Microsoft unveils ‘cloud computing’ product Tech giant joins rivals in introduction of Web-based computing system

Microsoft Corp. is taking another step into the world of Web-based computing with a new system it’s calling Windows Azure.

Microsoft says it’s joining Amazon.com Inc. and other rivals in selling information storage space and computing power “in the cloud,” distributed across massive data centers worldwide. That will let companies build Web-based programs without having to manage their own data centers.

Microsoft’s chief software architect, Ray Ozzie, described Azure to software developers at a conference Monday in Los Angeles. Ozzie said that managing Microsoft’s own Web sites and Web-based programs has made the company adept at anticipating Web traffic spikes and knowing when to ramp up some computers and dial down others.

“It’s a transformation of our software. It’s a transformation of our strategy,” Ozzie said at the Professional Developer’s Conference, Microsoft’s annual gathering of third-party engineers to detail the company’s future plans.

Ozzie, who replaced Bill Gates as Microsoft’s top software guru in 2006, is spearheading the company’s push into “cloud computing,” a trend that taps into computing power in distant data centers and delivers applications over the Internet.

Traditionally, software has run on a single computer’s hard drive, but as Internet connections became faster and more reliable, companies started to deliver software as an online service by using the computing power of the “cloud,” a network of powerful computer servers accessed over the Web.

The success of Web-based companies such as Google Inc and Salesforce.com Inc in creating online applications competitive with Microsoft has forced the company to embrace a new way of delivering and supporting software.

‘Transformation’
“We are in the early days of a transformation to services across the industry,” said Ozzie at the conference.

Microsoft has worked to add online services elements to most of its traditional software, which required the company to invest billions in building massive data centers with thousands of computers servers and data storage systems.

Now, Microsoft wants to let other companies rent out its computing power so third-party developers can run applications over the Internet without the need for hefty investments in data centers. It also allows companies the flexibility to increase or decrease computing needs according to demand.

Similar to how its Windows operating system became the main platform for programs on personal computers, Microsoft aims to be the platform of choice for Web applications.

Amazon.com Inc and Salesforce is already in the market with computing services for Web developers, but Microsoft has a few advantages. It has deeper pockets, longer relationships with third-party developers and more expertise in building a software platform.

“I’d like to tip my hat to Jeff Bezos and Amazon,” said Ozzie, referring to Amazon’s chief executive. “All of us across the industry will stand on their shoulders.”

Developers can write applications on Windows Azure using the tools and programing languages necessary to write software to run on top of the current Windows operating system.

Jump in, Folks, the Vista is Fine

After waiting for SP1 came out for Vista I decided to replace XP with Vista again just to see if it would work. When it first came out it had some driver issues, just like every other OS before it. This had nothing to do with Jerry Seinfeld or Bill Gates and their commercials-about-nothing. It had more to do with the people I respect and look up to assuring me that the bugs were fixed. So far everything is going smooth and all of my programs and devices seem to work fine. Go buy a PC with Vista, Folks, it is safer than XP, it’s prettier to look at and all of your favorite programs and hardware should get along swimmingly. Even my gamer friends say Vista is better.

Don’t You Just Love Windows?

I spend most of my days lately solving Windows (Both Vista & XP) problems – coaxing the Windows operating system into cooperating with me sometimes requires creative thinking – if all of my clients had Macs I’d probably have to find a new line of work because I’d only get one or two calls a year.  I’ve begun recommending Vista to my customers now that it has been around for long enough to get the bugs out. It’s a Windows World and I’m happy to live in it. Sure, my next computer will be a Mac but I’ve got 4 other PCs at my home that will brave the dangerous internets and all the anti-windows viruses and malware that zip by. This turned into a weird blog, didn’t it? Better luck next time! NOTE: Today my daughter gave birth to my sixth grandchild – Have a Cigar!

Ballmer: Vista a ‘work in progress’

By TODD BISHOP
P-I REPORTER

Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer called Windows Vista “a work in progress” on Thursday, but he stopped short of committing to extend the life of its predecessor, Windows XP.

“I think we did a lot of things right, and I think we have a lot of things we need to learn from,” Ballmer told a crowd of independent technology experts attending the company’s Most Valuable Professionals Summit in Seattle.

Ballmer’s comments come at a pivotal time in Windows Vista’s life, as the company tries to get more businesses and consumers to upgrade. The PC operating system was released in stores in January 2007, and the company last month issued Vista’s first big “service pack” update — a large bundle of fixes and updates meant to address many of the problems experienced in its first year on the market.

In the modern era of regular online updates, most pieces of software are effectively works in progress, even after their release. But Ballmer’s use of the phrase is surprising, because to most people it would tend to connote “something unfinished,” said Michael Gartenberg, a Jupiter Research analyst.

“It’s hard to imagine that a comment like that is the type of thing that is going to instill greater confidence” about Windows Vista in the minds of companies and individual PC users, he said.

Ballmer made the comments as part of a lively and wide-ranging address at the MVP Summit, an annual conference for independent technology gurus who specialize in specific Microsoft product lines. The deep expertise of the MVPs can lead to frank and detailed exchanges with Microsoft representatives.

At the outset, Ballmer called it his “favorite speech every year.” Attendees cheered Ballmer and presented him with articles of clothing as gifts, including a Canadian hockey jersey and a “Simpsons” necktie — both of which he promptly donned. In a question-and-answer period, they quizzed him on such esoteric topics as the overlap between Microsoft’s Sharepoint and Groove collaboration programs.

On the subject of Windows Vista, Ballmer cited the need for further improvements in system performance, compatibility and battery life. He also acknowledged complaints about the operating system’s size. Vista takes up more space on a computer than Windows XP does and requires more advanced hardware.

The size issue is an area where “we can’t just set the dial back, but I think people wish we could,” Ballmer said. “Vista is bigger than XP. It’s going to stay bigger than XP. We have to make sure it doesn’t get bigger still.”

Microsoft has said it plans to end its retail and PC sales of Windows XP at the end of June except in some specific situations, such as a special category of low-cost computers. Ballmer acknowledged efforts to get Microsoft to change its mind, but gave no clear indication that it would.

“I know we’re going to continue to get feedback from people on how long XP should be available,” he said. “We’ve got some opinions on that, we’ve expressed our views.” At the same time, he told the crowd, “I’m always interested in hearing from you on these and other issues.”

Ballmer also reiterated that Microsoft won’t again take five years to come out with a new operating system, as was the case with Windows Vista. “Can we just sort of kiss that stone and move on?” he said. “Because it turns out many things become problematic when you have those long release cycles. … We can’t ever let that happen again.”

The company has said Windows Vista’s successor, known by the internal code name “Windows 7,” will be released in 2010.

For some, Ballmer’s Vista mea culpa wasn’t necessary. “I’m surprised, because I never have any problems,” said Andy Dunn, a Microsoft MVP from Kirkland. “Maybe I’m the only guy, but Vista works for me.”

One key, he acknowledged, was that he bought a new computer that was well-suited for handing the operating system.

But the MVPs made it clear that they’re not blindly loyal to Microsoft’s products. At one point, Ballmer asked for a show of hands to see which search engines attendees used by default. The overwhelming favorite was Google, followed by Microsoft’s Live Search. But only a few hands went in the air for Yahoo.

“Wow, we offered 31 bucks a share,” Ballmer said, somewhat facetiously, referring to the original value of Microsoft’s pending offer to acquire Yahoo, the No. 2 player in the U.S. search market.

Microsoft said about 1,800 people came to this year’s MVP Summit from countries around the world. They also heard Thursday from Ray Ozzie, Microsoft’s chief software architect.

Vista, XP and Seven – To Be or Not To Be

Despite all of the scathing reviews of Windows Vista, I felt I needed to experience it first hand before I could formulate an opinion about it. Being a Computer Repair/Troubleshooter Tech here in my area, I needed to know it, so I purchased a copy and installed it on one of my systems. I made sure all of my hardware was Vista ready and in no time at all, I was running Vista! Now I have a few different systems, a Dell Desktop that the kids use, My Dell laptop and 2 Dell Desktop systems in my office. I decided to put Vista on a system I built myself with an AMD Sempron processor. I began to experience what my customers were complaining about. I used my Vista rig almost exclusively for 4 months. It was so difficult to network I finally wiped my drive and went back to XP SP2. Why? Because XP is efficient, Vista isn’t. Sharing files with other PCs and My 3 Tivos was pretty hard. Now I’m Vista Free and XP Carefree! XP is easy to share printers, Vista is not. XP breezes through Office Docs, Vista sometimes couldn’t open Word documents. Sending files to and fro between XP machines and Macs, a breeze, using Vista, most of the time doesn’t work. Vista is a safer OS right out of the box, but if you’re security-minded you can be just as safe with XP. Vista seems to be so bad Microsoft is preparing the release of Windows 7. Kind of reminds me what happened after the horrible Windows ME came out. Why call it Windows Seven? 1. Windows 95 2. Windows 98 3. Windows ME 4. Windows 2000 5. Windows XP 6. Windows Vista 7. Windows 7. Good enough reason?

Windows Vista VS Windows XP

I repair and service computers for both home and business users so I believe I can give an objective opinion about a number of computer users that use Windows. I do handle some Mac calls as well but they don’t require the maintenance that PCs do. I should also tell you that I run Vista Ultimate on one of my PCs, and the other 3 of my PCs I run XP Pro, and I don’t plan to change that.

Moving and copying files from one XP to another is a snap! In Vista it takes longer and there are more obstacles. Vista is harder to network and it’s even harder to file share for the average user. I try to tell people that it’s more secure, and I believe that to be true, but XP has been on new computers for over 5 years, so people are comfortable with it and it does easily what people want it to do. If it’s that hard to use then people say it isn’t worth it.

Dell has begun shipping new systems with XP on request, so I’ve been recommending Dells to my customers who ask me what to buy. Microsoft has extended sales and support of XP another six months due to customer demands. I think Microsoft waited too long to release Longhorn/Vista. This past 5 years have allowed users to become set in their ways.

On the other hand, there are good things about Vista, but they don’t outweigh the value of XP. My customers want to be safe online after all, so I tell them to keep whatever version of Windows they use updated, use a hardware firewall whenever possible and stay away from the obvious danger zones, such as email attachments and downloading things they’re not sure about. I warn them about the bot-nets controlled by hackers that will use their PCs for evil under their very noses. I also tell them about the Linux Ubuntu OS and how it’s a great backup operating system to have when they need it.

Most users don’t want to know about all these things, they just want to use their PCs in peace. On one hand they should know these things if they’re going to be surfing the web, but I will use the automobile as a metaphor. I drive it every day to get where I’m going. I’m a good driver and would like to think I’m safe. I watch myself in bad neighborhoods. I’m familiar with the combustion engine and I know what makes it work, but when something goes wrong I just want it fixed and the details don’t really matter. So I’m not so very different from my customers. What do you think?