OK, it's kind of a gotcha headline, but part of the stimulus plan for the Seattle area really does include a "
bridge to Microsoft."
Posted by Lee Pender on March 17, 20090 comments
The anticipation that built for Vista was the manufactured kind, created mostly by marketing types and by newsletters like this one that got sucked into the hype only to end up disillusioned. But the Windows 7 hype that's building is more organic, coming from beta testers, partners and IT professionals. Anyway, Windows 7 got some bug fixes and some new updates this week. More details
here.
Posted by Lee Pender on March 17, 20090 comments
It's St. Patrick's Day, so there must be a party somewhere. (Keep in mind that we're writing from suburban Boston, where the party just sort of rages on all around us this time of year.) And who likes to
rock the party? Cisco does, apparently.
Not content with being an absolute monster in networking hardware, Cisco is now...a server company. Or at least a provider of blade servers for big datacenters, meaning the company is now in competition with the likes of HP, IBM and Dell in that space.
Keith Ward, editor of Virtualization Review, offers a more comprehensive analysis here than your editor could ever hope to create, so you'll just have to click Keith's story if you really want to know more about this announcement.
From what we at RCPU can tell, Cisco figured it was time to branch out into something new, as pretty much every company is well-stocked on stuff like routers and switches these days. So Cisco is going for the old Microsoft approach of integration, calling its offering the Cisco Unified Computing System (that's UCS, in case you needed another set of initials in this industry) and touting storage management and, well, networking as part of the deal.
As Keith explains, it's all underpinned by virtualization, which more or less can turn one server into many servers, as you know, and can exponentially increase scalability and help cut the costs of running a big datacenter. Of course, Cisco isn't the only company doing this kind of thing, and it's just getting into the blade server business for the time being.
But we like having another company rocking the server party. Cisco's got a big list of partners lined up, including Microsoft and VMware, so channel players who aren't currently Cisco partners might be able to wedge themselves into this business somewhere. Beyond that, more companies in a market mean more innovation and, possibly, lower costs as a result of cheaper prices. It might sound -- it might be -- cliché, but it's still true. So, Cisco, welcome to the party. It's about time you got here.
What's your take on Cisco's server play? Share it at [email protected].
Posted by Lee Pender on March 17, 20091 comments
Musings for the mobile-minded from Jeff Schwartz.
Posted by Lee Pender on March 12, 20090 comments
We're cleaning out the reader e-mail cupboard this week, so let's get started.
On Microsoft's apparent return to its roots in 2009, we got a comment from longtime friend of RCP Ken Thoreson, who now has his very own, very good blog on RCPmag.com. Anyway, here's what Ken had to say:
"Absolutely the right spot to be. What made Microsoft was excellent execution...something that has been lacking in many aspects of their day-to-day operations."
Ken, we'll count you as more familiar with the daily grind at Microsoft than we are, but we couldn't agree more with your point. It's time for Redmond to stop scatter shooting and start aiming at the targets that made it so rich: Windows and the enterprise. Vista should serve as a warning -- a lack of focus can come back to bite even the most powerful company. Some ex-Wall Street firms and a couple of automakers might have something to say about that. In retrospect, of course.
On Windows 7 possibly arriving in September (and possibly cleaning up Vista's mess), a few users sound pretty excited. Tyler reports:
"I just wanted to comment that for business, I know I'm not going to make the jump to Windows 7 on all the company computers. In fact, we are still using Windows XP. However, for personal uses, I have used the beta of Windows 7 and find it to be a much better environment than Windows Vista. Just like Vista, I still have problems with some hardware, like the built-in EVDO modem in my laptop; however, I'm sure that Verizon will fix this once 7 is released. I think that for myself I would purchase Windows 7 Ultimate once it hits the shelf. As for the company I work for, I think any upgrades in OS are a few years out."
We like the positive review of 7, Tyler, but your company is going to be on XP for an awfully long time if upgrades are a few years out. Microsoft and a partner or two might like that process to speed up a little bit. But on the other hand, XP will probably work just as well a few years from now as it does today. So we see where you're coming from.
Norm seems pretty psyched, as well:
"I just installed Windows [7, we're guessing --LP] on a test machine. Old HP tc1100 tablet. Then removed Windows, old files. Looks like I now have a new tablet! When Vista came out, I could not install it on this machine. What an improvement 7 is. I'm an ISV and will test my ClickOnce code written with Visual Studio on this machine. Looks like I will be giving Microsoft a big 'THANK YOU.'"
Great news, Norm. And we're sure that Microsoft will respond with a friendly, "You're welcome! And thanks for hyping Windows 7."
Arthur, however, is taking a more cautious approach to the magnificent 7:
"I am currently in the market for two new computers but will not buy any that comes loaded with Vista. Windows 7...I'll wait and see!"
Fair enough, Arthur. Maybe you won't have to wait too much longer.
One more topic, this time business intelligence and Microsoft's contribution to it, with which Barry is, uh, less than impressed:
"The real problem with Microsoft BI is the immaturity of its products. We made the transition at [organization redacted, just in case --LP] last year from Cognos to MS. Our productivity plummeted due to the tools not having key capabilities found in mature BI tools. Visualizations are much more difficult because of the 'you can always write C# to fill in the gaps' mentality of MS tools. Excel doesn't cut it for the kinds of advanced visualizations we need and SQL Server Reporting Services is like using stone knives and flint axes to build a Saturn V rocket. What Microsoft still doesn't get is that BI is not just financial, not just a bunch of tools, and not for IT shops to build. Self-service data analysis is just not possible with the MS tools -- even the new ones in SQL Server 2008. They need about a decade of maturity to catch up to the likes of Cognos or the other mature BI suites."
Yeesh. Not sounding so good there, Microsoft BI. It's true that companies like Business Objects, Cognos and Hyperion had a big head start on Microsoft in BI (and basically invented the category), and if Barry's experience is any indication, Microsoft is still miles behind its now-acquired competitors. Should Redmond be rethinking not snatching up BO or Cognos? Maybe.
We're always open to whatever you have to say about whatever you read here. Or other stuff -- whatever strikes you when you're at your keyboard. Send your thoughts to [email protected].
Posted by Lee Pender on March 12, 20090 comments
The big German ERP titan has teamed with Sybase to launch a
not uninteresting operation to allow users to access ERP data on mobile devices.
Posted by Lee Pender on March 12, 20090 comments
The corporate vice president for Windows product management opens up on the new browser
here.
Posted by Lee Pender on March 11, 20090 comments
Interesting stuff bouncing around this week about
changes Microsoft is planning on making to the Partner Program. Apparently, the program is going to be less about technology and more about business planning, less generic and more specific in its certifications, and less Microsoft-focused and more customer-centric. Decipher
this chart from the company at your own risk.
For instance, apparently generic Gold Certified Partner status will give way to something closer to Gold Certified Partner status in a particular area of technology of business expertise. We like what we hear so far, and Microsoft promises that the transition will be painless. In fact, it has even named the new plans Evolution, not Revolution. Stay tuned.
Posted by Lee Pender on March 11, 20090 comments
It is with great regret that, after three consecutive years of covering the event live, your editor is not at Convergence this year. It is with even greater regret that missing Convergence 2009 means missing a trip to New Orleans, one of your editor's favorite cities and a place where he'd happily help rebuild the local economy by spending 1105 Media's money.
But alas, priorities have changed, and RCPU will be covering the annual Dynamics show from Framingham, Mass., this year. It's not the worst place a person could be, but it's also not the home of jambalaya, Dixie Beer -- sadly, apparently brewed in Wisconsin post-Katrina -- Dixieland jazz and just generally rolling the good times.
Priorities have changed for Dynamics and Dynamics partners, too. This year's show won't see a slew of big product launches, although Microsoft has released new versions of the AX and NAV suites within the last year. Instead, as Dynamics chief Kirill Tatarinov told Redmond magazine (and your editor) not long ago, Convergence New Orleans will be -- and now is -- all about hanging on in a tough economy.
Thus far, the chin-up approach is working, said Doug Kennedy, vice president of Microsoft Dynamics partners, in a phone conversation with RCPU this week, presumably between bites of red beans and rice.
"It's not a sense of panic," Kennedy said of the buzz at the show. "It's a sense that we're all in the same situation, but nobody is really walking around here with doom and gloom. The best way to describe it is [partners] are all optimistic."
And they're still a bit confused, in some cases. Although most partners and customers seem to have their heads around Microsoft's four-suite ERP strategy, Kennedy told us that he had Chris Caren, general manager of product management and marketing for Microsoft Dynamics, go ahead and explain the four-pronged approach again in a partner briefing on Monday. Seasoned partners get it, Kennedy said, but some newer partners still need educating.
"It's clear for those partners that were committed to these product lines," Kennedy said. "We're continuing to support the investments we've made and the customers have made and the partners have made."
In other words, Microsoft's sticking with the four-suite thing, just as company officials have said for at least a couple of years now that it would. Yes, it's a bit confusing. Yes, it can send mixed signals to the market. But it's also the only way Microsoft can move forward with Dynamics ERP without cannibalizing those partners and customers that have bought into, say, GP, and want to stick with it. So we'd all better get used to it.
And it's really not that tough a strategy to explain, said Josh Richards, marketing specialist for Merit Solutions, a GP and, more recently, AX partner located in Wheaton, Ill. It's just a matter of spelling things out to customers up front.
"We do still see prospects coming in unsure of what they need but thinking that they're going in for Microsoft Dynamics and not even knowing that it's an option to go for AX, GP, SL, whatever," Richards said. "There is still confusion, but the way we've been marketing, the inquiries are always AX, GP inquiries. We make it clear that we're not a shop for SL or NAV."
But enough about the four horsemen of Dynamics, which will just keep riding on. What Microsoft would really want us to write about -- and it's worth mentioning -- is something called Unleash Your Potential. That's a software tool that partners can use in customers' shops to go through the company, role by role or even person by person, to determine which functionality the company needs, and, in the case of current Dynamics customers, whether the company is getting everything out of the system it can.
"At the very end, it spits out a business solutions roadmap," Richards said. "It's not how are you using your system, but what could your system do. It's an in-depth view of their complete system."
And it works, especially at a time when Microsoft is encouraging partners to sell into their current customer bases with upgrades and add-ons -- and to move customers who are using really old versions of Dynamics suites up to speed. Richards, who is also not at Convergence but was watching from his office in Minneapolis as snow fell, said Unleash Your Potential helped his company tap into a customer base it had been neglecting.
"There was a lot of lost opportunity within our customer base," Richards said. "We weren't really proactive around those opportunities. It's great to get into the customers you haven't seen in a while. For every $1 we've spent [on Unleash Your Potential], we've gotten $18 out of it."
In other Convergence notes, Kennedy said Microsoft is still encouraging partners to think vertically, which has been a Microsoft mantra for a while. He also said that he has noticed a lot of acquisitions in the partner community, with smaller firms more willing to sell out in a shaky economy than they were when, say, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was kicking around at 14,000.
Kennedy also said that he'd been fielding lots of questions from Dynamics partners about whether Microsoft would take more of a direct sales approach in a flagging economy, a move he said vendors have made in tough times before. His answer was both unsurprising and encouraging for partners: "We are absolutely supporting an indirect model," he said.
Priorities might change, but Microsoft's channel-based sales model still hasn't. And partners should be happy about that, even if they're not carousing on Bourbon Street this week.
Have any thoughts you'd like to send from New Orleans? Send them to [email protected].
Posted by Lee Pender on March 11, 20090 comments