After trying to downplay earlier this week
the problems it might have developing
for Vista, Symantec is back to accusing -- and probably
with some justification
-- Microsoft of wanting to
shut competitors out
of the security market. Needless to say, this is going to be a battle on all fronts: legal, technological and psychological. Just keep in mind that Microsoft rarely takes serious losses in any of those kinds of battles.
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Posted by Lee Pender on 09/28/20062 comments
Here’s an interesting little tidbit: Apparently somebody from the U.S. embassy in Brussels has been hounding (sorry, lobbying) European Union competition czar Neelie Kroes to take it easy on Microsoft in the wake of the EU’s heavy fines against and
general harassing of the company
.
The rumor that the caller was really Steve Ballmer crank calling after quaffing a few pints of Leffe in the Belgian capital is totally unconfirmed -- especially since I just made it up.
Posted by Lee Pender on 09/26/20060 comments
So, Symantec, after yammering to the EU about
Microsoft moving into the security space
, is trying to play down whatever difficulties it might have in
making its apps work
in the forthcoming Vista operating system.
Robin, who has been good enough to write before, says that Symantec has every right to complain about Microsoft:
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Posted by Lee Pender on 09/26/20060 comments
The Uncool MySpace
. Great, another project that
takes Microsoft away
from its moneymaker.
Mike, who writes from Finland and adds the caveat that he’s not a Mac zealot, is tired of Microsoft coming up with ideas for entry into new markets and not following through on them:
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Posted by Lee Pender on 09/26/20060 comments
They probably don’t
wear tuxedos
or drink their martinis
"shaken, not stirred,"
but it would be really cool if they did. Microsoft and the Russian police have been playing James Bond over the last year or so, working for his majesty’s (in this case, presumably Steve Ballmer’s) secret service and eyeing software pirates in Russia with a
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Posted by Lee Pender on 09/26/20062 comments
So, a friend from outside tech world calls me at work today as I’m preparing the newsletter. Right as I pick up the phone, I see a link to a story about a
Microsoft-powered coffee maker
. I tell her about it, and she says, "Why does Microsoft want to make technology for coffee makers?" Good question.
I went on, to her considerable shock and dismay, to tell her about everything Microsoft is into: embedded operating systems that run gas pumps and slot machines (among other things), uncool iPods, third-place search engines, video-game consoles, washers and dryers -- and a lot of other stuff. The latest effort is a video-sharing service aimed at taking on the wildly popular and ridiculously entertaining YouTube Web franchise. Good luck with that one, Redmond.
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Posted by Lee Pender on 09/19/20065 comments
So, there’s a
patch to patch a patch that patched a patch
-- or something like that.
With all of the publicity Microsoft’s security issues get, it’s hard to say how users will greet the company’s entry into the enterprise security market. How can partners sell companies on Microsoft security applications when Redmond’s reputation in that area is, well, less than stellar? One wonders ....
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Posted by Lee Pender on 09/14/20060 comments
And the former Microsoft whipping boy’s new competitor is ... Google? Good luck to our
Canadian friends
, eh.
Posted by Lee Pender on 09/05/20060 comments
There’s something about anticipation that becomes impossible to shake. It just builds, getting better and worse at the same time, the closer we get to an important or potentially exciting event. It becomes all-consuming, something that’s in the back of our minds all the time and in the front of our minds most of the time. Kids can’t wait for Christmas. Movie buffs can’t wait for the latest film starring their favorite actors. Book hounds can’t wait to pick up the most recent tomes from their favorite authors.
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Posted by Lee Pender on 08/29/20062 comments
The long-time partners have expanded their partnership to
target branch offices of big companies
-- which, incidentally, is also a big target of Microsoft’s Dynamics ERP suites.
Gartner has some advice as to how IT people should react. Notice, too, how the Gartner guys congratulate themselves for predicting a Microsoft-Cisco battle back in 1997. Maybe it’s just me, but I’m not sure I’d be so excited about a prediction I made taking 10 years to come true. But, since nobody will remember this little newsletter entry 10 years from now, I’ll come out and say that Google will own at least 50 percent of the OS market by 2016. Take that with a grain of salt -- or maybe a shaker. I’ll be back to brag about it if it comes true, though!
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Posted by Lee Pender on 08/24/20061 comments