The software giant may be showing signs of slowing as the Core Brand Power 100 2007 Study shows the firm slipping from one of the top ten most powerful and recognizable brands the world over. The study shows that in 1996, the company was ranked number one to its current level at 59. This might be why the company is continuously surprising industry leaders with bold moves in the industry. Its current foray into the acquisition of Yahoo, the opening of doors for sharing some of its trade secrets and many more unknown strategic moves which might show they are looking for a boost to its business. The company has lost favor of many companies who have been loyal to its product lines but have now turned to cheaper and free versions offered by open-sourced developers. Open Office, which is similar to Microsoft’s office, is a better and cheaper choice for businesses who are now trying to save all they can due to the current financial crisis.
Many have also opted to use Linux and the many other Unix-based operating systems which cost a lot less that mass volume licensing Windows. Some are even free which is blamed as the main reason for their favorability. These competing operating systems also have fewer requirements with regards to hardware with the most basic stripped versions which can be used as web servers able to run at older machines. Linux is re-compilable, meaning it can be stripped down of all unnecessary components which makes it faster and cheaper to implement. Windows has strict requirements with regards to processor type, the amount memory and hard disk space which it gobbles up in no time. The advent of a Windows-like interface for Linux has also made the cut deeper into the Windows market along with the release of more and more open sourced applications that can do what Windows-based ones do.
Their monopoly on the Operating system market might still be tight but elsewhere, it’s downhill. The many bugs and weaknesses of Microsoft software is also proving to be too costly for businesses and for something they pay so much for to cause so many problems they are starting to think twice before getting more of their products. Though still a player in the IT industry, it may only be time before some other IT giant is born to take its place as the world’s most prolific software vendor/developer.
Microsoft Opening Doors…. What Gives?
News that Microsoft, the world’s largest software developer, is going to disclose some of their so-called proprietary/secret software technology to competitors is sending chills down the spine of many IT industry leaders. This comes after the company suffered a blow when Yahoo.com rejected their bid to buy a majority of shares from the internet search engine giant. Yahoo might have been in the rut for sometime, but they are still one of the most used search engines on the planet making them an ideal target for the IT giant.
The news comes as a surprise as Microsoft has always worked hard to prevent technology in terms of software design and other inter-operability technologies between their operating systems like XP and Vista, the Office Family and many other software products that have managed to keep the lead in terms of the number of installations. Being the most recognizable IT firm (and even the most hated by some), Microsoft has managed to come out of many problems such as the well criticized and publicized flop of their Vista SP1 which many saw as just another way for the firm to say they care for their customers. People who have the Service pack were not at all pleased with it saying thatit was not as they expected (maybe referring to the milestones they came over when they did the same for XP with SP1 and SP2). This leaves a sour taste in the mouths of prospective users still with XP that the upgrades and improvements will be not as significant as they had hoped for.
Microsoft has been in the spotlight before but not as a company who regularly shares details about its products. The step might be a step in the right direction or it may just prove to be a testing of the waters for the software giant. Time will tell if the information they do disclose would benefit competitors or as others have said, it might just be another try to get people hooked on their technology, taking them down as a whole (hook, line and sinker) into the world of Microsoft.
OS Updates, Patches and Service Packs – What they’re not telling you (Part 2)
Some of these updates and patches are well publicized and known to media and IT circles while others are not. The real truth, not all users want to know the details of the several updates and patches that are being installed as long as they get to use the internet and other software without issues. This is a dangerous tightrope to walk for like the Facebook incidents and MySpace problems, and yes even Google (with their customer purchase tracking system which they took out of service as people took notice and were pissed they were being monitored as to shopping habits etc).
Even the most popular web search engines have come under fire when people took notice of their tracking systems and how that information is used to target them for advertising campaigns. The web is a true and proven signal of unparalleled freedom for it allows you to get information all with the press of a few buttons. But the battle begins at your desktop or laptop where the OS resides and is installed on making it the root of all possible problems. Yes, Attacks do come from the net but they are targeted at your home or office desktops using them as propagation tools to spread them all over the globe. Privacy and the right to know is quite battered on these fronts with many problems being discovered at every turn. People love intrigue and they will continue to scrutinize and criticize the work of others may they be friends or foes. On goes the OS wars and we are on the sidelines waiting to suffer all the fallout of their drive to be the first to release the most innovative and feature loaded software (with bugs and system crashes all bundled and included in the box, well till they release the respective fixes and patches to remedy them).
Microsoft’s Bid for Yahoo
Is Microsoft looking for another area of investment? Well, it sure looks like it, for they have just placed a bid on Yahoo which may be a sign of them trying to diversify and try to catch some action on the search engine part of the internet. The well publicized bid will make Microsoft more part of everyday computing and the internet that it already is. This move would bolster their already well-known market dominance with their operating systems such as Vista (the latest addition to their Windows series of operating systems), Xbox (their bid to get some share of the gaming market previously dominated by Sony with their PlayStation Series) and the many other products such as Microsoft Office.
Bill Gates has left the company onto another’s hand which spelled the end of his prominence in the PC and computer industry but he is not expected to fade out soon for he is still looked at by many as the father of the Windows empire. If they indeed succeed with their bid for expansion, they will add yahoo to their already diverse list of markets on the IT industry which they have a cut of. This would also add more hatred to those people termed as the rebels of the IT world who have hated windows and it’s tight grip on the internet and computing industry as a whole.
Hackers have made it known again and again that they will continue to pester and bring headaches to the company which has resulted in many well publicized attacks causing the company millions of dollars in lost revenue. Their problems with the Xbox and Xbox live, also proved to be a hard pickle to swallow for the problems of the Christmas season when their high-tech gaming network system ground to a halt, to the dismay of many a players and subscribers. They managed to get out of it promising a free game for all their clients which should have instead earned revenue. More would be expected on Microsoft as they enter a new year filled with challenges and hurdles but they will always be a presence on the computer industry. This might also turn out to be a bad choice for they already have their resources stretched too thin with successive problems with their products. They might have to stick with what they do best which is to focus on their OS systems rather that diversify and expand. Well, we’ll see this year if their strategy for expansion works or not.
Security Patches A Must
Microsoft’s patch update for this month fell on Tuesday this week as they issued ten of the eleven scheduled security patches. These patches fixes 26 security vulnerabilities, the largest number of flaws fixed with one patch update since they began their monthly patch cycle. Six of these patches are important; five of these fix critical vulnerabilities in the Windows shell and Office suites that hackers may exploit to remotely control your system. The last one is an update for the Windows Service that could allow a denial of service attack. An out-of-cycle patch has also been released last month dealing with the VML-exploit on Internet Explorer web browser.
Since programs are constantly evolving to improve usability and performance, as time passes problems may arise as glitches in the source code gets revealed. Installing these patches is essential for ensuring your computer system’s security. Not only do these patches fix any bugs that are known to attackers, they also fix any privately disclosed ones that security researchers have uncovered and reported to the software company. In the days after a patch is released hackers will attempt to exploit these formerly-undisclosed vulnerabilities on unpatched computers.
If you have the option to receive reminders for these patches for your system and applications, use it. Then check out if they’re stable before installing them. Of course, glitches can happen all the time. Users have reported delays in receiving patches from the Windows Update system, but they have been advised to manually download the patches from the download site.
[tags]Microsoft, security patches[/tags]