Microsoft
Privacy about to punted again when 'balanced' against need for govt spying
With the cyber-world such as it is now, constant breaches because companies are careless and lax about protecting our personal information, it might be true what the Office of Inadequate Security pointed out, "Maybe all companies should add 'check Pastebin' to their daily security to-do list." As if there's not enough personal info dumped about us all to invade privacy, any time there is talk about security and you hear the word 'balance' being used, citizens' privacy is about to be punted. This time it was in regard to online spying Read more
A blast from the past - Microsoft accused of monopolistic practices
On November 21, Bill Gates testified in a lawsuit charging Microsoft of monopolistic behavior against WordPerfect. Microsoft is accused of altering Windows 95 to make it more difficult for WordPerfect to produce a product that functioned well under the operating system.
A simple Google search already shows over a thousand news stories covering the testimony. Read more
Windows Phone Apps Surpass 40K Mark
From offering phones to developers sans voice and data contracts, to giving away free T-shirts, and rebates for the $99 Marketplace registration fee, to releasing and iPhone / iOS to Windows Phone 7 API mapping tool, Microsoft has spent significant resources trying to entice developers to create apps for the Windows Phone platform. And the company's efforts appear to be paying off. But Microsoft is hurting itself and these developers with its strict hardware guidelines. Read more
MalCon: Malware Hacking Conference for Twisted Pen Testers
While most Americans will be lulled into a Turkey coma, or perhaps fighting Black Friday crowds, a MalCon conference in Mumbai will be kicking off with a wicked 'muhahaha' from malware and information security researchers as they dive into twisted pen testing. It's a bit like the anti-antivirus crowd. While MalCon said it does not promote malware creation, it also laughs and answers "no" to the question of if it's a trap to profile malcoders. Read more
How Microsoft Can Chase Off Your Pesky Co-Workers
Workplace monitoring is nothing new. I saw back in 1995 that my employers were monitoring my time spent Web surfing. But Microsoft has a new twist on this activity, one we might like.
Microsoft is seeking a patent for technology that would monitor behavior on a video conference and in other situations around the office for behavior deemed inappropriate or unacceptable, like co-workers cutting each other off or making harsh hand gestures during meetings. Even better? It can snoop on bosses bugging their subordinates at inappropriate times. Read more
Should Steve Ballmer Go as CEO?
The following is a guest blog by freelance editor and self-confessed keyboard geek Marco Chiappetta: At Microsoft's annual shareholder meeting, which took place this past week at the Meydenbauer Center in Bellevue, Washington, Steve Ballmer received votes representing 92% of shares to keep him in place as the company's Chief Executive. Read more
Copying Software
A study commissioned by Microsoft found pirated software saves its users in developing countries more than $2.9 billion annually. In other words, pirated software is costing Microsoft more than $2.9 billion per year in sales. This includes Latin America, Central and Eastern Europe and Asia-Pacific. In fact, 90% of Microsoft users in China (sometimes referred to as a "one-disk" country) use pirated software (http://www.networkworld.com/news/2011/111711-pirated-software-253255.html). Read more
Got a spare $8,400? The Microsoft Surface 2.0 is for you
What a bargain! Microsoft will be releasing its second version of its touchscreen table,the Microsoft Surface 2.0, for pre-order in 23 countries in 2012. And it has reduced the price to a mere $8,400. When Microsoft first introduced the Surface back in 2007 (the first ones shipped in 2008), the price tag was $10,000. Read more
Research Lab Offers Duqu Detection and Removal Tool
Microsoft is usually pretty good at responding to threats, but it's been a little slow on the draw with the Duqu malware, a.k.a. Son of Stuxnet. Yes, it has offered a work-around to protect against it, but the company has yet to offer a fix to provide adequate protection of the malicious software. Fortunately, a third party has come to the rescue. Read more
Windows Phone Sales Still Headed South
Smartphone sales are doing fantastic even in this crummy economy, but Microsoft isn't getting in on the action. Sales of Windows Phone are, in fact, dropping, while Android is steamrolling everyone.
According to the latest numbers from Gartner, smartphone sales in the third quarter of 2011 reached 115 million units, up 42 percent from the third quarter of 2010 and up 7 percent from the second quarter of 2011. Smartphones now account for 26 percent of all mobile phone sales worldwide. Read more
Gartner: Windows Phone sales plummet while Android sales triple
Microsoft is losing what little ground it had in the smartphone market, according to the latest stats from Gartner. Ever hear of Bada? And yet that smartphone OS from Samsung sold more units and owns more of the overall worldwide market than Windows Phone. This despite massive advertising by Microsoft, the Mango update, and all the other expenditures that Microsoft has invested in its smartphone platform. Read more
Barnes & Noble Blows The Lid Off Microsoft's Android Patent Squeeze
Just a few weeks ago I wrote about Microsoft making more money from Android patent licensing fees than it does from Windows Mobile. A majority of Android manufacturers are paying Microsoft to "license" certain patents that Redmond claims the open source Android system infringes upon. Read more
Microsoft has no plans to fix months old Office 2010/WP7 sync bug
Windows Phone 7 won't sync with the 64-bit version of Office 2010. And Microsoft has no plans to fix that, the company says. Read more
Microsoft and Duke Partner to Find Media Fakery
Adobe Photoshop is as much a godsend for graphic artists as unattractive celebrities, providing creative artists with a Reality Distortion Field comparable to the one Steve Jobs used to generate. While that's great for making a plain jane celeb look attractive (for them, anyway), Photoshop also means an Internet full of fakes, some of which can be devastating to the people involved. Read more
SharePoint User Adoption Strategy: Team Member “Service Level Agreement”
User adoption of SharePoint solutions is a challenge for many organizations (and consultants). I've done conference presentations on the topic and Michael Sampson wrote an entire book (which is excellent, by the way). I often talk about what I guess I'd call "macro" adoption strategies - larger scale, company-wide initiatives. Recently, I've been working with clients on more "micro" strategies - specific strategies for individual teams that are almost like service level agreements (SLAs) for team members. Read more
Windows Comes to the Mainframe Mountain
A CA exec once told me if a mainframe crashes three times in year, that is an unreliable computer. If your PC crashes three times in one day, it's been a good day. Ok, so this was in the days of Windows 3.1, but the joke always stuck with me.
One thing that hasn't changed is mainframe reliability. They are still the gold standard for uptime and reliability, and with 40 years of development, there isn't much for alternatives. Maybe that's why despite repeated declarations that the mainframe, it continues to survive, thrive, and see significant updates from IBM. Read more
Microsoft contributes GPL'd code to old enemy Samba project
On October 10, a group of developers contributed a patch to the Samba Technical Mailing List. That would be an unexceptional event except that these developers worked for Microsoft, Samba is covered by the GPLv2 and there's a long and not-very-friendly history between Microsoft and the project.
NOT TOTALLY FRIENDS: Barnes & Noble subpoenas Nokia over Microsoft Android lawsuit Read more
Microsoft Isn't Apple: Redmond OKs Windows Phone 7 Jailbreak Tool
The following is a guest blog by freelance editor and self-confessed keyboard geek Marco Chiappetta. A few days ago a new tool hit the scene that’s able to unlock Windows Phone 7 devices — the ChevronWP7 labs unlock client. It costs a mere $9. The developers had released a similar tool when Windows Phone was first released, but Microsoft fought to have it taken down claiming it could be used for piracy. Read more
My Take on Scoble's Take on Microsoft's Tablet Strategy
Blogger and gadfly Robert Scoble has posted some interesting comments on why he thinks his former employer Microsoft will fail in the tablet space. While Scoble's opinions have become somewhat polarizing to some folks, he does make some valid points. Read more
How Hotmail will wage war on newsletters
In a recent blog post from the Windows Live team Hotmail declared war on “graymail,” its newly coined term for those semi-legit e-mail messages that build up in the inbox. These include newsletters, offers, and other email communications that people have agreed to. Microsoft shows some impressive work against spam, cutting Inbox spam to just 3 percent. Read more
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