Apple released a couple of new “Get a Mac” ads today, and while I wouldn’t usually bother to mention that here, these ones are noteworthy: They make direct reference to Microsoft’s current $300 million ad campaign for Windows. Which itself makes direct reference to earlier ads in the “Get a Mac” series.
Tag Archives | Microsoft
Are Macs More Expensive? Definitely–Just Ask Microsoft!
[SHAMELESS PLUG: Technologizer will be liveblogging the Apple notebook event on 10/14/2008 @ 10am PT. Please join us.]
A couple of months ago, I had a lot of fun comparing the cost of various Macs to various Windows PCs, with my goal being to determine if Macs are pricey. I learned that it’s a really complicated matter. Today, another observer has chimed in with a fresh look at the question. And that observer is…Microsoft.
Girding itself for the possibility of an $800 MacBook being unveiled tomorrow, the company has been talking to reporters about the notion of a “Mac Tax” that Mac users pay compared to comparable PCs. Its PR firm, Waggener Edstrom, sent along a prepared statement to me that attempts to provide a lot of supporting evidence for this idea.
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Windows 7 Has a Name: Windows 7! Windows 7?
Over at the Windows Vista blog, Microsoft’s Mike Nash just posted with a bit of news that’s both minor and significant: The upcoming version of Windows code-named Windows 7 will, in fact, be called Windows 7.
On one hand, the name of a new version of Windows is utterly unimportant–it could be called Windows Garanimals for all I care if it’s solid, and if it’s not solid it doesn’t matter in the least what its moniker is. But it’s nice, at least, to know the name without any further ado. And as I write about Windows 7–and I will, in great profusion–I won’t have to call it “the product code-named Windows 7, although Microsoft has not released its official name to date.”
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25 Arguments for the Elimination of Copy Protection
With that out the way, I also believe this: Copy protection (also known in recent years as Digital Rights Management) just stinks. At its best, it creates minor but real inconveniences for the people who pay for stuff; at its worst, it badly screws up their experiences with the products they buy. Let’s just say it–the world would be better off without it.
Most of the best arguments against copy protection aren’t so much arguments as case studies. Over and over, it’s caused both anticipated and unanticipated problems. Including ones for the companies who use it.
So let’s review the case against copy protection by looking at what it’s done for us over the past 25 years or so. Warning: Persons whose blood boils easily should read no further…
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Microsoft’s Next Acquisition Target May Be RIM
Research In Motion’s stock price has taken a nosedive in recent weeks. While some of it has to do with the overall market meltdown that is occuring on Wall Street, it is also experiencing pressure related to the costs of launching new devices such as the BlackBerry Storm and Bold, which Harry just spoke of.
The stock is now down to about $53, a stunning 65 percent fall from its June high of $148. It’s precipitous drop has stirred talk on the Street of a possible buyout, with one analyst saying Microsoft could be that company.
“RIM is a massive strategic fit” for Microsoft, Canaccord Adams analyst Peter Misek told Reuters. “I’m fairly certain they have a standing offer to buy them at $50 (a share).”
If Microsoft were able to make this happen, it would be a huge win for them. Windows Mobile (while doing okay) really hasn’t made much of a real dent in the smart phone market. By snagging RIM, Redmond would gain a good deal of footing against Apple and Symbian, as well as new entrant Google.
There is some thing that still need to happen, namely at least another $10 or so drop in RIM’s stock price if this were to happen. RIM right now has a value of about $31 billion or so, a little to much for Microsoft to handle without tapping the credit markets.
With credit all but frozen right now, that’s not going to happen. However, if it is able to make a $50 per share offer, the value of the company would be placed at about $28 billion, much more affordable.
Reuters estimates that Microsoft has about $24 billion or so in cash and short-term investments that could be used to finance most of the deal. I guess the question then becomes, is it worth it depleting your cash reserves in an economic climate such as this?
I’d think you’d be able to find a lot of analysts who would argue that wouldn’t be such a smart idea.
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An Unblinking Look at User Access Control
I’ve just delved into a pretty exhaustive detailing of all that’s unsatisfactory about Windows Vista’s User Account Control (UAC), the security measure that’s famous for asking you if you want to perform the task you just said you wanted to perform. And the funny thing is, I did so at Engineering Windows 7, Microsoft’s official blog about the next version of its operating system.
The post is by Microsoft’s Ben Fathi, and while it’s understandably somewhat defensive about UAC–it says that it’s less obtrusive today than when Vista debuted, for instance–it also acknowledges that UAC is annoying and confusing, and that the tendency of many folks to click to allow actions without thinking about it impacts its ability to protect users against unauthorized actions.
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Will (and Can) Windows 7 Come In Many Flavors?
As both WinHEC and PDC 2008 move ever closer, talk among Microsofties has increasingly turned to Windows 7. Specifically, talk among bloggers has begun to focus on whether Microsoft will continue what it began with Vista by segmenting Windows into (arguably too many) various editions.
Let’s look at Vista as is stands now. Five seperate editions round out the line — Home Basic, Home Premium, Business, Ultimate, and Enterprise. A sixth, Windows Vista Starter, is aimed at developing markets.
The launch of Vista changed Microsoft’s previous policy of having a single operating system for consumers, expanding it to three seperate editions. Microsoft’s decision became instant fodder for Apple, which used the somewhat confusing offering in its highly popular Mac vs. PC ads.
Was this a wise move? Probably not. If you picked the Basic version, you basically got a reskinned version of XP with security enhancements. In order to get the “full” Vista experience, the Premium edition was necessary. Microsoft’s own chart clearly shows how hobbled Basic is when compared to the other editions.
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If Yahoo and AOL Merge, Will Microsoft Reconsider?
The latest reports across the blogosphere seem to indicate that acquisition talks between Yahoo and AOL are intensifying, and a deal could possibly come as soon as this month. Under the current proposals, it appears that Yahoo would purchase just about all of AOL save for its ISP business.
That portion of the company would likely be sold off to a company such as EarthLink, which back in July expressed interest in such a deal. Yahoo would have no use for the Internet access portion of AOL: it currently has no ISP business and prefers to align itself with other companies to promote its core search and Web services.
A combined company may look very attractive once again to Microsoft, even though it has repeatedly said publicly that it has no longer any interest in Yahoo. In addition to its attempts to merge with Yahoo, the Redmond company as recently as late 2005 attempted to cozy up to AOL and get its then-MSN Search as the default search for its customers. Those plans backfired, and Google took a five percent stake in AOL.
With Yahoo and AOL together, it could make good strategic sense for Microsoft to come to the bargaining table once more. As VentureBeat pointed out last month, all three companies are desperate to do some type of deal, all for different reasons.
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The T-List: RIP, iPhone NDA
Last week was one of comings and goings. iPhone NDA? Gone! Windows Cloud? On its way! RealDVD? Here, then gone! Windows XP? Six more months before it might be gone! And iTunes? Still here, thank heavens!
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Windows XP’s New Lease on Life?
The Register is reporting something that’s both really interesting and totally unsurprising: It’s saying that it’s heard that Microsoft will extend the period that PC vendors can offer a Windows XP “downgrade” option with new machines that run Vista from January 31st, 2009 until July 31st of that year.
This is still a rumor at this point. But every time I meet with a PC company and ask them whether their business customers are ready for Vista, the response is amazingly similar, and amazingly negative. They always bring up the January 31st deadline, and when they mention it, you can see the fear in their eyes.
If the desire in corporate America to retain the XP option is so strong a few months from now, I don’t see how Microsoft can give XP its final heave ho. There’d be an uprising among PC buyers, and that uprising would prompt one among Microsoft’s PC manufacturer customers. There might have been a time when Microsoft could have told the world to stuff it, but I don’t think that time is now.
And if Windows 7 really does come out in early 2010 or so, extending Windows XP’s availability until the second half of 2009 would allow companies to sidestep Vista altogether if they so chose. (Not that most of them will go to Windows 7 quickly, no matter how good it is: 2011 is about the earliest that corporate adoption would really kick off.)
The Register’s scuttlebutt may or may not be true–maybe Microsoft will not simply extend the current situation but instead move to some new policy that allows it to save face without ticking off the entire planet–but I’ll be startled indeed if XP does indeed simply vanish at the end of January….