Or maybe not, but we did find this amusing. We opened an
entry
on Blink Logic on Nov. 28 thusly:
"Robert Lendvai was as confused as anybody when he read RCPU's declaration
that IBM's planned buyout of Cognos meant the end of business intelligence
as we know it. The chief marketing office of Blink Logic, an Ottawa-based
BI firm, even had a bit of a career crisis: 'I wondered whether maybe I should
resign,' Lendvai said."
That was at the end of November. This week -- and we couldn't make this up
-- we got an e-mail from former colleague Chris Kanaracus letting us know that
Lendvai actually did resign on Dec. 5. We called to check it out...and it's
true! A company spokesperson cited "personal reasons" for the resignation,
and we certainly wish Lendvai well in any case.
But, seriously, we don't even need to make a joke here, do we? The whole thing
is just too bizarre...and too funny.
Posted by Lee Pender on 12/21/2007 at 1:21 PM0 comments
It's our last Reader Feedback Friday of the year! We'd love to take an opportunity
to go back over all the events of 2007 in RCPU, but your editor is on vacation
right now and is more than willing to just let a few more readers do the talking.
So, here goes:
On the Netherlands going
open source, we got an e-mail from Fred that was especially impressive for
his use of the word "utopianistically":
"I think that it's getting a bit old to keep hearing that open source
can be expensive, etc., because of all the problems folks are having working
with the Microsoft products elsewhere. That's a bit like saying we can't change
because everyone else won't change at the same time. Someone has to go first,
and everyone has to realize that there is more than one way to accomplish
a task.
"Of course, most of those costs and problems would not exist if Microsoft
didn't habitually find ways to ignore, corrupt or bypass standards that have
been created specifically to facilitate interoperability and compatibility.
Ideally, Microsoft would return to the days of providing software that was
relatively clean, simple and functional. Utopianistically, Microsoft would
stop trying to leverage its de facto monopoly (albeit a well-planned and strategically
earned one) to prevent the up-and-comers from gaining a foothold just as Microsoft
once did. Compete based on quality and value instead of barriers. What a concept..."
Eddy had a different take (and one we've heard before); he's not happy with
Microsoft's customer support. That might just be enough to drive him away from
Redmond's wares:
"With Microsoft's insistence to switch -- or should I say, destroy
-- their support options by transferring support to folks who cannot speak
or understand English and who are not able to solve any computer issue, we
too may soon be switching to open source. Microsoft isn't competing with open
source products; they are competing against themselves."
Not everybody is so down on Microsoft, though. Christopher says that it's not
Vista that has problems after all:
"Technology moves forward; IT people need to get their heads out
of the '80s and get a life. This is really making me angry that those stoopid
IT people can't make their own stuff work on Vista with included drivers...they're
doing something wrong, and I bet I can prove it... I like my pretty operating
system. It runs everything I need at speeds that I think are acceptable and
troubleshooting any problem is 500 percent better than doing it in XP! That
is for sure. That alone makes it worth it for me to install it on client locations
that can run it and that don't use some dumb vendor who refuses to program
for Active Directory and claims workgroup security is just fine, but wants
to run dBase and code everything to run under administrator."
The message from Christopher, then: Don't blame your tools, Vista haters.
Thanks to everybody who took the time to write. Keep the letters coming to
[email protected].
Posted by Lee Pender on 12/21/2007 at 1:21 PM0 comments
Barb Darrow has an
interesting
look at the latest Dynamics CRM release and what it means for Microsoft's
SaaS strategy.
Posted by Lee Pender on 12/20/2007 at 1:21 PM0 comments
The former Redmond honcho will square off against Google for the license for
a spectrum that could be used to establish a wireless network.
More
from the
Times of London, old bean.
Posted by Lee Pender on 12/20/2007 at 1:21 PM0 comments
All you really need to read every week is
The Economist,
BusinessWeek
and, of course,
Redmond Channel Partner the week it comes out. Throw
in the
Journal or the
Financial Times if you want to, but it's
hard to beat
BW for stuff like
this.
Posted by Lee Pender on 12/19/2007 at 1:21 PM0 comments
With reader e-mails this good, why should we spend time coming up with a clever
introduction to Reader Feedback Friday? Let's just jump right in.
On Dell sidling up
to partners and trying to make things right again after all these years,
we got a subtle, nuanced response from John, which we quote here directly and
without editing:
"Dell can go to h!!!"
By the way, John sent that in about 20-point type, so it's pretty clear that
he'll be resisting Dell's advances. Thomas, who writes from the U.K., old chap,
is right there with John on this issue:
"In the late 1980s and early 1990s, I was a Dell reseller -- until
Dell took information and went behind my back. I was getting around a 4 percent
discount as a vendor off their low prices. Their direct sales folks took my
contact list and offered them 4.5 percent (meaning to compete, I'd have had
to lose money).
"Then they just closed their reseller program -- I only found out
when I went to order more hardware and was told I was not a reseller any longer.
We never got kissed. Since then, I simply do not trust Dell as a channel player.
Mileage probably varies."
Mileage doesn't vary too much, Thomas, based on the responses we've had so far. The channel doesn't forget -- and Dell's going to have a heck of a time
trying to ingratiate itself to partners, from what we can tell.
On Vista still sitting
on corporate shelves (an entry that ran just yesterday, but Vista is always
good for quick comments), Bill offered an impassioned defense of...fruitcake:
"Knock it off; I like fruitcake. Buy it in early November and soak
it in Myers' dark rum until Christmas...wonderful stuff. But I liked Windows
Me, too. I was on the beta and installed it on a lot of computers, and not
a one of them ever went down. So you need to be careful with the Vista and
Me comparisons, as well."
Bill, we soak everything we consume in some form of alcohol, so thanks for
the suggestion. If somebody goes old-school and drops a fruitcake on RCPU for
Christmas this year (rather than the new fruitcake -- the gift card), we'll
go the rum route and give it a try.
Less happy with Vista (no word on fruitcake) is Nat, who writes:
"I finally broke down and loaded Vista on one of my office computers
a couple of days ago. Am I using it? No! I connected to my networked printer,
an HP cp1160tn. I tried to print a few pages from a Web site and, to my surprise,
there is no option to print on both sides of the paper, nor was there a way
to print from the lower tray. I checked out HP's site, and they said to use
the included Vista driver. I've now turned off the Vista computer and probably
will not turn it back on until I decide to load Fedora Core 8."
So the compatibility issue remains a big one for Vista, as it probably will
for a while yet. On the shelf Vista will continue to sit until Microsoft and
third parties work that stuff out -- which, we think and hope, is in the process
of happening.
Finally, Wil (with one "l" at the end) does what every good reader
should do: correct RCPU on a grievous error from a previous entry. In this case,
he correctly identifies the "Cheers" character RCPU
shamefully misidentified in last week's Reader Feedback segment. (We're
seriously embarrassed about having gotten this wrong, and we're now doubting
our own expertise in '80s sitcoms):
"I really enjoy the reader feedback, and this is the first time I'm
submitting one of my own. But it's only in response to Jon's funny Microsoft
robot e-mail. You indicated that his e-mail had you shaking -- all four cheeks
and a chin -- and attributed the pun to Cliff Claven on 'Cheers.' But if memory
serves me, I believe that line was delivered by Norm Peterson when Norm enters
the bar to the cries of 'NORM!' Coach asks Norm, 'What's shakin'?' Norm's
response: 'All four cheeks and a chin.' That was funny stuff! Thanks for the
laugh!"
And thanks for setting us straight, Wil. Thanks also to everybody who took
the time to write this week.
Want to add to the pile of letters? Throw one on top at [email protected].
Posted by Lee Pender on 12/14/2007 at 1:21 PM0 comments
Seriously, it's time to start ramping up for SaaS if you haven't already. In
one of those studies that basically reports that the earth might just continue
spinning on its axis, IDC tells us that SaaS will -- brace yourselves --
dramatically
alter the landscape for partners.
Posted by Lee Pender on 12/12/2007 at 1:21 PM0 comments
Microsoft Office's
kind-of,
sort-of answer to Google Apps is
in
beta for those who want a taste of exactly what Software Plus Services is
dishing out.
Posted by Lee Pender on 12/11/2007 at 1:21 PM0 comments
Quick hits today because...well, just because. Hey, it's December, and the
news is kind of slow, and we're now officially obsessed with the growing possibility
of a Dallas vs. New England Super Bowl, which would pit your editor's original
hometown (Dallas, or close to it, anyway) against his current (and now somewhat
longtime) area of residence. And, with that jinx in place, Green Bay and Indianapolis
fans, your teams should be guaranteed spots in the big game. Congrats, and you're
welcome.
Anyway, very much in the way that New England's offensive line thwarted the
Pittsburgh pass rush on Sunday, Microsoft is letting customers block
automatic service pack updates in Windows Update. The service pack blocker
will be available for XP, Vista (which doesn't even have a service pack yet)
and Windows Server 2003.
And, just as Cowboy quarterback Tony Romo passed to Jason Witten for Sunday's
game-winning touchdown, Redmond is passing news
of SP1's features to partners and users. (There's no escaping the football
metaphors today. Dolphins fans, we offer our sincere apologies.) SP1 should
appear in public-beta form some time this week.
Have an extra point to send to RCPU about anything you've read in the newsletter
lately? Kick it my way at [email protected].
Posted by Lee Pender on 12/11/2007 at 1:21 PM0 comments
It's Christmas in...uh, December for those who wanted nothing but
Microsoft
patches for the holidays.
Posted by Lee Pender on 12/07/2007 at 1:21 PM0 comments
The
apparent confusion
at the mother ship over the phrase "Vista capable" came as a relief
to Cori:
"How can I get in on the lawsuit? I have had software issues and
have already replaced my original hard drive that came with the laptop. My
husband, who is a senior program technical engineer for Coinstar, kept on
telling me, 'I don't know what you're doing, but stop moving all your files
around.' Of course, I'm not lame, even have 18 years of software sales experience,
so I am not the culprit of all the software issues going on with the laptop.
"I ran across an article about this less than two months ago, which
outlined the exact problems I was (and still am) experiencing. Who do I contact
to see if I'm eligible to be included in the lawsuit? Your article was such
a RELIEF to show my husband."
As for the lawsuit, Cori, we're not sure that we can help you there, but we're
glad that we were able to provide a bit of relief. Thanks for your e-mail.
Greg chimed in with some interesting numbers on open source after our entry
on how SMBs are sticking
with Microsoft. He says that the desktop market isn't the only place where
Microsoft is hammering its competitor:
"I always read open source articles with great interest. However,
I find that there is some irony in how everyone seems to think that open source
is growing in the server market. The last stats I saw for 2002 and 2006 for
market share showed that Windows server market share had grown from in the
40 percent range to 75 percent by 2006. This was at the expense of Unix and
Linux. I have not seen recent figures, but it certainly made me wonder whether
Linux will survive past the niche that it is in.
"I also saw stats for Apache Web servers, which during the same time
shrank in market share from 75 percent to somewhere around 40 percent. IIS
in the same timeframe grew from 8 percent to 36 percent. All indications are
that IIS will be the leading Web server before the end of next year. This
does not include Windows servers that are running Apache but certainly shows
the decrease in UNIX and Linux market share in the Web environment, which
so happens to be the niche for a lot of Linux servers.
"Anyway, maybe Linux will grow one day. For now, I think Microsoft
still rules the roost. I do think this shift in market share will also force
Microsoft to look for revenue elsewhere. Watch ERP and competition with Google.
Microsoft will focus heavily on these areas moving forward. I would be worried
if I was trading in these environments."
Greg, we're not 100 percent sure where you got your numbers, of course, but
we're inclined to believe you. And, as for ERP, we've been watching Dynamics
for a while here, and we'll continue to keep an eye on it. Thanks for your e-mail.
Posted by Lee Pender on 12/07/2007 at 1:21 PM0 comments