calling the kettle black. Just like a terrorist calling the United States
a bunch of murderers. Kinda of like sending a fat, overweight U.S. senator
overseas to a Third World nation to investigate their poverty and hunger.
Tennessee Williams said it best in "The Rose Tattoo," Act 3: "The
only thing worse than a liar is a liar that's also a hypocrite!"
How long before we see Microsoft changing its trademark to a guy wearing
a black hat, a tuxedo and a monocle?
-Les
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Posted by Doug Barney on 07/17/20080 comments
Michael Desmond is editor in chief of
Redmond
Developer News
, our magazine for corporate development managers (we
also own
Visual
Studio Magazine
).
Last week, Mr. Desmond tackled
an issue we've been talking about here: whether Microsoft can move from
a maker of packaged software to a services company. And like this here Redmond
Report, the real insight came from readers.
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Posted by Doug Barney on 07/16/20080 comments
On the topic of Microsoft's OOXML file format, Angus has an interesting question:
How is OOXML a standard when even Microsoft's own Office suite does not
yet fully support it?
-Angus
In the wake of the WSUS glitch that Microsoft eventually fixed, Doug asked
readers whether they value a patch's stability more than its speed. Most of
you went with the former:
Stability, of course. Does it matter if a hacker brings down your server
or a Microsoft patch does it for them? If the data isn't available, it's useless.
-LouAnne
With patches, as with medical interventions, the primary guidance lies
in the injunction: "First, do no harm."
-Fred
I will take stability over speed.
-Mark
The stability is more important. Their newest version of Explorer has
now locked me and others from accessing a file we need to do our job. I am
the administrator for the file but don't have access to the file.
They sent a fix to the problem a year ago, but it still hasn't fixed
the problem. To access any file I need, I have go to Explorer to retrieve
any of the my documents. If I try "save as" or change the drive
in the program, all the files I have in that program freeze and I lose data.
Which also means I can't repair my Access database as it means I have be able
to select a drive.
-Ruth
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Posted by Doug Barney on 07/16/20080 comments
Citrix this week announced "
Project
Kensho
" (which is a Zen term referring to one's initial enlightenment),
a set of tools that should make your choice of hypervisor, as Dr. Evil might
say, "inconsequential."
Kensho tools take advantage of Open Virtual Format (OVF), a standard that lets
IT and application makers build virtual machines that run independent of the
hypervisor. This way, a VM could be easily moved from VMware to Xen to Hyper-V.
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Posted by Doug Barney on 07/16/20080 comments
\Alanis Morrissette made the word "ironic" famous in her song "Isn't
It Ironic?" Well, Microsoft may be the black fly in Google and Yahoo's
chardonnay as Redmond is trying to get the U.S. Congress to put the kibosh on
the Google/Yahoo ad deal. According to Microsoft, the deal would
create
a monopoly in Web ads
, as the duo would control some 90 percent of the market.
Here's the ironic(al) part. Microsoft has been trying to buy Yahoo and ultimately
wants to corner that same market. And what kind of share does Microsoft have
in desktop operating systems, productivity suites and browsers? Isn't that ironic,
don't you think?
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Posted by Doug Barney on 07/16/20080 comments
You would think that when billions of dollars are at stake, the stake holders would all have their stories straight. But Yahoo and Microsoft have
very different versions
of what led to the offer Microsoft made to acquire Yahoo's search business.
The offer was made on Friday and fairly promptly rejected by the Yahoo-ites. This surprised Microsoft, which claims that the chairman of the Yahoo board, Roy Bostock, solicited the offer. After receiving the offer that Bostock allegedly asked for, called Microsoft's behavior "erratic and unpredictable."
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Posted by Doug Barney on 07/15/20080 comments
SQL Server 2008 is nearly here, and it's still 2008! Microsoft says the software
will
be released to manufacturing
by the end of September, and then out to customers
a short time later.
I poke fun, but on the server side Microsoft has been hitting its dates pretty dang well. Hyper-V was even early.
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Posted by Doug Barney on 07/15/20080 comments
This spring, Microsoft's Office Open XML file format was approved as an ISO standard. But not all were pleased. Several countries -- Venezuela, Brazil, India and South Africa -- all objected and filed appeals. Now an
ISO document has emerged
that points to those appeals falling on deaf (or at least disinterested) ears.
When it comes to standards, Microsoft is darned if it does, and danged is it doesn't. For years Microsoft has been bashed for not doing enough to support existing standards, and even less to offer its own technologies to standards bodies. So when Microsoft offers its Office file formats, the critics complain that the process was flawed. I'm glad to that ISO appears to be making the right choice here.
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Posted by Doug Barney on 07/15/20080 comments
From our previous item, it's clear just how important it is to patch, regardless of occasional conflicts. But many using Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) recently found that the server update service
can't update their servers
. Microsoft has already fixed the software that is itself designed to fix software.
My guess is that the rush to fix problems is creating flawed patches and conflicts with other bits of software. What say you? Is the speed or the stability of a patch more important? Send your answers to
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Posted by Doug Barney on 07/14/20080 comments