Microsoft to open-source fans: It's all about the love - by Charles Cooper from CNET News.com - "The advance billing had the audience assuming Daniel was about to enter the lions' den. What they got was more along the lines of Mister Rogers talks tech. Brad Smith, who is Microsoft's top lawyer, went out of his way during an afternoon talk before a gathering of open-source die-hards to portray the software company as ready to turn a page in its relationship with the developer community."

Blasphemy! Google Debuts Video Ads in Search Results - by Adam Ostrow from Mashable - "Since the ads do not appear to be immediately obvious, Google purists might not freak out completely over the inclusion of video ads in search results. However, as I said back in February when I learned of the initiative, it certainly marks a significant shift from Google’s once barebones interface."

Should Open Source Projects Accept VC Backing? - by Michelle Dively from OStatic - "[Benchmark Capital's Rob Bearden] says open source companies should strive to become the 'enterprise standard' in their market space in order to effectively monetize their commodities. He also notes that if companies are willing to embrace the idea of making money off their open source projects, then they might be rewarded with an infusion of venture capital cash."

Many web developers breathed a sigh of relief yesterday, myself included, when Microsoft announced that the new version of Internet Explorer would adhere to current web standards by default. Originally, the idea was to make IE8 more backward-compatible, using IE7's "standards" mode by default, and forcing web programmers who wanted to use IE8's "standards" mode to specify that in a page's HTML code. With yesterday's decision, IE8 will default instead to its own "standards" mode.

Why is this important? Doesn't it mean a lot of work to update and add code to older web pages? Probably. All current browsers have two main rendering modes: "quirks" and "standards." When a browser is asked to load a web page that requests a current DOCTYPE in its code, the browser uses its own standards mode to render the page. Older or improperly-formed web pages, that either reference older standards or have no specific reference to a standard, are rendered using "quirks" mode, where the browser tries to emulate an older version in order to display the page.

The problem is standards change over time, as new technology creates needs for browsers to handle content they didn't need to before. Plus each browser has its own way of implementing "standards," so you can see the dilemma web developers are faced with when creating web pages.

When Microsoft released IE7 in October 2006, some web pages that had rendered correctly in IE6 looked bad in the new browser. This was due to changes in the "standards" mode between the two versions, which also exposed some workarounds developers had used during the five years IE6 was the dominant Windows-based browser to get it to render certain objects properly. One example was the incomplete support for alpha-channel transparency in PNG images in IE6 and earlier. Developers had to use code that determined which version of which browser the site visitor was using, and apply a workaround if IE6 or earlier was detected.

When three out of four computer users are viewing web pages in a browser made by Microsoft, whatever decision Microsoft makes carries a lot of weight. Microsoft's original decision to set IE7 "standards" by default, while understandable from a compatibility standpoint, would have crippled future development of web technology by tying standards to the older, IE7-era.

Dean Hachamovich, Microsoft's General Manager for Internet Explorer, summarized the company's decision this way:

"Long term, we believe this is the right thing for the web. Shorter term, leading up not just to IE8’s release but broader IE8 adoption, this choice creates a clear call to action to site developers to make sure their web content works well in IE."

It may mean some short-term pain for web developers who have to upgrade older pages, but Microsoft's announcement yesterday that IE8 will embrace current web standards by default, whether prompted by pending litigation or a newfound love of open standards, means the future development of the web will be looking forward instead of backward. In the long run, that's good for both users and web professionals.

When I first started using PCs, one of the most celebrated features in word processing was Cut and Paste. If you don't remember correction tape, this has no meaning to you. But before Cut and Paste, documents were messy and manual. Edits were cause for panic. It was a cold, mouseless world. But the sun shone brightly on all documents when Cut and Paste arrived.

It was off to the races with features after that. The features in Microsoft Office have expanded and bloated to the point where we don't even know what they all are. I might even be able to get Outlook to start my dinner or Excel to dispense allowances, but unless I've typed the magic words into the help system, I'll never know. Sometimes I'm very happy about that. I only need about twenty features in Word, give or take five. I won't get a promotion by knowing any of the other ways I can create a document. But I really need Cut and Paste to work.

In today's world of sharing information from multiple sources, the urge to Cut or Copy is even greater. Unfortunately, if you are creating Word documents or Outlook emails, there is no telling what will happen after you've clicked Paste. Text may jump into triple spacing, fonts move from Times New Roman to Arial or Courier New and all bets are off as to whether you will have paragraph marks where they should be. And don't even get me started on Word style sheets - those elusive wizards lurking in the background of your document asking you to conform to some unnamed standard which you never asked for. Accidentally take one document into another with varying styles and the tiny font fairies wave their magic wands for the sheer pleasure of seeing your face when you realize every header has disappeared and your document is now set entirely in Wingdings.

Why, Microsoft? A simple, beautiful feature, Cut and Paste, has been corrupted by "more features" and embedded graphics, HTML codes and other background issues than I can name. These days, I just save new documents as text, close them and re-open them so I can work with unadulterated words. Just a few nice words on the page with no lurking "code" in the background which I can't see, edit or remove.

I know there are other solutions and I could leave the mainstream of MicrosoftLand, but that's not really practical in my office. So here's a gentle appeal to Microsoft and other major developers out there: save the pristine and simple beauty of Cut and Paste and make life easier for the humble creators and users of moderately simple documents and emails like me. We're not stupid - we just want it to work.

The official teaser site for Microsoft's WorldWide Telescope project is live. This is the technology that made former Microsoft blogger Robert Scoble cry a few weeks ago.

The kids in the short video "The Magic of WorldWide Telescope," available for viewing on the project site, seem fascinated. But the video's director could have been holding out a fifty dollar bill and gotten that reaction. (Come to think of it, though, I have that reaction to a fifty dollar bill.) The scientists, artists and others quoted in the other video, though, seem genuinely impressed with WorldWide Telescope.

I'll confess that what they're describing is pretty cool, and that I'm looking forward to trying it out myself. Naturally, since it's in private alpha testing and I'm a tiny little blogger who makes fun of people who cry for a living, I'm not going to see it any sooner than most of us. So I'll have to wait to shed my own tears. Which I might, who knows?

Looks like the EU has had enough of Microsoft's stalling in complying with a 2004 court order to stop using high licensing fees for its Windows patents to stifle competition. Even last week's announcement of peace, love and openness wasn't enough to impress European regulators, who today slapped Microsoft with a fine of 899 million euros, which is one dollar for every kilometer from the Earth to Saturn, and is a lot of copies of Microsoft Bob any way you look at it.

(By the way, if all of the 899 million euros Microsoft was fined were stacked one on top of the other, the stack wouldn't reach Saturn. In fact, it probably would get blown over by wind long before the stack was finished.)

"Microsoft was the first company in 50 years of EU competition policy that the commission has had to fine for failure to comply with an antitrust decision,'' EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes said in the statement announcing the fine. She also pointed out that last week's Microsoft announcement was the fifth time that Microsoft said they would work to improve interoperability, with little satisfactory results to date.

"Talk is cheap,'' Kroes said. "Let's wait and let's find the reality in this case. They have to deliver and implement.''

Microsoft's big announcement today about changes in their business practices to "increase the openness of its products and drive greater interoperability, opportunity and choice" is a very public recognition by the company of the seismic shift in the software industry.

While Microsoft still dominates, with over 91 percent of all PCs running Windows, that market share has been very slowly eroding over the past few years. More of a concern, though, has to be the slow adoption rate of Windows Vista by end users; the newest Microsoft operating system is only being used by twelve percent of PC users a year after its release, while 75 percent of users are still using Windows XP. Obviously, the days of launch parties, buyers camping overnight outside computer stores and, most importantly, big profits from the release of an upgraded OS are ancient history. It's so ten years ago.

Today's announcement by CEO Steve Ballmer and Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie demonstrates Microsoft's need to remain significant in a world where open source software alternatives have gained footholds. Isolation is no longer a viable option; Microsoft had to figure out how to play nice with the little kids before they got big enough to beat them up. And they will continue to grow.

Of course, the press release does acknowledge that Microsoft's hand was forced somewhat by the European Community's Court of First Instance decision in September 2007, requiring the company to improve interoperability of its products. While compliance with the CFI's judgment apparently drove the timing of today's announcement, these were changes Microsoft had to make eventually to keep pace in a changing software development world.

It's the age of the mashup. We've come to expect different software solutions to work together, to have an open API for us to play with. With the details of their "high-volume business products" secreted away behind developer non-disclosure agreements, Microsoft risked being left out of the picture. So now there will be "greater transparency," starting with over thirty thousand pages of documentation being released starting today that were only available to certified developers yesterday.

Microsoft's acknowledgment of the changing reality in its industry is enormous, possibly the biggest single announcement they will make this year (and that includes whatever made Robert Scoble cry last week). While Microsoft had made tentative, and stumbling, efforts to assure the open source community that lawsuits weren't going to come raining down on them in the past, today's announcement has a tone of conciliation and recognition that has been missing. If not exactly a peace agreement, perhaps a level of cordial détente has been reached with today's announcement in Redmond.

Just kidding about that last part. Sorry if you've been waiting for that. Really.

Yesterday, Robert Scoble wrote about something Microsoft researchers Curtis Wong and Jonathan Fay were working on and will introduce early next month. It's so cool, Scoble says that it's very rare "that I see software that I know will change the world my sons live in." It made him cry. "While watching the demo I realized the way I look at the world was about to change. While listening to Wong I noticed a tear running down my face. It’s been a long while since Microsoft did something that had an emotional impact on me like that."

Yeah. How about never. (My favorite comment to Scoble's post: "Funny you should say that Robert, Microsoft products tend to make me cry……..with rage - generally about 3 or 4 times a day.")

But it sounds intriguing, no? I'm willing to give Microsoft a tiny bit of benefit of the doubt. But without any specifics from Scoble (he only got to see what Wong and Fay were doing by agreeing to a news embargo), his non-discussion discussion of the project did cause some problems for the team when a few popular tech blogs and hundreds of commenters started wildly speculating about just what made him cry.

Some of the speculation pointed at Photosynth. Scoble says nope. Today he says "[t]he thing I’m talking about is NOT anything you’ve seen Microsoft do before" and "I don’t believe this service will ship or be usable anytime soon. Remember that this is a Microsoft Research project and that they build things that aren’t meant to be production quality."

And then Long Zheng posted a screenshot of a Microsoft site, opensourcehero.com, that only displays the cryptic message, "{Forge} New Powers" and the date "February 27, 2008". At first Zheng thought it might be related to the Thing That Made Scoble Cry, but apparently not. At the least, there appears to be another hero in town come the end of the month. (Yes, I just linked to my own About page. I was here first.) Long Zheng is one of my favorite bloggers, by the way, because he's up front about this: "Inquire today about my competitive rates for biased opinions and reviews, discounts available for bulk purchases."

So we just don't know. I hope it really is cool, because I like cool stuff. I kinda hope it's a robot pony. But frankly, I'll just be satisfied never to accidently see these pictures ever again.

UPDATE: I visited Microsoft's Photosynth project again this morning (Saturday). I tried it last fall but it wasn't working right then. Today it worked very well and, admittedly, it's very cool. Of course it isn't what Made Scoble Cry, either, nor did I shed any tears. But it is cool. Take a look for yourself.

The second Tuesday of the month is here, and Microsoft's Lincoln's Birthday present is no less than eleven patches, six marked "critical" and five "important." One of the patches affects only Windows Vista users. The complete details of the eleven patches is available from the Microsoft TechNet site. Visit Windows Update to check whether your computer is patched, especially if you have Automatic Updates turned off. Remember to do this using Internet Explorer; Firefox or other browsers won't work with the Windows Update site.

The anticipated Service Pack 1 for Vista isn't available - officially - yet. It's expected in March. Reports from Windows news site WinBeta suggests that it's available now, but it's probably best to wait for the offical release date to avoid problems.

Apple also updated Mac OS X to version 10.5.2 yesterday. If you're using the third most popular operating system (after XP and the intrepid Vista users), you can find the updates here or by checking for software updates under the Apple menu.