Why Microsoft doesn’t really care about the UK

Here’s a theory, and I’ll admit it’s a wild one, but here goes: the left hasn’t got a clue what the right’s doing at Microsoft.

Here we are, four days after Microsoft first announced that it wouldn’t be selling the Internet Explorer-less Windows 7 E editions after all, and still the UK arm of the company can’t answer the most basic questions on the topic.

What version will people who pre-ordered the E editions receive? Will we now have upgrade versions in the UK? What about the Family Pack? All of these fundamental questions remain unanswered since Friday evening. (Update at 2.20pm: Microsoft has now confirmed some of these details - click here to read our report).

Why? Because (I suspect) the first Microsoft’s UK team knew of the decision to drop E editions was when they read it on the Microsoft blog, like the rest of us. Microsoft UK may have battalions of “product managers” holed up in Reading and its flashy offices in Victoria, but the company is run out of Redmond. Always has been, always will be.

As talented and as likeable as many of Microsoft’s UK team are, they have little or no influence on the key decisions being made about Windows, Office, Bing or any of the other key products - even when those decisions relate directly to their region, as with the E editions.

How do I know Microsoft UK didn’t see the E editions announcement coming? Because at 5:15pm on Friday night - long after most tech journalists have headed down the pub - it issued a cowardly press release, informing us that we’ll be paying more than twice as much for Windows Anytime Upgrades as the US. Crucially, it also stated that we wouldn’t be getting the Family Pack ”because the Family Pack is designed as an upgrade SKU, and upgrade SKUs of Windows 7 E will not be available in the UK until at least 2010″.

Microsoft Launches Popfly: Mashup App Creator Built On Silverlight

Microsoft will announce the private beta launch of Popfly this morning, a new Silverlight application that allows users to create mashups, widgets and other applications using a very cool and easy to use web-based graphical interface. We previously covered the launch of Yahoo Pipes and compared five different applications that let you mix data and build applications online. At the time we mentioned how this space was really heating up – and how Pipes from Yahoo simplified the creation of mashups and mini-applications by providing a drag+drop interface. Microsoft are the latest entrants in this market, and they have completely leapfrogged every other application we have seen so far.

Popfly is a big leap forward from the competitors above because it lets you do so much more, and it is one of the nicest web application interfaces I have ever seen. With Popfly, you can create applications, mashups, web pages and widgets (gadgets) and it is all tied together in a social network (as part of the Live Spaces platform) where you can connect with other users and publishers of applications. Mashups are created by dragging in and connecting ‘blocks’ which produce an output. Blocks are modules that connect to various web services API’s, and even today there are dozens of different blocks that work with a whole variety of different web services.

See additional screen shots and a link to a screencast on the Popfly overview page here.

Seeing applications like Popfly coming out of Microsoft is something that I couldn’t have imagined all too long ago – and together with the recent Silverlight announcements (which we were also very excited about) the new Microsoft is really starting to come out through their product releases. Popfly so far seems to be another potential big hit from the new Microsoft under Ray Ozzie (Ozziesoft).

Invites: While the private beta is very limited (even within Microsoft), we do have TEN invitations to send out. Leave a comment about how you would use Popfly and the best (or funniest) ten will be sent an invitation to the application.

Microsoft to Push Silverlight via Redesigned Website

Several months ago, Microsoft inserted themselves into the RIA framework business - years too late and against pretty scary odds - with the initial release of the Silverlight framework. Microsoft Silverlight is the online counterpart to the Microsoft .NET 3.0 Framework and a direct Adobe Flash/Flex competitor.

Microsoft isn't new to the whole "virtual" monopoly business (where a single company holds the entire market thanks to "superior technology" and "better business sense") - it's just not too often that they're on the wrong side of this particular proverbial fence.

When Silverlight was first announced and PopFly, Microsoft's social network built to demonstrate and hopefully kickoff Silverlight, were simultaneously launched; we were quick to appreciate the technical aspects of .NET and WPF taken online, but were careful to make it clear

that we didn't think it stood much of a chance.

But things might be on the verge of a big change. Large portions Microsoft's website are in the middle of a redesign that will feature a fully Silverlight-powered interface - doing away with HTML and everything else. We've had a chance to test the new interface (currently in beta), and here's what we think:

Microsoft looking to strengthen data warehousing portfolio

Microsoft is all set to acquire DATAllegro Inc, provider of data warehousing appliances. This deal gives strong data warehousing portfolio to Microsoft.

Ted Kummert, corporate vice president of the Data and Storage Platform Division at Microsoft stated:

“Microsoft SQL Server 2008 delivers enterprise-class capabilities in business intelligence and data warehousing, and the addition of the DATAllegro team and its technology will take our data platform to the highest scale of data warehousing.“

“As soon as the acquisition closes, we’ll start the work of moving our technology from Ingres & Linux to SQL Server and Windows. Our feasibility studies over the last few months indicate that SQL Server is a significant improvement in terms of performance - especially in key areas such as star joins, I/O throughput and in-memory operations. The engineering team here at DATAllegro is excited about the next version of the product.“

Stuart Frost, CEO of DATAllegro

Normally data warehousing appliances vendors providing 1-25 terabytes and DATAllegro has large volume, high performance data warehouse and has largest capacity in the industry up-to 100 terabyte in one system.

After completing the acquisition, Microsoft is going to setup Center of Excellence of Data Warehousing in Aliso Viejo, California and DATAllegro team will retain in this Center. As Microsoft continuously enhancing their data warehousing capacity and SQL server’s scale, and now it is perception that they are very close to Oracle and IBM. So increasing data warehouse scaling, Microsoft want to help all size of customer and allow them to take benefits from next-generation of data-driven application.

Microsoft offers cash for search in bid to catch Google

San Francisco - Microsoft on Wednesday unveiled a new plan to offer cash-back discounts of up to 6 per cent to customers who buy products using the company's search service.

Microsoft founder Bill Gates unveiled the program at a conference for advertisers at the company's Seattle area headquarters. The plan aims to use Microsoft's vast cash reserves to help it draw customers away from Google and cut into that company's lead in online advertising and

San Francisco - Google increased its share of US Internet search traffic in April, as its two closest rivals Yahoo and Microsoft failed to reach an agreement on a merger that might have helped them cut the company's lead.

According to figures released Thursday by researcher ComScore the company handled 61.6 per cent of search queries in April, compared with 59.8 per cent in March. Yahoo had 20.4 per cent of searches, down from 21.3 per cent, while Microsoft's share slipped to 9.1 per cent from 9.4 per cent.

Microsoft checks Facebook purchase

San Francisco - Microsoft's bankers have approached Facebook about a purchase of the social networking site as an alternative for its failed takeover bid for Yahoo, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday in its online edition.

Quoting a person familiar with the situation, the report said that Microsoft's representatives "recently contacted Facebook" but there were no active discussions between the two.

Computer Guru microsoft

That's not really true - theoretically anyone who feels that Microsoft is dictating Mono's direction and isn't happy with that is free (under the terms of the GPL) to go off and maintain their own, Microsoft-free fork of it.
Obviously Microsoft wants nothing more than the success of its Windows platform. They're not going out of their way to make .NET and Silverlight available to non-Windows users as we discussed at length here.
For Windows developers, .NET is really almost 100% free. The free Express Edition development tools cover almost all needs; and .NET is an excellent technology for Windows developers focusing on Windows users. But the only Windows lock-in truly there is the lack of MS-sponsored "encouragement" or contributions to spreading it to other platforms.
Of course, given a choice between Java with whom Sun Microsystems is taking an active role in distributing builds and tools for non-Sun environments vs. .NET with Microsoft going out of their way to make sure that Windows is the first and foremost target; the logical choice is sticking to Java - can't fault you there.
But for Silverlight.. the only other choice is Flash. And Adobe is very stringently pro-MS/Windows as well (Mac excluded), though one would expect that to change on this new playing field.
It's the Linux world's fault that the Linux world hates Miguel. He has done a lot of hard work with (what seems to be) noble intentions at mind and heart; and the Linux world really does stand to benefit by accepting his contributions. It doesn't have to be .NET or Java, it can be both, and Mono is the way to there.
But, as we mentioned in the article and you repeat in your comment, the biggest problem is with the consumer base. The net's most-popular sites use Flash; and even if it isn't universal, it's been around long enough that it works "OK" on non-MS platforms... it's good enough; and that's the big obstacle for Silverlight (again, technical (dis)advantages aside).
Bottom line: Silverlight is a viable alternative to Flash in concept, but not when it doesn't have much more to offer and arrives a decade after Flash. If MS were to actively maintain an open-source Linux-compatible branch, perhaps that would help knock Flash off its roost, but as things currently stand, yes, Silverlight has failed to reach its original goal. Back on topic: based on these facts, MS is indeed taking desperate measures.

Several months ago, Microsoft inserted themselves into the RIA framework business - years too late and against pretty scary odds - with the initial re

Several months ago, Microsoft inserted themselves into the RIA framework business - years too late and against pretty scary odds - with the initial release of the Silverlight framework. Microsoft Silverlight is the online counterpart to the Microsoft .NET 3.0 Framework and a direct Adobe Flash/Flex competitor.
Microsoft isn't new to the whole "virtual" monopoly business (where a single company holds the entire market thanks to "superior technology" and "better business sense") - it's just not too often that they're on the wrong side of this particular proverbial fence.
When Silverlight was first announced and PopFly , Microsoft's social network built to demonstrate and hopefully kickoff Silverlight, were simultaneously launched; we were quick to appreciate the technical aspects of .NET and WPF taken online, but were careful to make it clear that we didn't think it stood much of a chance.
But things might be on the verge of a big change. Large portions Microsoft's website are in the middle of a redesign that will feature a fully Silverlight-powered interface - doing away with HTML and everything else. We've had a chance to test the new interface (currently in beta), and here's what we think:
According to Compete , Microsoft.com is the 8th most popular site on the internet, with around 60 million unique visitors a month. Put another way, if Microsoft successfully pulls this off, that's 60 million new Silverlight users in the first month alone!
The new, Silverlight-powered interface is a pretty big step up from the old design, making it easy to access information about individual downloads and view overall info and lists.
The Silverlight part of the interface is almost wholly unnecessary. It's really nice to use, it's smooth, it's easy, and it's beautiful - but it's nothing that requires a RIA in the first place. Microsoft could have easily implemented the same user experience (give or take) with HTML + JavaScript/AJAX; with a lot less effort and greater compatibility.
At the moment, very few non-Microsoft-owned sites are using Silverlight at all; let alone for the entire UI. And of those that do, none have anywhere the amount of exposure that Microsoft.com gets.
Keeping these facts in mind, there's only one logical conclusion to be drawn: Microsoft realizes (as has the rest of the geek community) that Silverlight is on the verge of being forgotten. Claims of superiority aside (true or otherwise), Microsoft has realized that if Silverlight is to stand a chance, it's going to take more than a failed attempt at making a Silverlight-powered social community to get developers and consumers alike to adopt Silverlight.
It's a desperate move, there's no doubt about it. While Microsoft will no doubt be making an alternative HTML interface available for a mixture of legal and practical purposes, switching Microsoft.com over to Silverlight is a sure-fire way to get that attention.... and depending on how it's both marketed and carried out, it could be what it takes to make developers start taking Silverlight seriously.
Whether this'll work out or not, only time can tell. We don't know when the new Silverlight-interface will be going mainstream, but it's probably not for a couple more months at the very least. The current interface still links to many as-of-yet not updated pages, and portions of the Silverlight section still appear to be missing some features here and there. Overall, the new interface is very user-friendly and well-developed, though.
You can either view NeoSmart Technologies screenshot gallery of the upcoming Microsoft.com re-design or attempt to access the beta link directly (working as of 01/03/08); but still pictures don't really do the interface justice. Where the new UI really shines is the overall grace and fluidity of the interface, with gentle hover effects and fade in/out transitions that are done just right.Editor's Note: This article has been updated to clear up some references to a full-site redesign of Microsoft.com. We do not have any evidence that all of Microsoft.com is being redesigned to take advantage of Silverlight, just large portions of it. Sorry for any confusion.