Hasta La Vista, Windows XP

Another timely Paul Thurrott reality check; see the full post for more historical details

As for the Vista complaints of today, we might reflect for a moment on our short memories and remember that Windows XP, in just its first few months on the market, suffered from more problems that Vista has had in its entire lifetime so far. As with any major Windows release, Vista came with its share of compatibility and performance issues when compared to its predecessor (though those are almost completely resolved by now, of course). That's nothing new. But as XP heads off into a distant sunset, I prefer to be honest about that product. Yes, it was the best that Microsoft could do at the time and a big technical advance over the 9x versions of Windows. But Vista is the superior product, and that's especially true when you compare both XP and Vista with regards to the times in which they were respectively released.

Hasta La Vista, Windows XP

Bill Gates and Creative Capitalism - Nicholas D. Kristof - Opinion - New York Times Blog

See the second paragraph of this excerpt for a blog focused on "creative capitalism"

Bill and Melinda Gates are among the best things that have happened to Africa, and not just because of the sums of money that they have donated. Just as important, they have brought a serious business mindset to philanthropy and development, and an expectation that “do-gooders” should be cost-effective and rely on metrics to prove their performance. Gates also changed what is cool in philanthropy; it used to be considered appropriate to donate to art museums and the opera, in effect benefiting other disproportionately privileged people, while now there is an increasing focus on fighting global poverty.

Early this year in Davos, Gates gave a speech calling for “creative capitalism” to address the needs of the very poor, who often slip through the cracks as it is. Now Michael Kinsley and Conor Clarke have set up a website to discuss the idea, with the aim of producing a book based in part on the blog comments.

Bill Gates and Creative Capitalism - Nicholas D. Kristof - Opinion - New York Times Blog

Twitter's weakening pulse | Outside the Lines - CNET News.com

Perhaps Twitter will become a classic case study on the limits of "dynamic" languages; read the full article for more context-setting

It's somewhat incomprehensible that Twitter has been unable to keep the service up and running. More than 10 years into the age of the Internet, with a huge amount of R&D publicly available about scaling Web applications, you would think that Twitter's engineers could figure it out.

Twitter's weakening pulse | Outside the Lines - CNET News.com

Redmond | News: SharePoint Takes Center Stage at Catalyst Event

Many of the SharePoint-related sessions at Catalyst were standing room only, and ~90% of the attendees at a workshop Guy Creese and I co-presented indicated they're using SharePoint today

Burton Group put the spotlight on Microsoft's SharePoint Server 2007 product on Thursday at its Catalyst Conference 2008 event. The analyst and consulting group allocated no less than five panels at the San Diego-based event to discuss SharePoint for the enterprise. The panels focused on the solution's strengths and weaknesses, as well as the importance of partner support in implementing SharePoint.

The SharePoint panels kicked off with a discussion on "The Next Steps" for the product by Guy Creese, vice president and director of research at the Burton Group. Creese outlined both positives and negatives for a platform that's designed to enable organizational collaboration, portal creation, search, content management, support for business processes and business intelligence.

Redmond | News: SharePoint Takes Center Stage at Catalyst Event

Advertising - Google and Creator of ‘Family Guy’ Strike a Deal - NYTimes.com

Another productivity-enhancing development from Google

Google is experimenting with a new method of distributing original material on the Web, and some Hollywood film financiers are betting millions that the company will succeed.

In September, Seth MacFarlane, creator of “Family Guy” on television, will unveil a carefully guarded new project called “Seth MacFarlane’s Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy.” Unlike “Family Guy,” which is broadcast on Fox, this animation series will appear exclusively on the Internet.

Advertising - Google and Creator of ‘Family Guy’ Strike a Deal - NYTimes.com

Microsoft seeks next big idea in Cambridge - The Boston Globe

A big shift from the historical Redmond-centric Microsoft approach

Sturtevant's team will be part of a larger, already existing Microsoft office at One Memorial Drive, next door to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, that serves as the company's Boston-area development hub. The office will also house the company's first Microsoft Research lab in the United State outside Redmond and development offices for its SoftGrid virtualization software. Overall, the company is leasing more than 180,000 square feet on five floors in the 17-story building.

"This is a departure for Microsoft," said Giles McNamee, founder and managing director of Boston investment bank McNamee Lawrence & Co., who was briefed on the development center. "In an organization that's gotten as big as Microsoft, this is an attempt to foster entrepreneurial activity and get people excited about the next big thing."

Microsoft seeks next big idea in Cambridge - The Boston Globe

Microsoft after Gates | After Bill | Economist.com

From a more extensive Microsoft snapshot in this week's Economist; see the full article for more analysis

If Microsoft has made one excellent hire in recent years, it is Mr Ozzie. Although he is unlikely to become a public figure in the mould of Mr Gates, he is more in tune with a style of computing in which everything is connected. He understands that a take-no-prisoners attitude will get you only so far. Mr Ozzie is also level-headed, hands-on and a brilliant technologist. He himself wrote much of Lotus Notes, an early collaborative program, and came to Microsoft when it bought his latest start-up, Groove Networks, in 2005.

Microsoft after Gates | After Bill | Economist.com

Microsoft | The meaning of Bill Gates | Economist.com

An interesting take in The Economist; see the full article for details

Mr Gates had the good fortune to be perfectly suited for his time—but he is less well-equipped for the collaborative and fragmented era of internet computing. This does not diminish his achievement. Nor, as some would have it, does his philanthropy necessarily magnify it. Whatever the corporate-social-responsibility gurus say, business is a force for good in itself: its most useful contribution to society is making profits and products. Philanthropy no more canonises the good businessman than it exculpates the bad. In spite of his flaws, Mr Gates is one of the good kind. Some great industrialists, like Henry Ford, stick around even as the world moves on and their powers fail. Mr Gates, pragmatic to the end, is leaving at the top.

Microsoft | The meaning of Bill Gates | Economist.com

Vice president nurtures Microsoft's relations

Dan'l Lewin interview excerpt (via Don Dodge)

Lewin sat down this week at his office in Mountain View to answer a few questions about his role with Microsoft. He declined, however, to talk about Microsoft's failed attempt in recent months to acquire Yahoo Inc. or the Sunnyvale portal's search business.

Q: How many startups does Microsoft look at in a year?

A: Microsoft looks at 1,200 startups a year and develops relationships with around 200.

Q: Which technologies are important to Microsoft right now?

A: The (biggest) interest is in Silverlight. It's a terrifically powerful and very efficient technology for doing next-generation video across platforms and in a browser.

New areas picking up traction are XNA architecture - a gaming architecture - and there's a lot of interest around robotics and surface technology.

There's also traction around Amazon and cloud and chat ... we'll have more to say about that in the not-too-distant future.

Vice president nurtures Microsoft's relations

Google Plays With Your Living Room TV - Bits - Technology - New York Times Blog

Check the full article for more details and analysis

The company has introduced a new feature to its Google Desktop program that can help get content from the Internet onto televisions. It is called the Google Media Server, and it’s a bit of software meant to run all the time on your home computer. It can send video, audio and photos to any other device on your home network that uses a standard called called Universal Plug and Play — most significantly, Sony’s PlayStation 3 game console. It also works with some televisions made by Hewlett-Packard and a handful of other geeky devices.

There is other media server software out there, but Google adds two tricks: it can also pass video from YouTube and photos stored on Picasa Web Albums from the Internet to the television. (Both services are owned by Google.)

Google Plays With Your Living Room TV - Bits - Technology - New York Times Blog

How the Web Was Won: Entertainment & Culture: vanityfair.com

Looks like a great read -- via Zack Urlocker 

Fifty years ago, in response to the surprise Soviet launch of Sputnik, the U.S. military set up the Advanced Research Projects Agency. It would become the cradle of connectivity, spawning the era of Google and YouTube, of Amazon and Facebook, of the Drudge Report and the Obama campaign. Each breakthrough—network protocols, hypertext, the World Wide Web, the browser—inspired another as narrow-tied engineers, long-haired hackers, and other visionaries built the foundations for a world-changing technology. Keenan Mayo and Peter Newcomb let the people who made it happen tell the story.

How the Web Was Won: Entertainment & Culture: vanityfair.com

Microsoft | Gates' big-picture memos shaped Microsoft, changed tech world | Seattle Times Newspaper

The full article includes links to key Gates memos starting in early 1976

Microsoft's success, which has enabled Gates, 52, to launch a second career that could install him as history's greatest philanthropist, was not a sure thing. Aided by a growing crew of technical and business smart guys, Gates spotted opportunities and challenges, and pushed his company toward them.

He wrote a series of course-setting memos to lead the company in these new directions — a new computer interface, the Internet, computer security. They stand as signposts at several key junctures in Microsoft's history.

Microsoft | Gates' big-picture memos shaped Microsoft, changed tech world | Seattle Times Newspaper

Yahoo Sr VP Garlinghouse To Leave Co At End Of Summer 2008 - WSJ.com

Hmm

Yahoo Inc. (YHOO) Senior Vice President of Communications and Communities Brad Garlinghouse Friday said he is leaving the company at the end of the summer.

[...]

Scott Dietzen, former president and chief technology officer of Zimbra Inc, an e-mail services company Yahoo bought for $350 million in September 2007, will replace Garlinghouse.

Article - WSJ.com

Xbox 360 hack lets owners play Netflix movies | Tech news blog - CNET News.com

Sign of the times...

People aren't waiting for Microsoft to announce a deal with Netflix.

Someone has already figured out how to hack the Xbox 360 video game console and enable it to play Netflix streaming movies.

At Lifehacker.com, Adam Pash writes that all anyone needs is an Xbox 360, a Windows Vista PC, a Netflix account, and a free Windows Media Center plug-in called vmcNetflix.

Xbox 360 hack lets owners play Netflix movies | Tech news blog - CNET News.com

Microsoft's big switch to server/client computing | Outside the Lines - CNET News.com

Some interesting data points

Microsoft has one of the biggest collections of Web sites, with 550 million users, 2 billion search queries, and 10 billion page views per month, as well as 8 billion messages on Microsoft Messenger per day. The company deploys 10,000 new servers per month on average to keep up with demand, Chrapaty said. She broke down Microsoft's model for building infrastructure into a three-letter acronym.

The cloud is all about GET--Growth, Efficiency, and Trust, Chrapaty said. In terms of growth, data centers are a $300 million to $500 million investment. "You have to make every kilowatt count," she said, noting that Microsoft has 35 criteria, such as network egress, power, and available staff, to determine locations for data centers.

Microsoft's big switch to server/client computing | Outside the Lines - CNET News.com

What's next for Gates? Anything he can dream up

See the full article for more details; one thing that's clear, despite the many headlines suggesting otherwise: Bill Gates will continue to be closely involved in strategic initiatives at Microsoft

Some might characterize Gates' new era as a retirement, but if he sticks to the plan, he might be just as busy, or busier, than he has been in the past. At Microsoft, he will work on projects selected with Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer. The list hasn't been finalized, but as of last week, Gates said he expected it to include projects in Microsoft Office and Internet search, among other areas.

What's next for Gates? Anything he can dream up

Strong Sales of Software Lift Oracle’s Net Income - NYTimes.com

Relentless...

The company said that revenue climbed 24 percent to $7.2 billion, from $5.8 billion in the quarter a year ago. Sales of new software licenses rose 27 percent to $3.1 billion, from $2.5 billion. Oracle’s growth improved in the United States, with new license sales rising 22 percent.

[...]

Oracle has spent $35 billion buying rivals during the last four years in an effort to broaden the range of industries it can sell to. The strategy has been largely successful as corporate buyers increasingly look to buy multiple components from the same vendor.

Strong Sales of Software Lift Oracle’s Net Income - NYTimes.com

Gray Matter : Regarding the future of Open XML

In case anyone was wondering, after the recent speculative press in this context, an update from Microsoft's Gray Knowlton; see the full post for more details

As I troll the blogosphere and reporting on Open XML and ODF, I notice a question has surfaced regarding the future of Open XML that is probably worth addressing.

Many have asked or speculated that the recent announcement of ODF in Service Pack 2 is an indication that Microsoft is quietly stepping away from Open XML. Some ask… "Is Microsoft abandoning Open XML?"

In a word, no.

Microsoft will continue to support the development of the specification and the adoption of the Open XML formats, in addition to the other work we are driving around document formats in Office.

I hope this is as unambiguous and clear as it is intended to be.

Gray Matter : Regarding the future of Open XML

Nokia buys Symbian to form open-source Android killer | Tech News on ZDNet

I don't know the extent to which there was a Google-related stimulus/response in this context, but it's possible...

The mobile open-source world suddenly has a very major new player, after it emerged on Tuesday that the Symbian, Series 60, UIQ and MOAP platforms are to be merged into an open-sourced platform to rival Google's much-feted Android Open Handset Alliance project.

The major immediate difference for companies that deal with Symbian will be that they no longer have to pay a license fee to the company for using the platform.

Nokia buys Symbian to form open-source Android killer | Tech News on ZDNet

Microsoft's Been Swift-Boated. Now What?

Another timely reality check from Paul Thurrott; read the full post for more context-setting

Apple, Google, and a combination of factors--including a now steady march toward cloud computing--have effectively destroyed Microsoft's biggest advantages. Now, in increasing numbers, people are turning to Macs--especially mobile Macs--at home, and especially so in the United States, and especially in higher education. The iPhone is the hottest smart phone of the past 12 months, and the new iPhone 3G should make even more of an impact. Nintendo has stolen the video game market from Microsoft, and even Sony looks to be making a comeback there. And digital media? Forget about it: It's all about Apple's iPod and iTunes. Nothing else comes close.

OK, what about the business space? I feel that Microsoft's business-oriented solutions are superior, and perhaps they will continue to be so for years to come. But a growing population of the computer-using public is using Macs and not PCs, iPods and not Windows Media devices, iPhones and not Windows Mobile devices. They're using cloud-based email and personal information management services, not complex internally managed systems like Exchange. And when they get into the workplace, they're going to expect access to the same trusted and beloved technologies, just as people have always done. Small businesses? Why would they set up a complex local server that requires constant attention and management when they can get Google Apps for free or next to nothing? The world is moving on.

Microsoft's Been Swift-Boated. Now What?

Motorola ROKR E8:Hip and User-Friendly | Katherine Boehret | The Mossberg Solution | AllThingsD

Cool...

The device, which comes out on July 7, isn’t much bigger than a typical cellphone but its standout feature is its keyboard, which dynamically changes to accommodate whatever you’re doing at the time, revealing only buttons that would be of use to that particular function.

The surface of the ROKR E8 has no physical keys at all. In its off or resting state, in fact, it’s just a black surface with rows of tiny, unlabeled bumps. But this surface is actually divided into two: The top half works like a typical cellphone display while the bottom half projects virtual keys onto its surface and uses the rows of bumps to give these keys a physical presence.

Motorola ROKR E8:Hip and User-Friendly | Katherine Boehret | The Mossberg Solution | AllThingsD

Microsoft Gets Order for Documents - WSJ.com

An opportunity for Microsoft to demonstrate the e-discovery capabilities of Exchange and SharePoint...

A judge told Microsoft Corp. she expects it to make available technical documents that describe how its applications interact with one another. At a hearing on Microsoft's compliance with an antitrust order, Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly said the documents will help other programmers create applications that work on Microsoft's Windows platform. The judge said she believes the documents are "required" under terms of the consent decree. Officials said they will make draft versions of the documents available by the end of March 2009.

Microsoft Gets Order for Documents - WSJ.com

News Release: Progress Software Corporation [acquires IONA]

More market consolidation and a logical extension of the Progress product family; see the full press release for more details

The combination of Progress Software and IONA creates the industry choice for truly independent, heterogeneous Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) infrastructure. IONA products complement the Progress SOA Portfolio with leading edge, best-in-class technology now with the widest variety of heterogeneous deployment options and interoperability. And IONA brings an experienced and talented team to Progress that has built a reputation with Global 2000 enterprises for addressing the most complex integration challenges through innovative and cost-effective solutions.

Through its Artix(TM) product line, IONA provides some of the industry's most advanced Web-standards based integration technologies in support of a SOA. In addition, IONA offers open source SOA integration components through its FUSE(TM) product line. And, for 15 years, IONA has been the industry leader in CORBA integration technology, a well-established integration standard currently relied upon in mission-critical IT systems of some of the world's largest companies.

News Release: Progress Software Corporation

FT.com / Companies / Media & internet - Facebook heads MySpace in unique visitors

A major milestone for Facebook (and MySpace...)

Facebook, the fast-growing social network, has taken a significant lead over MySpace in visitor numbers for the first time, according to one popular measure of internet traffic.

Facebook attracted more than 123m unique visitors in May, an increase of 162 per cent over the same period last year according to ComScore, a company that monitors websites. That compared with 114.6m unique visitors at MySpace, Facebook’s leading rival, whose traffic grew just 5 per cent during the same period, ComScore said.

FT.com / Companies / Media & internet - Facebook heads MySpace in unique visitors

Gates' big send-off | CNET News.com

Excerpt from a Gates Q&A; see the full article for perspectives on a wide range of topics, including the Yahoo! non-deal:

There's a lot of interesting twists and turns. There was actually a point where we talked with Lotus about getting together with them, but it wasn't a good cultural fit there. It was actually (Lotus CEO Jim) Manzi who--I mean, it wouldn't necessarily have happened--but it was Manzi who ended the discussions.

There was one day that was rather funny. IBM didn't invite us to the introduction of the PC. We'd been invited, and then they decided not to invite us. Well, we had been working night and day. I had told people, yeah, we had this invitation that said, yeah, we're going to go, there's going to be a big deal, and then they decided, nah, we don't want you to come to the thing. That was a little bit of a downer. Now, who cares, but...

Gates' big send-off | CNET News.com

No Bull Bill: As he lets go of the company he nurtured and grew up with, Microsoft's iconic leader speaks out

Part of a week-long series in the Seattle P-I

Gates this week will conclude his day-to-day duties at the software giant, more than 30 years after he formed it as a small partnership with his friend Paul Allen. Microsoft has been preparing for two years for his shift to his philanthropic foundation, and new leaders are in place.

Also in the series:
- No bull Bill
- Q&A: 'I'm not a sit-on-the-beach type'
- Ballmer heads the new age of leaders stepping into the breach
- Craig Mundie: Searching for 'the next big opportunity'
- Key Microsoft's executives
- More from Gates 2.0

- Bill Gates, in his own e-mails

No Bull Bill: As he lets go of the company he nurtured and grew up with, Microsoft's iconic leader speaks out

Technology Review: How Facebook Works

See the full article for more details

The top tier of the Facebook network is made up of the Web servers that create the Web pages that users see, most with eight cores running 64-bit Linux and Apache. Many of the social network's pages and features are created using PHP, a computer scripting language specialized for simple, automated functions. But ­Facebook also develops complex core applications using a variety of full-featured computer languages, including C++, Java, Python, and Ruby. To manage the complexity of this approach, the company created Thrift, an application framework that lets programs compiled from different languages work together.

Technology Review: How Facebook Works

XML Fever (Erik Wilde and Robert J. Glushko)

A timely XML reality check (and forthcoming CACM article), via Robin Cover 

The Extensible Markup Language (XML), which just celebrated its 10^th birthday 4, is one of the big success stories of the Web. Apart from basic Web technologies (URIs, HTTP, and HTML) and the advanced scripting driving the Web 2.0 wave, XML is by far the most successful and ubiquitous Web technology. With great power, however, comes great responsibility, so while XML's success is well earned as the first truly universal standard for structured data, it must now deal with numerous problems that have grown up around it. These are not entirely the fault of XML itself, but instead can be attributed to exaggerated claims and ideas of what XML is and what it can do.

XML Fever (Erik Wilde and Robert J. Glushko)

Nokia to Buy Phone-Software Firm - WSJ.com

Interesting times...

Finland's Nokia Corp. is acquiring the rest of United Kingdom-based Symbian Ltd., a provider of software for advanced phones, in a move that will likely increase competition for Apple Inc.

Nokia said Tuesday it has launched a cash offer for the 52% of privately owned Symbian it doesn't already own. The deal is valued at roughly €264 million ($410 million). Nokia said investors holding some 91% of the relevant Symbian shares -- including Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB, Sweden's Telefon AB L.M. Ericsson, Panasonic Mobile Communications Co. and Siemens AG -- had irrevocably agreed to accept the offer. Nokia said it also expects Samsung Electronics Co. to accept.

[...]
Symbian also will blend its several different flavors of cellphone software into one, to create one open-source software platform. That includes folding in user-interface software from UIQ Technology, a joint venture between Motorola and Sony Ericsson that was spun off from Symbian. UIQ's know-how includes touch-screen technology, which has been made fashionable by Apple's iPhone cellphone.

Nokia to Buy Phone-Software Firm - WSJ.com

At Google, Slow Growth in News Site - NYTimes.com

Hmm

With 11.4 million users in May, Google News ranked No. 8 among news sites, far behind Yahoo News, which was No. 1 with 35.8 million visitors, according to Nielsen Online.

Its growth rate of 10 percent over the last two years is far slower than those of most other large news Web sites. In the last two years, second-ranked MSNBC.com grew by 42 percent, adding 10.4 million users. Traffic at CNN.com and nytimes.com grew even faster.

At Google, Slow Growth in News Site - NYTimes.com

What’s Obscene? Google Could Have an Answer - NYTimes.com

Sign of the times -- see the full article for context/details

In a novel approach, the defense in an obscenity trial in Florida plans to use publicly accessible Google search data to try to persuade jurors that their neighbors have broader interests than they might have thought.

What’s Obscene? Google Could Have an Answer - NYTimes.com

Once an Internet Giant, InfoSpace Dismantles Itself - NYTimes.com

Ouch...

Anyone who took note of this might remember that InfoSpace was once an Internet juggernaut, worth $31 billion back in March 2000. Supporters said at the time that it was poised to dominate the market for local online advertising.

Today, the company’s share of the search industry does not even reach 1 percent, and its name joins the scrap heap of once-formidable Internet brands, like AltaVista, that did not make it through.

Once an Internet Giant, InfoSpace Dismantles Itself - NYTimes.com

Link by Link - Delaying News in the Era of the Internet - NYTimes.com

A timely snapshot

In the case of Wikipedia, this is emphatically not what the site was meant to do. One of the principles of the site is No Original Research — every fact must have appeared somewhere reputable before it can be repeated. (This cause can seem an obsession as stickler editors patrol the site flagging unattributed facts with the label “citation needed.”)

Yet, time and again Wikipedia has been the place where news has broken, usually from anonymous writers who report a death on a person’s article page, like that of the feminist writer Andrea Dworkin in 2005, or, a year later, the killing of the film director and actress Adrienne Shelley in Greenwich Village.

The lesson seems to be this: as long as there is news, people will try to share it. And new technology promises to turn the process into a tide that can swallow us up, good intentions and all.

Link by Link - Delaying News in the Era of the Internet - NYTimes.com

Mitch Kapor’s Blog » Blog Archive » The Gates Transition

Mitch Kapor elaborates on a recent BBC interview; read the full post for some insightful perspectives

In an interview with the BBC which is being widely linked, I recently said “claims by Microsoft that people were buying their software because it was good are pretty self-serving.” The BBC didn’t run the rest of what I said about Microsoft’s success, probably because they were looking to find someone to set up opposite Bill. Fine. These days we have blogs, so here’s my unfiltered side of the story.

What I said to the BBC, as I’ve said on many occasions about Microsoft’s competitors, which was that 20-25 years ago none of us (Lotus included) applied the same combination of business and technical rigor as Microsoft, and we paid the price. Bill makes this point in his interview, and I agree. I also speculated that had Microsoft stayed inside the foul lines in its conduct it might well have triumphed anyway, but we’ll never know.

Mitch Kapor’s Blog » Blog Archive » The Gates Transition

Ideas and Trends - The Shootout Over Hidden Meanings in a Video Game - NYTimes.com

Sign of the times

Fans argue over a medium — and whether Metal Gear Solid 4 is a parable about the futility of war or about its necessity.

Ideas and Trends - The Shootout Over Hidden Meanings in a Video Game - NYTimes.com

Some critics are hatching ways to fight Google's influence - The Boston Globe

A timely reality check

But as Google's influence grows, a number of scholars and programmers have begun to argue that the company is acquiring too much power over our lives - invading our privacy, shaping our preferences, and controlling how we learn about and understand the world around us. To counter its pervasive effects, they are developing strategies to push back against Google, dilute its growing dominance of the information sphere, and make it more publicly accountable. The solutions range from programs one can install on one's computer to proposed laws forcing Google to reveal parts of its proprietary search algorithm. A few experts and privacy activists are pushing for public funding for alternative search technologies, and one legal scholar wants to give individuals and companies a "right of reply" when searches bring up sites that slander them or appropriate their intellectual property.

Some critics are hatching ways to fight Google's influence - The Boston Globe

Book Review - 'The Pixar Touch,' by David A. Price - Review - NYTimes.com

Excerpt from a review of a new Pixar book (read the full review for more historical tidbits and insights into the non-fake Steve Jobs' modus operandi)

Frustrated with Lucas, the Computer Division renamed itself Pixar in 1986 and sought an outside investor. Through a friendship with Alan Kay, a crucial figure in the earlier creation of the personal computer at Xerox PARC, Pixar’s central figures were introduced to Steve Jobs, already worth $185 million and beginning his Apple exile. After Jobs’s $5 million offer was rejected [pok: it was later accepted], the team attempted to do a deal with Disney, then a bastion of hand-painted cel animation. Pixar’s cause was championed by Disney’s chief technologist, Stan Kinsey, who was convinced that Pixar’s technologies would “not only lower costs, but also allow freer camera moves and a richer use of colors.” Kinsey wanted Disney to buy Pixar outright for $15 million, but he was overruled by Jeffrey Katzenberg, then head of Walt Disney Studios. “I can’t waste my time on this stuff,” Kinsey says Katzenberg told him.

[...]

Eisner’s penny-smart, pound-foolish negotiations with Jobs, and the fact that their personal relationship devolved to the point that Jobs refused to talk to him, ultimately left it to his successor, the more conciliatory Robert Iger, to offer Jobs $7.4 billion to buy Pixar outright. Since Pixar had effectively become the new Disney, it was the only move he could make, no matter the cost.

Book Review - 'The Pixar Touch,' by David A. Price - Review - NYTimes.com

The Secret Diary of [Steve Jobs] Jerry Yang: Confession: Sue Decker hits me, and I'm too ashamed to seek help

The FSJ morph into FJY is working so far; read the full post and skim others in the series for some gallows humor... :)

It's true. It's been going on for a while now, but lately it's getting worse. I keep having to go into meetings and tell people I walked into a door. Some of them, I think, are starting to suspect the truth.
Worse yet, I have begun to suspect that Sue Decker is trying to push me out and take my job. Like the other day I came back from running some errands for Sergey and I found Sue in my office with an interior decorator.

The Secret Diary of [Steve Jobs] Jerry Yang: Confession: Sue Decker hits me, and I'm too ashamed to seek help

Tech Trader Daily - Barron’s Online : Yahoo Heads For Lowest Close Since MSFT Unveiled Bid

Check the full post for more grim Yahoo! details

Yahoo (YHOO) shares are headed for their lowest closing price since January 31, when the stock finished at $19.18 right before Microsoft (MSFT) went public with a $31-a-share stock-and-cash offer for the company. This would be the 8th down day for the stock out of the last 9. The stock is off about 26% since peaking in mid-February at $29.98.

Tech Trader Daily - Barron’s Online : Yahoo Heads For Lowest Close Since MSFT Unveiled Bid

Microsoft adds a record 11,200 employees

Yow -- see the full article for details

Bolstered by big acquisitions, Microsoft Corp. has set a company growth record -- adding a net total of more than 11,200 employees to its worldwide ranks this fiscal year.

And it's not over yet.

Microsoft had 89,809 employees worldwide at the end of May, a company spokesman said Thursday. That compares with 78,565 in June 2007, the end of its previous fiscal year.

Microsoft adds a record 11,200 employees

WinInfo Short Takes: Week of June 23, 2008

Excerpt from this week's Paul Thurrott summary:

I've often complained that Microsoft hasn't been aggressive enough since its humiliating US antitrust defeat a decade ago. That may be changing: This week, the company took out a full page ad in the San Jose Mercury News that is clearly aimed at Yahoo engineers who are thinking of leaving the company. "Microsoft has search jobs in the Valley," the ad reads. "There are now very few companies that remain truly committed to defining the future of search and online advertising. Microsoft is one of them." The ad doesn't mention Yahoo by name, but then it doesn't have to: Everyone knows Yahoo just sold its soul by entering into a search outsourcing deal with number one rival Google. "Come join a company with the resources, engineering expertise, R&D, partnerships, and competitive spirit to make it happen." Good stuff.

WinInfo Short Takes: Week of June 23, 2008

FT.com / In depth - The Grand Master of all he surveys

Excerpt from one of many Financial Times articles on Microsoft this morning; also see

• Microsoft rules out post-Yahoo buying spree
• Microsoft braced for post-Gates era
• Pair picked to be brains behind Microsoft
• Timeline: Bill Gates at the helm of Microsoft
• Steve Ballmer interview

Kevin Johnson, head of the Windows and internet businesses, says for the past two years each product team has had to produce a set of formal “quests”, or long-term aspirations.

“We’ve basically operationalised a lot of the things that Bill does,” he says.

In spite of all the planning, however, there is no hiding the significance of the transition.

“His technology vision was always incredibly important to the company,” says Nathan Myhrvold, a former Microsoft chief technology officer.

“They may feel the loss when they need to make a big, bold bet that lesser men would shrink from.”

FT.com / In depth - The Grand Master of all he surveys

Front-page: ODF won, says Microsoft

An interesting case study in information literacy; anybody who believes Microsoft is hedging its win bet on Open XML is not paying close attention

So Infoworld launched the story first and participants confirm us Microsoft has just another evangelist message:

"ODF has clearly won," said Stuart McKee, referring to Microsoft's recent announcement that it would begin natively supporting ODF in Office next year and join the technical committee overseeing the next version of the format.

I've checked in Internet, the Microsoft representative hold a position on the Washington Public Administration, before he was a Microsoft employee. Stuart McKee has hold an executive position on IT matters at the Government at Washington. 2003 at Washington Admin. coming from Microsoft. But at 2004 he resigned and joined back to Microsoft. This is important, because this means that he is a person with profiled authority to speak about public administrations.

Front-page: ODF won, says Microsoft

BBC NEWS | Business | The secret of Bill Gates' success

Excerpt from an "exit" interview

As Bill Gates prepares to end his full-time work at Microsoft, he tells the BBC in an interview that it wasn't just what Microsoft did, but what his rivals didn't do that let Microsoft get ahead.

[...]

"Most of our competitors were one-product wonders," he says.

"They would do their one product, but never get their engineering sorted out.

"They did not think about software in this broad way. They did not think about tools or efficiency. They would therefore do one product, but would not renew it to get it to the next generation."

BBC NEWS | Business | The secret of Bill Gates' success

Delicious founder leaves Yahoo | Tech news blog - CNET News.com

More details on one of the recent exec departures

Joshua Schacter, the founder of the Delicious social-bookmarking service Yahoo acquired in 2005, is joining the executive exodus from the Internet giant.

"Just time to move on, I think," Schacter said in an e-mail, but didn't share further details.

The Internet company also confirmed on Thursday evening that Schacter will leave at the end of June; TechCrunch reported it earlier.

Delicious founder leaves Yahoo | Tech news blog - CNET News.com

Employers who check out job candidates on MySpace could be legally liable | View from the Cubicle | TechRepublic.com

Hmm...

According to Workforce.com, a site that helps HR reps stay current with all matters HR, employers who use the data available on social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace to make hiring decisions could be subject to charges of employment discrimination and litigation.

Employers who check out job candidates on MySpace could be legally liable | View from the Cubicle | TechRepublic.com

Has Microsoft Sent Yahoo into a Death Spiral? - Bits - Technology - New York Times Blog

A timely reality check

In trying to buy Yahoo, Microsoft had a clear goal: To be No. 2 to Google in search and advertising. If things keep going the way they are heading, it may well achieve that goal without spending the $50 billion Yahoo would have cost.

Today’s news is that three more of Yahoo’s best executives are leaving the company: Qi Lu, Brad Garlinghouse and Vish Makhijani. That follows the departure of two executive vice presidents, Jeff Weiner and Usama Fayyad.

[...]

There is no guarantee all this will accrue to Microsoft’s benefit. Users and advertisers are as likely to move to Google as to Windows Live, MSN and Microsoft’s aQuantive advertising unit.

But whatever Microsoft’s prospects were at the beginning of this year, they are better now, precisely because Yahoo’s are much, much worse.

Has Microsoft Sent Yahoo into a Death Spiral? - Bits - Technology - New York Times Blog

At Yahoo, the Exodus Continues - NYTimes.com

Check the full article for more details

For more than two years, executives and other senior employees have been leaving Yahoo at a steady, persistent trickle.

The trickle has turned into a flood. In a matter of days after Yahoo’s announcement last week that merger talks with Microsoft had ended and that the company had instead chosen to sign a search advertising partnership with its No. 1 rival, Google, three executive vice presidents, two senior vice presidents and handful of other well-regarded employees have announced their intention to leave.

At Yahoo, the Exodus Continues - NYTimes.com

Most Doctors Aren’t Using Electronic Health Records - NYTimes.com

Physician, digitize thyself

A government-sponsored survey of the use of computerized patient records by doctors points to two seemingly contradictory conclusions, and a health care system at odds with itself.

The report, published online on Wednesday in The New England Journal of Medicine, found that doctors who use electronic health records say overwhelmingly that such records have helped improve the quality and timeliness of care. Yet fewer than one in five of the nation’s doctors has started using such records.

Most Doctors Aren’t Using Electronic Health Records - NYTimes.com

Firefox 3 suffers its first vulnerability | Defense in Depth - computer security, hacking, crime, viruses - CNET News.com

A timely reality check

Less than one day after its launch, Firefox 3 has a vulnerability.

According to Tipping Point's Zero Day Initiative, the vulnerability, which it rates as critical, was reported within the first five hours of Firefox 3's release.

Firefox 3 suffers its first vulnerability | Defense in Depth - computer security, hacking, crime, viruses - CNET News.com

Internet-a-Gogo: Airlines to Offer In-Flight Access | Walt Mossberg | Personal Technology | AllThingsD

This I could live without...

Attention, laptop-toting U.S. airline passengers! You are either about to become much more productive and happy, or to lose one of your last refuges from the digital deluge that afflicts your life.

Beginning this summer, as soon as next month, wireless Internet access will arrive in the passenger cabins of some commercial U.S. airliners.

On these Internet-equipped planes, any passenger with a Wi-Fi enabled laptop — or a cellphone with Wi-Fi — will be able to do almost everything he or she could do online at home or at the office. That includes surfing the Web, using email, having instant-messenger text chats, downloading and uploading files, and streaming video and audio.

Internet-a-Gogo: Airlines to Offer In-Flight Access | Walt Mossberg | Personal Technology | AllThingsD

Driving Less, Americans Finally React to Sting of Gas Prices, a Study Says - NYTimes.com

Encouraging...

The Cambridge Energy report cites some fundamental shifts in consumer behavior that suggest the beginning of an enduring trend. The report noted that in California, where gasoline prices have historically led the rest of the country, gasoline consumption has declined for two consecutive years and hybrid vehicle sales are rising.

Now the rest of the country seems to be following. Sales of pickup trucks, minivans and sport utility vehicles have fallen below 50 percent of new passenger vehicle sales this year for the first time since 2001, the report says, as consumers turned to smaller vehicles in favor of fuel economy.

“It’s kind of stunning,” said Aaron F. Brady, a co-author of the report. “It was over 50 percent as late as February and by May it fell under 44 percent. It’s like falling off a cliff.”

Driving Less, Americans Finally React to Sting of Gas Prices, a Study Says - NYTimes.com

Firefox blazes new Web browsing ground; fuels up rivals - The Boston Globe

Vibrant competition is your friend -- see the full article for more details about the latest Firefox, Safari, and Opera releases.

It took Microsoft five years to deliver IE 7; it won't repeat that mistake. Development of IE 8 is well underway, and a beta version offers some appealing new gimmicks. I like the WebSlice feature, which lets users view selected portions of a Web page in a small window. Use it to view news headlines or track an auction on eBay without opening a new Web page. It's a handy little gadget, and a reminder that Microsoft engineers can be pretty creative when they have to be. And thanks to a welcome surge of browser competition, they have to be.

Firefox blazes new Web browsing ground; fuels up rivals - The Boston Globe

Alfresco Press Releases - Alfresco Partners with Adobe to Deliver Content Services for Adobe LiveCycle Enterprise Suite

Interesting times

Alfresco Software today announced a new technology partnership with Adobe Systems Incorporated to provide additional content services capabilities to Adobe® LiveCycle™ Enterprise Suite (ES). Under the terms of the agreement, Adobe will embed the Alfresco Enterprise Content Management (ECM) software into Adobe LiveCycle ES. The relationship represents a shared vision for a new class of applications that utilize flexible, open source and Web 2.0 standards that deliver rich and engaging enterprise experiences.

Alfresco Press Releases - Alfresco Partners with Adobe to Deliver Content Services for Adobe LiveCycle Enterprise Suite

Skype's latest puts focus on watching who you call | Technology | Reuters

Another Skype snapshot as it prepares a major client upgrade

Skype lets users make international computer-to-computer calls to other users in most countries for free, and calls from Skype-equipped computers or phones to landlines or cell phones at low rates. Skype generated $382 million in 2007 revenue and Wall Street analysts expect it to top $500 million in 2008.

The five-year-old service counted 309 million registered users as of the end of March, and plays host to 12 million simultaneous users at busy times of day. Its users can send computer instant-messages and text-messages to phones, share big data files or chat via video phone.

Skype's latest puts focus on watching who you call | Technology | Reuters

Ed Brill: New white paper: Why Composite Applications in a Lotus Notes 8 environment

Summary of an extensive composite app overview doc from IBM Lotus.  Skimming the .pdf, I got the distinct impression that Notes 8 is implicitly competing as an operating system platform in many respects.  A useful reference, in any case.

The Notes product team has finished and just published a "cookbook" white paper entitled "Composite Applications in Notes: Benefits and Technical Overview".  This 70-page paper is being released to help define where Notes 8 will deliver new value:

The purpose of this document is to illustrate how your business can apply knowledge to accelerate business processes by building a bridge between your employees and the information that they need on a day to day basis using Composite Applications in IBM® Lotus Notes.
Composite applications integrate multiple applications together on the desktop to share and dynamically change information in real time as the end user works the business process. By optimizing the information for the task at hand and freeing the end users from distraction, precious seconds can be shaved off of time sensitive business processes.
Composite applications can bridge both information technology and line of business systems so that end users have the right information, at the right time. This enables your team to respond to changes in the information as they happen, to speed up response time and to increase their ability to adapt to external pressures placed on the business.
Leveraging the power of Lotus Notes, composite applications can provide your team with the ability to coordinate calendaring, project management and other activities so that scarce resources are used efficiently.

Ed Brill

BBC NEWS | Technology | Changing the way we think

A timely round-up of the recent "think different" wave of articles and blogosphere debate

Greenfield argues that the visual stimulus we get from screen-based information and entertainment differs so markedly from that available to previous generations that certain areas of the brain, specifically those areas that are older in evolutionary terms and retain the capacity to alter as a result of experience, may be affected in ways that express themselves a changes to personality and behaviour.

It's an interesting hypothesis, and one that has the virtue of being experimentally testable, unlike many other claims about the effect of modern living on human psychology.

And it is a model that Nick Carr uses to support his rather broader viewpoint that our intellectual faculties are being damaged by the internet in his latest essay for the US-based Atlantic magazine.

BBC NEWS | Technology | Changing the way we think

The Mundaneum Museum Honors the First Concept of the World Wide Web - NYTimes.com

Check the full article for more details

In 1934, Otlet sketched out plans for a global network of computers (or “electric telescopes,” as he called them) that would allow people to search and browse through millions of interlinked documents, images, audio and video files. He described how people would use the devices to send messages to one another, share files and even congregate in online social networks. He called the whole thing a “réseau,” which might be translated as “network” — or arguably, “web.”

Historians typically trace the origins of the World Wide Web through a lineage of Anglo-American inventors like Vannevar Bush, Doug Engelbart and Ted Nelson. But more than half a century before Tim Berners-Lee released the first Web browser in 1991, Otlet (pronounced ot-LAY) described a networked world where “anyone in his armchair would be able to contemplate the whole of creation.”

The Mundaneum Museum Honors the First Concept of the World Wide Web - NYTimes.com

A Redesign at Skype - Bits - Technology - New York Times Blog

Hmm...

Tuesday night the company will make available a test of a new version of the program, called Skype 4.0, which it says is the most dramatic redesign of the calling service in its short five-year history.

Josh Silverman, Skype’s president, says it was time to evolve Skype’s user interface. The service started out by offering free audio calls but has gradually added other kinds of communication, like video calls, file-sharing, and text chats. The main purpose of the upgrade, he said, is to bring all those modes together and make it easier to switch between them in a single conversation.

“If I were to sum it all up, that is what 4.0 is about: the next leap forward in integrated communications,” he said.

A Redesign at Skype - Bits - Technology - New York Times Blog

At Social Site, Only the Businesslike Need Apply - NYTimes.com

Major changes ahead for LinkedIn

LinkedIn will get only a quarter of its projected $100 million in revenue this year from ads. (It places ads from companies like Microsoft and Southwest Airlines on profile pages.) Other moneymakers include premium subscriptions, which let users directly contact any user on the site instead of requiring an introduction from another member.

A third source of revenue is recruitment tools that companies can use to find people who may not even be actively looking for new jobs. Companies pay to search for candidates with specific skills, and each day, they get new prospects as people who fit their criteria join LinkedIn.

LinkedIn is set to undergo a radical shift in strategy to find other sources of revenue. Instead of catering primarily to individual white-collar workers, the site will soon introduce new services aimed at companies. It is a risky move that could alienate members who prefer to use the networking site to network — without their bosses peering over their shoulders.

At Social Site, Only the Businesslike Need Apply - NYTimes.com

Microsoft acquires interactive TV firm - The Boston Globe

Hmm

Microsoft Corp. is set to say today that it has acquired Waltham interactive television and advertising firm Navic Networks for an undisclosed amount, reflecting a larger push to make TV advertising more relevant, interactive, and measurable.

Navic Networks, founded in 2001, enables interactive television, such as polls or trivia questions that allow viewers to respond with remote controls. The company also provides tools to measure audience behavior, allowing advertisers to better choose ad slots.

Microsoft acquires interactive TV firm - The Boston Globe

Venture firms gambling LinkedIn is worth $1b - The Boston Globe

Interesting times

Four venture capital firms are betting LinkedIn Corp. is worth $1 billion, highlighting the lofty hopes riding on online services that connect people with their friends, family, and business associates.

The 10-figure valuation is implied by a $53 million investment being revealed today by Bain Capital Ventures, Sequoia Capital, Greylock Partners, and Bessemer Venture Partners.

Venture firms gambling LinkedIn is worth $1b - The Boston Globe

Stunts Today for Firefox. Sophisticated Programs Tomorrow - Bits - Technology - New York Times Blog

Firefox 3.0 also breaks the Windows Live Writer add-in, so I guess I'll be using IE 8 beta exclusively for the time being...

For hardcore users, the bigger change is under the covers. Mozilla says it rewrote the core technology of the browser to be faster and use less memory. In part, this is a reflection of how some people use Firefox, with many tabs open to different Web pages at the same time.

More importantly, it recognizes that more and more sites are pushing the standards that define Internet pages to extremes.

Stunts Today for Firefox. Sophisticated Programs Tomorrow - Bits - Technology - New York Times Blog

Flickr co-founders depart Yahoo | Tech news blog - CNET News.com

Maybe Yahoo! will diversify into subletting office space...

Stewart Butterfield and Caterina Fake, the husband-and-wife co-founders of the Flickr photo-sharing site Yahoo acquired in 2005, are leaving the Internet giant.

Fake's last day was June 13, and Butterfield's will be July 12, Yahoo spokeswoman Terrell Karlsten said. "Obviously Stewart and Katarina have made tremendous contributions to Yahoo. We appreciate all their work and wish them well," she said.

Flickr co-founders depart Yahoo | Tech news blog - CNET News.com

Adobe outlook disappoints, shares fall | Technology | Reuters

Hmm

U.S. design software maker Adobe Systems Inc (ADBE.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) issued a revenue outlook that disappointed some investors on Monday, sending its shares down 2.6 percent.

The maker of Photoshop, Flash and Acrobat released the forecast as it reported a 41 percent rise in quarterly profit. Brisk revenue growth overseas offset flat sales in the economically troubled United States.

Adobe outlook disappoints, shares fall | Technology | Reuters

The A.P., Hot News and Hotheaded Blogs - Bits - Technology - New York Times Blog

The debate continues...

There was a lot of anger in the blogosphere last week over the Associated Press’s claim that some blogs were infringing its copyright by publishing excerpts of its articles. When I finally reached Jim Kennedy, an Associated Press vice president, he told me that the news agency now feels its demand was heavy-handed and was rethinking its policies. I wrote about this in Monday’s Times.

The A.P., Hot News and Hotheaded Blogs - Bits - Technology - New York Times Blog

In Theory: I've Looked at Clouds from Both Sides, Now...

A cloud computing reality check from Bob Balaban

I've been working with Google Apps APIs and trying out various features of the mail, calendar and contacts services (products?) for a few months now. I think I'm getting a handle on the whole "cloud computing" thing. So I thought I'd collect a few observations in a blog post and see what y'all think as well. This is neither a sales job nor a trash job on Google, nor is it meant to be a comprehensive feature comparison of Google Apps vs. Notes. I'm really using Google Apps as a prominent example of "cloud computing", and starting to think about the implications for the collaborative software world.

Check the full post for details

In Theory...

White House e-mail lawsuit is dismissed - The Boston Globe

Disgraceful

The White House does not have to make public internal documents examining the potential disappearance of e-mails sent during some of the Bush administration's biggest controversies, a US District Court judge ruled yesterday.

In a 39-page opinion, Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly said yesterday that the White House's Office of Administration is not subject to the Freedom of Information Act, even though its top officials had complied with the public records law for more than two decades.

White House e-mail lawsuit is dismissed - The Boston Globe

Microsoft offered $9 bln for Yahoo stake, search deal | Technology | Reuters

See the full article for more details

When Yahoo Inc turned down the latest offer from Microsoft Corp this week, it walked away from $9 billion in cash and $1 billion a year in additional operating profit, Microsoft said on Friday.

In an e-mail to employees, Microsoft platforms and services division president Kevin Johnson said it had offered $8 billion for a 16 percent stake in Yahoo and $1 billion to buy Yahoo's search business and assume its operations.

[...]

"Unfortunately Yahoo has chosen a different course, and yesterday announced an agreement that would start to consolidate over 90% of the paid search advertising market in Google's hands," said Johnson in the e-mail.

Microsoft offered $9 bln for Yahoo stake, search deal | Technology | Reuters

Study: Americans use Net to look beyond sound bite - Boston.com

A hopeful data point

Americans dissatisfied with political sound bites are turning to the Internet for a more complete picture, a new study finds.

In a report Sunday, the Pew Internet and American Life Project said that nearly 30 percent of adults have used the Internet to read or watch unfiltered campaign material -- footage of debates, position papers, announcements and transcripts of speeches.

Study: Americans use Net to look beyond sound bite - Boston.com

The Associated Press to Set Guidelines for Using Its Articles in Blogs - NYTimes.com

Interesting times

The Associated Press, one of the nation’s largest news organizations, said that it will, for the first time, attempt to define clear standards as to how much of its articles and broadcasts bloggers and Web sites can excerpt without infringing on The A.P.’s copyright.

The A.P.’s effort to impose some guidelines on the free-wheeling blogosphere, where extensive quoting and even copying of entire news articles is common, may offer a prominent definition of the important but vague doctrine of “fair use,” which holds that copyright owners cannot ban others from using small bits of their works under some circumstances. For example, a book reviewer is allowed to quote passages from the work without permission from the publisher.

The Associated Press to Set Guidelines for Using Its Articles in Blogs - NYTimes.com

Lost in E-Mail, Tech Firms Face Self-Made Beast - NYTimes.com

See the full article for some scary stats

The onslaught of cellphone calls and e-mail and instant messages is fracturing attention spans and hurting productivity. It is a common complaint. But now the very companies that helped create the flood are trying to mop it up.

Some of the biggest technology firms, including Microsoft, Intel, Google and I.B.M., are banding together to fight information overload. Last week they formed a nonprofit group to study the problem, publicize it and devise ways to help workers — theirs and others — cope with the digital deluge.

Lost in E-Mail, Tech Firms Face Self-Made Beast - NYTimes.com

Charging by the Byte to Curb Internet Traffic - NYTimes.com

Makes for controversial stories, but I don't think the laws of supply & demand will tolerate this in the long-run

For years, both kinds of Web surfers have paid the same price for access. But now three of the country’s largest Internet service providers are threatening to clamp down on their most active subscribers by placing monthly limits on their online activity.

One of them, Time Warner Cable, began a trial of “Internet metering” in one Texas city early this month, asking customers to select a monthly plan and pay surcharges when they exceed their bandwidth limit. The idea is that people who use the network more heavily should pay more, the way they do for water, electricity, or, in many cases, cellphone minutes.

Charging by the Byte to Curb Internet Traffic - NYTimes.com

I, Cringely . The Pulpit . MeMobile, You Kaput | PBS

The latest intriguing speculation from Cringely

Now let's get back to that Microsoft-killing part. Microsoft's success is based on two products and only two products -- Windows and Office. Microsoft is obsessed with the idea that Google will undermine one or both of those monopolies through Google Apps. This is all Steve Ballmer thinks about and is what made him so eager to spend $40+ billion for Yahoo. But what if the real threat isn't Google at all, but Apple?

[...]

Nearly everyone who tries it is going to LOVE MobileMe, which Apple -- calling it "Microsoft Exchange for the rest of us" -- will madly market to small and medium-sized businesses, of which there are six million in the U.S. alone. Those outfits will buy iPhones, MobileMe accounts, and eventually Macs and MacBooks for their workers. IPhone enterprise customers will do the same. Organizations that find Google Apps too hard to use (have you actually tried to build a wiki using Google Sites? I have and it is HARD - far worse than using JotSpot, from which Sites supposedly evolved) or aren't big enough for Exchange will buy MobileMe instead and never look back.

I, Cringely . The Pulpit . MeMobile, You Kaput | PBS

Yahoo + Google - Microsoft: The Morning After - Bits - Technology - New York Times Blog

More analysis -- see the full post for a useful snapshot

It’s not necessarily over. Despite the very public breakup, Microsoft could still come back and make an offer for Yahoo. An investor with a fund that specializes in merger arbitrage bets said in an interview Friday that he and many other investors he spoke to still believe that a deal is possible. The investor, who requested anonymity because of a company policy not to discuss matters with the media, said that if Yahoo shares remain in the low $20s, Microsoft could conceivably come back and buy Yahoo for less than the $33 a share it offered in May, and perhaps less than the $31 a share it offered in January.

Yahoo + Google - Microsoft: The Morning After - Bits - Technology - New York Times Blog

Google grows stronger in Microsoft-Yahoo fallout - Boston.com

Should be an interesting shareholder meeting...

Deutsche Bank analyst Jeetil Patel described Yahoo's decision to farm out advertising to Google as "one of the worst strategic maneuvers seen in the Internet industry."

Google will get such great access to Yahoo's highly trafficked Web site that it should be able to gather more insights about the correlation between search requests and advertising, ThinkPanmure analyst William Morrison wrote in a Friday research note titled "Giving Away The Store (To Google)."

Google grows stronger in Microsoft-Yahoo fallout - Boston.com

Fake Steve says namaste to 'Newsweek' | One More Thing - CNET News.com

I'm guessing that is the end of the road for FSJ, at least the non-PG-13 version; oh well...

Daniel Lyons, the creator of Fake Steve Jobs, is taking his show on the road.

Lyons is leaving Forbes, which has hosted FSJ since Lyons was outed as the creative force behind the blog last year, for Newsweek, according to Silicon Alley Insider.

Fake Steve says namaste to 'Newsweek' | One More Thing - CNET News.com

Blue Cross plans Web access to records [via Google Health] - The Boston Globe

I understand from someone who spoke with Blue Cross today to explore the details that this may be default opt-in, which I suspect would keep the Blue Cross customer service people  busy -- until they reverse the policy...

Come this fall, members of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts will be able to go online to look up their healthcare claims and some medical records, which the insurer says will help patients manage their medical care and have more productive discussions with doctors.

The feature is being offered through Google Health, the new healthcare Web portal recently opened by the Internet search giant based in Mountain View, Calif. Blue Cross-Blue Shield said it is the first health insurer to sign on to the service.

[...]

Fox said no money changes hands between Google and Blue Cross-Blue Shield as a result of the affiliation. He said Google wants to attract as many users as possible to its site, while Blue Cross-Blue Shield seeks to offer members an online tool.

This topic domain is still a paradox to me: so lots of people went ballistic when Microsoft hinted at a service like this, in conjunction with its "HailStorm" vision c2001 (which in some respects is now live, as HealthVault), but somehow Google, with a business model fundamentally focused on "monetizing" other people's content, is default = trustworthy with individuals' most private information?

Blue Cross plans Web access to records - The Boston Globe

Technoracle (a.k.a. "Duane's World"): ISO puts OOXML on hold?

A timely reality check re the recent ISO OOXML protests -- see the full post for details

I guess we all have to wait and see. Prediction? This stall will have no effect on the overall status of ISO approval of OOXML. Microsoft has claimed it will add support for the Open Document Format (ODF) and that should quell some of the opposition. There has been a lot of resources and energy wasted on this debate. Regardless of the outcome, here are my predictions:

1. The fact ISO approves or does not approve OOXML will have little effect on it being put into future versions of Microsoft Office.

2. No one who is anti-Microsoft will not suddenly be pro-Microsoft just because of approval from ISO.

3. Real standards are, in part, ipso facto adoption and use. ISO's stamp does provide some additional credibility but due to the press about this, I doubt will have any serious impact on people's opinions who have been paying attention. Those who have not paid attention may get suckered by the "yes - it is a standard" spiel however the reality is that Microsoft Office is a standard today, with or without ISO stamps.

4. The real issue is that several governments have made statements governing software purchase which limits purchases to standards. If MS office supports ODF, will it be legal to be purchased by most governments? Probably yes. Will they use the ODF format or OOXML for document persistence? You take a guess.

Technoracle (a.k.a. "Duane's World"): ISO puts OOXML on hold?

More Top Yahoos Heading for the Exits - Bits - Technology - New York Times Blog

Hmm...

A pair of senior Yahoo executives is leaving the beleaguered Internet company, continuing a steady exodus of executives that began more than two years ago.

The latest to leave are Jeff Weiner, executive vice president of the network division, and Usama Fayyad, chief data officer and executive vice president of research and strategic data solutions, according to a person with knowledge of the situation.

[...]

In addition to Mr. Weiner and Mr. Fayyad, Yahoo veteran Jeremy Zawodny announced on his blog that he is also leaving. Mr. Zawodny joined Yahoo in 1999 and helped start Yahoo’s developer network and was a prominent backer of open source software inside the company. Mr. Zawodny said that he is leaving because of a new opportunity, not because of the Yahoo’s uncertain future.

More Top Yahoos Heading for the Exits - Bits - Technology - New York Times Blog

FT.com / In depth - Yahoo in search deal with Google

More Google/Yahoo details

The alliance between the two biggest search companies, which many antitrust experts have said would face intense scrutiny, will put Google adverts alongside Yahoo’s search results and on other web pages in the US and Canada.

To reduce the risk of a regulatory backlash, Yahoo said the partnership would be non-exclusive and would mean that Google ads would sit alongside others generated by its own advertising system as well as those supplied by other companies, potentially including Microsoft.

FT.com / In depth - Yahoo in search deal with Google

Microsoft Issues Statement Regarding Yahoo!: Microsoft Corp. issued the following statement today regarding Yahoo!

Doesn't look to me like this is over yet...

Microsoft Corp. today issued the following statement:

“In the weeks since Microsoft withdrew its offer to acquire Yahoo!, the two companies have continued to discuss an alternative transaction that Microsoft believes would have delivered in excess of $33 per share to the Yahoo! shareholders.  This partnership would ensure healthy competition in the marketplace, providing greater choice and innovation for advertisers, publishers and consumers.

“As stated on May 3^rd and reiterated on May 18^th Microsoft was not interested in rebidding for all of Yahoo!.  Our alternative transaction remains available for discussion.” 

Microsoft Issues Statement Regarding Yahoo!: Microsoft Corp. issued the following statement today regarding Yahoo!

Ad Accord for Yahoo and Google - NYTimes.com

Timing is everything

On Sunday, a group of Microsoft executives discussed that proposal with Yahoo board members during a two-hour face-to-face meeting at Mineta San Jose International Airport. The meeting included Steven A. Ballmer, Microsoft’s chief executive, and other top Microsoft officials, as well as Mr. Yang; Yahoo’s chairman, Roy Bostock; and other Yahoo directors.

At the meeting, Microsoft executives repeated that they would not consider buying all of Yahoo, in part because any merger deal signed now would be subject to a review by regulators. That process would extend into a new administration, possibly tying up Microsoft’s capital for many more months, without certainty that a merger would go forward, according to the people familiar with Microsoft’s thinking.

Ad Accord for Yahoo and Google - NYTimes.com

Yahoo to announce reorg, Google ad deal | Tech news blog - CNET News.com

On a related note...

Yahoo's long-awaited deal to show Google ads on search results and an unrelated executive reorganization in its technology group could be announced today, CNET News.com has learned.

The Google deal, tested for two weeks in April and under development since then, could help improve the revenue generated by Yahoo's search. But investors probably shouldn't expect a significant financial lift until 2009, because the deal won't necessarily kick in immediately, a source familiar with the plan said.

Yahoo to announce reorg, Google ad deal | Tech news blog - CNET News.com

Yahoo Ends Talks With Microsoft, Nears Search-Ad Deal with Google - WSJ.com

Looks like Carl Icahn is having a bad day...

Microsoft Corp. has definitively abandoned its pursuit of a deal with Yahoo Inc., people familiar the matter said, opening the way for Yahoo to complete a search advertising pact with rival Google Inc.

Microsoft told Yahoo it was no longer interested in a pursuing a takeover, even at the $33 per share price it offered for the Internet company last month. Shares of Yahoo plunged on the news, dropping 11%, or $2.88, to $23.27 on the Nasdaq Stock Market.

The decision likely spells the end of Microsoft's five-month pursuit of Yahoo, a deal it characterized at the time as essential to its strategy of countering rival Google. In retrospect, Microsoft's unsolicited approach appears to have badly backfired. Instead of winning Yahoo's huge audience and online search capabilities Microsoft has driven its quarry into the arms of its arch enemy -- Google.

Yahoo Ends Talks With Microsoft, Nears Search-Ad Deal with Google - WSJ.com

Apple in Parallel: Turning the PC World Upside Down? - Bits - Technology - New York Times Blog

Hmm

The problem is that, having headed down that path, the industry is now admitting that it doesn’t know how to program the new parallel chips efficiently when the number of cores goes above a handful.

On Monday, Mr. Jobs asserted that Apple was coming to the rescue.

“We’ve added over a thousand features to Mac OS X in the last five years,” he said Monday in an interview after his presentation. “We’re going to hit the pause button on new features.”

Instead, the company is going to focus on what he called “foundational features” that will be the basis for a future version of the operating system.

Apple in Parallel: Turning the PC World Upside Down? - Bits - Technology - New York Times Blog

E.U. Snubs Microsoft on Office Systems - NYTimes.com

This just in from the land of fettered capitalism and long-term grudge matches...

Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes of the European Union delivered an unusually blunt snub to Microsoft on Tuesday by recommending that businesses and governments use software based on open standards.

[...]

“I know a smart business decision when I see one — choosing open standards is a very smart business decision indeed,” Ms. Kroes told a conference in Brussels. “No citizen or company should be forced or encouraged to choose a closed technology over an open one.”

E.U. Snubs Microsoft on Office Systems - NYTimes.com

Apple Aims for the Masses With a Cheaper iPhone - NYTimes.com

Hmmm

Mr. Jobs also indirectly challenged Microsoft with a mobile Web service call MobileMe, intended to permit a user to synchronize a phone, calendar and contact information on the iPhone and multiple devices including PCs and other iPhones. The service, which will costs $99 a year and comes with 20 gigabytes of data storage, is similar to a service offered by Microsoft.

Apple’s obstacle in offering the new service is that its competitors, like Google, offer similar services for less. Google offers 10 gigabytes of e-mail storage for $20 a year.

Apple Aims for the Masses With a Cheaper iPhone - NYTimes.com

H-P Positions New PCs to Compete - WSJ.com

Apple's competitive landscape is getting more complicated

Hewlett-Packard Co. is taking aim at some of the most competitive segments of the consumer PC business with new products that include an ultrathin laptop designed to compete with Apple Inc.'s distinctive MacBook Air.

H-P, which is No. 1 in world-wide unit sales of personal computers, plans to unveil Tuesday its new Voodoo Envy 133 laptop, which is a little more than a half-inch thick and weighs less than 3½ pounds.

H-P Positions New PCs to Compete - WSJ.com

Sun's Gage to Join Kleiner Perkins - WSJ.com

Sign of the times

John Gage, one of Sun Microsystems Inc.'s best-known technologists, is leaving the company to become a venture capitalist with Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.

Mr. Gage, who has worked at Sun since 1982, most recently as chief researcher and vice president of its science office, is departing as Sun struggles with a downturn in tech spending by big corporations.

[...]

Mr. Gage, 65 years old, said he was moving to Kleiner to help solve environmental problems, specifically global warming.

Sun's Gage to Join Kleiner Perkins - WSJ.com

Will Masses Embrace Apple's $199 Handset? - WSJ.com

Hmm...

Despite the price cut, users of the new iPhone 3G will have to spend more on their monthly service fees, at least in the U.S., than before. AT&T will charge users of the new device $30 a month for an unlimited data plan, instead of the previous monthly fee of $20, while the starting price for its iPhone voice plan will remain unchanged at $39.99. The increase will help AT&T more quickly recoup the subsidy for the iPhone.

The news that Apple will no longer be sharing in wireless subscriber fees with its carrier partners rattled some investors, sending Apple's stock tumbling by nearly 5%. The shares recovered, falling $4.03, or 2.2%, to $181.61 as of 4 p.m. trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market.

I'm tempted, as I'm eligible for a new phone + contract (and am already an AT&T Wireless customer), but I'll probably get a Blackberry or Windows Mobile device with a keyboard instead...

Will Masses Embrace Apple's $199 Handset? - WSJ.com

iPhone promises more for less - The Boston Globe

See the full article for more details

Most of yesterday's two-hour presentation focused on iPhone software rather than hardware. Jobs touted iPhone 2.0, a new version of the phone's software that will make it compatible with Microsoft Corp.'s Exchange messaging service, while adding virtual private networking support from Cisco Systems Inc.

Jobs said those two features will help the iPhone gain acceptance in large corporations and government agencies, a market now dominated by rival "smartphones" that use Research In Motion Ltd.'s BlackBerry software, the Symbian operating system, or Microsoft's Windows Mobile software.

iPhone promises more for less - The Boston Globe

Is Google Making Us Stupid?

A timely and thought-provoking Atlantic cover story by Nicholas Carr -- excerpt:

Over the past few years I’ve had an uncomfortable sense that someone, or something, has been tinkering with my brain, remapping the neural circuitry, reprogramming the memory. My mind isn’t going—so far as I can tell—but it’s changing. I’m not thinking the way I used to think. I can feel it most strongly when I’m reading. Immersing myself in a book or a lengthy article used to be easy. My mind would get caught up in the narrative or the turns of the argument, and I’d spend hours strolling through long stretches of prose. That’s rarely the case anymore. Now my concentration often starts to drift after two or three pages. I get fidgety, lose the thread, begin looking for something else to do. I feel as if I’m always dragging my wayward brain back to the text. The deep reading that used to come naturally has become a struggle.

I only skimmed the rest of the article, but it looked pretty good (kidding :)...)

Is Google Making Us Stupid?

Don Dodge on The Next Big Thing: Amazon, Twitter, Disqus down. Do you really want your data in the cloud?

A timely Don Dodge reality check; see the full post for more details

I woke up this morning and checked TechMeme to see what was happening in the tech world. Three stories jumped out at me. Amazon was down due to a Denial of Service attack. Twitter has been down many times over the past few weeks. Dave Winer says he needs a Plan B for Twitter. Disqus, the blog commenting service, has also been down several times recently.

Don Dodge on The Next Big Thing: Amazon, Twitter, Disqus down. Do you really want your data in the cloud?