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Microsoft's real game: Open interoperability protects its stack

The cynics are out in force over Microsoft's open interoperability initiative, but it's actually a positive development. Just don't get carried away with the Kool-Aid though because there's a good business reason for Microsoft to make this move: The software giant is protecting its stack. As a...

Tags: Game, Interoperability, Reaction, Cynic, Microsoft Corp., Microsoft Windows, Open Source, Linux, Operating Systems, Software, Larry Dignan

Blog posts 2008-02-21

Additional Resources

Open Discussion: Software firewalls

Open Discussion: Software firewallsRE: Open Discussion: Software firewallsI use both Windows Firewall in Vista and the built in hardware firewall in my router. I just don't see the need for a resource hungry, third party solution any more when the built in firewall in Windows does an admirable job.Fire ...

Tags: Firewalls, Network security, SECURITY, software, firewall, Network Address Translation, NAT Router, Microsoft Windows Firewall

Discussion threads 2008-07-11

Microsoft Office Sharepoint Server: a next generation of deeper, wider content silos?

The 'shoot out' between Microsoft Sharepoint and Lotus Connections, two juggernauts in the enterprise space, played to a packed audience at the Enterprise 2.0 conference in Boston. The two companies went head to head, squaring off with product demos. I chose to instead attend John...

Tags: Microsoft Office SharePoint Server, Collaboration, Microsoft Office, Microsoft SharePoint, Server, Enterprise 2.0, Microsoft Corp., IBM Corp., Groupware, Enterprise Software, Software, Oliver Marks

Blog posts 2008-06-22

Maybe 'lean' and not 'green' should be the rallying cry

We're being treated to all sorts of green data center management stats this month, which is handy, as I'm preparing a presentation for later this week. So, I'll take them one batch at a time. First up: Talked to some folks earlier this month about a joint survey released by...

Tags: Data Center, Energy Consumption, Data Centers, Storage, Hardware, Data Management, Heather Clancy

Blog posts 2008-04-30

Could Apple be preparing the way for Mac gaming?

Could Apple be preparing the way for Mac gaming?Absolutely - NLP would rock their sales!It's about time they make the microphone an equal input device in lieu of previous weaker attempts with macs. In addition, as a developer I'm looking forward to their high-quality, or familiar voices, toolkit to...

Tags: Games, Desktops, game, Apple Inc., Apple Macintosh, Mac Gaming

Discussion threads 2008-04-29

XP SP3 performance gains - Nothing to write home about

XP SP3 performance gains - Nothing to write home aboutYou took the words right outta my mouth......er, off of my keyboard. I half expected the same thing. But Microsloth did themselves one better. They can still "claim" a performance gain, but they never claimed how much. ...

Tags: Performance management, Nothing, XP SP3, Microsoft Windows XP, XP SP3 performance, performance, Microsoft Windows Vista

Discussion threads 2008-04-25

Mozilla blasts Acid3 as Safari and Opera grab the brass ring

Mozilla blasts Acid3 as Safari and Opera grab the brass ringHixie and Web Standards...I could care less about Hixie's Acid2/3, even if I'm not a web developer... As long as it works, it works! If the web standards ain't broke, don't fix or improve it...Ed, ever the cynic....Did you consider...

Tags: Web browsers, Mozilla Corp., Acid3, Mozilla Firefox, Opera Software, Apple Safari

Discussion threads 2008-03-27

XP SP3's due date is now anyone's guess

XP SP3's due date is now anyone's guessCan You Guys Get ANY Date Right?Get with the program!!!!Great BlogSummary:I thought I knew the Sp3 date, but now it's clear that MS will not release on schedule. It's so terrible that I know nothing of importance about the new schedule; MS isn't...

Tags: Microsoft Windows XP, XP SP3, SP3, Microsoft Corp., Microsoft Windows Vista

Discussion threads 2008-03-24

AMD: Barcelona OEM systems on track for April

AMD said Wednesday that its Barcelona chips are on track to be available for purchase in April. Kevin Knox, vice president of AMD's commercial business, said in an interview at CNET's New York office that the chipmaker is set to ship Barcelona B3 parts to OEMs by...

Tags: Barcelona, Advanced Micro Devices Inc., Semiconductors, Network Technology, Hardware, Networking, Larry Dignan

Blog posts 2008-03-05

Steelie Neelie slaps Microsoft with record fine

When Neelie Kroes burst on the scene as EU Commissioner for Competition with a hefty swipe at Microsoft back in 2004, my thoughts at the time were something like: 'Out of touch, doesn't get the issues.' Four years on and her agenda is unequivocal. Drag Microsoft into line - whatever...

Tags: Microsoft Corp., Steelie Neelie, Sales Strategy, Corporate Law, Sales Force Management, Security, Open Source, Sales, Business Operations, Dennis Howlett

Blog posts 2008-02-27

Microsoft on open APIs: New tune or blowing more smoke?

It's a radical departure, this news from Microsoft that openness between its products and the rest of the universe is more than a hollow platitude. To take Microsoft at its Word, given this release, is to open an era of an entirely new Microsoft. But is it? ...

Tags: Yahoo! Inc., API, Microsoft Corp., Open Source, Dana Gardner

Blog posts 2008-02-21

Apple's cookie monster: Safari CRS

Apple's cookie monster: Safari CRSGood ideas are squashed by the big boysA few years ago there was a great company called Mirra. I heard people rave about Mirra backup systems. Then one day Seagate snatched them up. They were quickly buried into the corporate depths and never seen again. Seagate...

Tags: Microsoft Windows Vista (Longhorn), Operating systems, Backups, Seagate Technology LLC, cookie, Apple Safari, Apple Mac OS X, Apple Inc., Microsoft Corp., Microsoft Windows Vista, MICROSOFT HAS, operating system

Discussion threads 2008-02-21

A thought about Utility Computing

A thought about Utility ComputingThe Hitchhiker's Guide to the Data Center.Nicholas Carr is Earth's answer to Oolon Colluphid. Everywhere he looks, IT is dying. I expect him to release his new book, "Well, That About Wraps It Up For IT" any day now.Of course, centralized processing is not the entire...

Tags: Hitchhiker, IT IS, utility computing, information technology

Discussion threads 2008-02-06

Report: Verizon Wireless to support Google's Android

Those winds of change at Verizon Wireless are swirling. Just a few days after opening up its network, Verizon Wireless is planning on supporting Google's Android platform. BusinessWeek quotes Verizon Wireless CEO Lowell McAdam saying that the case for Android is pretty good. "We're planning on using...

Tags: Google Inc., BusinessWeek, Verizon Wireless, Android, Cellular Phones, Wi-Fi, Wireless, Consumer Electronics, Personal Technology, Larry Dignan

Blog posts 2007-12-04

Seven reasons why using the Internet from your hotel can be a pain in the ...

Seven reasons why using the Internet from your hotel can be a pain in the ...You want a wide-open lobby PC?No hotel lobby PC should allow access to the Run command on the XP Start menu - that's just asking for trouble. Lock it down - they should run the...

Tags: Wireless LANs, WIRELESS, Internet, Wi-Fi

Discussion threads 2007-11-19

BriefingsDirect SOA Insights analysts examine 'Microsoft-Oriented Architecture' and evaluate SOA's role in 'Green IT'

Read a full transcript. The latest BriefingsDirect SOA Insights Edition, Vol. 27, provides a roundtable discussion and dissection of Services Oriented Architecture SOA-related news and events with a panel of IT analysts and experts. Please join noted IT industry analysts and experts Jim Kobielus,...

Tags: Green IT, SOA, Microsoft Corp., Modeling, Green, Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA), Web Services, Middleware, Enterprise Software, Software, Dana Gardner

Blog posts 2007-11-14

New Yorkers rally to help online Romeo

New Yorkers rally to help online RomeoWhat adead beat!Just as long as it has a benign to happy endingotherwise, I'm a cynic and this is worrisome on some levels.

Tags: Romeo, New Yorkers

Discussion threads 2007-11-09

Rating Al Gore's tech cred

Rating Al Gore's tech credAgendasFirst of all there are many scientists who link global temperature fluctuations to a documented cyclical increase in solar activity.The theory of 'human-caused catastrophic climate change' is first and foremost a tool for implementing global socialism. Lot's of people including you through your implications like to...

Tags: Al Gore, global warming, climate change

Discussion threads 2007-11-02

Oracle users enjoy open source benefits but shy away from databases -- for now

An early Texas settler claimed that the Rio Grande was "a mile wide and a foot deep." A recent survey among Oracle database users seems to offer the same sentiment about the prevalence of open source in the enterprise. ...

Tags: Database, Oracle Corp., Benefit, Open-source Database, Open Source, Dana Gardner

Blog posts 2007-10-24

Is it time to give Red Hat some respect?

Red Hat is the Rodney Dangerfield of open source. (To which the cynic responds, "yeah, it's dead." It don't get no respect. We talk here a lot about Microsoft and Novell, about Sun and IBM. Red Hat just keeps plugging away. Red Hat reported...

Tags: Red Hat Inc., Open Source, Dana Blankenhorn

Blog posts 2007-10-04