Two very important people are leaving Microsoft. First is Bryan Lee, former VP in the entertainment and device division, who oversaw the Zune launch. Second is Jim Allchin, former Co-President of the platform and services division. The latter had an excellent blog post on a day in his post-Microsoft life. Neither are going to competitors, however, instead both are going to "pursue personal interests," as the Reuters article linked above puts it.
In other Microsoft news, a so-called "vulnerability" has been found in Vista. The vulnerability involves having voice commands from a third-party being played over speakers and doing nasty things to a PC. I don't really see this is as a new problem, as it could have been done on any other OS that had voice recognition (e.g., XP or OS X). The easy solution is to disable voice commands (who really uses them anyway?), but a more long-term solution for people who do want voice commands is to have it require a passcode to be said before the OS runs a command.
Technorati Tags: Microsoft, Vista, Jim Allchin, Bryan Lee, Zune, Windows, vulnerability, voice recognition, voice commands, sound, voice
To counteract the media frenzy Microsoft is unleashing to coincide with today's release of Windows Vista, Apple has quietly introduced 4 new flavors of iPod shuffle - blue, green, pink, and orange. Also new with this release is the inclusion of the new headphones that are standard with the 2G nanos and 5.5G iPods (the original shuffle came with the old-style headphones).
This marks the first time Apple has released an iPod in orange, and it's the color that has gotten the most talk in the online Mac community today, although it could be because AppleInsider was the first to have shots of the new shuffle and it happened to be an orange one.
The left side of my Apple in-ear headphones died again (that's the 3rd time) and I need to get them replaced. Hopefully Apple will replace them for free, but if not, a new shuffle is only a $30 upsell from the $40 in-ear headphones (or $40 from the regular headphones). That's not too bad, however unnecessary a shuffle might be at the moment…
Technorati Tags: Apple, iPod shuffle, shuffle, iPod, iTunes
The first tidbit belongs to Joel Martinez of Community MX, who has posted Part 1 of his Deconstructing MySpace series on what goes on behind the scenes at MySpace (albeit from an outsider's perspective) and how to build your own social networking app. This first part focuses on setting up the database that will drive the application and future installments will focus on other details of implementation.
The second piece comes from Luke Wrobleski's notes on a SxSW 2006 panel entitled, "Behind the Scenes: Developing OS X and Longhorn". What struck me most about the two operating systems was that Windows development appears to be more democratic in the sense that multiple people decide what goes in and what doesn't. At Apple, it was Steve's way or the highway. I suppose that may have to do with Apple being a smaller company, but with every decision going through Steve, it would seem like OS X would turn out to be a lot smaller than Windows, but it feels on par with it (in the most general sense).
Technorati Tags: MySpace, social networking, tutorial, development, database, SWSW, SXSW 2006, OS X, Longhorn, Windows, Vista, Apple, Microsoft, operating systems
Vista has been delayed again. This time, the consumer editions have been pushed back until January 2007.
Dear Microsoft,
It's "underpromise and overdeliver", not "overpromise and underdeliver". As Counselor Kevin 'Ug' Lee said during the opening credits of the early-90s Nickelodeon show, Salute Your Shorts, "Get it right or pay the price."
Regards,
Martin
Technorati Tags: Microsoft, Vista, Windows Vista, Windows, delayed, Nickelodeon, Salute Your Shorts, software, operating systems
