Ballmer lied - XP to die on June 30th

Microsoft has been busy today "clarifying" the statement that Steve Ballmer made last week about extending the expiration date of XP. XP will not be available commercially after June 30.

That said, there is some good news. Dell plans to take advantage of a loophole in Vista licensing. It allows them to sell a copy of Vista but preload XP instead. This option will be available for Latitude, OptiPlex, Precision, Vostro, and XPS systems. Dell plans to keep doing this as long as Microsoft supports the "downgrade" license option, which could be forever.

Ballmer say XP will live on

Steve Ballmer today stated that if people really want XP to live past the June 30 deadline they should make it known to Microsoft. He went on to say that this may make Microsoft "wake up smarter" and extend XP sales. Has Steve not seen the petitions and media attention?

How likely is this extension? Dell has been telling customers that it will sell XP on professional systems until 2012.

Windows is Broken!

Gartner analysts today said that Microsoft must make radical changes to its operating system or risk becoming a has-been.

Analysts Michael Silver and Neil MacDonald said Microsoft has not responded to the market, is overburdened by nearly two decades of legacy code and decisions, and faces serious competition on a whole host of fronts that will make Windows moot unless the software developer quickly to build an operating system that works.

Want more proof? Forrester Research Inc., said that at the end of 2007 only 6.3% of enterprise computer users have moved to Vista and the majority do no plan to adopt Vista at all.

How is that for Wow?

Yahoo will be mine!

Steve Ballmer has tired of playing nice in Microsoft's bid to acquire Yahoo.

In a recent letter to Yahoo's board of directors, Mr. Ballmer was quoted as saying, “If we have not concluded an agreement within the next three weeks, we will be compelled to take our case directly to your shareholders, including the initiation of a proxy contest to elect an alternative slate of directors for the Yahoo board.

It seems that Yahoo's largest share holders are getting anxious. They want this deal to go through while the offer is still high.

We may see MicroHoo anytime now.

Straight from XP to WIndows 7 ?

Bill Gates announced yesterday that the replacement for Vista will be out next year. Given the lukewarm reception to Vista, not to mention the horrible Vista reviews, that really is Wow.

Dell Restructuring

It is an interesting time at Dell. Yesterday, Michael Dell announced that he would be eliminating 8,800 USA based jobs and cutting operating expenses, including R&D and design by $3 billion annually. It is obvious that Dell has to do something to compete with the likes of Apple who at a fraction of the size of Dell is much more profitable.

I have a love/hate relationship with Dell. I have used their products for years and like them in general. The flip side of that equation is customer service which, even on a good day, is abysmal.

I am actually pulling for Michael Dell on this. Sometimes the only answer is an entire paradigm shift in the way that the business is run.

Vista Adoption

It seems that many people, perhaps most people, would prefer to keep XP rather that adopt Vista. Today Microsoft announced that they were going to extend the availability of XP past its previously extended deadline of June 20. Perhaps Microsoft should just change Vista's name.

Spring is Here

Well, it looks like Spring is finally here in Cincinnati. Look at this photo closely. That is Kodi looking out the window at his friend. She comes around every Spring and they go through this routine daily for several weeks. This female mallard actually pecks on the glass so that we will feed her.