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Microsoft’s productivity apps are $22 billion cash cows As Microsoft Word turns 30 on Oct. 25 it is not only the world’s most pervasive word-processing applications, it is a cash cow for the company. Word is an original application in Microsoft Office, the productivity suite that customers must buy to get Word and that has…
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Many IT leaders admit their spending is too heavily weighted toward keep-the-lights-on projects. Here’s how to tip the balance. Social! Mobile! Big data! BYOD! You probably already know what your company’s executives most want to see from your IT organization. But unless your company is very new, or you’re unusually lucky — or a very,…
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Public donates $76,000 to take on patent troll Having amassed a war chest of $76,000 in public donations and identified crucial “prior art,” the Electronic Frontier Foundation yesterday filed a formal challenge aimed at killing a patent being wielded by Personal Audio LLC against podcasters such as “The Adam Carolla Show” and “How Stuff Works.”…
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At the same time, though, permanent IT hiring may be rising as well, researcher says The percentage of contract workers on IT staffs reach 17% last year and 15% this year in large organizations — the highest level of contractors to staff since the late 1990s, according to Computer Economics. The earlier spike came in…
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Ballmer hammers home Microsoft’s ‘high-value’ strategy in final letter to shareholders Unlike last year, no surprises in CEO’s last letter to investors In his last letter to shareholders before retiring, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer hammered on the same themes he and other executives struck three weeks ago in front of Wall Street analysts. Among the…
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The U.S. still cracks the top five in global Internet freedom, as surveillance appears to be a common trend. Internet freedom has declined in the United States over the past year as a result of its surveillance policies, reflecting a trend that appears to have caught on worldwide, according to a recently released study. The…
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Also, nobody but Microsoft will touch Windows RT, Bill Gates gets his purple wish The new Kindle Fire HDX tablet is giving Microsoft’s Surface 2 a run for its money as a business device even though the Surface 2 won’t be available until next month. Kindle HDX can view Microsoft Office applications via OfficeSuite Viewer,…
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Windows 8 Update: New Kindle takes on Microsoft Surface 2 in workplace Also, nobody but Microsoft will touch Windows RT, Bill Gates gets his purple wish The new Kindle Fire HDX tablet is giving Microsoft’s Surface 2 a run for its money as a business device even though the Surface 2 won’t be available until…
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Microsoft may be well-served to bring in an outsider to replace departing CEO Steve Ballmer. Here are two strong candidates. As I said in a prior blog post, I feel Microsoft’s problems are too big for an insider to handle. This person will have allegiances, friendships and biases that may cloud his or her judgment…