microsoft

Last week, The Wall Street Journal had a story about Arbitron's People Meter, a new portable device that helps the radio ratings measurement company determine the exact amount of time a user spends listening to particular radio stations. Radio stations insert an inaudible signal that only the device picks up, and testers are supposed to carry the devices at all times, so regardless of where they listen (work, home, car, grocery store), the People Meter knows. This is more accurate than the old way of asking radio listeners to record their habits in a paper diary--users tended not to … Read more

I'm all for interoperability. But I have to wonder at Novell's and Microsoft's apparent definition of the term. Miguel de Icaza rightly took me to task for blanketing Novell with criticism yet, as was pointed out today, there is good reason for criticism of Moonlight/Silverlight:

To the extent that it requires Microsoft patent approval to be effective (and it does, by Miguel's own admission), it is shackled in its potential. Interoperability is to Microsoft what prostitution is to a pimp: a great source of control and income.

Jason Matusow (a great friend and Microsoft employee) crows about what a great example Moonlight is of Microsoft's interop work. But Jason, you have actually only succeeded in proving the point of Microsoft's critics: Microsoft can't seem to engage in interop except on its own, very closed terms. This isn't interoperability.

In other contexts, this is called extortion.… Read more

From CNET News.com, automotive equipment maker Siemens VDO struck a deal with Microsoft to use its automotive platform. In other words, Siemens VDO has been building car infotainment systems and kludging together software for them. Along comes Microsoft, eager to get into the automotive market, and Siemens VDO doesn't have to hassle with software anymore. Actually, Microsoft is further along in its plans to take over the automotive world than you might realize, with its software being used in Honda, Acura, and, most recently, Ford cars, along with Pioneer car infotainment systems. Siemens VDO has been working on … Read more

After months talking about the notion of software plus services, Microsoft is apparently ready to get a bit more specific on the business side of things.

Early next month, Business Division President Jeff Raikes is expected to outline what the company has in mind from services for individual workers to small businesses all the way through the largest enterprises.

The "software plus services" term has become nearly ubiquitous in company PowerPoint presentations, but the details are often left unstated. There is a definite effort to add services to almost everything Microsoft does. But while the company has gotten … Read more

You've got to hand it to Microsoft. It hates ANYTHING and ANYONE that gets in its way of selling its software.

Including, apparently, itself.

In a very funny turn of events, Microsoft is out preaching to the industry that XP is a bloated expense hog, while svelte Vista will cure world hunger (or, at least, cost less), as Paul Krill notes:… Read more

Simon Phipps takes apart the licensing maze required to start "enjoying" Novell's Moonlight. Novell clearly wants to be popular with someone, and so has settled on Microsoft.

Stephen Walli, for his part, thinks that all of this shows just how brilliant Novell is. All I can say is that sometimes things look smarter from the outside than they do from the inside. Stephe sometimes gets carried away in thinking that people actually intend all of the intelligence of which he accuses them.

However, one thing is clear and Stephe points it out:… Read more

As Microsoft announced its new Extender solution today, many have been asking if it will be the new be-all, end-all for the home viewing experience. Some have called this an amazing development that deserves attention, while others are saying it's not all that great. I tend to agree with the second group.

For those of you who are unaware of this new product from Microsoft, Extender will be able to take any media (video, TV, music, print) from a PC to a television or from a television to another television in another room. In other words, you can have the same show playing in your bedroom and living room without missing a beat. Ideally, this would work with the help of a Media Center PC and a device being created by Linksys, D-Link and others.

This may sound great on paper, and the ability to move media around in my house like this would be nice, but is it really necessary? More often than not, I have the equipment I need to do this already. Sure, it may not be as easy as Microsoft's product, but if the current infrastructure is there, why get rid of it for something new? Simply put, this technology is a few years too late.… Read more

Microsoft, while trying to get its HD Photo image format standardized as "JPEG XR", also continues to work on spreading the technology by more conventional means such as building Photoshop support.

The company released a new beta of its HD Photo plug-in for Photoshop a couple of weeks ago, the most notable new feature being support for the Mac OS X version of the image-editing software. Previously only Photoshop on Windows was supported.

"This supports both Photoshop CS2 and CS3 running on OS X 10.4 (Tiger)...on both Intel and PowerPC Mac systems," said Bill … Read more

"It is another good day for Microsoft."

Microsoft spokesman Mark Murray famously used that line seven years ago, briefing reporters at the company's landmark antitrust trial, right after the software giant took a beating in court.

The Zune folks didn't use that specific wording, but they did try to shrug off the latest crop of iPods.

"This may come as a shock to folks, but today's Apple Computer announcement doesn't actually change any of our plans," Zune unit blogger Cesar Menendez said in a blog posting on Wednesday. "Of course we … Read more