A week or two ago, Forrester Research raised a stink with a report saying that
enterprise uptake of Vista was
more
anemic than a German POW. Microsoft spat back that other Forrester analysts
have a more upbeat view of Vista. Funny thing was, a Microsoft exec blogged
about the company's misgivings and got
hammered
in comments from real Vista users.
Now Forrester has a new
report from a different analyst with a different perspective. Analyst Benjamin
Gray blames the economy for poor Vista adoption, an argument I don't understand.
As I mention in my next item, it costs more money to buy a new machine and downgrade
to XP than it does to just keep Vista.
Gray expects more corporations to make the Vista move due to better security,
and suggests that IT "migrate to Vista sooner rather than later."
Is Vista ready now? Is Gray on to something, or just on something? Thoughts
welcome at [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 08/27/2008 at 1:15 PM0 comments
At the risk of sounding like a broken record (or a skipping CD), there's good
news about IT spending. I've written about several reports pointing to higher
IT budgets. Research powerhouse Gartner is weighing in, reporting that overall
spending is
up
around 8 percent.
What are you spending money on? Security? Services? New apps? Or just keeping
things running? Details may be sent to [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 08/27/2008 at 1:15 PM0 comments
A
recent report from
the Yankee Group about virtualization has some reasonable findings, such as
the fact that 75 percent of companies plan to use virtual wares in their datacenters,
and that 40 percent of current virtualization customers mix and match technologies
from different vendors. That all makes perfect sense.
Here's the shocker: Some 23 percent of enterprises use Mac servers to drive
virtual Vista and XP desktops. That is so unbelievable, I actually don't believe
it!
What do you think? And do you use Mac servers? If so, how? Share the deets
by writing [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 08/26/2008 at 1:15 PM0 comments
Kidnappers in Mexico might soon find the
federales breaking down their
door. It seems that more and more affluent Mexicans are taking drastic steps
to be recovered in the event of a kidnapping -- like having transmitter chips
planted
in their bodies. If they go missing, a satellite can pinpoint the location.
Posted by Doug Barney on 08/26/2008 at 1:15 PM0 comments
Readers share their methods for dodging Vista:
As long as I was being forced to buy a new system to upgrade the OS,
I went and bought a iMac. Parallels gets me the few XP Windows apps I need
to use; for the rest I use Mac-based programs. Love the new Mac. It's a lot
easier to use and maintain than Windows. For supporting Mac users, iChat is
great and the built-in mike is live during screen-sharing sessions so we can
hang up the phone. XP is still in use in the corporate environs I haunt, no
change expected there.
-Eddie
For any of you who want to see what is involved in removing Vista, see
this
thread at CR4.
-Ari
But Jim chimes in with a defense for Vista:
I have been surprised by all the Vista bashing that has been going on.
I have been using Vista since RTM and have no issues at all. Even Mac users
did not complain this much when they had to learn a new OS. The early versions
of OS X were terribly slow and had major issues with applications and driver
support. I never heard such vocal complaints about having to buy a new machine
because it would not support the latest version of OS X. I guess it is all
love for Apple now; they can do no wrong.
Microsoft definitely needs to fix the bad publicity that surrounds Vista.
Sure, Vista is different than XP but if it wasn't the same folks would still
be complaining. Vista should not be expected to run on a five-year-old machine
just like you wouldn't expect Leopard to.
-Jim
And William weighs in on Microsoft's new ad campaign, featuring -- for starters
-- Jerry
Seinfeld:
I just went to the Reuters link in your story to read the article on
the new Microsoft ad campaign. The one thing that stuck out was that the only
names other than Gates were comedians. You know, those people that are used
to standing in front of a crowd and making a fool of themselves. Maybe that
nerdy guy in the Apple campaign will actually help Microsoft's image after
the new campaign.
-William
Tell us what you think! Leave a comment below or send an e-mail to [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 08/26/2008 at 1:15 PM0 comments
Last time I checked, Apple was still based in Cupertino. But
one
blogger thinks the company could just as easily be headquartered a bit farther
north, in Redmond, Wash.
How's that? No, it's not the monopoly it enjoys (as one Redmond Report reader
recently pointed out, nearly 100 percent of Macintosh computers run an Apple
operating system). Instead, Victor Godinez points to flaky, new operating systems
such as the one driving the latest iPhone, and bundling software such as tying
Safari to iTunes.
Neither Microsoft nor Apple are perfect, but they're two of the most interesting
companies in the world to watch.
Posted by Doug Barney on 08/21/2008 at 1:15 PM0 comments
I can imagine Jerry Seinfeld doing a pretty good stand-up routine about Vista.
What's the deal with Vista? Vista users don't care what runs on their computers
-- they care what doesn't. And what's up with Bill Gates? This guy is so rich,
he can afford a Vista machine that doesn't crash. It's called a MacBook.
But nooo. Instead of poking fun, old Jerr is getting
$10 million to convince us all that Vista is cool as part of a $300 million
advertising campaign.
How about spending this dough on some device driver development? And who's
the ad whiz that came up with this idea anyway?
Posted by Doug Barney on 08/21/2008 at 1:15 PM0 comments
Now that most of you have thrown up your hands at Vista,
Doug
asked what you're doing to get XP. Here's what some of you had to say:
Here's a vote for staying with XP. We are finding it easier to buy XP
now than a year ago. Dell and HP have seen the light, for example, and make
is easy, but ONLY if you go through their business portals. We have found,
and many IT people agree, that if we are forced to, we will save and reuse
licenses we have already purchased when systems go out of service. OEM agreements
be damned. Call it a piece-by-piece upgrade if you want to split hairs about
OEM license restrictions.
The effort to wipe a Vista system and install XP is nothing compared
to the headache of supporting it. It isn't about being new, misunderstood
or not giving it a chance. It is fundamentally flawed. What we see on the
consumer side is that people will buy Vista for personal systems and then
fight with it for months and then give up, seeking out people like us to fix
it by installing XP. Bad press had nothing to do with it. Sooner or later
Microsoft will realize that by not selling XP, Vista is not competing with
XP -- it is competing with the XP license I already have.
-Derek
Sticking with Windows XP certainly has some challenges. Often our effort
to "downgrade" PCs, laptops and tablets to XP results in missing
out on key features of the original load or compatibility issues. We've learned
to provide proven XP laptop/desktop loads, but there are still some issues.
We also stick with Lenovo for most of our needs, because they do provide XP
as an option. I'm betting other vendors are also seeing improved sales by
offering to pre-load Windows XP. For example, on some of their laptops even
consumers can choose: "Genuine Windows Vista Business with Windows XP
Professional Downgrade." Fully supported by their help desk and repair
centers.
-Joe
Well, this month I had to buy a new laptop. I really tried to avoid Dell,
because you have to pay an extra £60 for a downgrade. So I went to Lenovo,
and they still have some Thinkpads with XP; they're not as cutting-edge as
the "19-hour battery life" from Dell, but for school/work it's more
than welcome!
-Anonymous
Vista is a no-go zone. Microsoft cannot assume the role of bully in this
debate. First, it dumps an OS onto us that we did not have much say in developing.
The good features of XP were removed and the bad features of Vista were marketed
as if it was some sort of rock god. Vista is slow, no matter how Microsoft
spins it. It has nothing over XP except more cost -- significant additional
cost, at that. I don't care about eye candy or Aero; that's just fluff and
nonsense and I am not paying for it.
I provide advice to Victorian government agencies and my advice has been:
Do not, under any circumstances, get into Vista. So far they all agree with
my view so I think Microsoft has more than just a major perception problem
on its hand. We will not be held ransom by Microsoft executives thinking they
can market or bully us into submission.
-Ken
But a couple of you think that the complaints about Vista are much ado about
nothing:
Amazing. I read the stories and see the commercials every day bashing
Vista. Jacksonville IT Services is the largest IT services company in Jacksonville,
Fla. and we see no problems with Vista across hundreds of companies and thousands
of users. In fact, most users would not dream of going back to XP. Is the
Vista perception being controlled like the stock market?
-Howard
I am using Vista without problems. I think all the bad rap about Vista
is nonsense.
-John
I'm keeping the existing client PCs on XP Pro, but new machines are being
deployed with Vista Business or Ultimate. I don't like supporting two client
OSes, but I'm not crazy about putting money into obsolete technology, either.
The new Vista machines are going to our most tech savvy and enthusiastic users.
As the early adopters, these users will not object to minor deployment issues,
and will eventually help train their co-workers on Vista as we replace more
PCs.
At the same time, I'm moving away from vendors whose software or drivers don't
work well on Vista. This late after release, there's no excuse for poor Vista
support, and I don't want to invest with vendors who choose not to embrace
new technology. Love Vista or hate it, but if you don't fully support the
currently shipping Microsoft OS over a year after release, I will not limit
my options by becoming or remaining your customer.
-Dave
After Microsoft announced that it was offering
24x7 support, Doug asked readers whether they trust Microsoft to solve their
IT issues:
Yes, absolutely! I have consistently found MS technical support to be
extraordinary. Do not feel the same way about TechNet's ability to assist
me, nor do I feel MS leverages the outstanding opportunity it has with Event
Viewer to solve technical issues.
-Anonymous
Jeremy responds to a
letter we ran yesterday regarding Microsoft's backward compatibility:
I'm sure I'm not the only one to respond to Fred's letter. A lot of us
in the IT community are begging for Microsoft to cut the umbilical cord already
and reduce backward compatibility. I for one look forward to "Midori."
Fred, install VMware. If you haven't heard of it, it is great for those
that want to maintain compatibility while still being forward-thinking in
our overall architecture. Install Windows 3.x in a VM, convert your docs and
be done with the 16-bit days.
-Jeremy
Finally, a reader experiences a problem with missing audio on Internet videos.
Got any tips for him?
I was hoping you might know an expert (if you don't know the answer yourself)
who could help me with a problem that I can't seem to get an answer to. I
have Windows XP home edition with Service Pack 2 and it's running on a Dell
XPS 410. Everything has been going great with it until the last week or so.
A couple of days ago, I acquired a Trojan virus and was almost immediately
able to get rid of it, thanks to the anti virus I have running. I also found
some remnants of it in the registry and cleared that out. I also found three
or four files left in a Windows folder and deleted them.
After this event, I noticed that when I go on the Internet and view a
video (from YouTube or anywhere else), there is no sound. I can hear all sounds
on the PC, including music CDs in Windows Media Player and RealPlayer, and
any of the other sounds that Windows makes on Windows events. The only thing
I can't hear is the audio from the Internet. I really think the virus thing
has NOTHING to do with it, but I wanted to throw that in just in case. I have
searched the Internet for answers and found a few that have NOT solved my
problem. I have made sure "Play sounds in Web pages" and "Play
videos in Web pages" are checked under Internet options. I have made
sure the proper sound card is selected and the volumes turned up (not muted).
I'm frustrated and don't know what else to try, so I'm looking for some real
experts that might have some answers. Can you help me, or know who can?
-Paul
Got any advice for Paul? Want to share your thoughts any of the topics we covered?
Leave a comment below or send an e-mail to [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 08/21/2008 at 1:15 PM0 comments
VMware's new CEO Paul Maritz knows a thing or two about Microsoft. After all,
he worked there for a decade-and-a-half and, last I checked, still lives in
the Seattle area. Maritz, I believe, knows how to fight with Microsoft and how
to get along when need be.
Recently, we saw an example of what could be a long-lasting détente:
VMware
joined Microsoft's virtualization validation program, meaning that Microsoft
will qualify its applications to run well under ESX and thus gain the advantages
of Microsoft's new licensing terms which allow you to move VMs from server to
server with no extra licensing costs.
This is a small step, really, but the symbolism is huge. Check out Virtualization
Review Editor Keith Ward's thoughts on the subject here.
By the way, I first found this story on our new Web site, aptly named Redmond
Report. Here we gather Microsoft news from as many sources as we can find,
and post 'em in one easy-to-navigate location. Check it out and let me know
what you think at [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 08/21/2008 at 1:15 PM0 comments
Virtualization is supposed to make computing cheaper. But if you simply create
VM after VM, your costs will rise faster than Michael Phelps' net worth. And
if you move these VMs around, extra license fees will hit as vendors like Microsoft
treat the moved VM as a brand-new install.
Microsoft is loosening
up a bit. Before, an app had to be in place for three months before it could
be moved for free. Now, 41 different apps can moved around from server to server
for free. This isn't exactly a revolution, but will certainly support IT agility.
Posted by Doug Barney on 08/20/2008 at 1:15 PM0 comments
When Microsoft entered the unified communications market, the folks at Cisco
were far from pleased. In fact, I'd gather you could hear the curses from Cisco's
San Jose headquarters all the way to Redmond.
Cisco wasn't going to take this laying down. Its most recent response is to
partner
with HP to jointly sell and market unified tools to IT.
The HP deal might also be designed to shore up some weaknesses in Cisco's unified
lineup, particularly VoIP, the cornerstone of any unified solution. Service
providers, the most demanding of VoIP customers, know and respect the Cisco
brand, but Cisco is clearly not
their No. 1 vendor.
Posted by Doug Barney on 08/20/2008 at 1:15 PM0 comments
Many of you...well, most of you...OK, nearly all of you are avoiding Vista and
sticking with XP. But Microsoft ain't making it easy. Go to Circuit City and
all you'll see is Vista, Vista, Vista. And Microsoft volume agreements are pushing
the new OS over the old.
How are you dealing with XP? Buying new machines and downgrading? Just not
using Vista licenses that come with your existing agreements? Tell us your story
by writing to [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 08/20/2008 at 1:15 PM0 comments