- Microsoft's XP intransigence is simply mystifying; can Dell save the day?
- Tribute planned for missing Microsoft engineer
- Microsoft set to ship Windows Server 2008
- Oracle-BEA: It aint over till it's over
- Microsoft, JVC in IP agreement
- JBoss boosts Java app services platform
- Oracle: No friendly BEA deal seen
- OpenSolaris demo'd on mainframe
- BEA to open books to Icahn
- Survey: Desktop Linux use grows
April 24, 2008 | Comments: (0)
Microsoft's XP intransigence is simply mystifying; can Dell save the day?
You have to wonder what's going on a Microsoft when it comes to the issue of keeping XP available past the planned June 30 cutoff date.
The company clearly knows that Vista was hardly its best moment, an ungainly OS forced out the door after years of delay so Microsoft would have something new to sell. A triumph of short-term thinking that is turning out to be a Pyrrhic victory. But Dell may offer the face-saving out for Microsoft that also saves XP.
Decidedly mixed signals, so why the line in the sand for XP?
While both chairman Bill Gates and CEO Steve Ballmer tout Vista as great, both have also given signals they don't really believe that.
In January, Gates soberly noted that there were lessons to be learned from Vista's development and slow uptake.
A week ago, Ballmer described Vista as a "work in progress" -- not exactly a compliment from something that was in development for five years and has been on the market for more than a year.
And the industry has been rife for months with reports that pretty much all the key decision-makers on Vista are no longer at Microsoft, suggesting a quiet purge.
Today, Ballmer hinted that Microsoft may extend XP's end-of-sales date -- at least that's how the Associated Press and the U.K.'s Register newspaper interpreted his remarks. Microsoft quickly reconfirmed the June 30 end-of-sales date, saying that Microsoft's belief is that customers like and want Vista. That doesn't mesh what InfoWorld has heard from readers, of which more than 170,000 have signed a petition asking Microsoft not to stop selling XP.
"I'd love to know exactly what, and how many 'customers' Microsoft claims to be getting this feedback from," David Bookbinder, owner of a Boston-area PC support company, told the IDG News Service. "My guess, and it's an educated one, is that it's more likely stockholder feedback." In other words, Microsoft should ignore its customers' desires and instead sell them a more profitable product and ensure they have no alternative to it.
Let's hope that's not what's going on. I'd rather believe that Microsoft has drunk its own Kool-Aid and is honest in believing Vista is great, rather than is sacrificing its reputation and brand loyalty for a short-term pickup. (The Christian Science Monitor has a compelling take on what Microsoft may be thinking.) And if that's the strategy, it's Apple that has been getting the pickup, ironically enough. Probably not Microsoft's intent.
Maybe it's Dell that will resolve this mess
InfoWorld's Ephraim Schwartz, following up on a reader tip, confirmed today that Dell will continue to sell XP-based PCs after the June 30 cutoff, using an option in some of Microsoft's Vista licenses.
If Dell sticks to these guns -- and if Hewlett-Packard joins in -- then XP can be saved. And Microsoft need not claim defeat. Microsoft's "downgrade" option for Vista Business and Vista Ultimate let users and PC makers install XP over Vista using the same license. (If you use any other version of Vista, you can't "downgrade," so avoid the other Vista versions after June 30.)
That option is not new, but until Dell's new program, the PC makers weren't using it.
Dell clearly has gotten the message that there is a longer term market for XP. Dell oscillates between No. 1 and No. 2 in terms of overall PC sales, so its decision to keep XP available beyond Microsoft's cutoff date should tell Microsoft something. Dell is clearly listening to its customers, even if Microsoft is unable to.
The beauty of Dell's approach is that it uses Microsoft's own "downgrade" option, so Microsoft doesn't have to change any of its stated policies. It even lets Microsoft claim a Vista sale -- you can only get XP after June 30 if you buy one of those Vistas. And, if Microsoft is concerned about the bottom line, it encourages the sales of the pricier Vista versions -- maybe what Microsoft intended all along.
I cringed when writing that last comment. It's almost X-Files-like in its convoluted conspiracy thinking, but given the reality distortion bubble Microsoft seems to be in, who knows any more?
Regardless, Dell is showing Microsoft the way to promote Vista while keeping XP an ongoing concern. If HP, Toshiba, Gateway and others showed the same brass as Dell, this issue would evaporate overnight. Let's hope they do.
Posted by Galen Gruman on April 24, 2008 01:16 PM
February 04, 2008 | Comments: (0)
Tribute planned for missing Microsoft engineer
A tribute to Microsoft engineer Jim Gray, missing at sea for more than a year, is being planned for May 31 at the University, of California, Berkeley.
Three organizations - the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), IEEE Computer Society and UC Berkeley - plan to participate with family and colleagues of Gray. He disappeared without a trace while on a sailing trip to the Farallon Islands, near San Francisco, on January 28, 2007.
Gray is known for work as a programmer, database expert and Microsoft engineer. He helped make possible technologies such as the cash machine, e-commerce, online ticketing and deep databases, according to a press statement on the event. In 1998, Gray received the ACM A.M. Turing Award, considered the most prestigious honor in computer science.
The event is open to the general public, free of charge. Speakers will discuss Gray's accomplishments; technical sessions are planned as well, focusing on the state of computer science. Among the speakers scheduled include Michael Stonebraker, who is a pioneer in object-relational database technology, and Microsoft Architect Pat Helland.
While serving on a panel at a software development conference in 2004, Gray questioned how the software industry could be sustained when software was being given away as part of the open source movement.
Also during his stint at Microsoft, Gray built a Web site called Terra Server, which featured high-resolution satellite imagery before the advent of Google Earth.
Posted by Paul Krill on February 4, 2008 02:14 PM
February 04, 2008 | Comments: (0)
Microsoft set to ship Windows Server 2008
Microsoft released to manufacturing its Windows Server 2008 platform Monday, meaning the software should be available for purchase on March 1.
Customers with Microsoft's Active Software Assurance coverage or an enterprise agreement can get it a little earlier, with downloads available by the end of February, according to a Microsoft representative.
Featured in the operating system are automation of daily tasks, improved security and virtualization to improve hardware utilization and server availability, the company said.
Developed in tandem with the Windows Vista code base, Windows Server offers capabilities such as Network Access Protection and Group Policy. System-wide performance improvements include an integrated system architecture including network file-sharing, managed quality of service and reduced power consumption, Microsoft said.
Windows Server 2008 and Vista feature common tools to boost efficiencies, according to Microsoft. Also, a FastCGI module in Windows Server 2008 enables hosting of PHP (Hypertext Preprocessor) systems. PHP and ASP.net applications can be hosted side by side.
The company is offering a Go Live license enabling users to deploy beta releases of Internet Information Services 7.0 into live production.
Posted by Paul Krill on February 4, 2008 09:37 AM
January 16, 2008 | Comments: (0)
Oracle-BEA: It aint over till it's over
Yogi Berra supposedly said it aint over till it's over. This is certainly something that applies to the newly announced merger between BEA Systems and Oracle that once looked like it had been abandoned.
After Oracle proposed buying BEA for $17 a share in October, BEA countered with a $21 per share proposal and then filed provisions with the SEC to ensure its employees received generous severance packages if anyone took over the company and employees were let go.
Oracle declined BEA's counteroffer and its original $17-per-share offer expired. Afterward, we heard Oracle CEO Larry Ellison say in November that probably no one would buy BEA and that BEA was doing a good job of trying to stay independent. He also said any subsequent offer by Oracle would be lower than the initial $17 per share. Also, Oracle President and CFO Safra Catz said in December that Oracle did not believe a friendly deal could be consummated with BEA's current board at an acceptable price.
Now, all of a sudden, the deal is done. BEA is sold to Oracle for $19.375 a share. Just goes to show what can happen behind closed doors and away from the peering eyes of the public and press.
Posted by Paul Krill on January 16, 2008 02:17 PM
January 15, 2008 | Comments: (0)
Microsoft, JVC in IP agreement
Microsoft and Victor Company of Japan Ltd. (JVC) late on Tuesday announced they have entered into a patent cross-licensing agreement intended to further the development of each company's product lines and expand technological innovation.
Covering a range of consumer products each company sells, the agreement expands the relationship between the two companies to promote the exchange of valuable information and the incorporation of patented technologies in their respective products, Microsoft's statement said.
While contents of the agreement and specific financial terms were kept confidential, the parties indicated Microsoft will be compensated by JVC, according to Microsoft.
Microsoft launched its IP licensing program in December 2003, with the intent of opening up access to Microsoft's research and development investments and patent and IP portfolio, the company said. In November 2006, the company forged a controversial IP agreement with Novell in which the vendors agreed to not sue each other's customers over IP issues. Payments went between the two companies as part of that agreement.
Also as part of that arrangement, Microsoft agreed not to assert rights over any patents to software technology that may have been incorporated into Novell's Suse Linux.
Posted by Paul Krill on January 15, 2008 05:18 PM
January 15, 2008 | Comments: (0)
JBoss boosts Java app services platform
The JBoss development team at Red Hat has released JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 4.3, featuring upgraded messaging and Web services technologies.
The platform offers open source technologies for building and deploying enterprise Java application services. It integrates the JBoss Application Server with JBoss's Hibernate object-relational mapping software and Seam application framework for building Web 2.0 applications.
JBoss Messaging serves as the messaging architecture for JBoss 4.3, 5.0 and beyond, the company said. It is an upgrade over the prior JBossMQ component, according to Red Hat. JBoss Web Services, another component of JBoss Enterprise Application Platform, supports JAX-WS (Java API for XML Web Services), a Web services API that replaced JAX-RPC 1.0 in the Java stack.
Red Hat is offering subscriptions to JBoss Enterprise Application Platform. The company released version 4.3 last week.
Posted by Paul Krill on January 15, 2008 01:49 PM
December 19, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Oracle: No friendly BEA deal seen
An Oracle executive said Wednesday that the company does not believe it can acquire BEA in a friendly manner, according to an Oracle representative.
During a conference call with analysts, Oracle CFO Safra Catz said the company concluded no friendly deal can be done with the current BEA board at a price and terms acceptable to Oracle, said the representative.
Oracle's representative declined to comment on whether Oracle might pursue an unfriendly acquisition. Oracle in October offered to acquire BEA for $17 per share; BEA countered with a $21 per share price.
During a meeting with analysts in November, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison expressed dismay with how the process had gone. If Oracle were to make another offer, it would be lower than the $17-per-share originally offered, he said. He also said it appeared no one would be acquiring BEA.
Posted by Paul Krill on December 19, 2007 03:15 PM
November 30, 2007 | Comments: (0)
OpenSolaris demo'd on mainframe
Sun Microsystems, IBM and Sine Nomine Associates this week demonstrated the OpenSolaris code base running on the IBM mainframe, Sun and IBM said.
The demonstration at the Gartner Data Center Conference in Las Vegas followed Sine Nomine's 2006 announcement of a plan to do the port. IBM and Sun in August said they would investigate a project to port OpenSolaris to the System z mainframe. Sine Nomine Associates is a research and engineering firm. OpenSolaris is open source code for the Solaris operating system.
In the demonstration, OpenSolaris runs within the mainframe's z/VM virtualization technology.
"The future of the data center lies in virtualization's ability to reduce skyrocketing energy and maintenance costs," said James Stallings, general manager for IBM System z, in a statement released by the company. "Corporations around the world have for years relied on the IBM mainframe - which pioneered virtualization - to run their businesses. The Solaris operating system is similarly prevalent in data centers. It makes perfect sense to marry these two stalwarts in a virtualized mainframe environment."
IBM also has endorsed Sun's xVM virtualization initiative.
Posted by Paul Krill on November 30, 2007 10:27 AM
November 05, 2007 | Comments: (0)
BEA Systems said Monday it plans to provide confidential information to disgruntled investor Carl Icahn about why the recently expired $17-per-share bid for the company submitted by Oracle was too low.
"We are pleased to be able to share non-public information about BEA's business with Mr. Icahn," said CEO Chairman/CEO Alfred Chuang, in a statement released by the company. "We are confident this information will enable him to appreciate that the $17-per-share bid from Oracle significantly undervalues BEA in a sale."
Chuang in the statement also said he wanted to dispel any speculation that the company would engage in "scorched earth" transactions at shareholders' expense or discourage a fully valued acquisition of the company.
BEA's goal has been to maximize shareholder value, Chuang said. Icahn has sought a BEA shareholder meeting to take bids on the company.
Posted by Paul Krill on November 5, 2007 02:40 PM
August 23, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Survey: Desktop Linux use grows
DesktopLinux.com, which is a Web site devoted to, obviously, desktop Linux, has finished a survey that found more than a doubling of Linux desktop users in the past year.
Ubuntu remains the top choice for Linux on the desktop, with 30 percent of respondents using it.
While DesktopLinux.com said its survey is not scientific, the survey did produce 38,000 votes as opposed to 14,535 votes a year ago.
Survey respondents chose Firefox as their browser of choice, with 60 percent using it. Thunderbird was the top email client, with 37 percent.
Posted by Paul Krill on August 23, 2007 09:52 AM
August 06, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Nokia Siemens joins Linux Foundation
Nokia Siemens Networks has become a member of the Linux Foundation and will work with the organization to improve Carrier Grade Linux, the foundation said on Monday.
Nokia Siemens will develop Linux-based technologies for use in User Plane and Control Plane Network Elements and embedded applications. This work is expected to lead to further integration of the mobile and carrier grade Linux specification with the Linux Standard Base, to deliver a standard for these expanding Linux markets, the foundation said.
"Linux has become a very natural fit for telecom network and device manufacturers who are looking for an operating system from which they can easily and cost-effectively build differentiated services and value," said Jim Zemlin, executive director of the Linux Foundation, in a statement released by the foundation. "There is no question that the massive success of Linux in telecom is key in today's new stage of Linux growth. Nokia Siemens Networks will add another level of expertise as we transition into this stage of increasing open development, and we welcome their participation."
A Nokia Siemens official stressed carrier grade interfaces and Linux interoperability.
"Nokia Siemens Networks will play an active role as a Linux Foundation member by contributing both financial and technical resources to the Linux ecosystem to make sure it remains state of the art," said Stephan Scholz, chief technology officer of Nokia Siemens Networks, in a statement. "In Linux, the most important things for us are certified carrier grade interfaces as well as the interoperability between various Linux distributions. We look forward to working with the Linux Foundation and continue to use Linux in our commercially available products."
Posted by Paul Krill on August 6, 2007 09:12 AM
July 20, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Microsoft shedding light on Windows 7
Weary of hearing about Windows Vista all year? Well, Microsoft already has begun spreading bits of information on the next Windows client OS, dubbed Windows 7 internally at the company.
"As part of our ongoing outreach to enterprise customers and partners, Microsoft has begun sharing plans for how [it] will continue to deliver value to businesses in the future, including Software Assurance customers in particular," said a Microsoft representative in an emailed statement. Part of this effort involves offering preliminary information on Windows 7 as well as updates on future Windows-related releases such as the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack.
"Microsoft is scoping Windows '7' development to a three-year timeframe, and then the specific release date will ultimately be determined by meeting the quality bar," the representative said. "In the meantime, Microsoft is dedicated to helping customers deploy and get the most business value from their PCs using Windows Vista and related technologies like the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack, and we’re encouraged by the response and adoption of these products so far."
The company declined to provide specific details Friday about any features planned for Windows 7. But Microsoft previously talked about a follow-up to Vista codenamed Vienna, to feature security improvements including 128-bit, cryptographically signed application secure identities.
Microsoft representatives on Friday afternoon could not confirm whether Windows 7 and the Vienna project are one and the same.
Vista was released on January 30. Windows Server 2008, the next server version of Windows, formerly codenamed Longhorn, is set to be launched in February 2008.
Posted by Paul Krill on July 20, 2007 04:17 PM
June 18, 2007 | Comments: (0)
The Linux Foundation Collaboration Summit, held last week at the Google Mountain View, Calif. campus, featured a "Green Linux" initiative to boost power management in the platform.
More than 230 leaders from the Linux community attended the event, including kernel developers, ISVs and users, the foundation said on Monday afternoon.
Aside from discussing Microsoft's recent patent dispute over Linux, attendees covered a myriad of topics. One topic, better power management, resulted in plans to organize a Green Linux effort, the foundation said. Power management developers will meet in Ottawa next week to continue this work.
A collaborative session on device drivers, meanwhile, explained the Linux model and a new program for vendors, through which the Linux kernel community is offering free Linux driver development. Called the Linux Driver Project, it can be accessed here.
The Linux Foundation Open Printing Workgroup announced the LSB (Linux Standard Base) Driver Kit, to improve printing functionality in Linux. Representatives from major printing vendors met at the event with Linux community leaders to discuss improvements in printer driver support. The new Device Driver Kit provides tools and resources for printing manufacturers to support Linux distributions with one driver package, the foundation said. Also included in the kit is a Web API from the OpenPrinting database, allowing Linux printer setup tools to automatically find printer driver packages.
Representatives of the foundation's accessibility workgroup explained the Linux model for writing accessible applications to ISVs and others. The workgroup and the iAccessible2 standard are focused on making software applications accessible to persons with disabilities.
Also at the event, the Linux Standard Base workgroup presented its LSB test framework and testing tools, featuring automated testing toolkits. The effort is intended to make it easier and less costly for developers to support Linux.
Linux founder Linus Torvalds was not at the event, the foundation said. The next Linux Foundation summit is planned for March 2008.
Posted by Paul Krill on June 18, 2007 04:15 PM
June 14, 2007 | Comments: (0)
The first-ever Linux Foundation Collaboration Summit, an invitation-only event, is being held at Google's Mountain View, Calif. campus this week, featuring "the brightest minds in the Linux Ecosystem," according to the Linux Foundation.
"This unique, invitation-only event will bring together the brightest minds in the Linux ecosystem to discuss where Linux is, where it needs to go and how we can all help get it there," the foundation said on its Web site.
Although a published report said attendees debated the future of the movement and faced down recent Microsoft patent threats, Amanda McPherson, marketing director for the foundation, said in an email that the meeting "was not a 'Linux vs. Microsoft meeting' at all."
The event was characterized by McPherson as "just a meeting of the brightest minds in Linux working to improve the platform for all users."
Microsoft recently has charged that Linux and open source software violate 235 of its patents. The company also has been inking a number of deals covering intellectual property issues with companies such as Novell, Xandros and, on Thursday, Linspire, over Linux usage.
But the patent issue has not been discussed much at all at this week's event, McPherson said.
"We're more interested in concentrating on making Linux better and communicating to the world how great Linux already is than worrying about nebulous legal claims. End users we talk to understand Microsoft will not sue its own customers. Microsoft (or any other software vendor) has just as much of a patent issue as Linux (if not more so)," said McPherson.
Posted by Paul Krill on June 14, 2007 03:54 PM
June 14, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Report picks Microsoft over open source
A Microsoft-commissioned report detailed this week found that students in Europe were more satisfied with Microsoft products than with open source software. But is the study just another counter-offensive against open source by Microsoft?
After all, Microsoft most recently claimed that open source and Linux violate 235 Microsoft patents.
Microsoft representatives denied any pre-conditioned bias in the report, saying vendor-commissioned studies are commonplace. The report was independently audited by a professor of the Insead Business School in Paris, said Lynn Moates, marketing and communications director for the Microsoft Education Solutions Group.
The study addresses the speculation on whether open source is a better bet for education, Moates said. "We thought it was appropriate to conduct some facts-based research on the reality of it," Moates said.
The Wipro Technologies report compared Microsoft and open source platforms in 73 schools in six European countries: France, Italy, Poland, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom . It found that user satisfaction with Microsoft software is high among both students and teachers, who said Microsoft products were easier to use, richer in functionality, better integrated and better suited to supporting educational activities than open source alternatives.
Among other things, the study found that Microsoft solutions provide the benefits of lower ongoing support costs, fewer failures and less time needed for troubleshooting, even though open source software has no licensing fees.
"A key finding was that student and teacher satisfaction with Microsoft applications is higher than with open source applications," Moates said.
Still, it is easy to be leery of such a study coming from Microsoft. While Microsoft has made some open source moves, such as setting up its CodePlex Web site for hosting of open source projects, the company by and large is seen as an opponent of open source.
And it's not hard to see why people would feel that way, particularly given the recent patents issue.
The full report can be found on Microsoft's own Web site here. Microsoft would not comment on how much the study cost.
Posted by Paul Krill on June 14, 2007 08:35 AM
June 12, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Microsoft advances cited in report
Research 2.0, in its May technology research report, found that Microsoft has made "significant advances" with .Net and Windows Vista-driven technology improvements.
.Net, Research 2.0 said, has advantages compared to platforms such as the open source LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP) stack.
"Perhaps the most striking value of .Net is the efficiency it affords over other platforms. It's the ability to get to the job at hand vs. building scaffolding to get started," the report stated.
Microsoft's Silverlight technology, for running multimedia applications in a browser, will fuel market gains versus Adobe Flash and AJAX, Research 2.0 said.
The report also covers the latest SOA findings. Research 2.0 predicts users will keep experimenting with SOA during the next few years but that will peak in 2010 or 2011. SOA will be embraced as mainstream technology by 2015. SOA packaged applications are predicted to dominate application market revenue flows within a decade, disrupting application providers Oracle, SAP and Salesforce.com.
The services industry is leading SOA adoption progress; portal- and infrastructure-based approaches to SOA developments are being explored.
The Research 2.0 report, which was funded by the Research 2.0 itself, can be downloaded here. The company issues the report to entice investors and businesses to buy the company's other reports, a representative for Research 2.0 said.
Posted by Paul Krill on June 12, 2007 09:20 AM
June 08, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Microsoft names Linux interop director
Microsoft has appointed an executive to run the Microsoft/Novell Interoperability Lab announced last fall.
Tom Hanrahan, former director of engineering at the Linux Foundation, is now Microsoft's director of Linux interoperability, a company representative said on Thursday night. He will run the lab set up as part of the company's controversial agreement on Linux and Windows interoperability with Novell, which has had both companies vowing not to sue each other's customers over intellectual property issues.
Hanrahan will report to Sam Ramji, who oversees platform technology strategy at Microsoft. Ramji runs the Microsoft Open Source Software Lab.
Hanrahan, who will be part of Bill Hilf's Platform Strategy team at Microsoft, also has worked for IBM's Linux Technology Center and at Sequent Computer systems.
Posted by Paul Krill on June 8, 2007 06:55 AM
June 06, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Microsoft, LG Electronics forge Linux deal
Microsoft and LG Electronics announced Wednesday evening a patent cross-license agreement that will enable LG Electronics (LGE) to employ Linux in its products without fear of Microsoft reprisals.
The arrangement is intended to give LGE customers peace of mind over intellectual property (IP) issues.
The agreement follows a similar deal between Novell and Microsoft, according to a Microsoft representative. In that arrangement, Novell and Microsoft agreed to not sue each other's customers over IP issues. This issue has risen to the forefront lately, with Microsoft recently arguing that Linux and open source software violate 235 Microsoft patents.
Through the new agreement, LGE will be able to use Microsoft-patented "innovations" in products including Linux-based embedded devices, the companies said. Microsoft will have access to LGE patents and license other patents developed by LGE that are now owned by MicroConnect Group.
Financial terms of the arrangement were not revealed, although the vendors said Microsoft will make a net balancing payment to LGE and MicroConnect for patents related to operating systems and computer systems. LGE will make ongoing payments to Microsoft for the value of Microsoft patents as they relate to Linux-based embedded devices that LGE produces.
Microsoft earlier this week unveiled a similar arrangement with Xandros and has made deals of this type with companies such as Fuji Xeorox and Samsung in the past 12 months, Microsoft and LGE said.
Posted by Paul Krill on June 6, 2007 07:24 PM
June 05, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Microsoft bolsters Vista, WinServer
Microsoft disclosed on Tuesday programs to bolster to Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 deployments, including a program to test Vista applications.
Programs and tools detailed will help customers assess what hardware they need before doing a mass deployment on Vista. Customers also can evaluate needs for encrypting files and data and ensure compatability with Vista, the company said. Microsoft announced the tools at the TechEd conference in Orlando, Fla.
Microsoft unveiled the Virtual Hard Disk Test Drive Program, which is a 30-day evaluation for IT professionals to test applications on Windows Vista in a virtual environment.
The company also cited its Data Encryption Toolkit for Mobile PCs, which provides guidance and tools for IT to protect vulnerable data and centrally configure and manage encryption settings on mobile PCs.
Microsoft's Application Compatability Factory, meanwhile, features an updated service to connect customers with partners that can deliver high-volume, low-cost application compatability and remediation services for home-grown, line-of-business applications.
Also announced was a Windows Server 2008 logo program, to assist with building and choosing solutions for the enterprise and Windows Server 2008. Featured are two designations: the "Works with Windows Server 2008" designation, which ensures an application complies with best practices for Windows Server 2008, and the "Certified for Windows Server 2008" logo, supporting standards for stability, security, reliability and overall performance, Microsoft said.
Microsoft also wants to ensure that new certifications are more achievable. A second test agency, WiPro, will join Veritest to provide better geographic coverage for testing services for Windows Server. Certification utilities for Windows Server, meanwhile, are being offered as a free download.
Posted by Paul Krill on June 5, 2007 07:51 AM
May 30, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Billed as "Microsoft's premier annual conference for IT pros and developers," the Microsoft TechEd 2007 show gets under way in Orlando, Fla. Monday, June 4.
Although Microsoft declined an InfoWorld request for a preview of TechEd, a look at the extensive list of sessions reveals Microsoft will focus not only on expected topics such as Windows Server 2008, SQL Server and Silverlight multimedia technology, but also will give a nod to concepts such as SOA, open source and dynamic languages.
The opening keynote on Monday morning will feature Microsoft's Bob Muglia, vice president of the company's Server and Tools business. He will discuss how IT has evolved from a cost center to a strategic asset and how to help an IT department embrace its new role in fueling growth and driving innovation.
In the SOA arena, TechEd features a session that asks, "Will SOA replace ERP?" Microsoft Dynamics applications and BizTalk software will be part of this discussion about "Real World SOA."
Another session entitled, "Open Source Software in Enterprise Development," ponders the role of open source and whether companies can manage licensing and support issues.
TechEd also will feature discussion on the next release of the SQL Server database and how it will evolve to go beyond relational data and OLAP to support digital data types of the future.
Other topics on the agenda include Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007, Java-.Net interoperability and Visual Studio "Orcas," which is the next release of Microsoft's software development platform. Microsoft's ASP.Net AJAX and Windows Communication Foundation technologies also will be featured.
Posted by Paul Krill on May 30, 2007 04:47 PM
May 29, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Longhorn "Reloaded" irks Microsoft
Could a brouhaha result between developers of a revived Longhorn client and Microsoft, which says the project violates its licensing agreement?
A version of the Windows Longhorn client platform has been released as a preview build by developers who continued to develop it even as Microsoft shifted its emphasis to building Windows Vista.
The Longhorn "Reloaded" project features abandoned code from the Longhorn client, said Raymond Preston, an Ireland-based developer who is managing the project hosted at joejoe.org. Although the group has had no source code for Longhorn, it was able to pursue the project anyway.
"We don't really need [source code]. We just know how it works because we decompiled," the Longhorn client, Preston said.
"A lot of this became common knowledge," he said.
Microsoft, however, was not offering encouraging words on Tuesday afternoon.
"Microsoft actively encourages and supports independent developers to take advantage of the features available in our platform to create their own applications and services; however, the Windows end user licensing agreement does not allow users to modify and redistribute our code in this manner," the company said in a statement.
The Reloaded group acknowledges it is not going to build something like Vista and only plans to offer its Longhorn Reloaded code for free. The project is not open-source, however.
The Longhorn revival is being pursued because some have preferred features of it such as its simplified storage and its task bar, Preston said. A first build has had tens of thousands downloads in the past three or four days, according to Preston.
"We never thought it would be this popular," said Preston.
But a blogger in the AeroXperience Web site for Windows Vista developers labeled the project "a waste of time." The AeroXperience forums feature a project called "Retrophase," to bring Longhorn capabilities to Vista.
Posted by Paul Krill on May 29, 2007 04:23 PM
May 09, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Project Indiana set for Solaris
Looking to make its Solaris Unix OS more palatable to Linux users, Sun Microsystems has an effort under way called Project Indiana that aims to make Solaris more like Linux in some respects.
"It's taking Solaris and making it more familiar to the Linux community and Linux users," said Marc Hamilton, Sun vice president of Solaris Marketing, at the JavaOne conference in San Francisco on Wednesday.
In talking to Linux users, Sun has found they have had concerns about Solaris such as it having a different install procedure than Linux and commands in unfamiliar places, Hamilton said. Sun plans to make changes to Solaris to placate Linux users, with these changes first to appear in OpenSolaris, the open source variant of the OS.
Also, Sun plans to make sure Solaris functions with applications familiar to Linux users, such as the AMP stack, which features the Apache Web server, MySQL database and the Perl, PHP (Hypertext Preprocessor) and Python scripting languages. This combination of technologies usually is linked with Linux in the so-called LAMP stack. Some of these technologies already function with Solaris, Hamilton said.
Posted by Paul Krill on May 9, 2007 04:47 PM
April 25, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Microsoft releases public beta for Longhorn
Microsoft released on Wednesday the first publicly available test version of Windows Server "Longhorn."
Beta 3 of the next version of Windows Server is available for evaluation. The final version of the server OS is due to ship in the second half of 2007.
"As they take it for a test drive, our customers and partners will find we made some vast improvements in Windows Server 'Longhorn' to help them reduce costs and adapt to changing business needs," said Bill Laing, general manager of the Microsoft Windows Server Division, in a statement released by the company. "Between early adopter customers and Microsoft IT, we have hundreds of servers running in production environments today. If there's one message we want to send today, it is get ready, download and evaluate."
Longhorn features simplified management, including remote administration tools and Windows PowerShell scripting, the company said. Security has been enhanced through a Server Core installation option that reduces the server footprint and potential attack surface.
Simplified failover clustering, dynamic partitioning and other system management features are included as well to provide interrupted network access, Microsoft said.
Beta 3 is accessible here.
Posted by Paul Krill on April 25, 2007 06:22 PM
April 25, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Microsoft hails BizTalk Services
Microsoft has unveiled a Community Technology Preview (CTP) of BizTalk Services, which is part of the company's "Software+Services" vision.
BizTalk Services focuses on enabling developers to integrate services across internal enterprise systems, systems running at business partners and Internet services. BizTalk Services features Internet-hosted services to help developers build and run composite applications at an Internet scale. Featured are hosted versions of technologies developed in the Microsoft Connected Systems Division.
The BizTalk Services platform includes an "Internet Services Bus," which is similar to but different than a traditional enterprise service bus, Microsoft said. An ESB provides connectivity that stops at the corporate firewall, while the Internet Services bus accommodates applications that span networks. Capabilities are provided for workflow, identity and access management. Also, data can be moved between end points regardless of the location of firewall.
Microsoft's Steve Martin, director of product management in the company's Connected Systems Division, covers BizTalk Services in his blog. The CTP is available here.
Also, Microsoft began on Wednesday its Financial Services Developer Conference in New York City. The event brings together technical persons from financial services firms to preview Microsoft technologies. Topics will be covered such as application performance analysis, writing secure code and building Web sites with Microsoft's ASP.Net AJAX technology.
Posted by Paul Krill on April 25, 2007 11:16 AM
April 23, 2007 | Comments: (0)
BEA ponders event-driven architecture
BEA Systems plans in late-May to update its product roster with offerings in the event-driven architecture and real-time processing spaces, according to BEA correspondence received on Monday
The company is planning a new product in event-driven architecture that will enable event-driven SOA. BEA also will announce the latest version of its WebLogic Real Time server, which offers real-time processing services for applications such as financial services. The product set has featured the WebLogic Express 9.2 application server and the JRockit Runtime Analyzer tool.
Also planned by BEA is general availability of WebLogic Server - Virtual Edition. This product is intended to enable Java applications to run better on virtualized hardware.
The three products together provide a foundation for "extreme transaction processing," which allows enterprises to respond to complex computing environments and changing business conditions quickly, BEA said.
Also at BEA, Bill Roth, BEA vice president of marketing in the company's Workshop Business Unit, offers his predictions for the upcoming JavaOne conference in a blog entry posted on Monday. Roth anticipates Web 2.0 themes at the event.
Posted by Paul Krill on April 23, 2007 04:02 PM
March 23, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Oracle buying grid software maker
Oracle announced on Friday plans to acquire Tangosol, a provider of in-memory data grid software.
This software increases application performance by offering fast, distributed access to frequently used data, according to Oracle.
Tangosol's product, Coherence Data Grid, enables "extreme transaction processing," or XTP, and is an enabler for the XTP space in businesses such as financial services, telecommunications and the travel and logistics industries, Oracle said.
Oracle plans to couple the software with Oracle Fusion Middleware, Oracle TimesTen and the Oracle Database to serve businesses moving to this model of transaction processing, the company said.
"Together, Oracle and Tangosol create the industry's most comprehensive middleware for building applications that perform real time data analytics, grid-based in-memory computations and high-performance transactions," said Oracle Senior Vice President Thomas Kurian, in a statement released by the company.
"Tangosol adds significant customer value to the Oracle Fusion Middleware infrastructure where rapid customer adoption of SOA, Web 2.0 and Event Driven Architecture (EDA) built on Oracle Fusion Middleware is driving the need for high performance, continuously available shared data services to offload and buffer analytic, compute and transaction processing cycles from backend core data processing services," Kurian said.
"Modern architectures like SOA, Web 2.0 and EDA are enabling more agile business processes and applications," said Tangosol CEO Cameron Purdy in a statement. "However, those same architectures are driving the demand for high-performance access to shared data, creating a very heavy burden on backend data processing services. Oracle and Tangosol can together address the need for a comprehensive data virtualization strategy that can both relieve the load on backend infrastructures while maintaining or increasing performance."
Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed. The transaction is expected to close next month.
Both Purdy and Kurian are scheduled to appear at TheServerSide Java Symposium in Las Vegas on Friday.
Posted by Paul Krill on March 23, 2007 07:59 AM
March 15, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Everybody agrees that data integration is a difficult task. But could it ever be accomplished via SaaS (Software as a Service), with integration services being provided online?
Pervasive Software believes it can. The company in the next 12 months plans to offer integration via a SaaS model, said Mike Hoskins, chief technology officer at Pervasive.
He served on a panel at the OpSource SaaS Summit 2007 event Thursday that discussed SaaS in the enterprise and integrating it with behind-the-firewall systems. Panelists acknowledged this is a tough subject. One audience member, meawhile, recalled an incident in which a friend of his recently wanted to integrate with a SaaS application.
"What came in the door was a CD with 10 consultants," the audience member said. He then asked if integration would ever be offered as a service.
"The short answer is, yes, there will be integration as a service," but the endpoints almost always involve some legacy applications behind the firewall, Hoskins said.
Afterward, he noted Pervasive's SaaS plans will include integration. He had called integration around SaaS "a huge opportunity" during the panel session.
Posted by Paul Krill on March 15, 2007 03:39 PM
February 27, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Star Trek-style health care envisioned
If an invention think tank founded by a former Microsoft CTO has its way, those Star Trek healing gadgets will become a reality.
Remember Star Trek III? When Dr. McCoy, sent back to 20th-century San Francisco with the rest of the crew, encounters a woman being readied for surgery at a hospital? He frowns on the whole idea of surgery, waves a wand over her and she is miraculously healed. This seems farfetched, but Nathan Myhrvold's Intellectual Ventures actually is pondering development of technology along those lines.
Intellectual Ventures is a combination of a private equity firm and an invention "hothouse," as described by the Churchill Club, which hosted Myhrvold, the company's CEO, at a breakfast presentation Tuesday in Palo Alto, Calif. He worked at Microsoft for 14 years until 2000 and was CTO.
Intellectual Ventures seeks to inspire inventors. "We go to people before they have an invention and fund them to try to have an invention," Myhrvold said.
A couple of the company's ideas include development of Star Trek-like devices for health care that would manipulate a patient's body without movement. This includes a device that could break down the plaque in brain cells that is associated with causing Alzheimer's Disease. "That's sub-cellular surgery but it may not be impossible," Myhrvold said.
Another device under consideration is a helmet that would be used in ambulances to determine the type of stroke a patient has just suffered, to ensure proper treatment, he said.
The Intellectual Ventures business model is contingent on intellectual property and the company finding someone else to build the actual products. Asked about the issue of patents being used to stop innovation, Myrhvold said the company has not had occasion to sue anybody. The company has been licensing technologies and has had considerable revenues, he said.
Nurturing inventors, however, has its difficult moments. Intellectual Ventures has found that its hardest job is dissuading people with ideas that the company does not believe will fly.
"It's a little like the school principal that says, 'I'm sorry, but your little Johnny isn't very smart,'" Myhrvold said.
Posted by Paul Krill on February 27, 2007 11:40 AM
February 21, 2007 | Comments: (0)
James Gosling, a Sun Microsystems vice president and Sun Fellow who is considered the founder of Java, has been named an officer of the Order of Canada, the company said.
A Canadian Broadcasting Corporation News report (CBC) said the Order of Canada designation recognizes lifetime achievements by Canadians from all walks of life. Gosling was named by the office of the Governor General.
Posted by Paul Krill on February 21, 2007 05:19 PM
February 09, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Marc Fleury, the founder of open source Java application server maker JBoss, is leaving Red Hat, which acquired JBoss last year, according to a JBoss spokesperson.
Fleury is leaving to pursue other interests, such as teaching, research in biology, music and his family, said spokesperson Chantal Yang. He had been on paternity leave since December and his resignation is effective immediately, she said
JBoss was acquired by Red Hat for $350 million, with the deal announced in April 2006 and completed two months later. Fleury, who was CEO of JBoss, became vice president and general manager of the JBoss division of Red Hat but "things didn't work out," as he thought they would, Yang said.
Red Hat released this prepared statement from Fleury on Friday:
"I have done what I can to help Red Hat succeed. People need to understand that open source is a tsunami that is transforming the software industry in its wake and its inevitability is now well beyond challenge or the force of individual personality," Fleury said.
Fleury's departure will not mean a change in direction for the JBoss middleware line, Yang said. The company will continue to invest in middleware and add people and technologies when appropriate.
Red Hat's CEO Matthew Szulik, in a statement released by the company, expressed gratitude to Fleury.
"Marc has made positive contributions to open source software. We are grateful to have had the opportunity to be the beneficiaries of his contributions, those of the JBoss community and those of our outstanding employees who joined Red Hat from JBoss," Szulik said.
Red Hat's acquisition of JBoss drew the headlines at the time. It had been speculated that Oracle would acquire JBoss but Red Hat became the successful suitor.
Posted by Paul Krill on February 9, 2007 06:51 AM
February 07, 2007 | Comments: (0)
The X Window System may not be in the limelight like the Microsoft Windows interface, but it remains vibrant and developers continue to enhance it.
About 30 developers from companies such as Intel, Sun Microsystems and VMware are attending the X.org Developer's Conference in Menlo Park, Calif. this week to ponder the direction of the X Window System.
"The conference is [held] to get the most active developers together and push ourselves forward [and] just communicate better, because it's a globally distributed bunch of people who cooperate," said Stuart Kreitman, a Sun Microsystems software engineer who organized the conference.
The X Window System has been the graphical interface for Unix workstations since 1986, said Kreitman. It also is supported on Linux now, he said.
"It's like bricks and mortar. It's the foundation of single-user Linux and Unix workstations," Kreitman said.
Version 7.2 of the X.org source code distribution is in the works, featuring modularization, according to Kreitman.
Projects discussed Wednesday included MultiPointer X (MPX), which is intended to boost collaboration by allowing more than one mouse device to direct activity on a screen. Also discussed was RandR, for the Resize and Rotate extension, which is about enabling a screen to run at different resolutions.
Virtual Multihead, a virtualization technology championed by VMware, also was covered.
Posted by Paul Krill on February 7, 2007 02:58 PM
January 30, 2007 | Comments: (0)
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and OASIS on Tuesday jointly announced publication of WebCGM (Computer Graphics Metafile) 2.0, an industry standard for technical illustrations in electronic documents.
Widely used in the defense, aviation, architecture and transportation industries, WebCGM 2.0 boasts new interoperability levels because of the collaboration between the two technology standards organizations, W3C and OASIS said.
"The result of this collaboration between OASIS and W3C is a single open standard for CGM on the Web that has been approved by the membership of both our organizations," said Patrick Gannon, president and CEO of OASIS, in a prepared statement released by W3C and OASIS. "This degree of endorsement assures implementers around the world that they can adopt WebCGM with confidence."
CGM is an ISO standard for a tree-structured, binary graphics format adopted especially by technical industries.
Version 2.0 of WebCGM adds a DOM (Document Object Model) API specification for programmatic access to WebCGM objects and a specification of an XML Companion File architecture for externalization of non-graphical metadata. It also extends the graphical and intelligent content of WebCGM 1.0.
Officially, WebCGM 2.0 has been approved as an OASIS Standard and a W3C Recommendation, which are the highest levels of ratification within these two organizations.
Posted by Paul Krill on January 30, 2007 12:26 PM
January 17, 2007 | Comments: (0)
A high-ranking Sun Microsystems official is denying a published report that the company is set to license its OpenSolaris OS under the GNU General Public License version 3.
"I have to say I was surprised because it just ain't so," said Rich Green, executive vice president for software at Sun, in his blog on Wednesday. "This is primarily due to the fact that the terms of GPLv3 aren't final, thus making it impossible for us to commit to it. It would be like signing a contract with blanks to be filled in later."
Discussions of Sun utilizing the GPL for Solaris have been going on for several years, apparently. Sun on Tuesday said no decision had been made on the GPL issue and Green's blog reaffirms that. For the moment, anyway.
Posted by Paul Krill on January 17, 2007 12:53 PM
January 16, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Sun Microsystems continues to ponder offering its OpenSolaris OS under the GNU General Public License but no decision has yet been made, the company said in a statement released on Tuesday.
"While we are not ruling out the possibility that we could add GPL to OpenSolaris at some point, we have no announcement to make about that today. We maintain that the world needs more than one type of open source license and we believe CDDL (Common Development and Distribution License) is the most polished and complete version of the Mozilla family of licenses, which is one reason we kept CDDL for Java EE and added GPL v2, as well," the company said.
"While we are actively engaged with the FSF [Free Software Foundation] regarding the details for GPL v3, our decision has not been made and we are continuing to evaluate the situation," Sun said.
Sun in November announced it was offering up Java to open source via the GPL 2 license. Discussions of Sun offering Solaris via the GPL go back at least as far as 2004. OpenSolaris, the open source version of Solaris, has been available via the CDDL.
The GPL has carried with it a stipulation that contributions to the software be released to the public at large. With the open-sourcing of Java, Sun noted the GPL "Classpath exception," enabling combinations of proprietary code with GPL Classpath libraries without the need to redistribute the proprietary code.
Posted by Paul Krill on January 16, 2007 12:46 PM
January 16, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Microsoft has added Don Ferguson, who has provided leadership on IBM's WebSphere and other major product lines, to its roster of executives.
In a Web page dated January 8, Microsoft said Ferguson holds the role of Technical Fellow in Platforms and Strategy in the Office of the Microsoft CTO. He had been an IBM Fellow and Chief Architect for the IBM Software Group.
"Don focuses on both the evolutionary and revolutionary role of information technology in business. Understanding the trends, architecting and piloting the implications for existing and new products and evangelizing Microsoft’s vision are the key aspects of Don’s job," the Web page says.
Ferguson has provided "overall technical leadership" for WebSphere, Tivoli, DB2, Rational and Lotus products, Microsoft said.
Posted by Paul Krill on January 16, 2007 12:10 PM
December 22, 2006 | Comments: (0)
BEA dealing with accounting issues
BEA Systems is wrestling with stock option grant accounting issues, which also have plagued other companies such as Apple Computer.
BEA has missed two financial results filing deadlines in the past two quarters while it reviews its books over stock option issues. As a result of the missed deadlines, Nasdaq has threatened to delist the company from its stock exchange and has sent two notices. But BEA is confident it will not be delisted.
The company on December 4 reported that an internal audit committee had made a determination that, under applicable accounting principles, the actual measurement dates for certain stock options differed from the recorded measurement dates for such stock options. BEA said it expects that the difference in these measurement dates will result in material non-cash, stock-based compensation expenses.
BEA is one of 180 companies now going through the process of examining its stock option practices, said Eric Stahl, BEA director of investor relations.
Rules on accounting for stock option grants had been loosely defined in the past, Stahl said.
Posted by Paul Krill on December 22, 2006 03:03 PM
November 21, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Update: PS3 able to run Office?
Sony's new game console may not just be for gaming, and you might even be able to claim your new "toy" as a business expense, writes InfoWorld Test Center's Ted Samson.
This is thanks to Sony being good enough to make available Open Platform for PlayStation 3, which has allowed Linux enthusiasts to load their new PS3s with Fedora Core 5 OS.
Samson writes:
Intrigued? Well, QJ.net has some instructions on how to go about doing the installation, and videos are popping up on sites like YouTube showing how it's done.According to QJ.net, once you've put Fedora on your PS3, "you will be able to install any app as long as it has a PPC build of it. That includes most major applications like Mozilla Firefox, VLC player, and more."
Update: Well, So, Codeweavers CrossOver Linux software does run Windows apps on Fedora 5, but not a PS3 with because it runs on a Cell processor..
According to one blog entry found in this Google search, Codeweavers works pretty well.
But could not virtualization software do the trick? Just not sure if any is done for Cell. According to IBM Research, Cell does virtualization.
Is it possible?
Challenge, or Game in this context, is on...
Posted by Mike Barton on November 21, 2006 04:40 PM
November 01, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Win CE 6.0 ships with source code
Microsoft officially shipped Windows CE 6.0 today. The latest release of Microsoft's embedded OS brings a number of improvements, including improved performance, better multitasking, and better integration with Visual Studio.
Most interesting of all, however, with this release Microsoft has upped the ante on its Shared Source licensing program, which gives developers access to Microsoft source code (but not license to redistribute it, in contrast to open source). Parts of earlier editions of Windows CE were available under a Shared Source license previously, but version 6.0 offers 100 percent of the CE kernel source code. What's more, the source is included on the distribution disc itself, which means it's available automatically to any developer who purchases the OS and agrees to the Shared Source license terms.
The device software market is heating up, with Linux gaining traction as a low-cost option for embedded devices. Developers like Linux because it gives them access to system internals, making it easier to tune the OS for custom devices. By making the source code to Windows CE available to developers, Microsoft gives Windows developers a similar advantage.
As Microsoft continues to broaden its Shared Source program, as well as forging alliances with prominent open source vendors, are we seeing the beginnings of a new day in Redmond? Or is it all just shrewd marketing? Share your thoughts.
Posted by Neil McAllister on November 1, 2006 01:13 PM
August 24, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Sun baits HP with wooden cutout
Note from the writer, Sept. 7: In this article, I incorrectly reported the material from which the cutout is made. It's wood. I regret any confusion I may have caused.
Sun has its fair share of cutups. Now they've been joined by a cutout.
In a stunt that appears to be part PR, part prank, and part pestering, Sun has secured a wooden cutout of HP founders William Hewlett and David Packard for $6,000, boasts Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz in his blog. Since acquiring the life-size portrait, Sun has set up various photo-ops with it, bedecking the duo in pro-Sun and Solaris paraphernalia.
Therein lies the prank and the pestering of the stunt. The PR emerges in Schwartz's touting of Solaris in his post. "With nearly 25% of Solaris downloads requested on to HP's servers, we know their customers really want the partnership, and we're happy to oblige," he writes.
"To warn you in advance, Bill and Dave have both indicated a strong interest in learning more about Sun and the Solaris platform, so stay tuned," he continues.
The wooden dual portrait, by the way, was part of a cross-country art project called "Pioneers Hitchhiking in the Valley of Heart's Delight."
HP was given right of first refusal to purchase the portrait of its esteemed founders, but the company declined. In his own blog, HP Vice President of Global Marketing Strategy and Excellence Eric Kintz returns Schwartz's volley, seemingly unimpressed by, or perhaps even sour on, Sun's "nice stunt." "I never met Bill or Dave, but I bet neither of them would have approved paying thousands for representations of themselves," he writes.
Kintz also made a point of addressing Schwartz's claims about the popularity of Solaris on HP servers by pointing to an HP-written summation of a 2006 IDC report. As far as I can tell, nothing there contradicts Schwartz's assertions of Solaris being downloaded to 25 percent of all HP servers. The report does say that "HP is #1 in high-end Unix server revenue with a 48.3% market share worldwide. IBM is #2 with 20.7% and Sun is #3 with 14.0%."
As for the fate of Hewlett and Packard: Sun says it will donate the piece to the Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose.
Posted by Ted Samson on August 24, 2006 03:30 PM
August 14, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Sun talks Java, storage at LinuxWorld
At a press conference at this week's LinuxWorld Expo in San Francisco, Sun Microsystems reiterated yet again its commitment to release the source code to its Java language under an OSI-approved open source license.
Which license? Undecided.
What governance model will be used? They're working on it.
How will the community be organized, and who will participate? Wait and see.
But Sun did for the first time include Java ME (Mobile Edition) in the list of products that would be part of the open source effort, and representatives claim that all of the code to Java SE should be released "early next calendar year." Details forthcoming -- as has been the case for some time now.
Buried in all the standard fanfare around open source, however, was another, perhaps more interesting announcement. In a move that took place somewhat under the radar, Sun has quietly reorganized its software divisions. Under the new structure, Sun's storage software group is now part of the Solaris group.
This move is significant, in that it not only helps to consolidate Sun's various developer divisions, but it also hints at the direction Sun plans to take for its storage products in the near future.
"Solaris, as powerful as it is, is increasingly used as a platform for network storage devices," said Rich Green, Sun's newly-appointed executive vice president of software systems. "We think there's an enormous opportunity here ... but stay tuned."
Indeed.
Posted by Neil McAllister on August 14, 2006 10:30 PM
August 11, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Has it really been a quarter century? Twenty-five years ago, IBM launched the personal computer, and Ben Ames has a walk down memory lane -- including a reminiscence from Ethernet inventor (and one-time InfoWorld editor in chief) Bob Metcalfe. But don't be fooled by the nostalgic tone: This is an obituary. As Ames notes, the current state of affairs "bodes poorly for the future of the traditional PC."
Not so fast, pardner. Rational people have been pronouncing the PC dead for at least 10 years now, and they continue to be wrong. The Web was going to obviate it; the thin client would drive in the final spike. Yet 25 years after IBM put the personal in the personal computer, the PC still has legs. Here are five reasons why.
1. It's cheap and getting outlandishly cheaper. An old saying went, "The PC you want is always $2500." Now a rockin' PC is $600. The biggest expense has become the cost of software. And as Linux and other open source solutions gain a foothold, PCs will become cheaper than the hottest new phones.
2. The PC is poised to become the hub of the home network. Home networks were once a hard sell to all but the geekiest of geeks. But with Wi-Fi built in at the chip level (and usually working out of the box), networks are going mass-market. The PC is by far the best device to sit at the center of that network, with all those other devices hanging off it. Plus, every three years, you'll buy a new PC, because you can -- and because the old one will be obsolete.
In fact, the PC has finally gotten its sea legs as a home entertainment device. It's taken a while, but PCs now make fine music servers. Eventually they'll be pretty good for movies as well. Sure, there are dedicated devices for that kind of thing, but they don't do e-mail and spreadsheeting all that well, now, do they? People still appreciate competence.
3. Software still drives hardware sales. If there are interesting applications and new operating systems that need the oomph, businesses and individuals will keep buying PCs to run them. Vista alone will sell millions of PCs. Eventually apps based around video, voice, and other technologies will move even more boxes.
4. Convergence beats divergence. Not many toasters are sold nowadays, but toaster ovens continue to roll off the shelves. The lesson: single-purpose devices do a great job, but multipurpose will always win. I like my cell phone and think the BlackBerry is great, but for getting everything done in one place, nothing beats a PC.
5. After a few years of use, Windows ugliness, spyware, discarded applications, and general gratuitous computing gunk make for a miserably functioning computer. I know plenty of folks who would rather start all over again -- with a new PC and freshly installed applications -- than try to fix the mess they have.
Agree, disagree? Tell me what you think here.
Posted by Steve Fox on August 11, 2006 04:46 PM
July 18, 2006 | Comments: (0)
There's a bittersweet quality to the news that Microsoft is acquiring WinTernals Software, the brainchild of Windows guru's Mark Russinovich and Bryce Cogswell. On the one hand, you're happy for Mark and Bruce, who will become esteemed members of Microsoft's development staff. Mark, in particular, will become one of only 14 Microsoft Technical Fellows, taking his place alongside legends like Windows NT guru Dave Cutler and Jim Gray. On the other hand, you're sad to see the end of a project like Sysinternals, which has provided free tools like Process Explorer, Autoruns, and Filemon to millions of Windows users and net admins -- free -- for going on a decade now. Sure, I know Sysinternals was the fun side of the business and Mark/Bryce are gonna have to get their kids' teeth straightened just like the rest of us. But the tools they created and then gave away -- dozens and dozens of them -- are incredibly adept at cutting through the layers of administrative UI gobbledgy gook and making important features easy to access and use. I often found myself wondering "Why did Winternals have to do this?" Did MS need a third party developer to tell them that it would be nice to be able to view and edit the programs that start up with (and often slow down) Windows? With the turf wars, competing agendas, release schedules and institutional torpor that often settles on large companies, the short answer is "Yes."
Unfortunately for us, the future for Sysinternals is, as the Magic 8 Ball would say "cloudy." Mark promises to keep the site running "for the time being while Microsoft determines the best way to integrate it into its own community efforts, and the tools will continue to be free to download." I don't know what that means, exactly, but I'm not too hopeful.
In the big scheme of things, though, we'll all benefit. Mark's probably best known for putting the word "rootkit" into the common parlance after he uncovered Sony's tricky DRM stealth technology back in October, 2005. But his technical expertise extends well beyond rootkit technology. Off the bat, he will be working closely with MS staff on issues like scaling in multicore environments, virtualization and creating a more manageable application model for future versions of Windows. Judging from his tireless morning and evening presentations on rootkits and kernel security at Teched 2006, Microsoft will get their money's worth out of him.
Beyond that, things get fuzzy. Bill Shelton, group product manager for Windows Server, said Microsoft isn't ready to talk about how the Winternals/Sysinternals software might be integrated with Microsoft's existing products, and won't be ready for a few months. But he did make it clear that Mark and Bryce are moving to Redmond "immediately." The goal, said Shelton, is to use the Winternals and Sysinternals wares to reduce the "TCO" (total cost of ownership) of Windows.
For his part, Mark said that working for Microsoft will give him much more leverage to improve the lives of Windows users than Winternals and Sysinternals ever could. "If I have an idea for a utility now, we can make it available to everybody that uses Windows, or get it in embedded in Windows and that will make peoples' lives better."
I sure hope so. Good luck Mark and Bryce!
Posted by Paul Roberts on July 18, 2006 01:12 PM
June 19, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Ozzie's talking about a Microsoft revolution
"By promoting a man whose approach to software development may be more in keeping with the Google-obsessed era in which we live, it could also signal the latest in a series of internal revolutions that have proved how dangerous it is to underestimate Microsoft, a company often written off in the technology world as a lumbering giant unsuited to the changing times, The Australian writes.
Ozzie was thrust into the hot seat as chief software architect at Microsoft last week, to fill Bill Gates' shoes.
The Australian's suggestion is expected as all eyes, or pent up hope, are on Microsoft to see if it can be turned around to actually challenge Google's momentum. (We won't pin its roll on innovation, Matt.)
But maybe the story is on to something that Google has seemed to capitilze on, hands-on know-how.
"Ray's a programmer's programmer," says Rob Enderle, a technology commentator. "He's much closer to an uber-engineer, whereas Bill hasn't been a programmer for a number of years."
The story continues:
Microsoft's strategy under Mr Gates has centred on what the company calls "integrated innovation" -- the idea that by closely linking all of its software, from Windows and Office to its server products, Microsoft can produce better products than rivals that deal with only one part of the computing ecosystem...That, however, has introduced a level of complexity that has bedeviled Microsoft's development process, in part resulting in delays that have left the next version of Windows running years late.
Ozzie has pushed for more clear objectives for projects and emphasising frequent re-releases of software, rather than the kitchen sink-approach of Vista, for example.
"Complexity kills," Mr Ozzie wrote in a recent internal memo, The Oz reports. "It sucks the life out of developers, it makes products difficult to plan, build and test, it introduces security challenges, and it causes end-user and administrator frustration."
I certainly makes business sense to release things gradually, versus waiting years to update products -- say, Windows -- in a meaningful way. It seems more natural with software, as the landscape changes so quickly. I've been promoting gradual implementation for Web sites for nearly 10 years after seeing "redesign" after "redesign" hold up needed and obvious improvements. The whole process seems to get lost when it is all bundled in to a mega-redesign, or major product release in Microsoft's case.
Why couldn't Microsoft offer a premium (read: pay) upgrade to XP to offer some of the more needed basic features: search apps etc, some security features, and the interface tweak??
One Tech Watch commenter writes it is part of the culture Gates created:
Being a former Lotus Notes programmer for one of Lotus's closest ISVs back in the 90's, I remember very distinctly how Lotus and particularly Iris held a very group oriented approach in all aspects. Not just the software they wrote, but in how they interacted with each other and how they perceived other's interacting with them. There were some politics there, but by and large, it was one big happy communal family.I also worked for Microsoft for a time and my experience could not have been more diametrically opposed. Microsoft, at least back in the early 90's was all about empowering the individual. That sounds real nice until you experience someone else empowering themselves at your expense. The politics of that organization were, well let's just say they were inline with the largest corporations around.
Gates' departure, while significant, will not erase the hiring decisions that were made in his image over the past 30 years. Because of that I have a hard time believing that the departure of one employee, regardless of who it is, will change the organization enough to allow the kind of changes Ray Ozzie will want to make in his own image. No organization can change overnight, and I'm not sure Mr. Ozzie will be able to muster the sustained patience necessary to get comfortable again.
Can Ozzie turn Microsoft around? Talk back to us below.
Posted by Mike Barton on June 19, 2006 09:33 AM
May 31, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Poor Sun. The quality of its products is widely recognized. Solaris is a great OS. Java is an undisputed success. The new Niagara processor is generating a lot of buzz, and Sun's AMD-based x86 servers are top notch. Despite all this, however, the question that remains on everyone's mind is whether Sun will be able to capitalize on all this great R&D. Just how, exactly, does it plan to reverse its financial misfortunes of the last few years?
We may now have one part of the answer. IDG News Service reports that Sun plans to lay off some 5,000 employees, amounting to as much as 13 percent of its workforce. In addition, it will sell three of its U.S. campus facilities.
Sun's board has already approved the moves, as well as new operational goals, including modest revenue growth. But what do you think? Is tightening its belt what it will take to pull Sun out of its slump?
Posted by Neil McAllister on May 31, 2006 02:50 PM
May 26, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Sun eyes embedded Java, object-aware CPUs
Sun Microsystems researchers are working on projects in areas ranging from embedded Java to boosting the ability of microprocessors to handle objects.
In a meeting with InfoWorld at Sun offices in Menlo Park, Calif., on Friday afternoon, Sun researchers discussed several projects:
* Squawk, which places a Java Virtual Machine (JVM) directly on the processor. This project is intended to increase use of Java on embedded devices such as wireless sensors.
* Maxwell, which purports to develop an object-aware memory architecture to enable microprocessors to handle objects, such as Java objects.
* Jedi, providing an environment for exploring proposed modifications to the Java platform.
* Semplice, to enable Visual Basic applications to run on the JVM. This effort was first discussed at the JavaOne 2006 conference in San Francisco last week. Visual Basic developers would be able to leverage their current programming skills but deploy to the JVM.
Posted by Paul Krill on May 26, 2006 05:14 PM
May 25, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Informatica helping out with Salesforce.com links
Little noticed in the recent flurry of Salesforce.com activity this week was an announcement Wednesday that Informatica will be delivering a new product, PowerCenter Connect for salesforce.com, that is intended to help customers integrate Salesforce with existing, internal data.
Integration is still the Achilles heel of SaaS (software as a service), so this is significant -- particularly for existing customers of Informatica, which specializes in data integration (or "data as a service") solutions. Over the long haul Informatica intends to provide hosted data integration among business partners, which the company predicts will boost BPO (business process outsourcing) efforts.
(By Eric Knorr)
Posted by Paul Krill on May 25, 2006 04:18 PM
May 23, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Microsoft on Tuesday made the WinFX Beta 2 release available with a Go Live license, giving the green light for early adopters to deploy applications in production environments using the WinFX managed APIs.
A Go Live license also is featured for the Windows Presentation Foundation presentation subsystem that is part of WinFX.
Microsoft announced the beta at the Windows Hardware and Engineering Conference (WinHEC) in Seattle.
WinFX offers a unified programming model that is a superset of the Microsoft .Net Framework 2.0 combined Windows Presentation Foundation, the Windows Communication Foundation Web services technology and the Windows Workflow Foundation workflow engine. InfoCard identity management technology also is featured.
A core part of the Windows Vista OS, WinFX enables developers to build modern applications and experiences that are more reliable and secure, according to Microsoft. WinFX also focuses on information management and collaboration.
The beta and the Go Live license are available for do