Back to the Future, and “Who closed the Office?”
Microsoft has been having a little trouble lately, on at least three fronts (Note added January 17, 2010: This entry was written BEFORE discovery of the hole in Internet Explorer that led to the zero-day attacks on 34 Silicon Valley companies, including Google.):
Since earlier this month, certain phones that run Windows Mobile have been receiving text messages that appear to be coming from the future, 2016 in fact! The problem appears limited to HTC phones on Sprint’s network. CNET quotes a Microsoft statement;“Working with our partners, we’ve determined that the issue impacts only a small percentage of phones,” a Microsoft representative said in a statement. “Our partners are working on a fix and will provide more details shortly.” The market share of Windows Mobile has plummeted 28% in a year.
Certain versions of Microsoft Office were barred from sale today, as the result of an injunction from a legal verdict in which the custom XML function in recent versions of Word was found to infringe on technology patented by Toronto-based I4i. Sales of Office 2003 and 2007 containing the feature were barred from sale by the judge’s injunction. CNET cites a Computerworld statement that most versions of Office were unavailable from Microsoft’s online store today. As of 1:30 PM PST today, only the $670 Office Ultimate 2007 edition was listed in stock. Microsoft has already lost its first appeal of the case.
Some of Microsoft’s high-paying and loyal business customers have been left stranded. One long-time customer who asked CNET that his name not be used has been trying for weeks to access his account on Microsoft’s Web site that handles software licensing for business. Early last month, Microsoft’s attempts to consolidate three separate Web sites into a single, more secure (“very, very secure?” 
) site (the Microsoft Volume Licensing Service Center) have resulted in shutting out loyal business customers, who have been unable to log in! CNET has the details, and Microsoft has resorted to solving registration issues on a case-by-case basis.
Meanwhile, my business has been running very well on Macintosh.
Happy New Year!
-Bill at
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