Microsoft

Microsoft's planned Vista Service Pack 1 may not be adding many features, but it sure does take up a lot of space.

Based on current test versions, the operating system update will be a 1GB file when uncompressed. By way of comparison, Windows XP--the whole thing--shipped on a CD, which only holds about three quarters of a gigabyte. On the plus side, systems that already have the latest Vista patches can be brought up to the Service Pack 1 level with only a 50MB compressed file through Microsoft's online Windows Update utility.

Also notable, installing the OS will … Read more

As Mary Jo reports, Microsoft's Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) service outage was caused by human error. How comforting. Now if we could just get rid of those pesky humans, SaaS outages would be nonexistent. :-)

Microsoft may wish that it were above the law, but the Free Software Foundation has issued a press release calling Microsoft to repentance for its efforts to deny GPLv3's hold on it.

We do not...agree with Microsoft's characterization of the situation involving GPLv3. Microsoft cannot by any act of anticipatory repudiation divest itself of its obligation to respect others' copyrights. If Microsoft distributes our works licensed under GPLv3, or pays others to distribute them on its behalf, it is bound to do so under the terms of that license. It may not do so under any other terms; it cannot declare itself exempt from the requirements of GPLv3.… Read more

Update 5:15 p.m. PDT Friday: Adobe requested minor adjustments to quotations, and I obliged.

Adobe Systems' Digital Negative (DNG) format isn't a competitor to JPEG XR, a format Microsoft created as a higher-end replacement for conventional JPEG, an Adobe executive has predicted.

"I wouldn't label the two formats as competitive," said Tom Hogarty, product manager for Photoshop Lightroom, in an e-mail interview. He believes that not only is the case now, but more significantly, will be the case in the future as well.

DNG is Adobe's attempt to standardize the profusion of proprietary &… Read more

A thought hit me this morning while I was reading through Microsoft's latest garbage-fodder (also known as "research") on OOXML and Sharepoint. Here is the world's largest software company taking potshots at open source, which maybe affects 0.001% of its revenues today. If that.

Now look at Oracle, SAP, IBM, etc. You won't find a single other company making a concerted effort to fight open source. Not a one. Larry Ellison (Oracle) says open source is not something to be feared, but rather something "to be explained." They clearly see open source as something to work with, and sometimes something to work through, but not something to destroy.

Sure, these and other proprietary-software companies occasionally dip into mudslinging against open source, but they don't regularly buy analysts, set up anti-open source sites, rattle patent sabres, and generally insist on making a fetish out of open source's demise.

Just Microsoft. Why?… Read more

Dana Blankenhorn over at sister publication ZDNet has a great analysis of the looming Microsoft Sharepoint threat. As Dana points out, it's a threat that open source is well-suited to meet and beat, but doing so will require some project coordination.

Interestingly, it's a threat that the proprietary Enterprise Content Management vendors have rejected as credible, even as Sharepoint boots them out of customer accounts. While ECM, operating system, database, etc. vendors sleep, Sharepoint is gaining ground.

If only open source could get its act together:… Read more

Wow. I guess when you have more cash than taste you can afford to buy research reports that say all sorts of nice things about you. Open-source companies have to rely on things like products that please customers; Microsoft can afford to ramrod research down customers' throats.

A great example, as Mary Jo notes on ZDNet, is two new Microsoft-commissioned research reports that (gasp!) find Microsoft Sharepoint is a better investment for systems integrators and that "Office Open XML (is) the format showing the most progressive adoption rates in the marketplace over the next 12 months."

The research is of dubious value given that it's bought and paid for, but what is fascinating is the target of the research: open source.… Read more

Arst Design has a probing article on Microsoft's Open Office XML 'standard.' Yeesh. OOXML is even worse than I thought. And to think I wanted to give Microsoft the benefit of a doubt. Fool me once....

Microsoft is trying to push new file formats that are using ZIP and XML. Are those new file formats any good for Office developers ? In other words, should anyone feel safe to make direct access to file parts, and start getting free of running instances of Microsoft Office and its COM object model, usually through VBA?

They insist on the fact that, provided … Read more

The patent-watchers over at Slashdot found this interesting submission: a patent application from Microsoft for an Adaptive heads-up user interface for automobiles. Reading through the obscure language of patents, we managed to glean that the engineers who came up with the system want to move all the information currently displayed on navigation screens, car stereos, cell phones, and instruments onto the windshield. The patent cites safety concerns with our current gadget-laden autos and selves, where people are constantly taking their eyes off the road to look at this or that screen. And instead of crowding the windshield with every bit … Read more