Google vs. Microsoft, what goes around, comes around

Politico has an anti-trust article about Google's battle and how Microsoft is one of the main supporters of the anti-trust efforts.

Tech war: Google vs. Microsoft
By: Elizabeth Wasserman
February 9, 2011 04:38 AM EST

Google is under siege in Washington like never before — and it says an “anti-Google industrial complex” is to blame.
In an interview with POLITICO, a Google spokesman argued that a cabal of antitrust lawyers, lobbyists and public relations firms is conspiring against the Internet search giant. The mastermind? Google says it’s Microsoft.
Maybe it’s irony, or maybe it’s payback.

NY Mag also has an article on the same topic.

Microsoft Tries to Give Google a Taste of Its Own Antitrust Medicine

Read more

The market says Microsoft is no longer a monopoly, how long before DOJ changes Microsoft monopoly status

The buzz of CES has been said by some to be the end of Microsoft and Intel monopoly.

This is the most exciting CES ever

JAN 6, ’115:23 PM

AUTHORHorace DediuCATEGORIESMarket

At this year’s CES two unthinkable things happened:

  1. The abandonment of Windows exclusivity by practically all of Microsoft’s OEM customers.
  2. The abandonment of Intel exclusivity by Microsoft for the next generation of Windows.

Many of Microsoft’s customers chose to use an OS product from Microsoft’s arch enemy. Some chose to roll their own. Microsoft, in turn, chose to port its OS to an architecture from Intel’s arch enemy.

These actions confirm the end of the PC era. Although most people would characterize the era as exemplified by a particular form factor or market, for me the definition of that era is the way the value chain was structured and hence how profits were captured.

That era was marked by the condensation of profits around two companies, Intel and Microsoft, with the simultaneous evaporation of profits from all other participants in the value chain.

The DOJ was able to win the case that Microsoft is a Monopoly.

United States v. Microsoft

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

United States v. Microsoft was a set of consolidated civil actions filed against Microsoft Corporation pursuant to the Sherman Antitrust Act on May 18, 1998 by the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) and 20 U.S. states. Joel I. Klein was the lead prosecutor. The plaintiffs alleged that Microsoft abused monopoly power on Intel-based personal computers in its handling of operating system sales and web browser sales. The issue central to the case was whether Microsoft was allowed to bundle its flagship Internet Explorer (IE) web browser software with its Microsoft Windowsoperating system. Bundling them together is alleged to have been responsible for Microsoft's victory in the browser wars as every Windows user had a copy of Internet Explorer. It was further alleged that this unfairly[citation needed] restricted the market for competing web browsers (such as Netscape Navigator or Opera) that were slow to download over a modem or had to be purchased at a store. Underlying these disputes were questions over whether Microsoft altered or manipulated its application programming interfaces (APIs) to favor Internet Explorer over third party web browsers, Microsoft's conduct in forming restrictive licensing agreements with original equipment manufacturer (OEMs), and Microsoft's intent in its course of conduct.

Microsoft stated that the merging of Microsoft Windows and Internet Explorer was the result of innovation and competition, that the two were now the same product and were inextricably linked together and that consumers were now getting all the benefits of IE for free. Those who opposed Microsoft's position countered that the browser was still a distinct and separate product which did not need to be tied to the operating system, since a separate version of Internet Explorer was available for Mac OS. They also asserted that IE was not really free because its development and marketing costs may have kept the price of Windows higher than it might otherwise have been. The case was tried before Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. The DOJ was initially represented by David Boies.

It’s too bad Microsoft can’t play the CES events now to show that Microsoft is not a monopoly.

Firefox now has a bigger market share.

Google Gobbles Internet Explorer’s Market Share With Chrome

Jan. 5 2011 - 11:32 am | 4,014 views | 0 recommendations | 3 comments

Take a look at the graph below from StatCounter, showing the market share of leading Internet browsers in Europe last December.

Graphic from Statcounter

You’ll probably notice two things:

1) Internet Explorer has slipped into second place behind Firefox, marking the first time IE has lost its dominant position in a major market.

On the other hand, there may be some that claim their defining Microsoft a monopoly changed their behavior and created more competition.

Who is the next market leader who will slip to #2.

Read more

Microsoft copies Yahoo!’s chicken coop with tractor shed.

The following blog post is written by Kevin Timmons, ex-Yahoo data center executive.

When Phase 1 opens in Quincy it will be located adjacent to our existing 500,000-square-foot facility.  However, the new datacenter is radically different.  The building will actually resemble slightly more modern versions of the tractor sheds I spent so much time around during my childhood in rural Illinois. 

Tractor shed in my home town of Mt. Pulaski, IL

The building’s utilitarian appearance belies its many hidden innovations. The structure is virtually transparent to ambient outdoor conditions, allowing us to essentially place our servers and storage outside in the cool air while still protecting it from the elements. The interior layout is specifically designed to allow us to further innovate in the ways that we deploy equipment in future phases of the project. And, like any good barn, the protective shell serves to keep out critters and tumbleweeds. Additional phases have been planned for the Quincy site and will be built based on demand.  Those phases will incorporate even more cutting-edge methods to deploy servers and storage in ways that have never been seen before in the industry. 

Scott Noteboom, VP of Yahoo data centers worked for Kevin Timmons and has been pitching the Yahoo Chicken Coop.

Yahoo is Ready for A Data Center Revolution

June 9th, 2010 : Rich Miller

Scott Noteboom of Yahoo during his keynote presentation Wednesday at the 7×24 Exchange conference in Boca Raton, Fla.

Scott Noteboom , the head of data center operations at Yahoo, sees 2010 as a moment of historic opportunity for the data center industry. As growing Internet adoption requires infrastructure everywhere, he says data center builders would do well to note the early history of the automobile industry.

…

The Yahoo Computing Coop
The end result was the new Yahoo data center in Lockport, N.Y., a suburb of Buffalo. Lockport features the first  implementation of the Yahoo Computing Coop (YCC), which operates with no chillers, and will require water for only a handful of days each year. The YCC units are prefabricated metal structures measuring about 120 feet long by 60 feet wide. Each of the three coops has louvers built into the side  to allow cool air to enter the computing area, allowing the entire building to function as an air handler.

If you are interested in the approach’s the Yahoo! gang approach you can go to Megawatt Consulting’s KC Mares.  KC worked for Kevin along with Scott and has been busy designing green data centers for others.

KC has provided data center operations and acquisition services to Google, as well energy and renewable energy options. KC led data center strategy, procuring all data center services and developing several large data centers while leading the charge to reduce energy consumption and costs, achieve carbon neutrality goals and develop large wind and solar projects.

KC MaresKC Mares - MegaWatt Consulting Founder

The Data Center industry is a small world, and people are moving between companies faster than ever.  We’ll see who makes the big career moves in 2011.

Read more

With Windows 8 mobile/tablet on ARM can Server be around the corner?

There are rumors that Microsoft will announced Windows 8 at CES.

Windows 8 to introduce ARM; chip makers already on board

Todd Bishop on Tuesday, January 4, 2011, 8:51am PST

A demonstration of Windows running on ARM processors this week will double as the first public preview of Windows 8, the next major version of the operating system, and offer a glimpse of the new allies enlisted by Microsoft in a market defined thus far by Apple's iPad.

Sources familiar with Microsoft's plans confirm that the company tomorrow will show Windows running on the ARM architecture common in mobile devices and slate-style computers -- a landmark move intended to make the traditional PC operating system work on a broader array of machines.

Windows 8, it turns out, is the version that will introduce that capability. And Microsoft has lined up chip makers Nvidia, Qualcomm and Texas Instruments to make ARM processors for Windows 8 systems.

But, in the same way that Intel Atom was announced for energy efficiency, how long can it be before Windows 8 Server runs on ARM for energy efficient computing?

Windows Server used to ship for MIPS, PowerPC and Alpha.  How hard is it to ARM for Server?

In addition, most of the various RISC-based computers designed to run Windows NT used versions of the ARC boot console to boot NT. Among these computers were:

  • MIPS R4000-based systems such as the MIPS Magnum workstation
  • all Alpha-based machines with a PCI bus designed prior to the end of support for Windows NT Alpha in September 1999 (the Alpha ARC firmware was also known as AlphaBIOS)
  • most Windows NT-capable PowerPC computers (such as the IBM RS/6000 40P).
Read more

How big is a planned data center? Look at the Air Permitting for Diesel Generators, Microsoft receives permit for 13 generators in Quincy, WA

I have been having fun researching the top data center users, seeing how much power they use.  One of the techniques I use is publicly disclosed information for USA data centers from the State Ecology groups who issue air permits for diesel generators.

Here is a news report on Washington State's ecology department issuing a permit for 13 diesel generators.

Generators OK'd at Microsoft data center in Quincy

The state Ecology Department granted Microsoft a permit to install 13 backup power generators for the expansion of its data center in Quincy in central Washington.

The Associated Press

QUINCY, Wash. —

The state Ecology Department granted Microsoft a permit to install 13 backup power generators for the expansion of its data center in Quincy in central Washington.

The diesel-powered generators would be used in case of an electricity outage.

The Columbia Basin Herald reports neighbors are concerned about air pollution from the generators. The department is requiring Microsoft to meet regularly with the school district and notify it when the generators will be running.

The state Ecology department is making this easier, creating their own news releases.

Microsoft Columbia Data Center receives air quality permit to expand

SPOKANE — The Washington State Department of Ecology (Ecology) has issued the final permit allowing Microsoft’s Columbia Data Center in Quincy to expand operations.

The final permit, called a “notice of construction” order, follows a five-week public review and comment period that included a public hearing. The final permit contains revisions to address the concerns people expressed for air quality.

The notice of construction order is a formal approval document that allows Microsoft to install 13 new backup generators for use during power failures to support the facility’s data servers. The generators are powered by diesel engines. When all the new generators are installed, they will add the capacity for an extra 32.5 megawatts of backup electricity. That’s in addition to the 60 megawatts already available from the existing 24 generators installed in 2008.

Diesel engine exhaust particulate is a toxic air pollutant. Because of this, Ecology required a thorough evaluation of the health risks posed by the expansion project. This evaluation, called a “third-tier review of the health impact assessment,” required approval by Ecology Director Ted Sturdevant before the generators could be installed. Sturdevant approved the third-tier review on Aug. 20, 2010, and recommended approval of the project pending input from the public.

Based on the nearly 40 questions and comments received, Ecology changed the final permit to enable the community of Quincy to be well-informed about scheduled times and duration of maintenance testing of the generators.

“The final permit is built on sound science and a thorough, expert review,” said Greg Flibbert, Ecology’s project manager for the Columbia Data Center permit. “The questions we received from the public were well thought out and helped us make sure we had covered all the bases for protecting air quality while also ensuring that the local economy can gain from the benefits of Microsoft’s expansion.”

Part of the process for Air Permitting is public comment cycle like the Microsoft Quincy permitting.

Public invited to comment on draft permit for Microsoft Columbia Data Center expansion

SPOKANE - The Washington State Department of Ecology (Ecology) invites the public to comment on a proposed “notice of construction” order (permit) for the expansion of the Microsoft Columbia Data Center, in Quincy. The notice is a formal approval document that allows the company to install 13 new backup generators for use during power failures to support the facility’s data servers. The generators are powered by diesel engines.

Diesel engine exhaust particulate is a toxic air pollutant. Because of this, Ecology required a thorough evaluation of the health risks posed by the expansion project. This evaluation is called a “third-tier review of the health impact assessment” and the director of Ecology must approve it before the generators are installed.

The Microsoft Columbia Data Center was built in 2008 after Ecology approved a permit for installing and operating 24 electrical generators, capable of producing 60 megawatts of emergency backup electrical power. The expansion would add 32.5 megawatts of backup electricity.

We'll how big the Dell data center is in its first phase when they get their air permits.

Read more