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Microsoft Releases Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2

Aviv — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 05:07:01 +0000

Microsoft released a significant upgrade to its Internet Explorer web browser this afternoon. The first edition of IE 8 was for developers, and Microsoft suggests that anybody who browses or uses the web, will love IE 8 beta 2.

During the last year, Internet Explorer’s market share lost six points, falling to 73 percent, still not a number to scoff at. Adversely, during the last year, Firefox’s market share rose by 19 percent. But still, Firefox and Safari have a long way to go before they can make a dent in IE’s dominance.

“We focused our work around three themes: everyday browsing (the things that real people do all the time), safety (the term most people use for what we’ve called ‘trustworthy’ in previous posts), and the platform (the focus of Beta 1, how developers around the world will build the next billion web pages and the next waves of great services),” the IE team reports.

I still don’t hear anything about speed, reliability or overall performance. Does anyone else think this still sounds like fluff?

The IE team continues to explain, “We looked very hard at how people really browse the web. We looked at a lot of data about how people browse and tried a lot of different designs in front of many kinds of people, not just technologists. As tempting as it is to list here all the changes both big and small in IE8, we’ll take a more holistic approach. That’s how we built the product and how we’d like to talk about it.”

ZDNet’s Ed Bott calls this a “top-to-bottom makeover.” He continues to say that “It’s packed with usability improvements, security enhancements, and a platform for new add-ins that third-party developers are already taking advantage of.”

It seems as though Microsoft and the Internet Explorer team especially, are still focusing on the wrong issues. Moving into Windows 7, after Vista (hopefully ASAP), is IE 8 still going to be all we get with a Windows machine? Will my first download still be Firefox on any PC I touch? Microsoft has the chance to turn things around here, and instead, they are focusing on surface elements while adding in features like “InPrivate” browsing mode. Which they explain as the following:

“Sometimes you don’t want to leave any trace of specific web browsing activity, such as when checking e-mail at an Internet café or shopping for a gift on a family PC. InPrivate Browsing in Internet Explorer 8 helps prevent your browsing history, temporary Internet files, form data, cookies, and usernames and passwords from being retained by the browser, leaving no evidence of your browsing or search history.”

Sounds like glorified “porn mode” to me.

Additionally, as a web developer myself, I have grown accustomed to writing code that works around Internet Explorer’s quirky non-standard adhering ways. Now, with Microsoft’s default, standards-compliant IE8, some sites are rendering poorly because they were “hacked” together to work in previous versions of IE. So, essentially this is a positive for the community and universally for web standards. But, if you, or anybody you know uses IE workarounds in their code, tell them to double check how it’s rendering in IE 8.

Hopefully Microsoft can turn things around in the future, rebuild IE from the ground up, start from scratch, give us a brand new interface, new graphics, new icon, the whole shebang. Maybe then we’ll have a contender on our hands. But then again, they have 74% market share, they don’t need to try.

I ask you IE Team… “How good can it feel to be #1 because your users don’t know they have another choice?”

Visit – Windows IE 8
Visit – Safari
Visit – Firefox
[via DigitalDaily]

Microsoft Retains Jerry Seinfeld as Part of $300 Million Ad Blitz

Dave — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 15:47:58 +0000

In order to combat the battered reputation that Microsoft has been receiving over the past several years, they are going to begin a $300 million ad campaign that is set to star known Mac user Jerry Seinfeld.

The decision follows in the wake of Apple’s, “Get a Mac” campaign, a series of humorous ads aimed at bashing Microsoft’s Vista operating system, while simultaneously displaying the various strengths of the Mac platform.

In lieu of feeling completely ousted, Microsoft has retained the services of comedian Jerry Seinfeld to appear in a new campaign built around the principle of “Windows breaks down barriers that prevent people and ideas from connecting.” Perhaps it should be,” Windows breaks down and prevents people with ideas from connecting.”…that was far too easy.

Anyway, Seinfeld is reported rake in a cool $10 million for his efforts, and will appear alongside Bill Gates, in what will presumably be some funny commercials. The $300 million campaign marks the marks one of the largest in the company’s history. According to the WSJ, Microsoft had considered hiring a number of different comedic celebrities including Will Ferrel and Chris Rock.

In attempts to revitalize Vista’s image, Microsoft’s Chief Exec, Steve Ballmer, said “Now it’s time to tell our story. In the weeks ahead, we’ll launch a campaign to address any lingering doubts our customers may have about Windows Vista. And later this year, you’ll see a more comprehensive effort to redefine the meaning and value of Windows for our customers.”

[via WSJ]

30 years of Microsoft. From 1978 to 2008.

Craig — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 23:27:22 +0000

As Bill Gates’ retirement officially nears the end, reflecting back on the last 20+ years of your life is only natural. I mean, WOW… Bill Gates is retiring. Check out these pictures below of Microsoft in 1978 when they were 3 years old, and had a dozen people working for them – compared with the current number of almost 90,000 employees worldwide. And we put in a picture of Sweaty Steve Ballmer because we felt bad that he wasn’t included.

The original Microsoft ‘family’

The original Microsoft ‘family’ enjoys their reunion

We felt bad for Ballmer cause he’s not in the picture.

via BBC

[breaking] Yahoo-Microsoft Deals have OFFICIALLY concluded. Google interested in Yahoo search.

Aviv — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 19:13:03 +0000

Breaking news moments ago on CNBC:

Jim Goldman is currently reporting that he has spoken with a source very close to Yahoo. All negotiations have officially ended. The way it has all unfolded is as follows:

In a recent press release Yahoo reports that on June 8th, Yahoo and Microsoft had a meeting in which Chairman Roy Boystock and other independent Board members from Yahoo, were in attendance.” “At that meeting, Microsoft representatives stated unequivocally that Microsoft is not interested in pursuing an acquisition of all of Yahoo!, even at the price range it had previously suggested.”

Microsoft then stated that they were interested in pursuing a “hybrid-partnership” to buy out Yahoo’s search services. Yahoo then reported that it was not interested in selling the company’s “Crown-Jewel”. They said that “Outsourcing our most valuable asset is going against the vision of the company completely.”

As it currently stands, Microsoft has officially announced that the two companies have absolutely nothing more to talk about, ending all current discussions.

Speculation is growing that a Yahoo/Google merger is on the brink of being announced. Sources close to yahoo say ” The deal is not imminent, but something is being discussed.”

CNBC report here.

[breaking] Yahoo shares spike in After Hours Trading as they openly talk with Microsoft.

Aviv — Wed, 28 May 2008 21:30:54 +0000

With all of the drama behind the Microsoft/Yahoo insanity, the intense negotations are not coming to an end. In case you didn’t know… MICROSOFT WANTS YAHOO! Not for it’s technology or advanced platforms, but seemingly for Yahoo’s massive user-base and physical reach. Yahoo gets over 500 million absolute unique visitors in a very short period of time. These are numbers that attract Microsoft (likely because of their fledgling search engine and MSN).

Moments ago Yahoo’s CEO Jerry Yang announced that he is openly talking with Microsoft, stating “We [Yahoo] are open and interested in listening to Microsoft.” This comment alone sent Yahoo (ticker symbol: YHOO) shares shooting up in After Hours trading tonight.

Jerry Yang saying that Microsoft does have “some version of an interest” and that “he is openly listening,” just increases the drama and stress behind an already heated and heavily debated hostile takeover situation.

Whatever may happen, it’s clear that Jerry Yang does not want to lose the company he founded. He is being pressured by billionaire members of Yahoo’s board to sell the company to Microsoft as they may see a positive outcome of the transaction on the shares.

In my opinion, Jerry Yang is trying to hold out as long as he can before allowing his company to become a “division” of the enormous Microsoft Corporation. Releasing these [breaking] comments to the press is simply a way to increase Yahoo’s share price on hype alone.

If one thing is for sure, Jerry Yang is juggling an aggravated board and a boat-load of shareholders. It would make sense for him to do what he needs in order to appease both sides.

Microsoft wants to buy (part of) Yahoo?

Aviv — Mon, 19 May 2008 05:42:04 +0000

In an official statement released yesterday, Microsoft Corp., said it is “exploring a deal with Yahoo that falls short of a full acquisition.” They continued to say that they [Microsoft] “retain the right” to reconsider its bid to acquire 100% of Yahoo.

On May 3rd, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer gave up on negotiations with Yahoo saying that the price Jerry Yang (Yahoo’s CEO) demanded, was simply too high. This new proposal gives Yahoo another chance to find common ground with the largest software maker in the world. Carl Icahn (legendary billionaire investor) is threatening to oust Yahoo’s board of directors. So, decisions are going to be forced upon one side or another.

It seems as though Yahoo is not considering a compromise. Which by definition means both parties will be unsatisfied. Yahoo is playing with fire by treating Microsoft like an annoying uncle. They [Yahoo] need to realize that even though the energy and spirit behind Microsoft may feel much more “cold-and-corporate,” the point of an acquisition is to infuse both parties with what the other doesn’t have. In my personal opinion, Yahoo is overvaluing itself. I ONLY open up Yahoo when I want to be reminded of why I don’t use it. I have created email accounts to show people the invasive, “advertisement-hell” they put you through while routinely checking your inbox.

This being understood, it is safe to say that Microsoft is only concerned about Yahoo’s user-base. Microsoft has a fledgling presence in the search engine market and acquiring Yahoo’s user-base could give them the fuel they need to fight The Mighty Google.

In a Bloomberg Television interview last week, Troy Mastin, an analyst at William Blair & Co. in Chicago, said “The best strategy for Yahoo is to embrace Microsoft.” Yahoo said in a statement yesterday that it is open to pursuing any transaction in the best interest of investors.

Yahoo’s seemingly recent concern for it’s shareholders means one of two things. 1. They have realized that their shareholders are fumingly pissed, or 2. They have realized that $47.5 billion isn’t such a bad number and getting shareholders to understand the turbulent waves of these negotiations will ease the pain once the deal is done.

In a perfect world, Yahoo would be innovative enough to offer up some competition to Google. But, they’re not. So, the industry must find other ways to position Yahoo for a positive contribution… NOT for the biggest profit, or user-base. Google holds internet values and morals at such a high priority, that they will always be seen as the biggest, best and most trusted name online.

At this point, with Microsoft and Yahoo unable to work things out. Yahoo must remain close to its values and morals while at the same time working towards a solution. Backing out of this deal could destroy Yahoo’s credibility (what little they have left), as well as enrage shareholders. It’s a fine line between values, ethics, morals and flat out stupidity. We will be keeping a massive eye on this to see what unfolds.