Microsoft watcher Mary Jo Foley's blog covers the products, people and strategies that make Microsoft tick.
Mary Jo has covered the tech industry for more than 25 years for a variety of publications and Web sites, and is a frequent guest on radio, TV and podcasts, speaking about all things Microsoft-related. She is the author of Microsoft 2.0: How Microsoft plans to stay relevant in the post-Gates era (John Wiley & Sons, 2008).
PC salesfolks far in a couple of New York retail outlets seemed far more up-to-speed about Vista than were their telephone counterparts four months ago. Now, all that needs to happen is for the customers to show up.
Dell Computer began taking orders for Windows Vista systems this weekend. The first reports are in.
Windows Vista ships worldwide starting January 30. So where are the rest of the Vista killer apps -- the ones that will convince users that they need Vista sooner rather than later?
Does anyone out there believe Adobe's contention that its decision to submit PDF to ISO for standardization has nothing to do with Microsoft? Especially after Adobe's much-publicized objections last summer to Microsoft embedding XPS in Vista and Office 2007?
Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates talked up his vision for a micropayments strategy during the World Economic Forum in Davos. The strategy sounds a lot like Microsoft's existing "Points" system that allows Xbox and Zune customers to make small-dollar-value purchases over the Web.
Microsoft has contacted a number of beta testers to seek input it will use to customize Internet Explorer (IE) 8, the next version of its Web browser. A Microsoft survey included a number of questions around RSS feeds, Favorites and browser navigation, in general.
I asked some of the best known of the Windows experts out there for one -- just one -- piece of advice they'd give to users who have decided to take the Windows Vista plunge. Here's what they said -- and showed, via some interesting screen-shot captures.
Another question: Is it Intuit's fault that its older products don't work on Vista? Or Microsoft's fault for changing the operating system in a way that it breaks them?
I've been wanting to weigh in on the whole pay-per-blog controversy that is swirling around the Web as of late. This news tidbit gives me a way-in. (Plus, when will I ever have a chance to get the words "Bill Gates" and "Hooters" in the same headline again?)
You've heard of DLL hell. What about hot-fix hell -- the case where multiple Microsoft fixes and/or service packs don't play nicely together?