Marc Andreessen has never been seen as a real heavyweight executive. Many felt
he lucked into the whole browser thing and went along for the ride at Netscape.
I sometimes veered into that category, as well.
Marc, I take it all back. You're smart, inventive and a heckuva businessman.
The proof is in the results.
After Netscape, Marc (using his first name saves me from spelling his last
one) started Loudcloud. He sold a chunk of that to EDS and turned the rest into
Opsware, which he just unloaded
on HP for $1.6 billion -- despite the fact that Opsware has been losing
money. Now, that's a businessman!
Which tech exec do you think is underrated? Let us know at [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 07/23/2007 at 1:15 PM0 comments
One reader shares his thoughts on the U.S. tech sector's $102 billion trade
deficit:
I see the problem as twofold. One, the American lifestyle to which we
have become accustomed has mutated into a self-centered gimme-gimme kind of
mindset, where all things should be cheap and disposable.
The other is that other countries are actually CULTURES; the U.S. has
no culture. So we stand alone, basically doing economic battle with people
who are held together by their belief in what they are, often bound by an
almost World War II-like desire to excel as a race. People in this country
seem to hold Japanese and German (and probably all foreign) products in higher
regard than our own. Why? Because they believe that those countries have pride
in their work and that they are unified in their efforts to supply a superior
product. Why do they believe that? Because they have jobs which reveal a total
lack in ethics by their co-workers, and they see the low quality of work.
Why is there a low quality of work? Because everything is cheap and disposable,
you don't have to work hard, and you're not a team or a culture struggling
for survival.
Myself, I know the value of the American worker, and I strive to buy
not only U.S.-made, but also U.S.-owned. I willingly pay more, something most
Americans refuse to do. I remember when all my server stuff was made in the
U.S., and only small chips came from foreign markets. Now, companies like
Intel are investing more in off-shore manufacturing, and you have to wonder
when the technology will leave with the manufacturing. People have to be willing
to sacrifice and keep those U.S. companies here, even if it means paying more
for less.
-Mel
Tell us what you think! Leave a comment below or send an e-mail to [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 07/23/2007 at 1:15 PM0 comments
Wondering what the
next
release of Windows for the desktop will look like? So am I, and so -- I
imagine -- are the developers themselves.
But here's what we do know: It already has a code-name, "Windows 7"
(Windows 95 was 4, 98 was 5 and XP was 6), it's expected to ship in 2010, and
it will run in 32 or 64 bits. Microsoft is also kicking around the idea of selling
it on a subscription basis.
Do you really want to rent your OS? And should Redmond bite the bullet and
go pure 64-bit? Let us know at [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 07/23/2007 at 1:15 PM0 comments
I wouldn't mind having the
bad
quarter Google just posted. The search engine king reported earnings of
nearly a billion dollars on sales of nearly $4 billion -- a neat little 25 percent
margin. Meanwhile, revenue was up almost 60 percent compared to the previous
year's quarter.
So Wall Street geniuses drove the stock price up, right? Not on your life.
The Street was looking for more and slapped Google upside the head by driving
the share price down 8 percent in one day.
Meanwhile, Google exec Eric Schmidt is talking cautiously about the future,
indicating that the company will slow down its hiring (is that why it hasn't
returned my calls?).
Microsoft's
results, to my mind, were also superb. It has more than three times the
profits of Google (MS had $3 billion) and over three times its revenues (MS
had over $13 billion). But as an older and larger company, Redmond's growth
rates failed to compare to Google's.
Posted by Doug Barney on 07/23/2007 at 1:15 PM0 comments
As editor in chief of
Redmond magazine, I should be embarrassed to admit that I don't yet use Vista. In fact, I used to feel that way.
But the more I hear from real IT experts (translation: you, the Redmond Report reader), the more I think I'm actually on the leading edge by sticking with good, old XP Service Pack 2. My printers and external hard drives still work, and it has performance I can live with.
Vista users are having less luck. Hardware drivers are lagging behind the operating system like me in the Boston marathon (I'm not exactly svelte).
Many believe a service pack will do the trick, but service packs are for bugs and performance. Drivers are an entirely different matter. Give some news about Vista by writing [email protected]!
Learn more from
this fine report from the Associated Press.
Posted by Doug Barney on 07/16/2007 at 1:15 PM0 comments
The rise of blogs was supposed to fundamentally reshape the world of journalism. No longer would you need a degree from j-school (of course, I have the rare honor of a degree in Marxian economics, which is now useful only in North Korea and Cambridge, Mass.!).
No, news was to be driven by those closest to it: real, actual citizens.
Unfortunately, these citizen journalism sites were about as effective as Eugene Tackleberry on patrol.
The latest casualty is community news Web site Backfence, which recently called it quits, citing "business issues." What could those business issues be? No traffic and no ads?
Posted by Doug Barney on 07/16/2007 at 1:15 PM0 comments
Like Vista, OneCare has seen its share of problems. This consumer security bundle was roundly criticized by users (including a
Redmond magazine staffer who had no end of problems) for installation troubles and what some claim is substandard anti-virus protection.
Now, Microsoft is prepping OneCare 2.0, which can protect multiple computers and offers centralized backup for networked computers.
OneCare 1.0 might not have been God's gift to computing (for me, that would be craigslist), but name one 1.0 product from Microsoft that has been top-notch. Word, Excel, Windows, even NT had growing pains.
Because Microsoft is such a patient company, OneCare (version 3.0, at least) is still something that Symantec et al should be very worried about.
Posted by Doug Barney on 07/16/2007 at 1:15 PM0 comments
Those who think that Microsoft has no Software as a Service strategy (SaaS+S) must not have heard of
Dynamics Live CRM, a hosted version of Microsoft's current CRM offering announced last week at Microsoft's annual partner conference.
Now, before you get too excited, I have a bone to pick with the name. Microsoft's original CRM product was called, I believe, simply "Microsoft CRM." Then it became "Microsoft Dynamics CRM." Now that everything that has anything to do with the Web is somehow called Live, it's now "Microsoft Dynamics Live CRM." That sure rolls off the old tongue!
Of course, if you are really hardcore, you can buy Microsoft Dynamics Live CRM Professional or Microsoft Dynamics Live CRM Enterprise!
Interestingly, but not surprisingly, Microsoft is undercutting Salesforce.com on price by a pretty big hunk.
Posted by Doug Barney on 07/16/2007 at 1:15 PM0 comments
Microsoft is continuing to reshape itself in Ray Ozzie's image. One of the bigger
initiatives is Live, a series of Web services meant to bring in either advertising
or subscription revenue.
Before the reorg, there was one group focused on the actual services and another
to build the infrastructure pieces, such as directory and identity. Now these
two groups are unified with the new entity tightly under the thumb of Mr.
Ozzie.
To my mind, Microsoft hasn't really explained what Live is all about. It's
clear that Microsoft is building an entirely new platform, but how will it actually
work, when will it appear and how does it all affect existing products?
Can you explain Live? If so, shoot me some mail at [email protected].
And yes, Ray, you're welcome to write in, as well.
Posted by Doug Barney on 07/09/2007 at 1:15 PM0 comments
Windows cognoscenti all know the Blue Screen of Death. Xbox 360 users are learning
about the Red Ring of Death: This is when three red lights turn on, indicating
that your Xbox is as frozen as Ted Williams' head (thanks to my daughter Lauren
for this sweet metaphor!).
Microsoft is tackling these hardware problems, extending warranties by up to
three years and setting
aside $1 billion to pay for repairs. If you're looking at a used Xbox on
craigslist or eBay, check the lights!
Posted by Doug Barney on 07/09/2007 at 1:15 PM0 comments
Despite its detente with Novell, Xandros and Linspire, the open source community
is giving Microsoft no quarter. The latest open source license, GPLv3, specifies
that future deals between Microsoft and open source software makers will be
in violation of the new license.
Is it any wonder, then, that Microsoft wants
nothing to do with GPLv3?
The trick is that Novell fully supports GPLv3, and Microsoft had pledged to
support Novell. Now Novell and Microsoft must work out how to support mutual
customers with a license that Microsoft so soundly rejects.
Posted by Doug Barney on 07/09/2007 at 1:15 PM0 comments
Six patches
will
be released tomorrow, including three dubbed critical that involve the remote
execution of code. It's an equal-opportunity Patch Tuesday, as Office, Windows
and the .NET Framework will all get repairs.
Posted by Doug Barney on 07/09/2007 at 1:15 PM0 comments