IBM's New Desktop Push
Usually, this newsletter is all about Microsoft. Today, though, it's mostly
about IBM with a little Yahoo tossed in. So let's get started.
IBM once owned a big chunk of the desktop. There was the original IBM PC, PC-DOS
and finally OS/2, which almost became the de facto PC operating system.
Since then, IBM has slowly lost ground. OS/2 is dead, as is any IBM-made PC.
It has no real PC OS and, after buying Lotus, both SmartSuite and Notes have
lost more market share than Pet Rocks and Pokemon put together.
But IBM just won't give up and is reportedly trying to get hardware makers
to build
PCs that run Linux, along with Notes, Lotus Symphony (the revived, old office
tool), and Sametime messaging.
Gartner has its pretentious probability ratings, so I'll steal that pompous
idea and give IBM a one-in-fifty chance of any kind of success.
Would you use Linux PCs in your shop? If so, why? Shoot your thoughts to [email protected].
IBM's Cloudy Future
IBM has plenty of cash to throw around. After all, with $98 billion in yearly
revenues, it's the second-largest computer company in the world (HP is now No.
1 with some $104 billion in annual sales, while Microsoft barely rates at only
$51 billion).
So when IBM announces that it's spending $360 million to build
two new cloud computing datacenters, it's really just chump change.
The message is serious, though. IBM wants a big stake in the cloud, a model
of computing that could loosen Microsoft's death grip on operating systems.
Is cloud computing the next big thing, and if so, who has the lead? Answers
welcome at [email protected].
Zimbra's New Outlook Alternative
We wrote about Zimbra and other open source alternatives a year-and-a-half ago
here.
The company, now owned by Yahoo, has a new alternative to Outlook: the Zimbra
Desktop. The software, now in beta, works with Yahoo e-mail and also supports
to-do lists, calendars, contacts and documents. Check out a First Look here.
About the Author
Doug Barney is editor in chief of Redmond magazine and the VP, editorial director of Redmond Media Group.