17790162
submission
reifman writes:
After earning an effective $100 million annual tax cut earlier this year in the legislature, nine year Microsoft veteran Suzan DelBene will now head the state's Department of Revenue. DelBene is a marketing executive with no formal tax law experience. DelBene's husband is President of Microsoft's Office division. While it's not necessarily a bad thing to have a businessperson responsible for setting tax policy, I believe this signals a complete takeover at Revenue by Microsoft-connected interests. Washington State is currently facing a $5.7 billion deficit. DelBene's most recent accomplishment is her unsuccessful bid to unseat GOP Congressman Rep. Dave Reichert.
13521026
submission
reifman writes:
In a year filled with technical innovations, it amazes me that the user interface for the email inbox remains pretty similar to the one I used as a new hire at Microsoft twenty years ago. I’m a big fan of Gmail and acknowledge its many innovations, but it’s an enigma. As a web application, it’s well suited for rapid innovation and it’s the offspring of Google, which built its success from the simplicity of its search engine. Why are most of Gmail’s efforts aimed at chasing the shadow of tired desktop email applications? Earlier this week, TechFlash published my twelve ideas for changing the way we live and work with email.
13463538
submission
newscloud writes:
Is it just me or is the user interface and our approach to working with email mostly unchanged in the past 20 years? We have Gist that scouts my inbox to keep me updated on news about my contacts, but that's not really useful unless I'm in sales. Here are twelve ideas for taking gmail to the next level and trying to change the way we live and work with email. Some of my personal favorites include smart navigation (#2), biodegradable messages (#6), plan my meetings (#4) and give me back my evenings and weekends (#9).
12124608
submission
reifman writes:
After last week, investors in Facebook should be asking how long the company can continue its phenomenal growth as it quickly burns through its most valuable asset, the trust of users that expected the company would protect their privacy. Now, it's even trying to criminalize end user violations of its Terms of Service . Will Facebook's anti-privacy practices stoke the fires of innovation that have in the past driven developers to create open initiatives (think Firefox) such as described earlier on Slashdot? Ironically, Facebook's promotion of Facebook Connect as a universal authentication system and its migration to iFrame-based applications has created a myriad of social apps that can fairly easily run on the web with other authentication schemes such as OpenId. Applications such as TweetDeck and HootSuite hint at a future in which competitors to many of the services Facebook offers could be easily aggregated for end users in mobile applications and web sites. If not for the trust of its end users and their willingness to continue sharing private details of their lives, what exactly does Facebook think it has going for it?
11915972
submission
reifman writes:
This month's Wired has a nice homage to the DIY days at Radio Shack before the company turned itself into a cell phone pitching matrix. It reminded me of my TRS-80 days and many many hours spent hanging out at two different L.A.-area Radio Shacks and the incredibly tolerant and supportive sales folks there. I was raised in part, at Radio Shack. At one point, a Radio Shack manager paid me $10/hr to manually re-type private investigator Gavin De Becker's client database from Profile Plus to DBase II — pretty much a catalog of all the psychos chasing his clients. One of my fellow traveler's at Radio Shack was Josh Milrad, childstar of Beastmaster. Radio Shack launched me on a computing career. Thanks for reminding me Wired.
11791056
submission
reifman writes:
Led by Finance Chair Rep. Ross Hunter, a 17 year former Microsoft manager, and assisted by last minute veiled threats by Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith, Washington State gave Microsoft a $100 million annual tax cut and an estimated $1.25 billion in amnesty on its 13 year Nevada tax dodge. To balance the state's $2.8 billion deficit, the Legislature cut $120 million from K-12 education and $73 million from university budgets. It also raised the general tax rate 20% on businesses and created new '7-11' taxes on the Average Joe on beer, soda and candy. The benefits of 4,700 at-risk unemployed people with disabilities will expire in the coming year. On Wednesday, William Gates Sr., Bill's father, announced ballot initiative 1077 to create an income tax on high earners (>$200,000/yr) which would raise $1 billion for education and public health. Ironically, if the initiative passes (initial polls show 66% approval), Microsoft's top earning employees will be forced to pick up the tab for the company's aggressive tax tactics. Asked if his son was on board with the tax initiative, Gates Sr. said they hadn't discussed it. 'I don't know what my son is going to do.'
11738360
submission
darthcamaro writes:
The cloud is more than just hype for Ubuntu. Canonical COO Mat Asay is now saying that they can count 12,000 deployments of the Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud. He also things the cloud is where Ubuntu can make money — because to be frank in his view the company for the last five years wasn't setup to generate revenue."For the first five years of the company's life, it wasn't set up to make money," Asay said. "The company was set up to make a fantastic Linux distribution and other tools around it and get it out there and get people using it. That was the focus."
11731332
submission
newscloud writes:
As the Washington State Legislature wound down its special session to close a $2.8 billion fiscal deficit, Microsoft's General Counsel Brad Smith successfully used a carefully timed press conference making veiled threats about tax rates as a concern regarding future job expansion in Washington State. Led by Finance Chair Rep. Ross Hunter, a 17 year former Microsoft manager, the Legislature gave Microsoft two huge gifts: a $100 million annual tax cut and an estimated $1.25 billion in amnesty on its 13 year Nevada tax dodge. To make ends meet, the Legislature cut $120 million from K-12 education and $73 million from university budgets. It also raised the general tax rate on businesses from 1.5% to 1.8% and created new '7-11' taxes on the Average Joe on beer, soda and candy. The benefits of 4,700 at-risk unemployed people with disabilities will expire in the coming year. No word on how cash-strapped Washington plans to address Smith's concerns about its educational system and transportation infrastructure. On Wednesday, Gates' father, Bill Sr. announced a citizen initiative to replace the business tax with an income tax on high earners (>$200,000/yr). Asked if his son was on board with the tax initiative, Gates Sr. said, improbably, they hadn't discussed it. 'I don't know what my son is going to do.' Governor Gregoire said this isn't over: once the budget is signed into law, 'there will be real cuts, there will be real people losing jobs.' Yesterday, Microsoft reported record quarterly revenue. It now has $39.6 billion in cash and short term investments.
11704122
submission
reifman writes:
Struggling to close a $2.8 billion fiscal deficit, the Washington State Legislature ended its recent special session with two big gifts for Microsoft: a $100 million annual tax cut and an estimated $1.25 billion in amnesty on its 13 year Nevada tax dodge. To make ends meet, the Legislature cut $120 million from K-12 education and $73 million from university budgets. It also raised the general tax rate on businesses from 1.5% to 1.8% and created new '7-11' taxes on the Average Joe on beer, soda and candy. The benefits of 4,700 at-risk unemployed people with disabilities will expire in the coming year. Yesterday, Gates' father, Bill Sr. announced a citizen's initiative to replace the business tax with an income tax on high earners (>$200,000/yr). Asked if his son was on board with the tax initiative, Gates Sr. said they hadn't discussed it. 'I don't know what my son is going to do.' Governor Gregoire said this isn't over: once the budget is signed into law, 'there will be real cuts, there will be real people losing jobs.' Today, Microsoft reported record quarterly revenue. It now has $39.6 billion in cash and short term investments. Prior to passage, this issue was reported on Slashdot here and here. The controversial custom software tax on small firms was cut from the final bill. No word on how Washington plans to address Microsoft's concerns about its educational system and transportation infrastructure.
11701516
submission
reifman writes:
After Slashdot reported this story, a lot of commenters said the Washington Legislature wouldn't actually do it. Well, it has. Struggling to close a $2.8 billion fiscal deficit, the Washington State Legislature ended its recent special session with two huge gifts for Microsoft: effectively a $100 million annual tax cut and amnesty on its 13 year Nevada tax dodge. To make ends meet, the Legislature cut $120 million from K-12 education and $73 million from university budgets. It also raised the service tax rate on all businesses from 1.5% to 1.8% and created new '7-11' taxes on the 'Average Joe' on beer, soda and candy. Over the next twelve months, the benefits of 4700 at-risk unemployed people with disabilities will expire. Yesterday, Gates' father, Bill Sr. announced a state initiative to replace the business service tax with an income tax on high earners of $200,000 and greater. Asked if his son was on board with the tax initiative, Gates said they hadn't discussed it. "I don't know what my son is going to do." Today, Microsoft reported record quarterly sales of $14.5 billion. It now has $39.6 billion in cash and short term investments. The governor has said this isn't over, once the budget is signed into law, 'there will be real cuts, there will be real people losing jobs.'
11045432
submission
reifman writes:
Microsoft has settled its thirteen year, billion dollar Nevada tax dodge, by agreeing to contribute funds to rebuild the 520 floating bridge and renovating the Seattle Center, home of the 1960 World's Fair. 520, the world's longest floating bridge, is 47 years old and badly in need of replacement. Critics say Microsoft's privatization of the commons at Seattle Center is just another sweetheart deal for the state's most profitable company. The deal could yet be killed if the controversial fountain design is not approved by the city's landmarks preservation board.