Friday, May 31, 2002
The Register: Palm numbers suggest dire quarter for handhelds While the figures would have been bleak enough on their own, Palm insisted that it was caught in an industry wide malaise, with little evidence of an expected seasonal uptick. If anything, said Judy Bruner, Palms CFO, "It appears we have maintained or gained market share."
Thursday, May 30, 2002
Microsoft mulls Xbox-PC connection - Tech News - CNET.com "The survey includes a number of questions about a proposed Xbox Connection Kit that would let Xbox owners use the console to remotely access MP3 music and other entertainment files stored on a PC. The kit would include software and a remote control for the Xbox that would allow people to access music files and other media via a TV screen. Owners would need to have a home networking system set up to connect the Xbox and the PC."
Wednesday, May 29, 2002
News: Modem owners get AT&T cable surprise As an attbi customer who owns a cable modem, this type of move makes me look forward to competitive alternatives...
Intel to Offer Some Pieces in a Puzzle "In a four-page press release, Intel goes to great lengths to compare the new Itanium chip with both its previous Itanium, known as McKinley, and to a competing chip from Sun Microsystems. Missing in the document, though, is any reference to Intel's own industry-leading Pentium family of microprocessors. ... The missing comparison is intriguing because recent versions of the Pentium have demonstrated sharp performance increases of their own. ... Two weeks ago, Jack Dongarra, an independent analyst at the University of Tennessee, who tracks the performance of computers, released data showing that the most recent Pentium 4, which runs at 2.5 gigahertz, is now the fastest processor, under a standard measure of performance known as the Linpack Benchmark. It surpassed processors from companies like NEC, Cray, I.B.M. and Fujitsu that cost many times as much."
All things under the Sun "Our strategy can be summed up as follows: We believe that every platform that exists will need to have an execution environment of some form. To the extent [that] a portable execution environment needs to exist, we believe Java will be it, because .Net is a waste of time for any consumer company."
Tuesday, May 28, 2002
Eminem CD spotlights new piracy patterns - Tech News - CNET.com "It's pretty safe to say that it's all CD-Rs that people have bought off the streets or burned from friends," said Gracenote CEO David Hyman. "This is the first time anything unreleased has shown up at No. 2."
Netscape 7.0 PR1 Now Available "After releasing a stunningly weak series of Web browsers that alienated customers and cemented Microsoft's lead in the browser wars, Netscape has quietly issued an early peek at its next browser suite, Netscape 7.0, which offers a surprisingly wide range of new functionality. Netscape 7.0 Preview Release 1 (PR1) builds on the Mozilla 1.0 platform and adds several proprietary Netscape technologies, including email spell checking, access to Internet radio, an interesting Click-to-Search feature that first appeared in Opera's browser, and better corporate features, such as Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) support."
Supporting Multiple-Location Users (Alertbox May 2002) "In only three years, Internet use has changed from being overwhelmingly a single-location activity to being a multiple-location activity for almost half of all users. Given that the census data is already six months old, I wouldn't be surprised if the percentage of multi-location users had increased to more than half by now."
Saturday, May 25, 2002
Forbes.com - Pulled in a New Direction "Michael Dell conquered the PC market by exploiting the technology of others to assemble cheap, powerful boxes. That same strategy may not work as he pushes into higher-end storage networks and server arrays."
Friday, May 24, 2002
Red Mercury LLC - Palm OS Games, PDA and Mobile Entertainment: XBox [sic] Economics Interesting analysis, via Camworld
The Register: KaZaA collapses under Rambo-style lawsuits "KaZaA, the Dutch software and products company which founded KaZaA.com, is to shut down because it can't afford to defend copyright infringement charges brought against it by the entertainment industry."
Recession? Don't Tell the Video Game Industry ... "Despite the recession, a prolonged technology slump and Sept. 11, sales of video game hardware, software and accessories increased 43 percent last year, to a record $9.4 billion, according to the market research firm NPD Group. ... Sales of game software alone reached $6.4 billion last year, putting the game industry in striking distance of Hollywood, which had box-office sales of $8.35 billion in 2001. And video game executives predict this year will be even stronger. ... Although Microsoft made an ambitious showing at this year's event, much of the industry is still skeptical that the company will be able to translate the slim technical lead of its Xbox into a major factor in the market. Many game players at this year's show said that although the Xbox appeared to have a slight technical advantage, Microsoft had been able to develop only one or two games that exploit it."
Microsoft spreads word to CEOs: Tablet PC out in fall One reporter scrawled: "Bill Gates is the chief software architect. He is a fervent proponent of all things technological." The Tablet PC's translation: "Bill Gates is the they software adulterer bees of fewest property out trope pedagogue."
Thursday, May 23, 2002
InformationWeek > Microsoft > To The Middle > May 17, 2002 "Smaller businesses should snap up integrated applications for customer-facing and back-office operations in the same way they did Microsoft's do-it-all desktop suite, chairman and chief software architect Bill Gates said in an interview with InformationWeek. "That naturally should happen if you have a breakthrough product in this space," he says. "But nobody has done it, so right or wrong, we're going after that." What an amazing quote...
MDN: Technology: Will i-mode succeed
in the U.S. and Europe? "So, when folks ask me what I think about whether i-mode will succeed in the U.S. and Europe, I now give them this answer: "If the carrier is willing to spend some time learning what i-mode actually is, and why it is successful, it will probably do really well. If it is not willing to do this minimum amount of work, I don't see content as being a big part of its future revenues." That is a nice way of saying, "yes in Europe, no in the U.S." (via Dave Farber)
in the U.S. and Europe? "So, when folks ask me what I think about whether i-mode will succeed in the U.S. and Europe, I now give them this answer: "If the carrier is willing to spend some time learning what i-mode actually is, and why it is successful, it will probably do really well. If it is not willing to do this minimum amount of work, I don't see content as being a big part of its future revenues." That is a nice way of saying, "yes in Europe, no in the U.S." (via Dave Farber)
ZDNet: Story: Netscape 7: Nice, but I'll stay with IE. Here's why "A brand-new user, a Microsoft-hater, or someone who lives on AOL mail and messaging would be very well served by Netscape 7. But for the rest of us who are reasonably happy with Microsoft, none of these improvements is compelling enough to make me want to switch. At this point, Netscape needs to offer something earth-shattering if it's going to make up ground on IE. Netscape 7 ain't it."
O'Reilly Network: Borland Developers Conference Report [May. 22, 2002] "If Sun had a roadmap for Java it would be a disaster," Gosling said. "We're a big iron company, we sell hardware by the pound. We do Java to promote a healthy software market."
Gosling and Anders Hejlsberg at Borland's dev con -- must have been an amazing day...
O'Reilly Network: Sun ONE looks to be # 1 and more... [May 23, 2002] More fun with app server statistics -- claiming Sun is in third place
The Seattle Times: Business & Technology: Tablet coming in October: Executives get glimpse at future of PCs "The Tablet PC, a new type of computer that Microsoft hopes will rejuvenate industry sales and broaden computer usage, will go on sale in October, Chairman Bill Gates disclosed yesterday at his annual CEO Summit. ... Microsoft developed a special version of its Windows XP operating system to run Tablet PCs. The devices are being built to Microsoft specifications by computer companies such as Acer and Toshiba and expected to sell for about $2,000. ... "If I can do it, everyone can do it,'' said Toys R Us CEO John Eyler. "I think this comes as second nature. It's very easy to use." ... Eyler also mentioned that his sales of Microsoft's Xbox game console quadrupled last week after the price came down from $299 to $199." ... To lighten his speech, Gates poked fun at former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling. He said that at least year's summit Skilling had given some of the "pearls of wisdom." ... On a slide, Gates showed a quote from Skilling saying that business is moving so fast "you don't need a strategic-planning function anymore." ... Smirking, Gates said it was an "interesting insight," drawing chuckles from the crowd."
Digital Video Recorders Give Advertisers Pause "The free television that we've all enjoyed for so many years is based on us watching these commercials," said Jamie C. Kellner, chief executive of Turner Broadcasting. "There's no Santa Claus. If you don't watch the commercials, someone's going to have to pay for television and it's going to be you." I will gladly pay for quality TV content -- what I want, when I want, where I want.
WSJ.com - IBM Closed Gap With BEA In Application Server Market Compare this with the following entry...
BEA Systems - 2002 Press Releases: Leading Analyst Firm Confirms BEA As Worldwide Application Server Market Leader Wonderful case study in how to make market research tell your favorite story; see previous entry on IBM's stance...
WSJ.com - Personal Technology: Handspring's Treo Now Offers Push E-Mail Like BlackBerry "...heavy e-mail users may want to wait to buy a Treo until this summer, when Sprint's version will come out. It will work on Sprint's forthcoming high-speed network, providing a nearly always-on experience for downloading e-mail, much like the BlackBerry does, eliminating the need to constantly place calls to get e-mail. It will also download mail much faster than the current Treo and will offer billing plans oriented toward heavy data use, thus limiting runaway phone bills. ... The bottom line, however, is that the Treo now has a new capability: automatic reception of e-mail. That means it can replace a separate phone and PDA -- and a BlackBerry as well."
Forbes.com: The Monitors Have Eyes "Monitoring software is proliferating on office networks and home computers, creating a $269 million market for Internet-access-control software. According to research firm IDC, 60% of companies monitor or filter employees' Internet forays, but generally limit their surveillance to logging which Web addresses employees visit. Ascentive's new $49.95 program, launched in December for Windows only, gives would-be Big Brothers a broader opportunity to spy."
Users Still Think It's AO-Hell "We have done more than 100 surveys and reports since late 2000 and this survey has the most overwhelming, and negative, response to a company or technology we have ever seen," said Michael Shulman, director of research at ChangeWave, in a research note.
The software revolution has only just begun, Gates says : 04/02 "If I had to say what is the thing that I feel best about, it's being involved in this whole software revolution and what comes out of that," Gates replied. "You can go all over the world and go into schools and see these computers being used, and go into hospitals and see them being used, and see how they are tools for sharing information that hopefully leads to more peaceful conditions. And the great research advances that come out of that. So from a professional point of view, the software is the thing that I think I find most gratifying." via Dave Farber
Wednesday, May 22, 2002
Sun mimics Microsoft in Solaris release - Tech News - CNET.com "Solaris 9 will come bundled with the Sun Open Network Environment (Sun ONE) directory server, used for keeping track of network information, said Anil Gadre, Solaris general manager. And by the end of 2003, the Santa Clara, Calif.-based server seller also will build in into Solaris its application server for e-business tasks and Web server software for hosting Web sites, he said. ... The improvements increase the utility of Solaris, Sun's version of the Unix operating system, but Sun isn't adding the new features for free. Where the Solaris 8 was free for customers using the software on servers with eight or fewer processors, Solaris 9 will be free only on single-processor computers, Gadre said."
The Register: C++, SQL, Unix and C are key skills - still "Experience in C++ (mentioned in almost 24,844 ads in Q1 2002), SQL (23,134), Unix (21,079) and C (20,532) were highly prized." ... "Oracle, Win NT, Visual Basic and Java were each mentioned in more than 10,000 ads. However, demand for Java skills has slipped markedly from 40,681 mentions in Q1 2001 to 14,566, a decline of 64 per cent" (in UK IT recruitment ad study)
Sony Out to Claim Victory as Game Giants Battle I think proclamations such as ``Officially, the console wars are over'' (Kaz Hirai, the president of Sony Computer Entertainment of America) are a bit premature...
WSJ.com: Microsoft Will Let CEOs Test Its Tablets at Annual Summit "The celebrity test run is just one more milestone in a long and expensive journey to market. Microsoft first showed off a prototype of the Tablet nearly two years ago, touting the potential to revolutionize computing by allowing people to take handwritten notes on a full-fledged computer in a business meeting, in a class or on a sales call. Since the notes would be stored on a computer, instead of on a tablet of paper, people could then convert them into type and file them away -- or search through them in their original, handwritten form, even inserting new comments or sending snippets of them in e-mails."
Myhrvold's Exponential Economy "The reason I decided to leave Microsoft is, I wanted to do whatever I wanted to do. So our mission here is about as eclectic as I am. One of the areas I’ve been very interested in is biotech, and no matter how broad a scope I can carve out for our research group at Microsoft, biotech was just a little too far out."
Tuesday, May 21, 2002
The Seattle Times: Business & Technology: Microsoft puts its X online "Widespread adoption of broadband is inevitable," Allard said. "The narrow-band approach can be best described as sucking pizza through a straw. Technically, it might be possible, but it's massively unsatisfying."
Monday, May 20, 2002
The Seattle Times: Business & Technology: A Web of dreams unrealized: High-speed Net access slow to catch fire "More than 70 million homes are online, but only 15 percent have high-speed Internet access, according to estimates from CyberAtlas."
Microsoft to Deliver Integrated Retail Management Solution For Small and Midmarket Retailers Microsoft expands its application scope...
Microsoft's $1 Billion Bet on Xbox Network "While Sony and Nintendo have online plans, networked game playing is peripheral to their video-game strategies. For Microsoft, it has been integral to the Xbox plan from the beginning — the wedge with which Microsoft hopes to gain entry to the nation's and world's living rooms and become an entertainment powerhouse. ... "You're looking at a service that will become a new phone network overnight," said Richard Doherty, president of Envisioneering, a research and consulting firm in Seaford, N.Y. "By Christmas, Microsoft could become the nation's fourth-largest phone company." via Dave Winer
Sunday, May 19, 2002
Friday, May 17, 2002
The Seattle Times: Business & Technology: Microsoft sees a future for an expanded Xbox "In recent speeches around the country, Chairman Bill Gates and Chief Executive Steve Ballmer talked about plans to add television controls to the Xbox and develop a device combining the features of a game console, computer, TV set-top box and music player." ... "Ballmer said the company is working on a multifunction device that could be sold at low cost and prove attractive to households that may not see the value of a computer. His remarks came May 11 in New York at the Blacks in Technology Summit. ..." ... There will be a day in the next five, six, seven years when you'll be able to buy a device ... for maybe $500 or $600 that's your TV, that's your CD player, your DVD player, it's your video-game player, it's your PC, it's your Internet access device and it's your TV tuner all in one ... ,'' he said."
Thursday, May 16, 2002
3 Ex-Chiefs Discover Perils of Borrowing and Believing I'm sure the shareholders and employees who lost their money will be eager to support these former CEOs...
WSJ.com - Personal Technology: StarOffice's Plan to Rival Microsoft Falls Flat on Compatibility, Ease Walt Mossberg: "I'd recommend StarOffice 6.0 only for light-duty work, and then only for people on a tight budget, or who just can't abide Microsoft's licensing and activation policies. ...
If Microsoft had more competition, consumers would benefit. But competitors have to do great products aimed at average users. StarOffice 6.0 has a long way to go."
If Microsoft had more competition, consumers would benefit. But competitors have to do great products aimed at average users. StarOffice 6.0 has a long way to go."
Wednesday, May 15, 2002
Sony to Cut PlayStation 2 Price by $100 Great bravado on Sony's part, but let's look at the relative profit contribution for Sony and MSFT; if this is going to be a war of attrition, I think Sony is less in a position to take "non-economic" moves
Turmoil at Napster Moves the Service Closer to Bankruptcy "The apparent collapse of Napster is mixed news for the record companies. On one hand, they are watching the final spasms of an archnemesis, a company they assert cost them tens of millions of dollars in lost sales. And they do not have to face Napster in a full trial whose outcome was not certain. ...
On the other hand, the record companies do not now have a chance to collect any damages for copyright infringement, a chance they would have had at trial."
On the other hand, the record companies do not now have a chance to collect any damages for copyright infringement, a chance they would have had at trial."
Tangent: first instance of Blogger data loss this morning; lost some links after posting to the service; sigh...
Monday, May 13, 2002
A Man Who Would Shake Up Science "Now Mr. Wolfram is finally publishing his work, and his claims surpass the most extravagant speculation. He has, he argues, discovered underlying principles that affect the development of everything from the human brain to the workings of the universe, requiring a revolutionary rethinking of physics, mathematics, biology and other sciences. He believes he has shown how the most complex processes in nature can arise out of elemental rules, how a wealth of diverse phenomena — the infinite variety of snowflakes and the patterns on sea shells — are generated from seemingly trivial origins."
The Seattle Times: Business & Technology: Interactive TV needs a nudge to take hold "But three years after its introduction, interactive — or more accurately, "advanced" — TV seems clouded by a miasma of confusing choices, uncertain direction and vendor greed. Only 800,000 to 900,000 users subscribe to various services, a tiny and unsustainable fraction of the TV-viewing public's 102 million households."
Boston Globe Online / Business / Losing their grip: Cellphone hybrids join the crowd in a softening handheld computer market "While Palm and Handspring snipe, Compaq will continue to consolidate its foothold in the corporate market. RIM will try to protect its Blackberry franchise from a new rival, California-based Good Technology. And Sharp will go trolling for geeks willing to brave the complexities of Linux, crammed onto a device the size of a TV remote control. ... The handheld marketplace is almost too crowded to breathe. But nobody seems interested in leaving."
Sunday, May 12, 2002
Friday, May 10, 2002
vnunet.com Microsoft convicted of software piracy via Camworld. To be fair, it was in a product they acquired.
Xbox co-creator reveals new venture - Tech News - CNET.com These guys clearly hired a PR person early on...
The Entertainment Server "In terms of types of media it can intake and store and process, the Xbox is a PC," said Ryan Jones, an analyst at the Yankee Group, a research and consulting firm. "A PC veiled behind a killer app: video games." Great market segment snapshot.
Microsoft Remedy Hearings: Allchin Explains Genesis, Scope of Trustworthy Computing "Under questioning during cross-examination at the Microsoft remedy hearings, Allchin said that it was he, not Gates, who originally came up with the Trustworthy Computing idea. ... Allchin admitted that the initiative doesn't cover previous Windows releases. When Holley asked Allchin whether the initiative covers Windows 9x, for example, Allchin said that those OSs are "very, very old" and that customers concerned about security wouldn't want to use such products. "I think that's fairly well known," Allchin said. "Most of the customers, certainly in the corporate space, are moving to Windows 2000. [Win9x] is just a very, very old system."
Xbox Sales Surge in Europe "Since the European price reduction took effect April 26, weekly sales are running neck-and-neck with PlayStation 2. Based on week-to-week sales since launch, Xbox represents 49% of the next generation console market in the United Kingdom1, 46% in France and 55% in Germany2."
Good Technology I'm surprised they didn't name it after a fruit, since they appear to have copied everything else RIM did.
WSJ.com - Personal Technology: Thera Faces Treo in Cell-PDA Race, But Its Wireless Features Disappoint New Pocket PC phone is not for Walt
WSJ.com - Technology: IBM, Microsoft Battle Again, This Time Over 'Web Services' Good snapshot. "Some in the technology world want to see the rivalry "as a World Wrestling Federation battle of pumped-up consultants," says IBM's Mr. Mills. But much of that is just hype, he says."
Q&A: Ellen Ullman / Programmer turned novelist talks about computers, writing and the world we live in Interview with very interesting/insightful person
MS Scales Back Digi-TV Plans "The idea of triple play in Europe is not dead, it's just being done a different way -- with Microsoft's Xbox," said Lehman Brothers analyst Peter McNally. "The network operators can't afford to buy the set-top boxes, so Microsoft is saying 'Make the consumer pay.' Xbox can eventually be a cable decoder and a home networking unit."
Flash: Blogging Goes Corporate "Dave Winer, the blogging evangelist and software developer who runs Scripting News, described Macromedia as being on the "leading edge" of the movement to incorporate blogs in business, and he said that other companies would soon start blogging too."
Thursday, May 09, 2002
WSJ.com - Digits: Sun Microsystems Employees Hang
Gallows Humor at Execs' Departures "Sun Microsystems Inc. has tried to put the best face on the fact that four of its high-level executives are planning to retire. Chief among them: President Ed Zander, whose role will be assumed by Scott McNealy, the company's founder and chief executive. ... But last week, employees inside the Santa Clara, Calif., company were making light of that fact, circulating a mocking news release headlined: "All Sun Microsystems Employees Resign from Company; Scott McNealy to Assume All Positions." ... The facetious -- and biting -- release quotes Mr. McNealy touting the benefits of a one-man employee base: "... this will reduce our human-resources costs dramatically and bring our profits in line with the unrealistic expectations that Wall Street developed during the 'dot-com' years."
Gallows Humor at Execs' Departures "Sun Microsystems Inc. has tried to put the best face on the fact that four of its high-level executives are planning to retire. Chief among them: President Ed Zander, whose role will be assumed by Scott McNealy, the company's founder and chief executive. ... But last week, employees inside the Santa Clara, Calif., company were making light of that fact, circulating a mocking news release headlined: "All Sun Microsystems Employees Resign from Company; Scott McNealy to Assume All Positions." ... The facetious -- and biting -- release quotes Mr. McNealy touting the benefits of a one-man employee base: "... this will reduce our human-resources costs dramatically and bring our profits in line with the unrealistic expectations that Wall Street developed during the 'dot-com' years."
Wednesday, May 08, 2002
developerWorks: Usability : The Cranky User: Drowning in Aqua Constructive criticism of Apple OS X via an IBM Web site
The Register: Microsoft confirms Navision acquisition "Microsoft hasn't achieved what it set out to achieve with Great Plains," said David Turner, international marketing manager at financial applications house, the Coda Group. "They talked about global reach but a year on they don't seem to have achieved much. It is an admission of failure that they had to look for something in Europe." Certainly Microsoft has not increased its penetration of the European business application market - 85% of Great Plains revenue still comes from North America, while 86% of Navision revenue comes from Europe. ... On a competitor front, the vendor most severely effected by the merger will be UK-based mid market specialist Sage whose shares dropped on news of the deal. However, SAP AG, which recently acquired mid market player TopManage specifically to target the mid-market will also be affected. Although other vendors such as Oracle Corp and PeopleSoft Inc have also made the mid-market a priority they are in less direct competition as they are aiming at the top end of the sector."
Jobs Gives Developers a Thrill "Jaguar -- due to be released in "late summer" -- will feature some minor improvements on the current version of OS X and several new additions, including an instant-messaging client built into the operating system and a networking protocol that lets computers automatically "discover" each other as they come into close contact. ... The instant messaging, called iChat, is compatible with AOL Instant Messenger, meaning that people who use iChat can chat with people who use AIM."
Tuesday, May 07, 2002
BW Online | May 13, 2002 | Lawrence Lessig: The "Dinosaurs" Are Taking Over "Who should control the Internet? If Stanford University law professor Lawrence Lessig is right, the Internet will soon belong to Hollywood studios, record labels, and cable operators -- corporate giants that he says are trying to cordon off chunks of the once-open data network. Lessig's mission is to stop them." via Tomalak
WSJ.com - Technology "IBM, which was aided by its acquisition of Informix Corp., narrowly edged out Oracle in database license revenue generated in 2001, according to Gartner Inc., a San Jose, Calif., market research firm. IBM, Armonk, N.Y., experienced a 4.3% jump in license revenue to $3.06 billion, boosting its market share to 34.6% from 33.7% in 2000, Gartner said. The Informix unit, which it purchased in December 2000, contributed $264 million to IBM's total. ... Revenue for Oracle, of Redwood Shores, Calif., declined 4.9% to $2.83 billion, and its share of license revenue declined to 32% from 34%, Gartner said. ... The competition is also increasing from Microsoft Corp., whose share of database revenue grew 17.8% in 2001 to $1.4 billion, with market share that rose to 16.3% from 14%. "What's interesting is to notice the shifting and the power struggle among the vendors," said Gartner's Betsy Burton, an analyst who supervised the study. "It's down to the Big Three."
Microsoft to Acquire Navision "Microsoft Corp. today announced it has reached an agreement to acquire Navision, a global provider of integrated business software solutions. The acquisition will bring together the complementary geographic and product strengths of Navision with Microsoft Great Plains Business Solutions, enhancing Microsoft’s ability to deliver interconnected .NET business solutions for small and midmarket businesses."
Monday, May 06, 2002
The Seattle Times: Business & Technology: Garage warriors: Computer pioneer makes a name on geek TV "Now, 22 years after Paterson and his employer, Seattle Computer Products, licensed Paterson's operating system to Microsoft for $50,000, Paterson is getting his 15 minutes of fame. ...
He's a leading competitor on Comedy Central's highly rated "BattleBots" cable-television show, where he drives his heavyweight robot Hexidecimator in fight-to-the-death matches against other high-tech luminaries and everyday folk."
He's a leading competitor on Comedy Central's highly rated "BattleBots" cable-television show, where he drives his heavyweight robot Hexidecimator in fight-to-the-death matches against other high-tech luminaries and everyday folk."
New Sony PlayStation "Sony Corp. has begun developing the next generation of its PlayStation video game for sale by 2005, when it plans to roll out a console that would allow gamers to play opponents over high-speed Internet networks, a news report said Sunday." 2005?! How did this get to be a 2002 headline?
Saturday, May 04, 2002
Friday, May 03, 2002
Microsoft's $40 billion bet - Apr. 12, 2002 "One of the key roles of corporate management is to wisely reinvest whatever money the business generates to fuel ever-increasing profits. And with $40 billion to deploy, Microsoft is now arguably as much an investment firm as a software maker. (In fact, its cash stake is larger than the combined assets of the 9 biggest venture-capital firms in the U.S., larger than all but four of the country's equity mutual funds.) Yet Microsoft's cash seems to be just sitting there. Why would Microsoft, the ultimate growth company, allow so much money to pile up?"
Guardian Unlimited Film | News | Star Wars sick days will cost $300m via Slashdot: "Chicago-based recruitment firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas projects as many as 2.6m workers will take the day off work on May 16 to see the latest instalment of George Lucas's sci-fi series."
The Register: Microsoft goes back-to-basics on cable TV "Microsoft Corp is going back to basics to revive its failing interactive TV (iTV) strategy, with an entry-level set-top-box operating system built using its latest programming language, C Sharp, Gavin Clarke writes. ... A Microsoft spokesperson refused to comment on what it called "rumor and speculation" but conceded an iTV announcement is planned for 6 May. The announcement will take place during the cable TV industry's Cable 2002 in New Orleans, Louisiana."
Free Office Suite Now Shipping "OpenOffice.org, the largest open-source project ever completed, contains 7.5 million lines of code--the result of more than 18 months of collaborative effort by more than 10,000 members of the OpenOffice.org community."
Unfazed by Defectors, Sun's Chief Charts Next Era "It will also shift Sun's revenue and profits sharply away from hardware. An executive at a large Sun customer said Mr. McNealy had recently spelled out company strategy, stressing that it would lead to a reversal of the current 70-30 split between hardware, and software and services, over the next five years."
Oh, I guess McNealy no longer believes, as he once stated, that "Services is where product companies go to die."
Dell's Share-Price Bet Cost It $1.25 Billion "The company was locked into paying high prices because it had gambled on its share price. Had it not done so, the shares it bought last year could have been bought for $1.25 billion less. That number is just a bit larger than Dell's net income for the year." Oops...
Thursday, May 02, 2002
The Register: Sun Linux boss quits "Stephen DeWitt, who joined with the Cobalt acquisition, has left the company. He was responsible for Sun's Linux strategy, and is the seventh senior executive to leave in the past week. Earlier today the trap door opened under Ed Zander, who was being measured for the noose by financial analysts on Monday; while last week CFO Michael Lehmann and systems VP John Shoemaker said they'd be leaving, too. ... That's enough for an ice hockey team, plus one substitute."
Lessons Learned at Dot-Com U. "American universities have spent at least $100 million on Web-based course offerings, according to Eduventures, an education research firm in Boston. ... Now the groves of academe are littered with the detritus of failed e-learning start-ups as those same universities struggle with the question of how to embrace online education but not hemorrhage money in the process."
Enterprise Systems:.NET: Microsoft's Enterprise Ticket? Great coverage, as usual, by Jon Udell. Could have been written almost two years ago, however; interesting that there's apparently still so much market confusion about .NET. For the history file: "The genesis of .NET, according to Philip DesAutels, Microsoft's product manager for XML Web services, is often attributed to an internal memo from software architect Dave Stutz calling for a framework that would encapsulate best practices of software development. Chief among those best practices was componentization. Support for easy creation, deployment and use of components became the dominant theme of the Common Language Runtime (CLR)—the virtual machine (VM) at the heart of the recently released .NET Framework."
O'Reilly Network: JDO: 1.0 is released, but Forte shuns it! [May 02, 2002] p.s. it's not Forte anymore; it's Sun ONE...
Microsofter…or Not? - CFO.com "Analysts expect Microsoft will hold on to the cash until the antitrust penalty phase is complete, then go on a spending spree to buy into more markets, create more partnerships, and push shared technology platforms with other technology providers."
Top Ranks Are Thinned at Sun as No. 2 Executive Joins Exodus "You've literally had the top three executives outside of McNealy resign within two weeks," said A. M. Sacconaghi Jr., an analyst with Sanford C. Bernstein & Company. "It has to raise the same kinds of doubts that investors raised today among some customers."
Forbes.com: Steaming Media "Promoters of Internet video have finally found a market willing to pay for their product. But they'd rather not talk about what they're selling."
Sun's Zander quits post It's lonely at the top... Also see 4/30 Zander interview article link below.
Wednesday, May 01, 2002
OJR article: The Wireless, Non-Free, Paperless Future "The biggest change is that the information you get over your laptop, Palm or pen probably won't be free. And if it is free to peek at, you probably won't be able to copy and paste it, print it, look at it a second time, or store it on your hard drive in any way -- unless you pay for the privilege." via Tomalak
Fool.com: 12 Myths About AOL [In My Opinion] April 29, 2002 Actually only 6 unless you're a fool.com subscriber... but still interesting. via saltire.weblogger.com
WSJ.com: Traditional Companies More Likely To Use Splashy Online Ad Formats "Rich-media online ads -- those Web ads that float, shoot and jump around the PC screen -- are more likely to come from a traditional advertiser rather than an Internet company, according to new research from Nielsen/NetRatings" Includes table of top-10 rich media advertisers for Q1 2002. (I can't believe the WSJ misspelled Procter & Gamble!)
WSJ.com: Microsoft Is in Talks to Buy Navision Of Denmark for at Least $1.2 Billion "Buying Navision also would make Microsoft more powerful in Europe, where SAP has a robust business selling to midsize companies. "You can be assured that this [possible merger] will antagonize SAP," said George Gilbert, an analyst with Credit Suisse First Boston in San Francisco. An SAP spokesman declined to comment."