Ajehals's Journal: News about Microsoft without the hype...

On an almost daily basis I read news articles, usually on technical subjects in the mainstream press that are either pure nonsense, company press releases or simple attacks based on the news organisations point of view.

However my general disdain for the reporting of technical news outside of the technical media (which has its own special slant on stories anyway, but does manage to stay mostly accurate and sensible) has taken a blow from an interesting if bland article from the BBC on Microsoft's current position and its pending release of Vista.

What is interesting is that the article is neither a pro- or anti- Microsoft and it is probably the first time that a major news organisation has described Microsoft's position accurately. It includes a number of notable comments that are would probably not be expected in an article of its type including:

.."Where there is no revenue stream involved, the company can be a tad sluggish in updating its products - for example Internet Explorer, which languished until rivals like Firefox became serious competitors."..

.."Much of Vista's look and functionality may be terribly familiar to people using Apple's OS X operating system."..

.."When challenged about their company's impact on rivals, Microsoft executives lose their confidence and evangelical fervour."..

Notable absences from the article are any references to DRM and piracy, but maybe having this kind of reporting from mainstream news organisations will heighten awareness of some of the more obscure technological issues that we currently face.