One of Microsoft's key business intelligence components is
due
very, very soon
...much sooner, in fact, than the next version of SQL server
-- a fact that somehow becomes a point of faux-controversy in a news story written
at a slow time of year.
Posted by Lee Pender on 08/23/20071 comments
OK, we'll admit that this isn't the most important story of all time from a
partner perspective, but we're throwing it in because 1) It's August, and news
is slow; 2) It's pretty interesting; and 3) We love the fact that the analysts
at Gartner actually use, presumably with a straight face, terms such as "trough
of disillusionment."
Anyway, Garter says, probably quite correctly this time, that home networking
stuff is
just way
too hard
More
Posted by Lee Pender on 08/22/20070 comments
Following yesterday's
mutual-appreciation
session
between the CEOs of Microsoft and Cisco, Redmond revealed that it will make a slew of unified communications tools, including Office Communications
Server,
available
in October
. Presumably all of these products will live in perfect harmony
with Cisco's competitive-slash-complementary offerings.
Posted by Lee Pender on 08/22/20070 comments
It has, we'll freely admit, been a long, long, long time since we've watched
what's known as "professional wrestling." And by long time, we mean
at least a couple of decades, probably longer, reaching back to our much younger
days. (Seriously, we're talking King Kong Bundy, Gentleman Chris Adams, Iceman
King Parsons here --
the
old Dallas Sportatorium crowd
.)
And even in those days, we didn't watch much wrestling. But we do remember
some of the theatrical tricks the wrestlers used to (and presumably still do)
use. One of our favorites was when one guy was getting roughed up pretty good,
and it looked as though his fate was sealed...when suddenly, out of nowhere,
his buddy would arrive accompanied by a signature tune blasted over the loudspeakers,
and the announcer, with an impassioned sense of faux-bewilderedness, would shout
(for example), "Is that Kerry Von Erich's music?" Of course, a total
melee would ensue, much to the delight of a crowd thirsty for scripted violence.
More
Posted by Lee Pender on 08/22/20073 comments
In the glow of a late-summer morning, they seemed so happy together. Steve
Ballmer and Cisco CEO John Chambers spent yesterday morning verbally nuzzling
each other and chatting happily
with
the aptly named Charlie Rose
. (Yes, he's the guy who hosts a show on PBS
that we don't watch but claim we do in order to sound more sophisticated than
we really are. Hey, don't the reruns of "King of the Hill" come on
at the same time? We have our priorities.)
More
Posted by Lee Pender on 08/21/20070 comments
From the "unintended consequences" file: Popular Internet telephony
provider Skype says that a
massive
number of restarts
following Microsoft's Patch Tuesday caused last week's
colossal 48-hour lapse in Skype's service. Microsoft, on the other hand,
isn't
so sure
.
Posted by Lee Pender on 08/21/20072 comments
One of Microsoft's more high-profile but (thus far, anyway) less successful
attempts to be cool, the Xbox video-game console, still isn't turning a profit...and
probably won't for
a while
, Redmond honcho Kevin Turner revealed this week.
Posted by Lee Pender on 08/21/20070 comments
Remember
those
patches for Vista
that caused some confusion last week? Well, maybe they
weren't SP1 after all, because they're
well
and truly out there
for anyone to download now.
And with Vista back in the news (as if it ever really left), let's go to the
vault for some reader e-mails.
David says that Vista's fine; it's other stuff that's screwing everything up:
More
Posted by Lee Pender on 08/09/20070 comments
Everybody loves Action Packs, those free bundles of Microsoft applications
available to just about anybody and everybody in the Microsoft Partner Program. [Editor's note: they actually cost $300.] As of now, Action Packs are nice little perks for everybody whose company is
at least a Registered Member in the program. They're generally considered to
be a no-strings-attached (or at least, few-strings-attached)
bundle of appreciation from Redmond to partners.
Well, get ready for some strings. RCP Editor in Chief Scott Bekker noticed
in a recent MSPP newsletter -- by the way, does anybody read those things regularly?
-- that it's about to become more difficult for partners to get their beloved
Packs. Starting at the end of November, Action Packs will become a privilege,
not a right -- or something like that. Long story short, partners who want them
will have to take a test to get them.
More
Posted by Lee Pender on 08/09/20073 comments