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Why aren't Microsoft's competitors joining in on the Windows 8 jokes?

As bloggers and analysts have shown, Windows 8 is pretty easy to make fun of. But Microsoft's competitors aren't putting out any "I'm a Mac" ads this time around.
Submitted by Andy Patrizio on Wed, 05/15/13 - 9:45am.

Motley Fool made a great point late last week: Where are the Windows 8 attack ads? They have their suspicions, and I have mine.

Windows Vista was a stinker and everyone knew it, and along came the "I'm a Mac" ads. These ads were devastating in some ways, but as other, cooler heads noted, they also backfired. "PC" came off as a sympathetic character (played so brilliantly by John Hodgman) while "Mac" came off as a dislikable prick.

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iTunes: Still slowing down Windows PCs after all these years

The ghost of Steve Jobs is slowing down your PC, and if you have an iPhone, there's little you can do to stop it.
Submitted by Andy Patrizio on Fri, 05/10/13 - 10:23am.

Over the years we've had to deal with antivirus programs bringing PCs to a screeching halt as they perform a "background" scan. At my last job, it was a morning tradition to plug in the laptop, boot it and go for a walk while McAfee did the daily scan that reduced my laptop to the speed of a 386.

It's one reason why I use ESET's NOD32. The program is written in assembly and runs incredibly fast. I can perform a full, in-depth virus scan while playing 'Call of Duty' and neither the game nor the scan is impacted.

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Windows 8: 100 million licenses sold, but how many in use?

Shipped and used are two very different scenarios.
Submitted by Andy Patrizio on Thu, 05/09/13 - 10:42am.

Windows 8 has passed the 100 million mark. That's the word from Tami Reller, the CFO of the Windows division at Microsoft. In a Q&A conducted by another Microsoft employee and posted to the Windows blog (that's some hard hittin' journalism, there), Reller discussed the facts and figures of Windows 8 at the six-month mark.

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As Windows 8 struggles, where is the leadership?

Windows 8 desperately needs a cheerleader, but the group's leader is AWOL.
Submitted by Andy Patrizio on Mon, 05/06/13 - 9:09am.

A spokesman can make or break a product. I truly believe SaaS is at least five years ahead of where it could have been thanks to the tireless evangelism of Marc Benioff. Guy Kawasaki had as much to do with the Mac's early success as Steve Jobs. And if Linus Torvalds was merely a good programmer and not extremely well-spoken and charismatic, Linux would be in the same niche as Free BSD.

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The real news from Intel: Renee James takes over No. 2 spot

New president could shake up the company.
Submitted by Andy Patrizio on Fri, 05/03/13 - 12:49pm.

It was almost an afterthought in the announcement of Brian Krzanich as CEO, but Intel's decision to appoint Renee James as president of the company is huge news, far more so than Krzanich getting the big chair.

The choice of Krzanich is not much of a surprise and Wall Street had a decidedly "meh" response to the news. As COO, he was a logical choice. He's been focused on the production side of things, managing Intel's foundries, and he's an Intel "lifer," having worked his whole career with the company, just like outgoing CEO Paul Otellini.

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And Then There Was One: Microsoft may Lose HTC

With HTC's latest struggles spelling doom for its future, Microsoft's Windows Phone 8 hopes may rely solely on Nokia.
Submitted by Andy Patrizio on Fri, 04/26/13 - 8:00am.

Windows Phone has been dealt a rough hand. Despite good reviews and a very positive reception among those who actually own one, Microsoft can't seem to get traction with the handset makers. LG Electronics was supposed to make a phone and backed out, and Samsung made a middling effort with one phone before giving up, exchanging some sharp words with Microsoft in the process.

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ValueAct's $2 billion bet on Microsoft could mean big changes in Redmond

The activist hedge fund ValueAct has bought $2 billion of Microsoft stock and sees it as potentially the "largest cloud-computing company in the world," with ValueAct's help.
Submitted by Andy Patrizio on Thu, 04/25/13 - 9:28am.

Microsoft is sitting on $74.4 billion in cash and short-term investments as of March 31. It is hardly at risk of going broke. So why is an activist hedge fund taking a big stake in the company, and what could that imply for management?

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Some Windows XP users just can't afford to upgrade

For some of the remaining Windows XP users, upgrading to Windows 8, or even Windows 7, isn't all that easy.
Submitted by Andy Patrizio on Mon, 04/22/13 - 1:50pm.

I've already written about what I consider the folly of Microsoft's 15% off discount for XP holdouts, but this past week it was driven home to me just how bad the problem is, at least in some quarters.

On Friday, I headed to the nearby Costco for an eyeglasses check. After all, you can't beat a $49 eye exam and it's as good as anything else I've had for much higher cost. Looking at the doctor's computer, I saw the familiar yellow shield with an exclamation point in the system tray.

"Looks like it's time for you to update," I said to the doctor as she typed away.

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Windows Blue may restore Start button, Desktop, Microsoft's hopes

Windows 8.1, coden-amed Windows Blue, may bring back the old facets of Windows that users are clamoring for.
Submitted by Andy Patrizio on Tue, 04/16/13 - 5:17pm.

The two most disliked aspects of Windows 8 - the lack of a Start button and inability to boot to desktop - may finally be addressed in Windows 8.1, aka "Windows Blue," an update to the maligned due later this year.

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Why Microsoft won't convert Windows XP holdouts

Some PCs aren't going anywhere until they flat-out die.
Submitted by Andy Patrizio on Thu, 04/11/13 - 10:02am.

Microsoft did a pretty good job putting Internet Explorer 6 out to pasture, but it took a whole lot of nudging, cajoling, begging, and, finally, threatening some kneecaps to get people migrating. In the end, it took pushing IE 8 out as part of Patch Tuesday to finally retire the ancient browser.

Now it's trying again with Windows XP. One year from now, Microsoft pulls the plug on XP support, and this time they mean it. They have two legacy operating systems to support, and that's enough. I'm with them on this one. XP has got to go. The problem is, it won't.

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Perhaps Intel should make its own Windows Phone 8 device

Both Microsoft and Intel are getting hosed in their mobile efforts, so why not re-establish the WinTel alliance for a dual comeback?
Submitted by Andy Patrizio on Wed, 04/10/13 - 9:33am.

For far too long, the Intel/Windows hegemony drove its competitors batty and customers grumbled in their hopes for a viable alternative. WinTel eventually splintered as Microsoft stumbled with Vista, Linux began creeping into the desktop and Apple made a comeback as a viable platform. AMD, meanwhile, took a huge chunk out of Intel's hide in the middle of the last decade. Unfortunately, AMD blew its lead, Intel out-engineered it, and now Qualcomm is more of a threat to Intel than AMD.

But right about now might not be a bad time to get the band back together.

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No, Windows is not dying (although Microsoft is strangling it)

On the heels of Gartner's latest gloomy predictions for the PC market, it's amazing how people can twist numbers around.
Submitted by Andy Patrizio on Mon, 04/08/13 - 10:10am.

It's always amazing how people interpret the stats from the market research firms and tell you what to think of them. Today is a pretty good lesson in lies, damned lies, and statistics.

Gartner issued a report that predicted worldwide devices, which includes PCs, tablets and mobile phones, will grow 9% this year to 2.4 billion devices, and will reach 2.9 billion by 2017.

RELATED: Microsoft's relationship with Samsung gets ugly

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For Microsoft, going private may not be such a bad idea

What does Microsoft have left to gain by being public when the stock is at a standstill?
Submitted by Andy Patrizio on Wed, 04/03/13 - 9:27am.

Should Microsoft go private? Don't dismiss the question, it's a valid one, even if it would be extraordinarily difficult.

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Intel needs more than just an ARM license

ARM's boss thinks Intel needs to 'stop messing about' and get an ARM license, but it might take more than that.
Submitted by Andy Patrizio on Tue, 04/02/13 - 1:33pm.

This industry is full of executives expressing what sounds like pure self-interest, but their comments shouldn't be dismissed so quickly.

Case in point: ARM Holdings' founding CEO Sir Robin Saxby told the GSA Entrepreneurship Conference in Britain that "As an ARM shareholder, I recommend Intel to take an ARM license and stop messing about."

"Well of course you would, Sir Saxby," is the reaction most of us would have.

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Feeling Retro? dBASE is back with a modern look

Some apps never die, but is dBASE still relevant?
Submitted by Andy Patrizio on Thu, 03/28/13 - 1:22pm.

Some of you are old enough to remember a time when the main word processor, spreadsheet and personal database programs were NOT Word, Excel and Access. Thirty years ago, dBASE ruled IBM PC compatibles and was the standard for data management alongside Lotus 1-2-3 and WordPerfect.

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Does Nokia have a solar-powered phone in the works?

Patent clues indicate Nokia is in fact working on a solar-powered phone, which could be a huge boon in its favor.
Submitted by Andy Patrizio on Wed, 03/27/13 - 10:04am.

Windows Phone is finally gaining some interest, and with Samsung out of the picture, it looks like Nokia will have to lead the charge. If current hints and teases prove true, then Nokia is about to get a major new weapon in its fight.

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Microsoft's relationship with Samsung gets ugly

Of all the OEM relationships to go sour, Microsoft has lost perhaps its most important one.
Submitted by Andy Patrizio on Tue, 03/26/13 - 10:40am.

A while back I commented on the rumor that Samsung was trying to torpedo Windows Phone and harm Microsoft. The idea struck me as ludicrous, not to mention potentially dangerous. Well, it doesn't appear Samsung has to do anything behind the scenes. The war of words is now coming out in public.

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Surface tablet compared to Zune, Kin in brutal analyst assessment

At best, Microsoft's Surface tablet lineup will take a distant third behind iOS and Android in the market, analysts have predicted. At worst, it will become a laughing stock like Zune.
Submitted by Andy Patrizio on Thu, 03/21/13 - 4:46pm.

I know some of you are getting tired of the drum beats of negativity toward Windows 8 and Surface. But in light of Microsoft relenting on the opposition to Office 2013 licensing, it's clear that our voices can be heard in Redmond, and quite frankly, I'd rather nip another Vista in the bud rather than let it go on for years.

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Microsoft's back-end strategy more successful than Windows 8

Its Windows 8 strategy may be a disaster, but on the server side, Microsoft is doing very well.
Submitted by Andy Patrizio on Tue, 03/19/13 - 9:19am.

Eight is considered a number of good fortune in China, but it's been bad luck for Microsoft. Its Windows 8 strategy is cratering, even when it doesn't deserve it. Windows Phone 8, a really nice smartphone OS and alternative to iOS and Android, is gaining ground, but not nearly as quickly as it should. And I won't belabor the point about the PC and Surface products.

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Samsung torpedoing Windows Phone? Preposterous.

A new analyst prediction speculates that Samsung is intentionally sabotaging Windows Phone sales in order to benefit its Tizen operating system.
Submitted by Andy Patrizio on Thu, 03/14/13 - 1:45pm.

I try to give analysts the benefit of the doubt and assume that they know what they are talking about, but every now and then I get a report that's pure entertainment. A report by analyst Jeff Johnston of Detwiler Fenton definitely falls into that category.

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