With only so much network gear that can be sold, Cisco has been steadily encroaching on Microsoft's territory. One move was unified communications. A more recent gambit involves selling servers stacked to the gill with virtualization wares.
Neither action inspired a meaningful Microsoft response, but the latest Cisco move probably won't be taken lightly. The network king is making noise about a new Web-based system to create and share productivity documents and files. Can you say Office Live?
The apps aren't expected to be as full-featured as Office, which is good and bad. For many, all those features make the darn software too hard to use. On the other hand, if it's missing the one feature you really need, then it's no-go.
Do you prefer full-featured tools or slimmed-down apps? Make your feelings known at [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 07/06/2009 at 1:16 PM2 comments
Turns out that despite the recent dearth of e-mails about the product, SharePoint is, in fact, kind of a big deal. Here are just some of your comments, both glowing and otherwise:
SharePoint is becoming more critical for our business operations. There is a project to migrate from our current document/intranet setup to SharePoint.
Personally, I love it and can't wait until the project is complete. It's quick, easy, customizable for the user and makes document sharing simple. OCS integration is another huge plus.
-Andy
OK, I'll answer already. In my previous job as IT director, we used the free SharePoint, customized with SharePoint Designer, for various functionality, from HR hire/fire workflows to document storage to employee blogging. The investment to get very significant functionality was trivial compared to the other products that had been tried or even purchased (but never really implemented). The real icing on the cake was the confidence and familiarity in integrating with this product compared to the proprietary methods necessary in other document management solutions that we tried.
The real question you may need to ask is if companies got their ROI buying the more advanced and licensed SharePoint product over just using the free capabilities. It was pretty clear Microsoft intended for the free product to be somewhat of a dangling carrot. In several instances, the free version didn't quite do everything we needed. Sure enough, that usually came with the investment in the full product.
-Dan
We use SharePoint a lot at my company and it is an OK product but not thrilling. It may be our implementation, but I find it VERY slow when navigating between pages. Also, I think people still do not understand how it should be used. For example, some departments don't use the built-in versioning but instead require users to add a version number to the document name. Arrgh. Sometimes, poor design is a problem with departments making it too hard to find things because things are buried too deep in a tree. Also, it does not seem searchable with Google and while pages are linked, there is no "site map" that connects the various departmental SharePoint sites and there is no root "homepage" between depts.
Also, while I believe it is great for working on collaborative documents (because of the versioning and library functions), some departments are using it as a repository for static documentation/procedures/reference info. I do not feel this is a best use of SharePoint because it is hard to search and slow to navigate through the info.
-Joseph
We use SharePoint for our corporate intranet. It does everything we need it to do -- document management, work schedules, etc.
-Craig
Our school has used SharePoint for several years to develop our curriculum. It is a VERY sophisticated tool that provides a VERY flexible architecture. As a result, I am sure Microsoft would have a hard time defining a specific use. We have had at least three evolutions of SharePoint. Setting it up so that everyone can collaborate takes some practice. Getting all the players that are supposed to use it up to speed is another hurdle.
In general, my experience has been that everyone who uses it at all levels has to be knowledgeable in computers. The more people who participate, the better the outcomes.
-Anonymous
Well, at my company it's just the latest way to track time and store our documents -- not exactly the most exciting thing around. I fuss with it weekly because of multiple glitches. I wish we had stuck with SourceForge. Ah, but at least no one can get fired for buying Microsoft.
-Luke
We are using SharePoint at my client's location. It is used in one area as a documentation control/management system using the workflow features. Our client is very happy with the features and ease of use of this system. It is also used as an area-specific Web presence for departments that would not normally have the technical resources to get themselves Web-enabled. SharePoint also supports an iframe-type Web part that allows legacy Web apps to be ported to SharePoint in an extremely easy method.
Where SharePoint is severly lacking is the support for developers of traditional Web/Windows application to get up to speed developing SharePoint-based Web parts, customer workflows and other advanced features. As an example, I have seen only one session at .NET Code Camps across three states in the past year discuss SharePoint development. We will still continue to support SharePoint deployments and development due to its widespread acceptance and its ease of client use.
-Lance
I introduced SharePoint Portal Server (the freebie) into my department (Nashville Fire) several years ago to host electronic versions of our Departmental Orders and Memos and our Operational Procedures and Guidelines. Until SharePoint was deployed, every fire station (38 of them) had notebooks full of documents that had to be maintained each time new or updated documents were distributed. The cost reduction in paper and toner has been dramatic. Also, there is never a concern about finding the correct version of an official document. It is easy and efficient.
Over the years, we have added many other SharePoint sites. While most have been read-only sites for information distribution, we have had a couple of sites that gave users the ability to update shared documents. This worked really well for one project but not so well for others (our users are not as sophisticated as in some other industries). Fire departments are not known for embracing change -- our motto is "Two hundred years of tradition unhampered by progess" -- but SharePoint has given us a big push forward.
-Jeanne
I had heard about this tool called "SharePoint" which was a glorified Web server that allowed users to edit their own content, kinda like Wikipedia. During a casual conversation with my boss one day, he suggested I download the free version and place it on one of our existing servers. After doing so, I had a few "personal space" pages for users and we created a page for each department, but that was pretty much the extent of our involvement in the development process; each department manager was responsible for managing their own page.
Here's what happened: Each department's style and creativity was unleashed. Each department modified/designed their page to their liking and populated it with all of the critical documents and files necessary to run their business. Today, this is a 2TB monster of an application that has weaved its way into every niche of our daily business operations. Everything is on SharePoint. Documents are checked out, updated and checked in. It has become mission-critical. If it went offline, we would have difficulty functioning in our daily operations. That's what SharePoint has done.
-Scott
And finally, Thomas describes his brush with the not-so-nice side of IT:
As someone working an hourly position taming a multi-ton, multimillion-dollar machine, I was one of two recruited to be "trainers" for a new computer simulation program that helps teach employees how to do my job without the actual costs/losses incurred in a live production environment. While I was skeptical at first, after going through 20 hours of training on the new simulation software, I think it is great!
The only problem: every minute of our day is logged and non-chargeable time is not acceptable per our weekly report cards. Now, the sim software is licensed on an infinite number of computers, but MUST run from the corporate servers. Being an hourly employee, I have no Active Directory credentials for the corporate intranet, so I have no access to this software except on the one training computer at work. (Did I mention that training is non-chargeable?) I feel that if you don't use it, you lose it. The "corporate trainer" felt the same and requested that I/we be given VPN access and even granted us the opportunity to take his training laptops home to practice with.
When asked about getting me VPN access, our corporate IT guy, in front of my immediate supervisor, our operations manager and the corporate sim trainer, said point blank that if he made the money that John Doe, (my other shift, no-computer-skills peer) or I made, it would not be a problem! He would not even consider re-activating my AD account from when I was a manager even though these credentials are populated whenever I access our HR site. Now, how can I trust IT not to screw with my information or identity? If one IT guy is flaunting my privileged information in front of anybody and everybody, what's next? An eBay auction for my Social Security information? I do have an appointment with the HR department next week...
-Thomas
Check in next week for more reader letters, including even more thoughts on SharePoint and its impact. Meanwhile, leave a comment below or send an e-mail to [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 07/01/2009 at 1:16 PM0 comments
CIOs might not have much fundage these days, but only the most short-sighted would stop spending altogether. What's different form the past is every dime gets close scrutiny now, and money goes to areas most in need. (Congress could learn a lesson or two from this!)
In a recent survey by Robert Half Technology, some 1,400 top IT chiefs detailed their priorities. The No. 1 priority is unfortunate: security. It's great that IT takes this issue so seriously, but it's a disgrace that hackers, cybercriminals and Internet low-lifes dictate IT spending, especially in these volumes.
The second-most popular in investment has an actual payback and isn't just a sinkhole: virtualization. Close to 40 percent of shops polled planned to spend on virtual wares. The third area encompasses virtualization, but goes a few steps further: datacenter efficiency. Consolidating via virtualization is one method, but there are others ways, such as improving venting, getting more efficient power systems, raising datacenter temperatures and even using alternatives such as solar panels and wind (these are neat options as long you're not in a high rise).
VoIP, SaaS and green IT are other top areas, the report concludes. What are your strategic priorities? Send your short lists to [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 07/01/2009 at 1:16 PM2 comments
Ever since you all told me how much you like Windows 7, I've been predicting healthy holiday PC sales and an overall market resurgence. The highly paid eggheads at Gartner now apparently agree, but see the comeback starting early next year, not at the end of this one.
At first, Gartner gurus predicted a dismal first part of this year, which was actually pretty good. So if they were wrong on this, perhaps they should take a closer look at their projections for 2010.
A big driver for the uptick? Inexpensive netbooks. I expect to be in on this action and hope to snap up a Windows 7 netbook as soon as one's available!
Posted by Doug Barney on 07/01/2009 at 1:16 PM1 comments
Microsoft has a pretty attractive Windows 7 upgrade plan: Buy a Vista machine now and move to Windows 7 for free in the fall. The plan is aimed at small businesses and consumers, and Microsoft hopes to keep it that way by limiting upgrades to purchases of no more than 25 PCs.
I'm wondering if Microsoft really has to do this. Do any real enterprises opt for cheaper consumer versions of Windows? You tell me. What makes high-end versions of XP or Vista better for big shops, or can one really get away with large volumes of consumer machines? Your expert opinion always welcome at [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 07/01/2009 at 1:17 PM7 comments
Security vendors like Symantec aren't taking too kindly to Microsoft's recent anti-virus foray, but many readers don't see the problem:
I'm firmly in favour of Microsoft taking this action. It is time the existing companies had a bit of a shake-up. Personally, I think that the existing products are either bloated, poorly written or perform poorly. I've replaced one fairly major AV tool on my main Vista machine with the Morro beta and I'm happy so far. It does not seem to slow my machine down, which is something I was very unhappy about with the tool it replaced.
I'm also looking at replacing the very major AV tool we have corporately with the Stirling equivalent. We've had a lot of trouble deploying the current tool we have and I am not at all convinced it works as I would want it to work. If our lab tests of Stirling are positive, in it comes and out goes the major player.
-Philip
If the other vendors are so good, why are they opposed to Microsoft coming to play in their world? When vendors charge an arm and a leg for their products, they need to be aware that competition will come forth to challenge for a piece of the pie. Go, Microsoft!
-Jim
As long as Microsoft doesn't bundle it with the OS, they have as much right as AVG to offer a free solution. And OEMs can still throw in a trial version of whatever they want!
-Marc
Microsoft has as much "right" to the market as anyone else. They also have the opportunity to fail or succeed in it. Most of the mainstream AV vendors have created monsters that chew up machine resources, fail to update properly, incompletely uninstall, and otherwise would be known as malware. It is high time that someone create a low-impact, well-architected AV solution. I don't much care if it is MS or someone else.
If Symantec wants to offer a reasonable AV product (it has been many years since they have), I'd buy it. Instead of complaining, how about delivering?
-Dan
Let the marketplace decide if Microsoft's anti-virus is worth a hill of beans. Microsoft has the biggest bull's-eye on its back and if their product can pass muster, good for them, but I believe it will become a hacker target like no other Microsoft product. For Microsoft's sake, they better have done enough homework.
-Tim
Symantec should be upset; their products are expensive, bloated and apparently designed to be invasive. It nearly took an act of Congress to get a removal tool from this company. Invariably, when I am asked to look at a friend's PC, it is Norton that's causing the slow response. I am not a desktop expert by any means, but a simple anti virus program is all that is required by me, and all the pop-up notifications and balloons are a nuisance. I welcome the free anti-virus tool from Microsoft.
-Russ
Many people do not have AV software on their computer and depending on the distribution method, this could be good. Symantec customer service is horrible and I think there is much better AV software out there than Symantec's.
-John
I have not tried the product yet, but think that Symantec needs to take a chill pill. The latest Symantec products have forced me back into the AV shoppers' market. I, for one, am not opposed to a fresh perspective on AV, and if it is free, even better.
-Richard
But a couple of you think Microsoft's free anti-virus play just underscores a deeper problem when it comes to OS security:
MS could have been protecting its OS since the second release of Win 98. Instead, MS chose not to. Why now? Is MS trying to make the public believe that AV is so insignificant that it should be free? In that vein, all upgrades of Windows should be free; after all, Windows is just one upgrade after another.
-Brian
The way I see it, it's laughable. MS is in way raising the white flag and admitting what we have all known for years: that they produce an insecure OS. Do you see AV tools bundled with the default install of Linux among the many app that are? No. Why? Because it's secure. Had MS just developed a secure OS to begin with, they wouldn't need it.
I am a Windows system admin at work and will not let this MS crap touch my systems. As far as I'm concerned, MS security is a oxymoron.
-Anonymous
Meanwhile, Roger shares Doug's appreciateion for Diskeeper's defragging virtues, but is less than satisfied with Microsoft's:
Vista and V7 use background defragmentation. Unfortunately, Microsoft forgot that defragmentation requires lots of hard drive spindle seek activity. Diskeeper disables the Microsoft defragmenter when it installs. That is Diskeeper's best hidden feature. Diskeeper also sleeps if it detects significant hard drive activity so real-time apps can use the hard drive without competition from Diskeeper. The Windows defragmenter would keep right on trucking in competition with real-time apps like Media Center Live TV. The degradation was noticeable.
I was a beta tester for Vista (and now V7) and reported this problem to Microsoft. Did they listen? Did they even acknowledge my contribution? The answers are "I don't know" and "No," respectively.
-Roger
More letters coming on Wednesday! Meanwhile, share your thoughts by writing a comment below or sending an e-mail to [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 06/29/2009 at 1:16 PM0 comments
Doug used to dig Digg, but don't dig Digg no more. Doug used to dig Digg because his boy David dialed Doug in. Dang, but didn't Dave diss Digg's new move and douse his dad's delight.
OK, no more "d"-based alliteration. Here's the deal: Digg is an interesting site that gathers stories from other sources, and I've spotted a few that I've highlighted in this here newsletter. The main Digg site is just like our own RedmondReport.com; it highlights links and clicking on them takes you to the source site -- no scraping and no stealing.
The same David that got me into Digg told me about the new Digg toolbar, which is more of a closed system. When you click on a story -- it may even be written by me -- it opens in a window within Digg itself.
I know how my company's contracts work and I don't remember myself giving my employer all rights, and then doing the same for Digg. Trade publishers already provide free content. But when did this extend to competitors who turn our stories into free cash?
Google is still making billions from others' content. For example, let's say you search on "Active Directory." Even though hundreds of results are from Microsoft, it's Google that takes the ad money from the search pages. Even if you did an AD search after getting excited about stories from the Web site of my magazine. The parasites make the easy dough.
What do you make of all this, and what's your favorite aggregation site? My favorite destination site is RedmondReport.com. Check it out and let me know what you think! Send thoughts and URLs to [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 06/29/2009 at 1:16 PM4 comments
Recently, we told you about an unpatched SharePoint 2007 SP2 problem. The Microsoft patch army took the field and there's now a fix.
Here's what I find odd about SharePoint. The product is presumably hot; I believe Microsoft has sold over 100 million licenses and cool third parties are coming out of the woodwork. But I've asked several times how you use SharePoint and what you like or don't like, and while I got 40 e-mails about Robert Clary from "Hogan's Heroes," I don't think I've gotten any on SharePoint.
Is SharePoint the big deal I think it is, or am I a victim of Microsoft's cruelly efficient marketing machine? You tell me at [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 06/29/2009 at 1:16 PM6 comments
Microsoft loves when you upgrade. Salespeople are constantly pushing the latest (which hopefully is the greatest); volume licenses, especially Software Assurance, are designed to drive migration; and Microsoft has the Infrastructure Optimization Model, a framework that justifies the adoption of lots of new software.
But upgrading isn't as simple as cranking up a few Windows installers. You have to make sure the new stuff really works. That's where the Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit Version 4.0, now in beta, comes in. The new kit focuses on Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2, and helps IT see if existing hardware, peripherals and applications will still work. Sounds like it's worth a look.
Posted by Doug Barney on 06/29/2009 at 1:16 PM0 comments
Last week, Doug wrote about the not-so-good side of IT, which can result in everything from snooping to out-and-out theft. Here are some of your thoughts:
I would guess it comes down to "who polices the police."
-Anonymous
I propose that there's not just the intentionally bad IT folks out there; it is also the young and foolish IT folks out there. I would be more concerned with folks trying to learn on PRODUCTION equipment and making an enormous mess or disaster then trying to cover it up. I have had a few experiences with IT admins like this.
-Daryl
Spam (the e-mail kind, not the canned meat) made headlines recently when Symantec reported a surge in junk e-mails. But Rich seems to be one of the lucky few who were relatively unscathed:
Funny you should mention spam. Sorry to hear you are getting so much of it. I, on the other hand, have noticed that I have been getting a lot less for the past several months (probably since the beginning of the year). I used to get 200 to 300 spam messages a week. Now I get about five to 10 a week. Big difference. I just figured a major botnet or two were shutdown.
-Rich
And finally, as Doug hinted, readers were quick to respond to his question about Robert Clary, whether it was to give the right answer, reminisce about the show, or even express varying degrees of befuddlement:
LeBeau! The French POW/chef at Stalag 13. Who doesn't know that?
-James
Didn't he play Labar (or something like that) in "Hogan's Heroes"? Little guy, and one of the prisoners. That's my guess.
-Mike
Don't remember any movies he was in. He wasn't the star of the movies, just one of those supporting actors. Kind of short, French accent that sounded phony (guess I was wrong about that), had chubby cheeks.
-Anonymous
Robert Clary was the hilarious French LeBeau on "Hogan's Heroes."
One of the favorite after-school shows for this latch-key kid!
-Lisa
He made a mean apple strudel, too. After "Hogan," he was on "Young and the Restless" for a few years.
-Beth
Robert Clary is Corporal Louis LeBeau. I don't know why I replied to this. I guess I just love "Hogan's Heroes." I own the whole series on DVD. I have a 15-year-old son who watches them as much as I do. He actually stops playing World of Warcraft to view them with me. Now that's really an accomplishment!
-Paul
He was always cooking fine cuisine to bribe or distract Shultz! LOL, fun memory. So he was really French? And that was supposed to lend credence to the scam e mail? Too funny.
-Marc
I did a quick Google, and it doesn't mention a French lottery on his Web site.
-Vicke
Robert Clary? Doesn't ring a bell. Here is what http://wotnews.com.au/ had to say on the matter: "No articles were found mentioning 'Robert Clary.' Please refine your search and try again."
Will there be an answer in the next edition of the Redmond Report? I really hate cliffhangers!
-Allan
Tell us what you think! Leave a comment below or send an e-mail to [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 06/26/2009 at 1:16 PM0 comments
On Wednesday, I wrote a note about a French lottery scam that told me I "won" a goodly amount of Francs (Euros now, I guess) and should contact Robert Clary to collect my winnings.
I asked you all who Robert Clary is, and I think we set a record with the number of responses -- 40 so far! You'll find a couple of them in today's Mailbag. Of course, as many of you pointed out, Clary played Corporal Louis LeBeau on "Hogan's Heroes," a show I try to watch at least once a day.
What's interesting about the show is that many of the Germans -- Klink, Schultz and Burkhalter, to name a few -- were played by Germans of Jewish descent who escaped the Nazis. What's even more interesting is how convincing they are as German officers. Makes you wonder how different these races really are and exposes the idiocy and evil of the Holocaust.
Clary, himself a French Jew, survived Buchenwald and remains a fine actor and hero to this day.
Posted by Doug Barney on 06/26/2009 at 1:16 PM3 comments
Bill Gates is known for his minor love of cars. There's a fairly famous story from the late '80s when Gates bought a Porsche 959, at the time the most sophisticated Porsche on the market. These cars were so rare and so expensive that Porsche had to sacrifice one to a U.S. crash test, which meant that Bill couldn't register his quarter-million-dollar machine.
Bill's new love is even more high-tech, and it hasn't even been built yet. Gates, along with partners, has a patent for an electromagnetic engine driven by particle beams. The engine has pistons just like the six in his Porsche 959, but the pistons create electrical energy rather than directly driving a crank.
Posted by Doug Barney on 06/26/2009 at 1:16 PM0 comments