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).
As a result of a change to its support policies, announced on January 24, Microsoft is now commiting to support consumer versions of XP through April 2009, and under extended support through April 2014.
Microsoft has relesed version 1.0 of its Ajax framework. So what's next?
What would have happened, on that fateful day of August 27, 2004, if Microsoft officials had said: "You know what? We messed up with Longhorn. And we're starting over."
Microsoft's press release trumpeting Wal-Mart's support of the Microsoft-Novell technology partnership announced last November omits some interesting details.
How much would you pay Microsoft for a port of its BitLocker drive encryption -- a technology slated to be available only to Vista Enterprise and Vista Ultimate users -- that could run on the Vista Business SKU? This might not be a purely hypothetical question.
The consumer launch of Windows Vista and Office 2007 is next week. But business users, partners and developers have been able to get their hands on these products since late November 2006. A number of these folks are starting to weigh in with their two months' worth of advice.
After lots of wavering, Microsoft has finally made the due date for Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) official: The update will ship in the latter half of 2007.
Microsoft s trying to change public perceptions of Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) and Office Genuine Advantage (OGA) -- programs that many company observers and customers consider to be much more punitive than protective.
Stephen Walli, the former Microsoft exec turned open-source proponent, is at it again.This time, the former Softie is making a case for why Microsoft should consider open-sourcing some of its crown jewels, including SQL Server and SharePoint. And he's got a few reasons that might make even closed-source proponents reconsider their business-model philosophies.
If Microsoft made Vista available for legal retail download, would the masses come? Looks like we'll soon find out.