Friday, April 24, 2009 11:24 AM/EST
With the Microsoft earnings report this week, the big news was the first ever year-over-year decline in quarterly revenue for the software giant.
But to me the interesting news in the report was the fact that the company's servers and tools unit surpassed the client unit (which includes the Windows OS) to become the biggest profit area for Microsoft. Servers and tools was also the only unit to post a revenue gain over the same quarter last year.
Wednesday, April 01, 2009 12:15 PM/EST
Is the devil you know—and expect—better than the one you don't?
Consider this: You run into person No. 1—let's call her Melissa—on the street. Without warning, Melissa hits you in the face and then proceeds to beat you up as you lie on the ground.
Then, person No. 2, Michelangelo, walks up to you and calmly states that in two weeks time, at exactly 2 p.m., he will beat you up. Then he walks away.
Now, while neither is a pleasant scenario, I have a feeling that the majority of people would rather run into Michelangelo than Melissa.
Friday, March 27, 2009 12:14 PM/EST
Click here to see the slideshow
While the varying parties in the operating system wars like to tout the advantages that each OS holds over its rivals, all of them share one thing in common. Whether it's Linux, Mac OS X or Windows, none of them are particularly quick about booting up, especially if one is using older hardware.
In fact, along with size and price, one the main attractions of Linux-based netbooks is their ability to turn on and boot up fast, letting their users get to work checking mail and browsing the web in seconds. So an operating system option that provided close to instant-on capabilities for any laptop or desktop could be an attractive option for many people.
This is the idea behind Presto, a new beta product from Linux vendor Xandros. When installed on a system, Presto gives users the option to quickly boot into a lightweight netbook style operating system that provides access to core applications such as web browsers, chat tools, and productivity applications.
Monday, March 16, 2009 11:57 AM/EST
According to a recent series of tests done by Microsoft, Internet Explorer 8 is the fastest browser available today. Of course, it doesn't take a lot of searching to find similar studies claiming that Google Chrome or Firefox or Safari or Opera or WebKit is the fastest browser available today.
So what do I think about all of these "fastest browser" tests? Which do I think is the most valid? Well, in the immortal words of Bill Murray in Meatballs, "It just doesn't matter!"
Monday, February 09, 2009 3:40 PM/EST
Given the current "25 things you might not know about me" craze, there are a lot of people out there who have to tell you all kinds of things about themselves. This whole thing seems a bit nuts to me, after all, if there are things about me that people don't know, it's probably because I don't want them to know these things.
While I've tended to ignore these lists as they've ended up in my mail or Facebook updates, the one's I have read tended to be pretty positive and good natured. Again, this seems nuts to me. In my opinion, if you really want to know someone, you should find out the things that they hate, the things that really drive them nuts.
So to put my money where my mouth is, I've done just that. Without further ado, here is my list (in no particular order) of the Twenty Things about Technology that Drive Me Nuts.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009 3:13 PM/EST
Click here to see screenshots of IE 8
With the release of Internet Explorer 8 Release Candidate 1, we are finally in the home stretch of the long trip to the latest version of the Microsoft Web browser.
And since this is a release candidate, this means that, unless there is a major problem found, this version of Internet Explorer 8 is pretty much the version that will be officially released. So, how will IE 8 stack up?
Well, if compared solely with earlier versions of Internet Explorer, IE 8 is a massive improvement that boosts the usability, security and flexibility of the Microsoft browser.
However, this won't be the case. IE 8 will instead be compared with the latest versions of Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Apple Safari and Opera. And based on these comparisons, IE 8 RC 1 only looks so-so.
Thursday, October 02, 2008 2:32 PM/EST
Click here to see the screenshots
In the last few days there has been a lot of news about the legal battle between RealNetworks and the movie industry over RealDVD, RealNetwork's new DVD player and backup application.
But the big question outside of the legal battle itself (and for the record I don't think the MPAA has a leg to stand on) is, Is the application itself any good?
And the answer is, yes and no. From a usability and feature standpoint, RealDVD is probably the most user-friendly and intuitive application I've ever seen for copying and managing a movie collection on a PC. But the application has some serious limitations on its portability and the stability of the backups it makes, ironically all caused by RealNetwork's (failed) efforts to make the application palatable to the movie industry.
After installing RealDVD (which is currently only available for Windows) users can insert any movie DVD into their computers and RealDVD will query the Gracenote service to get related artwork and information about the movie. Users can then play the DVD or play and save it at the save time. In my tests saving a DVD took anywhere from 20 to 30 minutes.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008 3:06 PM/EST
Click here to see the screenshots
REVIEW: Beta 2 of Internet Explorer 8 shows promise with strong privacy controls and new usability features.
Despite its market dominance, Internet Explorer has been in many ways the browser that was left behind. IE 6 has lasted well beyond its freshness date and IE 7 was at best a small upgrade that still left the Microsoft browser behind competitors.
But based on initial tests of Beta 2 of Internet Explorer 8, it looks like Microsoft may be on track to release the first significantly improved version of its browser since the release of IE 5 in 1999. IE 8 Beta 2 includes many new features that improve the usability, stability and security of the browser and while many of the new capabilities are basically Microsoft playing catch-up to Firefox and Opera, IE 8 actually showcases a few browsing innovations of its own.
Of course, keep in mind that this is definitely a beta and in the first few days of testing IE 8 Beta 2 has proven to be very unstable (though I did a get a very good and frequent look at the new tab and site recovery features), and a surprisingly large number of popular Web sites needed to be viewed in the browser's IE 7 compatibility mode. Because of this I recommend that only Web developers and the technically curious try out this beta and anyone needing to do serious work with a stable browser should stay well away.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008 9:42 AM/EST
Here are the emerging technologies stories for the week of July 28th.
Lasers get in the Groove - Researchers at Harvard and Hamamatsu Photonics are working on a new technique to focus lasers using etched grooves rather than large and bulky lenses. If it works it could revolutionize the use of lasers in a whole host of fields.
A $10 Laptop from India - An institue in India says that they are working on a education laptop that they hope to be able to provide for $10. Not sure how that will be possible for anything but a toy but we'll see.
What will be our next display options? - Nice little roundup of Boston area companies working on next generation displays, everything from e-paper to display glasses.
Driving with Clippy - Microsoft is announcing a new focus on providing computing resources for automobiles. Intriguing possibilities though jokes about Blue Screens of Death on the highway are inevitable.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008 11:21 AM/EST
Click here to see the list
Back during Microsoft's antitrust battles, one of the arguments that the company made to defend itself was that antitrust penalties would stifle Microsoft's ability to innovate. At the time this drew more than a few chuckles from onlookers who struggled to find much in the way of innovations from the software giant.
And this is true on the technical side. It can definitely be hard to come up with any significant technical innovations from Microsoft. But that doesn't mean Microsoft isn't innovative.
During the Bill Gates era Microsoft has come up with truly unique, innovative and effective business processes and competitive strategies that have helped make it one of the most powerful companies in the world. In many ways they've written the book on how to build and maintain a dominating monopoly.
So in honor of Bill Gates' impending retirement here's my list of 10 "innovations" that have helped propel Microsoft to the top of the technology market. Take a look at and let me know what would be on your list.
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