As
Virtualization Review Editor Keith Ward
reported
some time ago, Microsoft will indeed hold a
big
virtualization launch event on Sept. 8. What, exactly, will get launched
is still up for speculation.
By the way, there's no good reason why Microsoft shouldn't be calling this
event "V-Day." We won't even take credit for the name.
Posted by Lee Pender on August 13, 20080 comments
This
article simply fell into the too-interesting-not-to-run category. It might
not be classic RCPU material, but it's worth a read.
Posted by Lee Pender on August 13, 20080 comments
Business Objects, now part of SAP, has a
new
tool that lets presentation builders plug Excel info directly into the dreaded
slide software.
Posted by Lee Pender on August 13, 20080 comments
It's not easy to write an entry on green technology and not use the hackneyed
Kermit the Frog phrase, "It's not easy being green"...and, indeed,
we've just failed to do it ourselves. But whether being green is easy or not
as far as technology is concerned, it can have its benefits, as
RCP
told
you back in April.
Everybody talks about going green now -- big software companies (especially
those involved in virtualization) like to tout the efficiency of their new offerings
-- and with energy costs rising and supplies gradually dwindling, some sort
of green IT strategy does sound like a good idea.
Most IT executives would agree -- in principle. But in practice, a new survey
says, green IT is still more
of a talking point than an action item. (And, yes, we're rolling out some
of our best meeting-room lingo today.) At the end of the day (see?), green IT
might end up the rule rather than the exception, but for now it's still not
a corporate priority. Quoth the story linked above:
"According to CDW's new Energy Efficient Information Technology (E2IT)
Report, while an overwhelming majority (94 percent) of IT executives say they
care about energy efficiency, many simply don't know how much energy they're
using.
"More to the point, the E2IT survey indicated, IT executives aren't
exactly putting their money -- their budget dollars -- where their mouths
are when it comes to green IT. When prioritizing purchasing decisions, CDW
found, energy efficiency is frequently passed over in favor of other considerations
-- only slightly more than one-third (34 percent) of IT chiefs actually make
purchasing decisions on the basis of energy efficiency."
OK, so we're not going to say that not making purchases based on energy efficiency
is necessarily a sign that executives are ignoring green IT. After all, there
are still other factors (functionality, scalability, cost, etc.) that are more
important in a purchasing decision than how much electricity a device sucks
through a cord. But the fact that many executives don't know how much energy
they're using is a pretty good sign that green IT doesn't have the traction
that many observers think it does -- or want it to.
Our guess, though, is that a shift in thinking is on right now. Electricity
usage just isn't something that IT execs have worried about in the past. But
the world is changing, and so are operating costs and notions of what studies
of efficiency should include.
Along those same lines, we heard commercials on the radio in Houston during
the Worldwide Partner Conference encouraging drivers to trade in their pickups
and SUVs for hybrid and fuel-efficient vehicles. Trade in a Ford Ranger (or
Chevy, for you zealots out there) for a Prius? In Houston? Anybody running that
commercial two years ago would have been run out of the state. But high fuel
prices have changed many folks' thinking on the matter.
And we're sure that the same thing is happening in IT. Gradually, executives
are coming around to see the benefits of green IT. But while technology innovation
moves quickly, investment in technology tends to be much more deliberate. So
we figure it'll be a few more years yet before green IT becomes a priority.
In the meantime, we'll try to keep the Kermit references to a minimum.
How are you preparing to go green? How are you selling green IT to your customers?
Tell us at [email protected].
Posted by Lee Pender on August 13, 20080 comments
Your non-news news of the week is that people still don't like Vista. Specifically,
some research group called Janco -- we've never heard of it, so get that grain
of salt ready -- says that Vista still has a market share of
less
than 15 percent after almost two years of availability.
Not quite 15 percent? That actually sounds a bit high to us, but we got to
wondering...where was XP at about the same point in its lifespan? Well, after
a very quick Google search (no, we're not even going to pretend that we use
Live Search, or whatever it's called), we found a vague, six-year-old
reference on a message board to a long-departed article, which apparently
stated that XP had gained 20 percent market share in less than a year.
What really strikes us, though, is the tone of the posts on the vintage message
board. Sure, there are complaints about XP there -- specifically about how it
"phones home" -- but, at least in this particular board's little corner
of the Web back in 2002, there wasn't the poison attitude toward the OS that
we see so often with Vista today. (And, yes, we also love the reference at the
bottom of the page to the $45 copy of Windows 98.)
Still, some of the stuff sounds familiar -- folks talking about waiting for
service packs before installing XP or being "sick" of hearing about
the then-new OS. Microsoft is pushing Vista hard again, trying to shake the
notion that it's a failed product. It's certainly not picking up much momentum,
though, and it has had plenty of time to get rolling. We do kind of wonder how
folks plan to move from XP straight to the post-Vista version of Windows (effectively
making XP their OS for nearly a decade), but at this point we're sure that a
lot of people are going to try to do just that.
On another note, Firefox -- according to these Janco people, anyway -- is eating
away at Internet Explorer's market share rather quickly. Apparently IE is down
to just less than 60 percent market share, whereas it had 80-plus percent three
years ago. And Firefox is roaring with almost 20 percent. What really surprises
us, though, is Netscape(!) clocking in with a seemingly impossible 11 percent
market share.
What? Netscape, at 11 percent? Are there that many people still living in 1997?
Maybe so. After all, those of us who still use XP are living in 2002 -- and
we like it there.
Will you stretch XP out until the next version of Windows arrives? If so, how?
Let me know at [email protected].
Posted by Lee Pender on August 12, 20081 comments
Let's not even pretend that this has been an interesting news week for Microsoft followers. Tonight's earnings will provide plenty of fodder, sure -- but, for the time being, it's a famine after last week's Worldwide Partner Conference news feast.
So, today, we have the final pieces of Microsoft's virtualization product offering falling into place. Specifically, we now know that Virtual Machine Manager will ship in the fourth quarter of calendar 2008 and will not have to be bundled with the over-named System Center Server Management Suite Enterprise.
So, whether you're psyched about Hyper-V or less than enthused, at least now you know more of the details. And that's what's passing for news this week.
Posted by Lee Pender on July 17, 20080 comments
We bring you
this
little item only because Microsoft still
hasn't
stopped trying to acquire Yahoo (apparently) and because such an acquisition
would bring Microsoft from a distant third in search to a somewhat less distant
second.
Posted by Lee Pender on July 16, 20080 comments