bruceb news

Microsoft is rolling out a completely new lineup of mice and keyboards. Here’s the Microsoft press release. The lineup includes new wireless equipment, plus a smaller mouse sized specifically for notebooks.

Later this fall Microsoft will add a keyboard and mouse designed to use Bluetooth, the short-range wireless technology. Only Microsoft would decide that its conventional mice and keyboards should be blue, while its Bluetooth mouse and keyboard would be grey. Hmm?

Here’s an extensive discussion of the “Palladium” software that Microsoft is developing for future versions of Windows, to work with hardware designed by the “Trusted Computing Platform Alliance” led by Intel. It is promoted for its “security,” but that has deep meanings you don’t suspect. And its digital rights management features will complete the transfer of control from consumers to copyright owners in ways that will leave us pining for the good old days. You take it for granted that you can copy music files to your computer and listen to them whenever you want, that you can create data files of virtually any type on your computer and save them to your own hard disks, that you can send email to whomever you like (and the email can say whatever you want it to say), that you can upload or download files to and from other people’s computers, that you control the level of security on your computer (from none at all to a hardened fortress). […] continued

Here’s one of those things that might be trivial, or it might be enormously significant. There’s no way to be sure – but this is not a time when I have a very high opinion of the decisions made for us by big businesses.

Microsoft included language in the license agreement for Windows Media Player 7.1 that was very very scary. (See my report on November 5.) The language is repeated in the license agreement for a security update that was made available late last week for Media Player 8.0 – more people noticed it this time, so it’s getting more press. […] continued

Here’s an important one. My mind is buzzing trying to guess the implications of this.

This comes from an e-mail newsletter put out by Windows & .NET magazine, summarizing an exclusive account in Newsweek. It’s your first look at ideas that will profoundly change our computing experience. Many of the concepts here will undoubtedly become part of personal computing, regardless of whether Microsoft is the moving force or not. Other parts of it are the real triumph of the recording industry over consumers, as The Register points out. It is a mixture of good and bad and exciting and scary stuff but one thing is clear – Microsoft is miles ahead of any competitor in thinking about long-term ways to handle Internet problems we’re dealing with today. […] continued

The states in the Microsoft trial screwed up in a big way yesterday. The lawyers blew it, and the states may have blown a hole in their case.

The states have been insisting that Microsoft be ordered to produce a stripped-down “modular” version of Windows XP in which various “add-ons” (media player, Internet browser, etc.) can be snapped in and out.

Microsoft’s response to that concept has been that such a project is so technically difficult as to be essentially impossible. Windows XP has been written so that the various programs are “integrated,” and the code cannot be easily removed or segregated for the various components. […] continued

Microsoft acknowledges what analysts have also been pointing out – that its growth will start to slow over the next few years. But Microsoft’s cash on hand is starting to raise some eyebrows. Cash and short-term investments are currently above forty billion dollars, and increasing by a billion dollars a month. As described in this article, “No other nonfinancial firm has more liquid money at its disposal, and only a handful of banks do. It’s more cash than Ford, ExxonMobil and Wal-Mart have combined, and nearly four times as much as Intel, the tech company with the next largest cash balance. […] continued

The nine states challenging Microsoft in the antitrust case are pressing for access to Windows source code so they can demonstrate that certain Windows features can be removed without crippling Windows as an operating system. They’ll press for a version of Windows without Internet Explorer, Outlook Express, and Windows Media Player, allowing manufacturers to include other products in their place on new systems.

Here’s an interesting article by David Coursey – an old hand who is very knowledgeable about the industry, and not at all a Microsoft zealot. His thoughts:

“What would happen if Windows became more of just an operating system and less of a feature-rich computing platform?

[…] continued

Microsoft pledged to focus on security last week in an edict from Bill Gates that might be PR fluff – but not necessarily. Gates has a keen sense of when Microsoft has to turn itself around, and this might be one of those times when the company redefines itself and stays a step ahead.

I mention these items from the last couple of days for two reasons: one, because security issues are quite real; and two, because the news coverage might lead you to think that Microsoft products are uniquely vulnerable.

01/24/02 RealNetworks will release a patch for a security flaw in its RealPlayer 8 software that could allow a rogue site to crash the player and potentially execute malicious code.

[…] continued

The media played up the lawsuit Netscape filed against Microsoft a couple of days ago. The allegation is that Microsoft damaged Netscape by preventing the Netscape browser from competing fairly in the marketplace. Presumably the damages are the lost profits from the Netscape browser. I was amused by the assumption that Netscape will be awarded hundreds of millions of dollars (or billions, in some news reports) for its lost profits.

Who knows? Maybe that will come true. But think about three things while you read the stories.

- During the time Netscape and Internet Explorer were competing, can you recall any advertising by Netscape whatsoever?

[…] continued

Microsoft has launched a new web site that centralizes all support services. The MS Knowledge Base, an essential tool for tech professionals, is always visible, reducing the amount of back and forth work that’s necessary to go through articles searching for a solution. There’s also links to the download sites and support newsgroups. It’s a huge improvement.