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September 20, 2002—In this issue:
1. SHORT TAKES
- Allchin Talks Longhorn
- Thurrott Talks Longhorn
- Office 11 Beta Acceptance Letters Go Out
- Yankee Group Advises Immediate XP upgrade ... Hmmm
- Palladium Might Police Your Motherboard. Then Again, It Might Not.
- Group Says Microsoft Already Violating Proposed Antitrust Settlement
- Dude, You're Getting a Raise
- Palm Readies New Hardware
- Random Thought--If MPEG-4 Is So Good ...
- Dude, You Still Getting a Dell?
- Apple's Market Share in the Basement: What's Next?
- Jaguar Already Upgraded
- .Mac Membership Hits 100,000. No, That's Not Good.
- Sun Increases StarOffice Giveaways
- And You Thought I Watched Microsoft Like a Hawk
- Book of the Week
2. ANNOUNCEMENTS
- Mark Minasi and Paul Thurrott Are Bringing Their Security Expertise to You!
- Real-World Tips and Solutions Here for You
3. CONTACT US
- See this section for a list of ways to contact us.
1. SHORT TAKES
(An irreverent look at some of the week's other stories, contributed by Paul Thurrott, [email protected])
In an "eWeek" interview this week, Microsoft Group Vice President Jim Allchin discussed some Longhorn (the next version of Windows) details, including a few tidbits that weren't previously public knowledge. Allchin said that Longhorn will include simultaneous desktop and server versions, although that plan could change (as it did with Windows XP and Windows .NET Server--Win.NET Server--2003) if the server release requires more development time. The Windows team is developing Longhorn's database file system based on code created for Yukon, the next SQL Server version. But Microsoft is discovering that integrating Yukon with Windows is extremely difficult, and if I'm reading this interview correctly, I might have seen the first waffling on whether Yukon technology will be completed in time for Longhorn. Allchin notes that the company is working to make Longhorn hot-patchable, so that OS updates such as service packs and hotfixes can be applied on-the-fly, without rebooting. The company is also working on a peer-to-peer (P2P) system so that Longhorn machines within Wi-Fi (the 802.11b wireless standard) range can instantly share and synchronize documents.
One Longhorn item I've debated discussing is its 3-D video-based UI. Allchin briefly mentioned Microsoft's "new 3-D stuff" in the "eWeek" interview mentioned above, and I've downplayed its capabilities in the past, comparing the Longhorn UI to Quartz Extreme in Apple's Mac OS X 10.2 Jaguar. However, Longhorn's 3-D UI is actually much more complicated and capable than anything in Jaguar. In fact, Microsoft is working on a full-motion video display layer, likely based in part on Direct 3D, that will use technology from a company called Anark. Anark describes its technology as "stunning interactive content with seamless integration of 3-D models, \[full motion\] video, images, and audio," and that's what we'll get in Longhorn. My understanding, and admittedly it's pretty vague right now, is that the UI will be layered, similar to the Media Center interface in Windows XP Media Center Edition, with layers for 2-D, 3-D, and video. The Anark technology looks good on the Web, but the desktop-based versions, which I don't see on the company's Web site, is naturally more impressive. If what I've seen is any indication, I think people will be shocked by Longhorn UI's quality.
A few weeks ago, I mentioned that Microsoft had issued the first round of invitations to beta test Microsoft Office 11, the next Office version. This week, the acceptance letters followed. "We are writing to let you know that you have been accepted into the Office 11 Individual Evaluation Program for the upcoming Office 11 beta this Fall," an email to accepted testers read. "You will be hearing more about the beta soon, but we wanted to keep you informed about your status in the program. We’re very excited about this next version of Office and think you will be also. Thank you for your interest in providing feedback on our products, and taking time to be involved in this way." Office 11 will ship in mid-2003.
This item is rather suspicious in a Mindcraft-like way: Market research firm The Yankee Group has issued an advisory warning that corporations that procrastinate migrating to XP and Win.NET Server do so at their own peril. The rationale for this advice might be sound: The problem, the Yankee Group says, is that the majority--almost 65 percent--of surveyed corporate sites are still running Windows NT 4.0 Server, which can most kindly be described as a legacy OS. On client systems, responding companies seem to be running a combination of OSs: more than 90 percent are running Windows 2000 Professional Edition on some clients, almost 70 percent are running NT 4.0 Workstation on some clients, and almost 65 percent are running Windows 98 on some clients. These OSs, the Yankee Group says, put companies at risk because Microsoft will soon discontinue support.
For me, Chicken Little speculation is often disturbing but always laugh-out-loud amusing. This week's speculative news item is courtesy of ENN (ElectricNews.net). The piece starts off with the admission that "most commentators have no real knowledge of Microsoft's Palladium," then proceeds to assert that the technology might usurp control of the PC from its users. The article reaches a new low by simply quoting people who are dissatisfied with the perceived privacy challenges in products such as XP Service Pack 1 (SP1) and Win2K SP3 to justify an attack on a completely different technology that's still 3 years away. The piece doesn't contain a single fact about Palladium (beyond the basic description of it as "Microsoft's attempt to build a trusted computer"), but a good anti-Microsoft piece never lets such a limitation stand in the way of a story. Good grief.
http://www.enn.ie/news.html?code=8625404
ProComp, an industry group backed by several of Microsoft's competitors, has filed a 12-page petition with the New York Attorney General, charging Microsoft with "at least six" separate violations of the company's proposed antitrust settlement with the US Department of Justice (DOJ). The group says that Microsoft's release of XP SP1, which features a Set Program Access and Defaults feature aimed at implementing part of the settlement, doesn't in fact make a good faith effort to comply with the letter or spirit of the settlement proposal. (I came to the same conclusion in my XP SP1 preview, which you can access at the URL below.) "The mechanism purportedly settling the antitrust case is, by definition, not readily accessible \[to consumers\]," ProComp wrote in its petition to New York. The group also complained that Windows Update requires Internet Explorer (IE), that the Set Program Access and Defaults feature isn't available on the default Start Menu or desktop, that the 133MB SP1 file takes hours to download on a dial-up connection, and that Microsoft is charging $10 for the CD-ROM-based version. "It is beyond ridiculous, pursuant to an antitrust settlement with the United States government," that the files related to the settlement aren't available separately, as a much smaller update, the group says. ProComp makes an interesting point, but Microsoft's response is equally valid. "We had a whole beta process for \[XP SP1\] where we sought and received feedback from industry and government," a Microsoft spokesperson said. "It's unfortunate, but hardly surprising, that this group, which is backed by our competitors, chose to play politics rather than participate in the process. SP1 is easily available and in wide distribution."
http://www.itprotoday.com/article/reviews/windows-xp-service-pack-1-preview.aspx
Microsoft's top two executives got raises last year, although the salary increases will do little to improve either's lot in life. Chairman and Chief Software Architect Bill Gates and CEO Steve Ballmer now both take home a base annual salary of $547,000 and a $205,000 bonus. But because both guys are worth billions, their salaries amount to a charitable contribution, the type of money you or I might toss in the penny jar at a local convenience store. And neither Ballmer nor Gates is the highest-paid executive at the company: Group Vice President Jim Allchin, who oversees Windows development, took home almost $900,000 last year in combined salary and bonus. But, like the rest of us, I'm sure all three men are just happy to be employed during these tough financial times.
Palm, which has had a relatively quiet year (discounting the hoo-hah over its slightly-less-colorful-than-claimed m130 product), will unleash a new generation of Palm devices next month, although none of them use the new Palm OS 5, released in June. The devices include three models: a new low-end $100 model, one based on the ARM architecture shared with the Pocket PC, and another with always-on wireless capabilities. Palm describes most of the new products as "revolutionary," with new form factors, new features, and new capabilities. We'll see whether Palm still has what it takes: The past few years have been rather unexciting, product-wise, for the company.
... why is virtually none of the content on Apple Computer's Web site--including movie trailers and product demos--encoded in that format? Hmmm...
Last Sunday, while the Super Bowl-champion New England Patriots blew out the New York Jets 44-7, Gateway debuted a new ad that tackles yet another PC-maker rival--market leader Dell. In a move reminiscent of its irreverent anti-iMac ads, the new Gateway ad simply displays a "PC World" Best Value chart that shows (of course) a Gateway model in the number-one position, whereas the highest Dell is in fourth place. The unofficial NFL theme song plays in the background, with no voice-over. Say what you will about Gateway, but the company's ads rock.
Three recent surveys put Apple's worldwide market share at less than 3 percent, leading analysts to once again ponder the company's fate. How bad is it? Giga Information Group says that Apple has hit a new low of just 2.6 percent market share, but RedSheriff says the figure is 2.2 percent, while OneStat.com says 1.43 percent. These figures have all come in the days since Apple launched its "Switcher" ad campaign, in which real users expound on the Macintosh's alleged simplicity and superiority over Windows. But Apple has yet to deliver any figures for Windows switchers beyond the number of users who visited the Web site, suggesting that the campaign hasn't done much to drive people to the Mac. "Think Different" might have been grammatically challenged, but at least it was cool.
Imagine for a moment that Microsoft released XP SP1 just weeks after it shipped XP: Can you picture the mocking that release would have unleashed? That's the situation Mac OS X fans faced this week when Apple upgraded OS X 10.2 Jaguar to 10.2.1 with a massive set of changes aimed largely at fixing bugs. Mac advocates naturally see the update as a good thing--as if the Gods of Olympus had once again shined a light in their direction. When Microsoft issues bug fixes for Windows, however, these same people see it as a sign of Windows' insecurity and instability. In general, this reaction is just another example of people being limited by their own experiences: Software isn't perfect and probably never will be. And yes, Virginia, that includes software that Apple makes.
I rail a lot against the lack of progress that Microsoft is making with Microsoft .NET, but Apple's recent trumpeting of 100,000 customers for its .Mac service isn't good news, either. Instead, consider the fact that 2.5 million people signed on to .Mac when it was free (and called iTools), and that 2.5 million people are supposedly using Mac OS X. Or consider that Apple itself said that the average retention rate for customers moving from free services to paid services is 10 percent, a figure that is more than twice the retention rate Apple has seen. Or my final point: Consider that .Mac is half price the first year. What will happen when the company starts charging $100 per year next fall?
In a bid to increase acceptance of its StarOffice 6.0 office productivity suite, Sun Microsystems announced this week that it will donate an estimated $650 million worth of software to cash-strapped educational institutions in Europe and South Africa, freeing them from worries about paying for the high-price Microsoft Office. Sun hopes the giveaway will introduce StarOffice to more than 26 million students in those regions this year, along with the millions who received a similar gift in the Far East. And a US push isn't far behind: The company says that plans for educational donations in the United States are also underway. The timing couldn't be better. After outraged educators in Oregon schools complained about unwanted Microsoft software audits earlier this year, many institutions began looking around for alternatives. And Sun is prepping an offer few educators will be able to refuse.
I'm surprised I haven't mentioned this site before, but a new Microsoft watchdog is on the beat and is doing an amazing job. Called Watching Microsoft Like A Hawk, this site collects links to dozens of important Microsoft stories every day, including many from WinInfo Daily UPDATE. The site has turned into an invaluable resource for me, and one I think many readers will enjoy. Check it out. http://www.watchingmicrosoftlikeahawk.com
I've been reading the amazing "HIGH SCORE! An Illustrated History of Electronic Games," and if you grew up on video games in the late 1970s and early 1980s like I did, you'll want to run out and buy a copy. Printed in gorgeous full color, with numerous photos and screenshots, the book describes the development of arcade and home video-game systems from the early days up to the Xbox. And although it ignores or glosses over some of my all-time favorites (what, no multipage write-up about Psygnosis' amazing "Shadow of the Beast" series?), the book provides invaluable behind-the-scenes information. Good stuff and highly recommended.
2. ANNOUNCEMENTS
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