Dan York

Just a guy in Vermont trying to connect all the dots...

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Microsoft Buys Nokia – Was There Really Another Choice?

Techmeme microsoftMicrosoft accomplished something today they haven't done for a while (at least in my memory) - they dominated the main page of Techmeme and had a great amount of the tech media talking about them.

The news, of course, is of Microsoft's purchase of Nokia's Devices and Services business and licensing of Nokia's patents and mapping services.

Is anyone truly surprised by this?

Consider:

  • Microsoft is being beaten in the market by Apple and Google as everything moves to mobile. Their only hope was Nokia, who provided a hardware platform that would run Windows Phone.
  • Nokia is being beaten in the market by Apple and Google as everything moves to smartphones. Their only hope was Microsoft, who provided a different mobile operating system for their devices that gave them a competitive angle.

Given those conditions, the marriage makes a certain amount of sense.

But... you only have to scroll down that Techmeme page (captured at 1:30pm US ET today) to realize how desperate a situation this is for both companies.

First, news is out that Apple is holding an event one week from today on September 10 where they are widely expected to announce new iPhones, including potentially a lower cost iPhone 5C. They are also expected to announce a release date for iOS 7 ... and who knows what else is in store.

Second, Google announced the next version 4.4 of the Android operating system, named "KitKat", along with a branding deal with Nestle, makers of the KitKat candy. The first link also points to a Google+ post from Google's Sundar Pichai where he states that over 1 billion Android devices have been activated.

Third, Amazon announced the 6th generation of their Kindle, and while it is not a phone, per se, it is a massively used mobile device. Amazon continues to learn and evolve their devices and has been rumored for years to be contemplating entering the smartphone space. Jeff Bezos thinks in the long term and so could easily be biding his time.

Meanwhile, Nokia sold a whopping 7 million Windows phones last quarter (per IDC).

Microsoft and Nokia need each other, if for no other reason then they don't really have a choice. They bet on each other... and it doesn't seem to be working out so well. Their only hope is really the "synergy" or whatever other marketing buzzwords you want to apply to the merged entity.

I agree with much of what Om Malik wrote today, "Why I think the $7.2 billion Microsoft-Nokia deal is a terrible idea", largely for the reasons I wrote earlier... while Microsoft and Nokia work to make this deal happen - and then the actual integration - Apple, Google, Amazon and others will be rolling out the next versions of their massively successful mobile devices.

Microsoft's "Strategic Rationale" document lays out a glowing plan... let's see if they can execute on it - and whether it turns out to be too little, too late. I wouldn't completely count Microsoft out, as they do have great resources and capacity, but they are definitely far behind.

As a consumer, I definitely would like to have a third major ecosystem for mobile devices. The question is whether Microsoft/Nokia can emerge as that third ecosystem...

What do you think? Smart move? A yawn? Or the proverbial rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic?

P.S. The most entertaining take on today's news definitely has to be the "Dear MR NOKIA!" post written in the style of the emails probably all of us have received. :-)


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TDYR #033 – Microsoft Buys Nokia: Is Anyone Really Surprised?

See: http://www.disruptivetelephony.com/2013/09/microsoft-buys-nokia-was-there-really-another-choice.html

Video Interview: Matt Larson on the Future of DNS and DNSSEC

What needs to be done to get DNSSEC further deployed? What is the future of DNSSEC and DNS in general?  At IETF 87 in Berlin we had a chance to sit down with Matt Larson, formerly of Verisign and now Chief Architect at Dyn. Matt shared his thoughts with us:

We appreciated Matt’s time and wish him all the best in his new role at Dyn.

FIR #719 – 9/2/13 – For Immediate Release

Craig Jolley interview this week; Neville to moderate Scoble-Israel CIPR appearance; Quick News: News from WordPress, Twitter and Facebook; social media brand banter, multiple Twitter profiles common with brands, Google preps Hangouts for the enterprise; Ragan promo; News That Fits: when bad comments happen to good websites, encouraging civility among customers, Michael Netzley's Asia report, Media Monitoring Minute from CustomScoop, listener comments, the line between safety and survellance, Dan York's report, paying to amplify earned media; how to comment; music from Reggae Far East; and more.

STIR Working Group Officially Formed to Work on Secure Caller ID For VoIP (Featured Blog)

Interested in working on an open standard for "secure Caller ID" for voice-over-IP (VoIP)? If so, the new "Secure Telephone Identity Revisited (STIR)" working group was just officially chartered within the IETF and the mailing list is open for all to subscribe. More...

Third Time’s A Charm, Right? (For A Half-Marathon)

This Sunday I'll be spending the middle of my 3-day Labor Day weekend running the Covered Bridges Half-Marathon in nearby Swanzey, NH. This will be my third run of the race and this year I have a very simple objective:
Make it through mile 12 and still have energy!

Both of the last two years I've done pretty well up until mile 12. In fact, last year I was running with a friend and we had a very constant 10-minute/mile pace all the way up through mile 10 and maybe even into mile 11.

And then we got to the mile 12 aid station and I walked through it to have a drink... and kept on walking. :-(

I did get enough energy back to run the final bit... but it was a hard slog and I looked like I was ready to collapse.

A year later I've been running a good bit these days, although not as long as a half-marathon, and in talking to multiple people it seems my issue is most likely all about a lack of fuel inside my body. A friend who runs full marathons (and longer distances!) said that our livers have about 2 hours worth of fuel in them to power our body... and, gee, it's right about the 2 hour mark that I'm fading!

I did eat a bit during the race last time, but not that much. So this time I'm going to make that a regular part of the running... plus I'm doing some pre-race fueling, too.

We'll see how it goes on Sunday... as we often say, "third time is a charm!" (Of course, we also say "three strikes and you're out!")

P.S. There's still time to register to run if you want to join in - and they do same day registration as well. This year they are also offering a 2-person relay race option, too.

TDYR #032 – Kevin Spacey’s Powerful Speech On The Future Of TV, Film And Video

What is the future of TV? Of film? Of online video? Kevin Spacey recently gave a powerful speech on the future of TV, video and film at the Edinburgh International Television Festival. In this episode I speak about my thoughts on his commentary. You can view both the full 45-minute presentation as well as a 5-minute edited set of highlights at: http://www.disruptiveconversations.com/2013/08/its-all-content-its-just-story-they-want-stories-they-are-dying-for-them-kevin-spaceys-brilliant-speech.html

STIR Working Group Officially Formed To Work On Secure Caller ID For VoIP (Featured Blog)

More...

2 Asterisk Security Vulnerabilities Could Lead To Remote Crashes

Asterisk logoThe great folks on Digium’s security team published two security advisories this week that could lead to remote crashes of an Asterisk server.

The first, AST-2013-004, Remote Crash From Late Arriving SIP ACK With SDP, has this description:

A remotely exploitable crash vulnerability exists in the SIP channel driver if an ACK with SDP is received after the channel has been terminated. The handling code incorrectly assumes that the channel will always be present.

The second, AST-2013-005, Remote Crash when Invalid SDP is sent in SIP Request, has this description:

A remotely exploitable crash vulnerability exists in the SIP channel driver if an invalid SDP is sent in a SIP request that defines media descriptions before connection information. The handling code incorrectly attempts to reference the socket address information even though that information has not yet been set.

My one critique of the security advisories is that they don’t contain any “mitigating circumstances” that explain the circumstances under which the vulnerabilities could be exploited. For instance, it would seem from reading the documents that at least in the first case there would need to be a successful SIP connection established first – and then ended – before the packet could be received that would cause the crash. Unfortunately I don’t personally know Asterisk’s internals well enough to comment on that.

Regardless, the fix here is to upgrade to the latest versions of Asterisk as documented in the security advisories.

Kudos to the Digium folks for issuing these advisories and continuing their clear process of letting people know about security within Asterisk.

50% Off All O’Reilly Ebooks Through Sept 10, 2013

The good folks at O’Reilly let me know that you can now get 50% off the purchase of “Migrating Applications to IPv6” (and all other O’Reilly ebooks) through September 10, 2013, simply by using the discount code “B2S3″ when you are checking out. The sale page has more information:

Back to school sale

I would definitely encourage you to buy my book directly through O’Reilly when you can because you get:

  • DRM-free – you can put it on as many devices as you want, and it’s yours.
  • As many formats as you want – EPUB, Mobi, PDF, whatever…
  • Notification of (free) updates – and, as I noted, I’m working on some updates now.

It’s well worth it… I’m buying my tech ebooks directly from O’Reilly whenever I can now, simply because of these three points!

Thank you for considering the purchase of this book – and please do let me know if you have any suggestions or feedback to help make it better. The entire point of the book was to help application developers be able to make their application work over IPv6… so I want to hear from you about how this book can help!