Posts by Andy

MS whips lens cap off WorldWide Telescope

Web2.0

A great deal is made out of this being Web2.0 and it's easy to say "where's the browser?", but Microsoft seem to be getting all the back-end services ready. I wouldn't put it past them to put this stuff in the browser by using Silverlight. There does seem to be a strategy and does Google have a big enough R&D budget to compete? It looks like an early "Embrace" of the Embrace-Extend-Extinguish to me. It seems to me that Microsoft is after the web-apis I'm guessing they see the web much the same as a operating systems market. They almost have the same services as google then it will be interesting: when they start extending.

Microsoft snags Google-thrashing data pioneer

Core dumping professors.

MapReduce is a step backwards? This reminds me of Tanenbaum's insistence that Linux was obsolete in 1992. MapReduce is obviously working very well for some people. It sounds as though that he's dumped his core because he can't compute MapReduce. Paraphrased as something like:

Where are the tables/reports/SQL? But there's data and processing. Why have I wasted my life? Arggghhh.

Since when did purists and theorists rule the world?

Microsoft opens APIs and protocols to all

Marketing

This is nessecary move in strategy wrapped up in marketing for anti-trust. Beware!

Microsoft goes open source - almost

Internet strategy

The transcript of the announcement gives much of the reason. The internet.

I read this as if Microsoft don't have open apis and formats many of their formats will be surplanted by open versions. Working with portal manufacturers now means that users can continue using microsoft formats while users still want them.

It's also interested that formats that involve patented technology will not be available for free.

Perhaps too they see linux as less of a threat on the desktop.

Good news.