bruceb news

On Thursday, Microsoft and Yahoo will begin testing a link between their instant messaging programs, fulfilling a promise made nine months ago.

Windows Live Messenger is a nice product, and the “sharing folders” are implemented so smoothly that small businesses may finally have a reason to consider using IM as a business tool.

It takes a few clicks to turn off various annoying features of Windows Live Messenger, like other IM programs. It’s possible to get rid of the icons down the side, turn off the “emoticons” and “winks” and some of the advertising, if you look through the options. […] continued

Here’s an article that might describe the future of computing. Or not, but that’s the fun of trying to guess what lies ahead.

The article imagines a rich suite of programs that can run in a browser and access files stored on a central server, regardless of what operating system is running on the underlying computer. You’d access your programs and your files from anywhere, whether you’re at your office Windows computer, your home Mac, or an Internet cafe. There’s a very small-scale startup by the name of YouOS to give you an idea of what that might look like – click on “Try A Demo.” (The demo was running very slowly today – your imagination has to supply the speed from a billion dollar investment by a big company.)

The psychological barrier will be storing files on a server that’s not onsite and not under your direct control, but the allure of a single desktop accessible from multiple locations will be compelling – and we’re already moving in that direction. […] continued

Windows Live Messenger is now the official face of Microsoft instant messaging. It takes over from MSN Messenger, but it doesn’t alleviate the confusion between it and the messenger program built into Windows XP. (I routinely remove the built-in program – look under Control Panel / Add-Remove Programs / Add-Remove Windows Components.)

Windows Live Messenger is nicely designed – a clean layout with a minimal advertisement tucked at the bottom. It’s easy to set up voice and webcam conversations (try the Logitech QuickCam Fusion, easily the leading webcam right now, well worth a little extra money). Microsoft claims it will be able to reach Yahoo Messenger users soon, but AOL is still holding on to its closed format. […] continued

Later this year, Microsoft will roll out Windows Vista, the successor to Windows XP, as well as Office 2007, a dizzying array of familiar and unfamiliar business applications.

The busiest division at Microsoft, though, is producing online services under the umbrella name of “Windows Live.” The executives claim there’s a unified vision behind the flood of Windows Live products – but take a look at this chart of Windows Live services and see what you think. Looks to me like a heap of things with little in common except the name “Windows Live.”

For what it’s worth, Microsoft is also rolling a collection of business products and services under the name Office Live. […] continued

In the news today:

“LOS ANGELES-The Recording Industry Association of America announced Tuesday that it will be taking legal action against anyone discovered telling friends, acquaintances, or associates about new songs, artists, or albums. “We are merely exercising our right to defend our intellectual properties from unauthorized peer-to-peer notification of the existence of copyrighted material,” a press release signed by RIAA anti-piracy director Brad Buckles read. “We will aggressively prosecute those individuals who attempt to pirate our property by generating ‘buzz’ about any proprietary music, movies, or software, or enjoy same in the company of anyone other than themselves.” RIAA attorneys said they were also looking into the legality of word-of- mouth “favorites-sharing” sites, such as coffee shops, universities, and living rooms.”

Okay, granted, it comes from The Onion, which occasionally prints a few things that are not entirely true in some hyper-technical sense. […] continued

E-mail was not designed to exchange large files. Many people attempt to send big files by e-mail – 10 or 20 or 30Mb of photos or PDFs or the like – and feel disappointed when the recipient never gets the message. Or perhaps you’ve been on the receiving end and had your mail delivery disrupted by a large attachment that pushes you over your storage limits or causes your mail program to time out.

There’s no perfect answer, but I recently learned about a free, easy service that may be important for you. YouSendIt.com assists in sending large files to anyone – and the files can be up to a gigabyte in size. […] continued

Many of the best-known file-sharing programs are unappealing now. Kazaa installs so much adware/spyware that it can only be described as a threat. Some of the other peer-to-peer programs are free of adware, but the programs are frustrating to use, especially if you download a song and then discover it’s a fake planted by the record companies. Here’s two alternatives if you’re in the mood to learn some new tricks.

NEWSGROUPS
There are very active Internet newsgroups where an extraordinary variety of things can be downloaded – music, movies, and almost anything else you can think of. But the newsgroups are not an easy place to be! […] continued

Oral arguments are set in the US Supreme Court on Tuesday in MGM v. Grokster, a case with potentially huge consequences.

File sharing programs are used for downloading music and movies, but they are also used for group collaboration and completely legitimate distribution of software and media. There are exciting things being developed on peer-to-peer platforms.

The recording and film industries are so frightened that they want to close down the entire concept of peer-to-peer communication. They seek a ruling from the Supreme Court that holds file-sharing software companies legally responsible for copyright infringement on their networks. Make no mistake – that is a shutdown order for every company developing software based on peer-to-peer technology, and potentially shuts down innovation in many more fields. […] continued

The US Supreme Court will hear arguments on March 29 in MGM v. Grokster, potentially leading to a ruling that could stifle new Internet-based services that have nothing to do with sharing music and movies. Here’s an article about the issues at stake.

Although the music and recording industries act as if the only purpose of peer-to-peer file sharing software is to obtain “pirated” music, in fact there are rich new services in development for collaborating in exciting ways that branch off from file sharing technology. Here’s a short description of some of them from the article:

“Some of those innovations were on display here at the Emerging Technology Conference, attended by about 750 hardware and software designers.

[…] continued

Napster has been reborn as a subscription service. Here’s an article about the new Napster. It might not be quite the right service at the right time but you are seeing a glimpse of the future, where our relationship to our music and movies will change dramatically.

The “Napster” name was purchased by Roxio in 2003; Roxio proceeded to sell its Easy CD Creator business (and the Roxio name) in order to focus on the Napster service. To be clear – the current service marketed as “Napster” has no relationship whatsoever to the pioneering peer-to-peer software that brought file sharing to the forefront. […] continued