Partner Points

Windows Vista Delays

Software as a service, Windows Vista delays get on the last nerves of readers this time out.

Skeptical About Service
I've been fighting this for years ["Get Ready for Software as a Service," March 2006] (about as long as Microsoft has been pushing it). Let's see if I have it right. They have all of my data and are responsible for backing it up. They have a business continuity plan (disaster recovery) so that if they get zapped, I can continue my business. And finally, when I am fully locked in and my business is on their infrastructure, how long before they ask me to [pay more]?

You can buy an IT infrastructure for buttons these days and no [small] business needs an $X million application to manage its business -- if they think they do, then the salesman did a really good job.

My business, my data, my premises and my responsibility is the only intelligent way to behave until the Internet can be trusted and I can trust another company to care as much about my business as I do. I suspect I'll be pushing up daisies many years before either of these caveats can be met.
Christopher Bell
Glossop, U.K.

Catch-22
The main problem I see with the suggestions in this article ["Hire Power," April 2006] is that it doesn't get to the real source of the problem. The true problem from the recruitee side is that the people cannot be seen. Resume databases and staffing firms have replaced the knowledgeable manager in determining who has the skills and knowledge to do the job. The infamous catch-22, "you need experience to get the job, but you can't get the experience without the job," is also a huge hindrance -- particularly when it comes to employers looking for specialized knowledge on customized applications.
Thomas Higgins
Pittsburgh, Pa.

Vista Delays
My thinking is that the Windows Vista kernel and system services are in good shape and probably have been feature frozen for many months. However, the upper layers are vulnerable to feature creep with time, as Scott Bekker mentioned ["Catching the Desktop Train," April 2006], and the EU legal fight Microsoft has going is putting IE, Media Player, et al., at greater risk. I've always wondered if it was wise for Redmond to ship applications concurrent with the OS release for reasons such as this. I wonder if it will wise up and detach some of the apps as future "Service Pack" content or downloads so it can ship an OS on time. It would be better for Microsoft to control its own destiny by making the move before the EU forces it to do this anyway. Maybe this is part of the story behind the scenes.
Name withheld by request

Round of Applause
I just thought I would send you a note complimenting the latest edition of RCP [March 2006]. As a sole proprietor of a small IT business, I found many articles of interest with useful information. I look forward to the next edition.
Robin L. Zelych
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

As a coordinator of technical environmental issues for our technical support team, your information is invaluable to me in providing a voice for our customers and making new technology information available to our development teams. Keeping me up-to-date on releases also helps plan our staffing needs for telephonic support. Keep up the great work!
Mark Heise
Dayton, Ohio

A Correction and Update
An article in our April issue, "More Tips for Finding Your Way Around Microsoft" (p. 25), used the wrong first name for the worldwide director of strategic alliances at ProClarity Corp. The executive's correct name is Jeff Rutherford.

Meanwhile, since the article ran, Microsoft acquired ProClarity, a Boise, Idaho-based maker of business intelligence software.
-- The Editors

About the Author

This page is compiled by the editors of Redmond magazine from your letters. Write to us at [email protected] and if your letter is printed in the magazine, you'll be entered into a drawing for a free Redmond T-shirt.

Featured

  • Microsoft Appoints Althoff as New CEO for Commercial Business

    Microsoft CEO and chairman Satya Nadella on Wednesday announced the promotion of Judson Althoff to CEO of the company's commercial business, presenting the move as a response to the dramatic industrywide shifts caused by AI.

  • Broadcom Revamps VMware Partner Program Again

    Broadcom recently announced a significant update regarding its VMware Cloud Service Provider (VCSP) program, coinciding with the release of VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 9.0, a key component in Broadcom’s private cloud strategy.

  • Closeup of the new Copilot keyboard key

    Microsoft Updates Copilot To Add Context-Sensitive Agents to Teams, SharePoint

    Microsoft has rolled out a new public preview for collaborative "always on" agents in Microsoft 365 Copilot, bringing enhanced, context-aware tools into Teams channels, meetings, SharePoint sites, Planner workstreams and Viva Engage communities.

  • Windows 365 Cloud Apps Now Available for Public Preview

    Microsoft announced this week that Windows 365 Cloud Apps are now available for public preview. This aims to allow IT administrators to stream individual Windows applications from the cloud, removing the need to assign Cloud PCs to every user.