We couldn't make this up. Not only is the
release
date for Vista's SP1 still a mystery, and not only is Microsoft already
starting to drop hints about the
next
version of Windows after Vista, but it now appears as though Microsoft at
some point posted the bulk of SP1 online...and then
took
it away!
Could we get some sanity here, please? And maybe just a bit of transparency?
Look, Vista has been
disappointing enough without all this cloak-and-dagger stuff in Redmond
clouding the picture of the OS' future. Either post SP1 or don't; either tell
us about Windows 7 or leave it alone. Partners need to go to customers with
some level of certainty (especially with an OS that's not exactly selling itself),
not with obfuscation, confusion and rumors. Please, Microsoft, get it straight.
We continue to receive loads of e-mail about Vista. Most of it is negative
toward the OS, but not all of it -- and in the interest of balance, we'll run
some of the positive stuff here. Be on the lookout for more negative comments
tomorrow, though...because some of them are just so much fun.
Stuart writes from London:
"If you really want Vista take-up to improve, then perhaps you should
stop peddling so much negativity. It's quite tiring and frankly naive. All
the Vista problems I'm hearing about are the same ones that appeared when
XP came out: stability, performance, 'excessive' hardware requirements, lack
of third-party drivers and the fact that it wasn't that much different from
Windows 2000. And look what happened: service packs were released, consumers'
hardware caught up, third parties released drivers and users started to realise
that the 'insignificant' user interface changes actually led to a marked increase
in usability and productivity. The Vista story will be no different. Come
2010 (or whenever MS releases the superseding version) we'll all be wondering
why on earth we should upgrade from our beloved Vista."
Well, Stuart, we've said here before that Vista will eventually become most
people's default OS (if we're even bothering to use an OS anymore in a few years
-- hello, SaaS), but we can't blame partners and users for expecting more right
out of the box after years of waiting and tons of hype. Still, you might very
well end up being right in the long run. It's almost always been the case in
the past with Microsoft.
In a similar vein, Mark offers:
"Do you just rerun your columns? Or do you actually put thought and
consideration into each one? It looks like the former.
"If you take your '"VISTA BOUNCE" MORE LIKE A THUD SO FAR'
column in your recent RCP Update e-mail, substitute 'XP' for 'Vista,' it is
virtually the same complaints as in 2001. You are putting too much stock into
partners that are looking for a quick windfall from the Vista release (that
includes AMD's recent whining). Just like the Windows XP release, and Windows
95 before that, it will still take partners to work their sales process to
convince clients to upgrade. As more and more become comfortable with the
new features, as more and more is seen and written on the new features, and
as more and more sales work by partners is done, the clients will move. They
are moving now, as evidenced by the statistics you mildly reference down in
paragraph three. They will move more in the future. If partners want to help
their clients move along, get out there and sell, sell, sell clients on the
benefits, not sit and wait on orders."
That's a clarion call from Mark, partners -- get out there and move Vista.
Tomorrow, we'll run some other thoughts on Vista.
Keep adding fuel to the Vista e-mail fire at [email protected].
We'll get as many in as we can! And thanks to Stuart, Mark and those who have
taken the time to write.
Posted by Lee Pender on August 01, 20074 comments
Note the asterisk -- because Works isn't just free,
it's
ad-supported. Then again, this is the first time anybody has had a reason
to write about Microsoft Works in about 10 years. It had joined Corel in the
"dead or alive" (or, in Corel's case, "dead, alive or Canadian")
category.
Posted by Lee Pender on August 01, 20071 comments
Perhaps (although probably not) rattled by RCPU's indictment of Microsoft's
coolness (or lack thereof), Ray Ozzie has been
defending
Redmond's forays into the consumer world. The three(!) guys who write
this
blog have a pretty good take on Ozzie's comments. We'd have written something
similar here at RCPU already, but we have only one writer; we're simply outnumbered.
Posted by Lee Pender on August 01, 20070 comments
Yes, we're doing another one, this time on everything from working with Microsoft
to SaaS strategies to competitive threats. Want to know what your colleagues
are thinking? They're curious about what you think, too. Be a part of it all
here.
Posted by Lee Pender on July 31, 20070 comments
Microsoft revealed last week the lighter side of its Jekyll-and-Hyde approach
to open source software, unveiling a
glowing
new Web site designed to attract the open source community (as if open source
types don't see the mousetrap underneath that hunk of cheese).
Microsoft has also submitted its shared-source software licenses for
approval from the Open Source Initiative as open source licenses. Oh, it
all sounds so cozy and wonderful, but some commentators are wondering whether
Redmond's make-nice strategy is part
of a greater, more sinister scheme.
Posted by Lee Pender on July 31, 20070 comments
For those of you wondering just what Microsoft's software as a service -- or
even Software Plus Services -- strategy might involve, Ray Ozzie
spelled
things out in fairly good detail last week.
This is one of those times when we'd like for you to take a look at what Ozzie
said (yes, that means clicking
the link) and tell us how you, as a partner, think you can fit into this
strategy. We're reading over this carefully ourselves, but we're going to hold
off on any commentary until we hear from you. So step up and let us know how
SaaS-y you plan to get with Redmond in the months and years to come.
Where's the partner opportunity in Microsoft's layers of SaaS? Let me know
at [email protected].
Posted by Lee Pender on July 31, 20070 comments
So, who came out the big winner in the first of Microsoft's Linux patent deals?
If we're to believe a recent study, it was
le
Chapeau Rouge, monsieur!
Posted by Lee Pender on July 26, 20070 comments
Last summer, it
burst
onto the scene like a villain from a summer blockbuster movie, making enemies
wherever it went and generally wreaking havoc in the channel and in corporate
IT departments.
But now, Windows Genuine Advantage has gone
from zero to hero, helping bust (according to Microsoft) the Chinese piracy
ring that Microsoft and the FBI just nabbed.
Posted by Lee Pender on July 26, 20070 comments
Remember the good ol' days of November 2006? When Microsoft blasted Vista out
the door to eager enterprise customers, and partners awaited the windfall that
the new operating system was sure to bring? Well, just like Chicago Cubs fans
wondering when their loyalty will pay off with a World Series title after nearly
a century of frustration, partners are waiting for Vista to start making the
cash registers ring. It isn't happening yet.
In fairness, partners probably have a better shot at profiting from Vista than
the Cubs have had of winning a World Series over the last century or so. Just
this week, more news came out about how Vista is making strides, eating up market
share from competitors and making
slow but steady progress on its beloved in-house rival, XP.
Still, talk -- and statistics -- are cheap, and upgrading to Vista isn't. And
as Rich Freeman notes in a feature story in the August
issue of RCP, companies don't
yet seem ready to pony up the cash to move to the new OS. That means that
partners aren't really profiting from Vista the way that some had thought that
they might.
Nevertheless, there doesn't seem to be much panic in the channel about Vista.
Partners, after all, understand how these things work -- companies are reticent
to move to anything new from Microsoft (or any vendor, really) right off the
bat. Some customers will wait for SP1, others for planned infrastructure upgrades.
The hope in the channel has to be now that customers won't wait for the post-Vista
version of Windows (supposedly due
in 2010) before upgrading. But three years is a long time, and we wouldn't
lay money on Microsoft actually getting the next version of Windows out the
door by 2010.
Even if there's no panic in the channel, though, there is disappointment --
with the hassle of XP downgrade rights and the simple notion that something
as massive (and massively hyped) as Vista should have dropped a few extra coins
into partners' coffers by now. Then there's the seemingly prevailing feeling
that Vista just isn't that good...a topic we've hit on more than a few times
in this space by now.
Microsoft partners have fared considerably better than Cubs fans over the years,
and they probably will in this case, too. But, for now, both groups are in limbo
with a shaky product that might or might not really pan out, especially in the
short-term. For a partner channel accustomed to something more of a New York
Yankees-level of success, Vista -- not unlike the Yankees themselves this year
-- has to be a disappointment so far.
We've received tons of comments about Vista over the last few months. We'll
run some more tomorrow. Keep them coming to [email protected].
Posted by Lee Pender on July 26, 20072 comments