XP: The OS That Wouldn't Go Away

Downgrade, of course, is a relative term in this case. But for Microsoft -- and, to a lesser extent, its partners -- the failure of Vista to catch on with users represents a break in a rock-solid business model that has helped Redmond rocket to the top of the software world in recent decades.

Oh, sure, in the short term, the XP downgrades aren't such a bad thing. Users, after all, generally pay for a Vista license and then pay for XP downgrade rights. So Microsoft sells Vista no matter what and then gets a little kick from the XP downgrade. Great, right? For Microsoft, maybe -- for now.

But in the long term, we might look back on Vista as a turning point in Microsoft's history. After all, this is the first time we can remember that users have rejected in such large numbers a major -- "major" being a key word here, as Windows ME and Windows Bob weren't really in that category -- Windows update.

Maybe that doesn't matter in the long run. After all, users can't go on squeezing the last drops out of XP forever; they'll have to upgrade at some point, even if it's to Windows 7. And although Mac and Linux offerings might be picking up some momentum as a result of Vista's failures, those competitors still can't do much to seriously challenge Microsoft's market share, especially in the enterprise.

No, the real questions here concern how much damage Vista is doing to users' (and partners') confidence in Microsoft. And they're not just about whether folks will migrate to a different OS. Will Vista's problems lead users to look more closely at cloud computing -- a category Microsoft is desperately trying to get into -- which de-emphasizes the OS? Will Microsoft's insistence on forcing Vista on customers (and partners, for that matter) prompt enterprise users to think twice before they make investments in other Microsoft technologies...such as servers, where Linux actually has a bit of a foothold?

Microsoft's model for Vista (read: force users into upgrading by killing the previous OS) isn't new, and it has always worked in the past. But it's not working now. XP won't go away, and that makes the future for Windows in particular and Microsoft in general look a lot cloudier than it has in the past.

We're planning on running your Vista e-mails in tomorrow's RCPU...so contribute now to [email protected].

Posted by Lee Pender on 08/20/2008 at 1:22 PM8 comments

OOXML Finally Gets the Gold

Oh, sure, the medal ceremony was delayed. In fact, it hasn't even happened yet. The ISO will publish OOXML as a standard in the next few weeks, it says, as long as there aren't any other appeals against it. At this point, further appeals look unlikely, as far as we can tell. So Microsoft should have another medal in its trophy case very soon.

Beyond that, Redmond will have a legitimate claim to "openness," a theme it's been harping on almost as much as NBC has been pushing the (amazing, we must say) Michael Phelps story. Well, the "openness" claim will be as legitimate as any that a proprietary software vendor that still has an awkward relationship with the open source world can make...but OOXML's ultimate acceptance by the ISO will serve as a reference point nonetheless.

We still see this whole episode as a show of might on Microsoft's part in an industry that, with Vista sinking and Software-as-a-Service on the rise, looks less and less like the old-school, Microsoft-dominated world of recent decades almost by the day. Score this one (finally) as a victory for Redmond -- the old war horse that still has some kick left in it yet. (And for the purposes of our Olympic theme, let's just consider that last metaphor to be a reference to the equestrian events. Deal? Great.)

Are you pleased or disgruntled about OOXML apparently clearing its last hurdle? (Hey, there's another Olympic reference!) Sound off at [email protected].

Posted by Lee Pender on 08/19/2008 at 1:22 PM2 comments

Windows 7 Blog Bad News for Vista

Now, a new report suggests that more than a third of "enterprise class" users are downgrading (if it can really be called that in this case) Vista licenses back to XP, and PC makers still aren't being shy about offering XP as an option to businesses. None of this can be good news for Vista, which looks destined to go down as a flop no matter how much Microsoft improves it or dresses up its marketing.

We still want to know whether you or your customers are planning to hang on to XP until Windows 7 comes out and, if so, what challenges you think you might face in stretching the incumbent OS' tenure for almost a decade. Répondez, s'il vous plaît, at [email protected].

Posted by Lee Pender on 08/19/2008 at 1:22 PM3 comments

China, Taiwan Jump on Antitrust Bandwagon

China, one of the world's more repressive governments, investigating an American corporation for antitrust issues? There has to be some irony there...right?

Posted by Lee Pender on 08/19/2008 at 1:22 PM0 comments

VMware Update Hits Snag

Posted by Lee Pender on 08/14/2008 at 1:22 PM0 comments

Cisco Consolidates Linksys Partner Program

Posted by Lee Pender on 08/14/2008 at 1:22 PM0 comments

Google's SaaS Scare

Hey, Google, love means never having to say you're sorry. And we still love you -- don't we? After all, you're the revolution, the flag bearer for Software-as-a-Service, the company that's going to have us using nothing but free-ish applications in our browser before too long and chucking that clunky old Microsoft software in the same bin where Corel WordPerfect now resides. Right?

Well, maybe not. It might not be a big deal to most of us -- and your editor does have a personal Gmail account -- that Gmail went down for a couple of hours on a weekday afternoon, but it was probably a pretty big deal for people who are trying to run their businesses on Gmail and Google Apps.

Beyond that, and more to the point for the channel and users alike, the mighty Google's stumble was an unpleasant reminder that SaaS as a model still isn't as ready for prime time as many folks would like it to be...despite all the SaaS hype that some media organizations (including this one) have spread recently.

OK, so Gmail going out for a couple hours isn't the end of the world for most companies, although e-mail outages can be a major problem. But what about enterprise applications? What happens when CRM goes kaput for a couple of hours on a Monday? What about -- heaven forbid -- ERP applications?

It's no wonder that hosted ERP is the last frontier for the SaaS model. Really, really critical stuff -- like the software that runs companies -- just can't be subject to significant downtime. Oh, sure, on-premises stuff has its problems -- huge, costly problems in some cases -- but at least companies have staff members or helpful Microsoft partners who can take care of issues in-house. When somebody else's datacenter goes down, what do you do? Sit and wait for somebody far away to fix it.

The real crux of this story is that we're talking about Google here. If Google, which is betting much of its business model on SaaS and pouring millions of dollars into datacenters, can suffer fairly nerve-jangling outages, what about smaller hosting companies with fewer datacenters? What about other vendors that don't specialize in hosting but are just dipping their toes into the SaaS waters (we're looking at you, Microsoft)? This sort of thing doesn't do much for users' confidence.

Partners need to have some sort of SaaS story for their customers. But they also need to know how to answer the inevitable questions about the model's Achilles heel. And they need those answers to be specific and meaningful, not just empty guarantees or platitudes about point-nines of uptime. It's one thing for customers to rationally know that SaaS comes with the risk of downtime; it's quite another for them to actually experience an outage.

It's something to think about now that the leader of the SaaS revolution has racked up a little bad publicity for itself and the model and turned a little bit of SaaS love into apprehension. After all, nobody's perfect -- but it's dealing with imperfection that makes some companies great and causes others to fizzle. Google is big enough and experienced enough to be great in the long-run. Not everybody else, though, will end up in that category.

What's your take on SaaS and the risk of downtime? Do incidents like the Gmail outage make you think twice about moving key enterprise apps to a hosted model? Have your say at [email protected].

Posted by Lee Pender on 08/14/2008 at 1:22 PM0 comments

Vista Making Gains in U.K.

By the way, we're still taking e-mails on whether you're going to try to stretch XP until Windows 7 arrives. We'll run your responses next week. Sound off at [email protected].

Posted by Lee Pender on 08/14/2008 at 1:22 PM0 comments

PowerPoint Presentations To Be Somewhat Less Boring

Posted by Lee Pender on 08/13/2008 at 1:22 PM0 comments

Microsoft Makes V-Day Date Official

By the way, there's no good reason why Microsoft shouldn't be calling this event "V-Day." We won't even take credit for the name.

Posted by Lee Pender on 08/13/2008 at 1:22 PM0 comments

The Cyber War Against Georgia

Posted by Lee Pender on 08/13/2008 at 1:22 PM0 comments

Green Technology Trend Still More Talk Than Action

Everybody talks about going green now -- big software companies (especially those involved in virtualization) like to tout the efficiency of their new offerings -- and with energy costs rising and supplies gradually dwindling, some sort of green IT strategy does sound like a good idea.

Most IT executives would agree -- in principle. But in practice, a new survey says, green IT is still more of a talking point than an action item. (And, yes, we're rolling out some of our best meeting-room lingo today.) At the end of the day (see?), green IT might end up the rule rather than the exception, but for now it's still not a corporate priority. Quoth the story linked above:

"According to CDW's new Energy Efficient Information Technology (E2IT) Report, while an overwhelming majority (94 percent) of IT executives say they care about energy efficiency, many simply don't know how much energy they're using.

"More to the point, the E2IT survey indicated, IT executives aren't exactly putting their money -- their budget dollars -- where their mouths are when it comes to green IT. When prioritizing purchasing decisions, CDW found, energy efficiency is frequently passed over in favor of other considerations -- only slightly more than one-third (34 percent) of IT chiefs actually make purchasing decisions on the basis of energy efficiency."

OK, so we're not going to say that not making purchases based on energy efficiency is necessarily a sign that executives are ignoring green IT. After all, there are still other factors (functionality, scalability, cost, etc.) that are more important in a purchasing decision than how much electricity a device sucks through a cord. But the fact that many executives don't know how much energy they're using is a pretty good sign that green IT doesn't have the traction that many observers think it does -- or want it to.

Our guess, though, is that a shift in thinking is on right now. Electricity usage just isn't something that IT execs have worried about in the past. But the world is changing, and so are operating costs and notions of what studies of efficiency should include.

Along those same lines, we heard commercials on the radio in Houston during the Worldwide Partner Conference encouraging drivers to trade in their pickups and SUVs for hybrid and fuel-efficient vehicles. Trade in a Ford Ranger (or Chevy, for you zealots out there) for a Prius? In Houston? Anybody running that commercial two years ago would have been run out of the state. But high fuel prices have changed many folks' thinking on the matter.

And we're sure that the same thing is happening in IT. Gradually, executives are coming around to see the benefits of green IT. But while technology innovation moves quickly, investment in technology tends to be much more deliberate. So we figure it'll be a few more years yet before green IT becomes a priority. In the meantime, we'll try to keep the Kermit references to a minimum.

How are you preparing to go green? How are you selling green IT to your customers? Tell us at [email protected].

Posted by Lee Pender on 08/13/2008 at 1:22 PM0 comments