Gawker
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nerdfight
Google's 'War' With Microsoft is a Shell Game
The tech world is atwitter: Google just announced a new operating system, which will compete with Microsoft Windows. The only problem? It's not a new operating system, and it doesn't compete with Microsoft Windows. More »
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By Ryan TateComment by Thomas Lord: Uh, Dave is kind of full of shit on that one. We'll understand the details of the new Google OS better... 4 Responses | Other threads
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software
'Page's Law' Is Google Founder's Next-Best Shot at Immortality
Speaking at Google's developer's conference in San Francisco today, Sergey Brin launched some fresh nomenclature into the jargony culture of computer programmers: "Page's Law." He was trying to make a point about the speed of Google's Web apps; instead he's done co-founder Larry Page a huge favor. More »
16,401
By Ryan TateComment by Conchie Birdie: "Page's Law" seems a too obvious to be a "law". 1 Responses | Other threads
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jackpot
Next up, Kaspersky will work on antidivorce software
Antivirus software company Kaspersky Lab plans to sell 20 percent of the company for $100 million to investors in a private placement next year, according to Russian newspaper Kommersant. Oh, this is juicy: Founder Eugene Kaspersky owns 50 percent of the company. His ex-wife, Natalya Kaspersky, owns 30 percent. [Quintura] -
privacy
Google Cuts Personal Data Retention Time in Half, Still Knows Everything About You
Google has just made a change to its privacy policy, cutting the retention time for your personal data from 18 months to 9 months. This means that now Google will only be able to build a frighteningly accurate portrait of you that advertisers will salivate over based on your searches, keywords found in your Gmail, videos viewed on YouTube, feeds subscribed to in Google Reader and surf history in Chrome based on a mere 9 months of information. All together now: thank you, Google overlords, for your benevolence! [Reuters] [Gizmodo]
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By Adam FrucciComment by b0bcat: Isn't half of forever still forever? 2 Responses | Other threads
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Eric Rudder
Microsoft heir apparent looks for life after Windows
Looking past the fail that is Vista, Microsoft is working on a next-generation operating system codenamed "Midori." Eric Rudder, a senior vice president at Microsoft whose name has been floated as Microsoft's next CEO, will be developing the new OS. Shockingly from a company known for slogging away at version after version of its existing software, Midori won't even be based on Windows. Programming for Midori will also be different, designed for many kinds of devices, from cell phones to server farms. More »
1,992
Comment by TheRoyalScam: The only person that seems to be floating Eric Rudder's name as the heir apparent to Steve Ballmer is...Eric Rudder. Apparently... more » | Other threads
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bureaucracy
Eurowonks take fun out of open source
The European Commission's Software Quality Observatory for Open Source Software has released a "software quality checking platform" called Alitheia Core, designed to formalize quality control over open-source code. It doesn't boost my confidence that the demo site is throwing 503 Service Temporarily Unavailable errors this morning. You'll have to settle for the press release: More » -
software
Microsoft starts selling Office subscriptions through Circuit City
Microsoft can't convince customers that they need the new version of Office anymore, so they'e begun to sell it as software-as-a-service, bundled with security software. "Security is basically the No. 1 thing that gets attached with a PC," said Microsoft group product manager Bryson Gordon. The product, code-named "Albany" and now known as Equipt, will cost PC buyers an extra $20 a year over the $49 per year price Microsoft charges for its OneCare antivirus software. Why don't they just let users download the software? That might seem easier, but retailers like Circuit City move a lot of Xboxes and Windows PCs, and the software giant can't afford to leave them grounded as computing moves to the cloud. -
silicon valley users guide
How to sell your software for $20,000 a pop
Weary of the ad-supported world of Web 2.0? Outside the echo chamber of Silicon Valley, there are software developers who write code that won't change the world, but that customers will pay real, five-figure license fees for — enough to sustain a growing, private business. It's all about finding a market that works and copying the competition. Call it anti-innovation. To explain how to do it, an entrepreneur named Bill wrote a blog post called "How to sell your software for $20,000." We've edited it down to a reasonable length below. Give the hoodie to Goodwill, say goodbye to your IPO dreams, and prepare to write the world's next great automated parking garage software. More »
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Comment by Shadowlayer: @Nicholas Carlson: I second the motion Just to add, another advantage of Web2.0 is that you can get hundreds of millions... more » | Other threads
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software
Facebook wants developers to build for boring but profitable enterprise market
While Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg tries to convince the world 20 million SuperPoke users have value, her minions are busy trying to convince enterprise developers to build applications that actually do. "One area we've seen a lot of value for the social graph is in the enterprise because it's a completely different way to envision an HR system or CRM," Facebook marketing exec Chamath Palihapitiya told conference-goers Thursday. More »
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Comment by Fidel on the Roof: FadBook is currently sharing space with MySpace for the tweens, teens and early twenty something bar-sceners. For now. This group... more » | Other threads
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horror
Internal Microsoft Vista Video is as Painful as Videos Get
You've gotta wonder how, in a company the size of Microsoft, there's not a single person who has the balls to step up and say "Hey, you know what? This Vista music video we're making for the sales department, complete with a cheesy Bruce Springsteen impersonator and horrible music, damages the dignity of not only everyone involved in its production, but everyone who watches it." Seriously, how did this little slice of cringe-inducing embarrassment ever get made? What year is this? I need to lie down. I'm sorry. Check the video after the jump. UPDATE: The video is an internal spoof, an insider confirms. First: Good for them saving their sense of style and decency and humor. Second: Could they please not spend the money staging fake concerts and really good spoof videos and keep the SP patch works coming? We kid because we love XP! [Gizmodo]
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By Adam FrucciComment by Rabid Penguin: This video makes me damn proud to be an American. Damn proud. more » | Other threads
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marc benioff
In Google, Salesforce.com's CEO finds a new partner to spin
When a partnership like Google and Salesforce.com's gets announced so publicly, it's a safe bet that the message is meant for investors and rivals, not customers. Look at the substance of their new partnership: Salesforce.com for Google Apps amounts to adding a tab to link the two Web-based services. Salesforce.com helps companies organize their customer leads and sales; Google Apps offers simplified and hence limited Web versions of familiar office-productivity apps like Microsoft Word and Excel. Add 2 + 2, and you get 4, not 5, as Google and Salesforce would have you believe. More » -
software
Why Microsoft wants Yahoo — it's losing at paintball
Can Microsoft's army of programmers write software for the Web? Judging by a spate of recent outages, no. Hotmail, Messenger, and other services targeted at developers and partners have broken down recently. Which is bizarre: Writing an operating system is a vastly more complex affair than coding a website. "Like war versus paintball," says Ted Dziuba, the programmer and former editor of startup-debunker blog Uncov. Therein lies Microsoft's problem. Once you've trained to fight a real war, you can forget about winning at paintball. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by Uncle-Sam's Littlle Helper: Owen are you completely "damaged" to put a photo of a paintball guy in a IIIrd Reich Wehrmacht uniform on... more » | Other threads
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fresh start
Sony loses $50 per laptop thanks to those meddling bloggers
Tech bloggers are all worked up again. They're pissed that favorite whipping-boy Sony is charging $50 to not include "bundles" of trial software with new PC's. Engadget's Paul Miller writes:Or here's an idea, Sony: stop trying to milk profits and start giving consumers laptops that actually work out of the box.
Sony is just trying to take care of their shareholders by keeping margins up — just like any other manufacturer. The company thought it could get away with charging $50 to replace lost revenue from paid placement of trial software without anyone noticing the absurdity of the situation. After the uproar, Sony changed its tune and will now offer its "Fresh Start" option for free. We suspect the other computer makers will follow suit shortly. Sony, next time just keep your mouth shut and we'll all get rich, ok?
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Comment by digimint: dell does the same thing. a year ago i sent back 2 computers to them because it had trial ware... more » | Other threads
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mysteries
Hacker finds Microsoft Office file formats actually make sense
Software developer and essayist Joel Spolsky went dumpster-diving into Microsoft Office's intractable file formats, the curse of freedom-loving Unixtards like me. Spolsky's findings? The formats were designed to make Office run fast on 20-megahertz CPUs with 1 MB of memory, yet to also remember all the options set on each file by years' worth of menu-addled Office applications. This is great news — it means someday I may get Word 2007 to stop unchecking my template options on me every. Single. God damned time.
1,370
By Paul BoutinComment by zerogee: I feel like I'm reading comments on Slashdot. more » | Other threads
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vista
Microsoft remembers how to ship software
If Microsoft's $44.6 billion Yahoo bid tells us anything, it's that Vista doesn't matter. But some in Redmond have not gotten the memo: "New customers should feel great about buying Windows Vista today," blogs Microsoft executive Mike Nash. The source of his optimism? Windows Vista Service Pack 1 has been released to manufacturing, beginning Microsoft's arduous, 20th-century industrial process of a software rollout. Nash's main concern is that the news might stop users from buying Vista. He shouldn't be worried. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by macbeach: The only people more embarrassed than Microsoft about Vista are the millions of users that must admit that they've locked... more » | Other threads
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nerdfight
Microsoft, VMware bring out the brass knuckles
Enterprise IT is boring ... except when it gets lowdown and dirty. LIke it's starting to between Microsoft and VMware. Last week, Microsoft announced a "vision and strategy to accelerate virtualization adoption." We could relay the details, but they're full of jargon like "System Center Virtual Machines Manager (SCVMM)" and "RPD protocol for VDI environments." So go here for that. The best way to understand tech jargon like this is to see how companies pump up their sales guys for battle, since everyone knows sales guys are thick as rocks and must be told things in small, English-language words. Here are excerpts from a leaked VMware memo: More »
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Comment by deathbychichi: It is all noise from Microsoft so far. The real dirty tricks aren't ready to roll. When they... more » | Other threads
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sales
Halo 3 Beats Out Wii Play For Best Selling Video Game of 2007
Today's NPD sales numbers reveal that Bungie's Halo 3 was the best selling game in the United States in 2007, with a whopping 4.82 million copies sold. Nipping at Master Chief's heels was Nintendo's own Wii Play. It sold through a staggering 4.12 million units to the masses. [Kotaku]
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Comment by Syngenetic: Not a huge suprise. Halo 3 is far good than anything out there. I play it 24/7. Love it! Syngenetic, [www.gameposts.net] more » | Other threads
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acquisitions
Oracle and Sun attack the stack
Oracle has acquired BEA for $8.5 billion. Sun has acquired MySQL for $1 billion. These events are not coincidence. Oracle, which already makes a database, wants to add BEA's software on top of that database. Sun, which makes application servers and other software which connects to databases, wants to slip MySQL in underneath that layer. It all adds up to what geeks and software salesmen call a "stack," or a complete package of interconnecting programs. More » -
apple
Why is Apple Launching New Gear a Week Before Macworld? The Official No-Answer Reads Like a Zen Koan
I had a briefing with Apple on their new Xserve and Mac Pros that were released today, midweek during CES, a week before Macworld 2008. I had only one question for them, and it had nothing to do with hardware specs. Why release new gear when the Keynote is only a few days away? Their answer won't satisfy your curiosity, but here is the official response: [Gizmodo]
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By Brian LamComment by airmanchairman: Latin Biblical quotation: "Nolite Sanctum dare Canibus, nec mittatis Margaritas ante Porcos; ne conculent Pedibus, et conversi dirumphant vos" English translation:... more » | Other threads
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investments
Bill Gates Invests $392 Million in Mexican Beer
When you're Bill Gates, you've gotta party just as hard as you work. And you've got to invest just was hard as you party. Maybe that's why Bill Gates just invested $392 million in Mexico's second largest brewer, Femsa. You know them as the company that makes Tecate, Sol, Superior and Kaiser. [Gizmodo]
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By Mark WilsonComment by nutriapeluda: All of those are crap Sol hahaha, tecate you are better of pissing on an empty bottle and drink it.... more » | Other threads
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software
Google vs. Microsoft — the 100-word version
The New York Times spent an epic 3,800 words on a truth known to everyone in Silicon Valley: Google is competing with Microsoft in email and productivity apps. Steve Lohr got lots of time with Google CEO Eric Schmidt — but attributes his failure to get any good quotes from Schmidt to Schmidt's caginess. Here's a version that skips the useless talking points from Microsoft and Google and just gets down to the scant few numbers Lohr managed to assemble. Bottom line: Microsoft doesn't have much to worry about. Yet. Lohr doesn't note this stat: 73 percent of consumers surveyed by NPD have noever even heard of Google Apps. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by WagCurious: This is really the beginning of the end for Google. The kids they hire out of college have absolutely no... more » | Other threads
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silicon valley users guide
How to demonstrate software, the 100-word version
Maybe you went to last night's Web 2.0 Social Networking Tech Meetup in Chelsea. Put on by the same people who hosted New York's first Lunch 2.0 last month, the event was a fine stage for a wantrepreneur to turn the corner. Presenters Snooth, Buddy Media and Convos, however, tripped over themselves in trying to display their wares. Fortunately, Joel Spolsky is here to help with a post titled "How to demo software." It's an excellent how-to, except for its length — 2,483 words. Here's a readable 100-word version. More »
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Comment by Owen Thomas: @0x6772: I like your refreshingly bad attitude, which makes up for your overall boorishness. more » | Other threads
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oh nos
Apple Catches Microsoft Cooties, BSOD Attacks Leopard! [UPDATE: Fix Found]
It's a dark day, Apple fanboys. Installs of OSX Leopard have led to the dreaded Blue Screen of Death for many Mac users (sure, it's sort of happened before, but the headline cracked us up...sorry). We can't yet be certain just how widespread this problem is, but an Apple thread on the topic has 263 posts with several incidents documented through the responses. [Gizmodo]
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By Mark WilsonComment by MeNotYou: @pathogen: Wow. Cry much, Bitchboy? more » | Other threads
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apple
How developers — and Apple — will make money on iPhone software
After months of enduring whines from programmers, Apple has announced a software development kit for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Scheduled for release in February, the kit — a set of code libraries and specifications — will let them write programs that run on the iPhone instead of limiting them to Web-based applications. Apple is looking to provide an "advanced and open platform" while at the same time protecting users from malware and viruses and the like. Our guess at what's really going on here? Apple is building an iTunes-based platform to securely deliver apps to users. From movies to music to software, Apple is plotting a way to keep itself in the middle of any money-making transaction on its hardware. More »
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Comment by sample032: And I thought the internet was ridding the world of the middleman. more » | Other threads
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529
By Owen ThomasComment by MidtownNinja: Hey folks, Here's another countdown page that's tracking the Leopard launch. Using WhenGuard, the service that provides this page, you can... more » | Other threads
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exits
Oracle executive John Wookey has left the software company, reportedly after a spat with CEO Larry Ellison. Anything to do with Oracle's recent offer to buy BEA — or a sign of trouble brewing with Oracle's next-generation version of superboring business software? Anyway, all we really care about is the spat. More spats, please! [eWeek]
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By Owen ThomasComment by mandarin: Maybe Larry wanted Oracle to pay for his next boat.. more » | Other threads
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microsoft
Open-source trap or sign of weakness?
Open source conspiracy theorists warn that Microsoft's effort to make the code behind .Net, its software-development framework, open to the public to view — but not modify— is a trap. The goal? It's aimed, they claim, at tainting Mono, an open-source implementation of .Net, with the software maker's intellectual property. And why does this matter? Mono, you see, allows programmers to easily port software meant to run on Microsoft's Windows to Linux and other competing operating systems. But really, might Microsoft's critics be giving it too much credit for cleverness? More »
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By Tim FaulknerComment by 0x6772: I agree with everything carlfish wrote. In addition, it's absurd to suggest that Mono represents "competition" to the genuine .NET product.... more » | Other threads
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delays
Palm says their new smartphone OS won't be released until the end of 2008. The new system is progressing "as well as possibly could be expected," executives say. Sounds like that plan to split off Palm's software division isn't working out that well. Shareholders, we hope you aren't still holding your breath. [The Register] -
microsoft
Despite the software giant's aspirations, Microsoft's older Windows XP is still the newer Windows Vista's biggest enemy. It's cheaper, a known quantity, and "good enough." The software developer has, in some measure, conceded this by allowing PCs to be preloaded with the older OS for an additional five months and, in emerging markets, until the middle of 2010. Copies of XP will also continue to be available at retail. [News.com]
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By Tim FaulknerComment by sample032: To Microsoft: Polish up the default XP theme, update a few of the features (disk encryption is a good one), and... more » | Other threads
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software
Microsoft is finally rolling out a beta version of Windows Vista Service Pack 1, and promises that the official release of the set of Vista fixes will be out next year. Maybe. But only if those other guys release their software on time. [Windows Vista Team Blog] -
software
Intuit announces plans for an online version of Quicken, its popular personal-finance tracker. Which decade is this again? [News.com]
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By Owen ThomasComment by mblevin: If Yodlee figured out how to really create a consumer product around its current offering without pissing off its corporate... more » | Other threads
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software
Instead of a private beta release of Windows Vista Service Pack 1, Microsoft is dribbling out some updates as "hotfixes." With such a slow pace for the beta, is it any surprise that some are whispering about a staggeringly late 2009 final release for SP1? [All About Microsoft] -
executive customer service
Contact Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer
It's not a direct line, but you'll get to the admin secretary closest to Steve Ballmer. If you have a longstanding Microsoft issue that multiple trips to the MS customer service line haven't solved, try pitching her your problems. [Consumerist]
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By Ben PopkenComment by JoeTest: "some guy in India with a laptop powered by a heifer's holy nipples?" While this maybe racist, and it maybe funny... more » | Other threads
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neato
Twingly blog-globe world-reader
One of prettiest useless things seen I've seen in awhile: the Twingly screensaver, via Biz Stone. Pulls in blog RSS feeds from all over the world, showing them accumulate in pillars on an elegantly rotating 3D globe. Post titles scroll by; click on any title to display the post and have the globe flip to the blog's physical location. And of course you can zoom and rotate around the blog-globe like the crazy spaceman you are. Minutes of fun.
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By Chris MohneyComment by eth0: indeed. and windows? maybe you guys aren't so cool after all. more » | Other threads
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google
Soft spots: Ray Lane wins Buzzword Bingo
¬ The Software 2006 Conference got all Web 2.0, with VC Ray Lane telling companies to go viral. An attendee puts it like this: More » -
blind item
Hey, they're talking about Darth-boy!
I think they call these "virals" or something. CMP Media has been running a lo-fi news show (called "The News Show") since last August, covering business news (which is really tech news when you back up a bit). This week they started a feature, "Who am I?" To spare you five minutes of cheaply produced video, here's a transcript: More »
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By ndouglasComment by Nick Douglas: It's not actually him talking. That'd be a coup for a vlog quiz, no? more » | Other threads
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apple
Apple's software boss quits
He'll probably still crash the birthday party: Apple's chief software technology officer will pack his boxes one day before its 30th anniversary on April 1. Avie Tevanian was one of the NeXt Computer guys Steve brought back into Apple. And what a Valley hottie! More »
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