ZDNet Must Read:
Why there's a software support and maintenance revolution underway
There's a brewing backlash among software customers as big vendors raise their support and maintenance prices. Why? You can't justify price inflation given that software companies are seeing their own... Continued »
August 20th, 2008
Microsoft, Novell bolster Linux partnership
Microsoft and Novell said Wednesday that the software giant will invest more into the companies’ SUSE Linux partnership. As part of the agreement, Microsoft will buy an additional $100 million in SUSE Linux support certificates.
The partnership (all posts) between Novell and Microsoft kicked off in November 2006 with a five year agreement worth $240 million. In the agreement, Microsoft buys Novell certificates to resell SUSE Linux in enterprises. It’s all part of a mixed source move in enterprises. Novell has said the Microsoft deal has provided a halo effect for SUSE Linux.
Given that Novell has invoiced $157 million of these Linux certificates it was running out of headroom on the deal. With Microsoft’s latest commitment (statement) to buy certificates Novell’s Linux operating results should continue to get a Redmond boost. Microsoft’s latest investment will begin Nov. 1, 2008.
Despite hackles, the partnership between Novell and Microsoft has been a success with customers. Microsoft has given Novell more enterprise traction and the software giant gets to co-opt open source slightly. Customers–Wal-Mart Stores, HSBC Holdings, Renault, Southwest Airlines, BMW–don’t care about the Windows vs. open source debate because they’re will be mixed source anyway. Meanwhile, open source groups like the Free Software Foundation are resigned to accept the Microsoft-Novell partnership, but have taken steps to prevent a similar deal in the future in the latest General Public License.
The companies said Microsoft’s additional investment will focus on “enhanced programs from Novell to provide tools, support, training and resources” for customers looking to make Windows Server and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server interoperable.
August 20th, 2008
IT Dojo video: Restore the Address toolbar removed by Windows XP SP3
Windows upgrades and service packs are great when they actually solve problems or add cool new features. Unfortunately, updates sometimes introduce new problems or whack a feature you find really useful. In this IT Dojo video, Bill Detwiler shows you how to retrieve a handy Windows XP feature that Microsoft removed in Service Pack Three — the Address toolbar.
Once you’ve watched this IT Dojo video, you can find a link to the original TechRepublic article and print the tip from our IT Dojo Blog.
August 20th, 2008
News to know: IDF; Windows 7 wishes; IE 8; Salesforce.com
Here are today’s notable headlines. You can get News To Know via email alert and RSS daily:
Larry Dignan: Salesforce acquires InStranet; Will take it SaaS and better target call centers
Ed Bott: My Windows 7 wish list
- Adrian Kingsley-Hughes: Windows 7 wishes
- The Register: A third of Vista PCs downgraded to XP
Gallery: Creative uses for USB ports (right)
Larry Dignan: Why there’s a software support and maintenance revolution underway
- Dennis Howlett: A fresh model for software maintenance
Mary Jo Foley: IE 8 to get ‘porn mode’?
- Submit your best, new Microsoft codenames. Win a prize
- Piecing together Microsoft’s cloud-computing vision
TechRepublic: Advice to twentysomethings: Hiring managers don’t want your text messages
Mitch Ratcliffe: eBooks volume 3: What is the right price for a device that holds 100s of books?
Larry Dignan: HP delivers strong third quarter fueled by blades, international, notebooks
- John Morris: HP ultraportables get new Intel chips, 80GB SSD
- Dan Kusnetzky: Conversation with HP’s Roberto Moctezuma
Sam Diaz: Live from IDF: Entertainment, WiMax and a sense of security.
August 19th, 2008
Salesforce acquires InStranet; Will take it SaaS and better target call centers
Salesforce.com said Wednesday that it will acquire InStranet, which provides knowledge management software for call centers, and integrate its technology with its existing CRM customer service and support offering. Simply put, Salesforce.com is acquiring traditional enterprise software for $31.5 million and turning it into a service in an effort to target Oracle, SAP and Clarify.
In some respects, Salesforce.com is making a departure from its current playbook, which is to acquire SaaS companies and smaller firms that built businesses on its AppExchange or Force.com platform. This go round Salesforce.com is taking entrenched software, melding it into its SaaS lineup and creating something new. Salesforce.com and InStranet were partners on various integration projects. InStranet is used by 350,000 call center agents and counts TD Ameritrade, MySpace, HP and Qualcomm as customers. Those InStranet customers will also give Salesforce.com an avenue to sell more services.
Salesforce.com said InStranet’s technology will become part of the Force.com platform as a service effort and be available in calendar 2009. Since InStranet isn’t a SaaS provider Salesforce.com will have to devote a little time on the product integration.
According to Al Falcione, senior director of product marketing at Salesforce.com, the game plan is to use InStranet’s Knowledge Base Dimensions technology and meld it with CRM data. The end result would be more effective call center responses. For instance, if I’m a wireless customer and typed in “dropped signal” into a self-service help site I’d typically get a bunch of answers to peruse. With the Salesforce.com-InStranet combination I’d get just one or two options because the service would know that I owned a Blackberry and was most likely asking about that topic.
Falcione says that Salesforce.com sees an opportunity to go after call center products built on “1990s keyword search technology.” Salesforce.com is betting that customers will want an integrated CRM-knowledge management package that can deliver answers over multiple channels. With InStranet, customers can categorize the knowledge base to filter out what Falcione calls noise–answers that clearly don’t belong.
The rub: The demo that Salesforce.com gave me only works if a customer has the company’s CRM service also. It’s unclear how many InStranet customers use CRM tools from Salesforce.com rivals such as Oracle and SAP. Given that InStranet and Salesforce.com were strong partners it’s possible that the customers overlap. However, InStranet’s site lists Oracle (and its BEA and Siebel units) and Amdocs among others as partners. It’ll be interesting to see if Oracle’s InStranet partnerships last going forward.
More color on the deal is likely to emerge when Salesforce.com reports its second quarter earnings after market close. Wall Street is expecting earnings of 8 cents a share on revenue of $260.5 million. The InStranet purchase won’t impact Salesforce.com’s financial results.
August 19th, 2008
Live from IDF: Entertainment, WiMax and a sense of security.
When you’re talking tech, it never hurts to have a convertible BMW on stage with you. The afternoon keynote speeches at the Intel Developer Forum covered a lot of ground and some eye candy to keep us focused on what a couple of hours of geek speak can morph into, in the form of products.
The BMW demo, for example, showcased how an open entertainment platform - utilizing WiMax technology - can take in-car information (think mapping, points of interest and so on) and in-car entertainment (streaming video and music via head-rest screens) beyond the basic GPS, satellite radio and iPod connectivity that’s being offered today. The in-screen images of the future GPS systems are three-dimensional and Web connectivity takes them even further. 
The on-stage example of driving along the Golden Gate Bridge featured a tour guide-like narration of other points of interest. (”If you look to your left, you’ll see Alcatraz Island, which sits on 22 acres about 1.5 miles from the shore.”)
We’ve been hearing about WiMax for years but, with a launch expected later this year in Baltimore, it looks like the broader-reaching wireless technology may soon finally become a reality. Likewise, later this year, expect to hear more about Intel’s newest line of processors, code-named Nehalem. One of the elements highlighted in a presentation was its power management capabilities.
I was particularly intrigued by the second keynote, dubbed “Where Will On-The-Go Go?” While the focus was meant to showcase where mobility is heading, the first part of the presentation seemed to focus more on how we got to where we are. Intel was quick to point to Centrino and how the company suggested, years ago, that wireless technology would drive notebook computers into the mainstream. It’s true - we’re here when it comes to notebooks. And Web surfers tapping into WiFi signals at Starbucks is a common sight today.
But the mobile devices showcased on the stage didn’t do much for me. They look like larger versions of some higher-end mobile phones today, those equipped with QWERTY keyboards. Sure, many of these are prototypes, so it’s tough to give anyone a hard time about them. I am, however, tempted to give the company a hard time about the presentation surrounding security. Remote access to a laptop allows for an administrator to launch “a poison pill” to disable a lost or stolen computer so that important files can’t be accessed. Better yet, an alternative name for the poison pill - “the Vulcan grip” - seemed to go over better with the crowd. Beyond the Vulcan reference, the idea drove home the point that the remote access disabling wasn’t actually killing the laptop or purging files. In the event the machine was recovered, it would be easy enough to reverse the process.
I have mixed issues about this security feature. Yes, it’s good that there’s technology to lock down a stolen computer that might have vital information on it. But I still have huge issues with the idea of placing important and sensitive files - such as medical records, financial records or social security numbers - on a computer instead of on the cloud. But I’ve also written in this same space about outages and other problems with the cloud. So, until we can stabilize cloud computing, the idea of being able to remotely block access for unauthorized users is a good solution.
Let’s just not get too comfortable with a temporary sense of security that comes from an IT manager putting a Vulcan grip on a lost laptop.
August 19th, 2008
Has Intel’s Craig Barrett taken over Bill Gates’ role as the chief ambassador of IT?
Now that Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates has retired from his full-time job at Microsoft in order to devote his energy to the Gates Foundation, other IT leaders would like to step into the void as the technology industry’s leading diplomat to the world. Intel is nominating its chairman, Craig Barrett, for the post.
At the opening keynote for the Intel Developer Forum 2008 in San Francisco on Tuesday, Intel introduced Barrett as “the IT industry’s ambassador” and highlighted the fact that Barrett will visit 30 countries this year, meet with various heads of state, and chair a United Nations task force on technology in the developing world.
Intel’s Craig Barrett introduces Nigerian students to the Classmate PC.
I’m not sure if Gates, who remains chairman of the board at Microsoft and is still spending 20% of his time on Microsoft-related work, is ready to give up his post as the IT industry’s de facto leader. I suspect that we’ll still see plenty of Gates as a keynote speaker at events and that he won’t be able to avoid giving reporters his commentary on how things are unfolding in the technology world.
Nevertheless, Intel’s Barrett would be an interesting replacement if Gates does truly fade into the backgound. While Gates has always been user-centric and his vision has been focused on the things users can do with technology, Barrett is more focused on how technology can improve and transform society.
“Technology is a tool to address some of the world’s most pressing challenges related to health care, education, economic development and the environment,” said Barrett. “No nations or individuals are untouched by these issues.”
Barrett is also not afraid to confront politicians publicly, while Gates has tended to deal with politicians and leaders more privately. For example, in his IDF keynote on Tuesday, Barrett launched several criticisms at the U.S. government and its policies:
- He upbraided the U.S. for not doing enough with research and development tax credits. “R&D is how you move forward in the world’s economic system,” said Barrett.
- He decried the K-12 educational system in the U.S. and put the blame not on funding but on not doing enough to hire and certify top-notch teachers.
- He criticized the U.S. for not allowing doctors to be paid when they treat patients over the phone (or other electronic systems) because those policies are holding back developments in electronic medicine.
For more on Barrett’s advice for U.S. political leaders, see IDF Opening Keynote: Are you listening, Washington? from Sam Diaz.
Barrett also used his IDF keynote to launch Intel’s Inspire-Empower Challenge, a contest to develop the best technology solutions in four areas where there are critical global challenges: health care, economic development, education, and the environment. Intel will award $100,000 in seed funding to the winning project in each of the four categories. The top criteria for the winners will be innovation and sustainability.
August 19th, 2008
Video: Will Facebook apology backfire in a lawsuit?
ZDNet correspondent Sumi Das talks with Senior Editor Sam Diaz about the class action lawsuit against Facebook over their Beacon advertising program. They discuss the consequences of possible privacy violations, how Beacon changed to an “opt-in” program, and why CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s admission of guilt may have been a bad move.
August 19th, 2008
HP delivers strong third quarter fueled by blades, international, notebooks
HP on Tuesday reported fiscal third quarter earnings of $2 billion, or 80 cents a share, on revenue of $28 billion, up 10 percent from a year ago. Excluding items, HP reported earnings of 86 cents a share, 3 cents ahead of Wall Street estimates.
Revenue also topped Wall Street expectations of $27.4 billion, according to Reuters Thomson Financial. In the same quarter a year ago, HP reported earnings of $1.8 billion on revenue of $25.4 billion.
The company also upped its fiscal fourth quarter outlook (statement). HP projected revenue of $30.2 billion to $30.3 billion with earnings of 95 cents a share to 97 cents a share. Excluding items, HP projected earnings of $1.01 a share to $1.03 a share. Those targets were in line to slightly above Wall Street estimates.
HP said the EDS deal will close later this month. HP said there will be an analyst meeting Sept. 15 to update guidance.
CEO Mark Hurd said that HP had strong enterprise growth and noted the company can “continue to meaningfully expand earnings.”
On a conference call, Hurd said the EDS integration is underway, cost savings initiatives are working well and the HP continues to deliver strong execution. Other items:
- Average selling prices in printing were “stable.”
- There’s a lot of pressure on CIOs to make infrastructure changes and that plays into HP’s portfolio.
- Currency–the dollar is getting stronger relative to the euro–is a wild card for HP. The weak dollar has helped HP given that most of its sales are international. Even with currency fluctuations Hurd said he was confident about the earnings range HP provided.
By the numbers:
- Inventory was $8.2 billion, down 3 days from a year ago. Accounts receivable was up 2 days from a year ago to $13.8 billion.
- Revenue from outside the U.S. was a whopping 68 percent of total sales at HP.
- Revenue in the Americas was up 4 percent from a year ago to $11.6 billion. Europe, Middle East and Africa sales were up 16 percent to $11.2 billion. Asia Pacific sales were up 14 percent to $5.2 billion.
- Personal systems group revenue was up 15 percent to $10.3 billion and unit shipments jumped 20 percent. Notebook revenue surged 26 percent, but desktop sales were up 6 percent. Commercial sales were up 15 percent from a year ago and consumer revenue was up 17 percent. Operating profit was $587 million, up from $519 million a year ago.
- Enterprise storage and server revenue was up 5 percent from a year ago to $4.7 billion. Revenue from blade servers was up 66 percent with storage growing 16 percent. Operating profit was $544 million, up from $507 million a year ago.
- The imaging and printing unit had revenue of $7 billion, up just 3 percent from a year ago. Consumer revenue fell 14 percent and commercial sales fell 5 percent. The division is still a cash cow. Operating profit was $1 billion, up from $981 million a year ago.
- HP services revenue was up 14 percent from a year ago to $4.8 billion. Operating profit was $574 million, up from $417 million.
- Software revenue was up 29 percent to $781 million with an operating profit of $122 million, up from $51 million a year ago.
- Research and development spending was $895 million, down from $917 million a year ago.
- HP ended the quarter with $14.78 billion.
August 19th, 2008
IDF Opening Keynote: Are you listening, Washington?
Intel chairman Craig Barrett, introduced as the company’s chief ambassador, delivered the opening keynote speech at the Intel Developer Forum this morning, highlighting technological innovation and its impact on the globe - just as you’d expect him to do. But Barrett - with a quick apology for briefly jumping into politics - also had a subtle message for Washington.
The U.S. is lagging behind the rest of the world. No big secret there. We’ve known for some time that other countries are kicking our butts when it comes to advanced technology. But technology wasn’t what he was talking about. It was education. “Nations are as strong as their educational systems,” he said, noting that in his travels to emerging countries around the globe, technology and education seem to go hand-in-hand. There are countries, he said, that are just coming out of the dark ages but recognize that a quality education and the influence of technology are the keys to building a solid future. There’s only one country on the globe that doesn’t think that way, he said. And it’s the United States.
TechRepublic: Will Intel’s Craig Barrett replace Bill Gates as the new ‘IT industry ambassador’?
“We don’t focus as much as we should on education,” he said. And when we do, we push standardized tests instead of extracurricular activities that - as proven by on-stage guests - spark innovative products and services that benefit real people and real business. Barrett welcomed Brian McCarthy, a teenager from Hillsboro, Ore. and finalist in Intel’s 2008 Science Talent Search, to the stage to talk about his project.
Brian’s project was an investigation of plastic solar cells as a new option in solar energy technology. Headed to MIT (instead of Stanford, Barrett noted with a wink and a chuckle), Brian said he hopes to be part of a team developing new sources of energy. That’s all great - but Barrett wanted to know what drove Brian to tackle such a subject as solar energy technology. Brian’s response: science and physics teachers who encouraged him to tackle projects and go after internships where he could challenge his thinking and pursue uncharted territories.
So, does a teenager from Oregon have any any advice for the members of the audience - or legislators in Washington who probably aren’t listening? “You read in the newspapers how math and science scores are down but I think there’s too much focus on test scores,” Brian said. Students don’t excited about taking tests, he said. They want the experience, through internships and after-school programs. “Unless we change that perspective, I don’t think we’re going to see that shift in a positive direction.”
I recently had a chance to chat with a high school math teacher, who accompanied his wife to a conference I attended. We chatted briefly about technology in his classroom and extra curricular opportunities to get these kids excited about careers in technology. That’s when he told me that budget cuts have pretty much eliminated after-school programs and that all of the energy in the classroom is spent preparing for standardized tests. Some kids, he told me, slip through the cracks - but it’s not the ones who are failing that go unnoticed. The kids who get excited about math and science are bored and unchallenged in the classroom, where teachers spend the bulk of their time helping kids who are falling behind in test preparation. Unfortunately, he said, that means the kids who have potential to excel don’t get the attention and encouragement they need.
Of course, there are exceptions out there - Brian is a great example of one. But unless the U.S. starts changing the way it thinks about technological innovation and Washington starts recognizing the global impact that Silicon Valley technology has, this nation will continue to fall behind the rest of the world - in economics, jobs and innovation. On that note, we’re off to the rest of the conference to see what great things developers have created using the latest in cutting-edge technology.
The Intel Developer Forum begins today in San Francisco and continues through Thursday.
August 19th, 2008
What’s future proofing worth? Analyzing the Verizon FiOS bet
There’s a lot of discussion today about whether Verizon’s $23 billion investment in its FiOS network was worth it, but the argument really comes down to this: How much is future-proofing your business worth?
The New York Times did an in-depth analysis about Verizon’s FiOS rollout and quotes a prominent bear on the effort. Verizon bet a bundle and moved to offer a triple play–TV, Internet and phone–to better compete with cable.
Saul Hansell, who also detailed the bear case separately, pits Wall Street skeptics and Verizon against each other. Verizon claims FiOS is a hit while others–some of them given some play here–say that it’s a losing battle.
The whole discussion raises interesting economic questions: Would Verizon have been better off handing $23 billion over to shareholders? Should Verizon have just let its phone and DSL business whither on the vine? Does Verizon have an obligation to compete in what used to be its dominant turf? Should Verizon just go wireless? And the biggest one: How do you weigh short-term costs (and Wall Street’s 3-month myopic view) with the long run?
Economics and assumptions aside I argue that Verizon made the right call. Sometimes you have to go with your gut and make a few big bets. Here’s what Verizon could have done:
- It could have stood by and watch cable become the dominant monopoly;
- It could have watched its access lines dwindle to nothing;
- Or it could have used its growth engine–wireless–to diversify and future proof its business.
Door No. 3 will turn out to be the best move. If Verizon did nothing its business would look a lot like AOL or EarthLink, two companies trying to retool as a former cash cow dies. If Verizon did nothing the shareholder hackles would be even worse. They’d want Verizon Wireless spun off or some corporate shell game in the name of shareholder value.
Disclosure: I’m a Verizon FiOS TV and Internet subscriber and glad the company made the move. Since installing it a little more than a year ago (
gallery right) I’ve had zero outages. Zip. Zilch. With Comcast I wouldn’t make it two weeks without an outage. I left Comcast for reliability–Comcast was cheaper than Verizon–and when I get the cable giant’s mailings I just chuck them. I must admit, however, that I did take a second glance when Comcast offered me a Wii for signing up for the triple play again.
But if you work from home at all you just can’t have Comcast’s flaky network under the hood.
In the grand scheme of things there will be two flavors of broadband and TV providers–cable and fiber to the premises (FTTP). And guess what will win the day? Perception and customer service. It won’t happen overnight, but making customers–instead of short-term investors–usually pays off big. And I can tell you I’m feeling pretty good about Verizon, which wasn’t the case back in my DSLHell days.
Simply put, Verizon has future proofed a few things. First, it has future proofed a customer base. Second, Verizon has future proofed its network. While Comcast upgrades, Verizon can flip a switch to get me more bandwidth. That edge will last for years. Is that worth $23 billion? In my book it is.
August 19th, 2008
Mobile handset sales down in 2Q: Market share race has three horses
NPD Group on Tuesday announced its second quarter handset sales tally and 28 million units were shipped to consumers, down 13 percent from a year ago.
According to NPD, second quarter handset revenue was $2.4 billion, down 2 percent from a year ago.
What’s notable about NPD’s figures are the market share stats: Motorola has 21 percent market share and Samsung and LG each have 20 percent. In other words, it’s a three way tie. Nokia trails with 9 percent and RIM’s BlackBerry has 7 percent.
Among the key stats:
- QWERTY phones were 28 percent of total handsets sold in the second quarter, compared to 12 percent a year ago. That’s most likely due to larger smartphone adoption and gadgets like the Palm Centro.
- 81 percent of phones sold were Bluetooth enabled with 65 percent of phones music enabled.
- Average selling prices for handsets in the second quarter were $84, up 14 percent a year ago. That total was down from $87 in the first quarter.
- AT&T has 29 percent market share with Verizon Wireless getting 26 percent. Sprint and T-Mobile each had 11 percent.
- Most popular handsets were the following (note the quarter ended before the iPhone 3G launched):
- RIM Blackberry Curve
- RIM Blackberry Pearl
- Palm Centro
- Apple iPhone
- Samsung BlackJack
August 19th, 2008
Why there’s a software support and maintenance revolution underway
There’s a brewing backlash among software customers as big vendors raise their support and maintenance prices.
Dennis Howlett has captured an emerging backlash among SAP customers over an enhanced support and its costs. Oracle is doing the same drill. And Mary Jo Foley detailed a “proactive” support offering that will likely cost more–not that Microsoft would do something crazy like disclose prices. Across the board, exact pricing details are hard to come by since a lot of large enterprise deals are custom, but the overall theme is the same–support and maintenance prices are going up. You’re locked in and stuck.
Dennis has cooked up a plan for when the vendor gravy train ends and these empty calorie (a term cooked up by Vinnie Mirchandani) maintenance deals go away. Dennis writes:
It is clear that the homogeneous application of round sum percentages applied to software maintenance pricing is a dead business model. Nowhere is that more clearly illustrated in the recent kerfuffle over SAP’s forced price rise for its maintenance services. SAP has put up a spirited defense but on the basis of the customer conversations I’ve had, it is falling on deaf ears. Thinking about this more broadly, I have posed the question whether Oracle can realistically continue to trumpet high 30’s percentage points earnings when it is obvious from its financials that these are largely derived from maintenance revenues. These are but two of the more prominent examples. The same goes for almost every other traditional software vendor right down to the Sage’s of this world. It is unsustainable and there will come the day, whether locked into the vendor or not, that customers will come together and say ‘no more.’ I absolutely believe that to be a reality.
Also see: Traditional software licensing: Why you pay more and a look at your options
The big questions: What will push customers over the edge? And are we nearing an inflection point where customers will revolt? I’d argue that we’re getting to a real backlash that could turn into a revolution.
Here’s why the time is ripe for disruption:
A weak economy: Your IT budget is being squeezed. And if it’s not being squeezed you’re still in a situation where you can’t really fund the great projects without cutting elsewhere. When your software vendor raises maintenance fees it just makes your life harder.
Maintenance and support inflation makes no economic sense: Inflation is a fact of life these days. Oh sure, you can quibble over “core” inflation rates that exclude food and energy costs, but that’s just silly. Who doesn’t buy fuel and food? But when Kellogg’s, General Mills and UPS raises prices I don’t like it, but I understand it. These companies buy commodities and fuel. You can’t eat those costs forever without passing it along.
Now let’s zoom in on the software companies. Labor going offshore. Check. No commodity costs. Check. Weak dollar helping results. Check. Folks, something doesn’t quite add up here. Perhaps support is improving, but not by that much. If anything you should be seeing support costs fall. Software vendors aren’t passing along lower costs they are gouging you to inflate already healthy profit margins.
Software vendors think their customers are stupid. What’s truly galling about increased support costs is that it appears that vendors don’t believe that you can read the economic tea leaves. Anyone that has bought software and groceries can see there’s a big disconnect on software support inflation.
Customers are cornered. The movement for the last decade has been to standardize on fewer vendors. You allegedly want one throat to choke. Well here’s the downside: You’re stuck with that vendor who will raise prices. Are you really going to swap out your ERP system? You might as well try brain surgery while riding a motorcycle. Good luck with that. What happens when you get cornered? You come out swinging and you’re a little PO’ed.
Because of those aforementioned reasons this time could really be different. Perhaps customers won’t roll over so easily as software maintenance and support increase at a rapid clip each year.
More reading and resources:
- Vinnie Mirchandani on negotiation best practices
- SAP wrap and transparency points
- SAP: Oracle price-gouges customers even more than we do and SAP response
- SAP to shut down TomorrowNow; Oracle gets its sacrifice
- Unintended Consequences and the Future of Maintenance Revenue: SAP Jettisons TomorrowNow
- Traditional software licensing: Why you pay more and a look at your options
August 19th, 2008
Google, Apple surge in customer satisfaction rating
Google and Apple were among the big winners in the University of Michigan’s second quarter American Customer Satisfaction Index.
The index, released Tuesday, found that overall satisfaction among consumers fell 0.1 percent to 75.1 on a 100 point scale.
Among the key technology movers highlighted in a statement:
- Apple lead the personal computer industry with a score of 85, an all-time high. Apple is outpacing rivals by a wide margin as Dell was second with a score of 75 followed by HP (73) and Gateway at 72. ACSI said Windows Vista has hurt PC vendor scores. One thing to watch in the next quarter will be Apple’s score given the MobileMe woes and iPhone 3G connection problems.
- Google won the e-business category easily with a score of 86, which is well above Yahoo’s tally of 77, which fell 3 percent. E-business sites overall had a score of 79.3. Microsoft’s MSN was flat at 75.
Here’s the breakdown cobbled together from the spreadsheet ACSI sent. It’s the second quarter scores and year over year change:
August 19th, 2008
Apple’s MobileMe: Why don’t we just call it a beta
Apple announced another 60-day freebie extension for MobileMe customer
s. MobileMe is the synchronization service that launched along with the iPhone 3G and App Store and you could argue that going 2-for-3 with a strikeout isn’t bad. But this isn’t baseball. MobileMe has been a black eye for Apple and the company is struggling to make the service reliable on the fly.
Apple said on Tuesday (Techmeme reaction, Apple letter to subscribers via Jason O’Grady):
The transition from .Mac to MobileMe was rockier than we had hoped. While we are making a lot of improvements, the MobileMe service is still not up to our standards. We are extending subscriptions 60-days free of charge to express appreciation for our members’ patience as we continue to improve the service.
Give credit to Apple for offering the freebie–it could have offered just a discount. But frankly Apple has little choice here. Apple will be lucky to keep what MobileMe customers it has. And good luck getting new ones.
Here’s a humble suggestion: Why doesn’t Apple just come clean and say MobileMe is really a beta? It’ll never happen, but Apple would be more transparent. Perhaps Apple could start a trend. Consider:
- Would Vista have had such a tough time if Microsoft was upfront with the fact that its latest version of Windows was really a beta until SP1?
- Glitchy chips? Ooops it’s a beta.
- Any product that’s not up to snuff? Beta.
In an ideal world customers would be able to vote and put products back into the beta bin. Thoughts?
August 19th, 2008
Is the enterprise ready for cloud computing?
Guest post: This is a post by Barry X Lynn, CEO of 3Tera, in response to a discussion about whether cloud computing is industrial strength. Lynn can be found on the 3Tera blog.
There have been multiple white papers and articles written on the topic - Is Cloud Computing Ready for the Enterprise? The question is asked so many times now - Is Cloud Computing ready for the enterprise? But there is an equally relevant question: Is the enterprise ready for Cloud Computing?
The following analogy may appear to imply that people who operate corporate data centers are crazy or stupid or both. But nothing could be farther from the truth. Enterprise CIOs and IT managers have the most difficult jobs in the corporate universe. They are the brains and the central nervous systems of large enterprises. They are also the most taken for granted of all executives. They represent cost centers and get no credit for their corporations’ profits, while keeping the corporation alive. If they achieve 99.99% availability of their services, an iota of kudos is given for that 99.99%. But a mountain of wrath is doled out for the other 0.01%.
If you woke up in the morning and read in the Wall Street Journal that an eCommerce company like Overstock.com had stopped using the USPS, UPS, FedEx, DHL, etc. to deliver their goods and, instead, leased airport hubs all over the world, bought a fleet of jets and bought thousands of trucks and started delivering the stuff themselves, you’d think they were out of their minds. So, why is it not equally insane for financial services companies, health care institutions, manufacturing companies, bio-tech companies, pharmaceutical giants, etc. to be spending a billion dollars or much more every year on information technology infrastructure?
August 19th, 2008
News to know: IDF; Office 14; Google; Flash flaw; MobileMe; Zoho
Here are today’s notable headlines. You can get News To Know via email alert and RSS daily:
Jason O’Grady: MobileMe subscribers get a 60 day extension
Adrian Kingsley-Hughes: Is the “killer app” argument dead?
Ryan Naraine: Adobe Flash ads launching clipboard hijack attack uTorrent silently patches critical vulnerability
Dennis Howlett: Zoho’s future in Google’s hands?
Mary Jo Foley: Office 14: Alpha testing to begin before year-en
d
- Scratch that. Windows Server 2008 R2 still lives
- Microsoft rolls out a new high-end, proactive support plan
- Might Office be where Microsoft gets socked with Chinese antitrust charges?
- Zack Whittaker: A walk through the two new student tools for Office 2007. Gallery (right)
Larry Dignan: IDF: Will your device really get to know you?
John Morris: Before Intel’s big show, AMD launches an attack
- Tom Steinert-Threlkeld: Tempest in a Mobile Phone: Protecting Your Geo-Privacy
Christopher Dawson: My bad day with Windows Server 2003
Paula Rooney: Microsoft unveils Application Server License Mobility change to ease some virtualization headaches
Yahoo Buzz opens up to all Web publishers
August 18th, 2008
Search engines under the spotlight this week
I’m spending most of this week at the Intel Developer’s Forum but also wanted to give some time to another show happening in the Bay Area this week: