Symantec's
Backup Exec 12 is on the market; the company calls it the first backup application
certified for Windows Server 2008.
Backup
Exec System Recovery 8 is out there, too.
The security giant has also popped out Symantec
Solutions for Windows, which has a strong SaaS flavor. And, while we're
at it, Symantec has SaaS
versions of Online Backup and Online Storage for Backup Exec available,
as well. In other news, Symantec's press release writer is recovering nicely
from a recent bout of carpal tunnel syndrome.
And, in case you missed it, Symantec rival CA released new
recovery management software earlier this month. And you might have missed
it, as this is the first time this news has appeared in RCPU.
Posted by Lee Pender on 02/20/2008 at 1:21 PM0 comments
Hi, reader, what's happening? Like
Lumbergh
from Office Space, we're playing a little catch-up today, not because
we've "lost some people" but because we took the very un-Lumbergh
step of not working over the long weekend. As a result, we're writing Tuesday's
newsletter on Tuesday and not the day before. So, it'll be short and sweet today.
Convinced that his company -- hey, isn't this guy about to retire? -- offered
a fair price for Yahoo, Bill Gates and his charges at Microsoft are launching
a fight to gain control of Yahoo's board and grab hold of the company one
way or the other.
Yahoo's Chinese partner, meanwhile, might try to block
the takeover, which could, apparently, force Microsoft to hand over more
money. Ancient
Chinese secret, huh? Well, maybe not. But, thanks to Wikipedia for giving
us Calgon jingles in about 15
languages. How do we love thee, Internet? We couldn't possibly count the
ways.
Posted by Lee Pender on 02/19/2008 at 1:21 PM0 comments
"Hmm, maybe if we move this person into this job (and, um, buy Yahoo),
we'll finally get this Web thing right..."
-- Overheard (not really, of course) in a Redmond board room around the time
this
decision was made.
Posted by Lee Pender on 02/19/2008 at 1:21 PM0 comments
To
high
school and college kids, that is. So, grow a bad teenage mustache, brush
up on the parlance of today's youth (we think we heard some of it in the movie
Juno, but we can't be sure), and see if you, too, can pass for a high
school kid and score some free stuff. Or not.
Posted by Lee Pender on 02/19/2008 at 1:21 PM1 comments
Our old buddy David Pogue (OK, OK, we've never met him, but it sounds so classy
to know someone who writes for
The New York Times) says that Office Live
Small Business is
actually
pretty cool.
Posted by Lee Pender on 02/15/2008 at 1:21 PM0 comments
Sweeter than discount chocolates the day after Valentine's Day, it's RCPU reader
feedback! We're hoping that you're either savoring a post V-Day glow or at least
capably explaining to the wife why you came home empty-handed again this year.
(We're big fans of, "Valentine's Day is just a retail scam! I love you
every day!" Eventually, that's got to work. Oh, and ladies -- we're guessing
that 90 percent of our readers are married guys, so please excuse the one-sided
attempts at humor.)
Anyway, Jeff opens with a note chiding us for being bummed about the Patriots'
Super Bowl loss:
"In regard to this line: 'Remember, the Patriots were supposed to
win the Super Bowl by a couple of touchdowns (and, no, we're not over it yet
here in Boston), and we all saw how that turned out.'
"Perhaps Microsoft is cheating. Remember, the Rams were supposed to win
Super Bowl 36 by a couple of touchdowns (and, no, we're not over it yet here
in St. Louis), and we all saw how that turned out.
"I just had to say it."
If you think people in St. Louis are upset, imagine how fans in Los Angeles
feel about the Rams. But, seriously, Jeff -- cheating? Microsoft? Bill Belichick
and the Patriots? Surely not. They wouldn't do that, would they? Why, that's
like suggesting that Roger Clemens might have used steroids...
RCPU also got a couple e-mails this week on Vista
SP1. Apparently, somebody out there is waiting for it. Tom writes:
"I'm already running Vista and having no real issues. SP1 could,
of course, do nothing but help."
Good to hear, Tom. It's nice to get some positive Vista feedback. Serial e-mailer
Mike, we're afraid, isn't so enthusiastic:
"Instead of Vista SP1, why don't they name it Vista SP-ME, or Vista
ME+8? That way they could package two of their OS debacles together."
Mike, we're thinking that you might have hit on the greatest...idea...ever.
Instead of a Greatest Hits compilation, we're thinking of coming up with a
list of Microsoft's greatest misses. Stay tuned.
That's all for now. Thanks to those who took time to write. Have something
to add? Add it at [email protected].
Posted by Lee Pender on 02/15/2008 at 1:21 PM0 comments
Virtualization titan VMware has sweetened the incentive pot for some of its
smaller partners with revisions to its channel program. Specifically, partners
at its program's Professional level (basically its entry level) now have access
to the "advantage +" incentive program for the first time.
"We're seeing a growth in all of our partner tiers," Julie Eades,
VMware's director of worldwide channel marketing, told RCPU. "We really
felt that [Professional partners] are very open to needing the same kind of
benefits as the other tiers of the program." VMware now has nearly 10,000
partners worldwide, Eades said.
There are also enhanced training programs and new marketing programs and tools
in VMware's program upgrade. All the gritty details are here.
Posted by Lee Pender on 02/14/2008 at 1:21 PM0 comments
Well, hello,
RCP Editor in Chief Scott Bekker. Perhaps you have
some
news about NetApp for us:
Network storage vendor NetApp this week launched an expansion of its channel
program in a bid to expand its market share against EMC and other storage vendors
by giving its partners the tools to deliver more profitable services surrounding
NetApp's storage devices and software. Of the four initial service focus areas
for NetApp partners in the program, one is specifically for Microsoft applications.
The new NetApp channel program is called the Authorized Professional Service
Partner Program. The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company, which on Wednesday announced
21 percent revenue growth for the quarter, claims about 1,000 partners worldwide
in its long-standing channel program, with indirect sales accounting for about
70 percent of the company's revenues.
Rick DeTurck, senior director of services marketing for NetApp, said that NetApp
hopes to bring about a quarter of its channel partners into the Authorized Professional
Service network in the first year, and up to half of its partners into the program
eventually.
At the same time, the company is trying to bring in systems integrators who
haven't worked with NetApp. "We absolutely expect that this will attract
partners from other vendors into the NetApp ecosphere," DeTurck said.
DeTurck estimated that a third to a half of existing NetApp partners also belong
to the Microsoft Partner Program. "There's a fairly good overlap,"
he said. "The thing about NetApp is that the Microsoft applications really
do well on NetApp storage. We've customized our software to take advantage of
[Microsoft] operating system and the applications, so they can do snapshots
and backup recovery and instantaneous recovery of mailboxes for Exchange or
Web sites for SharePoint."
According to NetApp's announcement, partners who meet the authorization requirements
can sell partner-branded professional services of NetApp technologies; specialize
in a NetApp solution area; and gain access to training, methodologies and best
practices. The solution areas are based on practice areas that NetApp's internal
professional services team has already implemented with customers.
The first set of specialty solution areas for partners are:
- storage system design and implementation
- network storage for virtualized infrastructure
- virtual tape library design and implementation
- Microsoft applications
Later, NetApp plans to roll out specialty solutions for the channel in disaster
recovery, backup and recovery, metrocluster, security encryption, and data assessment.
Posted by Lee Pender on 02/14/2008 at 1:21 PM0 comments
You might
remember
a lawsuit filed claiming that Microsoft labeled PCs as Windows Vista capable
when they were only really capable of running one version of Vista, the low-level
Vista Home Basic.
Well, this week, we found out as part of the suit's legal proceedings that
there was more to the story than just a bit of allegedly misleading marketing.
Apparently, there was something
resembling mass confusion inside Microsoft, including fairly high-ranking
executives -- Mike Nash and Jim Allchin among them -- questioning what on earth
was going on with the whole Vista labeling campaign. One employee even said
in an e-mail that a "piece of junk" PC could still qualify for a Vista
Ready label.
Now, companies screw stuff up all the time, sometimes unintentionally and sometimes
somewhat more intentionally. What seems to have happened at Microsoft sounds
like confusion and disorganization, which, again, isn't unusual in companies
of 70,000 people.
But, it does seem unfortunate that Microsoft apparently did such a poor job
of managing a not-unimportant aspect of the biggest release in years of its
flagship product. The result was, at the very least, confusion among consumers
-- and maybe even (we're speculating here) some confusion among and ill will
from customers toward Microsoft partners as well (if, that is, any customers
have actually decided to deploy Vista).
This little story just makes us wonder what else Microsoft is capable of botching.
In business, especially the software business, the devil is always in the details,
and Microsoft folks should know that by now. We're also not thrilled with the
tone execs took in their e-mails -- check the RCP story linked above
(and here
again). They seem to, first off, not entirely know what's going on, and secondly,
point fingers at underlings for screwing up. Of course, we're just getting tiny
samples here.
In the long run, this little Vista labeling debacle isn't that big of a deal
-- and, of course, no matter what happens, according to RCPU's incontrovertible
law, Microsoft will make more money. But if you're wondering why Vista has been
a mitigated success at best, maybe it's time to start asking questions about
whether Redmond has lost some of its focus, especially on core products. And
maybe it's time to wonder just how capable Microsoft would be of absorbing a
monster like Yahoo after all.
What's your take on Microsoft's Vista labeling fiasco? Do you find that the
company is losing focus? Let me know at [email protected].
Posted by Lee Pender on 02/14/2008 at 1:21 PM1 comments