Print - WinInfo Short Takes: Week of February 26

An often irreverent look at some of the week's other news, including recovering from a trip to Rome, Vista sales, Firefox market share, Vista logo'd applications, video game console sales, Virtual PC 2007, Windows Live for your TV, and much, much more...

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Steph and I took the kids to Rome, Italy last week. I'm still trying to remember why we did this in the first place--there must have been some killer Web deal on the plane tickets or whatever, because we weren't necessarily planning on going to Italy--but it was a good time. The kids are turning into great little travelers. They were fantastic on the plane ride both ways, and did well trucking around Rome despite some sore feet. Believe me, that makes all the difference in the world when you're traveling with kids. It made the whole thing more enjoyable.

I did, however, get pick-pocketed on a crowded Rome bus. I find this more than vaguely disconcerting because I was anticipating it and even looking out for it, but the bus was incredibly crowded, and I was a bit distracted by the sight of my tiny daughter's head disappearing under a pile of coats as people pushed us around. We hopped off the bus the second I knew it had happened and called the credit card company to cancel the card that got jacked. I think they only got about 30 Euros in cash and the one card: Thankfully, I knew the credit card number by heart and I was at least smart enough to have divided our cash between various front pockets and hidden stashes between my wife and me. (Yeah, they somehow got it out of my front jeans pocket.) We canceled the card quickly enough (within minutes, literally) that nothing happened there. Still, it was annoying.

I was hoping to get online at least a few times in Italy, if only to keep up with my email, but we were staying at a wonderful little bed and breakfast about 30 minutes outside the city, where high speed Internet access is but a quaint rumor. So I gave up any thoughts of actually working, which may have been for the best. That said, I now have hundreds of emails to triage, so if you're waiting on a reply, that might be why. It could take me a few days to sort it all out.

Leo and I recorded another episode of the Windows Weekly podcast yesterday, and that should be up soon. This week, we talked with Jensen Harris and Jacob Jaffe of the Microsoft Office team, mostly about the new Ribbon UI in Office 2007 and how that all came to be. I think it was a neat discussion and one many of you might enjoy. Look for it sometime today.

Finally, I'd like to thank Karen Forster again for covering for me this week. It was nice to take a few days off.

Short Takes

Tackling Some Stupidity About Vista's Success in the Market
There's been a weird set of stories making the rounds this week noting that Windows Vista retails sales are off considerably when compared to XP sales in the same time period after each products' launch. Does this mean Vista is off to a bad start? Of course not: Vista is that all-important gift to the entire PC industry, a feat of marketing we haven't witnessed since Windows 95. Put another way, Vista is causing people to buy new PCs, so most people aren't upgrading, they're simply getting new hardware. Bill Gates, responding to these ridiculous sales claims this week said, "I don't know what you mean. Vista's had an incredible reception." Sounds about right to me.

Microsoft Releases Vista Logo Apps List
Microsoft has released separate lists of applications that have been awarded the "Certified for Windows Vista" and "Works with Windows Vista" logos. The Certified list is the more interesting, since these applications have passed what Microsoft describes as a "rigorous" testing program ensuring Vista compatibility. They are, in short, the kinds of applications you really want to use if you're running Windows Vista. Sadly, there are barely 100 applications on this list, and 24 of them are Microsoft applications (mostly Office 2007 and related). Meanwhile, the longer "Works with" list includes applications that simply work normally on Vista. Microsoft says it will update the list weekly.

Firefox Stumbles as Safari Gains
Mozilla Firefox actually lost market share last month, according to Net Applications, while Microsoft's Internet Explorer held steady at about 80 percent market share. Firefox fell a bit to 13.7 percent of the market, down from 14 percent the previous month. But Firefox has had its ups and downs before. The big surprise in January was Apple's Safari browser, which runs only on Mac OS X. According to Net Applications, Safari usage jumped to 4.7 percent in January, up from 4.2 percent in December and 3.1 percent a year ago. This indicates, perhaps, that OS X usage is up a bit, though it's unclear if Net Application's numbers are US-only or worldwide: Net Application's OS share statistics show OS X holding about twice the worldwide market share that Apple actually commands, for example: 4.3 percent according to Net Applications, vs. about 2.5 percent in reality.

Video Game Consoles Soar in January
Microsoft sold 294,000 Xbox 360 consoles in the US in January, which is not too shabby when you consider that no major new game titles were launched that month. However, the Xbox 360 was still outsold by the Nintendo Wii, which had 436,000 sales in January, and the PlayStation 3, which sold 299,000 units. But don't feel too bad for Microsoft: The Xbox 360 did manage to outsell the four year old PlayStation 2, which sold just 244,000 consoles in the month. December was a much bigger month all around, given the holiday sales season: Microsoft sold 1.1 million Xbox 360s that month, compared to 604,000 Wiis and approximately 17 PlayStation 3s. (OK, Sony sold 490,000 PS3s in December. Supposedly.) Xbox 360-based games did pretty well in January, however: The number one selling game overall, the Xbox 360-specific title "Lost Planet," sold 329,000 copies. Meanwhile, two other Xbox 360-specific titles, "Gears of War" and "Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas" made the top ten as well.

Microsoft Ships Virtual PC 2007
Microsoft this week shipped the final version of Virtual PC 2007, its free desktop virtualization solution, which is available in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions. Virtual PC 2007 requires Windows XP, Vista, or 2003, and lets you run one or more virtualized PC environments under the host PC. It's a decent product, and given the price, it's certainly worth checking out. I use Virtual PC pretty routinely for testing purposes. Check out the Microsoft Web site for download details.

Microsoft Releases Beta Version of Windows Live for TV
And speaking of recent Microsoft releases, the company also shipped a beta version of its "Minority Report"-like Windows Live for TV application, which is a full-screen interface to Windows Live Messenger and Windows Live Spaces designed for users with huge widescreen displays or TVs. I saw a demo of this thing back in October and it's pretty neat looking, though I'm curious to see whether it actually works as well in real life. I'll have to wait a bit to find out: You have to sign up to get on the beta and Microsoft will contact you at a later point if you're accepted.

MSN Soapbox Goes Public
But wait, there's more: Microsoft also pushed its YouTube-like MSN Soapbox service to the public this week, ending a month's long invite-only beta. I've used Soapbox for a few videos on the SuperSite for Windows, and actually prefer it to other Web-based video services, though your mileage may vary. MSN Soapbox features a unique UI that lets the playing video always stay visible as you navigate around the site, something the competition sorely lacks. Check it out.

Microsoft Hit with Patent Infringement Fine
A federal jury on Thursday ordered Microsoft to pay Alcatel-Lucent SA $1.5 billion in damages for violating two digital music file format conversion patents. The fine was calculated by multiplying Windows and PC units sales since May 2003. Microsoft says the verdict was "completely unsupported by the law or the facts" and vowed to appeal the ruling. But this ruling isn't the only pending patent case Microsoft is currently facing: Various companies are also suing the company for violating patents related to speech, Xbox video encoding, and the Windows user interface. No, I guess it never does end.

Multi-Core Chip Sales Surpass Single Core
It's unclear how this is surprising, but Intel this week noted that over half of the microprocessors it shipped in the final quarter of 2006 were multi-core chips. That's right, multi-core chips are officially outselling their single core predecessors, and just a year or so after the first true multi-core chips appeared. (The Pentium D doesn't count in my book.) While virtually all multi-core chips in 2006 were of the dual-core variety, we have a number of four-core chips to look forward to in 2007 and of course 8-core chips are on the way as well. Ah, progress.

I don't think that's him. If it was, he wouldn't have said "just kidding", which would imply that the yawn wasn't necessary. And, he would have went in to a tirade about something. I'm calling him an impostor.

"The Pentium D doesn't count in my book" WHAT?!! ok, a Celeron and a Pentium 4 are wholly NOT more than 1 core, but this is just blasphemous! XP

"Finally, I'd like to thank Karen Forster again for covering for me this week. It was nice to take a few days off." So she did handle WinInfo while Paul was away? Or maybe she was one of the people who kept the comments thread going. "Video Game Consoles Soar in January" The way I see it, Wii will continue to remain #1 by a significant margin. XBox 360 and PS3 will have to fight it out for the #2 spot.

"So she did handle WinInfo while Paul was away?" she posted 2 articles. sadly, you missed them if you went to the wininformant.com domain or windowsitpro.com/wininfo. click the WinInfo link, then click "More WinInfo articles" at the bottom of the list of the 6 most current articles. you'll see them there. "PS3 will have to fight it out for the #2 spot" seriously though, does the PS3 even have any real "hits" yet? i have yet to see any commercials for PS3 *games*, although i do see some for PSP. the only commercials i see are the "PS3 in a white room" ads, which are very grating on the nerves, especially the baby-doll one. thankfully, i don't see them that often. Gears of War and Lost Planet commercials are playing all the time though, not to mention the XBOX Live ads. XP

off topic here's a bit of news, and relates to something i was discussing at an earlier time: tinyurl.com/2vu86r XP

@bmnbmn Nope its me. The one and only. No longer playing the game as it upset Paul the last time. Thats why the - just kidding. Hope Paul got a little smile out of it - I did a little bussiness with him last year and told him who I was. Funny after all this time he still has the same habit at posting about the same time as he did before.

Welcome back "Yawn!". It's been a long time...I think it's hilarous that you just made it your screen name. Hope you don't get banned.

"seriously [sic] though, does the PS3 even have any real "hits" yet? i [sic] have yet to see any commercials for PS3 *games*, although i [sic] do see some for PSP." Good point, but I see an awful lot of ads for Blu-Ray movies. Given that the PS3 is one of the least-expensive Blu-Ray players available, I think that counts. Even Sound & Vision Magazine is touting the PS3 as an excellent value considered solely as a Blu-Ray player, and ignoring its gaming capabilities: http://tinyurl.com/sgeyd I'd say that's it's "hit".

OK, I've been around a while...but I don't remember the Yawn reference (I'll blame it on age!!!). Can somebody tell me the old screen name, maybe then, I'll know who it is. --tayme

@lotsa - before you punk me with a [sic] upside the head, I just realized that I used a comma when I should have used a question mark... --tayme

Uh, you got the Playstation sales numbers inverted, Mr Thurott, sir. PS2 at $129 sold 299K units PS3 at $599 sold 249K units For comparison, Sony sold 76K units all month in Japan where Nintendo sold 211K wee Wii's. And, yes 360 did ship a couple of big-time games in January, starting with a lil thing called Lost Planet. Sony has troubles but mostly they come down to believing their own hype and getting their clock cleaned by Nintendo in Japan; they're actually doing okay in the US. Not making up any ground on 360 but not floundering just yet.

"I see an awful lot of ads for Blu-Ray movies" i see at least as many movies touting either HD-DVD or just "HD" though. i still have to say that just because it's cheaper than other BluRay players, doesn't automatically make it a "value". XP

As of Feb 13th there were 171 blue ray titles released vs 159 for HD-DVD. Sony has stated that the ratio will become 2-1 tiles for blueray this year. @tayme Yawn! was before your time. It was a game of first post on Paul's site. To say the least I became a dick and let Paul's post get to me and would post sh*t while slugging down a case of beer (I stopped drinking and started lurking). After sitting back and reading Paul's post he seems to be a somewhat of a straight shooter. Sure he takes a few pokes here and there at other platforms but he also pokes fun at Windows and Microsoft. I work with lots of platforms at work and use XP or Vista in the house on all 5 computers. When he linked up with Leo for WW, I started to enjoy him more as Leo does not let Paul's pokes go unchallenged.

"When he linked up with Leo for WW, I started to enjoy him more as Leo does not let Paul's pokes go unchallenged." Just as Paul doesn't let Leo's pokes go unchallenged. "As of Feb 13th there were 171 blue ray titles released vs 159 for HD-DVD. Sony has stated that the ratio will become 2-1 tiles for blueray this year." Hmm. Still too early to crown a winner.

shark47, Good call on the: "Just as Paul doesn't let Leo's pokes go unchallenged." This is the reason I enjoy Paul more. Maybe he will entertain using the same type of format here on wininformant once and a while.

Actually Paul, on OS X market share according to Net Applications, you got the number wrong. They report it at 6.22%. The number you reported, 4.3, is for PowerPC Macs only. You have to add in the MacIntel number which is 1.88%, bringing you to 6.22%. And if you look at the trend for both numbers, you can see they have both been increasing: http://marketshare.hitslink.com/report.aspx?qprid=5 You love to trumpet the Mac worldwide market share number, but you are really doing a disservice to your readers because the Mac share numbers have risen, more sharply in the US than in the rest of the world, but to bury your head in the sand and say there hasn't been an upward move is stupid, anyone who wants to can see the numbers. The difference between the Net Applications numbers and the absolute market share might be easy to explain. Since the PC market is comprised of every machine sold, including servers and point of sale and kiosk PCs, the web market share nubmers might be more meaningful for showing the OS trend amongst consumers, and those results are pretty clear year over year: XP - up Win 2000 - down Win 98 - down Mac - up Other - down The most widely used OSes then according to these numbers are XP at 85.02% and Mac OS X at 6.22%

"Sony has stated...." ....and Sony stated that the PS3 was going to be out 2 years ago, AND they also said that the MiniDisc would be the next "CD", AND they also thought the VAIO would make the premier video editing computer, AND they also said that the PS3 would have "MANY hit games" out the door. we all know how those predictions turned out.... XP

"@lotsa - before you punk me with a [sic] upside the head, I just realized that I used a comma when I should have used a question mark..." That's OK. I wrote "it's" when I should have written "its". I thought someone would pick up on it by now. *sigh*

"we all know how those predictions turned out...." Yeah, about as well as: “Two years from now, spam will be solved,” --Bill Gates, January 2004

"Two years from now, spam will be solved" funny you mention that. ever since Windows Live Mail Beta debuted and i signed up, i've noticed that my Hotmail address went from getting 8-10 spam messages a day to less than one (on average)....and i don't even have a "block list"! XP

O/T: Every Friday MS employee Cesar Menendez does a nice roundup of legal, free, DRM-less music on the web. Some of the songs are pretty good. Check it out at zuneinsider.com

"Even Sound & Vision Magazine is....ignoring its gaming capabilities" AHAHAHAHAHA! much like everyone else. XP

@lotsa: "That's OK. I wrote "it's" when I should have written "its". I thought someone would pick up on it by now." It's not an English Language Pros site, it's an IT Pros site. The occassional typo or minor mistake doesn't need to incessantly be pointed out.

"Every Friday MS employee Cesar Menendez does a nice roundup of legal, free, DRM-less music on the web." Wow. That's a really cool link--honestly, thanks for sharing it. Quite subversive, too, given the position of Steve "DRM is the future" Ballmer.

You're welcome, lotsa. You're right about Ballmer, by the way, but, hey, at least he practices what he preaches.

" Ballmer... practices what he preaches." Indeed...unlike Microsoft's Chairman. That's why I didn't include quotes from Bill Gates discussing the wonders of "Plays For Sure" and its place in the "Windows Ecosystem". I also left out the more disturbing idea of Gates wanting to "buy out artists for life" with a DRM license.

I like this Soapbox. I haven't checked YouTube thoroughly yet. In Soapbox I liked this video: "Apple & the Microsoft Deal" - MacWorld 1997" Just to tease Apple fans around here. :-) But it is an interesting video indeed. I'll not do any more comments on Apple in this message, although I think they have a vision barrier or something (=closed platform).

"If we want Microsoft Office on the Mac, we better treat the company that makes it with a little bit of respect." Well that proves that Steve's comments have a shelf life of less than 9 years heh.

Hmm, Jobs must have given George W. Bush some pointers, "In that craziness we see geniousness."

"... AND they also said that the MiniDisc would be the next "CD". Hmm I remember this one, in the sense that MiniDisc was on sale around, but I did not check it for the same reasons I have not checked OS X. Closed proprietary platform. If they had made it a public standard, probably it would be more widespread and they could have been on the top of the game. I always wondered why they do not standardise a smaller size disk for CDs and DVDs. I know there is a Mini-CD or something, but I am talking about main standards for DVDs both Rs and RWs too (if any doesn't exist, if it does please mention it).

"Closed proprietary platform. If they had made it a public standard...." actually, a few other companies were offering players, but when it didn't catch on, they soon dropped out. Sony hung on for the long haul though - the same for UMD movies. XP

"I always wondered why they do not standardise a smaller size disk for CDs and DVDs. I know there is a Mini-CD or something, but I am talking about main standards for DVDs both Rs and RWs too " there is, sort of. for "mini-DVD's", there's the 8cm format that DVD camcorders use. it's the same size as "mini-CD's", but are not used for much of anything else because of the fact that they'll really fudge up a slot load DVD player. this also includes a PS3, which is a really mind-boggling choice of Sony, considering they wanted it to be compatible with consumer electronics hardware....what about home movies on a camcorder DVD, Sony?!....stupid!.... of course, you still have the "-" and "+" varieties in both R and RW formats. XP

"for "mini-DVD's", there's the 8cm format that DVD camcorders use. it's the same size as "mini-CD's", but are not used for much of anything else because of the fact that they'll really fudge up a slot load DVD player. " Not to mention the custom shapes you can get from various manufacturers. Those things are a menace. As for MiniDisc, it still has its uses. I have a walkman-size MD player/recorder that I use for remote recording, and I know of at least two studios locally (and one radio station) that still use the format. For many purposes, it's quite versatile, and the good players are built like bricks. It never did well in the consumer market (for a lot of good reasons), but many pros still swear by it.

@lotsa Thanks for the welcome back! I am headed back to the dark but will pop in once and a while. Keep on Keeping on. - Yawn!

Actually MiniDisc while unpopular in the US and EU is _huge_ in Japan. My guess is Sony sometimes has a lack of understanding of non-Japanese markets, but then again if you can corner the Japanese markets the other markets aren't necessary for success for a particular product, just nice to have.

"Not to mention the custom shapes you can get from various manufacturers. Those things are a menace." Card shaped ones with a hole in the middle heh. I had MD for a while, during the time of 4x CD burners costing 500US, it was a quite viable option for dubbing while staying in the digital domain.