Microsoft's Ray Ozzie significantly blew past the basic Exchange, SharePoint and SQL database hosting services with the Azure announcements at PDC 2009 yesterday. Read more
Microsoft is achieving impressive performance gains with "Velocity", the code name for a new Microsoft data caching technology currently in Community Technical Preview. Velocity is a distributed in-memory application cache technology that combines in-memory data caches across multiple servers, appearing as one large data cache to data hungry applications.
By accessing data in Velocity data caches, expensive hits to the SQL database are avoided and application data is delivered with much less latency. Server CPU and disk resource consumption are also lowered. Read more
Using open source software in your product. Doesn't Microsoft know that bloggers, techno-dudes and everyone else is watch them like a hawk waiting for Microsoft to make a GPL license misstep? Friday blogger Rafael Rivera called Microsoft on the carpet accusing Redmond of lifting code from the ImageMaster project for use in a Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool (WUDT) for netbooks. Read more
TechEd's focus on Exchange 2010 this week is all about the efficiency gains through improved productivity, lower power consumption (thanks to Windows Server 2008 R2) and decreased storage costs of Exchange 2010. Thank the economy for the focus on efficiency gains. Upgrades like Exchange 2010 will get close budget scrutiny in 2010/2011 and for the remainder of this year. Read more
Text message this morning from CNN: Unemployment hit 10.2% in October. Microsoft announced earlier this week another 800 employee layoffs to the 5,000 previously announced employee layoffs. If you look at Microsoft's financials you see why, a 14% revenue and 18% net income drop for the last reported quarter, on top of disappointing prior quarters. Read more
The Blackberry Bold is getting good attention but the mobile SmartPhone world has become a two horse race between the Apple iPhone and the Motorola/Google Droid. Even with the new Blackberry Storm 2 model, the Storm missed its window to be a serious contender against the iPhone (despite all my ill advised pro-Storm predictions). Read more
Now that Microsoft's first Apple-like store is open in Scottsdale Arizona, Microsoft has finally entered the world of direct consumer retail sales. Since I don't live in that part of the country I have to rely on the reports from others, and so far the feedback is that the store is a lot like Apple's, has a little less cool-vibe to it, and shows off some of the price differences between hardware running Windows compared to Apple hardware (no surprise there). Read more
After the debacle called the Blackberry Storm, you have to wonder if Verizon is really ready to take another run at the iPhone. From one viewpoint the Google Android powered Droid phone must a very capable contender, given how the recent Droid video ads pick at iPhone weak points. Hard to say the Droid will dethrone the iPhone, but it certainly has the potential of keeping Verizon customers tempted to switch to AT&T in order to get an iPhone. Read more
Net Neutrality vs. John McCain. Consumer vs. Ignorant Politician. Party affiliations aside, anyone proposing we allow carriers to clamp down and determine what content we can run through our Internet and ISP connections probably still has their secretaries print out emails for them. Would you allow Verizon or AT&T to determine who you can make calls to on their wireless networks? No. It's a ridiculous thought, and doesn't belong throttling our on ramps to the Internet either. Read more
In a word, Windows 7 means "everything" for Microsoft's future. We can all talk about the insane number of SharePoint licenses sold, how well Windows Server 2008 has been put together, Bing's surprising rise in the search market, and exciting moves by Microsoft into Online Services for hosted Microsoft Exchange, SharePoint and Office Web Online. But the bottom line is if Windows 7 flops, it's a steep slippery slope to the bottom for Redmond, with lots of competitors from Google to Apple ready to further sling grease on the skids for Microsoft's fall. Everything. Read more
Windows 7, it's here! Well, it's actually been here since PDC 2008 in some form or fashion, but Windows 7 has reached its official launch day. You've heard about the new taskbar, you've heard it's more stable and faster than Windows V(ista) (I don't want to say the V word anymore.) Windows 7 starts up, shuts down and sleeps faster, it doesn’t have all the junk loaded in it Windows V had, and Microsoft's finally tamed UAC enough that it stays out of the way. Read more
SharePoint. $1.3B revenue rate. 130 million user base. Even if you doubt the user and license counts (though not everyone thinks they are inflated) , SharePoint is a very successful product. If there's a success at Microsoft, it's definitely SharePoint. Read more
Windows is notorious for leaving lots of leftovers around after a program uninstall. Windows 7 is no different. Whether you use the Control Panel uninstaller or a default uninstaller listed with the application in the start menu, traces are still left in the registry and on your hard disk. Enter Revo Uninstaller.
Wouldn't it be convenient to Remote Desktop Connect into your Windows box using your iPhone? That would be great in situations where you're out to dinner, running an errand, to someplace where your computer's not. Enter RDP, Moacha Remoted Desktop iPhone app by Mochasoft.dk. Read more
Do we really have a cloud or just offsite Microsoft, Cisco and Linux hosting centers? I'm struck by what seems like a near constant barrage of news about cloud outages and service downtime. Read more
Can Office Web Apps stave off customer migration to Google Docs? Google wants to take down Microsoft and Google Docs strikes at the very heart of Microsoft's application suite, Microsoft Office. Many users of Google Docs switched because of its sharing and collaboration features or they were looking for a low cost ($50/user/year) web-based alternative to Microsoft Office. Microsoft's response to Google Apps is Office Web Apps, free web-based online versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote. Read more
Adobe Flash and the iPhone don't mix, at least that's been Apple's policy when it comes to mixing iPhone apps, the mobile Safari browser and Adobe Flash. But Adobe thwarted Apple by adding a Flash-to-iPhone compiler in the next version of Flash Professional CS5. There are apparently five recompiled Flash apps that have already slipped by the App Store police. Looks like Apple needs to beef up its App Store border patrol. Read more
Microsoft has announced phone partners for Windows Mobile 6.5 and we now have a bird's-eye view of the mobile OS upgrade. Too bad there's not a whole lot to see. Some UI changes, including dumping the Today screen for something a bit more pleasing to the eye and easier to use, a new app store, and an upgraded IE browser with Flash lite support. At least Windows Mobile 6.5 has Flash to tout compared to the iPhone, but that's about it. But even the new UI changes aren't that compelling if HTC will overlay them with its own TouchFLO interface. Other phone manufacturers are doing the same. Read more
Apple iPhones, Google Android phones, BlackBerries, Microsoft Windows Mobile, and the Palm Pre all bring us mobile platforms that can do more than just make phone calls, check our calendars and do email. It's now all about "the apps", the mobile applications that come with and can be downloaded or synchronized onto your Smartphone that really makes them powerful. Apple's now cliché "there's an app for that" advertising is backed up by claims of over 75,000 apps for the iPhone. Read more
I have a lot of good things to say about my experiences using Microsoft Security Essentials. You know Microsoft's doing something right when Symantec and McAfee start slinging FUD, whining about MSE being warmed over OneCare (and, I liked OneCare btw). But Microsoft most definitely stumbled in one very important aspect of Microsoft Security Essentials: it suffers from the "it's free but..." syndrome. Microsoft is contradicting itself about the very reason they offered Microsoft Security Essentials for free. Read more
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