from vista.golbin.net
This is probably not the headline Microsoft wanted to see across the top of the Times Business section yesterday: "Flaws are Detected in Microsoft's Vista." That would be the Vista that's probably going to be the company's last comprehensive operating system -- the one, as The Atlantic's James Fallows put it, that involved an effort "so vast, complex, and frequently delayed that it has gone on for half as long as Google has existed as a company." Yikes.
The Business section also had a very apt end-of-the-year piece (worth taking a peek at if you skipped reading the paper yesterday) in its article on trends in online advertising. It's a cliche -- but still accurate -- to point out that the fate of many a media company (especially newspapers) depends on what happens to the online advertising market. The picture for 2007, Bob Tedeschi reported, appears to be somewhat mixed: Online advertising is poised to remain a very small portion of total advertising spending, and, while revenue and rates are sure to go up next year, the increases may or may not be significant and are not likely to be seen across the board. In other words, uncertainty still mostly reigns. It's all enough to make the chief executive of lowermybills.com, who was photographed for the article, look very, very serious. Though we suspect that Microsoft's bills might be a little higher.
