Microsoft Office is still the champ, but now there's a real challenger. Google Apps is making inroads into the one group that has long been Microsoft's greatest asset: the channel.
Granted, Google can't hold a candle to Microsoft's 600,000-strong partner base, but the Web empire says that it has recruited nearly 1,000 resellers for its Google Apps productivity suite. How does that compare to the number of partners actually working with Microsoft's online productivity offering?
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Posted by Lee Pender on 02/25/20100 comments
Sure, there are some problems when it comes to Windows 7 and security, but it's mostly OK, according to a report from the folks at Sophos.
Posted on 02/25/20100 comments
Windows 7 is the real thing. It's the true heir to XP's throne and the next Microsoft operating system just about everybody will end up having. That much we know.
The challenge for partners, though, is to get their enterprise customers to move to Windows 7 when so many companies seem content to stick with XP. Redmond magazine offered advice on migrating to Windows 7 back in January, and now Microsoft is releasing tools that will make the migration effort easier.
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Posted by Lee Pender on 02/24/20101 comments
Kindle and some Linux stuff are in there, but it looks as though Microsoft and Amazon will still fight tooth and nail in the cloud.
Posted by Lee Pender on 02/24/20100 comments
Redmond's server and tools guru sees things looking up, especially in the server market. He also gives a brief-ish explanation of Azure in an interview with Barron's.
Posted by Lee Pender on 02/24/20100 comments
The big storage company takes on the provider of e-mail and SharePoint archiving applications.
Posted by Lee Pender on 02/24/20100 comments
Bear with us on this entry, if you would. It doesn't really strike at the heart of what Microsoft partners want or need to know, but it's pretty darn interesting. We just love a scandalous tale. And it does involve Windows...
Back in August 2008, when the getting was good for Vista bashing, RCPU reported some shocking -- shocking! -- numbers about the percentage of PCs being downgraded from Vista to XP. One commenter who identified himself as "Crash" added this bit to the comments section of that entry:
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Posted by Lee Pender on 02/22/20108 comments
It's heating up and getting really nasty between Cisco and HP, as Cisco said last week that it is cutting ties with its former partner. We could blather on about this, but Jeff Schwartz has done such a good job of analyzing the situation in his blog for RCPmag.com that we're just going to point you to what he has to say.
Posted by Lee Pender on 02/22/20100 comments
Would you like Chrome with that? Le Browser Menu, Microsoft's compromise with the European Union on browser antitrust issues, is ready -- as a test version, anyway. Your editor recommends the Firefox; it's a tasty little dish.
Posted by Lee Pender on 02/22/20100 comments
Redmond has been busy telling everybody that the technology is safe -- and making sure that everybody has the latest updates for it.
Posted by Lee Pender on 02/22/20100 comments
There's life in this old dog yet. With social networking eclipsing e-mail as the method by which folks communicate, Microsoft Outlook might look a little tired, a little dated. But Microsoft knows how to get eyeballs glued to its products' screens.
This week, Redmond decided that Outlook would subsume social networking sites -- and that it wouldn't happen the other way around. Starting with LinkedIn, Microsoft is integrating social networking into Outlook 2010 with the Outlook Social Connector. MySpace (yes, it still exists) and Facebook are next; there's no word yet on Twitter. (Here's an RCPU note: Microsoft, if you accomplish just one thing in the social networking space, please let it be the death of Twitter. We like where you're going with not including it in Outlook. Isolate Twitter, and hopefully it'll starve. Oh, and remember, readers, you can follow RCPU on Twitter at http://twitter.com/leepender. For now.)
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Posted on 02/18/20101 comments
Oh, here we go again. Microsoft has added another anti-piracy layer to Windows 7, which will no doubt lead to complaints from folks that Redmond is collecting too much information from users and sending it back to the mother ship. And, hey, maybe those complainers have a point.
Posted by Lee Pender on 02/18/20100 comments