MAR 8 2006

Microsoft Finally Gets Allaire

Related Categories: IT General,

Today Microsoft acquired Onfolio Inc. -- makers of content sharing software. This means that Microsoft finally get's their hands on an Allaire -- J.J. Allaire. JJ, his brother Jeremy, Adam Berrey (et al) founded Allaire Corporation -- makers of ColdFusion, HomeSite, etc. -- circa 1995. JJ founded Onfolio in 2002 shortly after the Macromedia acquisition of Allaire. Jeremy stayed at Macromedia briefly then, in 2004, he founded BrightCove -- leading the wave of Internet Television. You can read more about the Onfolio acquisition here:

Here's what's interesting. Back in 1995 Microsoft approached Allaire trying to acquire ColdFusion 1.0. That's right! -- this is the precursor to all the rumors of Microsoft buying out Allaire, then Microsoft buying out Macromedia, etc. Back then Microsoft didn't have an in house technology for dynamic, data-driven web pages. When the Allaire bros. turned them down they acquired dbWeb from Hawaii-based Aspect Software -- which became Microsoft's ASP. So there you have it -- ColdFusion came first, and ASP was Microsoft's answer. You can read more about it here:

So it seems after 11-years Microsoft has finally gotten their hands on Allaire!

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APR 24 2005

Linksys: PSUS4 incompatable w/HP G series

Related Categories: IT

Normally I'm a Linksys/Cisco fan but today's experience got my goat. Yesterday we happened to be out and about and I went to the nearest Fry's Electronics to buy a print server for my HP OfficeJet G85xi all-in-one. Fry's list price of $59.99 for the Linksys PSUS4 is the same as everyone else's, but since it was the weekend and we were in the area we decided to buy it there. I got the PSUS4 home and configured it with no problem. Try to print a simple test page -- problem! I'm no rookie so I bang at it for about an hour -- double-check cables, ports, IPs, etc. Linksys front-line tech support can be a pain -- mainly because they're reading from script and they don't ask you how technically inclined you are (my advise, ask to be escalated if you don't want to go through the humdrum). So I do some Googling and find out the PSUS4 is incompatable with the G85xi. Linksys chat support confirmed this -- which is fine -- but when asked why all I got was: "All printers have gone through testing and with PSUS4, it didn't work" I wanted a technical answer and confirmation as to whether or not a future firmware upgrade would fix this, but the agent wouldn't/couldn't provide one. Now normally I would've done my research to avoid being burned like this, but....

Linksys says their WPS11v3 and EPSX3v2 are compatable. So apparently there's an issue with the USB interface for the PSUS4 with the G85xi. If you live in the East Valley you know what a pain it is to drive to the local Fry's in Phoenix -- Baseline & I10(sure will be nice when the 202 is finished!). Linksys should provide compatability lists on the product boxes and on their product pages. Linksys recommends not using the print server with multi-function devices (because the print server doesn't support fax & scan functions), however no where do they list compatable printers. I like Linksys in general but this whole experience (coupled with previous technical support experiences) is very disheartening.

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