The companies
renewed and expanded their partnership this week. There's a pretty good Q&A with both CEOs
here, and we get the sense that it's not lost on either one of them that EMC still owns VMware, Microsoft's primary rival in virtualization.
Posted by Lee Pender on February 05, 20090 comments
It's an expansion of the distributor's Advanced Infrastructure Solutions Division. More details
here.
Posted by Lee Pender on February 05, 20090 comments
With the channel
getting a serious look at Windows 7, we expect the positive buzz from the partner community about the forthcoming operating system to intensify. In fact, with this week's news that Microsoft will
offer an upgrade from XP to Windows 7, we're thinking that Windows fans anxious to forget about Vista will hardly be able to contain themselves.
But let's not get carried away. Already there's talk that user access control -- that thorn in many Vista users' sides -- will be weakened in Windows 7. That might not seem like a bad thing, but it could have the potentially unfortunate consequence of making Windows 7 less secure than Vista.
And that's not all. Despite the mostly positive feedback we've had coming in from readers, a couple of you wrote to warn us that Windows 7 might not be the blockbuster that its buzz suggests it'll be -- or, at least, that Windows 7 might give users some of the same problems that came with Vista. Let's start with Tom:
"Every bit of the EXISTING hardware would not work in Vista -- except my mouse! The vendors DID have hardware stuff for Vista -- but only NEW stuff. They left all the other perfectly fine hardware already bought, paid for and working fine with XP behind since they wanted people to throw it away and, in my case, spend a few thousand more to replace the perfectly good working hardware with new hardware that did the same exact functions and had the same technical abilities. The only difference was a new set of drivers so that this hardware could run on Vista. That is just plain bad economics.
"Windows 7 -- I face the same problem. All of that same four- to eight-year-old hardware works fine on XP but NONE will work on W7. I would have to scrap it all and buy new hardware just to get the drivers!
"Now, would manufacturers want to spend $50k-plus of their money JUST to write a SINGLE driver that would work with the old hardware? No, they would lose money and get no income doing that. Some companies like HP would spend millions for no new income at all. So, as a business, it is bad to spend money and get nothing back. But spend that $50k and sell a million new printers identical to the old but they come with a driver to work with Vista -- ah, payback and profit!
"Microsoft and the manufacturers forgot to ask the users if they are willing to spend $500 to $2000 in new EXTERNAL hardware just so they can work with that new OS. No."
Tom, we're getting Vista flashbacks here, we have to admit. But the real issue seems to be a lack of advancement on the hardware side. It might be -- might be -- worth $500 to $2,000 to upgrade hardware along with moving to Windows 7...if there were a reason to buy new hardware. Still, while this problem might not be Microsoft's fault, it could still end up being Microsoft's problem, again.
Ken, never a fan of Vista, writes to us regarding Windows 7...and he's not a fan of the new OS, either:
"Microsoft, in an act of blind stupidity, has taken away the classic start menu and forced this new menu approach, which if you come from an information management or records management background (and many people have) is not intuitive and does not allow us to customize the start bar in a way that suits how we wish to work. I really resent an OS forcing me to work someone else's way, and I also resent being forced to accept someone else's perception of change just for the sake of change when there is no obvious benefit other than cosmetic. There will be Geeks that refute this and say they are glad it's gone, but that effectively just whitewashes the rest of us who are desperately trying to minimize our costs (both hardware and software), training and re-training efforts and budgets and concentrate on our core business survival without being constantly distracted by changes Microsoft thinks we should all be forced to technically embrace.
"For every one of my clients attracted to Windows 7, the other 9 have expressed concerns about two major features that have gone. The classic start bar is a big one. The second is the total non-existence of a repair-restore option.
"This is just plain stupidity by Microsoft. They are publicly saying these two features will not be included, and so just on that fact alone I cannot see any sensible IT manager buying the product. If you have ever had to run an IT site -- and I have a 5,000-user site for Victoria Police here in Melbourne, Australia -- users just seem to be able to break PCs daily for the most bizarre reasons. In a corporate world, you have techniques to handle this, like spare PCs, use of SOEs and image files and data stored on servers centrally managed.
"However, when you come to servicing smaller (fewer than 10 users) businesses or agencies (here in Australia that comprises 50 percent or more of the workforce), these agencies have neither the time nor the resources to handle Windows 7 rollouts if there is not a certain familiar look and feel about the OS; they are freaked out by the new interface, are appalled that the classic start menu has gone (including their ability to do things the way they have become accustomed), and they do not want to pay for staff to have to learn new ways of doing old tasks. They are staggered there is no repair/restore option, which I often used to salvage one of their broken PCs with XP."
Ken, you bring up some very good points. A lot of partners and IT folks -- people doing beta testing and the like -- seem to like Windows 7. But will users warm to it after years of familiarity with XP? That's hard to say; certainly, Vista didn't win a lot of hearts and minds. We'll have to see. One thing's for sure, though: Microsoft really needs Windows 7 to succeed. Whether it does or not could come down to some of the issues mentioned here.
Thanks to Tom and Ken for their contributions. Anybody else who wants to chime in should, at [email protected].
Posted by Lee Pender on February 05, 200910 comments
Apparently, some of the employees laid off by Microsoft have decided to raise a little cash by unloading some of their painfully uncool apparel. Have a gander at a small gallery
here.
Posted by Lee Pender on February 05, 20090 comments
Everything considered, this is probably a good thing for most Microsoft partners and customers. After all, anything that Microsoft can do to better serve the companies that invest in its technologies is a good thing, right?
Probably. But Microsoft's announcement this week that it would introduce a Premier Mission Critical Support level did raise some concern that Redmond might be moving in on partners' territory. The new support offering will give customers credits if they don't get a response from Microsoft to their support calls within 30 minutes -- and that's 24 hours a day.
Now, as the article linked notes, that might be a little bit of a problem for big vendors such as IBM or HP, which generate revenue from supporting Microsoft software. Redmond is predictably downplaying any direct competition with those partner-rivals, but this does represent Microsoft's second expansion of enterprise support in the last six months.
For the average partner that's not a global mega-vendor, though, the new support option seems mostly like a positive development. Those partners that actually generate revenue specifically from taking support calls might not like it too much, but for those VARs, consultants and other channel players that aren't offering 24-hour assistance, Microsoft's Mission Critical effort could serve as another selling point for Redmond's wares.
The cynic might note that Mission Critical Support is another step that Microsoft is taking toward having direct contact with customers, but with Redmond still generating the overwhelming majority of its revenues through the channel, we're not really worried about Microsoft abandoning its partners. No, we're looking at this as good news for most of the channel. And that's always welcome, right?
What's your take on Microsoft stepping up its support efforts? Send it to [email protected].
Posted by Lee Pender on February 04, 20090 comments
Remember how there were about 435 different versions of Vista? Well, there are going to be
quite a few versions of Windows 7, too, but Microsoft won't focus quite so much on trying to push them all.
Posted by Lee Pender on February 04, 20092 comments
Or maybe the better question is: Why would they? With Windows 7 due out some time within the next 12 months, it's hard to imagine why companies would buy into Vista rather than waiting for what looks like a better operating system. But a recent Forrester survey suggests that while Vista has tiny market share right now, almost half of companies responding were
planning to start Vista deployments by the end of this year.
Granted, it might be a big jump between XP and Windows 7, but it's hardly an impossible one to make. At this point, sticking Vista in between just seems like an odd move.
Posted by Lee Pender on February 04, 20092 comments
You've probably heard about this by now, and maybe you experienced it, but we'd be remiss if we didn't note the comedy of Google
identifying every site on the Web as potentially malicious. Then again, isn't there some hidden truth in Google's snafu? Something to consider..
Posted by Lee Pender on February 03, 20090 comments
The world "clickjack" makes us think of
Skipjack's, a small chain of seafood places here in the Boston area. And since we're writing this at just about dinnertime on Monday evening, we're going to just skip right to
the article, which talks more about what clickjacking actually is.
Posted by Lee Pender on February 03, 20090 comments
Windows 7 might just be a true rarity, a blue moon rising in the Pacific Northwest. Microsoft's next operating system could just be, if early returns are accurate, a highly anticipated product that actually lives up to its considerable hype.
Of course, following Vista is kind of like following one of those acts that gets chased off stage on Amateur Night at the Apollo Theater; it would take a considerable effort to actually look bad after something like that. So, Windows 7 has that going for it. Timing is everything, or at least very important.
But Windows 7 also has a wiser, more prudent Microsoft shepherding it along. We were encouraged to read this week that Microsoft will release the product not just when the final version is good and ready, but also when the partner "ecosystem" (we always envision a rainforest or something when we hear that word, perhaps not entirely inaccurately) is ready to support the new OS.
What dogged Vista probably more than anything else was application and driver incompatibility. (This was, of course, not entirely -- and maybe mostly not -- Microsoft's fault. But Microsoft bore the brunt of the lack of planning.) Well, there were those hardware requirements, too, and that user access control...but we digress. When printers, scanners and software wouldn't work in the new OS, word got around that Vista was pretty much useless.
And bad news not only travels fast; it also sticks around for a while. Long after Microsoft's partners had gotten their wares up to speed for Vista, users were still complaining about devices and applications that hadn't worked when the OS was launched -- among other things.
So this time, Microsoft is (hopefully) leaving nothing to chance. With some smart management, Windows 7 can have the sparkling debut we think it might just get. But this effort is not all about Microsoft. Partners will have to do their part, working with Redmond to get their apps and devices up to speed with the new OS.
You'd think that after all the years that Microsoft has been producing Windows and its big partners have been supporting the OS, the various beasts in the "ecosystem" would have this stuff figured out by now. Maybe not, if Vista is any indication. But, hey -- live and learn, right? Maybe 7 will prove to be a lucky number after all.
What are you doing to get ready for Windows 7? Let us know at [email protected].
Posted by Lee Pender on February 03, 20095 comments
Well, it's more laying off than firing, really, but it was interesting to read this week that Microsoft, which is so famously
laying off 5,000 workers over the next 18 months or so, will also be
hiring a couple thousand people during that time frame. We'll let the executives, accountants, lawyers and HR people sort all that out.
Posted by Lee Pender on February 03, 20093 comments