Yahoo or Yikes?

Moves like this have driven Yahoo's stock down to the point where it's almost affordable. In fact, shareholders are pining for the days when Microsoft offered almost $45 billion for the company. The offer was for $33 a share. Yahoo, last time I checked, was trading for around 12 bucks. Yikes!

So does this mean Microsoft should offer $15 billion now for Yahoo? Even at that price, I think it's a bad idea, a me-too play aimed at Google but one that lacks innovation and punch. Is a $15 billion Yahoo a bargain? Financial acumen welcome at [email protected].

And you can find the LA Times story on Yahoo's woes posted at our new Web site, RedmondReport.com.

Posted by Doug Barney on October 22, 20080 comments

Mailbag: OpenOffice.org Thoughts, More

I have been using OpenOffice since its inception (actually, before that with StarOffice) and I like it. I use Microsoft Office 2007 in the workplace as that is the business standard, and I use OpenOffice 3 at home as it can do everything I need and more. Your beef that it's big, complex and not exactly fun may be true, but when has an Office suite been fun? Free, useable and does 90 percent of what MS Office does sounds very, very good to me.
-Craig

I have used it for years in an effort to decrease spending in our IT department. So far, everyone has adjusted well for their needs. I would like to see more VBA or macro support. I give it two thumbs up!
-Anonymous

I've recommended OpenOffice for both home and office use with good results. My only caveat is "it's better than Office, but it ain't Office." If you require total compliance with a bit of VBA code thrown in, then pony up for Office. If you're interested in getting the job done and don't have the compatibility worries, OO is more than capable.
-Gregg

A number of years ago, when I had retired from Microsoft, I took a serious look at the desktop Linux efforts and OpenOffice. What bugged me in general about them was that they were so busy trying to emulate Windows and Office that they weren't doing anything innovative. Their value proposition is "You don't have to pay Microsoft a licensing fee," and that's about it. And note that I didn't say they were free or even cheaper, since training, compatibility and other cost of ownership issues far outweigh licensing costs. From my perspective, they just totally blew the opportunity.

So what is the opportunity? It was to create completely different and more compelling experiences than what Microsoft had done. Where was the new thinking in UI? Where was a new paradigm for information work? Basically, the open source community shows a complete lack of imagination and innovation on the desktop. The world doesn't need cheaper software -- it needs revolutionary software.
-Anonymous

With each release, OpenOffice has grown and matured and got better. OK, so it doesn't have all the features of MS Office, but the features it does have generally work as you expect. It doesn't have as many dedicated books as Office 2007 (but, hey, I don't need a book to use it). Office 2007 has thousands of features...but once I can type text, insert images, put in a table of contents and print out labels for my Christmas cards, I'm happy. If it can open my late 1980s files, it's good (newer versions of Word forgot the backward-compatibility thing). If it can do a PDF, better (and I have a utility for that, anyway). If I can open a 60-page .DOC, put comments on it, e-mail back to the sender, I'm delighted (with 3.0, commenting works more like Word 03 so that box is now ticked).

The negatives: PowerPoint import can be tempramental (for me, this is not an issue but I can see how it will affect some). ODF is not fully supported at work (so I save as PDF/DOC). Sometimes -- and far less than before -- complex DOC formatting is a bit messy. There's still an expectation in business that DOC/XLS files will be exchanged and businesses may pay for the security of knowing MSO will open/close these 100 percent of the time.
-Clarke

For me, it's a simple choice. In my company I use Microsoft OS products to run critical applications -- but we are not wed. I'm grateful to the Microsoft market for generating work for me. I run a virtual or real Windows OS (or two) to support some critical products (mostly Adobe) and run Linux and Mac OS X for everything else.

With that as context, I don't find the features offered by MS Office worth the license fee. Looking forward, I prefer the product that will do what I need and save documents in a format that conforms to an open standard. I'm really tired of the format lockdown game. My impression is that Microsoft adopts standards only after every means to thwart them are exhausted.
-Anonymous

One reader thinks not enough has been said about the price of Microsoft Office:

Hmm...for some who regularly gripes about the price of a Mac, I am surprised you have not commented on the price of Office. Oh, that's right, you probably got someone else to pay, so it did not occur to you that the rest of us have to actually buy it.

I have to admit, I've never actually paid for it either, as I have always managed to wrangle a copy from my employer, and did experience sticker shock when I saw the price. At a suggested retail of $400, that's almost half the price of an "overpriced" Macbook.
-Anonymous

Speaking of "overpriced" Macbooks, this reader thinks that as long as people keep buying, Apple shouldn't change a thing:

I think Apple has one of the smartest marketing strategies in the free enterprise system! It is no wonder that all Apple users are thrilled with their platform. Why wouldn't they be when, for less money, they can switch to the alternative? That pretty well ensures that all Apple users will be happy, loyal customers. How many other companies wish they could be in that situation?

As long as Apple is meeting its profit goals and, at the same time, ensuring a base of 100 percent-satisfied customers, why should it change? Cadillacs are just Chevys in fancy clothes, but Chevys take heat all the time. When was the last time you heard anyone complaining about a Cadillac?
-T.W.

More reader letters coming tomorrow! In the meantime, leave us your thoughts by writing a comment below or sending an e-mail to [email protected].

Posted by Doug Barney on October 22, 20080 comments

Mailbag: Apple Prices, Vista Problem, More

You say that you find it an outrage, in this economy, to charge such a premium. While I respect your personal convictions, that statement is a little too broad for my liking. The Declaration of Independence cites life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness as inalienable rights, not low-cost Apple computing. What Apple charges for a laptop is Apple's business. That's the free market. If we find that we are willing to pay that premium, we can join the exclusive club. If not, then we don't. We have no right to anything at any cost other than what the market will bear and what the business will sell for.

Could Apple have greater market share in personal and enterprise computing? I firmly believe so. Do they care? I am not sure, but I would suspect that Apple, marching to the beat of its own drum for decades, has its own version of success. PC computing is definitely the more economical way to go, but it's nice to have the option to drive a Cadillac if you really want one and can afford it.
-Kurt

Your comment about Apple not being interested in matching prices with PCs got me to thinking that maybe it has something there. All of the Mac users I know are competent computer users; I can't say that of all of the PC users I know. The Mac users I talk to are usually asking for help on the PC they need to use at work, not their personal Mac. After 10 years of PC support in a public school district, I am of the opinion that most people have no business using a computer!
-Anonymous

It took a lot of convincing to get my wife to go along with getting our Macbook Pro back in February. And I am glad that we made the investment. Looking at the new models and stuff now, it would be great to get another one to take advantage of that extra video memory horsepower and overall performance.

However, the price this time around is not going to work. Apple does need to reduce the cost of its hardware by a large amount if it is going to continue to grow and prosper. Our economy now will more than likely hurt Apple if it does not do something soon. It would be a darn shame to see the current crowds at the Apple store where to be reduced to one to two window shoppers that would briefly stop in.
-Albert

Apple has no place or desire to exist in the enterprise. It uses a tailored version of Unix at the core of its OS, but that does not make it comparable to *nix clients or servers. It is a consumer-grade device provider, in that it gives you a shrink-wrapped phone, media player, laptop, 1U server, etc. with bells and whistles. It does not give you the utility that is a machine of your own. I would not start buying T-Mobile routers if they started making them.

Standard or branded PC hardware running Windows or *nix will give you far more customizability than Apple will ever offer, which is the first foot into the door of any serious enterprise. Its computers are "pretty" versions that try to do the exact same thing, but seriously fall short. Any hardware running XP, Vista or *nix will beat a Mac hands-down in every enterprise usability test you can throw at it.
-Jeremy

There are a number of companies that do not market to the low end of the market. Not sure why you are thinking that Apple needs to be all things to all people. Also, way too often reviewers do not look at all the differences in the systems (i.e., the mag attached power cord). Mac has a lot more going for it than a Windows system in a lot of ways. Most people can use a Mac and not look back to Windows. If you are doing any multimedia, then Mac rules. For those that must have Windows apps they can get them with Parallels, and it is seamless.

I think that although the laptops are a bit pricier than Windows laptops, Apple is right on for being a very profitable company. It is moving up in market share consistantly. I am seeing more and more Mac laptops in public. I know of a lot of people that are migrating to Macs also. And I know a very large number of people (like myself) that are network engineers of one sort or another that have moved to Mac for their personal systems because we are just tired of the Windows crap. Macs just work, pure and simple.
-Anonymous

What hasn't been working, at least for this reader, is Vista. More specifically, older apps that worked fine in XP but fail in the new OS:

About two months ago, I bought a new laptop with Vista Home Premium on it. I am getting used to the new interface, but have been having a little trouble with two older applications. Other than e-mail and Internet browsing, these two are my primary uses for the laptop.

Sometimes the applications will just stop. The mouse doesn't seem to work and I have to use Ctrl-Alt-Del to get to Task Manager and end my "not responding" task. When I get to Task Manager, the mouse is responding again, but not the application. Is this typical Vista execution or what? I have been using the apps under XP for at least four years and they work fine, but now that they are installed under Vista, they seem unreliable. What's up?
-John

But John's problem notwithstanding, at least one reader still thinks Vista is just as good as a Mac:

Put 64-bit Vista (other than Vista Home or Basic) on a computer with a quad-core processor, 4GB RAM and only Microsoft-approved applications, and it will cost and operate similarly to a Mac. It will perform well and applications will be expensive and limited. On the plus side, it will be easier to find qualified people to support it and networking is much simpler than on a Mac. Put it on a low-end computer and it will "suck." This is a classic case of "you get what you pay for."

Example: Sit at a Vista computer and try to share resources. The Help menu is easy to find and easy to follow. Try the same thing on a Mac. You will find out how to connect to shares on other computers. Getting help for a Mac is easier using a Web search than using its documentation. Our local Mac store offers free training for purchasers of new Macs. If the system is that easy, why do users need the training?
-Earl

And finally, Stephen's not so impressed with Chrome. Here's why:

If you're still collecting "Chrome Woes," may I add a few? One, this site took five minutes to load in Chrome, whereas I was on the page in two seconds in IE 7, browsed the entire week in photos, voted and closed out before Chrome had rendered anything more than the banner and left-nav. Two, we use an open source Web-based product, Gemini, to track our internal development projects. It has a RAD Editor component that in IE behaves fine, but in Chrome the Ctrl+ shortcuts are ignored.

Three, signing in to see my iGoogle page took me to a blank page that was "redirecting" for fully a minute. Maybe those guys at Google really need to talk to each other before they dink around with the main pages. For some reason, after 10 minutes, the page was still "loading," as evidenced by the spinner on the tab title. "What's it doing?" one may ask.
-Stephen

Check in tomorrow for more of reader letters! In the meantime, share your own thoughts by leaving a comment below or sending an e-mail to [email protected].

Posted by Doug Barney on October 21, 20080 comments

Ballmer on Cloud Nine and Windows 7

Case in point: At a recent Gartner event, Ballmer talked in general terms about Microsoft's upcoming cloud OS, one that will host Microsoft apps running over the Internet. He was more specific about Windows 7, indicating that it's really an extension of today's Vista but focusing on performance and what he calls "cleanup."

He added, "Essentially, the way I'd characterize it -- it's Windows Vista, a lot better. Windows Vista is good. Windows 7 is Windows Vista with cleanup and user interface, improvements in performance."

Posted by Doug Barney on October 21, 20080 comments

Social Net-Hacking

I'm pretty savvy about computers, but there's a tiny part of me that's tempted to click on these links. I even had a boss that once clicked on an "I Love You" message...and you probably know the rest. The whole organization was infected with the "I Love You Virus."

These tricks will continue to work, which means anti-virus/anti-malware defenses have to be strong.

Posted by Doug Barney on October 21, 20080 comments

Microsoft Celebrates Anti-Piracy Day

I don't agree with committing software piracy, but I find that sometimes the cure is worse than the illness. How many times have you tried to rebuild a system only to be stymied reinstalling software you already paid for?

What do you think about piracy and piracy protection? Shrieks, howls and common sense all welcome at [email protected].

Posted by Doug Barney on October 21, 20080 comments

Mailbag: What Price Mac?

In reality, I recognize hyperbole when I see it. Apple stuff is not all that overpriced in the overall scheme of things. Rejoice and relax -- you still have the lower parts of the market all to yourselves.
-Bill

You stated by saying that buying a Mac instead of a PC is like buying a Cadillac instead of a Hyundai. I think a better comparison is buying a Mac is like buying a Toyota instead of a Ford. We all know Ford could build a better car if it wanted to, but it doesn't want to. So if reliability and performance are issues, you buy a Toyota, not a Ford. Same for Mac vs. PC.
-Alan

Apple will never be able to afford to sell entry-level PCs. It simply cannot generate the volumes necessary to absorb the narrow margins that Dell and HP must maintain on entry-level products.

That's not really the question, though. OEMs like Dell and HP routinely offer steep discounts on mid-range to high-end systems in order to attract high-volume enterprise customers -- and they still make a profit. If Apple DID care about IT (or perhaps if it simply understood the enterprise market), it would understand that enterprise customers are not consumers and they will not pay premium prices for PCs. But when they do buy, they buy in large enough volumes to make it worth their while.
-Marc

Have you ever met anyone using a Mac that wasn't passionate about their Apple product? They don't mind paying extra for the look and feel of the Apple products and love the interface, so why would Apple ever cut its profit margin in hopes of attracting newbies? It already has a dedicated fan base that's bringing up children and influencing others with their preferences.

Not for me though -- I'm hooked on Windows and prefer it even with all the security issues and OS flaws. It's what I use at work and prefer to use at play. Even if Apple cut its prices down to the $500 level, I'd be no more drawn to its product line as I'm sure many others would agree. Bet many others are worked up over this posting!
-Jee

Apple obviously doesn't care about a presence in the enterprise. Most line-of-business applications won't run on a Mac. There's little in the way of management, no good story for remote access. Even ignoring the price difference, there's too much functionality lost with Mac. They're fine for home users or business users who only need an Office app, but other than that, I don't see much of a role for them in business. For the foreseeable future, I'm a PC.
-Dave

I support PCs and am sick of the instability. If Macs are stable, the $500 premium is worth it. But are they? Based on what evidence?

As the lowly network admin, I'm not really that worried about money per se; the boss has to pay for it. I'm more worried about my own frustration regarding malware, users mucking where they shouldn't and general OS instability. If I could make a defensible claim of higher uptime, higher user productivity and lower support, I'd be interested in making the case. For now, we are moving to a dumb terminal configuration using Wyse terminals and Citrix.
-Milton

Interesting to note that Apple once dominated computers in elementary and high schools, but is now in second place to Dell in sales. Was Bill Gates smart to settle his antitrust suit by giving away PCs to poorer schools? Not only is he giving away PCs, Microsoft is providing millions of dollars in training and technical support for teachers to learn how to effectively use PCs. Smart move by Microsoft, but will Apple respond with affordable computers for these low-income students?
-Dan

Since I've always thought (with few exceptions) that Apple customers represent the best of the snobby, elitist, socially unconscious "arty" crowd, why would Steve want to stoop so low for the rest of us? Thank goodness laptops have gone down in price. Hey, maybe someday I can replace my old clunker.
-Anonymous

Apple taking its prices down to PC levels would destroy its business model, since it wouldn't be the cool, limited club that it is. Its fanboys would move on to something else if every Joe Six-Pack also owned an Apple; it wouldn't be special anymore. The coolness is a critical part of Apple's business success...at least for others. I'm too old to worry about coolness anymore.
-Bob

Check in tomorrow for more of your letters! In the meantime, leave your comment below or send an e-mail to [email protected].

Posted by Doug Barney on October 20, 20080 comments

Hyper-V Kicking Butt and Taking Market Share

So what's the good news for VMware? "Worldwide new server shipments virtualized increased 52 percent year over year in the second quarter," IDC says. Looks like there's plenty of business for everyone.

Posted by Doug Barney on October 20, 20080 comments

OpenOffice.org 3 Times as Good?

Meanwhile, Office is maintaining the kind of market share that would make my local electric company proud.

OpenOffice.org gets a lot of backing from Sun, which just released OpenOffice.org 3. This new release includes better multi-page document viewing, the ability to import Office 2007 files (but not export them back) and native Mac OS X support.

What do you like and hate about OpenOffice.org? Is it too much like Office, or not enough? Votes counted at [email protected] -- and you don't even have to register.

Posted by Doug Barney on October 20, 20080 comments

Patch Tuesday Hijacked

Is this clever? Not really. Dangerous? You bet! You might want to warn your end users about this one.

Posted by Doug Barney on October 20, 20080 comments

Gates Loses to Best Pal

But for at least a decade, Bill has outpaced Warren for good, old-fashioned greenbacks. This year, Buffet finally turned the tables, and is now the richest man in the world.

We'll check back after Wall Street recovers and see who's on top then. It'll probably be some short seller we've never heard of.

Posted by Doug Barney on October 13, 20080 comments

IBM Sales Far from Blue

What's IBM doing right? Insight welcome at [email protected].

Posted by Doug Barney on October 13, 20080 comments