windows

Microsoft's phone talk is all business

Well, It doesn't appear that Microsoft will be taking direct aim at the iPhone on Tuesday.

Rather, the software maker is playing to its strengths, announcing a new piece of server software to help businesses manage a company's worth of smartphones.

That doesn't mean Microsoft isn't interested in say, adding a full Web browser into Windows Mobile, according to Scott Horn, a general manager in Microsoft's mobile device unit.

"Do I see a path where we are going to have a phenomenal browsing experience," Horn said. "Yes, I do."

But the … Read more

Does Microsoft have an iPhone answer?

The iPhone is a tough act to follow.

That will be the challenge for Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, who is keynoting at the CTIA Fall 2007 trade show on Tuesday.

A preshow flyer promised a major news announcement from Microsoft. But what would be considered major for Microsoft in the wake of the iPhone?

To be sure, Microsoft targets a different audience than Apple. Those considering Microsoft's phones are typically e-mail addicts who are more likely to weigh a BlackBerry than anything from Cupertino.

But even business users would benefit from many of the features Apple has packed into … Read more

Disgracefully unreliable software

Software can be made pretty reliable, lots of people and companies know how to do so. The auto-pilot on an airplane comes to mind, as do the computers that run financial markets. Then there's mainframe computers, perhaps the classic example of reliability (I spent many years working in a mainframe environment). But chances are that the computer you are reading this on is not as reliable as it could be.

Impolite Waiter Let's start with an analogy. How would you feel if you were in a restaurant, in the middle of your meal, and the waiter takes your … Read more

Debunking Walter Mossberg - better PC buying advice

On October 18th in The Wall Street Journal, Walter Mossberg wrote his annual PC Buyers Guide. Using his article as a springboard, I weigh in on some of the issues faced when buying a new computer.

Vista security

The first choice anyone makes in purchasing a new computer is the operating system. In judging the relative merits of Vista over XP, Mossberg calls Vista "better than prior versions of Windows, because it has a stronger security system under the hood."

But, according to CNET's Security Watch columnist Robert Vamosi, "most of the security enhancements touted in … Read more

Windows gets a 'Mini-Me'

It's rare that anyone at Microsoft talks publicly about Windows 7, the next version of Windows. It's even rarer that anyone provides actual information about what might be inside the operating system, which is still in the planning stages.

However, Microsoft has posted a video of a recent university lecture given by Distinguished Engineer Eric Traut in which he talks about, among other things, a new, slimmed down kernel known as MinWin that was created as part of the Windows 7 development process.

The kernel, which lacks Vista's bells and whistles or even a graphics system at … Read more

Firefox 3 to go native in appearance

What do you get when you cross a Firefox with a chameleon?

An open-source Web browser whose user interface is adapted to the look of the operating system it's running on. One change planned for the upcoming Firefox version 3, code-named Gran Paradiso, is this more native appearance.

"The Web browser is an incredibly central piece of the user's operating system, and we don't want the user's initial reaction to be that they have modified their computer to add some type of strange, foreign application," said Mozilla interface designer Alex Faaborg in a blog posting last week. &… Read more

Sound the alarms: Verizon actually releases Samsung SCH-i760

Yes, you read that right. After what seemed like ages (heck, this video shown here was taken way back at CES 2007), Verizon Wireless today officially announced the availability of the Samsung SCH-i760 smartphone.

A bigger, badder version of the Samsung BlackJack, this Windows Mobile 6 (Professional Edition) device adds a slide-out QWERTY keyboard with an external dial pad, a touch screen, and integrated Wi-Fi. If that weren't enough, it also serves up EV-DO, Verizon's V Cast services, Bluetooth with A2DP support, and a 1.3-megapixel camera.

Of course, all this goodness comes with a cost. The i760, … Read more

The talking dog of virtualization

I started my computing life on a Sinclair ZX81 with 1k of memory (total). If I wanted to get it to do anything of significance I had to laboriously hand code it, sometimes from a magazine that published user-submitted programs (with accompanying bug notices and typo corrections in the following month's issue). Today I work on a Mac Book Pro with dual 2 gigaherz processors and 104,857,600 times more memory (approximately). It does most things I want, including running two operating systems simultaneously.

I use Parallels on top of OS X, and let me start by saying … Read more

Why isn't data encryption the norm?

The TSA recently demanded data encryption on all contractor laptops as two machines containing personal data of 3,930 truckers who handle hazardous material were lost or stolen.

This made me wonder why more attention and more startups aren't trying to come up with easier ways to safeguard data. My initial guess is that the data problem is more about users than it is hardware.

As I searched for information on this I came across a few things of note: Windows, MacOS and Linux all have encryption capabilities, but none do so by default. There are quite a few … Read more