2 posts and columns on Software plus Services

Microsoft Officially Facebooks, Oops, Socializes, Windows Live Internet Services

in News on November 12, 2008 at 9:00 pm PT

Microsoft officially rolled out its next version of its Windows Live Services tonight, with a heavy emphasis on socializing its online offerings and giving users better tools to share all sorts of information from across the Web within them. Microsoft said the changes–similar to those made by Yahoo and AOL recently–would “begin rolling out to customers in the U.S. over the coming weeks and will be made available globally in 54 countries and in 48 languages by early 2009.” You might call this the “Facebooking” of Windows Live, which is the brand name for Microsoft’s communications and other related online services aimed at consumers, especially because the much anticipated changes also include a new profile and a “What’s New” feed.

Not the Dreaded Blue Sky of Death Again …

in News on October 2, 2008 at 12:00 am PT

If Oracle CEO Larry Ellison and Free Software Foundation founder Richard M. Stallman are planning a membership drive for their new Anti-Cloud Computing Coalition, they best not go knocking on Steve Ballmer’s door. Because the Microsoft CEO might not agree with their assessment of the Cloud Computing sobriquet as “complete gibberish,” “idiocy,” “stupidity,” and “worse than stupidity.” At an event in London today, Ballmer said Microsoft will debut its own “cloud operating system” at its Professional Developer Conference at the end of this month.