The report from Redmond this week is that Microsoft's security initiatives are making progress. Of course, it helps to consider the source here.
Posted by Lee Pender on 07/28/2009 at 1:22 PM0 comments
These are the final days of Windows Vista, if indeed Vista ever had its day to begin with. Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 are done. Microsoft has apparently released them to manufacturing.
There's not much more that we can say about Windows 7 that we haven't already said. The bottom line is that it had better be good -- and it does look good. All Windows 7 has to do is save a fairly large portion of Microsoft's financial bacon that has taken a hit thanks to Vista, netbooks and (all together now) the economy.
Many of you have tried and reviewed it, and most of the reviews have been positive. Well, the lights are coming up, the new operating system is backstage, and the curtain is about to open. And not a moment too soon for Microsoft. Our only regret here at RCPU? No more Vista jokes. Alas, they were fun while they lasted.
Send your take on Windows 7 to [email protected].
Posted by Lee Pender on 07/23/2009 at 1:22 PM1 comments
Like summer road crews trying to fill winter pot holes, Microsoft is scrambling to patch a security hole in Windows. But it's proving tougher to fix than that gaping chasm that ruined your tires this spring.
Posted by Lee Pender on 07/23/2009 at 1:22 PM0 comments
No surprise here. Intel isn't exactly happy with the European Union's antitrust ruling. Lawyers, please.
Posted by Lee Pender on 07/23/2009 at 1:22 PM0 comments
So, Microsoft is contributing to the Linux kernel with 20,000 lines of Hyper-V code. The headline glut about this story basically boils down to one thing: both Linux and Microsoft have finally arrived. Obviously, it's a victory of sorts for the Linux folks to have Microsoft acknowledge that it can't beat them down with lawsuits and saber-rattling.
But surely participation in the kernel from Microsoft helps legitimize Linux among the skeptics who are still out there. And any cooperation between two rivals that makes interoperability more feasible for partners and customers is something we like. So, in this case, we say hooray for reality. At least for now.
Posted by Lee Pender on 07/22/2009 at 1:22 PM0 comments
Yes, this Microsoft store thing is serious...and Redmond has hired a former retail guru from Apple to really get the thing rolling. Of course, this sort of thing is of little concern to enterprise partners, but it's not the greatest news for smaller Microsoft channel members who might actually have to compete with these stores to some extent. We don't think Microsoft will abandon its channel, but the Microsoft shop could be a hassle at the low end. We'll see how Microsoft's little effort goes over in comparison to Apple's super-cool retail outlets.
Candidly, we at RCPU are kind of cheering for Microsoft's nerds to put a dent in Apple's retail prowess -- not because we don't like Apple (we like it fine) but because, like Microsoft, we're un-cool, and we expect the Microsoft mall to be the very expression of lack of cool. We'll see.
Posted by Lee Pender on 07/22/2009 at 1:22 PM0 comments
The other day, while lounging in a hammock on his back porch, your editor spotted a hawk circling overhead. He was probably using that super hawk vision to try to pick out a field mouse or a rabbit or something to snatch away...or he could have been working for Microsoft.
A couple of weeks ago, enterprise resource planning vendor Sage Software's biggest U.S. reseller, MIS Group, just shut down, and somewhat unexpectedly at that. Here's where that hawk -- or maybe more of a vulture -- comes into play.
Microsoft swooped down on Sage this week, assuring customers that are worried about Sage's stability that Microsoft, and specifically the Dynamics line of enterprise applications, is there for them. This swoop has ramifications for partners, too; Microsoft is actively seeking partners to help customers make a transition from Sage applications to Dynamics.
That means that Microsoft is picking up recruiting of Dynamics partners and is especially interested in looking for Sage partners who want to sail to Microsoft's port in the midst of Sage's storm. But Dynamics, of course, has taken on a bit of water itself lately. As is the case with most the rest of the company's wares, Dynamics' revenues have suffered, relatively speaking, in recent quarters.
And the infamous four-suite strategy that Microsoft was definitely going to change and now is definitely not going to change still causes confusion among customers and even in the channel. Word out of Convergence and the Worldwide Partner Conference, too, is that a lot of Dynamics partners are really struggling right now. So, Dynamics is no sure thing when it comes to competing with ERP titans such as SAP and Oracle.
But it does still have the advantage of being cheaper and less complicated than its non-hosted competitors, and Dynamics as a product line certainly seems in better shape than Sage does as a company. Microsoft, after all, might be getting ready to report declining profits in a difficult environment, but nobody's seriously talking about Redmond's demise.
The real point here, though, isn't how much trouble Sage is in or how little trouble Dynamics is in. The point is that now is a good time for Dynamics partners to storm into Sage accounts and play on the insecurity customers might be feeling. (Nice, huh? Gotta love capitalism.) And it's time for Dynamics partners to look out for competition from -- or partnering opportunities with -- Sage partners that have decided to not be scooped up by the Microsoft hawk and move into the Dynamics channel.
As if the packed Dynamics channel needed more participants...but that's another post altogether. For now, partners should adopt Microsoft's hawk mentality.
What's your take on Sage? Do you think Microsoft can benefit from the demise of a major Sage partner? Sound off at [email protected].
Posted by Lee Pender on 07/22/2009 at 1:22 PM2 comments
It's that time of year again. With the impending Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC) comes an executive shakeup in the Partner Program. Scott Bekker has all the details and analysis you could ever need.
There were other important executive moves in Redmond this week, too.
Scott will be live at the WPC next week and will be taking over the newsletter from New Orleans. Show him some love, y'all.
Posted by Lee Pender on 07/09/2009 at 1:22 PM1 comments
If you read tech news at all, you know by now that Google is developing an operating system designed to run on the Web and work primarily on netbooks. (Here's Google's own take on the Chrome OS.)
Naturally, we've seen the words "Microsoft killer" pop up more than once in the last couple of days. But we're more inclined to believe that, in the short term at least, the Chrome OS might bruise Windows but won't come close to killing it.
We at RCPU actually love the idea of a lightweight, Web-centric, portable OS, and we might just give Chrome OS a try for fun at some point. The fact that Chrome OS will be free for PC makers is interesting, but free hasn't done that much for Google so far: Google Apps and the Google Chrome browser are both free (then again, all browsers are), and neither has done much to dent the very expensive Microsoft Office or the somewhat flawed Internet Explorer -- or, for that matter, even Firefox.
We can see lightweight, Web-based OSes becoming the norm at some point (but, then again, so can Microsoft...maybe). But keep in mind, as Redmond Editor in Chief Doug Barney pointed out in his own newsletter, that Windows XP quickly supplanted Linux on netbooks after the open source OS had gained a bit of a foothold in that market.
Remember, too, that the installation base for Windows is vast, and that its ecosystem -- third-party developers and the like -- is even, uh, vaster (apparently it's a word). There's stuff for Windows: tons of apps, management tools and so forth. There won't be any stuff for Chrome OS for at least a little while. (Of course, it supposedly won't need as much stuff in the way of updates and management applications, but it also won't be as powerful as Windows, presumably.)
Plus, Microsoft enterprise partners aren't likely to have to worry about Chrome OS and netbooks invading their customers just yet. Windows 7 will be lighter and less of a resource hog than the ill-fated Vista, and supposedly it already works really well on netbooks.
And there's always that old point in Microsoft's favor: familiarity. Some phrase about "the devil you know" comes to mind. But seriously, after years of using Windows, how many people are going to want to learn their way around a new OS? Ask Apple and some of the Linux distrubutors -- not all that many outside the world of enthusiasts and certain IT professionals.
Still, we like where Google is going with this conceptually, and we'd like to see Microsoft follow up on its nascent efforts in the area of a browser-OS (or OS-browser, or something). Chrome OS could be the start of something big -- or small, as the case may be -- but it's only the start. Nobody in Redmond or in Microsoft's channel should be sweating too much...yet.
What's your take on Chrome OS? Send it to [email protected].
Posted by Lee Pender on 07/09/2009 at 1:22 PM5 comments
When you see the folks from Redmond and some EU competition wonks hoisting big goblets of Belgian beer, you'll know they've reached some sort of agreement. Until then, discussions continue.
Posted by Lee Pender on 07/09/2009 at 1:22 PM0 comments
If you're anywhere near Greater Boston, you'd be forgiven for thinking that this week is the storm before the calm, given the rain we've had lately. But, in truth, it's the calm before the storm.
That's because Microsoft will hold its Worldwide Partner Conference next week in New Orleans. And while storms are still (understandably) a sensitive subject on the banks of the Mississippi, we're only talking here about a metaphorical storm. This one will bring partners, not rain, pouring into NOLA. (By the way, we say well-done to Microsoft for selecting New Orleans for both Convergence and the Partner Conference this year. RCPU is officially a big fan of the Big Easy.)
RCPmag.com has had you covered for a while on what to see and do at the show, as well as much of what's going to happen there. So we're not really here to add anything, only to tell you that while your editor will not (alas) be making the trip to New Orleans himself, RCP Editor in Chief Scott Bekker will be. Scott will be writing RCPU next week directly from the WWPC, so please give him a warm reception when you see his updates in your inbox or online.
And, in the meantime, if there's anything you'd like to see covered at the show or any particular questions you'd like to know the answers to (about anything, but mainly about the WWPC), pass along whatever is on your mind to [email protected].
Posted by Lee Pender on 07/08/2009 at 1:22 PM0 comments
Better together? Not when one Microsoft application starts deleting data from another, as can happen, apparently, with Forefront and SharePoint due to a bug in the security suite.
Posted by Lee Pender on 07/08/2009 at 1:22 PM0 comments