BIT320 Remix: Microsoft Archives

Microsoft has extended an olive branch in announcing on Wednesday on the Team RSS Blog that it will adopt the same orange RSS icon used in Mozilla Corporation's Firefox browser

In del.icio.us/tigerlily23, 12/19/2005 | Original | Archive

Microsoft Kills Mac Internet Explorer

Microsoft will stop supporting the Mac version of Internet Explorer at the end of 2005

In del.icio.us/tigerlily23, 12/19/2005 | Original | Archive

Bill Gates, Bono, and Gates' wife named Time Persons of the Year

They were named Persons of the Year for working to eradicate poverty and AIDS.

In del.icio.us/williamhmacy3, 12/19/2005 | Original | Archive

Start-up sues Microsoft

Mobile e-mail start-up sues Microsoft

In del.icio.us/rasheff, 12/17/2005 | Original | Archive

Mistake or Not, Xbox 360's Disappearing Act Feeds Cycle of Hype

We love to keep 'em confused just as they know what's going on. I have no idea. Experts are just opinion dishers.

In del.icio.us/pinkfootsie, 12/17/2005 | Original | Archive

Time Warner Enters Into Talks With Google

Time Warner Inc. ended talks with Microsoft Corp. Friday and entered into exclusive negotiations with Google Inc. over a $1 billion investment and a broader advertising partnership with America Online, executives close to the talks said.

In del.icio.us/tigerlily23, 12/17/2005 | Original | Archive

Video game-related sales fall in November

U.S. retail sales of video game hardware and software fell 9 percent from a year ago to come in just under $1.3 billion, market researchers NPD Group said on Wednesday.

In del.icio.us/tigerlily23, 12/15/2005 | Original | Archive

Microsoft to reorganize entertainment division

Microsoft Corp. has split its entertainment and devices division into four businesses, the latest reorganization at the world's largest software maker, according to a company e-mail to employees seen by Reuters on Wednesday.

In del.icio.us/tigerlily23, 12/15/2005 | Original | Archive

MTV, Microsoft Set To Take on Apple's iTunes

Microsoft and Viacom's MTV will join forces to develop a digital-music service that relies on the next version of Windows Media Player.

In del.icio.us/tigerlily23, 12/15/2005 | Original | Archive

Critical Windows Flaw

Microsoft recently issued a warning of a critical Windows flaw which could allow hackers to take over PCs

In del.icio.us/supriya, 12/15/2005 | Original | Archive

Game sales slump

Video-game sales slump ahead of holiday season

In del.icio.us/rasheff, 12/15/2005 | Original | Archive

Hi-Tec City

I’m finishing up my packing to be on my way to India. It’s been four years since the last time I went and I can’t imagine how much has probably changed. But what I do remember was the commotion over the Hi-Tec (Hyderabad Information Technology-Engineering Center) City. Bill Gates had just come over and young Indian software engineers were given the chance to work for such a big company in their own towns. The buildings were still in construction, but had high expectations. I am definently going to go back there in this trip to see how much technology has really changed India. I’ll post pictures of the buildings as soon as I can!

In zee124, 12/15/2005 | Original | Archive | Post to del.icio.us | Technorati

USATODAY.com - MTV, Microsoft to develop online service

Microsoft & Mtv

In del.icio.us/zeenah, 12/14/2005 | Original | Archive

MTV, Microsoft to launch online music service

Microsoft and MTV are teaming up to offer 'Urge' for both individual downloads and subscription service

In del.icio.us/williamhmacy3, 12/14/2005 | Original | Archive

MTV's new musical URGE

MTV, Microsoft to develop online service

In del.icio.us/rasheff, 12/14/2005 | Original | Archive

Xbox 360 gets a soft start in Japan

In del.icio.us/rasheff, 12/14/2005 | Original | Archive

Bill Gates launches hunt for top Indian technology students - Yahoo! News

Always interested in Microsoft & India

In del.icio.us/zeenah, 12/11/2005 | Original | Archive

Access To MySQL

Access to MySQL

In del.icio.us/supermatt, 12/11/2005 | Original | Archive

Win XP 20 things you do not know - Windows Tips 'n' Tweaks

20 things you don't know about windows XP

In del.icio.us/supermatt, 12/11/2005 | Original | Archive

MSXML

Microsoft XML Core Services (MSXML) allows customers who use JScript, VBScript and Microsoft Visual Studio 6.0 to build high-performance XML-based applications that provide a high degree of interoperability with other applications that adhere to the XML 1

In del.icio.us/supermatt, 12/11/2005 | Original | Archive

Unofficial MSXML XSLT FAQ

This is a simple URL that people can use when getting started with XSLT and IE. 19 FAQ (frequently asked questions) which are answered in great detail and with plenty of suggestions to resolve problems.

In del.icio.us/supermatt, 12/11/2005 | Original | Archive

Ten things I hate about the Xbox 360

Executive editor of CNET writes his review of the problems with the Xbox 360

In del.icio.us/williamhmacy3, 12/11/2005 | Original | Archive

Xbox 360 ready to take Japan

Xbox 360 will launch in Japan this Saturday, but with reported problems with the console, it may not be so well recieved in the technology knowledgable Japanese

In del.icio.us/williamhmacy3, 12/11/2005 | Original | Archive

Win XP 20 things you do not know - Windows Tips 'n' Tweaks

Time to delve a bit deeper and uncover some of Windows XP's secrets

In del.icio.us/kevlers, 12/11/2005 | Original | Archive

MSN Search

I am currently adding to my blog a mile high in the sky. I’m currently flying out to Redmond, WA to interview with Microsoft. I am interviewing for a job in the MSN search division. Unlike Windows and the Office line where Microsoft it is a monopolist, MSN search is at the bottom of the ranks well below the current leader Google, and other established players like yahoo. Microsoft made a mistake a few ago thinking that there was no money in search and web advertising. Now that Google is cleaning up in this area. Microsoft is making a strong push to gain share of this market. The good news about this division is that the only way to go is up, as opposed to other areas which need to fight to hold share. The downside of working in the division is that Bill Gates is putting lots of emphasis trying to make MSN search and leader and he is expecting great things. Either way I’m looking forward to my first visit of Seattle.

In SuperMatt, 12/09/2005 | Original | Archive | Post to del.icio.us | Technorati

Now Microsoft Wagers on India

It's my new favorite topic. Sorry this is up my alley. Kevin this is for you :).

In del.icio.us/pinkfootsie, 12/08/2005 | Original | Archive

Xbox 360 beats PlayStation 3 to Japan stores

You know I'm loving this. It is key to be first to market, especially to the tech savvy Japanese market.

In del.icio.us/pinkfootsie, 12/08/2005 | Original | Archive

MSDN Developer's Guide

The successor to Extensible Stylesheet Language (XSL), XSL Transformations (XSLT) is an XML-based language that enables you to transform one class of XML document to another

In del.icio.us/kevlers, 12/08/2005 | Original | Archive

Microsoft's CEO will have to shop for his Xbox

Microsoft Corp.'s (MSFT.O) Chief Executive Steve Ballmer will have to shop around for an Xbox 360 game console this holiday season just like the rest of us -- it doesn't come with his job.

In del.icio.us/tigerlily23, 12/07/2005 | Original | Archive

AOL off the selling block

Microsoft, Google still in talks with AOL

In del.icio.us/rasheff, 12/07/2005 | Original | Archive

Report: AOL, Microsoft close to ad alliance deal - Dec. 7, 2005

microsoft might soon team up with AOL to strike back against google, yahoo - the two firms will collaborate in online advertising

In del.icio.us/jbartko, 12/07/2005 | Original | Archive

Microsoft Office Templates: PowerPoint

for all us college kids giving final presentations this month - microsoft offers great free powerpoint templates online

In del.icio.us/jbartko, 12/07/2005 | Original | Archive

Boxing Out

Matt’s comments reminded me of a conversation that I had recently. My friend had just played the Xbox 360 and had complaints about glitches and certain aspects of the game “Madden”. He said that upon close inspection, the game had flaws. For example, the netting doesn’t come up behind the fieldgoal posts. Also, there were less options than in previous versions, you can’t challenge a play (as you can in the NFL) and the game has other glitches .

But, once a person has already purchased an Xbox, I think that they are locked in to the system. So even if there are some problems with the system or games, people have already spent so much to get the system, that they probobally won’t spend on the new Playstation. So, from Microsoft’s perspective, it is probobally better strategically to get the Xbox out first even if it isn’t flawless. Though, it could be seen as immoral.

Does anyone have any knowledge of problems with other games? If not, it could be EA Sports that is to blame for these flaws.

In musings of william h, 12/05/2005 | Original | Archive | Post to del.icio.us | Technorati

Microsoft's Bill Gates to Visit India - Yahoo! News

He's all over India!

In del.icio.us/zeenah, 12/05/2005 | Original | Archive

CNN.com - Asia to get Xbox 360 by early March - Dec 5, 2005

the new Xbox is in Europe December 2, Japan December 10, and Asian markets outside of Japan by March

In del.icio.us/jbartko, 12/05/2005 | Original | Archive

can’t stop the box

We’ve talked about long lines and we’ve talked about glitches. But it seems nothing can stop the Xbox 360. Microsoft is not planning on slowing any of its plans for global penetration. The Xbox 360 was released in Europe on December 2 and it will be released in Japan on December 10. It will reach Asian markets outside of Japan by March. In this article, MS explains why:

“We wanted to make sure within the first six months that we could get the 360 into all existing Xbox 1 markets.”

So right now it seems that the mere presence of the console is more important than its complete availability in a market. This makes sense to me, especially since MS is hurrying to beat Sony to the punch. (Sony plans to release Playstation3 next year.) I just hope that consumers in these markets don’t get too frusterated with Microsoft when they can’t get their hands on a supposedly available console.

In jb's blog, 12/05/2005 | Original | Archive | Post to del.icio.us | Technorati

Office XML as ECMA and ISO Standard?

Microsoft standards using XML? Can Microsoft please the open-source crowd?

In del.icio.us/mridge, 12/05/2005 | Original | Archive

Microsoft

The company Microsoft's website

In del.icio.us/williamhmacy3, 12/04/2005 | Original | Archive

Google Base

http://www.storyhost.com/kevin/googleBase.gif alt=”Google Base”>
The November 24th issue of Nature has an interesting article on Google Base, which prompted me to search for it on the web. Google Base is described as “a place where you can add all types of information that we’ll host and make searchable online.” All types of information includes jobs, products, recipes, reviews, wanted ads, etc. Based on how relevant a listing is, Google may decide to include these listing in their search index or on Froogle. This link has a more detailed description of the service. Of course, Microsoft is following Google with the release of Fremont, which will focus on classified announcements of products and services for sale, by either individuals or commercial entities. Both of these services harness the power of databases and allow users to enter details of personal items. The database is then searchable by the general public or a restricted group of personal contacts.

In Kevin's Blog, 12/02/2005 | Original | Archive | Post to del.icio.us | Technorati

Don’t be so bitter

Imagine Cup is Microsoft’s annual competition seeking new ideas and talent. You spend months trying to come up with something new and workable in the hopes of winning $33,000 and a trip to India. Kevin Shockey, an O’Reilly blogger, seems to think that this is begrudgingly unfair. Why? Well his point is well taken that after you win you have to sign away your project to Microsoft, or any other corporation that has a similar competition, when that company could be earning millions of dollars if your product (probably much altered, since the competition is for young inventors) wins with the customer. I would say that’s fine. But (come on it’s me, there’s always a but) it’s a choice. Afterall, life is not meant to give you credit and all the benefits because you came up with a basis for an idea. If that is what you’d like to do with your life, then you become an engineer and sing your life away on tweeking your little ideas in an office setting where you can annually benefit from your inventive genius. But let’s get real, this is for young people and quite frankly they do it because they do have an idea and that’s it. They are spending the time to win the trip and win the money. If you find yourself thinking that’s not fair then don’t do it, no one made you, nor anyone has asked you to make this your career. At the end of the day it’s business and the ending product would most likely involve way more complicated inputs than what some young mind can come with as an idea. For the idea, they get a trip and some nice cash.

In Pink Footsie, 12/01/2005 | Original | Archive | Post to del.icio.us | Technorati

Microsoft offers classifieds

Microsoft develops classified service to compete with services such as craigslist etc

In del.icio.us/rasheff, 12/01/2005 | Original | Archive

Microsoft Joining the Fray with Live.com

The other day while surfing the internet I came across a new portal called Live.com. It seems to be an improvement over the personalization features offered by both Yahoo and Google IG. Similar to start.com (also a Microsoft web site), Live.com takes it a step further by allowing visitors to save search queries and data from their PC. The site is tied to the desktop, allowing people to share file folders with instant messaging buddies or view recently opened documents. Additionally, several interesting gadgets can be added to the site through microsoftgadgets.com. It’s good to see Microsoft start delivering software as a service. Keep in mind that it’s still in beta and has much to be desired.

In Kevin's Blog, 12/01/2005 | Original | Archive | Post to del.icio.us | Technorati

Microsoft Drops the Office Open Standard Ball

Microsoft and XML - still not playing as nice as they should

In del.icio.us/mridge, 11/29/2005 | Original | Archive

Who's Afraid of Open-Source Office?

However, with Massachusetts ousting Microsoft Office and governments around the world moving to open-source software, is the threat posed by open-source alternatives, such as OpenOffice and Sun's Star Office, becoming more serious?

In del.icio.us/tigerlily23, 11/29/2005 | Original | Archive

Xbox does second round of 360s...

...and is already repairing the first round.

In del.icio.us/tigerlily23, 11/29/2005 | Original | Archive

TechWeb | News | Microsoft Hires Cray Supercomputer Scientist

Why Microsoft is not to be messed with. Yeay!

In del.icio.us/pinkfootsie, 11/28/2005 | Original | Archive

CNN.com - Microsoft reports Xbox 360 glitches - Nov 24, 2005

after all the hype of buying the new Xbox, users are reporting problems - the system crashes during play

In del.icio.us/jbartko, 11/27/2005 | Original | Archive

xbox 360 in the news again

To follow up on my previous post about the Xbox 360: I heard it on the local news this weekend and I read more about it here. People are experiencing problems with the new Xbox 360. Apparently, the screen blacks out and an error message appears right in the middle of play. In other words, the system crashes. Microsoft isn’t responding to the problem as of yet, other than admitting to reports from consumers:

“We have received a few isolated reports of consoles not working as expected,” Microsoft spokeswoman Molly O’Donnell told Reuters in a telephone interview. O’Donnell, who declined to say how many reports the company had received, said calls represent a “very, very small fraction” of units sold. The number of calls was not unexpected, she said. “With any launch of this magnitude, you’re bound to see something happening,” she said.

As with any other problem, Microsoft recommends that you call the Xbox support number and if they can’t help you fix the problem, MS will repair or replace the unit. y for Microsoft, this product launch doesn’t seem to be doing amazing things for the company’s reputation. Retail shortages and now system crashes are more likely to be in the news than the actual technology itself.

In jb's blog, 11/27/2005 | Original | Archive | Post to del.icio.us | Technorati

AIMing carefully at the Target: User Interface

SuperMatt was talking about aim and its functionality. I feel like as if new and new versions came out, they got worse and worse. So I finally switched to Trillian. Trillian is super nice. Its one intergrated user interface to chat on AIM, MSN, Yahoo, and ICQ. And it has other features such as being able to talk behind an away message and being invisible and still chatting. It’s my favorite.

But if you do like the AIM interface, you can dead aim. You can get it at oldversion.com. Which has very similar features to trillian but it only logs onto aim ;(.

But in regards to User interface, I think a lot of the times, the problem is that the companies are so focused on getting the software out to the consumers and if you think about it, the people who are creating the interface are the ones who created the program, so they are at a disadvantage because they know this program in and out and won’t really see how someone who has no idea will approach the program. Its not an excuse because they can make sure make up for the disadvantage. ahhh well, part of me is like, if we are going to complain we should become engineers or get in the field somehow ;D

In Shady Waters, 11/27/2005 | Original | Archive | Post to del.icio.us | Technorati

Xbox.com Home

Microsoft has delivered a legitimately excellent gaming and home media system with the Xbox 360

In del.icio.us/kevlers, 11/26/2005 | Original | Archive

Supercomputer designer join Microsoft

Burton Smith, a longtime supercomputer designer and chief scientist at Cray, has resigned to take a position at Microsoft.

In del.icio.us/kevlers, 11/26/2005 | Original | Archive

SQL Central

SQL Server articles, scripts, and discussion groups.

In del.icio.us/kevlers, 11/26/2005 | Original | Archive

By The Numbers: Xbox 360 Launch Titles - Forbes.com

XBOX 360 Titles

In del.icio.us/supermatt, 11/25/2005 | Original | Archive

The New AIM

For some reason every time I was running AIM on my computer it was really slowing down my performance. To resolve this problem I decided to delete the program and reinstall. I downloaded the new version of AIM which is now called AIM Triton which is supposed to get well beyond ordinary instant messaging. However I am disappointed with the new chat program. It is not user friendly nor logical. I think that too often computer companies are interested in releasing programs that are fun or easy to create as opposed to truly understanding their consumer and trying to meet their needs. What do you guys think? Similarly, I heard rumors (from my Microsoft insider) that the next version of Office will provide users with a completely different interface yet will not provide any additional functionality. I believe this a a ploy by Microsoft to get users to upgrade. With all of these companies not worrying enough about consumers it’s easy to see how Google could come in and quickly gain prominence.

In SuperMatt, 11/25/2005 | Original | Archive | Post to del.icio.us | Technorati

Factor X

Funny that Shady Waters talks about the XBox360. Now that I’m a former employee of Best Buy and a future employee of Microsoft I must say this is an interesting topic for me to respond about. It’s probably both companies’ fault as far as availability goes. You see product availability has everything to do with forecasting: ie. the science and the art of predicting sales and inventory control. The thing is that Microsoft of course wants to sell as much of these toys as possible (with an awesome marketing campaign and great publicity with creepy videos through MTV) and Best Buy also wants to sell. But for best buy the dilemma is different because you don’t want to get stuck with too much inventory. And because this product is new the only thing you have to go on is past similar product history (ie. alike products in the past and current experts’ forecasts and opinions). It’s like selling Elmo, you’ll either know everyone is going to want it or you don’t (and a lot of people may not want it, that’s worse).

So I wouldn’t say it’s a conspiracy, if it was, it would be bad business. But it is largely a game of shooting in the dark, controlling costs, and vendor relationships (ie. where and when microsoft chooses to sell its product AND who chooses to buy it and in what quantities). Holidays can be your dream come true and they can be your worst nightmare. As far as consumer products go and retail, it’s a match made in heaven or you’re rotting in hell. For both of the companies, whom will forever be etched as part of my career path and to whom I will owe a lot, I hope it is the former.

In Pink Footsie, 11/25/2005 | Original | Archive | Post to del.icio.us | Technorati

On the Prowl for the Prey of the Night: Xbox 360

Building off of Jb’s story about the xbox. The Best Buy that my friend lined up at, only had 18 xboxs on their shelves. At another store, can’t remember where there were 4. And if you check on ebay, they are currently going for over 1000 bucks. That’s frightening, my friend actually sold his for cash and I can say he made a good profit margin. All he had to spend was a night in the cold.

No offense to those who have worked for Microsoft, but I think this is some sort of shady deal. That a store would have less than 20 Xbox on their shelves is insane. Microsoft has been hyping this but then they don’t hold up their end as a supplier. I’m kind of suspicious and kind of think Microsoft did it on purpose. But maybe that’s just me?

In Shady Waters, 11/24/2005 | Original | Archive | Post to del.icio.us | Technorati

By The Numbers: Xbox 360 Launch Titles - Forbes.com

18 games come with the launch of Xbox 360 - but gamemakers won't make much of a profit yet; they do it for prestige

In del.icio.us/jbartko, 11/22/2005 | Original | Archive

Where’s my Xbox?

This morning in class someone (I think it was Zeenah) mentioned that the new Xbox 360 is a big hit with gamers. Apparently Stephanie’s friend waited in line over night to get one. I obviously haven’t been waiting on the edge of my seat for this release, but the conversation intrigued me and I did a little research. This article on msnbc.com is just one of many that describes the shortage of Xbox 360s across the US. It seems demand is outrageously higher than the supply for these things. For example:

At a 24-hour Wal-Mart location in Woodbridge, Va., where hopefuls sat in folding chairs that snaked around several aisles, staffers said the waiting line had exceeded their inventory by 10 a.m. Monday.

The consoles didn’t even go on sale until midnight! Microsoft claims that retailers were warned of the short supply, and that the reason is NOT associated with manufacturing problems or a marketing ploy. Microsoft says the shortage is because they plan to roll-out the Xbox globally within just a few weeks rather than months. This means less Xboxes right now in the US. So are there any gamers out there who can tell us what is so amazing about this thing?? (I’m not saying it can’t be amazing, I just don’t know anything about it.)

In jb's blog, 11/22/2005 | Original | Archive | Post to del.icio.us | Technorati

Jon Udell: Dueling simplicities

The key point here is the creation of a standard way to interact with a database using XML-based protocols. This has the potential to be really huge. We could do bit320 without the whole learning XSQL thing.

In del.icio.us/fpgibson, 11/22/2005 | Original | Archive

Slashdot | Search Engine Results Relatively Fair

"The Economist and PhysicsWeb report on a study from Indiana University claiming that search engines have an egalitarian effect that gives new pages a greater chance to be discovered, compared to what would be the case in the absence of search engines."

In del.icio.us/fpgibson, 11/19/2005 | Original | Archive

Will the Button Work?

What I can I say, it appears my first FrontPage blog didn’t go as planned. Basically I thought I could insert a counter into my blog by adding the pre-made HTML that FrontPage. However, it didn’t work. So I thought I’d try another function. , I made an interactive button which should act as a link to bring interested people to my blog with the phantom counter. If anyone knows how to add a counter to a blog using HTML I would be interested. Hopefully, this feature will be more successful than my first. I think it will work except that my Button is currently clear. Hopefully I can solve this problem and repost.

In SuperMatt, 11/16/2005 | Original | Archive | Post to del.icio.us | Technorati

FrontPage - My New Blog Editor

After Kevin , had a problem with his blog. Bud suggested that we use FrontPage to write and edit our blogs so they are neat and organized. This will be my first blog written with FrontPage. Obviously when adapting to new software there will be set backs, but I think FrontPage offers a lot more functionality. It is great for learning HTML because if I can’t figure out how to write something in HTML, I can click on the Design tab, add whatever to the document then click back on the Code tab to see how to do this with html. Of course most of the time I will simply write my blog in WordPress, but every once in a while I will try to add something new. Today’s feature is a counter.

In SuperMatt, 11/16/2005 | Original | Archive | Post to del.icio.us | Technorati

XML for the uninitiated

I wanted to bring the following page to the attention of the class. It’s the Microsoft Office XML assistance page. Initially I was just going to post it on my bookmark page; however, I think that most people tend to look only at the blog section of the remix engine. The site provides a very well written introduction to markup, tags, well-formed data, schemas, and transforms. It also discusses how XML is becoming an integral part of office productivity suites, such as Microsoft Office. I hope this helps to better understand the course material.

In Kevin's Blog, 11/13/2005 | Original | Archive | Post to del.icio.us | Technorati

Jingle bells jingle bells jingle all the way

Microsoft adds comparison shopping to MSN, you know you want to look...

In del.icio.us/pinkfootsie, 11/13/2005 | Original | Archive

Om Malik’s Broadband Blog — » Web 2.0 Exit… what is that?

Suggests that everyone doing Web 2.0 projects is really just doing unpaid product

SQL, XML, & Ice Cream

A remixable web learning project at Michigan's Ross School of Business

BIT320 Remix — Microsoft