My New Favorite Old Blog…
Blogging March 10th, 2010
Image by TechShowNetwork via Flickr
My new favorite old blog is former Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz, blog. It’s at the old URL, but has a new title:
What I Couldn’t Say… The “About” section says:
I think I’ve said pretty much everything I could say as CEO of Sun Microsystems. The more interesting stuff was what I couldn’t say.
And that’s what this blog (and maybe a book) is going to be about.
Mostly.
For a taste of his newly found freedom, read Good Artists Copy, Great Artists Steal.
And that’s all have to say… 
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(Cross-posted @ CloudAve )
Tags: Apple, Jonathan Schwartz, microsoft, sun, xref
Steve Ballmer Signs a Macbook – How About the Apple Tablet?
Humor, cloudave January 25th, 2010
Legend says Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer got really angry last year at an internal Microsoft event, when he saw an employee taking his pic with an iPhone- he grabbed it, pretended to stomp it and made fun of the employee (is he still an employee?) .
Well apparently he is more tolerant with outsiders, in fact may even have developed a sense of humor… watch this video showing Steve Ballmer as he signs a student’s Macbook:
Now that he warmed up to it, I wonder if he’ll go on stage and sign the Apple Tablet Steve Jobs is about to unveil? 
(Cross-posted @ CloudAve )
Tags: Apple, apple tablet, Humor, iPhone, itablet, macbook, microsoft, steve ballmer, Steve Jobs, xref
Apple is Just as Sneaky as Microsoft, Dumping Software on Your Computer
Software September 27th, 2009
Here we go again: Ed Bott points out how outrageous it is for Apple to install so-called “updates” to the iPhone Configuration Utility on a Windows computer that does not have this software installed, in fact one that has never had an iPhone or iPod connected to.
He is right, this is obviously not an update, but installing new, and in his case obviously unnecessarily software. It’s also not the first time, I described my similar experience early last year. Back then I also wrote:
Apple fans are a religious cult who came in hordes to defend Holy Apple. (before you chastise me, just look at how often I point to Apple as a better choice, without becoming blindly faithful)
And boy, did I prove right on that …
Tags: Apple, apple update, iPhone, iTunes, microsoft, quicktime, Safari, windows update, xref
MinTuit: What’s Next After the Intuit / Mint Deal
Business, SaaS September 14th, 2009
TechCrunch50 could not have asked for a better start: they get to announce that personal finance startup Mint winner of the $50K grand prize @ TC50 two years ago just got acquired for $170M.
Great exit for a startup – not so sure about concerned users. But the big question today is why it made sense for Intuit and what the future holds for Mint and its users. The consensus is that first of all this has been a defensive move. Mint started to bite into the Intuit / Quicken pie, and Intuit just had to stop it.
There is some irony in this deal: the playbook had been written by Microsoft, against Intuit.
Tags: acquisitions, aggregation, benchmarking, data mining, intuit, intumint, mergers, microsoft, Microsoft Money, mint, mintuit, money management., MS Money, Online Banking, personal finance, PFM, quickbooks, quicken, SaaS, Wesabe, xref
Break Free of Vista for a $50 Ransom. Catch Win7 Upgrade While You Can.
Business, Software June 26th, 2009
Fellow Windows Vista victims, there’s light at the end of the tunnel: we may soon set ourselves free and only have to pay a $50 ransom. I just did.
The $50 ransom is not a bad deal. Forget the myriad of Win7 SKU’s and whopping prices all the way to $319.99. I’m calling BS: the real standalone Win7 price is $50 or $100. Period.
Tags: microsoft, operating system, os, vista, vista final, vistasucks, win7, Windows, windows 7, windows upgrade, windows xp, winxp, xref
Promoting SaaS on eBay?
Humor, Personal Productivity, SaaS June 23rd, 2009
This listing on eBay is hilarious, almost makes me wonder if it’s a true listing or carefully planted advertising for Google Apps (and SaaS in general). But the seller appears to be real, has been on eBay for ten years… Here we go, get Microsoft Office w. Outlook for $75, because:
It’s brand new and never been opened. My boss bought it right before I moved the whole company over to Google Apps.
We never looked back, but here’s your opportunity to live it up, 90’s style, with this great, retro piece of Microsoft 2007 software.
Tags: auction, eBay, google apps, marketing, microsoft, ms office, Outlook, SaaS, xref
Zoho Office for Sharepoint: Use SaaS, Keep Data Behind the Firewall
Collaboration, Enterprise Software, SaaS June 23rd, 2009
One of the major roadblocks to SaaS providers’ entry to the enterprise is IT and Business concerns about corporate security, thinking of the firewall as the last line of defense.
Microsoft SharePoint has a very strong position in the Enterprise as the incumbents behind-the-firewall collaboration server, and for years smart Collaboration and Social Software vendors with better functionality, like Atlassian, Socialtext, Jive Software, Newsgator have been "playing well", adopting their services to SharePoint.
Now Zoho joins, announcing Zoho Office for Microsoft SharePoint, which combines the benefits of a collaborative SaaS Suite with the (perceived or real?) security if keeping data behind the firewall.
Tags: Collaboration, Exchange, firewall, Google, microsoft, ms office, Outlook, SaaS, security, sharepoint, zoho, zoho suite
Intuit Did Not Kill MS Money. Microsoft Did. Slowly, Over Long Years. Here’s the Full Story.
Software June 11th, 2009
An era comes to an end on June 30th, when Microsoft discontinues their PFM (Personal Financial Management) product, Money.
The story started outside Microsoft, with a startup named Intuit releasing their first DOS-based PFM software, Quicken. The concept was simple and powerful: balance your checkbook, keep track of your financial transactions electronically. It worked; in fact surveys showed that Quicken became the driver for many consumers to buy their first personal computers in the late 80’s. But it really became popular when Windows, especially the first “good” version, 3.0 arrived.
Intuit remained a one-product company until after their IPO in 1993, when they acquired Chipsoft and entered the tax-software market.
Tags: intuit, microsoft, Microsoft Money, mint, money management., MS Money, Online Banking, personal finance, PFM, quicken, SaaS, software as a service, Software plus Service, Wesabe, xref
Keep Your Paws Off My PC, Microsoft
Humor, Software June 8th, 2009
<rant>
I’ve had it. I’m tired of Microsoft programs taking over my computer without permission. This time it’s IE7 – yes, I know, IE8 is out, but I could not care less. In fact I have not launched IE7 for a long time. Sticking with Firefox, and if I was not so dependent on several Ffox add-ons, the browser I’d switch to would be Google’s Chrome, not Internet Explorer.
So what happened? Read on …
Tags: default browser, firefox, ie7, ie8, microsoft, windows update, xref
Intel & Microsoft Leans on the Netbook Market
Technology May 26th, 2009
The proliferation of affordable netbooks is good for everyone – consumers, that is. Computer manufacturers loath it (high volume, low margin business) and so does Microsoft: they can’t exactly sell $100+ worth of software on a $200 machine. So they come up with all sorts of evil plans. 
Tags: android, intel, linux, microsoft, monopoly, netbook, netbooks, operating system, os, price fixing, scam, web apps, Windows, windows 7, xref
Zoli Erdos
