microsoft

I mentioned that I feel bad for Bill Hilf, Microsoft's open-source point man. I actually feel really bad for him. He has to clean up after Steve Ballmer, the proverbial bull in a china shop. Ballmer likely has many redeeming qualities. Accuracy and discretion are not among them, as he showed last week in his comments about Red Hat.

Now, Microsoft is scrambling to come up with a viable explanation for his boneheaded comments. They're failing:… Read more

With a rumored $399 40GB Playstation 3 on the way, a cheaper device hitting shelves in Japan and UK, and announcements of an all-out price blitz this holiday season, is Sony really as desperate as it looks?

By just looking at news from the last week, it's quite easy to see that Sony is grasping at anything that will make the PS3 stick. Whether it's a new color, a cheaper price, or a rumbling controller, the company is hoping we will like something that make us spend our hard-earned money. I can't blame Sony for trying--the PS3 is hands-down, the most important device Sony is selling right now. Not only is it the harbinger of Blu-ray, it represents one of the most economically stable divisions of the company over the past decade.

But once again, Sony has it all wrong. The company is a victim of its own self-image and there is no stopping it with the current management in place. Simply put, Sony sees itself as a hardware company and in this business, that's the last thing you want to do.… Read more

Once upon a time, Microsoft sold software. Lots of it. It did this by making complex technology relatively easy to use, at an affordable price.

Somewhere along the way, however, Microsoft decided that good products were not good enough to goose sales, and so it turned to threatening legal action against open source. In the background, however, the far more potent Microsoft threats have been aimed at its own users, as Computerworld describes.

In short, you're damned for using alternatives to Microsoft technology. But you may be even more damned for using Microsoft's products.… Read more

Microsoft today released its October 2007 security bulletin, which includes six updates: four are designated as Critical by the software giant; two are deemed Important, and one previously announced patch was dropped. On the Windows side there is a cumulative update for Internet Explorer, a patch for Outlook/Windows Mail, and one for an RPC vulnerability. On the Microsoft Office side, there is a patch for SharePoint Server and one critical patch for Microsoft Office Word, including Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac. And one patch for the Kodak Image Viewer. All Microsoft security patches for Windows and Office software are … Read more

Update: I added more detail about Microsoft's schedule for SQL Server 2005 support for PHP and about the use of PHP on Windows vs. Linux.

BURLINGAME, Calif.--Microsoft may make a habit of attacking open-source programming, but don't make the mistake of assuming the company has a monolithic loathing for the collaborative programming movement.

On Tuesday, Microsoft revealed some fruits of a partnership that that was announced a year ago with Zend, which develops and commercializes the open-source PHP scripting language for creating dynamic Web pages. Bill Staples, a Microsoft product unit manager, announced four moves at … Read more

I feel for Bill Hilf. I really do. I like him immensely - he's a good, decent person. He's someone with whom I like to talk. He's intelligent, rational, and has a sense of humor.

He's going to need every one of those qualities as he takes on his added responsibility of Windows Server Marketing. Granted, Bill has already been at the forefront of Microsoft's marketing efforts if you define marketing as "PR."

But he's also had the chance to play 'good guy' to Ballmer's inane commentary on open source. That'… Read more

If Zune owners are having problems making friends, perhaps they need to take more aggressive action--such as getting in their cars to find each other.

To that end, the "Car Pack FM Transmitter" will help make the new Zune more mobile while automatically choosing the clearest channel to use for playing your music on the car stereo. Gadgetell says it will also charge the media player at the same time while gripping the dashboard with so it won't go flying out the window.

Crave disclaimer: We offer no guarantee that your social life will improve significantly as … Read more

Microsoft has removed its Windows Genuine Advantage authentication system from the installation process for Internet Explorer 7.

For the average user, this means a quicker installation time. CNET News.com is reporting that Microsoft's decision was because of enhanced security fixes that replace the need for the WGA. However, some have speculated that Redmond's reasoning may have less to do with consumer protection and more with program distribution: Mozilla's Firefox 2 has eaten somewhere between 10 and 20 percent of the browser market, depending on whose metrics you believe, and that has Microsoft's bigwigs deeply concerned. … Read more