iOS bigger then Linux
Those of you who follow me here knows that I came in contact with Linux by a friend back in 1993.
At that time the installation was not graphic, and I have said before that Linux ‘Will Never” grow strong for the home users as long as this not was sorted.
In late 2004, the first vesionen of Ubunto came and it have graphical interface.
Linux began to grow, got more and more users, but it never went that big as I thought it should be. And now, many years after has iOS for Apple iPad passed Linux all distrubation in less then one year
As I’ve written before, Windows 7 is the most widely used OS in the U.S. by 32%, followed by 31% for Windows Xp, Windows Vista, with 19% and Apple Mac X by nearly 15%
Linux has only 0.7% and is then passed by the iOS for iPad with 1.20%. Another thing we should have in mind, is that the IOS is only used by iPad (mobiles are not included) while the other OS is used on both laptops and desktops
Windows 7 Is Now The Largest OS In USA
StatCounter, has in a study concluded that Windows 7 now has passed Windows XP as the most widely used operating system in the United States.
Windows 7 has taken market-share from both Windows XP and Vista, and this has made the Windows 7 now has passed XP, and it is the largest operating system. Mac OS X has made a marginal increase, but does not reach 15%. While Linux has almost not changed at all but it dont even reach 1%
Microsoft is constantly trying to reduce the use of their older operating systems, and this is done in a rather ugly way.
By stopping the popular program from working on them. Latest is the Internet Explorer 9, that can not be used with Windows XP.
But many companies are choosing to wait before the make upgrade of Windows XP, much to the part of the high license costs, but also because of uncertainty about the functioning of the program.
Microsoft… Why?
Here we go again…
Those of you who follow my blog know how I reasoning about Windows. Windows 7 is very stable compared with the early versions, and now I use windows much more than when I ran in XP (I will not even mention Vista) I have also said that Microsoft is the only company in the world that can sell a half finished program.
Once again, Microsoft will released a record updated. This update are also includes Microsoft Office and Internet Explorer, and it will sort 64 bugs.
The update consists 17 partial update, and nine of them are rated as critical. The remaining eight are classified as importan.
The update are as you can read not only for Windows, its for the 3 biggest Microsoft software. Anyway… I dont think no other software are being update that offen and with that many fixes like Microsofts program
It would have been fun to count all the updates that are made the last 18 months, but the risk had been that I would go back to my PC-dealer and ask for the money back.
For earlier post about Microsofts updates, click here
The history of Internet Explorer
How big are the changes from IE1 to IE9?.Andrew Tait have done it again, and this have even more “Geek-Warning” that the video with windows-updat that you can see here. |
Nokia has started cooperation with Microsoft
Nokias CEO Stephen Elop, has now confirmed…
Nokia have begun work on the first smartphone that uses Windows Phone 7 (WP7). Nokia hopes that they can present the model before the end of this year.
Symbian has long been the operating system Nokia uses in their phones, even companies, like Sony Ericsson and LG have use this system. But most have now leave this system in favor of Android.
When Microsofts Windows Mobile 6.5 came, it was harshly criticized by both users and reviewers.
And Microsoft was upgrading their mobile operating system and many think this system will be win or lose for Microsoft mobil adventure.
The question is now if Nokia decides to launch a high-quality mobile phone, or it will be a budget phone.
In a earlier post I wrote about the work between Microsoft and Nokia, read more here.
Kinect + Guinness World Records = True
Video-game control Kinect has since launch been sold in more than ten million copies sold worldwide…
During the sixty-first days were sold more than 130 000 copies a day, something that was recognized by Guinness World Records and gave Kinect a place in the world-famous book.
After the launch of the Apple iPad, was Apple speking well howe good the pad was selling, and claimed that it was the fastest selling consumer electronics product ever. A claim that was not true.
On the net there are plenty of videos that hackers have been published showing how the system can be used for anything but gaming and Steve Ballmer has promised official support in Windows for Kinect.
Kinect is still only use a small fraction of the potential that exists in the hardware behind the control system. Among other things, that can be used. if the cameras can take more high-resolution images than they do today, would give much better precision, including the possibility of advanced control with finger and hand movements, but also greater demands on the bandwidth required to send information from Kinect drive to the console.
I wrote about kinect for more than a year ago, but under the name Project Natal, click here to read this post
IE 9 will be released on the 14:th
Now it is confirmed that Microsoft will release Internet Explorer 9. March 14…
The launch will take place in the event at SXSW.
Internet Explorer 9 will be released for download at 2:00 on monday morning (GMT +-0), and it is exactly twelve months after Microsoft released the first test version of IE9, I dont not know if it should be any symbolism with this.
Version 9 of Internet Explorer is only for the newer versions of Windows, to run the version 9, you need to have Windows 7 or Windows Vista SP2.
It will be interesting to see what Microsoft has done to compete with Firefox and Chrome.
Steve Ballmer, crazy or genius?
Steve Ballmer CEO for one of the biggest company in the world…Steve Ballmer has made himself famous or rather infamous for its appearance over the years, I do not know whether to hate or love this person, here’s a clip with some of his classic appearance that I found on YouTube |
Countdown on Microsoft biggest investment
This is not my post…I have get the information from BusinessInsider, and the countdown is copy stright over from their post
This is information for the real computer-nerds.
Microsoft have make som big bought over the years here will follow a countdown of the biggest 15 and whats happen after.
Number 15: Fox database software for $174 million
Microsoft bought Fox Software back in 1992 for a reported price of about $174 million. The company made the FoxPro PC database software, and Microsoft later used its underlying technology in JET, the database engine that still powers its email product, Exchange Server. The company still sells Visual FoxPro today, making this one of the few Microsoft acquisitions that contributed lasting value.
Number 14: Groove (and Ray Ozzie) for $171 million
Groove made peer-to-peer collaboration software, but as Bill Gates later said, Microsoft really bought Groove for Ray Ozzie, who eventually replaced Gates as Chief Software Architect. Microsoft was responsible for $51 million of a $150 million investment in 2001 that kept Groove afloat, and in 2005 acquired the remainder of the company for $120 million, making this one of the most expensive talent acquisitions ever. Ozzie announced plans to leave Microsoft in October 2010, and sent a stark warning memo on his way out the door.
Number 13: Placeware virtual meeting service for $200 million (estimated)
Microsoft bought this privately held virtual meeting company in 2003, and turned it into Live Meeting. Next year, Microsoft plans to phase out Live Meeting in favor of Lync Online, part of the Office 365 suite.
Number 12: Massive, in-game advertising, for $280 million (estimated)
Microsoft bought this company, which figured out how to place ads in console games, in 2006 for about $280 million. But in-game advertising never really took off, and last year Microsoft shut the unit down.
Number 11: LinkExchange, an early paid search company, for $265 million
In a classic case of missed opportunity, Microsoft bought this early pioneer in paid search for $265 million in 1998. But as LinkExchange founder Ali Partovi (pictured here) explained in an essay for TechCrunch, Microsoft shut down the service a few months after launching it on MSN Search because it was scared it would cannibalize banner advertising. Whoops.
Number 10: Rare, a game developer, for $375 million
Microsoft bought this U.K. game developer in 2002 for $375 million in cash. It took a few years, but the acquisition has probably paid for itself: Rare built the sports games for the Kinect motion controller, which launched last holiday season and immediately became a profitable $1 billion business for Microsoft.
Number 9: Hotmail for $400m to $500m (estimated)
Microsoft bought one of the first Web-based e-mail providers, privately held HoTMaiL (the capitals spell out HTML, get it?) in 1998 for a rumored price between $400 and $500 million. Hotmail is still around today, but Microsoft admits that it’s basically a break-even business that is used to drive traffic to more strategic products like Bing and Office 365.
Number 8: Greenfield Online, including price-comparison site Ciao, for $486 million
Microsoft bought this German company, which owned the Ciao brand of price-comparison shopping sites, in August 2008 for about $486 million. The site is still operating independently. In 2010, Ciao was one of the companies that complained to the European Union about how Google organizes search results, spurring an EU antitrust investigation into Google.
Number 7: WebTV, an early Internet-on-TV company, for $425 million
When the Internet first became popular, Microsoft — like a lot of folks — thought that people would want to surf from their TV. To make sure it had an offering, Microsoft bought WebTV for $425 million in cash and stock in 1997. The product sold poorly, however, and a rebrand as MSN TV didn’t help. Microsoft finally stopped selling MSN TV a couple years ago, and is focusing its living room strategy on the much more successful Xbox.
Number 6: Danger, mobile software and services, for $500 million (estimated)
Microsoft bought Danger for a rumored price of $500 million in early 2008 to help boost its mobile strategy. But the acquisition was botched by internal infighting — while the Danger team was put to work on what eventually became the Kin phone, a separate group was building Windows Phone 7. The Kin launched late and with fewer features than specified, and was can celled less than two months later.
Number 5: Great Plains accounting software for $940 million
Microsoft announced plans to buy accounting and business management software company Great Plains in December 2000 in a stock swap worth approximately $1.1 billion (the final value of the deal was reportedly around $940 million). The company turned Great Plains into its own division, Microsoft Business Solutions, and made its charismatic CEO Doug Burgum (shown here in his hometown of Fargo, North Dakota) into a minor star at the company.
At one point, executive Jeff Raikes thought that business would eventually contribute $10 billion in annual revenue. But in fact, the Business Solutions group — now called Dynamics — today accounts for about $1 billion a year in sales, and most of the growth is coming from Dynamics CRM, which Microsoft developed in house.
Number 4: FAST Search and Transfer, enterprise search specialists, for $1.2 billion
Microsoft bought this Norwegian enterprise search company for $1.2 billion in cash in early 2008. Apparently a little more due diligence was needed — the company was charged with accounting fraud and raided by police few months later. Despite the setback, FAST is becoming an important part of the SharePoint business, Microsoft’s set of server products for collaboration and enterprise search.
Number 3: Visio, design and charting software, for $1.3 billion
Microsoft bought this charting software company for stock worth about $1.3 billion in 1999. This one probably paid off: Microsoft still sells Visio and updates it with every Office release, and is estimated to have sales of several hundred million dollars a year.
Number 2: Navision accounting software for $1.45 billion
Microsoft bought this Danish accounting and business management software company for $1.45 billion in cash and stock in 2002 to round out its Microsoft Business Solutions portfolio — Navision was stronger in Europe while Great Plains (acquired in 2001) was stronger in North America. Of all the products gained in those two acquisitions, the Axapta software suite from Navision is probably the most successful, but the overall business unit never quite lived up to early expectations.
Number 1: aQuantive, advertising software and services, for $6 billion
Microsoft purchased this company in 2007 to try and match Google’s acquisition of DoubleClick — and to keep it out of rival Yahoo’s hands.
The Seattle-based company had a wide range of products for advertisers and publishers, as well as a digital ad agency, Avenue A | Razorfish. But the integration didn’t go smoothly, and eventually Microsoft refocused its advertising strategy on search.
Most of aQuantive’s leaders have left the company — CEO Brian McAndrews, shown here, was gone by the end of 2008. Microsoft has used some of aQuantive’s technology in its own ad platforms, but a lot of it was discarded, and Microsoft sold Avenue A for $530 million to ad conglomerate WPP in 2009.
Have Nokia chose the right path
Is this the reason why Nokia chose Microsoft?
Bloomberg published in the days one article alleging that Microsoft will pay up to a billion dollars over five years. According to Bloomberg are the money only guaranteed to Nokia if they invests in Windows Phone and refrain completely from Android. The source should be a person that was close in the negotiations between Microsoft and Nokia.
The same source also says that Nokia will pay Microsoft a license fee for each phone sold with Windows Phone, this cost will be offset from Microsoft which Nokia also conducts its own research in software and development.
Since the deal between Nokia and Microsoft became official on February 11, shares have fallen by 26 percent. It says a lot of what shareholders think about this collaboration.
On the day of Bloomberg publishes the article, it comes data from the analyst-firm Comscore with information that Microsoft has lost user in the U.S. market in January this year, despite the fact that Windows 7 Phone has been in stores since last November.
Countdown For Internet Explorer 6
That people are still using Internet Explorer 6, is beyond me understanding…
The reasoning that it still works, does not hold for a program that is 10 years old. Can not understand that the developers still have to think of this when it comes to web applications.
Internet Explorer 6 is not as stable and fast as the new ones, so what is it then the reasons to keep this browser?.
Overall, it is still 12% who use IE 6, China is still big with the 34.5% that using ver.6. This is followed by South Korea, with 24.8%, Taiwan at 10.7%.
But countries such as Japan (10.3%), United Kingdom (3.5%) and USA (2.9%) still have users.
Of all countries, it is the Scandinavian countries with the least coverage for this browser, Norway (0.7%), Finland (0.9%), Sweden (1.3%) and Denmark (1.6%)
Earlier post regarding IE6
Windows has barely changed
What would happen if you install Windows 1.0 and then upgrade to Windows 7.A guy called Andrew Tait have done that, and recorded everything on film, the film is almost 10 minutes, but for us who have been around for some time, are this is a real memory-trip |
Run XP Mode in Windows 7
There are not many people knowing that you can run Windows XP Mode in Windows 7…
That required of course that you have some of the editions Enterprise, Professional or Ultimatum.
We will have to agree that Windows XP after various service pack in the end was stable and worked well, especially when compared with Windows 98… Windows Millennium, I would rather not comment, but says simply
- It is a Windows distribution that should never been released.
But why would anybody wants to run Windows 7 in XP mode?
Windows 7 and Windows 2000 (in this time) are some of the best distributions that Microsoft has released so why go back one step?
It might be that you have some old programs that can’t be run under Windows 7, well I personal think that the best solotion is to find a program that can be run under Windows 7.
This is entirely my opinion, and those who disagree with and would need to run in XP mode can click here to get a detailed description how to do.
Microsoft’s is a major competitor than Facebook says Google
Google’s outgoing CEO Eric Schmidt is disappointed that Nokia chose Microsoft as a partner.
Around the same time he acknowledges Bill Gates’s creation as the main competitor in the foreseeable future.
- At present and for a long time, Microsoft is our main competitor. There is no doubt about it, “says Google’s outgoing CEO Eric Schmidt.
He will soon hand over as CEO to one of Google’s two founders – Larry Page – and himself take a step back from the light as chairman. But at the Mobile World Congress takes Eric Schmidt good time to answer questions from the large public. Perhaps to compensate for its otherwise unusual closed-communication policy.
Eric Schmidt comments on Bill Gates word for for 21 years ago: “Information at your fingertips”. Was entirely correct. But it has taken this long for technology to get there.
At same time that Eric Schmidt celebrates the visionary genius of Bill Gates and Microsoft he also says that Facebook and Twitter is not a competition to Google and in the same time he praises both Facebook and Twitter for there contributions to social networking.
Microsoft Explorer 9RC
Microsoft has released a new version of its popular Web browsers Internet Explorer 9 RC and with this they take a big step towards to a final product. With more than 25 million downloads of the first beta version, shows that there are a big interest, and Microsoft has worked hard on improving the browser.
With Internet Explorer 9 RC (Release Candidate), has all the features been ready and just bugs remain to be resolved. The finished version is expected to be launched during the Mix11 which takes place in April. It has been five months since the beta version was released and at that time the development team has made many changes. Here are some of the biggest and most noteworthy.
- Strong performance boost when running JavaScript, up to 35% against IE9 beta version.
- Tabs can now be viewed on its own line instead of to the right of the address bar
- Better control of ActiveX with separate settings for each Web site
- Geolocation with GPS support
- The function Tracking Protection improves the integrity and security
- Native support for WebM Video
- Several changes in the interface
- Power management has improved and is integrated with Windows power settings
- Improved support for Web standards, HTML5 and CSS
Tracking Protection is a new feature to give the user more security on the Internet and protecting personal privacy. This is done by including preventing sources from third parties from taking advantage of web history. These sources may include the ad system to display targeted ads to visitors to increase the chance that someone clicks.
Statistics from NetMarketShare shows that the Internet Explorer browser is steadily declining in the number of users for the benefit of Google Chrome that quickly grows on Microsoft’s expense. Since March 2010, all versions of Internet Explorer have lost a total of more than four percent, and Google Chrome has increased correspondingly.
Have Sony allready lost?
Sony is working hard to protect the PlayStation 3 from hackers who want to use the console to more than just games and movies. Recently the hacker George Hotz managed to crack the security and released the key used to approve the code that can be uese on a Playstation 3, which means that the console is completely open to unauthorized software and operating systems.
Sony have start to fighting back. The first step was to go to court and prevent George Hotz from releasing more information about the key and other security holes that he found. A judge has ordered Hotz with the ban as Sony hoped, and true to him also for the monetary damage that has occurred. The company can not expect any significant money from Hotz and the ban for Hotz does not prevent someone else from find and use the key at eg. torrent sites. And, Hotz opinion prohibiting are temporary and can be lifted in the near future.
Sony have also sent an update to the PlayStation 3 which is “a must update” and that is supposed to prevent unauthorized code from running on the console. Unfortunately for Sony this was cracked after a few hours with guides and tips available on the Internet for all to use. Whatever Sony chooses to do so is a PlayStation 3 cracked, and to attacking Hotz does not solve their biggest problem – the key and info are allready out on the net.
By using unauthorized code on the console, prevents you to access to “PLAYSTATION NETWORK”, and you can not get update that resolves bugs and other problems.
Sony will continue to hunt down security vulnerabilities and prevent piracy because the sale of games provide more income than the console. Right now leads the hackers against Sony with 2-0 and the question is whether Sony can do something about it with the PlayStation 3 available today.
Question is now if Sony will chose the aggresive way that Microsoft uhave used with their Xbox users. Only yesr 2009 Microsoft permenent blocked 600 000 consoles to using Xbox Live.
Microsoft’s record quarter
Microsoft reports record figures for the fourth quarter of 2010. Games and office suite, Office drives sales upward.
Microsoft brings in 19.95 billion dollars in sales in its second quarter financial statements, which ended 31 December. Turnover rises by 5 or 15 percent, depending on how you count. The higher figure includes deferred revenue from pre-orders of Windows 7, which became available in October 2009. Without the 1.7 billion that ticked into time, the increase had fallen to 5 percent.
The profit Gains to 6.63 billion dollars, slightly lower than the figure for the fourth quarter of 2009, which stood at 6.66 billion dollars.
- Corporations Division has gone surprisingly well, “said Forrester analyst Andrew Bartels, commenting on the financial statements. He notes that Microsoft has had the vapors, including Office, Dynamics ERP and environment program SharePoint. The strong sales on the business side is a sign of an upward turn in the economy, “he emphasizes.
- It bodes well not only for the whole economy, but it is also good news for Microsoft, deriving most of its revenue from businesses, “says Bartels.
But despite the success of Windows 7, with 300 million sold copies, so there is a stagnation there.
- The cause is difficult to define, but it is possible that the iPad hitting the PC sales, “he says. In a subsequent closing conference admits CFO Peter Klein to iPad and other touchpads affect sales of Windows negatively.
Server division increased 10 percent, two percentage points lower than Forrester’s forecast. One sign of trouble there is that Microsoft in early January announced that the server boss Bob Muglia, who heads the division, will step down later this year.
10 Largest IT flop in 2010
Buzz
There was no bigger buzz surrounding Google’s try to challenger Twitter. After a launch, which was lined with issues surrounding user privacy, this was never any successes.
Apple Ping
Apple succeeds with almost everything it takes for itself in recent times. Almost. The social music service, Ping, did not to success. A social network that only works in iTunes, and have not led to greater usage.
Google Wave
Google Wave was supposed to revolutionize how we communicate with each other. The service was a mix of email and chat, almost no one understood how it could be used. Google Wave was closed just three months after launch.
Privacy on Facebook
Despite Facebook’s rapid growth the company has big problems to protect user privacy. The service has also been hit by several incidents and bugs that made it possible for third parties to collect private information about users.
McAfee’s False Alarm
Security company McAfee did a smash gaffe when released an update to one of their programs, that rated as a system file in Windows as malicious. The result: thousands of Windows computers crashed and the users had serious problems getting the computer to function normally again.
Palm Pre and WebOS
Palm hoped that Palm Pre and its operating systems, WebOS, would be a worthy contender to the iPhone. Sales have unfortunately gone so bad that most analysts do not even mention Palm Pre in their reports.
Surf Boards with Android
2010 was the year when surfing on Android-plates would take over. Even so, Apple iPad dominated sales, accounting for 95 percent of the market. The only real challenger is Samsung Galaxy Tab.
Iphone 4 Antennagate
Whether antenna problems Iphone 4 are justified or not, but Apple has a snap on the nose that shows how much the company’s customers expect from its products.
White Iphone 4
After months of promises from Apple, it has still not been a white model of Iphone 4th The latest bid is that it will be released sometime this spring. It might be better to drop the plans completely and instead go for a white model of the iPhone 5
Microsoft Kin
Microsoft attempts to create a socially mobile phone was doomed from the start. The only thing you could call “socially” was that you could use facebook on the phone. Microsoft Kin was closed just six weeks after launch.
Microsoft Office 365 do not take Google Docs serious
One of Microsoft’s executives have said in a statement said that their cloud is more business-aligned than Google.
Last month, Microsoft released Office 365 which includes Exchange and Sharepoint. The company denies that it has been designed to compete with Google’s web applications, but Eron Kelly as head of Microsoft’s department of marketing of enterprise applications, says that many corporate users have come to Microsoft after testing Google Apps.
- Googles Docs are missing important features, such as delegating access thats allows a user to handle your personal calendar. Although Active Directory integration is lacking, “says Kelly.
- I think Google has an interesting consumer service. They have given this service a name and it makes people interested, “continues Kelly.
One of Google representatives, Andrew Kovacs dismiss such claims.
- The truth is that our business is accelerating and our re-investment rate of profits is greater than 90 percent. More companies are switching to Google than Microsoft.
Has Microsoft bet on wrong horse again?….. Again!
While companies like Google and Mozilla (Firefox) pays rewards of up to $ 2000 for the discovery of critical security holes in its browser, Microsoft has gone a different way.
In a blog post on their MSRC (Microsoft Security Response Center) can you read that they have considered this but feel it is better to reward the security industry, and this is done by sponsoring security conference Black Hat.
The question is whether this is the right decision, given that Internet Explorer is not at all have the same security as Firefox and Chrome, according to all kind of different tests.
