Posts Tagged ‘OS’

Microsoft Office 365 beta: Potentially useful, occasionally frustrating

Monday, December 27th, 2010

Microsoft Office 365, a suite of business-focused, cloud-based applications that was recently released in beta, is actually a repackaging and updating of various Microsoft offerings — optimized for the cloud. The intent is to give small businesses the kind of benefits that up until now only large companies have been able to get from services such as Exchange and SharePoint.

Don’t be confused by the product’s name — it’s not a new or updated version of Microsoft Office. Office 365 is an upgrade of Microsoft’s Business Productivity Online Standard Suite (BPOS). This revamped and renamed version of the suite adds subscription-based access to Office 2010 to BPOS and includes hosted versions of Exchange, SharePoint and Lync (Microsoft’s communications server), along with Office Web Apps, the Web-based version of Microsoft Office.

Some versions of Office 365 do include a subscription-based version of Microsoft Office Professional, and there are some links between Office 365 and Microsoft Office: You can use your local version of Microsoft Office to pull down and edit documents from the cloud, or use Office Web Apps to create and edit documents.

Apart from that, though, there are no connections, and you don’t need Microsoft Office in order to use Office 365. It’s one more example of confusing branding and naming from Microsoft.

From what I’ve seen in the beta, Office 365 offers an excellent set of tools for companies that want the power of Exchange, SharePoint and Lync but don’t want to host them. It will be especially welcomed by small and midsize businesses that can’t afford data centers and sizable IT staffs.

But the product, at least in its current form, has enough rough edges that it feels more like a series of applications bolted together than a well-thought-out, integrated whole. (more…)

Google Chrome OS Has Enterprise Friend in Citrix

Thursday, December 9th, 2010

Citrix Systems has pledged its support for Google Chrome OS in 2011. The company will pair its Citrix Receiver virtualization app with Chrome OS netbooks for its customers.

Google’s Chrome Operating System isn’t yet ready for prime time on notebook computers, but the company has landed corporate remote access power Citrix Systems as a partner.

Google Dec. 7 said at an update event that it consumers would be able to purchase netbooks based on its Web operating system, which lets users run Web apps in the Chrome browser, from Samsung and Acer in mid-2011.

Concerns about bugs, performance tuning, and connecting digital cameras to the mix are a few of the reasons why Chrome OS had been delayed in the market.

While most enterprises wouldn’t dare to embrace such a nascent offering, Citrix plans to use Chrome OS in 2011 to support Citrix Receiver, a software client for application and desktop virtualization.

Citrix customer employees will be able to bring Chrome OS netbooks into their office and get immediate access to their enterprise apps through Receiver.

Gordon Payne, senior vice president of Citrix Systems, demonstrated Citrix Receiver running Microsoft Excel on Chrome OS, with the document actually hosted in the company’s data center. He also showed off a Solid Works CAD app and Hyperion business intelligence app running the same way.

Touting Citrix’ long track record of helping users shuttle business apps from their PCs to corporate data centers and running them on different computers inside and outside the central office, Payne said Chrome OS lends itself nicely to Citrix’ service delivery model. (more…)

Will Apple Debut Cheaper iPhone at WWDC?

Friday, June 5th, 2009

A $99 iPhone may finally become a reality — with the key word there being “may.” A report published in the Financial Times on Friday reignited the long-standing rumor of a cheaper iPhone, suggesting Apple will announce a lower-priced, scaled-back device at its Worldwide Developers Conference next week.

Of course, the rumor may or may not prove to be accurate. Talk of a cheaper entry-level iPhone dates back to 2007, when word of an “iPhone Nano” first started floating around the tech blogosphere. Back then, analysts said the inexpensive iPhone would certainly hit store shelves by that year’s holiday season. (more…)

Apple Releases iTunes 8.2 With iPhone 3.0 Support

Monday, June 1st, 2009

Apple is expected to release iPhone 3.0 out of beta at its upcoming World Wide Developers Conference.

By Antone Gonsalves From InformationWeek

Apple on Monday released iTunes 8.2 with support for iPhone 3.0, an indication that the latest smartphone operating system will be generally available soon.
While Apple has not made any official announcements, there’s been lots of speculation on the Web that Apple could release iPhone 3.0 out of beta at the World Wide Developers Conference in San Francisco next week. The iTunes support makes that scenario more likely.

Apple has been gradually preparing the industry of iPhone 3.0. Last month, the company told developers it would only accept for the App Store programs compatible for the upcoming OS.
Apple introduced iPhone 3.0 in March. Currently in beta, the software introduces a number of consumer-oriented features, including cut and paste, multimedia text capabilities and a universal search function. In addition, it opens the door for more innovative and lucrative apps by enabling in-app purchasing, peer-to-peer multiplayer capabilities and apps with third-party hardware.

Along with the iPhone 3.0 support, iTunes 8.2 also includes bug fixes and better security. The latter involves improved bounds checking to prevent a stack buffer overflow that could result in application termination or arbitrary code execution, Apple said.

Along with iPhone 3.0, Apple is also expected to use the WWDC to focus on the new version of Mac OS X, Snow Leopard. Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs is not expected to participate in the opening keynote. Kicking off the San Francisco event will be a team of execs led by Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior VP of worldwide product marketing.