Enterprise Desktop | Randall C. Kennedy

A FOSS manifesto: We don't need no stinkin' users!

Randall Kennedy — 2008-07-08T03:00:00-08:00

They make it so easy! Just when I think I've run out of story ideas for lampooning the FOSS movement, along comes some idiot with a taste for shoe leather to reenergize my rant engine. This time around it's Jason Harris, a developer in the KDE community. Mr. Harris' beef is with users: He thinks KDE doesn't need any. In fact, if you're not contributing something to KDE -- code, bug reports, man pages -- he could care less whether or not you use KDE. And if you complain about KDE -- its bugs, features, or development direction -- you're... READ MORE

A classic NT/Windows 7 gem from the blogosphere

Randall Kennedy — 2008-07-01T23:59:12-08:00

One of the best parts of blogging is the opportunity to interact with readers. Through the comments mechanism attached to virtually every blogging platform, both fans of a blog and its detractors have an opportunity to voice their opinions. And sometimes, the contents of a blog site’s comments section surpasses – in terms of intrinsic value – the original posting. Case in point: The recent rant by Mahmoud Al-Qudsi over at NeoSmart.net. In his posting, Mr. Al-Qudsi is attempting to discredit the anonymous author of the mysterious “Shipping 7” blog, a person who claims to be a Microsoft insider working... READ MORE

The mythical "Vista application"

Randall Kennedy — 2008-06-24T03:00:00-08:00

I love analysts. Whether it's predicting tomorrow's next big thing or sounding the death knell for yesterday's industry pacesetter, analysts never run out of new ways to get it wrong. Case in point: Windows Vista and the "app gap." According to Evans Data Corporation (EDC), less than 10 percent of developers are writing for Microsoft's current state of the art. The majority (49 percent) are still writing for XP, while a small, but growing, contingent (13 percent) are focusing on Linux. Meanwhile, the myriad major media outlets continue to decry the lack of new Vista applications. "It's the OS that... READ MORE

Handicapping the Windows 7 alternatives

Randall Kennedy — 2008-06-17T03:00:00-08:00

It's been an interesting couple of weeks on the desktop OS front. Microsoft's big reveal regarding Windows 7 and its Vista heritage sent many of my blogospheric contemporaries scrambling to justify their myriad off-base predictions. Having anticipated this outcome weeks ago, I was free to ponder an even more radical set of possibilities -- specifically, which of the current crop of Unix-based OS is best positioned to knock off Windows 7 come late 2009. Note the timeframe qualifier above. I'm not interested in what's available today. Rather, I'm looking 12 to 18 months out in an effort to divine what... READ MORE

Intervention: How to salvage Windows 7

Randall Kennedy — 2008-06-10T03:00:00-08:00

I had an interesting conversation this past week with Ben Rudolph, former marketing guru at Parallels and now a member of the Microsoft Windows 7 team. Apparently, my recent pronouncement of death for his new charge struck a nerve. In addition to setting up a flurry of conference calls with his fellow team members, Ben picked my brain a bit about what I felt they needed to do/say to salvage their next generation desktop OS. Always willing to interject myself into others’ business, I offered the following "pledge" points for Microsoft to ponder: Performance. Pledge that Windows 7 will perform... READ MORE

Windows 7: R.I.P.

Randall Kennedy — 2008-06-05T12:00:07-08:00

Death throes. That’s how I’d describe the latest barrage of white papers from Microsoft. The company’s flagship, Windows Vista, is thrashing around in the shallows like a wounded animal, fighting in vain to escape the inevitable. As with any good life and death struggle, there’s a great deal of screeching and wailing – “Vista’s not a failure, we’ve sold over a 100 million licenses!” Then, in a final flurry of “hooves and teeth,” it succumbs – another victim in the vicious OS circle of life. A bit too melodramatic? Perhaps. But when you analyze the tone of the company’s recent... READ MORE

Desktop Windows: Is it time to "cut and run?"

Randall Kennedy — 2008-06-03T03:00:00-08:00

Microsoft to logo applicants: Support Windows 7...or else!

Randall Kennedy — 2008-05-29T08:37:47-08:00

Windows 7 gets all "touchy-feely"

Randall Kennedy — 2008-05-28T00:18:10-08:00

Microsoft trashes Windows XP

Randall Kennedy — 2008-05-26T03:00:00-08:00

It's a bumper crop of VM goodness!

Randall Kennedy — 2008-05-20T03:00:00-08:00

Life in the blogosphere has its ups and downs. Some weeks there's little to write about. Others, you're inundated with too many juicy story ideas to count. Last week was all about virtualization. After savaging Microsoft's Hyper-V Achilles' Heel, I was pleased to discover a new beta release of VMware Workstation 6.5. Also dropping in to pay a visit: Virtual PC 2007 Service Pack 1. Truly a bumper crop of leads to follow-up! First, I just got done putting the latest VMware 6.5 pre-release (Beta 2?) through its paces. The earlier beta was already pretty solid (see my preview for... READ MORE

Hyper-V's Achilles' heel

Randall Kennedy — 2008-05-13T03:00:00-08:00

Update: Since first posting this entry I've been in communication with Microsoft about the BSOD I encountered with the ATI installer. In an effort to assist them in their investigation, I recreated the scenario that caused the failure and proceeded to capture memory dump information for them to dissect. It's also worth noting that bug continues to be reproducible under Hyper-V Release Candidate 1. It seems to have something to do with the installer attempting to probe the hardware in order to identify the specific device make, model and revision - a common task performed by driver installation programs from... READ MORE

Are MCSEs too stupid to learn Linux?

Randall Kennedy — 2008-05-08T12:04:01-08:00

How Unix politics are killing OS innovation

Randall Kennedy — 2008-05-07T00:10:25-08:00

Streaming Office: Death knell for Google Apps?

Randall Kennedy — 2008-05-01T11:23:05-08:00