It is worth mentioning, with the current fuss over the Autonomy buy-out, that HP has a relatively unhappy history with regard to its acquisitions… Going back to the 80s, HP bought out a Unix workstation rival – Apollo – that soon vanished without trace, and led to one of the HP co-founders – Dave Packard – briefly … Continue reading →
Leo Apotheker is starting to look like one of the most disaster-prone CEOs in recent Silicon Valley history, after his brief but shambolic tenure at HP.. Now, another of his overpriced and ill-judged ventures – the acquisition of UK-based Autonomy – has taken an ugly turn, with the revelation that the deal may have been tainted by … Continue reading →
After all the emotion and upheaval at Microsoft recently, (see my previous post..) the news that Intel’s CEO is retiring seems to have spurred another frenzy of speculation.. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/11/19/intel_otellini_retires/ I don’t think this is justified, as it is – after all – the end of another year, and Otellini probably decided that this was as good a … Continue reading →
After the less-than-stellar launch of Windows 8, now comes the shock departure of the Microsoft executive responsible – Steven Sinofsky: http://www.forbes.com/sites/ericsavitz/2012/11/12/microsoft-shocker-windows-president-steven-sinofsky-out/ The sudden departure is a surprise, and the usual gushing platitudes – probably dictated through gritted teeth – do little to downplay the drama.. It was well-known that Sinofsky did not ‘play well with others’, and … Continue reading →
It could be argued that the classic Venture Capitalist (VC) is the ultimate example of hubris in the modern world.. An irrationally positive belief, that – despite the odds – the money poured into an otherwise irrational venture will lead to that pot of gold.. Now it is being reported that VC capital is in danger of … Continue reading →
I use Ghostery, (http://www.ghostery.com) but have found than some sites just don’t work properly, unless you ‘unblock’ certain trackers.. Examples are Disqus (http://disqus.com) for some of the ‘outsourced’ discussion forums on news sites, and one closer to home is Adobe Typekit, which is used to provide a source of fonts for many of the WordPress Themes.. So, … Continue reading →
First we had Microsoft ‘annoying’ its OEM partners with its own tablet (see my previous post..) and now – it seems – the company may – or may not – be introducing its own smartphone: http://www.informationweek.com/mobility/smart-phones/microsoft-to-build-its-own-windows-phone/240012727 This is starting to feel like the ’90s all over again… Then, Microsoft was notorious for ‘pre-announcing’ some wonderful new software … Continue reading →
So… Red Hat is looking to expand its operations – especially ‘cloud’ related – in China, now.. http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/business/2012-11/05/content_15874520.htm This may be a prudent move, but the company should not forget that China has already developed its own domestic Linux business over several years.. I remember Red Flag Linux, from the early-2000s.. http://www.redflag-linux.com/en/ Another (obvious) factor to take … Continue reading →
Apparently, good old Microsoft have been having fun at the US Patent Office, again. http://www.geekwire.com/2012/microsoft-diskinect-freeloading-tv-viewers/ Their latest bright idea for increased monetisation of their ‘consumers’ is a plan to detect the number of people viewing their gaming products, and cut the system off if their are ‘too many’ at one time. So, where there was once the … Continue reading →
I had been resisting the urge to publish a commentary on all the ‘Cloud’ hype out there.. Until now… As others have pointed out, a cloud used to be the standard image for ‘the external network’ in slide presentations going back to the pre-web days of the 80s.. I should know, because I created many such slides, … Continue reading →