Why Microsoft partners with rivals
Video die de omslag van MIcrosoft op het gebied van partnerships over tijd goed weergeeft
Source : Vowe.net
Tag: Open Source
Chris Dawson: Can I be a Windows, Apple, Linux, and Google guy all at once?
I regularly read Chris Dawson’s blogposts as he blogs about technology solutions in the education sector and that happens to be one of my areas of interest. Today he blogged about something that I hope to see and here more about … a different perspective on Microsoft … simply because there many good solutions coming from Redmond …
…I’m having an identity crisis. Regular readers of both this blog and my Education blog will know that I border on being a Google fanboi and Linux tends to work its way into my computer passions as well. I work almost constantly in the cloud and Linux obviously provides a cheap, stable platform […]
… And then there’s Microsoft. Microsoft was easy to hate a few years back when they were the antitrust bad guys. Then they released Vista and it was even easier to say that they’d sealed their fate. Apple and Linux were going to dominate the desktop! The 3000 pound gorilla was dead! And suddenly, the betas of Windows 7 were stable, fast, attractive, and everything that Vista should have been. Office Web Apps and other Windows Live properties started to appear and mature and were compelling bridges to the cloud. And if the cloud wasn’t your game, Office 2010 rolled into beta and was even better than Office 2007. Seriously, have you used the beta? It rocks out loud. I may spend a lot of time in the cloud, but I also often have to produce publication-ready documents. Besides, have you ever tried to do a mail merge in Google Docs? Of course you haven’t, because you can’t.
It’s gotten to the point where I actually look forward to hearing from Microsoft PR since they usually have something particularly cool to tell me about. In fact, Office 2010 just might be one of the more compelling reasons to buy a Windows PC. Then there’s Sharepoint 2010, the cloud-oriented meat of which has already appeared in Live@Edu and Office Live Workspace. …
Yes lot’s of cool stuff coming this year … hope to see more positive news coming from Chris’ blog soon
Source : Can I be a Windows, Apple, Linux, and Google guy all at once?
OpenOffice .. UI overhaul in xx Years ??
Aparently a lot of users of OpenOffice see a need for an overhaul of the UI :
source: http://marketing.openoffice.org/ooocon2008/programme/friday_1447.pdf
So OpenOffice.org is starting project Renaissance :
The problem statement
As you all might know, OpenOffice.org users complain about its cumbersome and outdated user interface (UI). A great deal of functionality is hidden in many overstuffed toolbars, poorly structured menus and complex dialogs. Functions are thus difficult to access for novice users or too inefficient to use for expert users. In addition, the UI offers an antiquated look & feel which is hardly capable to communicate innovation and to create joy of use.
Since recently, office productivity vendors started to seek for experience-based differentiation by focusing on usage efficiency and a visually appealing interface. With an inefficient and visually unattractive graphical user interface, it will be hard for us to motivate more users of competitive offerings to switch to our product. In addition, we will face difficulties entering and growing in market segments with users who value a fresh look & feel and an easy to access and to use functionality.
Are you an OpenOffice user .. be patient; its a long term project…
OpenOffice’s UI will be getting a refurb
In a long-term project, the OpenOffice team wants to thoroughly rework the free office software’s user interface. This was already widely expected to happen with version 3.0, which no longer looks contemporary in many users’ eyes. In addition, the office suite’s menus have become so cluttered and badly structured that users find it impossible to locate certain functions – a problem Microsoft addressed with the ribbon feature in Office 2007. Ribbons have replaced the classic menus of Word, Excel, Access and Powerpoint in the latest Office, and will come to Paint and Wordpad in Windows 7.
Project Renaissance is now acting on the criticism and hopes to attract widespread user participation. In a first phase, the project wants to collect users’ opinions and experiences – an online questionnaire is already available, and will be followed by an extension to OpenOffice that collects application usage data and forwards it to the project team in anonymous form.
Strong recognition for Microsoft Office and the ribbon. Which as also this clipping suggests will be in almost all Microsoft Apps in the Office 14 wave (next version).
Openoffice.org krijgt mogelijk banners
Openoffice is niet langer “gratis” straks ? Laten we hopen dat je door de banners het bos nog kan zien straks …
Sun denkt er serieus over na om Openoffice.org uit te rusten met ingebakken advertenties. Dat zegt Sun-opperhoofd Jonathan Schwartz op zijn blog. "Ik weet dat dit mijn vrienden in de vrije-softwaregemeenschap gaat irriteren."
Unbutu ? Dat lust ik niet …
Webwereld meldt dat op Linux gebaseerde netbooks verre van succesvol zijn. Eén op de vijf klanten brnegt het apparaat terug omdat ze het besturingssysteem ongemakkelijk vinden. Windows namaken is moeilijker dan het lijkt …
… Linux netbooks vaak teruggebracht naar winkel
Vrijdag 14 november 2008, 12:29 – Na klachten heeft de Britse winkelketen Carphone Warehouse besloten een model Linux netbook uit de schappen te halen. Voor veel klanten is Linux een brug te ver.
Dat meldt TechRadar op de site. Het gaat om winkelketen Carphone Warehouse, moederbedrijf van de Phone House in Nederland.
Één op de vijf retourneert
Het model waar het om draait is de Elonex Webbook, dat standaard komt met het Ubuntu besturingssysteem. In Nederland is dit model niet beschikbaar. Een op de vijf klanten in Engeland zou terugkomen naar de winkel met de kleine laptop.
Niet vanwege technische kwalen, maar vanwege het ‘ongemakkelijke gebruik’. Klanten verwachten dat de netbook werkt als een Windows laptop, en zeggen Ubuntu ongemakkelijk te vinden. In totaal zijn er zo’n 60.000 van de Webbooks verkocht, waarvan dus 20 procent werd teruggebracht. …
Bron: http://webwereld.nl/ref/rss/53573Webwereld.nl
Google Chrome : "Een pakketje schroot met een dun laagje chroom"
Blijkbaar is er een groeiende groep gebruikers die “Google-loos” door het leven wil. Zo heeft een Duits softwarebedrijf nu alle Google verwijzingen uit Google Chrome verwijdert en het toepasselijk “Iron” genoemd. Een goed voorbeeld van een van de voordelen van Open Source ..
Het Duitse softwarebedrijf SRWare heeft de broncode van Google Chrome omgesmeed tot Iron. Alle verwijzingen en terugkoppelingen naar Google zijn eruit gesloopt.
SRWare is kort na de introductie van Chrome aan de slag gegaan met Chromium, de broncode van de Google-browser. Het resultaat is Iron, een gestripte versie van Chrome die beter maar vooral privacyvriendelijker moet zijn dan het origineel uit Mountain View.
Googlevrij
Om een groeiende groep ‘Google-paranoïden’ te bedienen, hebben de Trendelburgse programmeurs alle verwijzingen en registratiemechanismen van Google uit de browser gesloopt. Zo wordt er geen Client ID, een uniek serienummer, of tijdstempel meer gegenereerd tijdens de installatie, is de omstreden automatische suggestiefunctie in de zoek- en adresbalk geschrapt en gaat er geen melding naar Google als het programma crasht. Ook is de Google Updater, die normaal op de achtergrond draait, verwijderd.Bron: Techworld.nl
AG: IBM werkt met Linux-leveranciers aan ‘Microsoft-vrije’ desktop
… IBM bundelt zijn krachten met Canonical (Ubuntu), Red Hat en Novell om gezamenlijk te komen tot een ‘Microsoft-vrije’ desktopcomputer. Het is de bedoeling dat de hardwarepartners van deze Unix-leveranciers vanaf volgend jaar voorgeladen pc’s gaan verkopen met een bundel van de Linux-versie van hun leverancier, gecombineerd met IBM’s gratis pakket Lotus Symphony en eventueel Lotus Notes en Sametime.
Ook zouden de lokale distributeurs wereldwijd hun eigen applicaties voor verticale markten moeten toevoegen, gemaakt met Lotus Expeditor. IBM stelt in zijn persbericht dat op deze wijze een veel betere prijs/prestatieverhouding ontstaat dan bij computers die met Microsoft-technologie (Windows en Office) werken. Ook zou Linux minder veeleisend zijn waar het de hardware betreft. …
Bron: IBM werkt met Linux-leveranciers aan ‘Microsoft-vrije’ desktop
Goed op basis van dit artikeltje is niet goed vast te stellen wat de daadwerkelijk inhoud is van kreten als “betere prijs/prestatieverhouding” en “Ook zou Linux minder veeleisend zijn waar het de hardware betreft”
De rol van IBM in dit geheel lijkt me echter zeer duidelijk “Anything But Microsoft” betekent meer IBM. Meer IBM als het gaat om: Hardware, Software (niet alle software van IBM is “gratis”)en Diensten (Dit spul moet wel ontworpen, geimplementeerd en onderhouden worden).
Op basis van een valide business case zou dit een heel interessante propositie kunnen worden. Ik ben zeer benieuwd naar wat meer detail informatie en berekeningen die de tot nu toe vage claims onderbouwen.
Maar goed IBM heeft verstand van Microsoft-vrije desktops, die stammen namelijk uit de begin jaren 90. Een PC heette toen nog PS/2 en het OS OS/2 🙂
Daarnaast geeft IBM zelf aan dat opensource op zich ook zeer complexe materie is. Het is volgens Bob Sutor van IBM “vermoeiend” en er sprake is van “een oerwoud aan opensource licenties” …
Report: Microsoft fastest to issue OS patches, Sun slowest
Bink.nu posted an interesting piece published ny Symantec comparing the speed of OS pathces between Apple, Sun, HP, Red Hat and Microsoft …
… Symantec’s comprehensive security report on the malware industry from July 1 to December 31, 2007, is now available (PDF) in its 100+ page glory. While some parts of the report simply reiterate data we’re well aware of—it’s no surprise to read that the majority of malicious activity originates in the US—there’s also a great deal of new information here that we’ll examine below.
OS/software vulnerabilities
Symantec broke down information on patch development time by operating system and by the type of vulnerability encountered. Surprisingly, Microsoft had the shortest time-to-patch over both halves of 2007. In the first part of the year, Microsoft released 38 patches (two of which involved third-party applications) with an average deployment time of 18 days. From July to December, Microsoft released 22 patches with an average patch time of six days. …
Microsoft Makes Strategic Changes in Technology and Business Practices to Expand Interoperability
Microsoft today announced a set of broad-reaching changes to its technology and business practices to increase the openness of its products and drive greater interoperability, opportunity and choice.
Video Highlights from the Press Conference (1 min 50 sec)
…Microsoft Corp. today announced a set of broad-reaching changes to its technology and business practices to increase the openness of its products and drive greater interoperability, opportunity and choice for developers, partners, customers and competitors.
Specifically, Microsoft is implementing four new interoperability principles and corresponding actions across its high-volume business products: (1) ensuring open connections; (2) promoting data portability; (3) enhancing support for industry standards; and (4) fostering more open engagement with customers and the industry, including open source communities.
“These steps represent an important step and significant change in how we share information about our products and technologies,” said Microsoft chief executive officer Steve Ballmer. “For the past 33 years, we have shared a lot of information with hundreds of thousands of partners around the world and helped build the industry, but today’s announcement represents a significant expansion toward even greater transparency. Our goal is to promote greater interoperability, opportunity and choice for customers and developers throughout the industry by making our products more open and by sharing even more information about our technologies.”
According to Ray Ozzie, Microsoft chief software architect, the company’s announcement reflects the significance that individuals and businesses place upon the ease of information-sharing. As heterogeneity is the norm within enterprise architectures, interoperability across applications and services has become a key requirement.
“Customers need all their vendors, including and especially Microsoft, to deliver software and services that are flexible enough such that any developer can use their open interfaces and data to effectively integrate applications or to compose entirely new solutions,” said Ozzie. “By increasing the openness of our products, we will provide developers additional opportunity to innovate and deliver value for customers.”
“The principles and actions announced today by Microsoft are a very significant expansion of its efforts to promote interoperability,” said Manfred Wangler, vice president, Corporate Research and Technology, Software and Engineering, Siemens. “While Microsoft has made considerable progress on interoperability over the past several years, including working with us on the Interoperability Executive Customer Council, today’s news take Microsoft’s interoperability commitment to a whole new level.”
“The interoperability principles and actions announced today by Microsoft will benefit the broader IT community,” said Thomas Vogel, head, Information Management, Novartis Pharma. “Ensuring open connections to Microsoft’s high-volume products presents significant opportunities for the vast majority of software developers, which will help foster greater interoperability, opportunity and choice in the marketplace. We look forward to a constructive, structured, and multilateral dialogue to ensure stakeholder-driven evolution of these principles and actions.” …
Microsoft Open Source Project To Enable OOXML Conversion
New developements around OOXML …
… Microsoft today launched an open source software project on the SourceForge site, aimed at developing conversion tools that will translate Microsoft Office binary files to Office Open XML (OOXML) file formats. According to Vijay Rajagopalan, principal architect in the Interoperability & Platform Strategy group at Microsoft, initial work will focus on a Word conversion solution, with Excel and PowerPoint file formats to be addressed starting in the spring.
“We are hoping that our first beta version of this is going to come out around June 30th. That will give us a good benchmark of what are the capabilities of the Word translator,” Rajagopalan said. “Around April we are hoping to publicly make our first technology preview.” …
Source: Microsoft Open Source Project To Enable OOXML Conversion
Date Published: Fri, 15 Feb 2008