Where does Windows Home Server fit in?

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I have decided that the time has come to buy myself a new toy. My first inclination was to buy a Windows Home Server from HP. I did some research into the options available and regardless of the noise the product is reported to make I was still keen on it. You see I was using WHS a few months ago through the Microsoft Connect Program and I loved it. Great backup, easy to access from any location and very stable.

However I've changed my mind. Why? Well it's quite simple and it's nothing to do with HP or WHS itself. It's all to do with Microsoft's lack of an integrated future. You see I've got Office Live Workspace, Live Spaces, Live Mail, Skydrive, Live Mesh, Vista, XP and Windows Mobile 5 and I have absolutely no idea how it all connects together. Obviously I know that I can save to Skydrive or setup Mesh on Vista and XP but where does WHS fit into all this. Surely there are some obvious over laps between Mesh and WHS and with no ability to map Skydrive onto Mesh, WHS, Vista or XP it's very hard to see the point. I now fully understand the problem people are having when it comes to waiting for Windows 7. I'm thinking the same about WHS. I think, well if I wait for version 2 maybe it'll have better integration with the new services and therefore be more appealing. It's not that it's not an amazing product at the moment, because it is, it's just that Microsoft don't seem to have a clue how to present an integrated environment to the users and this is starting to confiuse us. Apple present new services like Mobile Me, with it's support for Windows, Mac and iPhone it immediately show us what we can do. Microsoft just don't seem to be able to do the same. Why?

So what are we looking for? Well I'm looking for a WHS that stores my big files and backups along with the remote access and basically everything it's offering at the moment. All I really want added is an integration with Mesh, some Media Server capabilities, the ability to map Skydrive as an external drive and perhaps the ability to wake the server over Mesh when I need to. Offer these servcies and I'll buy it without hesitation. Oh and one other thing....integrate it with Mac. Apple are a company that can no longer be ignored. I love Windows but I'm writing this on a Mac. I'll buy into anything Microsoft offers if they can give it to me cross-platform.

What do you guys think? Do the Redmond guys need to start offering cross platform services and better integration or is the current setup working for you?

Reactions To A Few Things

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Since I last posted a few things have happened in the world of tech that I think need to be covered. The most obvious is the Microhoogle. This deal turned into an absolute mess. Microsoft managed to get out of it with a few bumps and scrapes but they do now seem to be much more focused on what services will succeed and which ones they should simply drop, like book search. Book search has been done and done well. Microsoft is not going to benefit from trying to clone Google's version so there's really no point in wasting money on it.

What Microsoft do need to do online is actually quite simple. They need to bring the current services into a more logically connected structure. Microsoft's online offering, and part of Google's for that matter, feel like they're a bunch of independent services with the word Windows or Google in the title. They don't really work together particularly well and they certainly don't bring other devices together well. Now I'm using Live Mesh and I love it but I'm not sure why it has online storge when Sky Drive is offering storage too and neither connect together. Surely adding SD to Mesh would make sense.

Also the Redmond boys need to start deveoping applications for devices other than Windows based ones. Internet Explorer for Mac would be nice, I'm using Firefox on my Macbook but I'd like to see IE 8. I'd also like to see some live services for Nokia devices that I can just download and not have to go through that annoying download application only to discover that my mobile carrier doesn't support Live for some weird reason even though I can get Google off the mobile Google site with no issues. A connected environment that offers O2's Bluebook with Live Mesh, Sky Drive, Live Mail and the other services across multiple platforms would be great. In fact that sounds very similar to a certain Apple offering doesn't it? I really am looking forward to Mesh on mobile and Mac.

If Microsoft are serious about offering Software + Services then they need to embrace the multitude of environments that are now being used. By all means favour Windows but offer services on all. Oh and one more thing. Please fix Spaces. I really can't see a use for it. It's worse than Orkut. Give us blogging software we can use on our domains and this blog will be running off it. Give us ad's we can put on our sites and we'll do it. The future of the Cloud is not going to be the awful applications that you can develop for Facebook and Bebo, it's going to be the services users can place on their own domains and homepages and the simple way you can fulfil the simple needs of the end user. A blog, a few ads to make a few quid, a decent search engine, somewhere to put pictures and a gallery to display them. Mobile Me looks set to offer this Microsoft can too if it just takes a sip of the coolade and worries more about end users than end-user-developers.

Steven Sinofsky Interview and Windows 7

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CNET is carrying an interview with Steven Sinofsky in which he talks about Windows 7 and the cone of silence that supposedly decended around Windows 7. For anyone interested in the full interview it can be found here. There is also a blog post from Steve to his team regarding the disclosure of information on Windows 7 which can be found here, it's an interesting read. Finally, there's a response from Paul Thurrott to the interview here and here. These posts are all worth a read espeically along with the reaction from Paul.

A few interesting points to take away from the interview are:
1) Windows 7 release is penciled in for 2010, baring that in mind we are in the very early stages of development and this may not actually be a cone of silence just the lack of a hard feature list.
2) The approach now appears to be, under-promise then over-deliver. A good strategy.
3) Windows 7 is a 'manor' release, i.e. not quite a major release but more than a minor release.

Paul concludes by saying:

This makes me wonder: Is the major release wording a hint that major new end user functionality is coming? Or are they simply pulling an Apple and claiming that every release is a major release now?

I think it's a hint at major new functionality being built on the existing code base. The integration with Cloud Computing, altered security (I have to believe UAC will get an overhaul even though I don't believe it should), new UI and a deeper integration of virtualisation with the desktop environment could lead to a feature list that could be argued as a major upgrade.

Another reason i don't think Windows 7 will be a major upgrade is the close relationship between Server 2008 and Windows Vista. The work that went into bringing these two systems closer will not be thrown away. 7 will have the same Core as Vista but it'll feel very different.

Are Apple Relying Too Heavily On PC Sales?

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I read an article in the Wall Street Jounal outlining the importance of the iPhone to Apple. I found one paragraph in particular quite interesting:

Mace, a onetime Apple executive, parses the company’s most recent earnings report to point out that iPod unit growth has essentially ground to a halt–up only 1% from the same quarter the prior year. (Mac unit growth was 51%.) He adds that it’s risky for Apple to rely on the relatively mature PC market for such a big part of its growth.

There has been a lot of talk about the move to Cloud Computing and the threat this poses to Microsoft's desktop business. I haven't heard anyone mention the dangers it poses to Apple. If future sales of Microsoft software and Operating Systems are going to be affected by Google and other online services then you have to think that the Apple environment is going to be hit just as hard if not harder and with such a reliance on Mac sales for growth Apple need another major market. With iPod sales levelling and the prospect of Mac sales declining the iPhone is going to be vital to Apple's growth in the future. Looking at the new models in the mobile phone market such as Samsung Soul and Steel you have to think that Apple are going to have to give the iPhone a radical makeover soon in order for it to compete with non-Apple fan boys. Apple need to seriously start considering the future because beautiful but expensive and stuck in the past will not save them when the market shifts. Apple online services?

Does Google Not Like Microsoft?

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The Wall Street Journal blogs summed up nicely why Google are looking at a search deal with Yahoo:

The enemy of my enemy is my friend: Google co-founder Larry Page thinks a Google-Yahoo deal is the best idea ever. In further news, he still hates Microsoft with an intensity hotter than a thousand burning suns.

And for those who are interested this earth shattering conclusion is drawn from this article in the Mercury News where he said:

"If you put 90 percent of communications in one company, that's really a big risk, especially one (Microsoft) that has a history of doing bad stuff,"

...

"There are ways to structure a deal with Yahoo that are reasonable, for us and for Yahoo to remain independent," Page said. "We would support that."

Vista Hurt By User Feedback?

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Well things are quite quiet on the tech news front which gives me the opportunity to look at the Windows 7 debate again. I read Ed Bott's artcle on Windows 7 here. He makes a two points regarding beta cycles and feedback that I don't agree with.

[Update: After re-reading the post it appears that I misread it. I agree with what's being said in these points. Suppose that's what happens when I post after a late night]

Long beta cycles make better products. Oh really? If you count the infamous “Longhorn reset,” Windows Vista had arguably the longest beta cycle in the history of software development, with tens of thousands of outside testers. And look how well that worked out. Getting advance access to new Windows releases might make some outsiders feel like insiders, but it doesn’t make for a better product.

.......

Users need time to give feedback about design decisions. Microsoft is getting plenty of feedback about the design decisions it made with Windows Vista. I don’t think there’s been any shortage of suggestions on what needs to be fixed in Vista, do you? Presumably, that feedback is being incorporated into components and features of Windows 7, including User Account Control, Windows Explorer, the Network and Sharing Center, and Internet Explorer. But there’s a cold, hard reality with all those design decisions: You can’t please everyone. One of the weaknesses of the Vista beta cycle was that the UI designers kept changing things up until the very last minute. For Windows 7, they need to get the design right (or nearly so) the first time.

I suppose this comes down to how much of a failure you believe Vista is but for those who do believe Vista failed to deliver I ask them to remember that the features you saw in the final release is only a small subset of the features that were supposed to be in it. It was the large amount of public [Update: Not public, private testing] testing that told Microsoft that the new features were too complicated and too far from what the users understood and Microsoft had to remove them. The Vista that would've been released if it hadn't been for the comprehensive testing and feedback might've been a little more complicated but it certainly would've been feature rich and different enough from XP to make it a must have. Microsoft seemed to be saying at the time that the features that were removed would be slowly added over the next few OS versions to make the transition easier on the end user. I don't think added user feedback would help Windows 7, actually the opposite.

Microsoft Embraces ODF, PDF and XPS

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Microsoft announced that it will introduce support for Open Document Format, Portable Document Format and XML Paper Specification in Office 2007 SP2, due for release in 2009. This is another step by Microsoft to support Open Source while at the same time hopefully keeping their critics quiet. As I've said before I now expect other Office vendors such as IBM and Sun will now embrace OOXML. While I don't care about ODF support it is a great addition for education where students can use Office 2007 in school and know that they can work on their coursework at home on their Open Source Office suite without formating difficulties. The ability to open and save PDF's is much more useful to me and lets remember that Microsoft had intended to support PDF in Office 2007 until Adobe forced them to pull support in 2006, not really thinking about users there Adobe were ya? I assume Office for Mac will also get support for these formats at some point in the near future also.

The 2007 Microsoft Office system already provides support for
20 different document formats within Microsoft Office Word, Office Excel and Office PowerPoint. With the release of Microsoft Office 2007 Service Pack 2 (SP2) scheduled for the first half of 2009, the list will grow to include support for XML Paper Specification (XPS), Portable Document Format (PDF) 1.5, PDF/A and Open Document Format (ODF) v1.1.

When using SP2, customers will be able to open, edit and
save documents using ODF and save documents into the XPS and PDF fixed formats from directly within the application without having to install any other code. It will also allow customers to set ODF as the default file format for Office 2007. To also provide ODF support for users of earlier versions of Microsoft Office (Office XP and Office 2003), Microsoft will continue to collaborate with the open source community in the ongoing development of the Open XML-ODF translator project on SourceForge.net.

Microhoo Back Again, Yawn.

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I don't think anyone's missed the news about a Microsoft/Yahoo deal of some sort being back on. On Sunday Microsfot made the following announcement:

“In light of developments since the withdrawal of the Microsoft proposal to acquire Yahoo! Inc., Microsoft announced that it is continuing to explore and pursue its alternatives to improve and expand its online services and advertising business. Microsoft is considering and has raised with Yahoo! an alternative that would involve a transaction with Yahoo! but not an acquisition of all of Yahoo! Microsoft is not proposing to make a new bid to acquire all of Yahoo! at this time, but reserves the right to reconsider that alternative depending on future developments and discussions that may take place with Yahoo! or discussions with shareholders of Yahoo! or Microsoft or with other third parties. “There of course can be no assurance that any transaction will result from these discussions.”

I haven't blogged about it until now because i've been, a) bored with Yahoo/Microsoft deal talk and b) waiting for more information to come out. Now however I'm starting to think that this deal is being underestimated. The best guess so far appears to be that Microsoft is going to buy Yahoo's Search technology and I think they're wrong with more details being due on Wednesday because at the same time as that accouncement was being made Microsoft's President of Platform and Services was emailing his department saying:

[W]e will be announcing a major new initiative... We are getting
better and better with our core algorithmic search, and at the same time, we are investing to differentiate in vertical experiences and to disrupt the current model.

Is this a nice way of saying, "Thanks for the hard work guys but our Search is still seen as crap so it's time to buy in better"? Tell me what you think.

Has The EU Slowed Online Development?

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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.

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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

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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

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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

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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 ;)

Will Microsoft Return And Finish The Deal?

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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

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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

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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.

Microsoft No. 1 Tech Company

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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.

There's A Flaw In Cloud Plan

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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

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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

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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.

Having To Resort To Google

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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

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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?

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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.

Are We Being Neglected By US Software Companies?

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The more times I visit the .com version of major US company's websites the more I feel that we are being shortchanged here in the UK. For example today on the Microsoft.com site there were links to downloads and deals for Vista owners, free help to setup a new business and ways to work with slower Internet connections. The Microsoft.co.uk site on the other hand had a pixilated looking set of Vista graphics with the headline "Introducing Windows Vista" and then links to a security updates and a trial for Office 2007. You can't seriously be telling me that the same amount of effort goes into the two sites. Windows Vista has been out for over a year! We don't need introduced to it yet again. Come on Microsoft give us the same level of effort at least on your site, it's bad enough that we have yet to see any sign of the Zune over here and those of  us who do own it can't get any help with problems. There's a reason I now own an iPod Touch and Shuffle.

This isn't limited to Microsoft however. There are other companies that have a difference between the US and UK version of the sites and the UK versions are nearly always lacking the information and quality of the .com site.

Looking beyond site differences and to prices and we saw from Apple's iTunes the overcharging that was going on at this side of the pond. The basic Macbook comes in at $1099 (£550 approximately) from the Apple.com store. The same Macbook on the Apple.com\uk store comes in at a surprising $1395 (£699 approximately).

It's difficult not to get fed up with uneven pricing, differing standards in websites and lack of assistance and I wonder just how many other people over here feel the same way as I do.