Microsoft In The News 05-24-06

[Derek Currie]

A few Microsoft stories, along with comments.


1) Microsoft Tells Contractors To Take Seven Days Off, Without Pay

Microsoft has dumped ~1,000 technology contractors in an effort to save
their bottom line for the current quarter as well as their fiscal year,
which ends June 30th.

Some contract, eh?

I believe this points out the poor management still going on at MS. They
are clearly at a point in time when they are desperate to get Vista,
Vista Server and Office 2007 out the door ASAP and they cut their staff
for a week. Stockholders are already ticked off after the recent loss of
12% of stock value, so they must really be griping at this point.


2) Bill Gates Presents Vista Beta Disks Plaque To Chevron

At the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference 2006, Bill Gates,
Chairman and Chief Software Architect of Microsoft, presented a plaque
containing the first three beta disks of Vista, Vista Server and MS
Office to Alan Nunns, General Manager of Global Technology and Strategy
of Chevron Inc.

Gee whiz. Such a gift. Buggy, poorly received Vista and Office beta 1
CDs stuck on a piece of wood. I want one. Not. I have no idea what this
generous presentation was supposed to be about. I'd either be insulted,
or I'd roll a trash bin on stage where I can toss the plaque, after of
course a hearty handshake with Big Brother Bill.


3) Microsoft Announce Plans To Help Businesses Determine Vista
Compatibility

Also at the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference 2006, MS announced a
plan to help businesses determine whether hardware they buy between now
and the release of Vista will be compatible with the new operating
system.

OK. That says there is going to be PC hardware available into the future
that is NOT Vista compatible. That is not encouraging. I have read some
posts by wintrolls blethering on about how their PC from 3 years ago
will be Vista compatible. Apparently not. Certainly, from what I have
read about the graphics hardware requirements for DirectX 10, there are
going to be a lot of sub-par video cards shipped in PCs.

There are also complaints coming out of Windows analyst reviews of Vista
that the current Windows limitation of 2 GB installed RAM is wholly
inadequate thanks to increased memory requirements of the new OS for
optimum speed.

[GreyCloud]

Post by Derek Currie
A few Microsoft stories, along with comments.
1) Microsoft Tells Contractors To Take Seven Days Off, Without Pay
Microsoft has dumped ~1,000 technology contractors in an effort to save
their bottom line for the current quarter as well as their fiscal year,
which ends June 30th.
Some contract, eh?
I believe this points out the poor management still going on at MS. They
are clearly at a point in time when they are desperate to get Vista,
Vista Server and Office 2007 out the door ASAP and they cut their staff
for a week. Stockholders are already ticked off after the recent loss of
12% of stock value, so they must really be griping at this point.
2) Bill Gates Presents Vista Beta Disks Plaque To Chevron
At the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference 2006, Bill Gates,
Chairman and Chief Software Architect of Microsoft, presented a plaque
containing the first three beta disks of Vista, Vista Server and MS
Office to Alan Nunns, General Manager of Global Technology and Strategy
of Chevron Inc.
Gee whiz. Such a gift. Buggy, poorly received Vista and Office beta 1
CDs stuck on a piece of wood. I want one. Not. I have no idea what this
generous presentation was supposed to be about. I'd either be insulted,
or I'd roll a trash bin on stage where I can toss the plaque, after of
course a hearty handshake with Big Brother Bill.

Gee, no wonder the cost of gas went up.
Now the consumer will bear the burden of M$ TCO.
:-))

[fibercut]

Post by Derek Currie
A few Microsoft stories, along with comments.
1) Microsoft Tells Contractors To Take Seven Days Off, Without Pay
Microsoft has dumped ~1,000 technology contractors in an effort to save
their bottom line for the current quarter as well as their fiscal year,
which ends June 30th.
Some contract, eh?
I believe this points out the poor management still going on at MS.
They are clearly at a point in time when they are desperate to get
Vista, Vista Server and Office 2007 out the door ASAP and they cut
their staff for a week. Stockholders are already ticked off after the
recent loss of 12% of stock value, so they must really be griping at
this point.
2) Bill Gates Presents Vista Beta Disks Plaque To Chevron
At the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference 2006, Bill Gates,
Chairman and Chief Software Architect of Microsoft, presented a plaque
containing the first three beta disks of Vista, Vista Server and MS
Office to Alan Nunns, General Manager of Global Technology and Strategy
of Chevron Inc.
Gee whiz. Such a gift. Buggy, poorly received Vista and Office beta 1
CDs stuck on a piece of wood. I want one. Not. I have no idea what this
generous presentation was supposed to be about. I'd either be insulted,
or I'd roll a trash bin on stage where I can toss the plaque, after of
course a hearty handshake with Big Brother Bill.
3) Microsoft Announce Plans To Help Businesses Determine Vista Compatibility
Also at the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference 2006, MS announced
a plan to help businesses determine whether hardware they buy between
now and the release of Vista will be compatible with the new operating
system.
OK. That says there is going to be PC hardware available into the
future that is NOT Vista compatible. That is not encouraging. I have
read some posts by wintrolls blethering on about how their PC from 3
years ago will be Vista compatible. Apparently not. Certainly, from
what I have read about the graphics hardware requirements for DirectX
10, there are going to be a lot of sub-par video cards shipped in PCs.
There are also complaints coming out of Windows analyst reviews of
Vista that the current Windows limitation of 2 GB installed RAM is
wholly inadequate thanks to increased memory requirements of the new OS
for optimum speed.

You missed the article "Ballmer: Vista Launch Could Slip Further" on the 24th.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/pcworld/20060524/tc_pcworld/125854