The reports of the Windows "black screen of death" seem to be greatly exaggerated and hardly worth mentioning. The FUD and sensationalism that have surrounded the issue are a bigger story than the actual black screen of death at this point, and highlight the need for clear communication and ethical disclosure.
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Vulnerability research is a race for bragging rights. The competition to be first to announce a new flaw--particularly a flaw that allegedly impacts Windows 7--is fierce and can have unfortunate consequences as it apparently did in this case.
Microsoft confirmed the debut of a microblogging service somewhat similar to Twitter in China on Tuesday. However, because the service was launched in China, U.S.-based Microsoft spokespersons had little information that they could provide regarding the service.
The service is through MSN China, a joint venture between Microsoft's MSN service and Shanghai Alliance Investment Ltd. It was formed in May 2005.
"Today, MSN China launched MSN Juku, a new service that lets customers post 140-character messages to an update screen that slowly scrolls old messages," a Microsoft spokesperson said in an e-mailed statement. The service is still in beta test.
Microsoft might dominate the software landscape, but when it comes to search and online media, the company still has its work cut out for it.
That was the sober assessment of Yusuf Mehdi, the company executive responsible for building market share for both search and Microsoft's MSN.
"We have a very long way to go in search, where we're outgunned by Google's scale advantage," said Mehdi, who holds the title of senior vice president for Microsoft's online audience business.
Mehdi's comments during a talk this week at the Credit Suisse 2009 Annual Technology Conference in Scottsdale, Az. Not surprisingly, investors' questions revolved around Microsoft's Bing search technology and the company's deal with Yahoo.
Since the first public news of Windows 7's development back on October 2007, we've heard about a component of the operating system called MinWin -- a tantalizingly titled element that sounds like some kind of portable Windows kernel. Now Windows 7 is actually residing on paying consumers' desktops, and inside of it -- and inside of Windows Server 2008 R2 -- is the MinWin kernel architecture...and yet few have been made clear as to what it actually is.
A few weeks ago in Los Angeles, Microsoft technical fellow Mark Russinovich -- absolutely the world's leading authority on Windows performance and architecture -- took time to explain to developers attending PDC 2009 in Los Angeles exactly what this is.
Microsoft has begun a campaign to actively urge users of its 8-year-old Internet Explorer 6 browser to upgrade.
After launching IE 8 in March, Micosoft has concurred with critics that IE 6 is outdated. Many people have dropped the older browser, but the remaining users are often the tough cases--those who don't have a choice because of corporate computing policy or who aren't tech-savvy enough to realize there's a reason to move on.
It's this latter population Microsoft is targeting with a campaign that runs through June 2010 that touts its own IE 8 as a better alternative. The campaign's first visible elements are a video aimed at online holiday shoppers and a Web slice to promote daily deals at eBay. Web slices are basically live bookmarks that can show miniature Web pages in the browser.
All top five server vendors globally saw declines in revenue and shipment in the third quarter of 2009, with Sun Microsystems registering the biggest fall, according to the latest figures from Gartner.
In a report released Monday, the research firm noted that Sun saw its server revenue drop 32 percent and unit shipments dip 38 percent in the third quarter, compared to the same period last year.
IBM experienced a 12 percent decline in revenue growth, though it clocked the highest revenue in the market for the quarter at $3.4 billion. Hewlett-Packard and Fujitsu saw their revenue decline 15 percent and nearly 11 percent, respectively. Dell was the only vendor with a single-digit revenue decline (5 percent) among the top 5 vendors, Gartner said.
Although Microsoft and Yahoo have only just inked their final search deal and still need regulatory approval, Microsoft's Yusuf Mehdi talked on Tuesday about the economics that the deal will bring.
Speaking at a Credit Suisse technology investor conference in Arizona, Mehdi said that both Microsoft and Yahoo should see a double-digit increase in revenue per search, once the two companies have a single paid search system.
Putting their two separate paid search systems together will take longer than just setting up Yahoo to use Bing's algorithmic search.
Historically, Windows portables sold for considerably more than desktops, while delivering less performance or features. This holiday season, prices will be closer than ever -- and, aside from netbooks, there will be little significant difference in performance for price. The question: If prices are about the same, who wouldn't buy a notebook for portability over a desktop? Further: At what point should desktops go the way of the dodo?
Borrowing a tactic it has used to tout Internet Explorer, Microsoft on Tuesday launched a music tie-in to help promote Windows 7. Dubbed Section 7, the site offers discount concert tickets and is being done in conjunction with music promoter Live Nation. Among the things the site features are $7 concert tickets and $7 merchandise for select artists.
"Section 7 offers music lovers a host of insider benefits, including exclusive ticket buying options, discounts, and opportunities to meet their favorite artists, fan clubs, great deals on tickets, merchandise and more," Microsoft said in an e-mail.
Microsoft and Lockheed Martin have announced a deal to license the software titan's simulation software -- dubbed "ESP" -- for use in the aerospace firm's battle training simulations.
The announcement of the strategic alliance between the two firms came at the Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation & Education Conference (I/ITSEC) this week in Orlando, Fla.
Additionally, Lockheed Martin is also demonstrating its first ESP-based application on the show floor, according to statements from the aerospace giant and Microsoft.