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Given all he buzz about Palm's announcement of the Palm Pre, and my passion (obsession?) for handheld gadgets, you know I've got to blog about the Palm Pre announcement. In case you haven't heard, Palm announced their iPhone killer touchscreen phone, the Pre.
I'm always fascinated by the ideas folks come up with for research projects when it comes to how we use computers and technologies in our daily lives. Microsoft Research has a Web site covering its socio-digital systems research projects. Much of the work is about unlocking the personal photos and information in our Documents folders to better connect with family members. Other projects are about how technologies and user interfaces can improve how we preceive and interact with our digital lives. Read more
The darling of Microsoft Outlook plug-ins (and of Bill Gates), Xobni's been rumored to be a natural buy for Microsoft. Cisco's got other ideas, as part of a $7m B round investment Xobni announced on Monday. I profiled Xobni (including a recorded Xobni demo and podcast with founder Matt Brezina) when I first discovered it some time ago. Read more
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We all think of the Windows desktop OS and Office apps when we think of the power houses at Microsoft, but there's a new sheriff in town ready to paint the place Windows Azure blue. Bob Muglia received the Microsoft exec equivalent of an at-a-boy, being promoted to president of the servers and tools division.
I'm not necessarily in the business of officially making predictions about the IT industry or market, I'll leave that to the realm of the analysts. But as a technologist, product creator, entrepreneur and IT guy, I'm always casting my net in the direction I think things are headed or will be headed. Read more
There are lots of free services and software out on the net, much of it you probably wonder how the company will ever make money with. But I occasionally run into someone who seems to have it figured out. Recently a co-worker turned me onto Virtual CloneDrive, free software that mounts ISO images as virtual hard drives. I began using the free software thinking what a great little tool it was. Very handy and it has worked like a charm without any hitches. Read more
Redmond, you've got too much to do so don't be listening to Wall Street's calls to start laying off people. No disrespect to the analysts, but a big round of layoffs is that last thing Microsoft needs distracting it from the work at hand. Plus, telling 10% of your workforce sayonara so Wall Streeters can make $0.10 more per share will do more damage to your employee base and the new Ray Ozzie-driven momentum you built up than a short term bump of ten cents per share. Read more
Despite the well documented failures of Windows Vista, the interest surrounding Windows 7 demonstrates there's still a strong thirst for information (and bits) about Windows 7. Sites are now reporting that the first beta release of Windows 7 (build 7000) is up and available via BitTorrent. The Windows engineering team blog (blogs.msdn.com/e7) isn't saying much yet so it's unclear if this Windows 7 build is an actually official release. Read more
I always enjoy working the week between Christmas and New Years. It's a great time to take care of those projects you can't do while the office is full and busy with business and people. It's also nice to enjoy a little bit quieter atmosphere around the office, and maybe spend time hanging with some folks who also chose to work the week. Read more
Last week we learned about the launching of Microsoft's first iPhone app, Seadragon, created by Microsoft's Live Labs research group. Seadragon is a iPhone and AJAX web plugin that lets you view high density graphic images (we're talking gig's in size here) in a web browser or via your iPhone. So... what the heck is Microsoft doing messing around building apps for the iPhone you might ask? Interesting question. Read more
Microsoft is far from perfect but I like a lot of what I'm seeing from them these days. Ozzie's attracting some very good talent from outside the company, most notably talent like Identity 2.0 dude Dick Hardt who just announced on his blog he's leaving for red-land and software giant Microsoft. Read more
Is 2009 going to be the "Year of Subscription Pricing" -- finally? Didn't the antivirus software companies prove the undeniable benefits of subscription-based pricing and reoccurring revenue streams years ago? I know the antivirus companies' success was a big factor in giving subscription pricing a try when I was part of introducing security products over the last few years. Read more
Things are getting bad when Google's adding a Task List feature to Gmail is big news. My in-box is littered with Google Alerts about blogs and articles discussing Google's new task functionality. Is it the economy? Do we need a change of subject from all the layoff news? What is it? Maybe it's a slow day in Google Alert land. The Internet is awash with to-do-list applications beyond what Microsoft provides in Office. Read more
Did you know the VISA PCI security auditing process guidelines don't recognize virtualized servers, one way or another. Read more
So what is it, do you need anti-virus sofware on a Mac or not? First Apple said yes, now they saying not necessarily... that it may add “additional protection.” (See these Network World articles about the orginal note and it being taken down this week.) The original note does contradict Apple’s marketing prowess as a platform that doesn’t need anti-virus software. Read more
Economy. Recession. Layoffs. Yuck already, let’s get on with reving up this economy again and creating lots of new jobs. Think positive. Lets find you a job. If you’re actively in the job market, I have an important idea for you: find a job search coach. Getting that next job might be hard or it might be easy, but you’re much better off getting the best coach in your corner to help you do the things that help you land that next job. Getting up a 7 am every morning to submit your resume to companies probably isn’t going to get you a job very fast. Read more
Did you know that by converting from Windows XP to Windows Vista, you are helping the environment? I didn't either but Jan Meuhlfeit, Microsoft's European Chairman, says it's so. (So it must be, right? lol) Apparently the power saving features in Vista can add up to some environmental savings. Read more
Okay, I’ve read all the news stories about how Microsoft is backing out of the retail Anti-Virus market by sending Windows Live OneCare packing and putting the free malware program Morro in its place. I don’t believe it’s really all that simple. How many times does Microsoft drop a product just a few years into its introduction? Almost never. On the contrairy. Microsoft is famous for its tenatious approach to slogging it out for 2, 3 or 4 versions of a product until they get it right. So why suddenly drop OneCare? Read more
After a full weekend of using my new Blackberry Storm I have to say "bravo" RIM, this is really a great device. Battery life has been good, the applications are very easy to use, and yes I LOVE the new SureTouch screen and QWERTY layout. Read more
Apple and business users. Are we there yet? Is Apple really ready for the enterprise? Nagging doubts won’t go away as long as Apple struggles with reliably delivering software, upgrades and enterprise features. Read more
Mitchell Ashley is principal consultant at Converging Network LLC where he provides product, technology and social media consulting to emerging technology companies. A successful CTO and product innovator, Mitchell has created many successful, award winning products in the networking, security, convergence, Internet and IT industries. In addition to blogging for NetworkWorld, Mitchell regularly blogs at TheConvergingNetwork and co-hosts the widely popular StillSecure After All These Years podcast.
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The opinions expressed in this Weblog are those of the writer and may not represent the opinions of Network World.
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