Why, it’s 2008, don’t you know!
Hooray, it’s finally here…the news we have all been waiting for…drum roll please………………………………..
Yes it’s that announcement. Microsoft have been fined again!
News headlines everywhere: ‘EU fines Microsoft record $1.4bn’
You didn’t think I was going to blog about, what is it, Windows Server 2008 or something like that?
How can this happen on a day that quite rightly should change the corporate computing world like nothing since Windows NT? That’s my take on it.
Now, it’s not Microsoft’s fault that this news comes out on the very same day that Server 2008 is launched, just like it is not altogether Microsoft’s fault that some parts of Vista don’t work because other companies haven’t written new drivers or updated their software.
IT IS Microsoft’s fault that this launch has been, well not even a sideline but a non-entity. Where is the reasoning, the business case, the techie explanation, the fanfare, the ticker-tape parade, Steve Ballmer saying something remotely eye-catching?
Whilst a Server OS is never going to capture the hearts and minds of average Joe users, it should get techies and business people/press excited.
Fact is however, unless you are extremely geeky or work for Microsoft, this launch has (I will repeat) been a non-entity. Even most techie people have not really bothered to keep up with the news. Anecdotal evidence from my very small straw poll I grant you but none the less there has been no huge groundswell of interest or fanfare.
Microsoft have been criticised for years that their software is insecure, bloated, badly written, over-priced etc etc etc…. yawn.
Well here is (was) a chance to show that they have changed. Server Core, self-healing NTFS, Virtualisation and Powershell to name a few things that really should get businesses as well as techs frothing at the mouth over.
What do we get instead: ‘EU fines Microsoft record $1.4bn’
Why oh why?
James Senior Said,
February 28, 2008 @ 3:30 pm
Dave, check out http://www.heroeshappenhere.com and check out the virtual launch events happening all over the world.
Also, browse the web at any technology focussed website that shows advertising and count the Server 2008 adverts.
James
dwhyte Said,
February 28, 2008 @ 3:57 pm
Thanks James.
I take back one bit of my comments.
‘the techie explanation’
The websites you mention are full of techie stuff as is Technet etc so yes that has been covered.
But I still think that the business side has been let down.
After all, it is the business owners/board etc the ones who pay the checks who decide if the company IT infrastructure will update.
Fair enough, Microsoft sells to business through techies but in most large organisations it is not the techies who decide it is the people with the purse strings.
Thanks again James
and keep reading
James Senior Said,
February 28, 2008 @ 6:03 pm
Hi Dave
On the other hand if you influence the techies - who tend to influence the board/biz owner - you can also get buy in there too.
James