Q&A: Microsoft's Strategic Alliance with BT "Today Microsoft and the United Kingdom-based telecommunications leader BT announced a global strategic alliance to deliver a next-generation, integrated real-time communication and collaboration solution to customers worldwide.
The agreement will bring together BT's audio conferencing technology and Microsoft Office Live Meeting to create a real-time collaboration solution for businesses around the world. The companies also will dedicate marketing and sales resources to help drive awareness, usage and adoption of the new solution. BT also plans deployment of Live Meeting within some divisions of its operation."
Wednesday, July 14, 2004
WSJ.com - Red Hat Discloses Restatement Plan, Inquiry by SEC
WSJ.com - Red Hat Discloses Restatement Plan, Inquiry by SEC "Red Hat Inc. said it would restate financial results for the past three years and disclosed a Securities and Exchange Commission inquiry, sending its shares down 23% and raising concerns about the credibility of the software company's management.
Investors and analysts said the restatement would have little impact on the company's earnings, only slightly changing its revenue and earnings per share for the three years. Meanwhile, the SEC inquiry isn't a formal investigation and relates to one annual report, Red Hat Chief Executive Officer Matthew Szulik said on a conference call.
But the restatement and the SEC inquiry came just weeks after Red Hat's surprise announcement that its chief financial officer was resigning for personal reasons. The string of announcements raised concerns about whether there are more surprises to come.
...
Shares of Red Hat, which traded as high as $29.06 on June 2, fell $4.62 to $15.73, their lowest point of the year, in 4 p.m. trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market. Volume was 37 million, compared with average daily volume of 5.5 million."
Investors and analysts said the restatement would have little impact on the company's earnings, only slightly changing its revenue and earnings per share for the three years. Meanwhile, the SEC inquiry isn't a formal investigation and relates to one annual report, Red Hat Chief Executive Officer Matthew Szulik said on a conference call.
But the restatement and the SEC inquiry came just weeks after Red Hat's surprise announcement that its chief financial officer was resigning for personal reasons. The string of announcements raised concerns about whether there are more surprises to come.
...
Shares of Red Hat, which traded as high as $29.06 on June 2, fell $4.62 to $15.73, their lowest point of the year, in 4 p.m. trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market. Volume was 37 million, compared with average daily volume of 5.5 million."
WSJ.com - A Sign of the Times at Novell? Officers Are Buying Shares Again
WSJ.com - A Sign of the Times at Novell? Officers Are Buying Shares Again "Insiders at Novell Inc. have had a lot of success tracking the company's fortunes over the years, and lately they have been buyers.
Four company directors reported buying 32,000 shares for an average price of $8.26 a share since the beginning of June, according to data provider Washington Service. Shares of Novell were at $6.54 as of 4 p.m. trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market, compared with a 52-week high of $14.24 reached in February and 12-month low of $3.38 set last August.
"This is a very abnormally positive kind of event," said Michael Painchaud, research director for Market Profile Theorems, which tracks insider transactions."
Four company directors reported buying 32,000 shares for an average price of $8.26 a share since the beginning of June, according to data provider Washington Service. Shares of Novell were at $6.54 as of 4 p.m. trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market, compared with a 52-week high of $14.24 reached in February and 12-month low of $3.38 set last August.
"This is a very abnormally positive kind of event," said Michael Painchaud, research director for Market Profile Theorems, which tracks insider transactions."
Wired News: Movie, TV Fans Ogle Video to Go
Wired News: Movie, TV Fans Ogle Video to Go "The wait at the airport or the train ride downtown may soon seem a whole lot shorter. New portable video players that let you watch TV shows, movies or ballgames anywhere aspire to be digital entertainment's next big thing. Experts predict a rosy future for the devices -- provided worthwhile content is available.
Unlike portable DVD players that require schlepping discs, the new devices can copy content stored on a PC, or record programs directly from TVs or VCRs. Consumer electronics companies including Samsung, Creative Labs, RCA and others are rolling out portable video players that can store 50 full-length movies or thousands of songs.
...
"Gartenberg said although Apple fans are craving a video equivalent to the popular iPod music player, he doesn't expect the company to jump in until the market has been established. "It's not about being first to market. Apple wasn't the first to market with the MP3 player. They were first with the best MP3 player," Gartenberg said.
Analyst Bajarin said Apple will let companies like Creative Labs and Samsung "take the arrows" as the market develops before considering developing a portable video player. Bajarin added that Sony, which invented the Walkman 25 years ago, would be "extremely competitive" if it chose to enter the fray. Bajarin expects that another seven or eight portable video players will be available by the end of the year."
Unlike portable DVD players that require schlepping discs, the new devices can copy content stored on a PC, or record programs directly from TVs or VCRs. Consumer electronics companies including Samsung, Creative Labs, RCA and others are rolling out portable video players that can store 50 full-length movies or thousands of songs.
...
"Gartenberg said although Apple fans are craving a video equivalent to the popular iPod music player, he doesn't expect the company to jump in until the market has been established. "It's not about being first to market. Apple wasn't the first to market with the MP3 player. They were first with the best MP3 player," Gartenberg said.
Analyst Bajarin said Apple will let companies like Creative Labs and Samsung "take the arrows" as the market develops before considering developing a portable video player. Bajarin added that Sony, which invented the Walkman 25 years ago, would be "extremely competitive" if it chose to enter the fray. Bajarin expects that another seven or eight portable video players will be available by the end of the year."
Tuesday, July 13, 2004
8,000 bloggers born every day | The Register
8,000 bloggers born every day | The Register "Weblog search engine Technorati says it is now tracking over three million webblogs, with 8,000-17,000 new blogs created every single day. That means that a new weblog is created somewhere in the world every 5.8 seconds. Of these, a reported 36 per cent irritate friends or family with their twitterings, while a staggering 12 per cent attract the attention of lawyers with their biting commentary.
Among the less eye-catching stats is the revelation that about 45 per cent of the weblogs have not had a post in over three months, but a significant portion of people are still posting each day. The number of conversations are increasing to over 275,000 individual posts a day. On average, more than 3 blogs are updated every second."
Among the less eye-catching stats is the revelation that about 45 per cent of the weblogs have not had a post in over three months, but a significant portion of people are still posting each day. The number of conversations are increasing to over 275,000 individual posts a day. On average, more than 3 blogs are updated every second."
The New York Times > Technology > I.B.M. Introduces Computer Lines
The New York Times > Technology > I.B.M. Introduces Computer Lines "I.B.M.'s success, analysts say, is a good sign for its hardware business, even as the company has tilted toward services. I.B.M. is the leader in worldwide revenues from server sales, with its market share rising from 23 percent in 2000 to nearly 32 percent last year, according to IDC, a research firm.
...
The new I.B.M. systems, analysts say, have achieved impressive gains in price-for-performance over competing machines. I.B.M. has also built virtualization technology into the new computers, so that several workloads can run at once on a single machine, greatly increasing the utilization rate. Such technology has long been available on mainframe computers, but has only recently made its way onto other computers."
...
The new I.B.M. systems, analysts say, have achieved impressive gains in price-for-performance over competing machines. I.B.M. has also built virtualization technology into the new computers, so that several workloads can run at once on a single machine, greatly increasing the utilization rate. Such technology has long been available on mainframe computers, but has only recently made its way onto other computers."
Monday, July 12, 2004
InfoWorld: Microsoft to put online store on Start menu: July 12, 2004: By : PLATFORMS
InfoWorld: Microsoft to put online store on Start menu: July 12, 2004: By : PLATFORMS: "Microsoft Corp. is working on a new shopping Web site for software, hardware, and peripherals that it plans to advertise in the Windows XP Start Menu and the Internet Explorer Web browser."
On the Start menu -- yeah, that'll be popular with competitors...
On the Start menu -- yeah, that'll be popular with competitors...
Bloomberg.com: Europe: Nokia's Mobile-Phone Sales, Profit Lag as Ollila Cuts Products
Bloomberg.com: Europe: Nokia's Mobile-Phone Sales, Profit Lag as Ollila Cuts Products "Nokia Oyj, the world's largest mobile- phone maker, may report sales dropped for a fourth quarter and profit barely budged as its market share falls to the lowest level since 1999.
...
Nokia's market share fell to 29 percent in the first quarter, the lowest in five years, from 35 percent a year earlier, according to researcher Gartner Inc. Nokia estimates its market share fell to 32 percent in the first quarter.
The Finnish company's five main competitors all increased their market share in the quarter on higher sales of so-called clamshell phones with color screens and cameras."
...
Nokia's market share fell to 29 percent in the first quarter, the lowest in five years, from 35 percent a year earlier, according to researcher Gartner Inc. Nokia estimates its market share fell to 32 percent in the first quarter.
The Finnish company's five main competitors all increased their market share in the quarter on higher sales of so-called clamshell phones with color screens and cameras."
Yahoo Buys E-Mail Startup
Yahoo Buys E-Mail Startup "Yahoo Inc. has acquired a Web-based e-mail startup company as it moves closer to rolling out further changes to its popular e-mail service.
In a message to subscribers posted late Friday, Oddpost Inc. said it had been bought by Yahoo and that its development team was focusing it energy on building new additions to Yahoo Mail."
In a message to subscribers posted late Friday, Oddpost Inc. said it had been bought by Yahoo and that its development team was focusing it energy on building new additions to Yahoo Mail."
PCWorld.com - Mozilla Gains on IE
PCWorld.com - Mozilla Gains on IE "A series of highly publicized security vulnerabilities found in Microsoft's Internet Explorer Web browser may be having an effect on the browser's market share, according to data compiled by WebSideStory, a San Diego Web metrics company. Over the last month, Internet Explorer's share of the browser market dropped by 1 percent, the first noticeable decline since WebSideStory began tracking the browser market in late 1999.
...
Internet Explorer has held more than 95 percent of the browser market since June 2002, and until June had remained steady with about 95.7 percent of the browser market, according to WebSideStory's measurements. Over the last month, however, its market share has slowly dropped from 95.73 percent on June 4 to 94.73 percent on July 6."
...
Internet Explorer has held more than 95 percent of the browser market since June 2002, and until June had remained steady with about 95.7 percent of the browser market, according to WebSideStory's measurements. Over the last month, however, its market share has slowly dropped from 95.73 percent on June 4 to 94.73 percent on July 6."
Sunday, July 11, 2004
The New York Times > Business > Your Money > Suits: Gates and Jobs, Together at Last
The New York Times > Business > Your Money > Suits: Gates and Jobs, Together at Last "Bill Gates and Steve Jobs have been celebrated in books, magazines, newspapers, even a television movie. Now comes musical theater.
Jordan Allen-Dutton and Erik Weiner, authors of "The Bomb-itty of Errors," an award-winning, hip-hop Shakespearean play, have written "Nerds," which they call "a musical software satire." It is to be performed this week at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y."
Jordan Allen-Dutton and Erik Weiner, authors of "The Bomb-itty of Errors," an award-winning, hip-hop Shakespearean play, have written "Nerds," which they call "a musical software satire." It is to be performed this week at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y."
The New York Times > Business > Your Money > Techno Files: Is Broadband Out of a Wall Socket the Next Big Thing?
The New York Times > Business > Your Money > Techno Files: Is Broadband Out of a Wall Socket the Next Big Thing? "It is known variously as B.P.L, for broadband over power lines, or as HomePlug. As a concept, it has been around for a long time. What is new in the last two years is a series of technical breakthroughs, mainly in chips designed by Intellon, a tiny company in Ocala, Fla. These chips have made power-line transmission fast enough, cheap enough and reliable enough to merit serious attention. A standards-setting group called the HomePlug alliance has also played an important role."
Friday, July 09, 2004
Burton Group says XML standards consolidating- ADTmag.com
Burton Group says XML standards consolidating- ADTmag.com "One analyst covering XML used to constantly add new standards to a single PowerPoint slide she used in presentations until the proliferation of standards, mostly beginning in X and often making cute acronyms, overwhelmed the slide and turned it into a black mass.
The good news, according to Peter O'Kelly, an analyst with the Burton Group, is that the flavor-of-the-month time for XML standards may be coming to a merciful end.
'XML is now in the midst of a transformational phase,' he writes in a recently released report, 'XML Modeling and Mapping: Tumultuous Transformation in the Grand Schema of Things,' which Burton Group supplied to XDT. In O'Kelly's opinion, 'the market is rapidly consolidating around a small but significant set of XML standards and artifact types (documents, schemas, styles, and transformations).'"
Check the article for more details. BTW the report title is "XML Modeling and Mapping: Tumultuous Transformation in the Grand Schema Things" (no "of")
The good news, according to Peter O'Kelly, an analyst with the Burton Group, is that the flavor-of-the-month time for XML standards may be coming to a merciful end.
'XML is now in the midst of a transformational phase,' he writes in a recently released report, 'XML Modeling and Mapping: Tumultuous Transformation in the Grand Schema of Things,' which Burton Group supplied to XDT. In O'Kelly's opinion, 'the market is rapidly consolidating around a small but significant set of XML standards and artifact types (documents, schemas, styles, and transformations).'"
Check the article for more details. BTW the report title is "XML Modeling and Mapping: Tumultuous Transformation in the Grand Schema Things" (no "of")
CRN | Breaking News | Groove Networks Founder Ray Ozzie Talks Turkey
CRN | Breaking News | Groove Networks Founder Ray Ozzie Talks Turkey "CRN: What desktop operating systems do you support?
Ozzie: Windows 2000, XP, Windows 2003 Server, 98 and ME. Twenty percent of the world is on older versions especially in small business, even the enterprise, and home computers are on 98 and ME and we believe you have to go where the users are.
In usability, I should say, this may be a little obscure, but what Groove is trying to do is preserve your attention. You have a lot of things you're doing online w/ other people and we've put significant online presence awareness and activity awareness features into the product so you can tune different workspaces to high urgency projects, to low urgency things so you only get interrupted appropriately."
Ozzie: Windows 2000, XP, Windows 2003 Server, 98 and ME. Twenty percent of the world is on older versions especially in small business, even the enterprise, and home computers are on 98 and ME and we believe you have to go where the users are.
In usability, I should say, this may be a little obscure, but what Groove is trying to do is preserve your attention. You have a lot of things you're doing online w/ other people and we've put significant online presence awareness and activity awareness features into the product so you can tune different workspaces to high urgency projects, to low urgency things so you only get interrupted appropriately."
The Seattle Times: Business & Technology: First of Microsoft's media handhelds set for August sales
The Seattle Times: Business & Technology: First of Microsoft's media handhelds set for August sales "Microsoft is announcing today that the first Portable Media Center — its handheld device that can play video and audio files — will go on sale next month for $499.
...
With the announcement, Microsoft is jumping into a portable media-player business that has been focused on music and is dominated by Apple's iPod music player. The iPod doesn't play video — and Apple hasn't said whether future versions will — but handheld video players from other companies are starting to hit the market.
...
Mike McGuire, a research director with GartnerG2, said it will be interesting to see how people react to the Portable Media Center's price tag and concept.
"There are a whole bunch of portable media centers that are out there in the market already," he said. "They're notebook computers."
...
With the announcement, Microsoft is jumping into a portable media-player business that has been focused on music and is dominated by Apple's iPod music player. The iPod doesn't play video — and Apple hasn't said whether future versions will — but handheld video players from other companies are starting to hit the market.
...
Mike McGuire, a research director with GartnerG2, said it will be interesting to see how people react to the Portable Media Center's price tag and concept.
"There are a whole bunch of portable media centers that are out there in the market already," he said. "They're notebook computers."
WSJ.com - U.S. Cites Signals Al Qaeda Plans To Upset Elections
WSJ.com - U.S. Cites Signals Al Qaeda Plans To Upset Elections "Ridge drowned out campaigning with an election terror warning. He offered no specifics and declined to raise the alert level but cited worries about convention safety.
...
The announcement, which followed three days of briefings to members of Congress and the White House on the threat assessments, comes just before what is expected to be a barrage of critical reports about the U.S. intelligence community's lack of coordination and failure to react to warnings before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks."
I guess I could claim this is as much about information management as it is politics...
...
The announcement, which followed three days of briefings to members of Congress and the White House on the threat assessments, comes just before what is expected to be a barrage of critical reports about the U.S. intelligence community's lack of coordination and failure to react to warnings before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks."
I guess I could claim this is as much about information management as it is politics...
Fortune.com - Fast Forward - A PC Pioneer Decries the State of Computing
Fortune.com - Fast Forward - A PC Pioneer Decries the State of Computing "I have a soft spot for people who say things like "The computer revolution hasn't started yet...we're not even close to what we should have." I'm prone to agree. But when the speaker is Alan Kay, who invented a huge proportion of what we do have today, I enthusiastically grant him credence.
This is the guy who, working for the Defense Department's Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in the late '60s and at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) in the early '70s, invented or contributed heavily to the invention of: the personal computer, windows-type graphical user interfaces, personal computer networks, and object-oriented computer programming. All of these seminal creations are baked into today's computing environment, which Kay casually disparages. They say that great inventors are often easily dissatisfied. An hour or so with Kay would suggest there's truth in that.
...
But I was struck most by how much he thinks we haven't yet done. "We're running on fumes technologically today," he says. "The sad truth is that 20 years or so of commercialization have almost completely missed the point of what personal computing is about."
This is the guy who, working for the Defense Department's Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in the late '60s and at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) in the early '70s, invented or contributed heavily to the invention of: the personal computer, windows-type graphical user interfaces, personal computer networks, and object-oriented computer programming. All of these seminal creations are baked into today's computing environment, which Kay casually disparages. They say that great inventors are often easily dissatisfied. An hour or so with Kay would suggest there's truth in that.
...
But I was struck most by how much he thinks we haven't yet done. "We're running on fumes technologically today," he says. "The sad truth is that 20 years or so of commercialization have almost completely missed the point of what personal computing is about."
Thursday, July 08, 2004
Wired News: Bloggers Suffer Burnout
Wired News: Bloggers Suffer Burnout "Billmon's inability to keep up with the demands of moderating comments in the face of a job, family and other responsibilities is just one manifestation of a problem increasingly faced by popular daily bloggers: burnout. While they enjoy what they're doing, many find that keeping up with the pressures to post regularly and to be sharp, witty and incisive is often too much.
"When it's fun and it's going really well, you feel (great), and when it's not fun, it starts feeling like ... when you have to go to a job every day from nine to five," said Jason Kottke, the author of kottke.org and remaindered links, popular blogs about technology, culture, photography and other topics. "You start to feel like the readers are depending on you, and ... like you have to post something whether you feel like it or not, and that can be depressing."
(It's easier when you go with a news filter-oriented blog, like this one...)
"When it's fun and it's going really well, you feel (great), and when it's not fun, it starts feeling like ... when you have to go to a job every day from nine to five," said Jason Kottke, the author of kottke.org and remaindered links, popular blogs about technology, culture, photography and other topics. "You start to feel like the readers are depending on you, and ... like you have to post something whether you feel like it or not, and that can be depressing."
(It's easier when you go with a news filter-oriented blog, like this one...)
The New York Times > Technology > Circuits > State of the Art: Microsoft on the Trail of Google
The New York Times > Technology > Circuits > State of the Art: Microsoft on the Trail of Google "Even if the searching part worked perfectly, though, MSN Search would have a ways to go before catching up to the mature, highly polished application-ishness of its rivals. Google and Yahoo, for example, can search for photographs on the Web, not just text. They offer cool shortcuts that can instantly summon phone numbers, FedEx tracking information and airline flight data (Google), or the cheapest local gas, movie showtimes and telephone area-code identification (Yahoo). And don't underestimate the informational power of Google's news-group-searching feature, which plucks out individual words from millions of Internet bulletin-board discussions.
Even so, Microsoft has done a beautiful job de-gunking its home page and removing paid ads from your search results. Will its new search technology attain anything even close to Google's "relevancy?" It's too soon to tell. But if it's successful, Microsoft will have demonstrated its brilliancy, boosted its own importancy and taken another irreversible step toward world dominancy."
(Read the article if you want to understand the idiocy on "brilliancy" etc.)
Even so, Microsoft has done a beautiful job de-gunking its home page and removing paid ads from your search results. Will its new search technology attain anything even close to Google's "relevancy?" It's too soon to tell. But if it's successful, Microsoft will have demonstrated its brilliancy, boosted its own importancy and taken another irreversible step toward world dominancy."
(Read the article if you want to understand the idiocy on "brilliancy" etc.)
WSJ.com - Apple Challenges Sony's Claims Over New Digital Music Player
WSJ.com - Apple Challenges Sony's Claims Over New Digital Music Player "Yesterday, Apple struck back and said Sony isn't fairly comparing the products' capacity. Apple said Sony based its calculations for the capacity of its Network Walkman on compressing files at low encoding "bit rates," a technique that creates more-compact digital files but reduces the fidelity of recordings. Apple typically estimates the capacity of the iPod based on a bit rate of 128 kilobits per second. By contrast, Apple noted, Sony's 13,000-song estimate for the Network Walkman was based on a rate of 48 kilobits. Apple posited that Sony's device actually would hold only 4,800 songs with the sound quality found on the 20-gigabyte iPod.
"We're disappointed that Sony, which is new to this market, has decided to make their first impression by attempting to mislead the press and customers," Apple said.
...
Sony reacted angrily to Apple's statement. Todd Schrader, Sony Electronics' vice president of portable audio products, said the "Walkman has always been about choice." He said consumers can play songs on the Walkman in a variety of bit rates and that it is up to customers to decide the rate."
Meanwhile, high-volume device manufacturers worldwide are preparing to launch their Portable Media Center devices for the back-to-school season that will make both sides of this debate seem quaint.
"We're disappointed that Sony, which is new to this market, has decided to make their first impression by attempting to mislead the press and customers," Apple said.
...
Sony reacted angrily to Apple's statement. Todd Schrader, Sony Electronics' vice president of portable audio products, said the "Walkman has always been about choice." He said consumers can play songs on the Walkman in a variety of bit rates and that it is up to customers to decide the rate."
Meanwhile, high-volume device manufacturers worldwide are preparing to launch their Portable Media Center devices for the back-to-school season that will make both sides of this debate seem quaint.
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