We've mentioned this before, but it's been a while, so bear with us. When public companies report quarterly earnings, they love to trumpet "record revenues" as if it's some sort of accomplishment. It isn't, really.
Every company should have record revenues every quarter (measured year-over-year, anyway) because anything short of a record represents a revenue shortfall. And a shortfall could be a signal that the company is in major trouble -- or at least going through perilously tough times. So, chirping about "record revenues" can be a classically corporate, totally overblown, fairly arrogant way of saying, "We still have our heads above water." It's good news, but it's rarely as good as the press release headline makes it sound.
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Posted by Lee Pender on 03/04/20103 comments
Microsoft's browser ballot screen is under fire for not having enough side dishes or something. Actually, this time, Web developers are claiming that there aren't enough rendering engines offered. Good night. See what happens when government starts messing with private enterprise when it shouldn't?
Posted by Lee Pender on 03/04/20100 comments
Hoping to lure some business from the West Coast, the capital of the great state of Kansas, Topeka, has kind of sort of renamed itself Google. (Your editor was actually in Topeka last summer and had a nice meal there.) Apparently, Google might look to Topeka -- uh, we mean Google, Kansas, of course -- as a test site for an ultrafast Internet connection. It would be the first ultrafast thing in Kansas.
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Posted by Lee Pender on 03/03/20101 comments
Windows 7 release candidate fans, the free ride is over. (In fact, it was over two days ago.) If you want to keep rolling with the 7, you're going to have to pay up. It's probably worth it, though.
Posted by Lee Pender on 03/03/20100 comments
Your editor is working on a story for Redmond magazine about Microsoft and privacy -- specifically, about what Microsoft knows about its users and does with the information it collects. Do you have an inside take on how Microsoft is siphoning information back to Redmond? Are you concerned about privacy issues with technology companies in general and with Microsoft in particular? Or do you think all of this privacy stuff is overblown? Which do you think is scarier when it comes to collecting information on users, Microsoft or Google?
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Posted by Lee Pender on 03/03/201010 comments
Microsoft has a lot of partners. Really, a lot. The latest number, if we're remembering this correctly, is upwards of 600,000. That's a crowd.
And it's not easy for partners to separate themselves from that crowd. But Microsoft does offer one outlet for channel players to get their names called on a big stage: the Worldwide Partner Conference 2010 Awards. Microsoft is accepting submissions now for the WPC 2010 gongs, which it'll dole out at this year's conference in Washington, D.C.
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Posted by Lee Pender on 03/02/20100 comments
The year 2009 stunk for just about everybody, many Microsoft partners included. So, probably the best thing most channel partners can do is power through the last 10 months of 2010 thinking that things simply have to get better -- and that maybe they already are.
But 2010 won't be an uncomplicated year for the Microsoft channel. The mother ship in Redmond is completely revamping its partner program, which isn't even called the Partner Program anymore but now goes by the name Microsoft Partner Network. Oh, and Gold Certified, Certified and Registered? Kiss those old labels goodbye, too, as the hierarchy within the program -- sorry, network -- is all new, as well.
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Posted by Lee Pender on 03/01/20100 comments
So, you're actually using Windows Mobile 6.5 (Microsoft thanks you for your fidelity, we're sure), and you want to go ahead and upgrade to Windows Phone 7. Well, you (probably) can't.
Posted by Lee Pender on 03/01/20100 comments
Talk continues to swirl that it's Microsoft that's trying to get Google into legal trouble in Europe (fascinating turn of events) as well as elsewhere. Hey, if nothing else, it fans the flames of the rivalry.
Posted by Lee Pender on 03/01/20100 comments
Still using Windows 2000? We know you're out there. Actually, a lot of you probably are still using Windows XP SP2; we here at RCPU are. Well, support for those products and more is ending soon.
Posted by Lee Pender on 03/01/20100 comments
If Charles Dickens were writing IT analyst reports in the 21st century, he might work for Janco Associates. The firm this week outlined the best of times (Windows 7) and the worst of times (Internet Explorer) in Redmond.
OK, so maybe that's a little hyperbolic. Led Zeppelin's classic "Good Times, Bad Times" might be more appropriate. And it rocks a lot harder than ol' Chuck ever did. We have to stop typing now so we can play air guitar.
Posted by Lee Pender on 02/25/20100 comments