Microsoft announced today that it is acquiring Sybari Software, Inc., an anti-virus software company based in New York. This is the second anti-virus related company has purchased. Last year they purchased GeCAD. GeCAD technology is in the latest malware removal tool Microsoft has been distributing for free.
Microsoft began using the Sybari anti-virus product itself last year after extensive testing of anti-virus products. They feel the product is the best available solution and decided to purchase the company. Expect a Microsoft labeled anti-virus product relatively soon.
Tuesday, February 08, 2005
Thursday, February 03, 2005
SBC To Buy AT&T, Eliminate 13,000 Jobs
SBC is in the process of buying AT&T for about $16 Billion. Yes, the company that is losing money, laying off 7000 people, and losing lines on a monthly basis is at it again! Second announcement "We expect to eliminate approximately 13,000 positions". These guys are wizards!
I must have missed the part about how this will be a good deal for customers or stockholders. I wonder what the CEO's will make? For AT&T customers this might be good. AT&T has totally lost its way in the last few years. Today, I read an ad telling me I should use AT&T network services because they are the best in the world. Huh?
For SBC customers, well can it get much worse really? For stockholders, you might look at how the stocks of the last several mega-mergers have done.
I must have missed the part about how this will be a good deal for customers or stockholders. I wonder what the CEO's will make? For AT&T customers this might be good. AT&T has totally lost its way in the last few years. Today, I read an ad telling me I should use AT&T network services because they are the best in the world. Huh?
For SBC customers, well can it get much worse really? For stockholders, you might look at how the stocks of the last several mega-mergers have done.
Tuesday, February 01, 2005
Microsoft Releases MSN Search and Updates MSN
Yesterday, Microsoft released its MSN Search Site. It had been beta testing its search engine for a while. Previous to this release, MSN Search was hosted by Yahoo and was third most used search site behind Google and Yahoo. We'll have to see what happens now. I'm not a search expert by any means but have been using the beta for a couple of months. It seems very capable to me. Microsoft says it has big plans for its Search Site. Of course so do Google and Yahoo!
At the same time, Microsoft updated its MSN Website. They trimmed it down and added the MSN Search buttons. I have been playing around with my.msn.com which is a customizable portal on MSN. I think it is pretty neat. You can plug in the content you want and create custom pages like a Weekend Page that includes various plug in components like the weather, movies, dining info, etc. Very cool! They have also just added an RSS Reader component so you can get RSS feeds from your favorite RSS sites!
At the same time, Microsoft updated its MSN Website. They trimmed it down and added the MSN Search buttons. I have been playing around with my.msn.com which is a customizable portal on MSN. I think it is pretty neat. You can plug in the content you want and create custom pages like a Weekend Page that includes various plug in components like the weather, movies, dining info, etc. Very cool! They have also just added an RSS Reader component so you can get RSS feeds from your favorite RSS sites!
Thursday, January 27, 2005
SBC To Eliminate 7000 Jobs In 2005
SBC, the second largest telco company in the US announced it will cut 7000 jobs in 2005. Actually this is just an extension of its announcement in 2004 that it will eliminate 10,000 jobs. What's more interesting to me is that it lost 266,000 phone lines in the last quarter of 2004, a trend that started in 2001. I suspect many of those lines have been lost to VOIP (Voice over IP). VOIP is phone service over the Internet. I have been using it for about a year and its great. My cost is 50% of what SBC was charging. I am switching to a new VOIP vendor and my bill for unlimited calling will be $199.00 per year!
SBC's monopoly is on the telephone wire coming to your house. They are losing that monopoly because you don't need their wire any more. Now they must compete on the quality of their service. They are going to have a tough time. Just call for service sometime!
If you are an SBC stock holder consider this. I predict that within 10 years wireless high speed Internet will be widely available. Guess what? No wires. Think cable companies are immune? TVoIP (TV over IP) will enable television over high speed Internet and is being tested as you read this. What if you don't need the cable company's wire for your TV?
The next few years will be interesting to watch. This Internet thing just might be something!
SBC's monopoly is on the telephone wire coming to your house. They are losing that monopoly because you don't need their wire any more. Now they must compete on the quality of their service. They are going to have a tough time. Just call for service sometime!
If you are an SBC stock holder consider this. I predict that within 10 years wireless high speed Internet will be widely available. Guess what? No wires. Think cable companies are immune? TVoIP (TV over IP) will enable television over high speed Internet and is being tested as you read this. What if you don't need the cable company's wire for your TV?
The next few years will be interesting to watch. This Internet thing just might be something!
Tuesday, January 25, 2005
I Love RSS!!
Do you have certain Websites or Blogs that you visit regularly to see if any new items have been posted? Wouldn't it be nice if the Website or Blog notified you when something new has been posted? Well that's exactly what RSS is designed to do.
RSS means Rich Site Summary or Really Simple Syndication depending on which article you are reading. What RSS does is allow Websites and Blogs to syndicate their content. Then by using one of many RSS Readers a user can subscribe to syndicated Websites and/or Blogs and be alerted when the subscribed content has changed. This is really useful!
There are many RSS readers. I am using FeedDemon at home. It is a stand alone RSS Reader that is very easy to use. At the office I use Newsgator which is an Outlook add in. Newsgator adds another set of folders to Outlook that accept messages from my subscribed sites and lets me view the content changes.
Many Websites and Blogs have syndicated their content. All 3 of my Blogs are syndicated and our new SSGI Website will be syndicated when we go live with it in a couple of months. You can find a list of RSS Readers by clicking here. For more information on RSS click here.
You can check my SSGI Blog, SSGI HIPAA Blog, and Ed's World Blog by clicking on any one of them. Each of the Blogs is syndicated.
RSS means Rich Site Summary or Really Simple Syndication depending on which article you are reading. What RSS does is allow Websites and Blogs to syndicate their content. Then by using one of many RSS Readers a user can subscribe to syndicated Websites and/or Blogs and be alerted when the subscribed content has changed. This is really useful!
There are many RSS readers. I am using FeedDemon at home. It is a stand alone RSS Reader that is very easy to use. At the office I use Newsgator which is an Outlook add in. Newsgator adds another set of folders to Outlook that accept messages from my subscribed sites and lets me view the content changes.
Many Websites and Blogs have syndicated their content. All 3 of my Blogs are syndicated and our new SSGI Website will be syndicated when we go live with it in a couple of months. You can find a list of RSS Readers by clicking here. For more information on RSS click here.
You can check my SSGI Blog, SSGI HIPAA Blog, and Ed's World Blog by clicking on any one of them. Each of the Blogs is syndicated.
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