Our old buddy David Pogue (OK, OK, we've never met him, but it sounds so classy
to know someone who writes for
The New York Times) says that Office Live
Small Business is
actually
pretty cool.
Posted by Lee Pender on February 15, 20080 comments
You might
remember
a lawsuit filed claiming that Microsoft labeled PCs as Windows Vista capable
when they were only really capable of running one version of Vista, the low-level
Vista Home Basic.
Well, this week, we found out as part of the suit's legal proceedings that
there was more to the story than just a bit of allegedly misleading marketing.
Apparently, there was something
resembling mass confusion inside Microsoft, including fairly high-ranking
executives -- Mike Nash and Jim Allchin among them -- questioning what on earth
was going on with the whole Vista labeling campaign. One employee even said
in an e-mail that a "piece of junk" PC could still qualify for a Vista
Ready label.
Now, companies screw stuff up all the time, sometimes unintentionally and sometimes
somewhat more intentionally. What seems to have happened at Microsoft sounds
like confusion and disorganization, which, again, isn't unusual in companies
of 70,000 people.
But, it does seem unfortunate that Microsoft apparently did such a poor job
of managing a not-unimportant aspect of the biggest release in years of its
flagship product. The result was, at the very least, confusion among consumers
-- and maybe even (we're speculating here) some confusion among and ill will
from customers toward Microsoft partners as well (if, that is, any customers
have actually decided to deploy Vista).
This little story just makes us wonder what else Microsoft is capable of botching.
In business, especially the software business, the devil is always in the details,
and Microsoft folks should know that by now. We're also not thrilled with the
tone execs took in their e-mails -- check the RCP story linked above
(and here
again). They seem to, first off, not entirely know what's going on, and secondly,
point fingers at underlings for screwing up. Of course, we're just getting tiny
samples here.
In the long run, this little Vista labeling debacle isn't that big of a deal
-- and, of course, no matter what happens, according to RCPU's incontrovertible
law, Microsoft will make more money. But if you're wondering why Vista has been
a mitigated success at best, maybe it's time to start asking questions about
whether Redmond has lost some of its focus, especially on core products. And
maybe it's time to wonder just how capable Microsoft would be of absorbing a
monster like Yahoo after all.
What's your take on Microsoft's Vista labeling fiasco? Do you find that the
company is losing focus? Let me know at [email protected].
Posted by Lee Pender on February 14, 20081 comments
Well, hello,
RCP Editor in Chief Scott Bekker. Perhaps you have
some
news about NetApp for us:
Network storage vendor NetApp this week launched an expansion of its channel
program in a bid to expand its market share against EMC and other storage vendors
by giving its partners the tools to deliver more profitable services surrounding
NetApp's storage devices and software. Of the four initial service focus areas
for NetApp partners in the program, one is specifically for Microsoft applications.
The new NetApp channel program is called the Authorized Professional Service
Partner Program. The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company, which on Wednesday announced
21 percent revenue growth for the quarter, claims about 1,000 partners worldwide
in its long-standing channel program, with indirect sales accounting for about
70 percent of the company's revenues.
Rick DeTurck, senior director of services marketing for NetApp, said that NetApp
hopes to bring about a quarter of its channel partners into the Authorized Professional
Service network in the first year, and up to half of its partners into the program
eventually.
At the same time, the company is trying to bring in systems integrators who
haven't worked with NetApp. "We absolutely expect that this will attract
partners from other vendors into the NetApp ecosphere," DeTurck said.
DeTurck estimated that a third to a half of existing NetApp partners also belong
to the Microsoft Partner Program. "There's a fairly good overlap,"
he said. "The thing about NetApp is that the Microsoft applications really
do well on NetApp storage. We've customized our software to take advantage of
[Microsoft] operating system and the applications, so they can do snapshots
and backup recovery and instantaneous recovery of mailboxes for Exchange or
Web sites for SharePoint."
According to NetApp's announcement, partners who meet the authorization requirements
can sell partner-branded professional services of NetApp technologies; specialize
in a NetApp solution area; and gain access to training, methodologies and best
practices. The solution areas are based on practice areas that NetApp's internal
professional services team has already implemented with customers.
The first set of specialty solution areas for partners are:
- storage system design and implementation
- network storage for virtualized infrastructure
- virtual tape library design and implementation
- Microsoft applications
Later, NetApp plans to roll out specialty solutions for the channel in disaster
recovery, backup and recovery, metrocluster, security encryption, and data assessment.
Posted by Lee Pender on February 14, 20080 comments
Oracle's
Value
Added Distributor re-marketer program, launched last year, has picked up
the business of more than 250 new resellers doing business through 25 VADs,
the company said. Oracle's 1-Click ordering process has also taken more than
1,000 orders for Oracle software in less than a year.
Posted by Lee Pender on February 14, 20080 comments
Virtualization titan VMware has sweetened the incentive pot for some of its
smaller partners with revisions to its channel program. Specifically, partners
at its program's Professional level (basically its entry level) now have access
to the "advantage +" incentive program for the first time.
"We're seeing a growth in all of our partner tiers," Julie Eades,
VMware's director of worldwide channel marketing, told RCPU. "We really
felt that [Professional partners] are very open to needing the same kind of
benefits as the other tiers of the program." VMware now has nearly 10,000
partners worldwide, Eades said.
There are also enhanced training programs and new marketing programs and tools
in VMware's program upgrade. All the gritty details are here.
Posted by Lee Pender on February 14, 20080 comments
Keeping in mind, as always, that very few people actually
know
what's going on with this deal, Microsoft and Yahoo continued their awkward
courtship this week after Yahoo's rejection of Microsoft's first buyout overture.
With Valentine's Day approaching, this story has
all the makings of a romance that wobbles at first but then blossoms, like
something out of a lame but popular romantic comedy (actually, is there any
other kind?). With a major Yahoo investor telling Microsoft to up
the ante a bit, we basically have the female lead's (Yahoo's) eccentric
but influential best friend encouraging a potential beau (Microsoft) to keep
calling and sending flowers -- or something like that. We can hear it now: "She's
very independent! You've got to win her love!" (Um, we're not screenwriters,
OK?)
The only question is whether Yahoo will eventually fall for the multibillion-dollar
gleam in Microsoft's eyes or whether some quirky-but-cool guy will slide in
at the last minute, expose Microsoft as a big jerk, and make off with Yahoo's
affections for himself. (The role of the quirky guy -- another buyer -- is still
very much open at this point.)
Most pundits seem to point to an eventual Microsoft-Yahoo kiss under a white
gazebo at sunset followed by a blissful wedding (then, possibly, years of acrimony
-- stop us if you've heard this before), but then again, nobody really knows
what's going to happen. That's what makes the story so exciting!
We haven't had too much reaction to Microsoft-Yahoo so far. Let us know what
you think at [email protected].
Posted by Lee Pender on February 13, 20081 comments
Danger! Danger, Steve Ballmer! Microsoft is
buying
the company that makes the T-Mobile Sidekick phone.
Posted by Lee Pender on February 12, 20080 comments
Microsoft's Office Live product, which isn't really a Live version of Office,
has some
new
features and support options.
Posted by Lee Pender on February 12, 20080 comments
Microsoft has a
deal
with the phone maker, which will use Microsoft's Windows Mobile operating
system in a device for the first time.
Posted by Lee Pender on February 12, 20080 comments
Some years ago, in the World's Most Exciting City (New York, in case you were
wondering), your editor worked briefly and mostly unsuccessfully in the dark
arts of public relations. (Journalism has turned out to be a much better gig,
fortunately.) Much of what came out of the PR experience was negative, honestly
-- but there were a few positives, such as a lasting friendship or two and a
greater understanding of just how the "business world" really works.
Now, some of you might have been involved in mergers and acquisitions already
-- and, by involved, we mean actually sitting at the table at which decisions
are made, not just waiting to hear whether you still have a job after a new
owner comes in. For everybody else, though, this short story might be of interest.
Our little team worked in the financial wing of a small but determined PR agency
that served clients in a few select verticals (including technology). One of
our clients, a trust company, was selling a local bank in upstate New York to
another, much larger financial institution. It was our job, as representatives
of the seller, to coordinate with the buyer and make sure that press- and employee-directed
communications made sense and sounded as sensitive and caring as "most
of you will probably be fired" can possibly sound.
Anyway, this was a deal involving public companies on the buying and selling
sides, so we all signed documents in which we swore ourselves to secrecy and
promised not to use our insider knowledge to make a bundle in the stock market.
Then, we had a few meetings with our client and the buyer, came up with a very
basic, essentially textbook communications strategy, wrote a draft press release
and...waited. And waited. And waited.
See, we couldn't do anything until the deal was final, and it wasn't final
when we started our planning. In fact, we didn't know when it would be final
-- but we knew that as soon as it was, we'd have to blast out a press release,
quickly find a space for a press conference and prepare to start telling employees
of the bank that they might want to explore exciting new career opportunities...like,
right now. We were basically on-call -- nights, weekends; kind of like a lot
of IT people, really -- waiting for the other shoe to drop. We knew more than
99.9 percent of people in the corporate world knew about the deal at the time
-- namely, that it was going to happen -- and yet we didn't know when the big
wigs in the conference room where the deal was going down would pull the trigger
and finalize everything. It was a fairly tense time, actually.
There's a whole long ending to the story that we won't get into because we
at RCPU have already made our point, which is this: Almost nobody knows what's
going to happen now that Yahoo
has rejected Microsoft's initial
takeover offer. Oh, there's plenty of speculation, namely that Microsoft
will go for a hostile takeover, or that Yahoo will look
for some other company to bail it out.
There are even shareholder groups trying to sway the deal (one group of Yahoo
investors would welcome
Microsoft with open arms, while another thinks that Yahoo's just holding
out for more dough), and there's talk that Microsoft might have stepped
on somebody
else's private-equity bid for Yahoo.
In the days to come, we'll hear analysts, pundits and other experts telling
us what they think is likely to happen, many of whom will have an air
of certainty about their predictions. Some of them, of course, will end
up being right. But, as anybody who has been through this sort of thing knows,
no deal is done until all parties involved have signed it on the bottom line.
And in this proposed-and-then-rejected deal, nobody has come close to signing
anything yet.
So enjoy the speculation, but keep in mind that aside from the executive teams
at Microsoft and Yahoo and a few of their advisors -- all of whom will keep
their lips zipped under penalty of law -- nobody even knows what the companies'
next moves will be, much less whether Redmond will end up with its prize. Remember,
the Patriots were supposed to win the Super Bowl by a couple of touchdowns (and,
no, we're not over it yet here in Boston), and we all saw how that turned out.
Sometimes, somebody has to state the obvious just as a gentle reminder, and
that's what we at RCPU are here to do. You know as much as we do about this
deal, and we know about as much as most analysts, experts and pundits know --
which is nothing, or at least nothing concrete beyond what's already come out
in the press. As is always the case with this sort of thing, we're all just
waiting. Some of us just have a better idea than others of what that's like.
Have a take on Microsoft-Yahoo? Shoot it to [email protected],
and look for it in a special Friday edition of RCPU this week.
Posted by Lee Pender on February 12, 20080 comments