windows

Vista price cuts show how much trouble Microsoft is in

Ever since Microsoft released Vista to the masses, most people knew just how bad the operating system was. Instead of offering the kind of functionality already found on Linux or Mac OS X and the stability that we had come to welcome in XP, Vista was nothing more than a beta release on day one, and very few improvements have been made to change that.

To make matters worse, most companies and individuals are more than happy to keep XP running, and even Apple has been able to capitalize somewhat on the issues people have had with Microsoft's latest operating system.

Obviously realizing that there is some trouble afoot, Microsoft on Thursday announced price cuts on its most expensive versions of Vista and said those discounts will range from 20 percent to 48 percent. Ironically, those discounts are designed to coincide with the release of Vista Service Pack 1, which according to Microsoft, will usher in a slew of security fixes and improvements that should make the Vista experience much better.

And while I applaud Microsoft for finally dropping the price on its ill-fated software, the price drop looks more like a PR move than something that will have an impact on consumers and, most importantly, shows just how much trouble this company is in with Windows.… Read more

Microsoft chops Vista retail prices

In what may be an unprecedented decision, Microsoft said Thursday that it plans to lower the retail prices for several flavors of Windows Vista.

For those in the U.S., Microsoft is cutting prices only on the higher-end versions of Vista, and only for the upgrade version used to move from XP or another copy of Vista. The suggested price for Vista Ultimate drops to $219 from $299, while Home Premium falls to $129, from $159.

Other developed markets will also see price cuts, while in emerging markets, Microsoft is eliminating the distinction between full and upgrade versions of Home … Read more

Microsoft e-mails reveal Intel pressure over Vista

We updated this blog at 6:25 p.m. PST after Microsoft released a statement.

As far back as 2005, Microsoft executives knew that confusing hardware requirements for the Windows Vista Capable program might get them in trouble. But they did it anyway--over the objection of PC makers--at the behest of Intel, according to e-mails released as part of a class-action lawsuit pending against Microsoft.

In early 2006, Intel's Renee James, vice president and general manager of Intel's software and solutions group, was able to prevail on Microsoft's Will Poole to change the proposed requirements for Microsoft'… Read more

Microsoft e-mails detail Vista woes

As happens every year or so, some juicy Microsoft e-mails have surfaced as part of litigation that the software maker is party to.

In this case, Microsoft is being sued over a program in 2006 that labeled some PCs as Windows Vista Capable ahead of the operating system's mainstream release in January 2007. As part of the discovery process, a number of e-mails have emerged with Microsoft executives discussing various problems with Vista as it came to market.

In one e-mail, Steven Sinofsky writes to Steve Ballmer that three factors were to blame for early Vista challenges.

First off, … Read more

Microsoft previews Live Platform development services

The head of Microsoft's Windows Live Platform Services group offered late Wednesday an early description of services and tools that Microsoft will release at next week's Mix '08 Web conference.

Dave Treadwell is part of a team assembled by Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie and chartered with building a development platform for writing Web applications that tap into data on Microsoft services.

Microsoft executives have said that the company's overall goal is to create a common development model that spans its online services, such as Virtual Earth and search, and its Windows and server products.

Last year, … Read more

Microsoft's court testimony: people want PCs, not operating systems

I'm reading through the unsealed court documents, including internal Microsoft e-mails (PDF), from the federal lawsuit over the "Windows Vista Capable" program. It makes for fascinating reading at times.

As Todd Bishop of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer discovers, Microsoft clearly knew that it had serious compatibility issues on its hands. Microsoft's new Windows chief suggested that "people who rely on using all the features of their hardware...will not see availability for some time, if ever, depending on the (manufacturer)." What a cheery vote of confidence. Can I get some software from that guy?

But I found another e-mail (page 153) from Brad Goldberg, general manager of Microsoft's Windows Client Product Management Group, much more telling. Why? Well, Goldberg seems to understand that the value of his Windows is dwarfed by the real value of the computer:… Read more

Mobile users, look forward to more free videos

Mobile users who haven't made the jump to watching videos on their cell phones and smartphones may see a juicy, dangling carrot on the horizon. A paper submitted by John Barrett of Parks Associates and David Wertheimer of USC's Entertainment Technology Center (PDF), summarizes that mobile phone users will watch more videos on their phones if they can get them for free. Well, duh. Who doesn't want free?

The study found that only a fraction of users with video-capable phones take advantage of them to watch movies and TV. Many of the reasons boil down to price, … Read more

IBM checks out of Linux, checks into Windows

IBM says that it isn't dropping SUSE Linux as a key part of its retail point-of-sale strategy. It's just adding Windows (WEPOS, or Windows Embedded Point-of-Sale). But for a company that has everything to gain from Linux and everything to lose from Windows (except some near-term cash), this reeks of capitulation.

IBM saw Linux POS systems spike in popularity, but that has subsided. Now it's voting with its feet:

As a rival to Microsoft in many other parts of the IT market, IBM had held out for Linux over WEPOS as long as it could. But the deal to support the Microsoft operating system should cement Linux's fate as a niche offering that is attractive mostly to grocery store chains and similarly sized hard goods retailers, such as Pep Boys or Circuit City, [market research firm IHL president Greg] Buzek said.… Read more

Tom Brokaw kicks off Windows Server launch

LOS ANGELES--Microsoft brought out former NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw on Wednesday to kick off the launch of Windows Server 2008.

In explaining his appearance at a server launch, Brokaw said he was trying to redeem himself after his recent Saturday Night Live appearance, in which he was interviewed by Will Farrell as Anchorman character Ron Burgundy.

"I'm not here to write new code, to design new apps," Brokaw told the crowd at the tony Nokia Theater in downtown Los Angeles. Instead, Brokaw spoke for several minutes on the radical transformation of society being brought about by … Read more