22Hundred.net

Has The EU Slowed Online Development?

2008-05-16T10:58:00.003+01:00

This is something that I've been thinking about since I started hearing about Windows 7 and the closer ties to the Windows Live Services. Basically my concern is based on the EU's investigations into Internet Explorer being built into the Windows platform. For the web to really become an integral part of our desktop there has to be easy and seamless access to the Services we want to use. This is going to mean that the Web Browser will become less of a stand alone application and I would expect it to tie in even deeper to the OS. Under the EU antitrust investigations Microsoft's move to tie Internet Explorer into Windows is unfair and is exploiting their monopoly. The limitation this is going to force on Microsoft and Windows 7 can only limit the innovation that would otherwise be possible if Windows and Internet Explorer were allowed to fully merge.

Windows being able to login in an Online mode where the browser is automatically running as a service, logging you into your favourite sites and treating certain sites as applications on the Desktop. Feeds in the sidebar that show which contacts are online, what they're doing, what they've changed or added to their profiles and any messages you've received through email, social sites or sites such as Twitter. The OS would then automatically connect to SkyDrive, or any other online storage, and map it as one of your Windows Explorer drives making your documents easily accessible. Integration with Live Mesh would allow the system to automatically sync with your other devices and PC's. The built in search would cover all of your social services as well as the net and your file system. The browser would remain but would be used for web browsing and bringing more information to your desktop like web slices which make parts of the page available. The merging of Windows and Internet Explorer would be beneficial to the users which is supposed to be what the EU is all about. If Firefox wants to complete then it must be able to tie into the OS in a similar manner. This is the challenge Microsoft and Mozilla need to try to meet and at this time I can see the EU restrictions limiting innovation on the Web front.

Windows XP A Disaster! Back To Windows 98.

2008-05-13T14:13:00.003+01:00

Microsoft today slammed OEM's after the problems some users have had with Windows XP SP3. The issue has to do with the intelppm.sys driver which is attempting to load when the OS boots. While this is essential on Intel based machines it should not happen on an AMD based machine. They should attempt to load the amd8k.sys driver. The problem has been caused by OEM vendors loading Windows XP Intel generated images onto AMD machines. The Register quotes Microsoft as saying:
“Microsoft is aware of a reboot issue experienced by some users who
have attempted to install Windows XP SP3,” said a Microsoft spokesman. “While the root cause of this issue is complex, it results from OEMs improperly placing a Windows XP image created for an Intel-based computer onto machines with non-Intel chipsets. Microsoft issued guidance to OEMs advising them to only load Windows XP images onto like hardware in 2004.”

While this is a perfectly acceptable and correct explanation for what has happened I've decided to turn this into the reaction Vista would get if SP1 had caused problems like this. Therefore I'm now calling for support for Windows 98 to be brought back and I want Microsoft to provide information on how I can downgrade my machine from Vista back to 98 and I want all the software I use to work perfectly with no issues. If there are any problems with 98 I'm fully prepared to go all the way back to 95 and beyond....I will use DOS if I have to!

You might think I'm being stupid but bare in mind that's pretty much exactly what people are asking for at the moment when they demand for downgrades to XP and once again the source of the issue isn't actually Microsoft, it's third-party problems, but I damn sure am going to blame them for it.

Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac Sets Record

2008-05-13T10:32:00.002+01:00

Microsoft has claimed that Office 2008 for the Mac has been one of the best launches yet and sales continue to outstrip the any version in the last 19 years. I'm not doubting that the Office suite is a massive success in it's own right but I wonder how much of the improved sales are due to Windows users moving over to the Mac and looking for the familiar on that platform. A more important reason is probably due to companies running mostly Windows machines with Office installed. People who buy Mac's will look for the Microsoft Office suite to give them as easy a life as possible when it comes to working on documents at home. Perhaps Microsoft should look to moving some other software onto the Mac, it seems like a mostly untaped market. Either way though it's nice to see Microsoft products thriving on OSX.

Messenger TV adds EMI and Channel 4

2008-05-12T09:04:00.003+01:00

Windows Live Messenger TV has signed EMI and Channel 4. The service is now available and through it you can watch music videos as well as clips from shows like Skins. The Live Messenger site states:

Watch video with your buddies

Watching online video is no longer about one person in front of their computer, it's now a social experience. Users can now share a selection of free content and watch it at the same time as their friends through Messenger TV.

Biggest names in entertainment

From MTV favourites including Punk'd, South Park,
Cribs and Pimp My Ride, to a wide selection of videos and exclusive content from some of the world's biggest superstars provided by Sony BMG Music Entertainment. MSN Video has just signed a deal with Channel 4 to provide preview, catch-up and archive clips of shows such as Peep Show, How To Look Good Naked, Grand Designs, Father Ted, Skins and Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares.

Other partners include music, sports and games from MoMedia, documentaries and films from National Geographic; up to the minute news and information from Reuters; movie clips and trailers from iFilm and the latest celebrity news from Starlounge and Splash Celebrity.

Better ways to spend the Yahoo! money

2008-05-09T09:01:00.005+01:00

Well I was hoping this Microhoo crap was done but no it appears to be back again. Silicon Alley Insider is reporting here that Craig Mundie has basically said that the negotiations are back on.

Here's what Chief Strategy Officer Mundie told Reuters in Indonesia:
"The market may wish that the Yahoo deal may come back
together, but Microsoft at least at this point assumes it's over."

"At least at this point." "Assumes." Those weren't the words Microsoft was using two days ago. And Mundie was just getting warmed up:
"Yahoo could always come back again and say please buy us for $33 (a share) and I'm sure we might reconsider it but we're not assuming that's going to happen," added Mundie, who took over as Microsoft's lead visionary on technology from co-founder Bill Gates in 2006.

Translation: We reiterate our bid of $33. We're done with begging, but
if Jerry is tired of getting his fanny spanked by Gordon Crawford and other huge shareholders and wants to bring the deal papers up to Redmond, we'll sign them.

I honestly cannot believe that they're looking at this deal again. I believe that if they are reconsidering it's down to Google's reaction yesterday to the deal being called off. They basically said that they were glad the deal didn't go through and with all the talk about Google playing a winning role in bringing down the deal it might prick Ballmer's Google hatred nerve. If that happens we could see a deal due to ego.

I sincerely hope that is not going to happen. I'll say it again, Microsoft need to take a few billion and:
1) Buy a social network company like Facebook. One Windows Live ID allowing you to access a huge number of services and social sites but even more importantly think of all those eyeballs looking at Microsoft delivered ads. Even more importantly though would be Microsoft's ability to create applications for Facebook that are actually useful and attention grabbing. Get advertisement for Microsoft software.

2) Buy a true blogger site like WordPress. While Live Spaces are a nice wee profile some people, like myself, wanted a proper blog. I looked for a Microsoft delivered option and there were none. Buy or introduce a blogging service that only does blogging and that can be hosted from a remote site.

3) Bring Live Calendar out of beta and allow people to sync with their desktop mail application for free.

4) Promote the use of their API's and try to enhance the developer community. Tying the API's more closely to Vista's Gadget sidebar allowing the development of one gadget that can work on Live.com and Vista with no alteration needed. NB last time i heard one gadget could not work easily on both but I could be wrong and will need to develop one to confirm.

5) Bring the Live Applications closer together and tie them into Vista more efficiently. For example the ability to map SkyDrive to your Windows Explorer drive list and be able to simply save to it like any local drive would be great and make it much more usable.

6) Split the Windows 7 code into two streams, one for business and one for consumers. This would at least allow them to provide features that a specific to home users and not have many versions of the OS that only have slight differences.

7) It's time to see a Microsoft branded PC. I want to see Vista running on a machine that has drivers and hardware optimised for Windows Vista/7. Bring in proper designers, don't copy Apple's look and produce something stylish and lightening fast.

8) Microsoft really need an ad-sense engine. Google ads are being placed on millions of sites because everyone makes on it and you can place them for free. Again I was looking for Microsoft sponsored ads but couldn't find anything similar. While I'm not keen on copying everything Google does there are still some things they do that are genuinely useful and really do need to be copied.

9) Kill live.com. I'll come back to this in a later post because I'd look to look into this in a little more detail first.

10) Buy Twitter, and 22hundred ;)

IE8 Beta 1

2008-05-08T00:14:00.001+01:00

I've started using IE8 Beta 1 again tonight and was delighted to discover that my own site was working fine with it, with one exception. The Microsoft generated code providing links through which you could create a 22hundred.net account was a bit messed up. I decided to simply remove this from the site, I don't think it added any real feature anyway.

I tried using IE8 to read my RSS feeds in Google Reader and they did not play well together. The image above is a screen shot of what happened. While it looks like a nice piece of art it's not what I want to see when I'm looking for information. I'm interested to see how many major sites like Google Reader are going to change in order to accommodate the new IE or will we see companies complain again about Microsoft damaging them until IE8 is reduced to mere shadow of it's current self.

Will Microsoft Return And Finish The Deal?

2008-05-06T12:33:00.002+01:00

Not surprisingly there is quite a bit of talk now about what Steve Ballmer's next move is going to be and more precisely will he now come back to the table and complete the Yahoo takeover. I would say....no. Silicon Alley insider states here what they feel on the matter and I totally agree. In particular they say:

As of Saturday afternoon, Steve Ballmer no longer wanted to do this deal at any price.
That's why the $33 offer seemed "purposely vague"--because Steve
wasn't really committed to it. That's why Microsoft walked just after Yahoo finally came to its senses and started to move on price. That's why Yahoo is now telling this story to anyone who will listen--because the mercurial Ballmer really did get over this deal.
(What Yahoo isn't saying, as it rolls out its global don't-blame-us campaign, is that OF COURSE Steve Ballmer is over this deal. For this merger to have a chance of working, both companies have to charge into it with 100% enthusiasm. For the past three months, however, Steve Ballmer has watched as:
1. Microsoft's shareholders and employees have peed all over the
deal.
2. Yahoo has peed all over the deal.
3. Yahoo has done everything short of auctioning off the furniture to concoct ANY FUTURE BUT the deal.
None of which is conducive to 100% enthusiasm. If you were Steve Ballmer, wouldn't you have lost interest, too?

For Steve and Microsoft this was the deal that could not fail. They were placing all their eggs and the chickens that laid them into the one basket and it had to work out. With Yahoo's woeful handling of the deal it was obvious that this was never going to be a success. There's nothing wrong with using negotiating tactics espeically in Yahoo's position but you better make sure you know what you're doing. The threat of leaving Microsoft with a company that was a shadow of the shadow it was in January when the offer was made was absolute stupidity. Jerry cannot talk about being willing to sell when he was pushing deals with Google a mere days before the withdrawl. Yahoo got what it deserved and I can see much worse on the horizon. Steve needs to look elsewhere on the net for a different style of company. A company that can bring real innovation and enthusiasm into the Microsoft family.

Microsoft Walks

2008-05-05T12:25:00.000+01:00

I don't like to blow my own trumpet but it happened exactly as I said it would here. Microsoft offered the $33 increase and Yahoo were nice enough to reject it. This gave Microsoft the opportunity to walk and when Yahoo started talking about outsourcing to Google Steve knew he could without losing face. A Yahoo that's been decimated by Jerry is not worth fighting over. It's become obvious to many that Jerry would rather kill his baby than see it thrive under Microsoft ownership. Make no mistake Yahoo would've become the web brand for Microsoft and would've been allowed to thrive. Steve would have to ensure it did because shareholders would not let them waste such a massive expenditure.

So what's next? Well for Yahoo we might see the end of Jerry. The AGM will probably be called very soon and assuming the shareholders aren't too upset at a management team that put their personal feelings in front of what's good for business then Yahoo will continue as is for a while longer. I can see a Q2 and Q3 full of problems and a possible new Microsoft offer next year after Jerry loses his job at the AGM.

Microsoft now need to seriously consider buying up companies like Twitter and perhaps looking at a deal with AOL. Time-Warner will be happy to get rid of AOL and Microsoft will gain a useful entity, user-base and engineers who will be more open to Microsoft being their masters. I think it's time to get rid of MSN or certainly redesign it. The site needs to start incorporating more things for users to do and start becoming more social. The Live and MSN brands have fragmented Microsoft's offerings too much, it's time to bring them together. Microsoft can use the $44billion to produce a much better product than they would've bought but they need to start now.

Microsoft COFEE device

2008-04-30T13:52:00.004+01:00

I've been keeping up today with a story that was reported in the Seattle Times regading the Computer Online Forensic Evidence Extractor device Microsoft has made available to law enforcement agencies. So far I've read Ed Bott's response and recently The Register's response and I have to say that I think that they are overreacting at this. I'm going to go through some of the points made in The Register article below, my points are in bold.

Microsoft has reportedly developed a USB key that allows investigators to
extract forensic data from PCs.
COFEE (Computer Online Forensic Evidence
Extractor) comes in a USB key form factor, and was distributed to a small number
of law-enforcement agencies last June, the Seattle Times reports. The device includes 150 tools that allow
investigators to extract internet history files, for example, or "decrypt
passwords".
The 150 tools are simply based on the 150 commands that forensic experts must enter anyway and that normally take 4+ hours. Microsoft claim that they are simply making this stage easier.

Rather than pointing to the existence of a backdoor
There are people that have climed that this tool circumvents security such as BitLocker and exploits backdoors in the system. It doesn't! Never did, that's just anti-Microsoft propaganda. Nice to see The Register rubbishing it.
the decrypting password
feature appears to relate to password auditing tools. COFEE also allows
investigators to upload data for analysis.
The device is used by more than
2,000 officers in at least 15 countries, including Germany and the US. Microsoft
supplies the technology to law enforcement agencies without charge. The tool
reportedly allows investigators to scan for evidence on site without necessarily
having to cart PCs back to a lab.
Computer forensics is a painstaking process
carefully designed to make sure data on a suspect computer isn't changed -
simply plugging a device into a computer to extract data seems like a quick and
dirty fix. The admissibility of such data in court in debatable even before we
get into considering the possibility that the USB key might harbour
malware.

Do we honestly think that this is a revelation to the people who designed the tool or consulted on the tool? I honestly do not believe that there is a room in Redmond where someone is now thinking, "I wonder should we have asked a computer forensic professional about this stuff before we built this. The fact that the Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith has commented about it makes me think that they've done a lot of research into the legal viability of the evidence the tool will produce. Anyway, I suspect the tool is meant to indicate the presence of evidence and produce passwords rather than actually produce the evidence. It's not designed to replace forensic experts just make their lives a bit easier.

Another, even greater concern is that the kit will get into the
hands of hackers. The form factor for COFEE would be just their cup of
tea.

To start with hackers would need to actually gain physical access to the machine they are trying to attack for this to be a real threat. Secondly do you think they don't have similar tools already? Anyone heard of Switchblade?

The extraction and analysis of digital evidence features in the
investigation of more on more crimes, not just those specific to computers such
as internet fraud and child abuse investigations. UK specialists we've spoken to
tell us they're struggling to cope with the volume of work from law enforcement
clients. There's a genuine problem here, but we're not convinced COFEE is the
solution.
Law enforcement officials from forces in 35 countries are meeting
in Redmond this week to talk about the role of technology in combating crime. A
similar event two years ago led to the development of COFEE, the Seattle Times
reports. ®
So the industry has been involved in this tool for while then?

My only problem with it is that by the time law enforcement agencies have finished testing it and ensuring it's going to work in virtually all conditions there'll be a new set of technologies out there and it'll have to be updated again anyway. Great place to start though so I say well done Microsoft. Reading the comments on Ed's blog, as well as on the Seattle Times site, though it's obvious that there are people out there that are willing to believe anything anti-Microsoft and no matter how sensationalist and obviously false the story they want to believe it.

XP3 Pulled From Windows Update

2008-04-30T11:55:00.003+01:00

Microsoft have pulled Windows XP SP3 from Windows Update at the last moment due to incompatibility issues. Paul Thurrott has the following quote from Microsoft on his blog regarding the delay:

In the last few days, we have uncovered a compatibility issue between
Microsoft Dynamics Retail Management System (RMS) and Windows XP SP3 and Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1). Microsoft Dynamics RMS is a retail chain management solution for small and midsize customers.
In order to make sure customers have the best possible experience we have decided to delay releasing Windows XP SP3 to Windows Update and Microsoft Download Center.
To help protect our customers, we plan to put filtering in place shortly to prevent Windows Update from offering both service packs to systems running Microsoft Dynamics RMS. Once filtering is in place, we expect to release Windows XP SP3 to Windows Update and Download Center.
Until we have published a fix for this issue, we advise
Microsoft Dynamics RMS customers to not install either service pack.
Microsoft Dynamics RMS customers running Windows XP SP3 or Windows Vista SP1 should contact Microsoft Customer Support Services for additional
information. The fix is currently in testing and will be available as soon as
that process is complete. For further information regarding Windows XP
SP3, please visit the TechNet Forum.

While I've seen this referred to as a cock-up once today already we have to give Microsoft credit for how well the development of SP3 has gone and from the quote above it appears as though this problem is going to be fixed very quickly. For anyone desperate to get SP3 it can be downloaded from the Microsoft website. Paul has a link to the download on his blog.

Ed Bott on Vista UAC

2008-04-30T11:16:00.004+01:00

Ed Bott contiunes his excellent series of articles on fixing Windows Vista with an article on taming Vista UAC. The UAC is an excellent security feature in my opinion and in daily use I do not see UAC any more often than I would see Leopard's permission request window so I can't see the problem with it. However for those out there that normally turn UAC off please read this article first. It outlines how to get rid of the annoyance without having to seriously compromise security.

Messenger 7 for Mac Released

2008-04-30T10:18:00.003+01:00

Microsoft have released version 7 of Windows Messenger for Mac. I'll be downloading it later and will post more on it then but I've taken a quick look through the features that are on offer and to be honest they're a little disappointing. For business users there's a number of great features but for the home users it's still far behind the Windows version of the product. Still, it's great to have Messenger on the Mac and was one of the first things I downloaded when I got my Macbook.

Image: www.microsoft.com

Microsoft No. 1 Tech Company

2008-04-29T14:56:00.004+01:00

Fortune has published a list of the 20 most profitable tech companies and Microsoft is at no. 1 again with $14.1 billion in earnings last year. The top 5 in the list are:

1. Microsoft

2. IBM - $10.4 billion

3. Cisco - $7.3 billion

4. HP - $7.3 billion

5. Intel - $7 billion

Google and Apple came in 7th and 8th with $4.2 billion and $3.5 billion respectively. For a company that certain people are claiming is collapsing and who are supposed to have released an OS that is alledgedly massive failure, personally I have no problems with it but that's another post, they've still made some pretty good money this year. They really would be unstoppable in a few years if the Yahoo merger goes through and turns out to be a success, however, expect Microsoft to slip down the list next year if the Yahoo takeover goes through because $44billion to purchase Yahoo, let alone the cost of actually bringing the companies together, is a lot of money even for the Seattle Giant.

Asda offering £5 phones!

2008-04-29T10:52:00.002+01:00

Asda, the supermarket chain in the UK, has started offering mobile phones for £5. The phones in question are basic but this is certainly a great deal for anyone looking for a cheap but quality pay as you go mobile. The models on offer are:

Sagem My212x:

Sagem My220x:

Sagem My150x:

Nokia 1112:

Apple Store Down

2008-04-28T12:18:00.002+01:00

The Apple store UK is presenting the "We'll be back soon" sign. What's on it's way? Is it the rumoured iMac redesign. We'll know soon.

iPhone Sold Out!

2008-04-25T01:01:00.001+01:00

I got a very interesting email from Carphone Warehouse today informing me that they had officially sold out of iPhones.

Thanks to the most phenomenal response to the promotion, The Carphone Warehouse is now out of stock on the Apple iPhone.

...

Carphone do not expect to receive any additional stock at this time.

It's not the sales that surprise me it's the expectation that no additional stock will be received. I wonder does this mean the 8Gb is disappearing and the 3G one is on the way. Time will tell I suppose.

There's A Flaw In Cloud Plan

2008-04-24T16:04:00.003+01:00

As I've mentioned in previous posts the computer network in my current job is very restrictive. There are good reasons for this of course and I can certainly see the logic behind it but working in this environment has brought me to a realisation that I've yet to see mentioned on other sites, Cloud Computing has to fail. In my last job and at home, obviously, I have access to all the services online I want and can hook it up to any installed software I want and create a nice services and software architecture. This is great in a limited environment. In my current situation most people do not have access to Google, Yahoo or MSN. They cannot install Live, Adobe AIR or Google Gears. This presents a massive flaw in the cloud computing mission.

I've had my reservations about the move to online services for a while now and while I'm not against progress, as long as it's actually beneficial, I can't help but feel that this bubble is going to burst sooner or later. You see Enterprises are not going to entrust their sensitive information to Google or Microsoft or anyone else. They want it stored on a nice secure server where only a very select few can get anywhere near it and the software used to access it is tightly controlled. They don't want someone working on the Q1 numbers on Google Docs! They also don't want someone installing tools that can in any way interfere with the work that's being done. A manager once told me that software, and you can stretch it to networks, have to be designed with the idea that the user is stupid and will always make mistakes. While I don't for a second believe they are stupid, and neither did my manager, you are building it with the worst case scenario in mind. Therefore Enterprise customers want total control over everything that's installed and used on the clients machine. Cloud Computing does not offer this level of control.

In the educational sector it's even worse. You can't give school children free access to the Internet and you can't give them easy access to services such as SkyDrive and GMail simply because you can't be sure what they are accessing and what they are bringing in. Therefore the school network has extreme limitations placed on it which can lead to all access to Google and others being cut.

In environments such as those mentioned above it's very hard to see how Cloud Computing can be expected to thrive. It's a great consumer oriented architecture and it will make money from advertising, no question about that, but I can't see it breaking into the same world as the one Microsoft Office currently controls. The only way Cloud Computing will ever take over is if either the Internet becomes completely free of cyber crime or if the software companies take away the option of having your software based on the client machine. Hardware makers are never going to let the client die, neither will Microsoft for that matter, and cyber crime is increasing not disappearing so I really can't see a happy future for Cloud Computing.

Microsoft Gives Yahoo Free Advertising

2008-04-24T00:59:00.001+01:00

A study by SearchIgnite has shown that Yahoo's search and ad business grew faster than Google's in Q1. While it's easy to jump to conclusions and say that Yahoo's plan to fend off Microsoft is working perfectly and business is back on track it's difficult for me to look past the possibility that advertisers are backing Yahoo because of the Microsoft deal. With everyone talking about this deal, traffic to Yahoo must be increasing as people visit to have a look at what Yahoo have to offer. The idea that Microsoft are interested therefore Yahoo must have something of quality has to have occurred to other people. Is there anyone else out there who is visiting Yahoo more since the deal was talked about because I know I am. Leave a comment if you are.

The New Trojan War

2008-04-24T00:38:00.001+01:00

Microsoft has released it's Security Intelligence Report for July through December. There are some interesting conclusions in this report such as

During 2H07 the MSRT proportionally cleaned malware from 60% less Windows Vista-based computers compared to computers running Windows XP Service Pack 2.
Similarly, the MSRT proportionally cleaned malware from 87% less Windows Vista-based computers than from computers running Windows XP with Service Pack 1 installed, and 91.5% less than from computers running Windows XP without any Service Pack
installed.

The most significant statistic in this report however is the increase in the number of Trojans.

During the second half of 2007 there was a 300% increase in the number of trojan downloaders and droppers detected and removed. The increase observed in 2H07 is vastly larger than the already large increase observed between 2H06 and 1H07. Clearly this category of malware has become a tool of choice for some attackers. IT Professionals and Security Professionals alike should become familiar with this type of malware so that they can better protect their networks from attacks that leverage it.

Be careful everyone and make sure your anti-virus is up-to-date and you do not open email attachments or visit sites you do not trust or know.

Live Mesh Is Here

2008-04-24T00:21:00.001+01:00

I'm probably the last person to blog about this but I'm going to do it anyway. Microsoft has announced the availability of Live Mesh. This is Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie's 'big' project. The build up for this started back in October 2005. Mary Jo Foley has the following top 10 things to know on her blog:

1. The definition. As has become the norm with so many of its Software + Services products and strategies, Microsoft isn’t the best at coming up with a succinct Live Mesh definition. The closest I found (in a Live Mesh reviewer’s guide) was this: “Live Mesh is a ’software-plus-services’ platform and experience from Microsoft that enables PCs and other devices to ‘come alive’ by making them aware of each other through the Internet, enabling individuals and organizations to manage, access, and share their files and applications seamlessly on the Web and across their world of devices.” If I were in charge of defining Live Mesh, I think I’d go with “a Software + Services platform for synchronization and collaboration.”

2. The codename(s). Prying codename confirmation out of anyone at Microsoft these days is a chore. But I did get a couple of Softies to admit that Live Mesh is the instantiation of Microsoft’s Windows Live Core strategy. “Horizon” was the codename for the build of Live Mesh that Softies have been testing internally, officials added. (Hat tip to the LiveSide.Net guys here for initially unearthing these codenames, not to mention the whole Live Mesh concept, earlier than anyone else out there.)

3. The team. So who’s behind Live Mesh, other than Ozzie? A team of about 100 is considered the core Live Mesh group, said Jeff Hansen, General Manager of Service Marketing. Given the connection between Windows Live Core and Live Mesh (mentioned in Talking Point 2), it seems as though a lot of Microsoft’s heavy hitters have had a hand in Live Mesh. The Live Mesh team is part of Microsoft’s Live Platform Services unit under David Treadwell, which has 400 folks in its ranks, Hanson said. Live Platform Services is one of the four “Live platform outlined by Ozzie last year.

4. The buzzwords. All the new requisite Microsoft checkboxes get a tick. Live Mesh is open to developers (not just .Net ones). It’s going to be cross-platform and cross-browser, the Softies say. It will be based on standard protocols and feeds — HTTP, RSS, REST, ATOM, JSON and FeedSync. And it’s chock full of Web 2.0 goodness, with a Facebook-like news feed about your contacts and your devices and lots of “social graph” info built in from the get-go.

5. The guts. I am an unabashed fan of architectural diagrams. Microsoft’s pictures of Live Mesh don’t disappoint. At the base level (click on the diagram at right to see full size) Live Mesh builds on the cloud storage, management, service and provisioning and computational fabric that other Microsoft Live services use. On top of that, Live Mesh uses the same identity, synchronized storage and connectivity services that Microsoft uses for other Live offerings. The “platform” services (a k a the “developer stack”) include the new Mesh Framework, as well as both a cloud and a client software run-time Mesh Operating Environment (MOE). Live Mesh “experiences” from Microsoft and third-party providers will build on top of these layers. (Thanks to Ori Amiga, Group Program Manage for the Live Development Platform, for spending a lot of time walking me through this.)

6. What about sync? Wasn’t Live Mesh supposed to be all about sync? Early descriptions of Horizon/Live Mesh focused on the service’s online/offline and cross-device/folder synchronization capabilities. At Microsoft Mix ‘08 in March, the Softies made it seem as though Microsoft’s Synchronization Framework and FeedSync would be the most important elements of the vague device and social meshes outlined by Ozzie. FeedSync is definitely one building block of Live Mesh (as one can see in this architectural diagram showing the Live Mesh developer stack). And synchronized storage is a key building block of the platform/service. Instead of relying on many of the existing synchronization and collaboration products/technologies that Microsoft offers today — things like FolderShare, Windows live SkyDrive, Office Live Workspace, etc. — the Live Mesh team seems to be building its platform pretty much from scratch.

7. What about Silverlight? Even though the Live Mesh team went out of its way to emphasize that Microsoft sees Live Mesh as an open platform, and not just one designed to appeal to the Windows/.Net choir, both Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) and Windows Presentation Foundation Everywhere (Silverlight) are key elements of the Live Mesh developer stack (a diagram of which — here on the left — can be enlarged to full size by clicking on it). Support for Flash, Cocoa, JavaScript and other non-Microsoft-centric technologies is there, too. But given Live Mesh is from Microsoft, I’d wager Silverlight applications and services will look and work better as Live Mesh endpoints than apps/services built on and for Mac OSX/Safari, Linux and Mozilla ones.

8. Live Mesh-isms. In addition to the aforementioned MOE (Mesh Operating Environment), other Mesh-centric concepts that will be important to developers working with early iterations of Live Mesh include: Mesh Bar, a “fly-out” adjunct to Internet Explorer that will provide you with notifications and activity updates on your devices/folders; Live Remote Desktop, an extension of Windows Remote Desktop, giving you the ability to directly access and control other devices within your mesh; Live Desktop, a user’s view of his/her cloud storage mesh; Mesh Object, a feed or collection of feeds (member feeds, news feeds, custom feeds); and the “ring,” which is all of the devices in/on your mesh.

9. Consumer vs. business. Live Mesh the service is definitely starting out as a consumer play for Microsoft. In describing the kinds of scenarios users might rely on Live Mesh to provide, Microsoft execs mentioned being able to share photos across devices and with preselected contacts. In the near term, Live Mesh will support PCs and Web browsers. As time goes on, it sounds like Microsoft expects it to work on/with portable media players, gaming consoles, TVs, printers and more. Live Mesh will allow users to choose to sync home PCs and personal devices with work PCs. But Microsoft also foresees a broader scenario, with Live Mesh being customized by various Microsoft development teams, as well as third-party ones, to be able to sync/share line-of-business data. Someday.

10. The timing. Microsoft is opening up a technology preview (pre-beta) to 10,000 testers this week. By the time the Microsoft Professional Developers Conference (PDC) rolls around in late October, Microsoft is hoping to be able to offer the Live Mesh service to a broader set of beta testers. The Softies also are promising around the PDC time frame more information on how the Live Mesh framework (Mesh FX) fits in with the Windows Live Developer Platform (Live Contacts, Live Mail, Live Messenger and other related application programming interfaces) that the Softies already have started making available to developers. And details also are allegedly coming at the PDC about how users will be able to store Live Mesh data and information on their own servers, not just in Microsoft’s datacenter. Hansen said Microsoft will provide a way for developers to “go back in and mesh-enable existing applications.” No word (yet) on how that will work. And no word on when Microsoft hopes to make the final version of Live Mesh available to any/all interested parties.

Live Mesh

2008-04-23T23:55:00.001+01:00

I'm on the waiting list for Live Mesh but is there anyone out there who has an invite? I'm looking forward to giving this a try.

Ed Bott Fixes Vista

2008-04-23T15:25:00.003+01:00

Ed Bott has written an article that walks us through some steps on repairing Windows Vista and getting it up to speed. This is a great read for anyone who owns a Sony Vaio laptop with Vista installed and is cursing how slow it is. He make the point that the problems with Vista on this laptop have nothing to do with the Operating System itself but has to do with the substandard drivers and the crapware that Sony have installed on it, a point I've been making for a while now. I have a Sony laptop running Windows XP, it's not running XP because I hate Vista it's just because the machine is 3 years old :). XP is terrible on it when it is rebuilt simply because of the amount of junk Sony put on it. It takes me a good 3 hours to get it up to speed and another hour to get the lateset drivers found and installed. Ed talks about not wanting this free stuff and I completely agree with him. I don't want Norton or the Office trial and I always remove the Vaio's media playing software. We should be able to choose if we want this stuff installed when we create the recovery discs. Sony make fantastic hardware but the fill it so full of rubbish that to the average user the OS seems terrible.

In the current environment were Apple are shipping machines, not that many granted but enough to keep themselves in a healthy profit, based partly on perceived weaknesses in Vista the OEM partners need to start removing the crapware from their machines and start shipping the most up-to-date drivers they can. It's in their interest to ensure that Vista performs flawlessly out of the box and this just isn't happening at the moment. I've said it before and I will again, Microsoft need to build their own machines. Microsoft software on optimized hardware will put to bed the idea that the OS is weak and will highlight the weaknesses in the vendors products. I know I would buy a Microsoft machine in the blink of an eye afterall I bought a Macbook.

Having To Resort To Google

2008-04-23T14:53:00.002+01:00

I'm now working away in an environment that means that I cannot download any of the Windows Live applications I would normally use, i.e. Live Writer, Outlook Connector and Live Messenger. I'm going to ignore Messenger simply because I cannot even get Windows Messenger to work due to built in restrictions but the others are more of an issue. I personally do not like the current trend towards moving entire applications to the Cloud and I prefer having information stored in the cloud but accessed from a lightweight app installed on my machine. For example I like the fact that I can get my email into Outlook through the connector and I can set up RSS feeds. However it annoys me that I cannot setup a shared area online from which Outlook will download the feeds. I know Google has Reader, and I'm using it now that I can't access Live, but I want a shared area where any of my devices can access my RSS feeds which are stored on Live and are up-to-date. The software-and-services approach. After 3 days working in a restricted environment I'm starting to appreciate the Google approach of having full applications online and I would like to see Microsoft following this a bit more. A version of Live Writer that is accessible from the Internet and doesn't need any downloads would be great, an RSS reader similar to Google Reader, Live Mail with similar functionality to Live Mail Desktop i.e. ability to receive mail from other accounts and a proper Live Calendar that I can sync with my other devices without having to pay.

There are people who will probably be wondering why not just use Google Apps instead but I prefer Microsoft's products I just feel that there's currently too many holes in the lineup to make it entirely viable at the moment. From my Vista machine and XP mahine it's great because I'm in control, in a working environment I have to move to Google. Come on Microsoft I need the online apps before I decide to simply write my own.

Yahoo! Do Enough Thankfully

2008-04-23T00:43:00.001+01:00

Yahoo! announced their Q1 results today and as expected they are strong, not amazing but string none the less. Now the ball arrives back into Microsoft's court and we wait to see when they will up their offer for Yahoo, I suspect to $35 per share. I would feel however that this is now the time for Microsoft to withdraw from the deal completely. A final offer from Microsoft for about $33 per share would be a good next move. Once that bid is rejected the next step will be to either attempt to replace the Yahoo! board if they're that desperate to take them over or withdraw from the bid altogether. Within a couple of days I hope to take a full look at Yahoo! and MSN offerings and see just how far away from being truly competitive Microsoft actually are but I suspect if the money being spent trying to take over Yahoo! was spent on R&D and hiring new blood Microsoft wouldn't have to worry so much.

Microsoft To Take A Leaf From Apple's Book?

2008-04-20T02:30:00.001+01:00

At a Seattle event on Thursday Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer talked about areas Microsoft will focus on in the future. While much is being made of the comments he's made about Windows Vista many people seem to be disregarding the comment he made regarding hardware. He talked about Paul Allen approaching Bill Gates in the early days and talking to him about building computers and each time Bill would say no, Microsoft are a software company not a hardware company. At the end he said, "We're on that same strategy 30 years later ... but we do have an expansive vision." While we could assume that he's talking about the Zune and the XBox I personally don't believe he is. Apple have been given credit for how efficiently their OS runs and a major reason for this efficiency is the fact that the hardware and software are so closely tied. If Microsoft started to build own brand PC's optimised to run Windows 7 and Windows Vista as well as offering the OS to other PC makers they should be able to open up a new revenue stream and I know I would personally buy a Microsoft branded PC if I knew it was as well optimised as the Macs are.

The XBox should've been the perfect live experiment to get the problems ironed out of their hardware designs. Hopefully the overheating problems will be solved in the new desktops because they will realistically get one shot at this release. It must be well designed, must be at least comparable to the iMacs, as well as performing better than the majority of vendor PC's currently on the market. I know these goals are high but as this is a tough market with Apple slowly gaining ground and most PC's lacking in aesthetic pleasure Microsoft will be expected to produce or risk getting lost in the market.