Tag Archives: Microsoft

Microsoft is, and deserves to be, judged by a different standard

Posted on February 10, 2013 by halberenson

The Microsoft Surface Pro went on sale yesterday and immediately sold out, leading many pundits and other observers to declare the launch a failure.  Meanwhile the Surface RT has sold an unknown number of units (because Microsoft won’t reveal actual … Continue reading →

Posted in Computer and Internet, Microsoft | Tagged , , | 21 Comments

Another little “shopping” trip to Best Buy and the Microsoft Store

Posted on February 6, 2013 by halberenson

With release of the Surface Pro imminent, and word on the street that both the Microsoft Store and Best Buy already had units on display, I made another stop at both of my local outlets.  I know I sound like … Continue reading →

Posted in Computer and Internet, Microsoft | Tagged , , | 8 Comments

Microsoft and Dell, more and less than meets the eye

Posted on February 5, 2013 by halberenson

Just some quick commentary on Dell going private and Microsoft’s participation in that process. Let me start with something that should be obvious even if it isn’t.  There are personal relationships here that exist just about nowhere else in the … Continue reading →

Posted in Computer and Internet, Microsoft | Tagged , | 7 Comments

More Surface Devices (Part 2)

Posted on February 3, 2013 by halberenson

In Part 1 of this topic I mentioned that Microsoft is going after “areas where they can identify scenarios and user requirements that are going unmet by both competitors and the OEM community”.  So what are some of those areas … Continue reading →

Posted in Computer and Internet, Microsoft, Mobile | Tagged , , , , , | 8 Comments

What to expect in today’s Microsoft earnings report

Posted on January 24, 2013 by halberenson

Seriously I have no idea if Microsoft will come in below, at, or above expectations.  It’s pretty clear that Windows 8 hasn’t done something “magical” to earnings, but that doesn’t mean the Windows and Windows Live Division’s revenue won’t be … Continue reading →

Posted in Computer and Internet, Microsoft | Tagged , | 6 Comments

About that $2B annual loss from Microsoft’s search business

Posted on January 18, 2013 by halberenson

A few days ago Scott Cleland published a thought-provoking piece on what would happen if Microsoft exited the search business.  It was all about what that would do to Google, but might just as well have been titled “Microsoft should … Continue reading →

Posted in Computer and Internet, Google, Microsoft, Search | Tagged , | 26 Comments

Crapware, and how we got here

Posted on January 15, 2013 by halberenson

Crapware is in the news in a big way this week thanks to Oracle’s recent Java “security” update and a blog post by Long Zheng that exposes the economic incentives for software developers to bundle crapware installers.  He also points out that … Continue reading →

Posted in Computer and Internet, Microsoft, Search, Windows | Tagged , , , , , , , | 48 Comments

Live Long and Prosper SteveSi

Posted on November 13, 2012 by halberenson

I was only momentarily shocked when I heard last night that Steven Sinofsky was leaving Microsoft.  It was momentary because a friend had told me months ago that Steven would be gone soon after Windows 8 launched.  The claim was … Continue reading →

Posted in Microsoft | Tagged , | 107 Comments

Acknowledging the aQuantive Mistake

Posted on July 3, 2012 by halberenson

Yesterday’s announcement that Microsoft would write-down the 2007 acquisition of aQuantive raised my opinion of Steve Ballmer another notch.  Steve makes mistakes, but he also owns up to them.  So let’s travel back and see how Microsoft got into this … Continue reading →

Posted in Computer and Internet, Microsoft | Tagged , , , | 18 Comments

Why a locked down Metro/WinRT model makes such a big difference to security

Posted on February 15, 2012 by halberenson

Secunia is reporting that 78% of end-point (individual computers for all those not in the security business) vulnerabilities are attributable to third-party software.  That’s everything from browser plug-ins like Flash and Java, to Adobe Reader, to Quicken or any other desktop … Continue reading →

Posted in Computer and Internet, Microsoft, Security, Windows | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments