FCC Probes Apple for GoogleVoice App Removal

So, we could all see this coming from a mile away.  Computerwrold.com is reportig that the FCC Is going to probe Apple’s removal of the GoogleVoice app fromt he app store.

The FCC is specificly demanding to know if AT&T has any say in the apps that get approved for the iPhone.

Will keep on following this, to see where it goes.

Source: Computerworld.com

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Microsoft + Yahoo = Steady?

Well, this is a few days old, but hey, I’ve been busy!

So Redmond, Washington’s Microsoft and Sunnyvale, California’s Yahoo have struck a deal.  This is not like last years attempt by Microsoft to buy the search engine out (which we all know failed, mostly due to Yahoo), but it looks to be a partnership.  Microsoft will let Yahoo use it’s serach engine (the code base behind Bing.com) while Yahoo will give Microsoft…. what?  Apprently they get some code from Yahoo… yeah?  Oh, and Yahoo’s salesforce will be taking on the responsiblity for advertisments on both Bing and Yahoo.

Is it me, or is it looking like Microsoft is getting the shaft here?  I know they see some logic to this, heck, even I see some of it, but why?  I know the two companies need to figure out a way to take on Google.

I tried to look up some stats, but hte newest I got was Aprl of 2008… which, we can all assume has changed dramaticly since then.  With reports of Yahoo falling more and more behind and Bing being launcehd by Microsoft.  But here is what I got:

Even from back in 2008, Google was dominating.  Again, Yahoo has slipped some since then, and Bing has been launched.

Will this partnership eat away at Google?  I don’t think so.  Google has a strong following, not to mention a very good search engine.  I have used Bing a few times, and while I like it, all the online services I use are on Google, thus making it more convient.

I do admit, however, that if I do a video search, I do use Bing instead.  Google’s video search just isn’t up to par.  Bing serachs more then just Youtube.com or GoogleVideo, plus it gives short little previews, which neather Youtube or GoogleVideo do right now.  Should Google change this?  Yes.  Should they expand their video search to search more then Youtube and GoogleVideo?  Heck yes.  It is limiting.  Once and awhile you will get something from Vimo, but that is it.

Source: Computerworld.com & Web.com

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Rebuttal to the Idiots at Slashdot

If you haven’t read the Slashdot article “The Hidden Costs of Microsoft’s Free Office Online” by Michael_Curator, go read it.  To be fair, Slashdot tends to have a lot of people that, A) hate Microsoft, B) love Linux/Apple… well, mostly Linux.  So, anything that is posted on that site tends to be in one of those two categories.

So the article is going into detail how Microsoft plans on charging business, schools, etc, for Office Online.  Okay, first, how is this a surprise!?  They said that when they released the information on Office 2010 and Office Online!  I posted about this a few days ago when Microsoft released details.  Here is the ComputerWorld article again.  Nuf said on that argument.

Okay, so Google Docs.  For you and me it is free.  Guess what, Office Online is going to be free for you and me.  This means that most people are not going to notice a darn thing.  Guess what people, Google charges schools, business, etc, to use Google Docs!!!  OMG!  Chico State moved to Google Mail a year ago, and they do pay for it.  Guess what, Microsoft is going to do the same thing for Office Online.

There is one thing Google Docs/Mail can’t do, and that is let companies host the services internally.  Microsoft is going to allow companies to host the online services internally.  That is one reason why Google Docs can’t get into larger corporations (and another thing that article is yelling about).  Companies don’t want classified documents on a third party server they have zero control over!  So yes, since the company is hosting internally, it is going to cost more!  Not just cause you need the server software (and it looks like you need SharePoint), but you need the OS, the hardware, the infrastructure.  So for those companies Microsoft still probably wants them to use the suit, and install it on the machines.

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