We haven't done this in a while, so we're going to drop in a little reader feedback today. We've been a bit low on e-mails lately -- presumably readers are busy yanking their 401K money out of the market or stockpiling non-perishable foods -- so please feel free to contribute on any topic any time to
[email protected].
What that out of the way, we go to Don, who's not wild about the District of Columbia switching to Google Apps:
"I have a serious problem with using Google Apps in the Government situation as you write about. SaaS means using an active Internet connection as we all know, and who knows what information is sent back and forth while in an open session? I can also see the day where terrorist attacks will happen as part of an Internet data scheme rendering the pipes useless. Won't it just be grand that our entire world can't work because the SaaS package can't contact the authentication server to open the package or even open? Our government is already so counter productive maybe this is a perfect match."
Don, our vision of SaaS is somewhat less apocalyptic than yours, but we completely understand your concerns about security. (Of course, just sending documents via e-mail has its perils ... but we do see your point.) Security and privacy are huge issues for the whole SaaS model and are probably holding back adoption of it at this point.
It's hard to say what'll do more to change people's minds: demonstrations of big SaaS implementations that haven't given way to security problems or big service lapses over thousands of hours of use, or a general change in attitude shifting away from the importance of having data on-premises rather than in the cloud. Our guess is that the first will eventually lead to the second -- but we haven't forgotten that SaaS essentially failed in a former incarnation called the ASP model. Still, we think that SaaS will eventually (continue to) be a winner for smaller businesses and easily outsource-able operations of bigger ones. We completely agree with your view of the government, though.
What would a RCPU reader response session be without a Vista e-mail? Our good friend, Mike, sent us one about a month (or could it be six weeks?) ago that we never ran -- but we still like it, so here it is. Mike offers words of wisdom for Microsoft regarding Windows 7:
"An analogy: ME is to the 1990s as Vista is to the 2000s. Hopefully Microsoft will have learned a lesson with Vista that it seemed they learned with ME, but apparently forgot. They need to create what the users need and want, communicate all the benefits clearly, make sure to address potential compatibility issues or concerns as an integral part of the development, and finally, develop a clear understanding of why the new OS is needed. It can't appear that the reason for upgrading is weighted heavily in Microsoft's favor. Sure, they should make money -- they do a darn good job of that -- but they need to do a better job of selling it. The days of people beating down the doors of their nearest retailer at 12:01 a.m. for the latest GA'd Microsoft product are behind all of us. The apparent arrogance of the Vista release should have proven that."
So true, Mike, so true. As always. We need more fuel for the reader fire, folks! Dump some at [email protected].
Posted by Lee Pender on October 16, 20080 comments
It'll be virtualization and cloud computing that'll top the list of hottest technologies next year, the soothsayers of
Gartner, um, say.
Virtualization Review's Tom Valovic
seems happy enough with No. 1, but he's got a few issues with the rest of the top 10.
Posted by Lee Pender on October 16, 20080 comments
Here at RCPU, we always thought that Vista sounded more like a code name than a real Windows product name. It didn't have a "vintage" sound to it, like Windows 98 or 2000; it didn't sound all tech-y like XP or NT, and it didn't have a cute little moniker like Bob or ME (although it might go down in history with those last two after all).
No, Vista sounded a bit like a code name that somebody accidentally released to the outside world, as if the name slipped into a PowerPoint marketing presentation or something, and it was too late to go back after that and rename Vista "Windows 2007" or some such.
So now we have Vista's successor, currently being rushed in like one of those dancing clowns that crashes the stage when an act is getting booed mercilessly on Showtime at the Apollo. And Son of Vista won't have a cute name or a tech-y name, either. In fact, it'll be just what it is: Windows 7.
Well, sort of. As reader Tony points out, Windows 7 might not really be Windows 7 after all:
"I am intrigued by the Windows version numbers. NT version 4 was the last time a MS OS was publicly given a version number. Windows 2000 was often labelled version 5 (within the OS), which would make XP version 6. Why isn't Vista version 7? Did I miss something?"
Maybe it was Microsoft that missed something, Tony -- as in missed big with Vista. Could the Windows 7 moniker be part of a subtle re-education campaign to get users to forget about Vista? Could Vista someday have the same disturbing air as the 7-1/2 floor in the building in Being John Malkovich? (By the way, see how many blogs you can find that mention Showtime at the Apollo and Being John Malkovich in the same entry. We're on an entirely different plane of existence here.) And, most importantly, what does Jerry Seinfeld have to do with all of this? Remember when George wanted to name a kid Seven on Seinfeld? Read between the lines, people!
Regardless of its name, Windows 7 will have some work to do to bring Windows back into users' good graces. Microsoft seems to understand that, at least in part http://rcpmag.com/news/article.aspx?editorialsid=10291, but, as we've said before, Windows 7 is stepping into a brand new world in which Vista is a relative bust and Software-as-a-Service is making the operating system more irrelevant all the time. Windows 7's name should be -- and, apparently, is -- the least of Microsoft's concerns.
What are your expectations for Windows 7? Let us know at [email protected].
Posted by Lee Pender on October 15, 20083 comments
Okay, it's jargon time: Microsoft is talking up the release of OCS R2 as a boost for its UC strategy. Confused? You won't be after this episode of
Soap! Whoa, how did that late-'70s TV reference get in there? See, a totally different plane of existence.
Anyway, here's the story on (did you guess?) Office Communications Server R2 and Microsoft's unified communications strategy.
Posted by Lee Pender on October 15, 20080 comments
It's Project Kensho, which does some sort of virtualization stuff
better explained by somebody who writes for a virtualization magazine.
Posted by Lee Pender on October 15, 20080 comments
We're not totally sure why Research in Motion didn't call its device something like the RIMshot rather than the BlackBerry. In any case, Microsoft might be interested in buying the whole company.
Or so the rumor goes.
Posted by Lee Pender on October 14, 20081 comments
Now that the Dow and NASDAQ have rocketed back up (on Monday, anyway),
this news seems so last week: Analysts are projecting a drop in IT spending, but nothing like the one that crippled the industry at the outset of this decade http://www.networkworld.com/news/2008/101308-gartner-it-spending.html.
Of course, if the indices have gained another 900 points each by the time you read this, we all might make champagne our first expenditure! (Or, at least a six pack of beer.)
Posted by Lee Pender on October 14, 20080 comments
Whoever wins the presidential election in a few weeks' time, George W. Bush will be on his way out of Washington, DC -- and Microsoft Office will be right behind him.
OK, so we're only talking about the municipal level in DC here, not the federal big time, but Google Apps scored a victory recently with the news that it had toppled long-time incumbent Microsoft Office as the District's productivity suite of choice.
It's a drop in -- or maybe out of -- Office's ocean, of course, but Google's SaaS suite is starting to appeal to cost-conscious organizations such as municipalities and universities http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/google_apps_microsoft_dc.php. And while Microsoft Office isn't likely to go the way of the old-school investment bank anytime soon, we do wonder when -- and whether -- Microsoft will get serious about creating a true SaaS version of Office.
Thus far, Steve Ballmer has stuck to his Software Plus Services mantra for Office, and the old dog can now do a few new online tricks. But it hasn't yet gone fully online, and it likely won't if Ballmer gets his way.
Of course, all of that kind of seemed like a bigger deal last week, when the stock market seemed to face a future as bleak as that of the Patriots without Tom Brady, and pundits were discussing whether companies would start to look to options that cost less than traditional software implementations. (By the way, the injuries to Brady and Tony Romo have now left your editor free to enjoy crisp fall New England Sunday afternoons away from the TV. Darn it.)
As we write this newsletter on Monday afternoon, though, the Dow and NASDAQ have just closed up about 11 percent each (reverse caveat here: they could both be down another 10 percent by the time you read this, although we seriously doubt it), and presumably we're all in the money again. So, the SaaS revolution might not be picking up steam as quickly as it might have -- which is fine, as we'd prefer having a job and sticking with Office to being unemployed and using (or hearing about how others are using) Google Apps.
Still, it's worth keeping an eye on how steadily Google Apps keeps gnawing away at Office and how Microsoft responds in the months and years to come. Google Apps hasn't even really begun to scratch the paint on Microsoft's money machine, much less throw a wrench in the works ... but just as presidents come and go and markets bounce, times change and priorities change. Besides, we had to write about something on a holiday-slash-slow news day.
How have your experiences been with Google Apps? Tell us at [email protected].
Posted by Lee Pender on October 14, 20081 comments
It has seemed for a while as though the global financial storm was going to
deal a mostly glancing blow to the technology industry. Everybody hurts when
markets go into free fall (and, as we're writing this on Wednesday afternoon,
the Dow Jones has just closed down another 189 points -- although, as always,
it could be up 500 points again by the time you read this). But if Wall Street
and the banking sector are having a tornado rip through their gilded trailer
parks, tech has, thus far, mostly just experienced some rain and a few gusts
of wind in its relatively quiet suburb.
The question, though, is whether that rain will turn into a flood, and this
week we saw some pretty big puddles forming. For instance, one way in which
the global financial crisis could hit the technology industry is if big customers
can't pay their bills to vendors and partners. Microsoft found itself in just
that situation this week. Redmond is taking a close interest in the fate of
bankrupt Washington Mutual, which, apparently, owes the software titan some
dough that Microsoft would
love to collect.
There aren't a lot of details on this story yet, and as far as we can tell
WaMu seems to owe Microsoft the money -- and we don't know how much yet -- directly.
We're sure that partners must be involved somehow, though, given that Microsoft
makes the overwhelming majority of its revenue -- more than 95 percent -- through
the channel. But even if there's no direct partner involvement here (and, as
the dispute seems to involve software license fees, there might not be), we're
wondering whether channel players are having to slink around customer sites
in track suits carrying baseball bats and asking bewildered executives and business
owners to pay up -- metaphorically speaking, of course.
Most of RCP's readers are probably not dealing with the WaMus of the
world, but those that are might want to start thinking about how they're going
to collect from customers that are going belly-up -- or maybe start adjusting
their budgets accordingly. And those that aren't should still be wary. This
isn't the kind of trickle-down activity any economist wants to see, but it seems
possible that big failures at the top of the corporate food chain could eventually
hurt companies that generally work closer to the bottom -- especially given
how interconnected the financial industry is with pretty much every facet of
the American economy.
Microsoft, with its lawyers, resources and influence, might be able to get
its money from WaMu -- or it might not. But what are you, the average partner,
going to do if your revenue starts drying up because the drip-drip-drip of your
customers' losses becomes a flood? We know that you're worried
about a credit crunch, but while you're fretting about that, you might want
to consider whether your revenue sources are going to have the money to pay
what they owe you, and what you're going to do about it if they can't. (We don't
actually recommend a baseball bat, by the way.)
Those economic tornadoes that are tearing through the financial industry might
not be headed directly your way, but the wind and rain they carry could still
make your front yard -- or your bottom line -- a heck of a mess.
Are you worried about customers not being able to pay for your services? Are
you making contingency plans in this economic crisis? If so, what kind? Let
us know at [email protected].
Posted by Lee Pender on October 09, 20084 comments