Dual-Boot Nirvana
There is definitely now an Intel-based MacBook in my future now that Apple
has
announced
Boot Camp, an officially endorsed tool that lets Windows XP run on the new
line of Macs. For me, it'll be the best of both worlds. While some users
do their browsing on a virtual machine to keep pests away, I'll use Safari
-- and play with all the cool Mac gadgets (maybe I'll even write some
horrible music with GarageBand). I'll use XP for Outlook, Office and to
play with new Microsoft builds. And when XP gets entirely infected, I'll
still have Tiger to get my work done. Sweet.
MIT Gives It to Gates
MIT Media Lab kingpin Nicholas Negroponte thought he was doing a good
thing by developing a $100 Linux laptop for the Third World. For Bill Gates,
this was a poke in his very rich eye, and he and other Redmond execs have made
fun of the Negroponte box and have been pushing cell phones with PC functions
as a better solution. Negroponte wondered
out loud at this week's LinuxWorld Expo why Gates has such a bee in
his bonnet, and why Mr. Gates would publicly criticize the system, especially
since Microsoft is porting Windows CE to work on Nick's machine.
Google on the IE Warpath
Several recent reports suggest that Google is building its own browser.
My initial reaction: Google is again copying Microsoft to pay Redmond back for
all the times it copied Google and so on…But then I thought about IE,
which never ceases to un-amaze me, and realized that someone could and should
do better. Someone could and should reinvent the browser, stop adding features
and do a ground-up build.
Here's the bad news: Google apparently hired a cadre of IE developers
to build the new browser. Are these folks radicals who Redmond refused to listen
to? If so, cool. If not, we'll get more of the same from Google. The other
bad news is it looks like Google will build on top of Firefox, not exactly a
recipe for a browser revolution.
The article,
from BBC news, isn't entirely credible, as it reports that Microsoft hasn't
decided if it will keep producing new revs of IE. Earth to BBC, once Microsoft
has a monopoly, it ain't real interested in giving it up.
Fed Pushing for More Records
The U.S. government is still seeking what it hopes will lead to a long
life for the Internet Child Protection Law. After getting major ISPs to cave
in and letting a defiant Google halfway off the hook, the feds are now going
after more including EarthLink, Verizon, AT&T and cable TV scallywag
Comcast (as a customer I am well aware of how much better this company could
be).
The law, which has a few noble aims, makes any content that could be deemed
as harmful to kids illegal.
Microhard?
Microsoft has always dabbled in hardware from the old z80 boards back
in the early ‘80s to mice, keyboards and, of course, the Xbox. And little
do people realize, Microsoft is the one that ultimately designs today's
PCs -- if the hardware doesn't pass Redmond muster, it won't make
it to Best Buy.
Now Microsoft is flexing a little muscle by licensing
its input technologies to major hardware makers.
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More Linux/Windows Integration
Two-year-old Centrify is already on the third version of its flagship
Active Directory (AD) integration product. DirectControl 3 lets AD take the
lead in authentication, regardless of whether you're running Windows, Mac or
any of dozens of versions of Linux and Unix. The company, backed with some $20
million in investment and staffed with more engineers than anything else, is
also working to tie AD with a range of non-Microsoft apps. I've said before
that Vintela and Centeris (weird that the first four letters are shared with
Centrify) are companies to watch -- and so is Centrify.
Get a free DirectControl 3 trial version here.
About the Author
Doug Barney is editor in chief of Redmond magazine and the VP, editorial director of Redmond Media Group.