Archive for the 'Windows' Category
Sunday, March 30th, 2008
Microsoft Windows 7 going to look a lot like Linux?
It seems like Sun and Microsoft, for all their anti-Linux crusading are both sending strong signals that their OS’s will in the future look a lot more like Linux…
“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”
Wednesday, March 12th, 2008
The SFLC publishes an analysis of Microsoft’s Open Specification Promise
The analysis document can be downloaded here: http://www.softwarefreedom.org/resources/2008/osp-gpl.html
Nonprofit Group Says Microsoft Promise Provides No Assurance for Developers
The Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC), provider of pro-bono legal services to protect and advance free and open source software, today published a paper that considers the legal implications of Microsoft’s Open Specification Promise (OSP) and explains why it should not be relied upon by developers concerned about patent risk.
Now this Microsoft response is just ridiculous:
“Because the General Public License (GPL) is not universally interpreted the same way by everyone, we can’t give anyone a legal opinion about how our language relates to the GPL or other OSS licenses, but based on feedback from the open source community we believe that a broad audience of developers can implement the specification(s).”
Monday, March 10th, 2008
NVIDIA Quadro Driver runs fastest on… Linux? What, not Windows??
It’s true, the NVIDIA graphics driver for Linux appears to best Windows and Solaris – and by a wide margin. I think the “Linux support” issue can be somewhat put to bed finally – except for ease of updating with kernel revs… now that is usually a pain still. I am somewhat amazed at how strongly Windows secured a last place finish… I wonder how much is due to the driver and how much to the OS…
By the way, if you’re wondering how a company got away with comparing performance with Solaris (which is not allowed per the Solaris license), you should note that they used the Solaris Express Developer Edition which I can only assume does not have the clause preventing non-Sun licensed parties from publishing Solaris performance results (I have not read that license myself, but am guessing Phoronix did – or they secured permission from Sun…).
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=nvidia_workstation_perf&num=1
Thursday, March 6th, 2008
Windows Live SkyDrive is actually very awesome
I really like Microsoft’s Windows Live SkyDrive service. It gives you 5GB of online storage similar to Novell’s iFolder. The service requires a Windows Live account, but once you have one it’s painless to setup/use. You can also control access with Personal, Shared and Public folders. It’s very easy and simple which is a good thing. Try it out:
Wednesday, February 27th, 2008
Microsoft gets slapped by the EU for another record fine – will it really help??
Perhaps Microsoft’s recent, lame “open” announcements were prompted by an impending $1.3B fine… does anyone really think this will stop Microsoft? It’s just a tax and you know who will bear the cost (yes, those using Microsoft’s products, or Microsoft’s investors). I think a better solution would have been to look at what market structure would be necessary to facilitate the behavior that is needed. I think when it comes to Microsoft and its constant run-ins with antitrust regulators it is evident fines are not working. The industry needs regulators to step in with an effective structural change.
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2008/02/27/ap4702025.html?partner=alerts
BRUSSELS, Belgium – The European Union fined Microsoft Corp. a record euro899 million (US$1.3 billion) on Wednesday for charging rivals too much for software information.
EU regulators said the company charged “unreasonable prices” until last October to software developers who wanted to make products compatible with the Windows desktop operating system.
Monday, February 18th, 2008
Windows XP SP2 vs Vista SP1: Guess which one wins?
I “heard” Vista SP1 was supposed to be faster, and now I just saw that ZDNet put the claim to the test. It’s not clear from these results that Vista SP1 is any faster than XP SP2… in fact Vista won only 2 out of 15 benchmark tests which signals to me that it’s probably slower. Why should users upgrade again?
http://blogs.zdnet.com/hardware/?p=1332&page=4
Saturday, January 26th, 2008
Coverage on IBM’s Open Collaboration Client Solution with Ubuntu
Saw a few articles today on IBM’s OCCS announcement with Ubuntu.
Satyadas said IBM thinks that this year, it will happen. “All the stars are lining up,” he said. “Everybody has been saying that since 2001 except IBM. We never said that, but we are saying that now.”
It’s easy to overlook IBM’s announcement that its Lotus Notes and Lotus Symphony suites will run on Ubuntu. I think this would be a mistake. IBM is not a dumb company. It’s not in the habit of wasting resources. For IBM to be partnering up with Ubuntu says something about the enterprise mindset on Ubuntu.
By porting key software to Linux, IBM is looking to give businesses one less reason to buy products from rival Microsoft — which IBM said offers “a proprietary desktop model.” IBM’s Linux efforts will “further address customer demands around choice,” said Inna Kuznetsova, an IBM executive with responsibility for Linux, in a statement.
Monday, January 14th, 2008
Microsoft under EU investigation (again) for browser bundling
Could Britney Spears have relevance to Microsoft (e.g. “Oops I did it again”)? Reuters is covering a new investigation by the EC into Microsoft’s possible antitrust violations, this time for Internet Explorer.
The European Commission opened a new antitrust probe against Microsoft on Monday into whether it unfairly tied its Web browser to the Windows operating system and made it harder for rival software to work with Windows.
Sunday, January 6th, 2008
Windows Scalability Issues at Xbox Live?
Looks like Microsoft is having trouble scaling to keep up with peaks in demand…. unfortunately being an x86 only platform (I guess Itanic is an option), Windows cannot take advantage of features like capacity upgrade on demand or other UNIX/Linux/Mainframe scalability features… perhaps Microsoft could run its Xbox Live server apps on a Linux mainframe using Mono?
During this past holiday season you helped us break a number of Xbox LIVE records. This included our largest sign-up of new members to Xbox LIVE in our 5 year history and just yesterday you broke the record for the single biggest day of concurrent members ever on the service.
As a result of this massive increase in usage we know that some of you experienced intermittent Xbox LIVE issues over the holiday break. While the service was not completely offline at any given time, we are disappointed in our performance. I would like to take this moment to thank each and every one of you for your patience and understanding as our team has worked around the clock to return the service to a stable state.
Friday, January 4th, 2008
AP Interview with Red Hat’s new CEO, Jim Whitehurst
I like Jim already after reading this interview.
“We are working to democratize information,” Whitehurst said. “A lot of people don’t see the importance of that. But, ultimately, it is about information freedom and making sure information’s accessible.
“If we don’t fight those battles now, our entrenched competitors will lock up file formats, force you to use their software or force royalties,” he added. “Then the information stored in those formats will no longer be free.”
Wednesday, January 2nd, 2008
Seattle Windows glitch ruins fireworks show at Space Needle
Doh! The first thing I thought of was South Park the movie where the general has a Windows 98 computer crash and furiously yells “Get Bill Gates in here!”… nothing like rebooting Windows when the music is going off and a crowd watching … might I suggest another option next year – begins with an ‘L’?
http://www.king5.com/topstories/stories/NW_010108WAB_fireworks_glitch_SW.72e7457c.html#
Tuesday, December 18th, 2007
Latest review of Windows XP is in – it’s a winner!
If you haven’t seen this yet, it’s worth the 5 minutes to lead the latest Windows XP review. Looks like Microsoft has a winner.
Friday, November 30th, 2007
InfoWorld: “Why Microsoft Rattles The Patent Saber”
Interesting article over at InfoWorld:
Imagine you’re Microsoft and you’ve spent years struggling to get
Windows Server 2008 out the door and will be struggling afterward to add server virtualization? Then along comes Linus Torvalds and his merry band and they add KVM to the Linux kernel over the course of a few months, release a new kernel for review every 2 to 3 months, and attract thousands of developers interested in the new features. Linux had both VMware and Xen hypervisors running on it just fine. Now it’s got another one freely available inside the kernel. It must feel in Redmond like Linux steals from the rich to give to the poor.
and…
Now the Linux kernel development process, which has been under way for 16 years, represents the largest, most complicated ongoing software development project in the world, with the possible exception of Windows itself. It’s moving fast, fluidly filling niches that Microsoft in the past had staked out. It’s leading in virtualization, in virtual appliances, in mobile devices. It’s threatening Windows on a number of fronts.
Tuesday, November 27th, 2007
Two interesting datapoints on the PC / desktop; and if you’re buying a new desktop/laptop, buy one with Linux or at least buy a Mac
I noticed a couple items hit my radar this morning.
First, ZDNet’s David Meyer outlined 10 things holding back technology. I happen to agree wholeheartedly with his first item:
1. Microsoft’s stranglehold on the desktop
Windows unified the personal-computer market, and led it into the enterprise. A good thing, surely? Yes — if unity is more important than innovation, flexibility and a free market. The European Commission disagreed with that, as have courts around the world.For most people, computing means Windows, not because they choose it but because the company’s immense power in retail and business channels, together with the inertia that comes through decades of market dominance, make it a default that’s hard to change.
So why does this hold back innovation? The European Commission ruled that computer users are unnecessarily used to products like Windows Media Player — applications that are mediocre just because Microsoft has no real incentive to make them better. Monopolies are anti-competitive and therefore anti-innovation. Just look at Internet Explorer’s long stagnation.
Microsoft’s stifling influence on new ways of thinking goes beyond applications, however. As Vista so readily proves, rehashing the same idea again and again does not make for progress. For everyone’s sake, especially Microsoft itself, the company needs to learn to compete fairly again.
It would be great to see this stranglehold loosened and allow new innovators to enter the market.
The other item of interest I read was over at CNet who listed the Top 10 terrible tech products. Windows Vista made a strong showing at #10 (somehow they overlooked Windows Me):
Windows Vista
Any operating system that provokes a campaign for its predecessor’s reintroduction deserves to be classed as terrible technology. Any operating system that quietly has a downgrade-to- previous-edition option introduced for PC makers deserves to be classed as terrible technology. Any operating system that takes six years of development but is instantly hated by hordes of PC professionals and enthusiasts deserves to be classed as terrible technology.Windows Vista conforms to all of the above. Its incompatibility with hardware, its obsessive requirement of human interaction to clear security dialogue box warnings and its abusive use of hated DRM, not to mention its general pointlessness as an upgrade, are just some examples of why this expensive operating system earns the final place in our terrible tech list.
So we’re stuck in a market that lacks innovation, forces over-reliance on a single vendor and leads to poor products that do not meet the needs of the customers. And yet, the poor product still maintains a dominant market share and can charge a premium. This is a monopoly the industry must break free from in order to innovate and deliver unique value to users. Unlike some, I don’t see the market shifting to a cellular/non-PC world anytime soon. There will be some shift, but the shift will take years, and may never fully replace the laptop/desktop.
Is 2008 the year to shake up the desktop market? I think so. I must admit, even if the market shifts to Apple Mac OS I’d be fine with that. We need some change in the market and if Mac meets the needs of consumers (and I think it does), let’s at least promote choice. I happen to like Ubuntu myself (as does my wife who doesn’t know she’s using Ubuntu).
Finally, I just love this Apple ad:
Monday, November 19th, 2007
IBM Partners with Mainsoft to bring .NET apps to WebSphere Portal (and Linux)
The title says it all. I’m pleased to see the press releases have hit the wires (even though some may argue press releases are in the past). IBM customers can now purchase Mainsoft’s .NET Extensions for WebSphere Portal to start integrating their .NET based Windows applications into IBM WebSphere – which gives users the flexibility to deploy on any OS platform that WebSphere runs on (I prefer to say Linux).
I’ve worked with the team at Mainsoft for a while now and am pleased to see this relationship has moved another step closer. The ability to remove the middleware lock-in associated with the Microsoft programming model is exceptionally helpful for many users – especially those with volumes of .NET assets in their company.
If you haven’t tried out Mainsoft before, you can also use their ‘free’ tool called Grasshopper. You can download Grasshopper here: http://dev.mainsoft.com/
What the Mainsoft tools let you do is add a plug-in for Visual Studio into your IDE. You basically open up your .NET app and then publish it to a WebSphere (or other Java app server) using the usual VS.NET process. It’s really that easy. In the background, VS compiles your .NET code into intermediate .NET bytecode, then Mainsoft kicks in and translates the bytecode to Java bytecode, wraps up the code into JAR/WAR files to deploy on the server. You might think it’s “magic”, but it’s real – and customers are using it to break free from the Microsoft lock-in (some even on Mainframes – how crazy is that?).
Congratulations to Mainsoft and the IBM Portal team who have turned a successful relationship into one built for volume and scale.
Friday, November 16th, 2007
Acacia loses its patent case against Microsoft
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/11/16/ap4348387.html
It always creates a good feeling to see a patent troll go down in court (and feel the burn) and I’m sure Redmond is quite pleased. The only problem I have is Microsoft uses this same type of situation to somehow suggest that “Linux” is an IP infringement – funny, because Microsoft is fighting the exact same battles (actually… I think they fight more of them).
A U.S. District Court jury in Texas found that the patent was not infringed and invalid, the company said.
The news sent Acacia shares tumbling $5.90, or 34.4 percent, to $11.25 in morning trading.
Friday, November 9th, 2007
ComputerWorld UK: “Linux wins Nigerian school desktops back from Microsoft”
Interesting, very interesting… I love the comments over at Slashdot ;-)
URL: http://www.computerworlduk.com/management/government-law/public-sector/news/index.cfm?newsid=6124
Now, however, a government agency funding 11,000 of the PCs has overruled the supplier. Nigeria’s Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF) wants to keep Mandriva Linux on the Classmate PCs, said an official who identified himself as the programme manager for USPF’s Classmate PCs project.
…
Mba-Uzoukwu wrote that Microsoft is still negotiating an agreement that would give TSC US$400,000 (£190,323) for marketing activities around the Classmate PCs when those computers are converted to Windows.
Wednesday, November 7th, 2007
All laptops in the future will run Linux – it’s near certainly fact now
I clicked on an alert I received that read, “PCs Could Run Multiple Operating Systems” I actually laughed, because PCs already do run multiple operating systems – what nonsense is being written now? Reading the article helps you see the impact of Phoenix’ HyperSpace announcement and it hit me – all laptops (using the Phoenix BIOS and HyperSpace) in the future will likely run both Linux and Windows whether a certain company likes it or not.
The HyperSpace environment would be based on Linux, giving the freely distributed operating system what could be its biggest break yet in the struggle to gain traction against Windows on PCs.
Note to self: don’t simply judge an article by its title ;-)
Wednesday, November 7th, 2007
Has Desktop Linux reached “The Tipping Point”?
You have to wonder when Malcolm would agree looking back 10 years from now, Linux hit the “Tipping Point”… when I see ordinary Windows users switching (and liking it), I can’t help but think, it might be tipping right now…
Well the Linux desktop is certainly here and I can prove it because as of today I’m officially an Ubuntu user and even though things aren’t perfect, I feel like I’ve finally escaped from jail.
Thursday, November 1st, 2007
Nigeria paying for Mandriva, but still going to install Windows on Classmate PCs
A real shame, just a shame. There are some business practices that I certainly could never support – see my lost post for a different approach:
http://blog.mandriva.com/2007/10/31/an-open-letter-to-steve-ballmer/
And finally, congratulations to Mandriva who effectively presented a Linux client based solution that met Nigeria’s needs and would have created a new generation of Linux users for the world to leverage. It’s a step backwards, but at the same time, a step forward knowing you can successfully win these deals in a fair competition.
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