A vulnerability -- that word always makes us chuckle for some reason -- in IE that Microsoft tried to patch last week is
still getting hammered
by hackers, apparently.
Posted by Lee Pender on 02/19/20090 comments
We're not totally sure what sparked this e-mail from Tom, but we like it:
"One of the problems with Live Search is the name. Multiple words make it harder to tell people the URL since you MUST use both words or else it is meaningless. Plus, if it cannot find what you are looking for, do you call it Dead Search? Google has become both a noun and a verb -- much to the chagrin of Google itself.
"Microsoft has NEVER designed a good name other than Windows for its products. Most of its names tend to be two to three words in length (or worse, that .NET moniker, which was and is horrible), and thus never flow when spoken or written. If Microsoft called its search engine or Web site DaVinci, that would have had cache -- and would be memorable -- but that is likely already taken.
"The best search engine name would be a single word of two syllables and evoke exploration, discovery or knowledge in English or a common European language (which we would easily adopt and recognize in English). But, alas, Microsoft marketing gets involved and ruins any good names that would be used."
More
Posted by Lee Pender on 02/19/20091 comments
Obama's pick to lead the antitrust division at the U.S. Department of Justice must have stirred some mixed emotions with her comment -- actually uttered last summer -- that
Microsoft is "so last century"
in terms of antitrust concerns. Christine Varney actually seems more worried about Google.
Now, on one hand, this is good news for Redmond. A little less antitrust pressure would surely be welcome at Microsoft. But on the other hand, does not being public enemy No. 1 in the antitrust world mean that Microsoft isn't as relevant -- or as powerful -- as it used to be? This might be one area in which Google beats Microsoft without wanting to.
Posted by Lee Pender on 02/19/20090 comments
No, they didn't try to drive after four vodka martinis (which nobody should ever do -- seriously), but Ingram's fourth quarter earnings ended in a loss due in part to "goodwill impairment." (We didn't know what that was, either, but for the truly intrepid there's an explanation
here
.)
Sales were weak
More
Posted by Lee Pender on 02/19/20090 comments
It's one of those statements that probably makes a lot of people say "duh," but when Steve Ballmer states the obvious -- that the economic slowdown will
affect Microsoft's sales
-- it might just be a not-so-subtle little warning that Redmond's next earnings report might be as relatively unimpressive as the
last one
More
Posted by Lee Pender on 02/18/20090 comments
Michael Phelps's recent and unfortunate reentry into the news got us to thinking about Windows Mobile. No, really.
Phelps has mastered one of those sports, swimming, that only really gets much attention every four years -- at least here in the U.S. It's the same for track and field or for downhill skiing in the Winter Olympics; most Americans only care about this stuff once every four years. Then it goes back being the domain of enthusiasts' and the participants' families. (Again, we're talking about the U.S. here; we're well aware that Australians love swimming and Austrians love skiing, for example. But we digress.)
More
Posted by Lee Pender on 02/18/20090 comments
Yes, Microsoft is going to open its version of Apple stores -- a
retail store
full of Microsoft stuff. This is the sort of thing that might have really upset resellers maybe a decade ago, but now that most channel players are more consultants and integrators than pure resellers, it shouldn't make that much of a difference. In any case, we find it a bit funny that both Microsoft and Apple -- two companies that have always tried to be on the edge of innovation -- have gone running back to the old-school brick-and-mortar model in order to compete with each other.
Posted by Lee Pender on 02/17/20090 comments
This thing really is out of control. Now Microsoft, heretofore unable, apparently, to team with the rest of the industry to get to the source of the Conficker worm, is
offering $250,000
to anybody who can track down the origin of the nasty little virus.
Posted by Lee Pender on 02/17/20090 comments
It was interesting enough that Microsoft announced this week a
deal with Red Hat
for virtualization interoperability.
We're fans of interoperability here, as are most partners and users, so we're receiving the announcement as good news -- as is the new incarnation of ZDNet's terrifying three-headed blog. And who would want to argue with that beast?
More
Posted by Lee Pender on 02/17/20090 comments
We're guessing that partners will like the distributor's new 60-day financing and leasing programs. Check out the details in a fairly well-written Tech Data press release
here
.
Posted by Lee Pender on 02/12/20090 comments
In case you missed it (and, um, we almost did), IBM this week
bolstered its cloud computing efforts
by creating a new division for the technology and appointing Erich Clementi, who was already doing a bunch of other stuff in Armonk, as its head. See an awkwardly extreme close-up of Clementi, along with a pretty good explanation of what's going on,
here
More
Posted by Lee Pender on 02/12/20090 comments