Posts Tagged ‘Microsoft’

Olivia Munn – Bing Two Kings Dinner 2010

Olivia Munn at the 4th Annual Two Kings Dinner on Saturday February 13, 2010 Dallas, Texas.

If Windows 7 doesn’t work, it’s your fault

When, like Microsoft, you’ve suffered more criticism for your operating system than Tom Cruise has for his height, you have to really think deeply when you launch something new.

You could go out and continue to tell people that you’re very clever. But then they’d be a little more reluctant to believe you.

You could tout Windows 7 as the brainspawn of a whole new generation of terribly clever engineers. But then consumers might have a vision of an operating system created by pot-smoking, pot-bellied youths with the body odor of mousetrapped rats.

So you reach the conclusion that you’ve listened to both the great washed and unwashed out there and designed a new operating system completely according to their needs.

Full story plus video :

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-10381692-71.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20

Microsoft’s Windows phones hit the market

After months of talking about Windows Mobile 6.5, Microsoft is announcing on Tuesday that the first crop of phones to carry the Windows Phone brand are ready to hit the market.

A host of new phones running the new operating system are expected to debut between now and the holidays, with many being announced later on Tuesday. AT&T has already announced two Windows Mobile 6.5-based phones–the Pure and the HTC Tilt 2. In all, Microsoft has said to expect more than 30 phones running the OS by year’s end.

(Credit: Microsoft)

With the new operating system, Microsoft hopes to make the case that the devices are not only worthy phones, but also the best option for those who want to take their Windows world with them. The operating system itself features Adobe Flash support, an improved browser, and menus that are easier to navigate with a finger, as opposed to a stylus. Perhaps more interesting are two new services that come along with Windows.

The first, the Windows Marketplace, is Microsoft’s answer to the iPhone‘s App Store. It’s somewhat interesting that Windows Mobile has long had more programs than the iPhone–none of which involved approval from Microsoft. But Microsoft has found itself in the position of having to insert itself as middleman to match Apple’s approach.

Users will still be able to buy and download applications directly from developers, but Microsoft apparently felt it had to mimic the iPhone’s App Store in order to help connect less technically savvy users with the thousands of programs that already exist for its phones.

Full story :
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10367699-56.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20

Intel’s Moblin 2.1 to compete with Windows

Could Intel’s new Moblin 2.1 OS make a dent against Windows in the mobile and desktop markets?

At this week’s Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco, the chipmaker debuted a beta version of its Moblin 2.1 open-source operating system targeted to run on a variety of devices, including smartphones, Netbooks, nettops, Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs), and in-car systems.

Moblin 2.1 will compete with other open-source operating systems like Google’s Android and bump up against Microsoft in the burgeoning nettop arena.

Originally developed for Netbooks, Moblin 2.1 (short for mobile Linux) will come in three flavors–one for handhelds, another for Netbooks, and a third for nettops.

Source :

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10361563-1.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20

Microsoft sets up open-source foundation

Microsoft has created the nonprofit CodePlex Foundation to target increased communication between open-source communities and software companies.

Citing an under-representation of commercial software companies and their employees in open source, the CodePlex Foundation aims to work with particular projects to bridge the gap between the open-source and commercial worlds.

The Redmond giant has contributed $1 million to the foundation and has filled out its board and advisory panel with many Microsoft staffers, including Sam Ramji, who is leaving Microsoft as its open source point man but is also becoming CodePlex Foundation’s interim president.

Unlike other open-source foundations, such as the Mozilla Foundation and GNOME Foundation, the Foundation said on its Web site that it intends to address the full spectrum of software projects.

This is an unexpected and interesting move from Redmond. Don’t think that this is completely like other open-source foundations that you may be used to, though.

Take this line from the Codeplex Foundation FAQ: “We wanted a foundation that addresses a full spectrum of software projects, and does so with the licensing and intellectual property needs of commercial software companies in mind.”

Add to this that the About page states that companies will contribute code, not patents, and that is what I think will stop the existing open-source community from going anywhere near the CodePlex Foundation.

I can’t see any patent-encumbered CodePlex project being accepted into, or contributing code into, any large existing open-source project while still having the patent specter looming overhead–it’s something that the open-source community has tried to avoid whenever possible.

But this is probably not that audience that the Foundation is aiming for–it’s more likely to target purely Microsoft companies/developers and attempt to get them to open up a little. Allowing these companies to keep their patents will make it easier for them to engage in the Microsoft ecosystem but not in the wider open source world.

Source :

http://news.cnet.com/8301-10805_3-10350671-75.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20

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