The year 2009 has been one of the more forgettable we've experienced in...well, quite a while, anyway. And while it's hard to tell whether the economy is recovering (ask a stockbroker and somebody who's out of work, and you'll likely get two very different answers), glimmers of hope for 2010 are starting to show through the thick financial clouds that have been over us for close to two years now.
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Posted by Lee Pender on 12/03/20091 comments
OK, so Google Chrome has 3.9 percent market share, according to Net Applications. No big deal, right? Well, it kind of is, considering the fairly new browser apparently had only 0.4 percent market share at the beginning of November. As for IE, its current share is its lowest ever -- although it's still at almost 64 percent.
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Posted by Lee Pender on 12/03/20090 comments
Netbooks, the beloved (by your editor) little machines that haven't quite penetrated the enterprise but still sell in big numbers, have fallen under the market share spell of Windows for the most part. But a couple of companies are nudging them in a different direction.
Intel's new SDK for its Atom processer points developers pretty strongly in the direction of Moblin, Intel's own Linux-based operating system. And netbook maker Acer is going to start (gasp!) putting Google's Chrome OS on netbooks. Just a couple of little things to look out for with these little devices, Microsoft partners.
Posted by Lee Pender on 12/03/20091 comments
We in the software world get so used to blaming Microsoft for these types of things that when news broke of a "black screen of death" (oddly abbreviated KSoD in some places) plaguing multiple versions of Windows, lots of observers, including RCPU, instinctively pointed a finger of blame at Redmond.
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Posted by Lee Pender on 12/02/20092 comments
Rob Enderle ponders this week whether Microsoft could have taken over the world with Windows Mobile if Redmond just made the mobile operating system seem cooler, the way Apple promoted the iPhone. He has a point, of course, but Microsoft is to marketing as Apple is to non-proprietary development (heh heh). Incidentally, a recent Windows Mobile 6.5 update did come with a few new features.
Posted by Lee Pender on 12/02/20094 comments
Your editor is swamped with other responsibilities this week, so expect some short RCPUs. (Yes, we always say that and it never happens, but it's going to happen this week.)
There's an interesting article in the San Francisco Chronicle this week about how Silicon Valley has warmed to Microsoft over the last decade or so. The paper offers a couple of explanations for the thawing of relations between Redmond and the Valley.
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Posted by Lee Pender on 12/01/20095 comments
This is one launch that won't include a ribbon-cutting ceremony, if you know what we mean. Heh heh. Oh, yes, the ribbon will be back and likely more confusing than ever by the middle of next year.
Posted by Lee Pender on 12/01/20091 comments
At least that's what one software company and some users are saying. Redmond's latest patch is (allegedly) crashing computers running all sorts of Windows versions.
One thing to note: Black is the new blue. The famous BSOD has gone dark for the fall, as have some computers, apparently. Anyway, it's now the black screen of death, which seems less colorful and festive than the blue screen.
Posted by Lee Pender on 12/01/20091 comments
Chris Liddell is moving on, and Microsoft is promoting Redmond veteran Peter Klein into the CFO role.
Posted by Lee Pender on 12/01/20090 comments
At first glance, this almost seems a little unfair. The ERP market leader and the market leader in almost everything else -- two companies that aren't always the best of friends -- are teaming up to attack Oracle. But Microsoft and SAP have their reasons for getting together.
Oracle is a major ERP player these days and a threat to SAP's market-leading position in the space. (Microsoft wants to be an ERP player, too, but we'll get to that later.) Microsoft, of course, wants to cut into Oracle's massive share of the market for database software. So, Microsoft and SAP have come together in what is essentially a business-intelligence play in which Microsoft -- and its channel, presumably -- will recommend and implement SAP's BusinessObjects BI software for Microsoft customers...with that software running, of course, on Microsoft's database applications. There will also be some cross-sales and cross-promotion-type stuff.
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Posted by Lee Pender on 11/19/20092 comments