Microsoft

Apache has always been thought of as untouchable. Long before Linux and other open-source software made inroads on Microsoft's turf, Apache's web server project lobotomized Microsoft's market share (in the web server market).

Today, it appears that some cracks have appeared in Apache's defense, according to this Netcraft survey of 127 million sites:… Read more

Enthusiasts of Microsoft 's Live Labs project Photosynth get a new environment to explore this morning. In addition to art galleries, town squares, and various buildings in Britain, users can now explore shuttle Endeavour before its launch on Wednesday. For those unfamiliar with Photosynth, it's a new technology that groups together a collection of photos taken in the same location into a 3D environment. Users can zoom in and out of various parts to take advantage of higher resolution shots that show more detail, while getting an idea of where they are spatially. In the case of the space … Read more

Circumstantial evidence (tip o' the antlers to Jim Thompson).

It's pretty thin, but there's a little something there to chew on.

Of course, it's probably the part about Lyons having railed against anonymous blogging that rankles the horned one!

Macworld editor Philip Michaels has a piece up about the implications of Microsoft's delay of the first universal version of Office for the Mac and wonders if it isn't bad news for Microsoft rather than for Mac users.

In fact, other than for the symbolic purpose of having such a major suite of applications run universally on all Macs, I don?t recall hearing much of a popular demand for an Intel-native Office.

And if I were Microsoft, that would worry me a bit. Sure, it?s never pleasant to get grief from your customers about a product … Read more

Mac users must wait until next year for fresh versions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint: Microsoft has moved its intended launch of Office for Mac 2008 to January from the second half of this year.

"We had hoped to hit the Christmas selling season, but now we hope to target Macworld" in January, said Craig Eisler, who became general manager of the Mac business unit at Microsoft six weeks ago. "We, as a group, were not satisfied with product quality."

Details about any software development snags, as well as final pricing, were unavailable. Office for Mac … Read more

In the open source world, you never know who will be certifying you next. Dries Buytaert (Founder and project lead of Drupal) and I were chatting today and he pointed me to this. Microsoft and Spikesource are both certifying Drupal on their platforms.

In true open source fashion, they didn't bother to tell him. The news did.… Read more

Coca-Cola and Microsoft are the two top global brands, according to an annual ranking by BusinessWeek and branding company Interbrand. Coca-Cola has kept the No. 1 spot and Microsoft has stayed No. 2 for the last seven years.

IBM, GE and Nokia made it into the top 5. Google is climbing and has reached the 20th position; the search giant has raised its brand value 44 percent compared with last year and 45 percent since 2005, breaking into the top 20 in just two years.

The ranking, called Best Global Brands 2007, compiles a list of 100 companies worldwide, a … Read more

Microsoft clearly has serious problems with its development and distribution methodologies. Problems that open source could help. Problems that far too many entrenched interests within the company would kill before they could be given a fair chance.

That's the lesson I take from yesterday's Wall Street Journal profile of Craig Mundie. The man puts in over 200,000 miles on planes every year, desperately trying to help the company become less like itself, and more like open source software communities. Mundie describes Microsoft and his job within it thus:… Read more

Speaking in front of a group of financial analysts Thursday, Steve Ballmer, Chief Executive of Microsoft, explained that his company needs to stay focused on moving away from the desktop and focus on Web services and consumer devices. But what Ballmer did not come out and finally admit is the very products keeping Microsoft afloat are quickly becoming its albatross.

Windows and Office are the sole reasons why Microsoft has enjoyed such success over the past decade. Without Windows, the company could not have moved into all of the markets it currently maintains products in. Without Office, the company would … Read more