Drunk On Licensing Fees And Patents, Microsoft Has Become A Joke

"Microsoft grew to where it is today because computer makers licensed Windows and Office. But as we dive into the mobile age, that model is not only broken, it has been destroyed. Google is licensing Android — but they’re doing it for free. It’s exactly why they were so easily able to kill off Windows Mobile."

http://techcrunch.com/2011/03/21/this-title-is-patented-pay-me/

WorldWide Telescope brings stargazing online

"The WorldWide Telescope (WWT) is a Web 2.0 visualization software  environment that enables your computer to function as a virtual telescope--bringing together imagery from the world's best ground- and space-based telescopes for the exploration of the universe."

http://www.techrepublic.com/photos/worldwide-telescope-brings-stargazing-online/6192247

Microsoft Fails the Standards Test

"If Microsoft ship Office 2010 to handle only the Transitional variant of ISO/IEC 29500 they should expect to be roundly condemned for breaking faith with the International Standards community. This is not the format “approved by ISO/IEC”, it is the format that was rejected."

"In short, we find ourselves at a crossroads, and it seems to me that without a change of direction the entire OOXML project is now surely heading for failure."

Read more: http://www.adjb.net/post/Microsoft-Fails-the-Standards-Test.aspx#ixzz10rImBMKl

The Dead Microsoft Sketch

"Fast forward fifteen years, and there is a growing feeling, not just that Microsoft is past its prime - as I've indicated, I think that's been the case for all that time - but actually doomed. Not in the sense that is about to go bankrupt, or disappear in the short term - both of which are clearly ludicrous - but simply that its fate is now sealed: for all its massive desktop market share, and enormous cash reserves, it is a spent force, unable to seize the initiative in any of the sectors that matter - online or mobile, for example."

http://blogs.computerworlduk.com/open-enterprise/2010/08/the-dead-microsoft-sketch/index.htm

Microsoft’s Creative Destruction

"Microsoft’s huge profits — $6.7 billion for the past quarter — come almost entirely from Windows and Office programs first developed decades ago. Like G.M. with its trucks and S.U.V.’s, Microsoft can’t count on these venerable products to sustain it forever."

[...]
 
"As a result, while the company has had a truly amazing past and an enviably prosperous present, unless it regains its creative spark, it’s an open question whether it has much of a future."

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/04/opinion/04brass.html

Lords baffled by new-fangled Office 2007

"Members of the House of Lords are having trouble opening Word 2007 documents - because they are "incompatible" with their current Office software.

The House of Lords Information Committee's annual report claims that the peers are having problems opening documents sent by colleagues in the civil service, who are running on Office 2007."

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/239751/lords-baffled-by-newfangled-office-2007.html

Project Liberate - Reducing your Software expenditures by Software License Optimization

"For the past several years, IBM's Project Liberate team has been engaged in helping mid-size and large customers to understand their alternatives with respect to Microsoft Enterprise Agreements, and, in most cases, guiding them to save money.

A Project Liberate Consultant helps customers understand these Agreements, and shows them alternative strategies to purchase their Microsoft licenses that often result in lower costs than are available via the Enterprise Agreement. Customers benefit by learning to buy what they need versus buying into a bundling of products that they may not fully utilize. In the process, customers have "liberated" budget dollars to fund other projects or initiatives.

Customers with Microsoft Enterprise Agreements might be able to save up to 40% or more on the cost of their renewal through this "no-charge" evaluation of their current Enterprise Agreement."

http://www-01.ibm.com/software/info/reducecost/license_optimization.html

"The Project "Liberate" team recently put together a white paper with case studies from real-world customer engagements. This ten-page paper can help you save significantly, just at a time when such savings are more and more the focus for businesses. I went ahead and posted the paper on my Slideshare:"

http://www.edbrill.com/ebrill/edbrill.nsf/dx/project-liberate-for-cios-reducing-licensing-costs-paper

Midori OS: Microsoft Sees End of Windows Era

 

"Microsoft has kicked off a research project to create software that will take over when it retires Windows. Called Midori, the cut-down operating system is radically different to Microsoft's older programs. It is centred on the internet and does away with the dependencies that tie Windows to a single PC. It is seen as Microsoft's answer to rivals' use of "virtualisation" as a way to solve many of the problems of modern-day computing"

http://www.cyberciti.biz/tips/midori-operating-system.html

http://www.appscout.com/2008/08/midori_the_death_of_windows.php 

http://technologizer.com/2008/07/31/microsofts-post-windows-midori-it-must-exist/ 

http://bink.nu/news/microsoft-s-plans-for-post-windows-os-revealed-minori-details-leaked.aspx

An Open Letter to Windows Vista

"We haven’t talked, but I’ve been watching you from afar and feeling your pain as you’ve dealt with more than your fair share of challenges. Eighteen months after your debut, you simply don’t have an aura of success about you. Worse, your aging predecessor, Windows XP, has unexpectedly gained armies of devotees who refuse to give it up. It’s a pretty sad state of affairs–your original marketing tagline may have been “The Wow Starts Now,” but many people remain steadfastly unwowed."


http://technologizer.com/2008/08/06/an-open-letter-to-windows-vista/

Microsoft looks to 'Mojave' to revive Vista's image

"Spurred by an e-mail from someone deep in the marketing ranks, Microsoft last week traveled to San Francisco, rounding up Windows XP users who had negative impressions of Vista. The subjects were put on video, asked about their Vista impressions, and then shown a "new" operating system, code-named Mojave. More than 90 percent gave positive feedback on what they saw. Then they were told that "Mojave" was actually Windows Vista. "

"The Mojave project is likely to be just one of many efforts designed to resuscitate Vista's image as well as lend strength to the Windows platform among stepped-up competition from Apple and Google. In an interview Wednesday, Windows unit business chief Bill Veghte told CNET News that he wants to see his unit try new things to get the message across.

"We have a huge perception opportunity," he said, offering a glass half-full assessment of things. "We are going to try a bunch of stuff.""


http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-9998336-56.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20

also


http://www.appscout.com/2008/07/vista_microsoft_tricks_people.php


http://community.zdnet.co.uk/blog/0,1000000567,10008956o-2000331777b,00.htm


http://technologizer.com/2008/07/29/microsofts-mojave-experiment-fooled-ya-pc-users/

"Microsoft has managed to prove that if you have a friendly expert on a controlled machine (with Vista pre-installed) showing a carefully selected subset of Vista features to an ignorant XP user for a few minutes, the XP user will often say he finds Vista acceptable. Wow."


http://wilshipley.com/blog/2008/07/mojave-experiment-bad-science-bad.html

Microsoft’s Vista Mea-Sorta-Culpa

"In short, it’s 18 months into Vista’s lifetime and the company is pretty much scrambling to convince the world that its flagship product doesn’t suck as much as its reputation would suggest. It’s hard to imagine that any ad campaign will be enough to turn Vista from a disappointment with a murky reputation into a beloved hit."



http://technologizer.com/2008/07/22/microsofts-vista-mea-sorta-culpa/



"The first move in this bold (and expensive) ad campaign? Comparing those who bash Vista to archaic notions that the earth is flat. Clearly the lukewarm (at best) reception to the operating system is some form of mass hysteria. "



http://www.appscout.com/2008/07/micrsofts_shiny_new_vista_camp.php



"The idea of the medieval flat-earther is entirely a 19th century concoction, a combination of anti-clerical propaganda and popular fiction. Microsoft's advert – set sail for the new world, bravely ignoring everyone else's ignorance – perpetuates that myth. It's setting the scene for the entire campaign – one designed to make Microsoft seem up-to-the-minute, trustworthy and effective – by peddling an outdated chunk of propagandistic fiction."



http://community.zdnet.co.uk/blog/0,1000000567,10008810o-2000331777b,00.htm

XP is dead; long live XP

"Monday is the last day on which Windows XP will be sold as a boxed product or licensed to PC manufacturers.

However, 30 June is not the end of the road for the venerable operating system, which was introduced back in 2001. Although Microsoft is keen for users to switch to XP's successor, Windows Vista, that operating system has not been the success that was hoped for by Redmond.

XP will, therefore, continue to be made available in certain circuitous ways. Here is the sequence of events that led to the dilution of Microsoft's XP-killing strategy."

http://news.zdnet.co.uk/software/0,1000000121,39440953,00.htm

10 Things You Need to Know About the End of Windows XP

"... Microsoft will supply patches (mostly for security) until 2014 and offer per-call support (once you're past your two-free-call limit--and not counting unlimited installation support) for $59 a call, also until 2014. ..."





http://www.appscout.com/2008/06/10_things_you_need_to_know_abo.php

Windows Could Use a Rush of Fresh Air

"The best solution to the multiple woes of Windows is starting over. Completely. Now."



http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/29/technology/29digi.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&ref=technology&adxnnlx=1214914239-B7JhvKvHUr7RHaDr7wHctw



http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/06/29/2342215&from=rss

Vista: DOA in the Enterprise

"The year-to-year, or wave-to-wave, surveys are yet another dismal pronouncement on the state of Vista adoption among businesses. The numbers are grim, and there's not much spin I could put on them, even if I were so inclined. I'm not."

http://www.microsoft-watch.com/content/vista/vista_doa_in_the_enterprise.html?kc=MWRSS02129TX1K0000535

How "Ignorant of Standards" was Microsoft Really?

"Thus it would seem that in open standards, as in open source, Microsoft will need to adopt a strategy that involves being a more savvy and collaboratively effective player in the overall ecosystem, rather than trying to maintain the hegemony of its historical, proprietary environment through efforts to promote defensive standards across the industry, at least in the face of determined opposition."

http://www.consortiuminfo.org/standardsblog/article.php?story=20080626092009868

Microsoft Pledges Windows XP Support Through 2014

"In an unprecedented move, Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) has committed to providing support services for its soon to be retired Windows XP through 2014 -- a full 13 years after the operating system was originally released.

In a letter sent to customers this week, Microsoft senior VP Bill Veghte said the software maker will provide security patches "and other critical updates" for Windows XP until April, 2014.

"Our ongoing support for Windows XP is the result of our recognition that people keep their Windows-based PCs for many years," Veghte wrote. "

http://www.informationweek.com/news/windows/operatingsystems/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=208800494

Microsoft denies XP a last-minute reprieve

"June 24, 2008 (Computerworld) Microsoft Corp. yesterday laid to rest rumors that it might reconsider pulling Windows XP from retail shelves and from most PC makers next Monday.

In a letter to customers, Bill Veghte, the senior vice president who leads Microsoft's online and Windows business groups, reiterated that June 30 would be the deadline when Microsoft halts shipments of boxed copies to retailers and stops licensing the operating system directly to major computer manufacturers, or OEMs (original equipment manufacturers). "

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9102879

Microsoft: 'ODF Has Clearly Won'

"ODF has clearly won. We sell software for a living. The ability to implement ODF in the middle of our ship cycle was just not possible. We couldn't do that during the release of Office 2007. We're looking forward and committed to doing more than [ODF-to-OOXML] translators."

http://www.osnews.com/story/19893/Microsoft:_ODF_Has_Clearly_Won

Vista 'really good, really' says MS. 'Like we care?' says world

"The trouble is, Vista is sunk. The dog is dead. It doesn't actually matter now whether everything Microsoft says about today's Vista is true or not, because Windows 7 is coming tomorrow. And it doesn't matter what Microsoft says about Windows 7 - if it really is basically Vista but better, then why buy Vista now when a better version is on its way? And if it's not really very Vista at all, then why buy Vista now and risk running an orphan OS? You can finesse those arguments any way you like, but since the days of Adam Osborne one of the rules of the game is that announcing a new version of anything sends out the funeral notice for the old."

http://community.zdnet.co.uk/blog/0,1000000567,10008660o-2000331777b,00.htm