Tagged "microsoft"

Lately both Google and Microsoft have been advertising their respective browsers on British Television (received in Ireland by the vast majority of the population). It’s interesting the different approach each company is taking.

Chrome ad:

To me the Chrome ad is very family oriented, stressing the utility of the web and the ease of reaching people and staying in touch. No surprise they didn’t feature Facebook, which is what the vast majority use to keep in touch.

Microsoft has settled with Eolas over a number of patents regarding browser plugins which chicago based Eolas filed patents for in 1998. A jury in Chicago then found Microsoft guilty of infringing on Eolas’ patents and was told to pay $521m US Dollars in ‘damages’. That ruling was overturned and a fresh trial ordered which was due to start very soon, but it seems Microsoft has decided to pay out:

As many of you know I am a Linux and Mac aficionado. For my Linux machines, all of them are Dell. I have been always pleased with Dells prices, how their machines work with Linux, their customer service and the fact they are made in Limerick, Ireland (I am from Ireland). I politely emailed Dell (well got up on my high horse), heres my first mail:

I would like a refund of Windows XP since I am installing Ubuntu Linux on the computer when I get it. When I turn on the computer I am going to decline the EULA, and I am within my rights to request this refund (as part of Irish consumer laws). This also applies in Britian, see here: ( http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6144782.stm )

I recently read a very insightful article on 7 factors every company should seriously consider about Microsoft Windows, here they are summarised:

1. Licensing Costs

   Everyone in the IT industry today knows that proprietary operating systems and the applications that run on them will cost you a lot of money on licensing fees. According to a recent Forrester study, U.S. companies overall are expected to spend $100 billion on software maintenance in 2007.

Hard to believe really, Mr.Gates lists Windows Vista ‘innovations’. Now Apple has been shipping everything he mentions since 2005, and I have tried Vista, it doesn’t even surpass Apples’ attempt at the software (which should be his aim). Some things have been around for years, but it’s how well your software can do it is the key. Personally I wouldn’t tout features that another competitor does better, but thats just me. It seems irresponsible and unbelieveable the head of a public company can say and get away with this - not knowing the competition that is. I wouldn’t trust my money to anyone who does not keep up with the latest and greatest trends in the industry.

Just a quick blurb about some things Microsoft like to say: Don’t believe it, well at least not it all anyway. On the Irish “Get the Facts” page (on Windows Server vs. Linux), they make critical errors of judgement a person reasonably well versed in computing could deconstruct. First of all, Linux isn’t a server, its a kernel, like the Windows kernel. So comparing “Windows Server 2003” to “Linux” is misleading to say the least, and stupid to say the most. You could run any server software on Linux you wished, even Windows Server 2003 if Microsoft ported it! For the sake of argument, I think they are comparing themselves to Apache, which runs 60% of worldwide servers[1].

Reading my favourite tech news site: Slashdot ( /.), I see the Internet Explorer team have sent the Firefox Team a nice cake:

One comment I read said it all really:

Seems even the IE team knows that IE is dead.

As for the ex-lax, bugs, pubes in the cake of course none of that is true. Those things would only be possible if someone at Microsoft actually made the cake, and that’s not how MS does things. They knew they couldn’t make a good cake so they just went out and bought a cake from someone who already knew how to make one and then stuck their logo on it and called it theirs.