Skype Me! Microsoft retires Messenger
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer rarely writes a check this big: $8.5 billion -- that's what he paid for Skype in May 2011. So surely, he will get some value for his money. The communications client is this year's rock star, popping up in more new Microsoft products than American-made cars in Big B's garage. One more triumph remains. Months after removing "Windows Live" from Messenger's name, Microsoft will kill the product, replacing it with Skype. Please, let's pause for a silent moment of respect. Yes, you can shed a tear. I've got a hanky if you need one.
"We will retire Messenger in all countries worldwide in the first quarter of 2013 -- with the exception of mainland China where Messenger will continue to be available", Tony Bates, head of Microsoft's Skype division, says. Cue the violins. Surely Skype for Windows 8, but no Messenger in sight, foreshadowed something. The timing makes sense, following Windows 8's launch and coming around when Microsoft makes Office 2013 available to everyone. The messaging software is essential to both, as well as Windows Phone 8.
Enterprise social network Unison is going mobile to compete with Yammer, Chatter, Podio
Next week, private social networking startup Unison is launching on both the iOS and Android platforms, so enterprise users can have mobile access to all the features of the browser-based version of Unison, plus persistent presence and voice note chatting from your mobile device.
The overall impact of social media on the enterprise sector is difficult to measure. It has changed interpersonal communications, it has changed the information cycle, and it has changed the way companies observe and interact with their customers. Though the impact is still difficult to measure, it's relatively easy to create a picture of the overall enterprise social media landscape with qualitative assessments.
Add Internet Explorer 10 Flash support for any domain on Windows 8
Windows 8 ships with two versions of Internet Explorer 10. First, the regular version that runs on the desktop and packs all the features one would expect from a browser, and then the Start screen version of IE10, which is a plug-in free version that is limited in what you can do with it on the Internet and locally.
Microsoft has integrated Adobe's Flash Player natively into Internet Explorer 10, but there are again differences in the implementation between the desktop and start screen version of the browser.
Instagrammers, you can now also use the browser
Instagram is known as a smartphone and tablet-only affair, but not anymore. The Facebook-owned company announced that it will roll out Instagram profiles on the web. Soon all users will have the chance to stare at filtered pictures on a larger screen.
Instagram follows the new parent company's design philosophy with web profiles. There is an uncanny resemblance to Facebook Profiles, though it is made to sport a similar look to the mobile apps that Instagram users are accustomed to. Since photo-sharing is the trademark signature, web profiles as you might expect show bio and a selection of pictures, neatly sorted based on month. Users can also follow other Instagrammers, comment and like photos, and obviously make changes to their profile straight from the browser.
HP buys "Platinum" status in the Linux Foundation
HP has made numerous outreach attempts to the open source community, even going so far as to donate webOS not long after they purchased Palm for $3.3 billion. Now, the company has donated a whopping $500,000 USD to the Linux Foundation in order to become a Platinum member, joining several other large corporations like Samsung, NEC, Oracle and Intel. The Foundation is a nonprofit organization that dedicates itself to spreading the Linux family.
While Linux never quite became the popular desktop alternative that many hoped it would, it does power the vast majority of the servers that run the Internet. Even desktop operating systems like Ubuntu have become much more user friendly, and many flavors of the OS are capable of running on less powerful machines than those needed to run Windows and OSX. Hewlett Packard has long built servers for Linux-based systems, and even their printers, which can be found in many homes and businesses, run on the platform. The company has been a lesser-tier member of the Foundation for some time.
3 great things we saw at BUILD 2012
Microsoft's BUILD 2012 conference began October 30th and ran through yesterday, November 2nd. While the event is mainly for developers and IT professionals, there is always some exciting news trickling out that matters to the end-user. This year we saw a lot of news surrounding the company's Azure cloud platform, as well as Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8. Microsoft even held a "Hackathon" with prizes for developers present at the show.
In all, this was one of the more exciting and busier developer conferences that Microsoft has held in years. Perhaps that was due to the newly designed operating system that breaks the mold set way back with Windows 95 and the new ethos that everything should be capable of moving to the cloud. So, what did we learn?
Hurricane Sandy is a a data disaster
Earlier this week, as Hurricane Sandy beat the crap out of the Eastern seaboard, I received an email message from lower Manhattan. You may have received this message, too, or one just like it. It felt to me like getting a radiogram from the sinking Titanic. An Internet company was running out of diesel fuel for its generator and would shortly drop off the net. The identity of the company doesn’t matter. What matters is what we can learn from the experience.
The company had weathered power outages before and had four days of diesel fuel stored onsite. Managers felt ready for Sandy. But most of their fuel wasn’t at the generator, it was stored in tanks in the building basement -- a basement that was soon flooded, the transfer pumps destroyed by incoming seawater. It was like a miniature Fukushima Daiichi, not far from Wall Street.
Amazon releases Cloud Drive Photos for Android
This morning Amazon quietly pushed out a brand new app designed to let Android devices interface with their popular Cloud Drive storage service. Amazon, of course, has a horse in this race with their Kindle Fire HD tablets that have seen increased sales in recent days, ironically at what appears to be Apple's expense. The app is specifically designed for photos, so let's take a walk though and see what it can do.
First, it's a free install and is available from both Google Play and the Amazon AppStore for Android. Once you have downloaded it to your device you are presented with a sign-in screen that requires you to have, or create, an Amazon account, which is something that the vast majority of people probably already have anyway. Users automatically have 5 GB of free storage, but more can be purchased for prices comparable to those offered by Google Drive or SkyDrive.
LinkedIn announces most followed 'thought leaders'
Early last month LinkedIn added a new feature which allows users to follow 'thought leaders'. Today, the popular business-oriented social network introduced new features to complement the recently added functionality.
LinkedIn announced that more than four million of its users now follow thought leaders, the latter of which created more than 850 posts. The social network introduced 150 thought leaders a month ago, but the number has been increased and now includes the CEO of Box, co-founder of Reddit as well as others. Users can now sort thought leaders based on a number of criteria such as alphabetical or most followed.
Kim Dotcom reveals his Megaupload replacement -- Mega
You’ve got to hand it to Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom. Despite living under house arrest, his assets frozen, and facing the prospect of extradition to the United States and up to 20 years in prison if found guilty of copyright theft, money laundering and racketeering fraud, he’s pressing ahead with plans for a new file-sharing site.
Mega, his Megaupload replacement, was revealed yesterday, and despite just consisting of a holding page at the moment, was quickly overwhelmed. "Millions of users hitting at once. I'm delighted by the interest. But servers can't handle it. The new Mega will. WOW!!!" Dotcom tweeted an hour after the news broke.
Google Hangouts redesign is about you
If you ever wondered why Microsoft spent $8.5 billion to buy Skype and now tightly integrates the service into new software, Google+ Hangouts is one reason. The search giant has gone far making video group chatting easy, as well broadcasting live streams and posting them to YouTube. Today, Google improves Hangouts, bringing the overall feel in line with other, recent Plus changes. Most importantly, there's more white space, less clutter and clearer notifications. Say, we should Hangout and try it out.
Amit Fulay, Google product manager, explains: "The most important part of a hangout is the people in the room", which aptly describes the redesign's major benefit. Hangouts now consolidates "important items -- like invites, chat, and apps -- into a sidebar that's there when you need it, and tucked away when you don't".
Google Earth 7 brings new mobile features to the desktop
Google has updated its cross-platform 3D world exploration tool.Google Earth 7.0 gains functionality previously added to Google Earth for Mobile in the form of city tour guides and 3D imagery of cities. Google Earth 7’s tour guide provides pointers for local items of interest as users explore the world using the program. The launch of version 7 on desktop also comes with new sites added to the existing 3D imagery database.
Prior to the launch of Google Earth 7.0 on the desktop platform, 3D imagery was available for selected US cities only, with the likes of Boston, Denver, LA, Portland, San Diego, Seattle, Tampa and the San Francisco Bay Area among those featured. To view these cities in 3D, users need to manually switch on the feature by ticking the 3D Buildings option under Layers.
BUILD 2012: Microsoft ties Azure to Windows 8, Windows Phone 8
During a session at BUILD 2012 on Wednesday, Microsoft announced some new enhancements to its Azure platform that bring it onto the playing field with its latest operating system releases - Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8.
In short, Azure will be expanding to include support for Windows Phone 8 as well as Windows 8. Satya Nadella, President of Microsoft's server and business tools, stressed the importance of bringing all of these platforms together. It will make life much simpler for developers who want to build apps that work across platforms and are cloud friendly.
Who killed Windows Small Business Server? Google
Most people probably didn't turn a glance at Microsoft's other big recent release, Windows Server 2012. Server operating systems rarely get much attention, and appropriately so; their appeal and importance really only extends to the rank and file of server administrators and other similar decision makers. And plus, with Windows 8 and Surface making the public rounds, there's plenty of fanfare to go around.
But there's something most obviously missing from the latest Server 2012 lineup, and that is a subsequent Small Business Server release. Redmond Channel Partner magazine first brought this to my attention. Not only did SBS get the axe, but Microsoft also went on to kill off Windows Home Server as well. The last public version of WHS was version 2011, which happened to be the second and final release in this platform's short lived history.
Microsoft bags another high-profile Office 365 customer
Microsoft's online version of Office has really reached maturity and, no, I am not talking Office Web Apps for SkyDrive here, although that has become a solid free option. Office 365, the more powerful big brother of Office Web Apps, which is geared more towards corporate customers, has been scoring some big contracts as of late with companies, universities and government agencies. Today the Redmond, Washington-based company announced its latest win, a contract to bring Office 365 to the Environmental Protection Agency.
This morning, Lockheed Martin and Microsoft announced the new $9.8 million deal with the EPA. The agency will begin transitioning approximately 25,000 employees to the cloud-based version of Office. "Lockheed Martin has supported the IT needs of the EPA for more than 35 years," stated Frank Armijo, who is the vice president of Lockheed Martin Energy Solutions. "By providing cloud-based tools that facilitate collaboration, communication and cost savings across the agency, our team is dedicated to the EPA’s mission."
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