Posts tagged “microsoft”
The rumored Microsoft/News Corp deal to de-index from Google and go Bing-exclusive is dead on arrival. No single publisher has enough leverage to make users switch search engines, and News Corp especially doesn't. This would be a lose-lose-lose for everyone involved, News Corp most of all.
Microsoft.com renders poorly in every browser, including their own. After years and hundreds of millions in losses, Microsoft still doesn't get the web. They're a software company, not a web company. That's okay. Stick to operating systems, admit defeat on MSN/Live, and stop pretending otherwise.
Dvorak's analogy is priceless: Microsoft could buy GM and Ford, name every car "Google Sucks," and still have $14 billion left over for a party. He's right. Yahoo isn't worth $44 billion.
Microsoft walked away from acquiring Yahoo, but it may not be over. Ballmer looks weak, Yahoo comes out bruised but okay, and Google is the real winner here, having watched its two biggest rivals spend months in chaos. Oh, and I'm relieved.
Working at Yahoo! and hearing Microsoft wants to buy us feels like waking up to an invasion. Microsoft may be capable, but their DNA is fundamentally at odds with the open, interconnected web culture Yahoo! embodies. I hope this deal falls apart, but I fear it won't.
Curious whether Microsoft's own web developers secretly hate IE6 as much as the rest of us do.
Microsoft's $240M Facebook investment isn't about what Facebook is worth. It's a blocking move, just like Google's AOL and MySpace deals. Microsoft didn't care about the stake percentage; they just wanted to keep Google and Yahoo out. Zuckerberg set the $15B valuation himself. Don't get excited.
Microsoft's $6B acquisition of aQuantive is a desperate play to compete in the online ad space frenzy. I don't see it working. At best it keeps them treading water, at worst they end up an irrelevant OS supplier in a world that's moved on to server-side apps.
My weekly tech roundup: IE7 is actually a decent browser, fixing bugs that made my life miserable. But Microsoft is force-installing it as a "security update," which will confuse novices, anger power users, and break every Flash-based site on the web. Good product, terrible delivery. Typical.
Yahoo! IM and MSN Messenger now interoperate, which is huge for me since I live in Y!IM but most of my friends are on MSN. If you're an MSN user, grab the beta and we can finally chat again.
Good day so far: finished French homework, stayed awake through the lecture, and discovered that SQL Server developers may owe massive patent royalties to a company called Timeline because Microsoft botched their licensing deal. Time to switch to MySQL or PostgreSQL. Also, Libya chairing the UN Human Rights Commission? Totally nuts.
Microsoft actually makes cars now, and predictably, they're just like the jokes warned us. Avoid the BMW.
Found a web tool that unpacks Microsoft TNEF files. The internet is wonderful.
Responding to an MSNBC piece on bad software: unlike engineers who rebuild flawed machines from scratch, coders patch and graft changes onto existing code. All those shortcuts and compromises compound into garbage. Code reuse isn't the answer. That's why software sucks.
Microsoft's monopoly conviction is long overdue. The real crime isn't dominance itself, but using OS control to flood unrelated markets with inferior products. My prescription: restrict their expansion into media and content, open the Windows source code, and impose serious regulatory oversight.
Ralph Nader wrote a great letter roasting the DOJ's pathetic Microsoft settlement, which actually protects Microsoft from open-source competition. Also: Internet2 and Geant are doing amazing things with bandwidth. And there's a girl on the BBC who really should be a lesbian.
Bad week for Microsoft: XP is 11% slower than Win2K at best, and .NET Passport has already been cracked, leaking credit card numbers via malicious Hotmail emails. Avoid .NET and Microsoft products where possible.
Microsoft's .NET turns out to be an open standard, meaning Linux users can implement it freely. Soon you could run Office on Linux, making Windows expensive and unnecessary. Looks like Bill's antitrust dodge has spectacularly backfired.
Microsoft's Windows XP locks out Kodak by defaulting to its own photo software and paid partner services, even when Kodak is installed. Looks like the same old monopoly muscle being flexed to crush competition. Hello, Judge? Anyone?
Microsoft's Windows XP product activation is backfiring badly. Locking software to hardware configs is stupid enough already, but it's triggering on routine upgrades too. Swap some memory, lose your license? This kind of greed might just be what finally does Microsoft in.
Polygamy between consenting adults seems no different than gay marriage to me, so why is it illegal? Also, Microsoft's 64-bit Windows won't threaten UNIX on high-end servers: it's a first version, it's buggy, and "high-end server" plus "security" just doesn't equal Windows.
Xbox crashed during a demo, flashing a very PC-like boot screen for all to see. Funny stuff.
Microsoft's new three-year licensing plan means you no longer own Office. I hate Microsoft. On the bright side, FreeSQL wants to use FreeNet as a SQL storage backend, which is stunning. Maybe I can port this blog there to escape Bill Gates's wrath.
Ed's stick-man kung fu is hilarious. More seriously, the looming AOL vs. Microsoft war is terrifying because one of them will win, and both are evil. I'm done giving either my money. Time to switch to Linux before I end up a slave to Bill Gates or AOL.
Back in London for the weekend. Amusing links: Microsoft tech support vs. Psychic Friends (psychics win on price and friendliness), IBM's self-healing networks, transparent PC cases, Maryland blocking Microsoft Passport, a terabyte stored in glass, and a keyless keyboard. Also, Black and White's gesture interface is getting well-deserved attention.
