Windows Vista - brrrp - hmm, no aftertaste.

So the past few weeks have seen the flood of commentary following Microsoft's Vista RC1 release.  Opinions vary, but it seems like the longer the OS sits in the wings awaiting final spit and polish, the more underwhelmed all the analysts are getting. Don't get me wrong, I know Vista has some nice features, for the admin set especially, and less clearly, maybe for the user.  But it's not anything to knock your socks off.  And I think there's a point in that. Maybe it's time for Microsoft to get out of the OS business.  

Windows Vista - brrrp - hmm, no aftertaste.

So the past few weeks have seen the flood of commentary following Microsoft's Vista RC1 release.  Opinions vary, but it seems like the longer the OS sits in the wings awaiting final spit and polish, the more underwhelmed all the analysts are getting. Don't get me wrong, I know Vista has some nice features, for the admin set especially, and less clearly, maybe for the user.  But it's not anything to knock your socks off.  And I think there's a point in that. Maybe it's time for Microsoft to get out of the OS business.  

Windows Vista - brrrp - hmm, no aftertaste.

So the past few weeks have seen the flood of commentary following Microsoft's Vista RC1 release.  Opinions vary, but it seems like the longer the OS sits in the wings awaiting final spit and polish, the more underwhelmed all the analysts are getting. Don't get me wrong, I know Vista has some nice features, for the admin set especially, and less clearly, maybe for the user.  But it's not anything to knock your socks off.  And I think there's a point in that. Maybe it's time for Microsoft to get out of the OS business.  

Windows Vista - brrrp - hmm, no aftertaste.

So the past few weeks have seen the flood of commentary following Microsoft's Vista RC1 release.  Opinions vary, but it seems like the longer the OS sits in the wings awaiting final spit and polish, the more underwhelmed all the analysts are getting. Don't get me wrong, I know Vista has some nice features, for the admin set especially, and less clearly, maybe for the user.  But it's not anything to knock your socks off.  And I think there's a point in that. Maybe it's time for Microsoft to get out of the OS business.  

Shark Tank: Almost Too Simple

After a break-in at this company, CFO acquires a security system without IT's input. It never works quite right, the vendor is fired, and now it falls to IT to support it.

Shark Tank: Almost Too Simple

After a break-in at this company, CFO acquires a security system without IT's input. It never works quite right, the vendor is fired, and now it falls to IT to support it.

Acrobat 8: It’s a PDF generator, a floor wax and a whipped cream topping

Adobe wants Acrobat to be much more than a way to create PDFs. So Acrobat 8 Professional, announced today, adds several features for managing and enhancing PDF content and metadata. I sat in on an Adobe call last week where the company demonstrated some of those new features. Even the user interface seems to deemphasize PDF creation, which appears as just one of six function buttons on the opening screen. The others are Combine Files, Export, Secure (encrypt), Sign (apply digital signature) and Forms. Adobe also announced Acrobat Connect, a Web conferencing service that facilitates collaboration on Acrobat documents – or any other subject for that matter - using BreezeCentral, a service that Adobe recently integrated as part of its Macromedia acquisition.

News Briefs

Brief IT news items.

Data Center Managers Widely Embrace Server Virtualization

Server virtualization technology has become firmly established in IT shops, according to IT managers and analysts at Infrastructure Management World.

SAP Shifts Upgrade Policy to Woo Users

SAP says its mySAP ERP 2005 will be its core platform through 2010. New features will be rolled out in small chunks that are easier to install.

SAP Rollout Hits Wabash Profits

Wabash National Corp. is in the process of stabilizing a faulty SAP implementation, which the company blamed for a sharp drop in second-quarter profits.

Briefs

Short IT news items.

Get Ready for RC1

Frankly Speaking: Thanks to a clever marketing move by Microsoft, prerelease versions of Vista are likely to hit your network. Frank Hayes suggests ways to handle the problem.

Texas Longhorns, other Big 12 teams, now swapping game films digitally

The Texas Longhorns and other Big 12 college football teams are now exchanging game films over the Internet using technology from Orlando-based XOS Technologies Inc.

Station Casinos places winning bet on Marathon technology

Station Casinos, which operates 25,000 slots in Las Vegas, has turned to software from Marathon Technologies to keep it its servers up and running around the clock.

IUpload upgrade boosts blog management

Administrators of internal blogs will be able to restrict readers from viewing, submitting or altering essentially any piece of content on blogs.

IBM eyes 'symptoms catalog' for sick apps, systems

IBM and other large systems management vendors are discussing ways of creating a knowledge base that contains information on known problems with software and systems.

CA's Swainson tells shareholders '07 to be year of 'execution'

Look to fiscal 2007 to be the year that CA executes on its business transformation strategy, CEO John Swainson told shareholders today.