Windows XP SP3 Released

Microsoft has released Windows XP SP3 to the web in several languages including English.

ARS Technica reports

Concerns over the general overall quality of the Microsoft Vista Operating System have put Microsoft in a bind with respect to longer term support for the XP environment.

Many companies as well as individual users have no intention of upgrading to Vista in the near future. In fact some installations have actually reverted to XP from Vista, preferring what appears to be the superior stability and familiarity of the XP Operating System.

My personal experience has been that OS upgrades are generally more trouble than they are worth, and I'm happier when I wait rather than plunge in and face the incompatibility consequences of the upgrades. Although it's probably not a good path to profits, I'd prefer to see Microsoft focus on the *smaller picture* with respect to software and improve things incrementally with easy-to-install upgrades rather than bring out massive, potentially bloated, and often challenging brand new programs.

SaaS - More Than An Acronym

Software as a service - SaaS for short, is clearly a major development in how enterprise computing will evolve in the coming years.

OpSource, a solutions provider, has an excellent set of white papers and a resource center featuring issues relating to SAAS deployments and advantages. For the disadvantages with SaaS you'll want to turn elsewhere since Opsource is presumably a strong advocate for SaaS solutions given their business model.

Over the coming weeks we'll be exploring several issues relating to SaaS and the enterprise including the advantages of flexibility, scalability, and rapid deployment using services like Amazon's E3 but also the challenges of integrating SaaS solutions with existing legacy systems.

IT managers of existing installations may benefit from the huge number of potential SaaS solutions but they also must contend with highly complex integrations and unexpected complications that arise with any major deployment.

Microsoft "Albany" Online Software Suite in Beta Release

Microsoft has released in beta a new software suite targeted at the consumer market and named "Albany". Product manager Bryson Gordon explains the product:

“Albany” is the codename for a new all-in-one subscription service
of essential software and services consumers told us were most important to
them. We’ve pulled together the productivity tools people need to organize
their lives, security to help keep their personal information safe and
online services that make it easy for them to keep in touch with friends and
family, and folded them all into a single service that also ensures the
user’s PC is running the latest security and productivity
software. Bryson goes on to note that the Albany package
will include Microsoft Office Home and other productivity and collaboration
software components.

Albany will be a subscription based service which makes me skeptical that Microsoft can compete with the increasingly robust free offerings from Google and others. Google has started to include powerful collaboration and productivity tools such as Google Spreadsheets where users can quickly create forms for data entry which can be used across the internet. Companies like Zoho also offer some remarkably powerful online tools for database creation, most at no charge. In an environment where free services are rapidly replacing subscription services, can Microsoft Albany make much of a mark?

Source: Microsoft Press Release

Auto Install = shame on Apple

Apple´s feeling the fury and heat for a somewhat tricky feature that led many users to inadvertently install the Safari browser during a recent Apple update. Although it possibly was an innocent mistake, it is more likely that Apple marketing pushed this approach knowing that making the install a defaulted feature would lead to an increase in installs, and assumed the benefits of this would outweigh the criticism.

CNET's Tom Krazit inexplicable suggests that this is the users fault, saying in his post Look, people, it's 2008: You're responsible for what you install on your PC.

Sorry Tom, but this is not a reasonable way to move ahead with installations. Users should always express concern and should punish companies when they provide misleading installation information.

In the case of viruses or adware, the punishment should be severe and include legal remedies for those who have to take the time to remove nuisance or malicious applications.