Originally posted here.

How to take how Google treats its employees and use it to your advantage.

I had an opportunity to visit a friend of mine who works at one of Google’s satellite offices (not the main GooglePlex in Mountain View, Calif.). It was an eye-opening experience on several levels: the number of people still working late at night, the numerous perks, the free food, a fleet of bicycles that anyone could use for their errands, the evening exercise classes and the on-staff masseuse.

What, you don’t have an on-staff masseuse? Well, that might be a bit much. But it got me thinking about ways that you can make your own shop more desirable and your staff more willing, and most of these don’t cost a lot, either. Here are some suggestions.
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Originally posted here.

Posted by Matt Asay

And to think Microsoft used to be popular with the developer crowd…Not anymore. A recent report from Evans Data shows fewer than one in 10 software developers writing applications for Windows Vista this year. Eight percent. This is perhaps made even worse by the corresponding data that shows 49 percent of developers writing applications for Windows XP.
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The Federal Trade Commission, under new leadership, reverses course and begins a formal investigation of Intel and alleged anti-competitive practices. Intel says it’s been cooperating with the FTC for years and that its business practices “are well within U.S. law.”

Originally posted here.

“Windows is too monolithic,” says Gartner

Microsoft’s Windows operating system is teetering on the edge of catastrophic collapse. So say analysts at respected technology consultancy Gartner.

Of course, since the release of the troubled Vista iteration of Windows, sticking the boot into Microsoft has been a popular sport for cranks and commentators alike. More recently, the chatter has concerned the possibility that many businesses might skip Vista altogether and jump straight to the next version of Microsoft’s cash cow, currently known as Windows 7.

But when a serious operation like Gartner weighs in with such a damning appraisal, it can’t be dismissed as the usual anti-monopolist moaning.
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TAIPEI, Taiwan — June 3, 2008 — Today at Computex, Microsoft Corp. announced that following the success of Windows on netbooks, the Windows offering is being extended to include nettop devices. Netbooks are commonly referred to as ultralow-cost PCs (ULCPCs) and were originally intended for students and other first-time PC customers in emerging markets. Nettop refers to desktops that are ultralow-cost.

In April, Microsoft announced the worldwide extension of the availability of Windows for this emerging class of devices that are primarily used for e-mail, accessing the Internet and instant messaging, and the company is seeing much demand among industry partners who want to ensure that customers can have the benefits of Windows on both new and existing devices.
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