Week in review: Try to read Microsoft's hips

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Yahoo lost its lead in the search market to the younger Google in recent years and watched as Google turned search advertising into a cash cow. Yahoo has only a 27 percent share of the search market share compared with Google's nearly 50 percent. Yahoo's stock has dropped about 10 percent from a year ago, while Google's has jumped about 30 percent.

Yang, who ran the company when it was small but lacks Semel's management expertise and business sense, is seen by many as the right person for the top job.

But the move likely will work only with Yahoo's newly named president, Sue Decker, at Yang's side. And some speculate that Yang's only filling the spot until Decker is ready to take the reins.

Still, Yang isn't seen by the staff as a savior. He's more of a behind-the-scenes kind of guy. For that reason, some current and former Yahoo employees also believe that Yang will act as CEO on an interim basis until the company gets back on track or until Decker is ready to take over.

In the aftermath of the executive shakeup, a big question remains: will the board of directors that recently gave Semel a $71 million yearly compensation package answer for its mistakes as well?

A number of influential organizations, such as the advisers at Institutional Shareholders Services (ISS), think a boardroom shakeup isn't such a bad idea. ISS had taken Yahoo's board to task for the last two years for Semel's compensation package, asking that it be tied more closely to the company's performance. But the board argued that the package (Semel has reportedly earned $450 million in six years at Yahoo) was justified in order to retain his talent.

You go, green
A raft of subsidies and other incentives is making Ontario a hot spot for solar-panel manufacturers and others in alternative energy. This week, the province's government announced a $610 million fund to develop a green technology industry and attract car manufacturers and solar-panel makers. Municipalities will also be able to dip into a separate $206 million fund for retrofitting buildings.

Additionally, the province has unfurled programs that eliminate sales tax on Energy Star-rated lightbulbs and appliances for a year, offer homeowners up to about $4,700 to install energy-efficient appliances, and set a goal of 100,000 homes going solar. A pilot program will also extend zero-interest loans to homeowners who install renewable energy systems. These build on other programs designed to increase demand for solar power.

But solar energy isn't the only renewable resource: there's also garbage. A company called AgriPower will begin production next year on a movable power generator fueled by a wide range of waste products, from walnut shells to discarded tires.

AgriPower's combined heat and power system was originally envisioned for developing countries that could burn agricultural waste to make electricity and heat. The multiple-piece unit includes a large feed hopper that holds five tons of material, and a high-temperature incinerator that vaporizes biomass as it comes in. The resulting heat can be used to turn a turbine to make 300 kilowatts of electricity.

In the market to buy a green house? Not necessarily green in color, but green in terms of energy-efficient features, recycled construction materials and healthy indoor air? Several companies are creating subdivisions out of modular homes built in factories. Mainstream developers have begun to integrate solar panels in the construction process; the solar panels, salesmen report, are something of a status symbol. You can even get a green luxury condo in Dubai.

The demand for green homes and green amenities is growing. Green buildings make up 2 percent of all U.S. construction, according to McGraw-Hill, which predicts that 5 to 10 percent of newly built housing by 2010 will offer several green features. That would bring today's $7.2 billion green residential market up to $38 billion in just a few years.

Also of note
The U.S. Supreme Court threw out antitrust complaints related to companies that went public during the boom in the late 1990s...In response to reports of persistent cybersecurity flaws at the Department of Homeland Security, a top congressional Democrat questioned whether the agency's chief information officer deserves to keep his job...Apple's Safari may not be rewriting the rules for Web browsing on Windows just yet, but it's leading the way with one significant change: photographs with richer color.

[AndreaFerro]

avoiding piracy? may actually make it worse!

The idea that MS could have not allowed VM installation because
someone may decide to buy only one licence and run it on
multiple macs is broken, IMO.

In fact, as your licence currently does not let you run even a
single copy in a VM, there's now no point in buying the OS at
all.

And if you ARE running it in a VM, there's no point in paying to
become legal as it'll just not happen.

Besides ... why Vista in a VM on a Mac? If you are there you are
using OsX for most things and Windows only for some legacy
stuff or for testing/development (as in IE testing of your site).
In that case you have no reason to buy Vista: just go buy XP.

[Fil0403]

Idea is broken? May actually not be at all!

The idea that MS could have not allowed VM installation because someone may decide to buy only one licence and run it on multiple Macs is very valid, in any unbiased person's opinion. In fact, you say my license currently does not let me run even a single copy in a VM? Maybe next time you should research before you speak, because Home Premium and Ultimate (for instance) let you run a copy in a VM. So, if you ARE running it in a VM (I thought you said that's impossible?), there's a point in paying to become legal as it can happen. Either way: why Vista in a VM on a Mac? Simple: because, as what happens with any Windows, sooner or later XP won't be supported anymore and some software will only run in Vista. Yeah, if you are "there" you are "only" using Windows to play all your games and half of your software (following your logic, 90+% of the world uses Windows just for legacy stuff and 85+% uses IE just for testing their sites, which is very realistic, I should say). In any case, you have all reasons to buy Vista: go buy XP and then complain you have to go buy Vista too anyway because half of your (tomorrow) software and hardware doesn't work in XP.

[shadowself]

Not security

It's not about security. It's about making money.

Is Microsoft now saying that Vista has security problems? I don't think so.

It's about making people buy the more expensive versions of Vista. Any individual, SOHO or small business that wanted to use the less expensive options under virtualization now cannot legally do so. They must buy the more expensive versions.

It's just another extortion method so common from Redmond.

[FutureGuy]

Why would a...

...SOHO need to run Vista desktop OS under virtualization unless one wants to run it on a Mac, for someone running a Mac, MS is not too keen to have them run Vista on Mac if one really wants it pay for it, after all they already paid a boat load to get a Mac.

[arluthier]

OSX VM'd?

Pardon my ingornance about the subject but... can OSX be virtualized on a Vista install running on non-Apple hardware?

I tinkered with a *cough* "tester" *cough* a while back that was OSX inside VMware on XP. And it was buggy and slow as all get out. Enough so that if I didn't know better I would say OSX was garbage. But I know that it was the VM setup that made it apear this way. But this might be part of M$ thought process.

If Vista would not run well on the VM then why allow it, just to make themselves look bad?

Personally I would like to be able to run OS X in my VM on XP or Vista... (if it would run efficently) but we ALL know APPLE wouldn't allow it. So why the hell is everyone whining about MS not allowing it? Come on... the OSX license comes right out and say you can't run it on anything other than apple branded hardware.

[ethana2]

Yes.

And I'm not giving Apple a cent as long as it does.
Then again, I'm not dishing out any of my money to Microsoft, either- I'm a Linux guy, but...

I almost don't care anymore. "Oh hey, proprietary software is overly limiting." NO REALLY. What else is new?

[Hoser McMoose]

Read Microsoft's hips?

I guess we all know that Microsoft's hips don't lie! :)

Ohh, looks like they've already corrected the headline! Geez, come on C-Net! That was a fun typo, you coulda left it in for a little longer!

[BlackieBernard]

Virtual machines

Being an old guy, I guess that I'm confused. I remember the Burroughs 5500 and 360/67, both virtual machines. They were great. I have often wondered why this old idea didn't survive in pc-s. Clearly the only reasons are laziness on the part of designers, and greed on the part of the machine companies.

[Albertv]

Microsoft's hips?

Enough Microsoft!

I have gone back to XP and W2K. There are enough virus, malware and firewall apps out there to make W2k secure, behind a good router. Budgeting to upgrade equipment to Apple hardware and software.

[Xenu7-214951314497503184010868]

Macs getting too popular

"Security" is just a pretext for forcing Mac users to pay more and prevent more switchers. If they're not using "security" as a pretext, Microsoft is admitting that Home versions are less secure than pricier versions-- not a good sign. So which is it? Market share or poor security? Makes me want to go out and purchase lots of Microsoft products. Not.

[jburkega]

WTFO

So tell me again how many computers MS sells or manufactures. " If
you are really serious about software you should build your own
hardware" someone said. Nuff said.

[Fil0403]

WTFO?

So tell me again what is Apple's OS market share. If your product is the best in your market, it will sell the most, I say. 'Nuff said.

[Fil0403]

I thought Windows/Vista sucked?

Yet all news of this kind seem to **** and worry many Apple fanboys. Science case study: it sucks, yet everybody needs and wants it.

[Fil0403]

Apple Safari

When the browser has 3 security vulnerabilities disclosed in the first 3 hours of beta availability, it's certainly not the fact that pages load 0.01 ms faster without Phishing Filter and pictures have 263 million colors instead of 262 million that will make me (and much probably the other 85+% of people with computers who use IE) switch to buggy and unsecure Apple Safari.

[phobet]

Forced "Upgrade" == Greed

I think the subject says it all. Micro$oft probably considered how they can divert the river of virtualization, reep (sp?) the monetary benefits, with the minimum of effort on their part.

Sorta like how the newest games published by them "require" Windows Vista, for no technical reason I can fathom...

Micro$oft: If Vista can't make it on its own merits, why bother?