Mood:  celebratory

VCSY received the XML Enabler patent allowance on Wednesday March 29, 2006

http://www.primezone.com/newsroom/news.html?d=96371

Vertical Computer Systems, Inc. Receives a Notice of Allowance From the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for a Patent Application Covering Various Aspects of the XML Enabler Agent

FORT WORTH, Texas, March 29, 2006 (PRIMEZONE) -- Vertical Computer Systems, Inc. (OTCBB:VCSY) announced today that it has received a notice of allowance from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for a patent application serial number 09/882,494 for a "Web-based collaborative data collection system." The notice of allowance states that all 41 patent claims of the patent application are deemed to be allowable to issue in a patent. VCSY intends to file with the USPTO to issue the patent shortly thereafter with all 41 claims being valid and enforceable.

This patent application covers various aspects of the XML Enabler Agent. The XML Enabler Agent, which was featured in the "XML Handbook" by Charles Goldfarb, 4th edition was created to XML-enable any database and developed with the Emily XML Scripting Language.

Then, world of wonders, WinFS - a long touted application within Microsoft requiring similar capabilities as the allowed patent to run - was cancelled 89 days later by Microsoft Friday June 23, 2006.

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060625-7128.html

Microsoft abandons the idea of a standalone WinFS

 WinFS has had a turbulent history. Originally announced as one of the three "pillars" of Windows Vista—the other two being the new Windows Presentation Foundation (formerly code-named "Avalon") user interface layer and the Windows Communication Foundation (formerly code-named "Indigo") web services layer—WinFS was to revolutionize how users and developers interacted with the files on their computers. In late 2004, Microsoft announced that Vista, then code-named Longhorn, would ship without WinFS. Later it was admitted that WinFS would be delayed even beyond Vista Server, but would be released as a free separate download for both Vista and Windows XP. Beta 1 of WinFS hit MSDN last August, and looked promising. However, Microsoft dropped a hammer on WinFS fans this weekend by revealing that WinFS Beta 2 has been canceled, and the technology behind WinFS is now scheduled to be rolled into the next release of Microsoft's SQL Server product, rather than a standalone release:

    "Since WinFS is no longer being delivered as a standalone software component, people will wonder what that means with respect to the Windows platform. Just as Vista pushed forward on many aspects of the search and organize themes of the Longhorn WinFS effort, Windows will continue to adopt work as it's ready. We will continue working the innovations, and as things mature they will find their way into the right product experiences—Windows and otherwise."

As mentioned above, the difference between the two "announcement" (WinFS being canceled was announced on a blog) dates was 89 days.

90 days would have been on the next day - a Saturday.

Posted by Portuno Diamo at 7:56 PM EST

Updated: Friday, 8 December 2006 7:56 PM EST

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Funny we should see the Financial vertical addressed first as a quick start bundle in Viper - especially given the state of our speculations on the advancement of the transactional process industry.

---------------------------------------------- 

http://biz.yahoo.com/iw/061207/0192659.html 

IBM DB2 9 Data Server Expands XML Presence
Thursday December 7, 4:00 pm ET

New Quick Start Bundles, Customers and Partners Drive Industry Leadership

ARMONK, NY--(MARKET WIRE)--Dec 7, 2006 -- IBM (NYSE:IBM - News) today introduced a series of quick start software bundles for the DB2 9 data server designed to help clients adapt their information management environments to meet new standards for handling XML data.

The new DB2 9 pureXML quick start bundles help database administrators and software developers to load XML industry exchange messages and schemas more easily, and to define XML queries and indexes for business applications. The first of these bundles are based on specific industry XML standards that support FIXML and FpML, which are formats developed for the financial industry. The industry-specific XML message exchange formats provide methods to exchange XML data information between and within companies.

----------------------------------------- 

Posted by Portuno Diamo at 8:07 PM EST

Updated: Thursday, 7 December 2006 8:51 PM EST

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I suspect that is because Microsoft intends to use that connection :thru: Linux to the internet to avoid having to go anywhere but between Windows and Linux (via comfortable COM/DCOM) to get to the internet. I would not be surprised to find in the future a virtualized version of Linux stripped down to act solely as a buffer platform between Wondows Whatever (codename dusty) and the internet environ. That would suit a number of their technological needs while allowing them to bow out of an area of perceived infringement given their introduction of Hailstrom in 2001 and the subsequent 2005-2006 apparent shutting down of precisely these kinds of functions.

(This is where having the ability to post images here would be nice as the article has some useful illustrations. This here frisbee is a freeby the dog dragged in so no pictures. It's gonna get teeth marks probably but I gotta be me as long as I'm free. But maybe they don't want their stuff copy and pasted to other places so who knows? Better call up my lawyer Sylvio and let him know I'm going to need another disclaimer. Dis$#!@ is getting expensive for an older gentleman on a fixed budget.)

Forthwidth: ToWho:
----------------------------------------------------
http://www.itpro.co.uk/howtos/87709/setting-up-a-linux-server-on-a-windows-network.html

ITPRO
How Tos and Tutorials
Setting up a Linux server on a Windows network

Posted by Alan Stevens on 13th November 2006

Thinking of taking the open source plunge? Our resident server expert, Alan Stevens, shows you how to install a Linux server on your Windows network

1. The right Linux
There are lots of different implementations of Linux - commonly known as Linux distributions or "distros" - many angled towards the individual enthusiast with little or no direct support available. Business users should avoid these and stick with commercially sponsored products from companies such as Red Hat and Novell (SuSE Linux). They do cost more to implement but what you'll get will be a more stable implementation and one that's fully supported, both by the vendor and third party developers. The software we've used is here is Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4. A full list of available Linux distributions and what they have to offer can be found at www.distrowatch.com

2. Factory install
All of the big name server vendors, such as HP, Dell and IBM will now pre-install a Linux operating system for customers and in some cases optional applications on their hardware. Most resellers also offer this facility with a choice of distribution, typically one of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) packages or a SuSE Linux Enterprise product although others can be specified if preferred. A factory install gets you over the first hurdle of getting the server up and running. You'll need to make sure that any optional applications you want to use are included, however, and remember that unless you pay someone else to do it you will need to do some post-install configuration when the hardware arrives on site.

3. Install options
It may seem obvious, but if installing Linux yourself it's important to choose the right setup and any optional extras right from the very start. Some distributions can be configured for either server or desktop roles, in which case you should take the server settings. But, even then, don't assume that you'll get everything you need. As this screenshot shows a "typical" RHEL server install will only load up the bare essentials, so take time to browse through the list of optional applications during the initial install process and choose any extras you might need.

4. Install optional applications up-front
The most popular add-ons, such as DNS, e-mail and database servers can all be included in the initial install, the only limiting factor being disk space. In this screenshot, for example, we've added the MySQL database which although part of the RHEL distribution isn't included in the base server install. Installed this way, packages like MySQL will be configured automatically. Any compilation of the code will be done for you and optional management tools installed if needed. Leave it until later and you may be in for a lot more tedious manual work so it's well worth taking your time at this stage and installing all the tools and applications that you're likely to need.

5. Network settings
Most Linux distros assume that you want to use the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) to get an IP address automatically. On a server, however, this isn't always a good idea as the address assigned may change, making the server hard to locate. If this is the case you should manually configure the network interface. You can of course do this after the O/S has been installed but it will be a lot easier if specified during the setup process.

6. Security options
If you decide to take advantage of a built-in firewall like that included in the RHEL distribution, make sure that you configure it to allow access to the applications you'll be running on the server. In this example, we've allowed Web, FTP and SMTP email traffic through. Note that Red Hat Enterprise Linux and some other implementations can also be secured using a technology called SElinux (Security Enhanced Linux). This blocks unauthorised changes to the operating system, but management is a little more complicated so apply with caution.

7. Windows file sharing
An application called Samba is used to allow Windows PCs to share files on a Linux server, using the same Server Message Protocol (SMB) as on a Windows network. If you chose to install Samba along with the core RHEL O/S it will be started for you but you still need to specify the folders you want to share and instruct Samba as to how users are to be authenticated. The latest version of Samba supports both Windows workgroups and domains and can even be configured as a Windows domain controller, with a graphical configuration utility to manage most of the Samba settings in RHEL 4. Other implementations, however, may not have such tools in which case you'll need to locate and edit the text-based configuration file that controls the Samba software.

8. Printer sharing
Printer support in early versions of Linux was pretty basic, but the latest distributions offer a wide choice of printing technologies on a range of platforms. In RHEL 4, for example, you can connect to existing Windows, UNIX and Novell network printers or use the Common Unix Printing System (CUPS) and the Internet Printing Protocol (IPP) to access and share printers. HP printers with JetDirect interfaces can also be used and Samba has its own printer sharing capabilities as well. The necessary definitions for the popular printers will be included as part of the Linux distribution with additional drivers and print management tools available from vendor and other websites.

9. Configure an Apache Web server
Apache is the default web server included with most Linux distros. A graphical management tool is included in RHEL but this is far from universal and, just as with Samba, you may have to edit a text-based configuration file to get it to work the way you want. Alternatively there are a number of third-party management tools available, plus lots of add-ons to support things like Active Server pages, Java and so on. Check out the Apache website (www.apache.org) for more information.

10. Starting services
Even when installed with the core Linux O/S, optional applications may not start automatically. The Apache web server, for example, wasn't configured to start automatically on our RHEL server. We could have changed the start-up file manually but fortunately the Red Hat software has a graphical service configuration tool which makes this a lot simpler. We did, however, have to know that Apache is reliant on the httpd service (daemon), in order to turn it on.

11. Adding extra packages
Adding extra software after the core Linux software has been installed isn't impossible but it can be difficult. It can be a particular pain if the applications you want to add are dependent on other modules that need to be installed first and, as is often the case, compiled separately to work with the version of Linux you're using. Fortunately there are tools that can help take care of compilation and dependency issues, using pre-configured "packages" that contain all the instructions needed to install, update or remove a specific application. Most Linux distributions include such tools. In RHEL, for example, you can install any of the bundled applications and most third-party products using the Red Hat Package Management (RPM) tool which runs automatically whenever you open an RPM package. In this example we've downloaded and opened an RPM package containing the VMWare Player utility.

12. Linux appliances
Finally, if you don't fancy installing Linux yourself you can still take advantage of the open source O/S through custom appliances. These come ready-configured to perform a range of tasks, such as file and print sharing, Web and database serving, with any management required done through a user friendly Web front end.

--------------------------------

This is where IBM is going to camp. This is going to be the place where people get po'd one last time and they push the little webpage button that says, "Get rid of my Microsoft operating system and plug in a Linux". Possible? Yes. Very much so.

Posted by Portuno Diamo at 5:13 PM EST

Updated: Thursday, 7 December 2006 7:54 PM EST

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I was once in charge of an extremely large social event having inherited the thing in a last minute snafu that left me being the guy to execute that "show must go on" encouragement everyone not included in the event committee gives so freely.

I toyed with the idea of canceling the thing but quickly realized I would be in hotter water with the press than the fans so I figured, what the heck... the show must go on.

Almost everything went flawlessly - except security and a "special announcement". Security, being the last layer in, had assumed the reasonable thing to do would be to call off the event. Security guys never have to hear "the show must go on" so what the heck did they know? They get to shrug their shoulders and look stupid when asked where all the opportunity for success went. When I asked them on the morning of the event how security was doing they said they would be there. They were not there. Still, "the show must go on".

Naturally security broke down and the event got flooded with freeby undesirables... which would have been a huge success anyway (I know it sounds anachronistic but such is the power of language spin that a large failure can be boosted as a huge success.) if the "unannounced announcement" had also happened. It did not.

No matter how nice our lineup and presentation and ultimate "good time had by all" the unannounced announcement not showing up (when it had been rumored by unofficial announcement for some time up to the event) broke the back of interest. Kaput. Zing. Poof... as they say in the stage biz... you're a frog.

There is a decided strangeness in the behaviour of the Microsoft marketing people. They don't look like a bunch who've had this all worked out for months and were just waiting for Security to wrap the thing up. Microsoft marketing looks like my lieutenants did when I finally told them the "special rumored unannounced announcement "would continue unannounced. The delicate genius had decided the Security failure was out of control and would not come out of the trailer with the star on the door.

Ah me. Those were fun times. How many pitchers of scotch and water did that take to drown?

Dear Microsoft Marketing. I know how you feel. I feel your pain. The special secret you guys had from 2001 that you thought was going to propel you into the heart of the 21st century never appeared in public. Maybe it got scared security wasn't up to snuffles! Maybe some petulant genius wanted TWO helicopters instead of one for his entourage and that ate up your budgets for inviting real technology journalists in to look. We all who have been kicked in the bedeviled eggs do mourn your misfortune.

I know all the excuses and "reasons" and justifications marketing types have to go through to patch a vision into the mushy-minded public's consciousness. But when the Security Team and the Special Guest don't show up, you know what they say?

The show must go on. 

Want a pat on the back for a so-so job done so far? 

Posted by Portuno Diamo at 2:44 PM EST

Updated: Thursday, 7 December 2006 2:52 PM EST

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No rush to Vista
Posted by Steven Parker on 07 December 2006 - 13:01 · 29 comments, 1631 views & no trackbacks

So last Thursday was Windows Vista Launch Day … finally. But while Microsoft had its banners flying, some folks I know were more on the ho-hum scale. My buddy Paul Lindo, an IT consultant, was wondering if "it might just be Windows XP with a prettier face."

And it's true that Vista suffered several features "adjustments" as well as a lengthier-than-expected road to shrink, including the infamous 2004 dumping of WinFS and its resulting ground-up re-programming effort. So while the rest of the business world was wondering about the effects of all this Vista voodoo, I wanted to hear Microsoft's opinion. My invite to the actual launch event, however, seems to have been lost in the mail -ahem!, so I had to call Microsoft to find out. Surprise, surprise, they're happy as clams.

“It may have been a long road, but watching how our early adopters are responding to the platform, we know we've got a winner,” said Brad Goldberg, Microsoft's general manager of client product management. When I told him Lindo's comment, he didn't seem fazed.

Posted by Portuno Diamo at 2:26 PM EST

Updated: Thursday, 7 December 2006 2:27 PM EST

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http://ragingbull.quote.com/mboard/boards.cgi?board=NASDAQ:MSFT

http://fishbowl.pastiche.org/2006/06/25/we_come_to_bury_winfs 

By: wool_riddle

04 Dec 2006, 11:52 AM EST

Msg. 154335 of 154389

This from "We Come to Bury WinFS", Chris Miller, Alpha Nerd:

"...Remember, WinFS was announced before Apple first showcased Spotlight as a part of OS X. When Tiger was demonstrated at WWDC 2004, it was heralded with cheeky “Introducing Longhorn” banners, to which Microsoft adherents replied: “Sure, but Spotlight is just an inverted index hacked on top of the existing filesystem. WinFS’s integrated-from-the-ground-up approach will bury Spotlight.”

(Note, I’m not saying that WinFS was a deliberate exercise in vapourware. There are other, better explanations of the project’s failure that more knowledgeable pundits are raking over as I write. I’m just saying that over-promising and under-delivering can be at least a short-term competitive advantage.)..."

Given WinFS was announced before Apple first announced a part of OSx we can postulate Microsoft either had the XML technology in hand or at least at their disposal or thy are bald faced liars intent only on putting out decoys for "development" deliverables.

Dat's alot of ducks, Boodrow.

(Voluntary Disclosure: Position- No Position)

Posted by Portuno Diamo at 10:59 AM EST

Updated: Thursday, 7 December 2006 11:01 AM EST

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• 
  
• By: wool_riddle

04 Dec 2006, 04:03 PM EST

Msg. 172243 of 172273

Expression is no Emily that's for sure. There's not enough THERE there in Microsoft's marketing material. If that's it Microsoft is content to start shewing up their rivals in web-design and not go afer any new ground.

http://www.microsoft.com/products/expression/en/default.mspx
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Expression Web (formerly Expression Web Designer)(Now Shipping)
New Era, New Tool
Reduce complexity and ease data integration by using powerful design tools and task panes to quickly incorporate XML data. Seamlessly integrate Web design and development teams with Expression Web and Visual Studio’s superior support for XML, ASP . NET and XHTML.

Beautiful Inside and Out
Unleash your creative ideas and bring your Web sites to life with sophisticated CSS design features. Visual designers, specialized task panes, and tool bars give you precise control of page layout and formatting.

Passionate about Standards
Build dynamic, interactive pages that harness the power of the Web to deliver superior quality. Built-in support for today’s modern Web standards makes it easy to optimize your sites for accessibility and cross-browser compatibility
--------------------------------

Expression Blend (formerly Expression Interactive Designer)(Coming Soon)
Your Sandbox Just Got Bigger
Get involved with the new wave of next-generation applications that blend the best of the Web and the desktop. Design cutting-edge user interfaces and collaborate with developers to bring these stunning new types of applications to life.

Art, Meet Science
Think of it as your virtual playground. Mix design elements such as video, vector art, high quality text, animation, pixel images, and 3D content with a full toolbox of advanced controls and containers to create engaging, cinematic user interfaces.

Go Beyond the Browser
Give your users something better-better performance, better usability, better experiences. Now your designs can break out of the browser to leverage the full power of the desktop.
--------------------------------

Expression Design (formerly Expression Graphic Designer)(Coming Soon)
Expand Your Portfolio
Expand your portfolio and collaborate with others who are defining the next generation of software applications. Expression Design is the perfect companion to Expression Blend, letting you quickly build sophisticated vector assets. Then seamlessly transfer-by way of XAML-your graphics to your Expression Blend projects.

Designed for Design
Unleash your creativity with innovative vector drawing tools and non-destructive effects that you can apply to either vector or imported bitmapped images. Apply both hard-edged and organic strokes while maintaining the flexibility of vector paths. Expression Design has been built from the ground up for designers by designers.

Your Vision, Uncompromised
Don't let your design degenerate when it's handed off to someone else. Now, you can be confident that the look-and-feel-such as a corporate identity or user interface elements-will be maintained all the way to the final product. Build your assets in Expression Design, export them as XAML, and give them life with Expression Blend's interactive features.
--------------------------------

Expression Media (Robert McLaws speculates this could be the acquired photo-management tool from iView) (Coming Soon)
Tame Your Media
Imagine how much more you’d get done if you could just find what you’re looking for. Expression Media makes digital asset management easy—just drag and drop to import more than 100 different media formats, including digital RAW files. Even when your originals are offline, Expression Media’s visual catalogs allow you to browse, search, and annotate your assets.

Your Workflow Enhanced
Handle lots of files, fast, with the professional’s choice. Rename, convert, or tag hundreds of files at a time with sophisticated batch processing; or use powerful search features to instantly find and retrieve your digital media assets. Edit images and keep track of your changes with version control, while folder watching keeps your catalogs up to date.

Presentation is Everything
Impress your audience with slide shows, videos, and Web galleries. When it’s time to deliver, Expression Media can export your assets in exactly the format and size your clients need, with dozens of professionally designed presentation templates. With Expression Media Encoder, you can convert and publish video to reach a broad, cross-platform audience.
--------------------------------

Expression Web is a web-page layout environment (ala "next generation" FrontPage). Expression Blend is an assembly manager for page functions.
Expression Design is a graphics Package. Expression Media is a presentation manager.

What am I looking at here? XAML is as far as I see them going. That's an animation language written in XML and it's designed to take things away from Adobe's proprietary coding: ( http :// www. mikeswanson. com/ swf2xaml/ ). Not applicable to application functionality - only UI information and interaction.

Emily can be used to build virtual computers. What is Microsoft doing challenging Emily with "FrontPage" when THIS is as far as they can go in intellectual property thrust? THIS is Microsoft's next generation application builder? No. This is Microsoft's effort to stay relevant in the internet war. They need to occupy at least some design areas and Dreamweaver is a tempting chunk. Gulp and yummy. But this is in no way a next generation web-application encoder. LOL

--------------------------------
[And it took Microsoft 20 years to be able to make things look as good as other software maker's UI and they have the nerve to call it a productivity improvement. When that's all you got you can get plenty nervy.]

http://www.microsoft.com/design/


(Voluntary Disclosure: Position- Long; ST Rating- Strong Buy; LT Rating- Strong Buy)

Posted by Portuno Diamo at 10:55 AM EST

Updated: Thursday, 7 December 2006 10:58 AM EST

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Mood:  celebratory

Metaphysics aside I suppository it would be usedul to give a disclaimer my lawyer can hang on whatever it is that lawyers hang on. SO thus therefore and forthwidth I do disclaim:

i don't know what the meaning of "Disclaim" is.

Do you mean like "I make dis claim"? I don tink so. I don't think I've made any claims that can't be verified for perspective and truth because I've included the sources I was citing in every instance (at least I think it was every instance. I'm an old man. Why are you badgering me?) . Take what I've written to experts. Make sure you give them a real read on what I've written and not hack job of posts you want them to see. You will know if you're lying to yourself. What you do after that is your problem.

Take the stuff to people smarter than me who can tell you if I'm the guy sticking a stinky finger in the potato salad at every cruise ship luncheon. Or am I the fly that got stuck in the potato salad when it was in the potato bin?

So, no, I don't disclaim that I know VCSY has patented technology being used or violated by IBM because I don't know everything to make disclaim.

If you mean "I don't claim to be that" I guess I can say I don't claim to be an expert, just good at what I do and my career curriculum vitae (available in public to no-one but myself- I can read parts of it to you if you like) may not be all that great, but it's probably better than yours.

What I do is sit and think about computer architectures and the passage of information from the data state to the consumable state and back to the data state. I get to sit and do this "thinking", as it were, and since I like to talk online (but chat rooms only get you into trouble) I figured I would take up my propensity for yakk to the next level and light a nest right cheer, as they say in some parts of the US I've driven through.

Fortunately I don't have to really do anything... I just be. Call me the low maintenance man. Pay? Heck no, if you mean do I get payed to write any of this absolutely not: zero nada wadda back pocket padda nope. I works when I wants and I don't wants mostly. Mostly.  But I don't work for or even know anybody in any of the companies I mention.

My credentials are that I am in a career that demands I know technology yet not have any ties to the vendors or suppliers to avoid conflict of interest. VCSY isn't in my Vertical yet. When they do I'll have to fill out one of them disclosures. I been through a bunch of them "closure" sessions and damn they ain't pleasant. Do I have to buy another woman a house? Or does the "dis" mean that a woman is going to buy me a house? Please be honest with me. I'm feeling quite vulnerable from the experience, as it were. I feel so cheap. Used.... How much do you think the house is worth? 

I own stock out of the ability to see a technological trend long long ago. I suffer because it has been long long ago. "We" understand who's ultimately at fault, but you can only dig until you hit the obvious and then you sit there and wonder why the obvious isn't publicized. By the way, great theme in the marketing for the red curtain and the red...well, you know... fricking everything. Especially liked the orange Eiffel Tower. Imaginative. Are we close? Warm? Any clues? Do we need to dig into this one or the other one over there? Hello. *THUMP THUMP THUMP* Is this thing Sarbanes-Oxley compliant?

What did I prescribe when I started this journey six (6) NO SEVEN long years ago? Patience. Well, Patience My Ass. I think we ought to kill something.

We (meaning me and my compadres who number in the dozens. Maybe many many dozens. Who's counting?)  have been tracking the goings and comings (mostly going) of a company called Vertical Computers. Look it up, this is a disclaimer I think and you're mucking it up with educational matters. You think lawyers like having to visit all those pages you blithely want thrown around to substantiate the arguments? Hell, they're no Perry and Paula or whatever the old gal's name was back there or whatever. Where was I? OH.

We don't mean to get mean but we're reaching the breaking point in patience and we want VCSY to tell us what they've been doing all this time of silence since 2001 when their XML products were introduced two weeks before Microsoft's and that's when the chicken $#!& began to fly. VCSY is a postage stamp of a company, but it has a right to exist without fear and intimidation. If the company is being held captive by somebody big that doesn't want anything known about VCSY apparent involvement in IBM for use against Microsoft (and quite masterfully done, I might add) write something on a gas station restroom mirror with soap. Invoke.

If you guys and IBM are in the hooch fine by me. Relationships are relationships and living on the peninsula makes me realize the software and hardware worlds make back woods gene swapping look parochial.

By the way, I've seldom seen such flawless execution in a complex staging and launch. How long has it been? Well it's been frigging well long enough. Enough already with the red coffee mugs and all: What's in the mug? What are these people drinking? Well we're drinking nasty stuff to keep the friendships afloat. Get it? Why do I have to drop a crabcake in my silks to get somebody in the world of industry and high finance to just prop me up in the wheelchair next time i get caught in a "leaned to fart and can't reright" fart paus?

What was I talking about? Nurse? What was i... well hey there honey, you're a sweet dose of medi...sin... What? We're "Live"? Hell I hope so. I've been in this home "live" for years and I don't think I'm dead yet. I hope not anyway. Think I want to spend eternity with all you ahos? Need oxygen. Need cookies.

Disclaimer? What's that? Somebody said I was crazy so I think I'll stick with that. 

Posted by Portuno Diamo at 3:15 PM EST

Updated: Thursday, 7 December 2006 10:53 AM EST

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Mood:  celebratory

Vista: what is the Big Secret which Microsoft is afraid of exposing?

by Guy J Kewney | posted on 17 November 2006

http://www.newswireless.net/index.cfm/article/3037 

You'd expect Microsoft's IT Forum this year to have been the top headline on Google. After all, Vista fever is now in full swing. Frantic developers are jamming the Microsoft servers with download requests, and an insane frenzy applies to the whole of Microsoft, as the new OS ships to corporate subscribers.

And I bet you never knew. Not surprising, when only Google says only 81 reports have Vista AND Microsoft AND IT Forum in common!

Normally, there's one thing you have to say for Microsoft: it may not waste too much of its time on the Press, perhaps, but when it does go for the headlines, it traditionally knows how to do it.

Most years, this major convention is attended by thousands of tech delegates, and hundreds of journalists swarm all over it, interviewing senior Microsoft staff. It generates headlines galore.

But this isn't a normal year! - with Windows Vista announced the Friday before the forum with "Windows Vista Is Here" and "This day marks Microsoft's most compelling operating system release in over a decade..." all over the Microsoft Developer Network web pages, yours truly was keen to share the raz-ma-taz.

So, when The Register rang up and said: "Can you cover the show?" I accepted promptly. Regular Register blogger Martin Banks had signed up for the slot, and then come down with the flu, so all Microsoft had to do was change the labels on the badge.

"We don't have the budget," said a flack.

It is, of course, a serious problem. Once the convention hits town, if you aren't a guest of Microsoft, then finding a hotel is a real challenge. But, surely, if Mr Banks was cancelling, all they had to do was give me his key?

"We don't have the budget."

Well, I can help there. I'm happy to pay for my own lunch. I mean, I understand that a small, struggling startup like Microsoft can't be expected to fund my lavish life-style; but what other budget?

"Flights," said the flack.

How much does it cost to get to Barcelona? British Airways is advertising a 29 pound one-way ticket. But if you don't like that, you can fly to Girona for 25 pounds, and take a seven-Euro bus to Barcelona. If Microsoft can't afford my lunch (understandable) and if they don't want to suffer the humiliation of seeing me pay for my own air fare, what's so hard about a 25 quid flight? What's so hard about rebooking the room in the name of Kewney, not Banks?

So, is Microsoft really short of the wherewithall to find a couple of hundred quid? Or is there something of a problem with Vista, which they're hoping nobody will spot? Or are we simply dealing with a junior PR flunkey who decided there was too much work involved in changing a booking? And if the last, does that explain why so few people went?

-----------------------------------------

Hello Guy. You probably don't remember me but  we crossed paths a few years ago talking about Orange and how Hutchison skunked the early results of the GlobalOne demise.

I won't correspond with you  in private, as there would not be enough transparency for my taste, so I am using this blog (aggregate blog, actually - me littel gang number statistically near a hundred although there are heros and thieves in the mix so I can't know who's who without a program which I have but I try to not open it much - leads to creases, don't you know. Maybe more.).

Given your experience seems to jive with other anecdotes I suggest you follow a trail to pry apart what Microsoft is clamping shut between their cheeks... as it were. It's called WinFS. The architecture is supposed to take information from the Windows NT File System (NTFS) relational database and apply it through XML middleware or engine to the internet stream for consumption and interoperable action.

Granted it's not in the wireless realm where you are but it is a software concept that will greatly impact wireless in execution and it's something we all want to see but SOMEbody says it's "too hard" so the entire industry has been giving them a pass since 2001. Now IBM is rising out of nowhere with huge SOA muscle and MSFT has SOA atrophy to the point their ribs are sticking out.  "We" (there's that word again) believe IBM is using patented information that "we" happen to own parts of and would like to know where our parts went. 

It's all been kind of like missing a chicken leg at a picnic. You know how upsetting that can be. 

Microsoft Marketing can't afford to truck you to Barcelona and Microsoft Technology says XML is too hard. IBM has SOA in profitable serfitude and now we see Microsoft forgot SOA at the last gas station. Google got AJAX from MSFT apparently unintentionally kinda sort of in March 2005. A clumbsilly handled first swing. Microsoft was asked to join IBM and SAP in killing UDDI in December 2005. A critically timed second swing. Swing three was WinFS. Somehow Microsoft became SOA crippled relative to IBM in only one year.

WinFS got killed in June 2006. The outline is still on the pavement - WinFS got knifed out of Vista just before they were supposed to make the grand entrance together. MSFT says it would take "too much time" and WinFS is supposed to now be pushed into future projects.

We know what time is to Microsoft, don't we?

We believe IBM intends to kill Microsoft (cut them in pieces by occupying the gap between their technologies) and that's all well and good. But MSFT is not VCSY's fight unless the VCSY CEO knows a bit more about Microsoft's tactics in this IP struggle. If it's a ledger thing? MBA's are the first to be eaten in any republic. If Microsoft deserves carving, slice away. We'll all sit back and watch.

Anyway, Sorry to be so cryptic and direct at the same time. I can't help it. My nature. It's what spacemen do. I'm not the Urban Spaceman because he doesn't exist. I'm his little brother that decided to tag along to see what Urban Spacemen don't get a chance to see.

Cheerios.

Posted by Portuno Diamo at 2:58 PM EST

Updated: Wednesday, 6 December 2006 6:47 PM EST

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Mood:  accident prone

Today December 6, 2006 marks one year ago when Vertical Computers returned to life and made my pinksheet shares live again.

Let's hear three cheers for VCSY. HIP HIP HIP. We're still waiting for the Hurrah. You'll get the remainder of the cheers then.

Posted by Portuno Diamo at 12:35 PM EST

Updated: Wednesday, 6 December 2006 12:36 PM EST

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