posted on March 16, 2010 by Bryant Zadegan
Up until now, Bryant’s life has been dominated by more scholarly matters. Now that time exists, things should be returning to a manageable pace.
How many different consumer online platforms does Microsoft have right now?
- Bing
- MSN
- Windows Live
- XBOX Live
- Zune Marketplace
That’s just a quick braindump; there are probably more, but for the purposes of my quick bout with insanity, this should suffice. The way I see it, Microsoft is rapidly losing branding focus, and while this doesn’t sound like something that matters in this age of Web 2.name-it-whatever, it is an issue for Microsoft, and it extends beyond the world of Microsoft’s online properties.
Jump to see why I think this is becoming a problem. Yeah, it’s long, but this is one of the few times when an overly long post is justified.
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posted on November 18, 2009 by Bryant Zadegan
Update: Part 2 has been added after the jump.
Update 2: added the link to last year’s Sensor Platform interview with Dan Polivy (as noted in part 2).
This interview was recorded on Tuesday, November 17, 2009.
As the first of my interviews from PDC, I noticed that Loic Le Muer was quick to familiarize himself with me as a part of the interview. This fact coupled with his persistent praise for the Seesmic devs who worked on Seesmic for Windows have led me to believe that Seesmic might actually be one of the better small software companies in existence.
Loic demonstrated Seesmic for Windows at PDC 2009 during Tuesday’s keynote. The obvious difference between Seesmic for Windows and Seesmic Desktop (the AIR version) is that the Windows client is native and written on top of the .net CLR. The plus sides to this include far better performance figures, a more Windows-integrated UI, and a lower tendency to leak handles (and fill my ram). The only downside to this is that it’s Windows-only… well, until you realize that moving .net code from a Windows native environment to Silverlight is actually not nearly as bad as writing another app from scratch.
My interview with Loic takes a browse through Seesmic for Windows v. Seesmic Desktop. I also decided to run through Silverlight Seesmic with Loic during our quick block of time, and while the Silverlight version still requires some polish before going live, the Windows preview version is solid enough for everyone to take a look.
Both parts of the interview can be found below the read link. Blame YouTube for forcing me to split a 13 minute video.
My thanks goes to Andrew Lyle from neowin for manning the camera.
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posted on October 24, 2009 by Bryant Zadegan
For a week or two after the official Windows 7 launch, I’ll be posting all sorts of videos, interviews, and other content. Stay tuned and either bookmark this post (and check repeatedly) or simply check AeroXperience for more updates. These will be the last major posts prior to the rollout of winJade, of which I’m intentionally withholding details because I’m mean and simultaneously awesome.
- The day after 7: perspective… and Brad Brooks (October 23, 2009) (Update: video brightened)
- The Windows 7 tweet-up in New York City, Winners, etc. (October 24, 2009)
- The Effects of Leaks: A Candid Interview (October 25, 2009)
- Unfortunately, the Windows 7 Keynote Interview with Thorsten Ganz cannot be published due to technical issues.
That’s it. Keep an eye on us for PDC!
posted on October 23, 2009 by Bryant Zadegan
When a product garners so much positive attention that the press are cheering after demonstrations, it’s generally considered a rather outstanding feat. I don’t remember the same kind of positive attention during the late January 2007 launch of Windows Vista (php str_replace("ch", "j", "cheering") would be a more accurate description of what happened after the Windows Vista launch event), but the crowd at the Windows 7 launch was far more enthusiastic and festive. That having been said, a few things put this launch into perspective for me and might give a sense of just how important and gamechanging Windows 7 might be.
- Microsoft is fully shifting focus to Windows 7. Windows Vista, of which the sheer length of the development cycle was inversely related to the level of approval and favor it garnered as time passed, has turned into something of an elephant in the room for Microsoft employees. Using the same metaphor and finding an excuse to quote an anonymous Microsoft employee I overheard yesterday afternoon, Windows 7 is the equivalent of a reputational wrecking ball designed for the sole purpose of “getting that elephant the f*** out”; it was the first Windows consumer OS born almost entirely from what the user wanted (read: what the average user hated about Vista). Now that it’s out and it starts replacing what was a good OS blighted by pre-SP1 bugs with what is a good OS right from the get-go, Microsoft has switched into what’s essentially a massive damage control mode.
- Adoption rates and momentum are high, at least according to an analysis by Rob Enderle. Based on his analysis of a study done independently from Microsoft by Laura DiDio and Sunbelt Software, he believes that Windows 7 adoption rates are “unmatched since Windows 2000” adoption rates almost a decade ago. Consumer adoption rates are also up there, with PCMag using the line “Windows 7 More Popular Than Harry Potter” to carry their point. Given that Windows 7 beat Harry Potter on Potter’s home turf, I’m going with the notion that PCMag and Amazon UK are right.
- Apple created more ads specifically for launch day. Yes, that depressing and uninspired ad campaign which Apple has continued for the last 4 years saw three new additions to the lineup. That’s three new ads released on the same day, which makes sense given the massive dearth of negative press against Windows 7. When a competitor simultaneously launches three attack ads specifically for your product launch, it’s a sign of desperation and a good enough reason for you to pull out your grill and refill that propane tank.
Hey, it wasn’t just me. The vast majority of Engadget’s commentators happen to agree.
Despite the recession and the subdued projections stemming as a result, it’s fair to say that all of the excitement is actually making jobs easier. Microsoft’s PR teams have an easier time when products don’t suck, and the press can move on to fuming at something more important, like the name of the next celebrity’s adopted baby.
The benefit to you? Better apps, higher developer morale, a solid OS, a higher willingness to publicly be a fan of Windows 7, and enough free time for a quick and awesome interview with a certain keynoting executive and perhaps the new face of Windows client by the name of Brad Brooks (Brandon LeBlanc would wisely and accurately like to remind me that there is no single face to Windows).
You can catch the video after the break. This interview happened near the end of our day, so the detailed questions were reserved for others who were around the event. You’ll see all (but one) of them over the coming week.
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posted on September 9, 2009 by Maurice
On Tuesday, some no-good hackers decided to post a vulnerability, complete with a proof-of-concept Python script, that can remotely crash any Windows-based computer that has the SMB 2.0 network protocol enabled, which includes any system running Windows Vista or later. So like anybody with a bunch of free time would do, I cracked open a couple of VM’s and had some BSoD fun with Vista but noticed that 7 didn’t budge whenever I sent the exploit packets, so I suspected that they probably tested the RC version against this exploit
Well my gut feeling was right, and Microsoft released a security advisory later that day stating that it only affected Windows Vista and Server 2008, as well as the Windows 7 RC, but no mention of the 7 RTM (or Server 2008 R2). Plus, the scope was narrowed further when it was revealed that Public network locations were unaffected (they blocked incoming connections anyway). So nothing that bad to get riled over.
Of course, until a hotfix is released, if you’d like to completely protect yourself from the exploit you can follow the directions to either
- Block ports 139 and 445 from inbound connections using a firewall
- Disable the SMB2 driver
- Both (why not? unless you’re actively using file/printer sharing)
posted on August 24, 2009 by Bryant Zadegan
Oh hey, seems like Windows 7-E is making a comeback (source-link is German) after having lived and died a very uneventful life in the EU. The German-language Microsoft Store is selling it for 299 euros, and the box art (as well as the page) clearly notes the lack of internet explorer on this version.
Mistake? Joke? A sign that Microsoft might’ve gotten pissed at Opera’s and Mozilla’s recent efforts to milk even more out of them? Who knows, but the box art for “Ultimate-E” has a weird stuttery look to it.
Credit goes to Andre Da Costa for pointing me to the buy page via MSN. I can’t read German, but from the presence of the box art, I’m certain this is for a retail copy of Windows 7-E.
posted on August 21, 2009 by Bryant Zadegan
My thanks goes to Ed Bott, legendary Microsoft columnist and author, for pointing me to this rather depressing article on Wired this afternoon. Before you begin reading my rebuttal, I’d like to remind all of you that I quite like my Windows and quite hate my Apples, so if you’re an Apple fan, lover, loyalist, and/or propagandist, you can save yourself a lot of adrenaline-inspired organ damage by avoiding this article.
With that aside, let’s get to it.
Brian Chen, a self-admitted Mac user (I’ll explain why this is bad at the end) and writer for Wired Magazine, has come out swinging hard at Windows 7, likely out of his own fear of seeing Apple’s marketshare decrease once Windows 7 gains traction. His current piece, eloquently titled “7 Reasons to Avoid Windows 7” strikes at the most commonly misunderstood points in Windows without properly dissecting the logic behind any of Microsoft’s decisions. In this piece, I’ll be going through each of Mr. Chen’s points, one by one, in order to explain exactly why both Windows 7 should be embraced and why Mr. Chen’s writings should be avoided. Awesomeness exposes itself after the jump.
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posted on July 30, 2009 by Maurice
As those involved in the Windows 7 community may know, Microsoft has failed to fix a crucial flaw in the User Account Control feature of the operating system which allows a specific whitelist of applications to inject code that can allow any application to silently elevate. The code was released about a month ago as a proof-of-concept by Leo Davidson showcasing the flaw elevating a command prompt window using the whitelisted explorer.exe process.
The company stands by UAC in its final form, but they’re taking it a step further by blocking the program that causes the exploit using their own security software.
Today, I just happened to download the zip file that causes the exploit when Microsoft Security Essentials greeted me with a nice dialog telling me that what I just downloaded is malware, specifically HackTool.Win32/Welevate.A and HackTool.Win64/Welevate.A (depending on architecture). While I’d agree that this can be considered a form of malware, it’s just a very bad way of dealing with the situation. However, Leo noted that Windows Defender in Vista did not detect this exploit, and Bryant confirmed that the same is true for Windows 7 (where the trick would actually work), so this seems to be exclusive to Microsoft Security Essentials.
It’s not clear what method the signatures take to detect it, but I promptly recompiled the source code under the Visual C++ 10.0 toolkit using VS 2010 Beta and the application ran undetected. Not a very good solution if it actually hash checks for the specific applications.
Leo, and I (or Bryant) will update our respective pages accordingly as we discover more. Bryant is seeking official word from Microsoft on what’s going on. Meanwhile, you can see the VirusTotal report here and grab the exploit here.
Update (~Bryant): let’s take a look at what’s going on here from a different approach. Microsoft says that the vulnerability here is not actually a vulnerability and is, in fact, by design. However, they’ve also classified Leo’s proof-of-concept as malware. Logically speaking, if a process whose sole purpose is to exploit a perceived vulnerability is marked as malware, then it’s reasonable to assume that the perceived vulnerability is indeed a significant problem. Basically, Microsoft contradicted themselves by listing the proof-of-concept as malware.
Update 2 (~Bryant): A friend of mine proposed one particular argument as a potential explanation to this issue, whereby this is a bug within Microsoft Security Essentials. The reasons I don’t believe this to be the case are:
- This exploit was specifically named as
HackTool:Win32/Welevate.A (A quick googling shows only three links; one is to the aforementioned virustotal link, the second and third to a Microsoft encyclopedia entry.
- This particular label only applies to this specific proof-of-concept
- A reasonable vulnerability assessment (”Medium”) was applied to this particular proof-of-concept, which makes sense given that this security vulnerability in UAC is only really an issue if either a user runs a malicious application or if some other internet-facing application were to be compromised. I covered the latter in an older post of mine where I explain how this flaw essentially raises the vectors of attack many-fold.
Leo and Bryant contributed to this post.
posted on June 10, 2009 by Bryant Zadegan
This is the final part in a series of two.
Yesterday, I focused on the un-selling points of the new MacBook Pro line as announced during the WWDC keynote. Today, my focus is going to be on Snow Leopard, Apple’s rather depressing tendency to bash Microsoft, and the rather nasty turn-off this all happens to be. Granted, most of Apple’s recent ad campaigns have comprised of “let’s make things up about Windows!” in order to try and gain market share. Microsoft is only avoiding suing Apple because of the potential for the world’s worst Streisand effect, which is depressing given the libelous nature of the ads themselves.
Having said this, it’s no surprise to see this mentality persist throughout this year’s WWDC keynote, so I’ll pick up from yesterday and explain just why Snow Leopard in and of itself is nothing more than hypocrisy.
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