Skip navigation

An often irreverent look at some of the week's other news

An often irreverent look at some of the week's other news

Subscribe to Windows IT Pro:
https://store.pentontech.com/index.cfm?s=1&promocode=eu205xfL

===============

To ensure that future email messages you receive from WinInfo Daily UPDATE aren't mistakenly blocked by antispam software, be sure to add [email protected] to your list of allowed senders and contacts.

==========

This email newsletter comes to you free and is supported by the following advertiser, which offers products and services in which you might be interested. Please take a moment to visit this advertiser's Web site and show your support for WinInfo Daily UPDATE.

Free 86-Page Intel Server Spec Book - Dell, HP/Compaq, IBM
http://www.wdpi.com/camp/server_2c.htm

==== Sponsor: Free 86-Page Intel Server Spec Book - Dell, HP/Compaq, IBM ====

This new 86-page guide from World Data Products is the definitive resource on processor, memory and storage specifications for Dell PowerEdge, HP/Compaq ProLiant, and IBM xSeries servers. A must for everyone involved in the design, installation and maintenance of servers. From World Data Products, the world-class provider of server, networking and storage solutions. To order go to http://www.wdpi.com/camp/server_2c.htm or call 800-553-0592.

==========

Short Takes Blog

Short Takes - Not News: IE 7.0 Phishing Filter to Ship for IE 6.0
- Exchange Server 2003 SP2 Ships
- Google Rockets to Profits
- Microsoft Gives In to Antitrust Demands, Drops Exclusive Media Player Deals
- Access Hotmail from MCE
- Steve Ballmer on Linux
- Steve Ballmer on Google
- Microsoft Preps for Xbox 360 Launch
- Xbox 360 Controller for Windows Now Shipping
- iPod Sales: Apple's Bane?
- OpenOffice.org 2.0 Released
- Mozilla Foundation Celebrates 100 Million Firefox Downloads

==== Short Takes Blog ==== by Paul Thurrott, [email protected]

Many readers were curious about the Verizon FiOS Internet Service, which was finally installed at my house last week. I haven't run any speed tests yet, but the results are encouraging: According to the Verizon Web site, the FiOS service I'm receiving achieved 15Mbps downstream and 2Mbps upstream, which is quite a bit better than the 7Mbps downstream and 800Kbps upstream I was getting from RCN cable. In real-world use, it's definitely faster, but it's still hard to say how much faster. Web pages seem to pop to the screen, reminiscent of my early days with cable modem 10 years ago. I'll run both side by side for a few weeks and perform some ad-hoc download tests to see what's up. I would have done this already, but of course I spent the week in Montreal.

Speaking of which, Montreal was a good time. I had been there once before, briefly, about 15 years ago, but that almost doesn't count, as I barely remember it. Montreal is humongous--closer to the size of New York City than Boston--and thus benefits from, and suffers from, all the attributes of a truly big city. But we were there for the French food and culture. Outside of Paris, Montreal is the largest French-speaking city, and we accomplished what we wanted to accomplish. We stayed at a bed and breakfast in Vieux Montreal ("old Montreal"), which is as European as it gets in North America, and basically spent our time there exploring (we walked across a good portion of the city) and eating out. In other words, it was a real vacation. The weather didn't cooperate--it rained or was cloudy almost the entire time--but that actually made the walking easier, so it all worked out. By comparison, I think that Quebec City is a more quaint and idyllic setting, but Montreal has a lot going for it, not the least of which is its big-city services, and it's barely more than an hour away by plane. I need to go back there in the winter.

==== Short Takes ==== An often-irreverent look at some of the week's other stories,
by Paul Thurrott, [email protected]

Not News: IE 7.0 Phishing Filter to Ship for IE 6.0
In the latest bit of non-news to circulate around the cesspool we call the Internet, we learn--for the second time--that Microsoft is "quietly" shipping the Internet Explorer (IE) 7.0 Phishing Filter for IE 6.0 users through the MSN Search toolbar. No offense to the intrepid reporters who looked high and low for that news, but Microsoft announced its intentions to do this in July. More egregiously, the company shipped the first version of this add-on in September.

Exchange Server 2003 SP2 Ships
This week, Microsoft finally shipped its long-awaited Service Pack 2 (SP2) update for Exchange Server 2003, which, from what I can tell, is the only regularly updated messaging server in existence. Unlike many service packs, Exchange 2003 SP2 is a major release that adds new functionality to Exchange and is thus an update that Exchange users will want to gauge carefully. Among the new features are support for the Direct Push technology, which will enable Windows Mobile 5.0-based smart phones to wirelessly synchronize automatically; an integrated an updated version of the Intelligent Message Filter (IMF) anti-spam protection; and support for Sender ID. I'll be writing a lot more about Exchange 2003 SP2's many new features in the near future. In the meantime, check out the Exchange Web site for more information and the free download.
http://www.microsoft.com/exchange/default.mspx

Google Rockets to Profits
This week, search-engine-giant Google announced unexpectedly strong revenues and profits for its most recent quarter. The company doubled its revenues to $1.6 billion and increased its profits sevenfold to $381 million. The results startled even Google, whose executives had previously noted that the "summertime seasonality" would result in a downturn. Now, Google is claiming that its product improvements were responsible for the unexpected gains and that the company is suddenly seeing a lot of interest from Fortune 500 companies. Google, of course, makes most of its cash from search-related keyword advertising. So you can see why it would be a darling of the Web elite.

Microsoft Gives In to Antitrust Demands, Drops Exclusive Media Player Deals
Just when you thought that Microsoft had learned its lesson, you discover new reasons to distrust the company. This week, Microsoft backtracked from demands that its portable device partners bundle only Windows Media Player (WMP) with their Windows Media-compatible products, after the US Department of Justice (DOJ) complained that that requirement represented a breach of the company's antitrust settlement. Now, portable product makers can bundle other media player software if they choose, as one might expect in an open and free market. Frankly, the funniest part of this story is that companies are still selling Windows Media-compatible portable devices.

Access Hotmail from MCE
Microsoft will soon ship a free Windows XP Media Center Edition (XP MCE) 2005 add-on that will let you access your MSN Hotmail account from your TV screen. Why anyone would want to do this is unclear--we only have to point to the weak MSN Messenger client in XP MCE 2005 as proof that text-based applications don't translate well to the Media Center environment. But heck, this is Microsoft, so the add-on will let you only read email, not respond to it, delete it, or edit new email. Why not just turn it into a screen saver? That makes about as much sense.

Steve Ballmer on Linux
Yesterday, I discussed some of Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer's comments about Microsoft innovation and the "reset" that the company did on Windows Vista last year. But Ballmer had a lot more to say during his appearance at the Gartner Symposium/ITxpo 2005 in Orlando, Florida, this week. Regarding Linux, Ballmer said that Microsoft was now targeting those few bastions of functionality in which Linux still outperforms Windows Server. These areas include high-performance clusters, Web hosting, and even UNIX migrations. "We deliver better results at lower costs \[than Linux\]," Ballmer said. Thus, people will choose Windows.

Steve Ballmer on Google
Ballmer also waxed philosophic on Google. He noted that more people spend more time online with MSN services than with those that Google offers, though much of that is because of the popularity of MSN Messenger, with which Google only recently began competing. When confronted with the fact that people associate the Web, and Web searching, with Google and not Microsoft or MSN (heck, the word Google is now used as a verb), Ballmer turned to the audience and claimed that Web search would be much better in 10 years and suggested that things could change dramatically in the market. "If you read the newspapers today, other than curing cancer, Google will do everything," he said. "But the truth of the matter is, we've got our heads down, we've got very, very smart people just working on innovation, innovation, innovation, and we think that gives us a great opportunity." I guess we'll see. I like what MSN is doing these days, but I have a hard time picturing it catching up to Google anytime soon.

Microsoft Preps for Xbox 360 Launch
In preparation for the launch of the Xbox 360 game console next month, Microsoft will take down its Xbox Live service and Xbox.com Web site for 1 day so that it can make the internal changes required to support the new system. Xbox Live and Xbox.com will go dark on October 24 and will then come back online with a variety of new features aimed at Xbox 360 users. These changes include the Xbox Live Marketplace, a new achievements-based ranking system, and gamer info card support. Xbox 360 launches in the United States on November 22, in Europe on December 3, and in Japan on December 10.

Xbox 360 Controller for Windows Now Shipping
Although Xbox 360 is still a month away from its first public availability, this week, Microsoft shipped its first Xbox 360 peripheral, a wired game controller that's designed for XP but will also work with the upcoming console. Featuring a USB connector, the Xbox 360 Controller for Windows gives gamers an advance look at Microsoft's new controller type, which looks and feels a lot like the old Controller S for the original Xbox (which is to say it's almost perfect). I posted a bunch of photos of the new controller to the SuperSite for Windows.
http://www.itprotoday.com/showcase/xbox360_wincontroller.asp

iPod Sales: Apple's Bane?
Here's a curious proposition: What if the runaway success of the Apple iPod could actually harm Apple Computer in the long run? According to financial experts, Apple's increasing reliance on iPod sales could soon start hurting the company's finances, because Apple makes a much smaller margin per iPod than it does on its expensive Macintosh computers. They point to Apple's financial statements, which show the company's gross margin going down quarter over quarter as iPod sales begin to outpace Mac sales. And gross margins on consumer electronics devices tend to nosedive sharply because of competitive concerns. So when Apple releases new iPod models--as it does every week, or so it seems--it can't raise prices even though it's adding new features and capabilities. My expectation is that Apple will manage the transition to lower margins quite nicely, thanks to huge volumes of sales. The company never had this advantage with its Mac systems.

OpenOffice.org 2.0 Released
After delaying the product for several weeks, OpenOffice.org finally released its OpenOffice.org 2.0 office productivity suite yesterday, providing users with a free alternative to Microsoft Office 2003. OpenOffice.org 2.0 now includes a database and, like its Sun Microsystems' StarOffice 8.0 brethren, supports the suddenly crucial Open Document format, which is necessary for government contracts around the world. Hey, it's certainly worth trying.
http://www.openoffice.org

Mozilla Foundation Celebrates 100 Million Firefox Downloads
This week, the Mozilla Foundation celebrated the 100 millionth download of its Firefox browser. The event should be a blockbuster for the organization, which can rightfully point to the milestone as a huge achievement. There's just one problem: After several months of steady market share gains against IE, Firefox market share has stalled and, in some places, even fallen in the past 2 months. With IE 7.0 set for an early 2006 release (preceded by a December beta 2 release), it's unclear what the Mozilla Foundation can do to increase this product's visibility. I still vastly prefer Firefox over IE and can't imagine why anyone would use today's IE versions on the live Internet. But IE 7.0 will change all that, and now it's just a waiting game. What's next for Firefox?

==== Events and Resources ====
(A complete Web and live events directory brought to you by Windows IT Pro: http://www.windowsitpro.com/events )

Compliance Vs Recovery: Can You Have Your Cake and Eat It Too?
In this free, On-demand Web seminar discover the issues involved with integrating your compliance system with backup and recovery, including backup schedules, the pros and cons of outsourcing your backup media storage and management, the DR implications of having to back up all that compliance data, and the possibility of using alternative backup methods to provide backup and compliance in a single system. You’ll learn what to watch out for when combining the two functions and how to assess whether your backup/restore mechanisms are equal to the challenge.
http://www.windowsitpro.com/seminars/backupandrecovery/index.cfm?code=1019emailannc

==== Featured White Paper ====

Can you afford to have anything less than 100% Uptime for your Mission Critical E-mail?
E-mail has become mission critical to the functioning of business and every hour of downtime can cost thousands of dollars in lost productivity and revenue. In this free white paper, learn how to address challenges such as: making e-mail truly available 24x7x365, securing against viruses, comprehensively backing up e-mail data and more. Download your copy now!
http://www.windowsitpro.com/go/whitepapers/123together/emailhighavailability?code=1019emailannc

==== Announcements ====

The Windows Scripting Solutions Newsletter
The Windows Scripting Solutions Newsletter is a "must have." Subscribe today and get a 12-issue resource loaded with expert-reviewed downloadable code and scripting techniques, as well as hundreds of tips on automating repetitive tasks. You will also get online access to the entire newsletter archive (over 500 scripting articles), including access to our popular "Shell Scripting 101" series. This resource will help to save you time and money. Order now: https://store.pentontech.com/index.cfm?s=1&promocode=eu265aus

==== Sponsored Link ====

Admins rush to install BLOG servers
How to run your own blog server. Free 5 user license.
http://netwinsite.com/surgeblog/

==== Contact Us ====

About the newsletter -- [email protected] About technical questions -- http://www.windowsitpro.com/forums About product news -- [email protected] About your subscription -- [email protected] About sponsoring UPDATE -- [email protected]

===============


This email newsletter is brought to you by Windows IT Pro, the leading publication for IT professionals deploying Windows and related technologies. Subscribe today!
https://store.pentontech.com/index.cfm?s=1&promocode=eu205xfb

Manage Your Account
You are subscribed as %%$email%%

You are receiving this email message because you subscribed to this newsletter on our Web site. To unsubscribe, click the unsubscribe link: %%UNSUB_HREF%%

View the Windows IT Pro privacy policy at
http://www.windowsitpro.com/aboutus/index.cfm?action=privacy

Windows IT Pro is a division of Penton Media Inc. 221 East 29th Street, Loveland, CO 80538 Attention: Customer Service Department

Copyright 2005, Penton Media Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Hide comments

Comments

  • Allowed HTML tags: <em> <strong> <blockquote> <br> <p>

Plain text

  • No HTML tags allowed.
  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
Publish