Avistar's Tale: Microsoft Shows Its Dark Side

Many have the times been here at RCPU that we've defended Microsoft -- in the EU antitrust cases, in certain disputes with other vendors and against the more communist element of the open source movement.

But this is just nasty.

Avistar Communications is going through a rough time. That's probably the first thing that we should understand here. Avistar makes videoconferencing software with a specialty in enterprise desktop video, and its new CEO, an affable Brit named Simon Moss, sees his company's wares as a great fit for the cresting wave of unified communications (UC) platforms.

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Posted by Lee Pender on 04/03/20082 comments


Vendor Leads Are Road to Nowhere for Channel

One survey of resellers finds that leads from vendors aren't so great after all.

Posted by Lee Pender on 04/03/20080 comments


OOXML Battle Not Won Yet?

Microsoft's famous victory in getting its Office Open XML standard approved by the ISO might not be a done deal yet, if the pesky EU has anything to say about it.

Posted by Lee Pender on 04/03/20080 comments


OOXML: The Return of the Champ

This is the way it used to be when the New York Yankees were dominant, when the Steelers or 49ers were winning Super Bowls, and when Manchester United couldn't be stopped (and, actually, those days for Man U seem to be returning). They might fall behind here and there, maybe lose a game, maybe even lose a championship...but then they would collect themselves, rally and unleash fury upon their hapless opponents, reminding them who was boss after all. That's pretty much what Microsoft did with Office Open XML. More

Posted by Lee Pender on 04/02/200838 comments


Google Docs Goes Offline

Google's word processor-y sort of thing isn't just a SaaS application anymore. Google Docs is now available offline in what a lot of people are calling a challenge to Microsoft Word.

Our note to Google: Be careful what you're getting into here. You've still got Microsoft over a barrel with the whole SaaS-apps thing, but offline productivity software is Redmond's bread and butter, and Microsoft has crushed all competitors that have tried to usurp its position in the market. We're just saying...

Posted by Lee Pender on 04/02/20080 comments


IBM Updates Collaborative Tool

Lotus Quickr 8.1 is out there, misspelling and all.

Posted by Lee Pender on 04/02/20080 comments


Another Brand Survey: This One Crowns Apple

These things are a dime a dozen now , it seems, but the latest "brand-strength" survey gives high marks to Apple and low marks to Microsoft...as well as to (ouch) the United States!

Posted by Lee Pender on 04/01/20080 comments


Yahoo Pressing Ahead As If Microsoft Didn't Exist

Welcome to an abbreviated version of RCPU: We're in the midst of a lot of other stuff, including an article for that pesky print publication , so, for once, we're employing an economy of words. And we're in a linguistic recession right now.

So while we know that partners don't seem overly interested in a potential Microsoft-Yahoo deal (and, really, we're not, either), we did find it interesting that Yahoo has launched a More

Posted by Lee Pender on 04/01/20080 comments


Microsoft Joins Security Consortium

No jokes, please. It's an MIT consortium on network authentication. Now, those must be some rockin' parties.

Posted by Lee Pender on 04/01/20080 comments


Vista Not Alone in Enterprise Struggle

It's not just the new OS that's having a hard time breaking into the corporate world. It's also (editorial comment coming) the genuinely awful IE 7 .

Posted by Lee Pender on 03/31/20080 comments


Microsoft Moving Toward Office Online?

Reports indicate that Microsoft might kind of, sort of, be thinking about developing something that would be a little bit like a hosted version of Office . Maybe. Kind of. Eventually.

Posted by Lee Pender on 03/31/20080 comments


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