Windows IT Pro News

WinInfo Short Takes: February 10, 2012

Paul Thurrott — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 08:34:23 GMT

By Paul Thurrott
An often irreverent look at this week’s other news, including Microsoft’s incredible but overdue revelations about Windows 8 on ARM devices, why the tech press is wrong to deride Nokia for not having a Plan B, a hypocritical Barnes & Noble won’t let antitrust claims against Microsoft sit, the Xbox 360 continues to reign over a sad and diminished industry, an ironic Ethical iPhone movement sweeps across a hypocritical world, and Google is making a consumer electronics device that is not in any way interesting.

Quest Software Touts New Features of Secure Copy 6.0

Jeff James — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 12:22:55 GMT

By Jeff James
Scriptlogic was acquired by Quest Software in August 2007, and Secure Copy 6.0 -- released in late January -- is one of the first Scriptlogic products to be branded under the Quest umbrella. The first Secure Copy was released by Small Wonders Software, which was acquired by Scriptlogic in 2003.

Microsoft Pledges Reasonable Patent Licensing, No Injunctions

Paul Thurrott — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:42:08 GMT

By Paul Thurrott
Microsoft on Wednesday published a statement in which it pledged to license its "standard essential patents" using "fair, reasonable and nondiscriminatory terms." The statement follows a private pledge from Google to do the same with the Motorola Mobility patents, should its purchase of that company be approved by regulators.

Motorola Targets Apple, Microsoft Revenues in Patent Suits

Paul Thurrott — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 08:24:49 GMT

By Paul Thurrott
This week, details of two Motorola Mobility patent-oriented legal attacks against Apple and Microsoft, respectively, and both in Germany, were revealed. The goal? To obtain a small but lucrative percentage of the sales of both companies’ most popular products.

Virsto Updates Hyper-V Offering, Brings Storage Virtualization to VMware vSphere

Jeff James — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 11:24:37 GMT

By Jeff James
I recently interviewed Gregg Holzrichter, the VP of Marketing for Virsto Software, about two of his company’s recently announced products: Virsto 2.0 for Hyper-V, and the first release of Virsto for VMware vSphere. Virsto hopes that these products will help IT administrators make more effective use of their storage by leveraging virtualization.

ITC Attorney Claims Barnes & Noble Isn't Violating Microsoft Patents

Paul Thurrott — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 08:46:39 GMT

By Paul Thurrott
An on-staff attorney with the ITC believes that ebook reader maker Barnes & Noble should win a patent-infringement lawsuit brought against it by Microsoft.

The Consumerization of IT Is Not a Victimless Crime

Paul Thurrott — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 08:00:00 GMT

By Paul Thurrott
The trend toward the consumerization of IT has dramatic ramifications for end users who have unwittingly forced their employers to accept these changes.

Obviously, Smartphone Shipments Exceeded PC Sales in 2011

Paul Thurrott — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 08:35:43 GMT

By Paul Thurrott
Market researchers from Canalys announced that overall sales of smartphone handsets exceeded those of PCs in calendar year 2011.

WinInfo Short Takes, February 3, 2012

Paul Thurrott — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 09:33:01 GMT

By Paul Thurrott
An often irreverent look at this week’s other news, including a Windows Phone 8 leak, preordering a Nokia Lumia 900, Microsoft marketing layoffs, Facebook’s IPO numbers, an uproar over Google’s privacy policy changes, Apple’s two patent-related legal defeats this week, Android’s domination of the iPhone continued in Q4 2011, and Nokia is struggling but still sells far more handsets than any other company.

CEO: ARM-Based Windows 8 Devices Will Be Superior

Paul Thurrott — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 08:45:54 GMT

By Paul Thurrott
ARM CEO Warren East said that ARM-based tablets and other devices based on Windows 8 were superior both to Android tablets and to Windows 8 devices that will run on Intel-type platforms.