For One Partner, SaaS Is Phase 2

Posted by Lee Pender on January 17, 20080 comments

Oracle Finally Gets BEA

The multibillion-dollar price tag, which represents more than $19 per share, is a nice bump up from the $17 per share that Oracle offered -- and BEA rejected -- in October. What amazes RCPU, though, isn't so much the money but the notion that Oracle is bringing yet another vendor into the fold. Dig this paragraph from the RCPmag.com story on the acquisition:

"Ellison has already spent more than $25 billion during the past three years buying a long list of competitors, including PeopleSoft, Siebel Systems and Hyperion Solutions."

Sheesh! Put the price tags aside for a second, and think about this: How on earth is Oracle integrating all of those companies -- with all of their technology, cultures, partner bases and the like -- under its immense and very expensive umbrella? Integration is going pretty well, at least according to financial results, which have been fantastic lately.

But what's the secret? Acquisitions can be pretty rough for everybody involved -- except the folks at the top and some major shareholders who clean up money-wise. In the rank and file, they take a lot of work and can cause a lot of clashes. Yet, here's Oracle, spending like a contestant on the old "Wheel of Fortune," picking out prizes from the corner of the screen, and somehow making it all work. Color us impressed...and maybe a little frightened.

What's Oracle's secret to integration success? Do you have any tales to share of working with Oracle? Share them at [email protected].

Incidentally, Oracle wasn't the only big spender this week -- Sun splashed out a cool billion for MySQL.

And, if you were wondering about this week's reader feedback, we're saving it for next week. So, stay tuned, take a look at the latest entries (but ignore the photo -- it's two years old, and your editor has hair now), and send your thoughts on anything and everything to [email protected].

Posted by Lee Pender on January 17, 20080 comments

VMware To Bulk Up Desktop Product with Acquisition

Posted by Lee Pender on January 16, 20080 comments

Are You Preparing for a Recession?

The signs of an economic slowdown are everywhere, and presidential candidates are starting to address the issue -- and when politicians wake up and realize that something's going on, that's when you know that whatever it is they're talking about is at an advanced stage and is very much upon us.

We don't often venture outside the realm of Microsoft and industry news here at RCPU -- and we're hardly economists, although we sometimes read The Economist -- but the "r" word, should it come to pass, would have implications for everybody reading (and writing) this newsletter. The question is whether you're prepared for a recession, or at least for some tough times ahead.

Now, as Microsoft partners, maybe you're not in panic mode, and maybe you shouldn't be. After all, one of RCPU's principal laws of the universe is that no matter what happens, Microsoft just keeps making money. But the credit crunch might already have your business in a bit of a bind, and any sort of economic downturn that eventually affects IT spending could make the sledding all that much tougher.

So, as we sometimes like to do here, we're turning the floor over to you on this one. Tell us: Are you preparing for a recession, or at least for tough times ahead? What are you doing to prepare? How much would a recession affect your business?

As always, direct your answers to [email protected]. If we get any in time, we'll run some tomorrow. Otherwise, look for responses in this space next week.

Oh, and totally off-topic for this entry but very much on-topic for RCPU, the Microsoft executive exodus continued this week with the departure of Rob Short, an important guy from the Core Operating System Division . And one departing Microsoft exec might literally buy the farm.

Posted by Lee Pender on January 16, 20080 comments

Vista SP1 Beta Available

Posted by Lee Pender on January 16, 20080 comments

Microsoft Unveils Dynamics Retail Application

Perhaps hoping for better things from America's Team, Microsoft included in its press release a Dallas Cowboys customer reference that ended up being somewhat poorly timed. No doubt Jerry Jones installed the Dynamics retail app himself and does all the maintenance on it, such is his obsession with controlling every detail of his football team, including fourth-quarter coaching. Apparently, not even Microsoft Dynamics can deliver a playoff victory.

Posted by Lee Pender on January 16, 20081 comments

IBM Rakes In the Cash

Posted by Lee Pender on January 15, 20080 comments

Meet the New Microsoft, Not the Same as the Old Microsoft

But there's a lot more to Microsoft's transition than just Gates' departure. Bruce Jaffe, architect of some of Microsoft's biggest acquisitions -- including the massive aQuantive buyout -- will be gone by the end of February. And, perhaps more critically, Jeff Raikes, president of the Microsoft Business Division, the group responsible for a little product called Office, will be gone -- "retired" -- by the end of the summer of 2008.

Raikes' replacement, Stephen Elop, formerly of Juniper Networks and Adobe, is already in Redmond preparing to take over one of the company's biggest roles. But Elop isn't the only new arrival in Microsoft's executive cabinet. In fact, there's been so much executive shuffling in the Pacific Northwest lately that even those who are trying to keep score are having trouble just keeping up.

The question, of course, is what all of this means for Microsoft, its partners and its customers. What's happening looks to RCPU (and to others, surely) like the exodus of old-school Microsoft and the birth of a new generation in Redmond -- one that could steer the company toward Web-based applications and Software-as-a-Service, and (gently) away from the old Windows-Office juggernaut.

We're not suggesting that anybody's being put out to pasture here. We are noting, though, that the new generation coming in looks very Web-focused and that a lot of the new-ish arrivals are outsiders, not Microsoft veterans moving into new roles. Ozzie, Elop and COO Kevin Turner have all joined from other companies within the last few years, and former aQuantive CEO Brian McAndrews has taken control of a big chunk (understandably) of Microsoft's high-priority advertising business.

We're also not suggesting that Microsoft is going to stop selling Windows, Office, Windows Server, Exchange or any of its other moneymakers any time soon. Microsoft's new executive hires, however, do seem to reveal a corporate commitment to become more "Web 2.0" and less desktop and fat client. Raikes is hardly a luddite -- after all, he did add SharePoint capabilities to Office and is still a driver of Microsoft's unified communications initiative -- but his years of experience in Redmond and desktop-heavy résumé do look a little old-school in comparison to Elop's Adobe pedigree.

Observers these days, sometimes in this newsletter, love to say that Microsoft is going to have to scramble to keep up with more Web-savvy competition from companies like Google (and Adobe, for that matter). After further review -- yes, we've been watching football again -- RCPU is not so sure about that. Microsoft is still the giant of the software industry in terms of market share and influence on users and the channel. Our take isn't that Microsoft, with its fresh faces and new categories of technology, is scrambling to keep up with competitors, but rather that it has decided to move corporate IT investment in a new direction -- one that will have progressively less to do with Windows and Office -- at its own speed. Call it a soft landing for the desktop-heavy Microsoft economy, engineered and controlled by Redmond.

Oh, sure, Microsoft is way behind in some key areas -- consumer search, for instance -- and unlikely to make up the gap, but there's really no other company in the industry outside of maybe Cisco that wields the power over corporate money that Microsoft does. Microsoft sees the demand for SaaS, for virtualization, for managed services, and it's reacting to it without killing its own current cash cows of Windows and Office. It might not be the leader in those new categories -- in terms of either market share or innovation -- but it's there, and our guess is that Microsoft will be powerful enough to move its customers to Web-based business models at its pace rather than have to chase after a customer base fleeing to other vendors.

And the competition? Oh, it'll be there -- it is there, and it's strong -- but it won't be able to just run away with an installed base that includes pretty much every company in the world and has such a massive financial commitment to Microsoft already in place. Some companies -- think IBM -- fail to see technological and generational shifts coming and miss them altogether. Microsoft is taking steps now not to make that mistake -- and to take control of its own destiny as businesses gradually shift away from the desktop.

Usually, markets move companies, but sometimes companies move markets. Microsoft wants to be in the latter category, not the former.

What's your take on Microsoft's new blood and on the departure of bigwigs like Jeff Raikes? Send it to [email protected].

Posted by Lee Pender on January 15, 20081 comments

Microsoft in Eurotrouble Again

Microsoft isn't the only one in trouble, though; New York is after Intel.

Posted by Lee Pender on January 15, 20080 comments

New Malware Toolkit Thwarts Anti-Virus

Posted by Lee Pender on January 15, 20080 comments

Ingram Micro Eases Financing for SMB Partners

Posted by Lee Pender on January 10, 20080 comments

Softchoice Keeps on Spending

Posted by Lee Pender on January 10, 20080 comments