World’s Trees Rejoice as Circuit City Liquidates January 16, 2009
Posted by AlisterComputeron in Business, News.Tags: Bankruptcy, Business, Circuit City
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Fair well, Circuit City. I did what I could to help you stay afloat. I feel bad for the front line employees losing their jobs. Can’t say I feel the same about the stiffs at corporate, though. Remember a couple of years ago when Circuit City management thought a good way to save money was to fire the all the higher paid store workers, and replace them with lower paid newbies? “Thanks for your loyal service over the years, but you’ve become too expensive.” It seems the Universe is back in balance as karma has caught up to CC. Perhaps the geniuses at corporate should have thought of some other strategies to keep the business afloat, like getting rid of those big-ass receipts.
Shallow, Fairly Obvious Observations September 6, 2008
Posted by AlisterComputeron in Business, Technology, Windows.Tags: Advertising, Bill Gates, Jerry Seinfeld, Microsoft, Technology, Windows
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No doubt you’ve seen, or at least heard about, the kickoff to Microsoft’s new $300 million ad campaign, starring Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates. The first ad featured Jerry and Bill discussing shoe-buying. The word “Microsoft” was mentioned only once during the dialog. At the end of the commercial, only the Windows logo was displayed – no name – on the screen.
My reaction was: Cute, but how is this going to win over the Mac crowd?
The choice of OS is becoming less of an issue, at least for the consumer crowd. With much of people’s computer activity moving to the web, it doesn’t matter as much any more which OS is behind the browser. Microsoft knows this, but they are a Spanish Armada-sized company, with a Spanish Armada-sized OS, while the British Fleet-like Mac OS X and Linux are much nimbler (that’s right, I used a history reference to describe OSes).
Microsoft management on Friday said that the ad campaign is supposed to spark discussion. It certainly is doing that, as there was no shortage of commentary in the blogosphere following the ad’s debut.
One comment I read (sorry I don’t have the name of the commentor or the source where I read the comment) nicely sums up Microsoft’s current predicament with its Windows franchise: Instead of improving Windows, Microsoft is, with this ad campaign and its Mojave Experiment, trying to change people’s perception of Windows. Perceptions, however, are so much more difficult to change than the product itself.
IBM Aims to Win Back the Desktop August 6, 2008
Posted by AlisterComputeron in Business, News, Technology, Windows.Tags: IBM, Linux, Microsoft, Windows
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IBM announced at LinuxWorld that it wants to offer a complete package of Linux for corporate desktops integrated with Lotus Notes and Lotus Symphony software that would compete with Microsoft’s Windows and Office suite. According to an article at Ars Technica:
IBM hopes that disillusionment with Vista and uncertainty about Microsoft’s long-term roadmap will create an opening for Linux to emerge as a stronger contender in the desktop market. The Linux and Lotus bundle will give consumers a low-cost desktop productivity option that is built around open standards from the ground up.
I would love to see a viable alternative to Windows. For one, the Windows platform is old and stodgy. A Linux desktop would be refreshing, and I’ve heard great things about Lotus Notes. And of course Windows clients have those notorious security and infection problems. Our company, with 200ish users, spends about $15K per year for various layers of virus protection and maintenance contracts for our AV software.
If any company has the resources to chip away at Microsoft’s hold over the corporate desktop, it’s IBM. But at least two major hurdles stand in IBM’s way.
Compatibility and User Resistance
Platforms are much more open today than they have been. The same PDF file can be read on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux machines. Macs and Linux machines can be joined to Windows Active Directory domains and can access Windows files as seamlessly as a Windows client. But there will always be that one application or that one file that a user can’t work without that will keep IT departments challenged. And you know those sales guys are gonna get pissy when the “cool” animation in their slide presentation doesn’t play in PowerPoint.
IT departments will also need to review how to get users trained and up to speed with Lotus Notes and Lotus Symphony. Many users are resistant to change; it’s probably one of the reasons Microsoft is dominant in the enterprise environment. Who’s going to tell the sweet old receptionist that she’s going to have to start using Word Perfect instead of Word. And oh my gosh! You’re going to get pelted with that bowl of hard candy when she finds her desktop icons out of place.
Experienced Linux Support
And speaking of IT departments: The IT world is filled with a lot of Windows administrators, but not as many Linux admins. Organizations can’t simply decide to roll out Linux desktops without first looking at their IT staff’s expertise with Linux. In mixed environments, companies will need personnel experienced with both platforms. To make the transition easier, and as a show that IBM is really serious about being a genuine threat to Microsoft, IBM should offer free Linux training to support personnel and administrators.
CTOs and CIOs are going to have to weigh the pain and cost of migrating platforms to the continued cost of support a Windows environment. Sure, the Windows environments may have security issues, virus issues, stability issues, and so on. But these issues are known, and IT departments are comfortable combating these issues daily. Migrating to Linux may solve some of these, but what are the unknown issues that are sure to arise?
I’m sure the brain trust at IBM has thought about these issues and has a strategy to overcome them and a host of other obstacles. This isn’t something that’s going to happen quickly, of course, so IBM needs to be prepared for a long war with Microsoft. Microsoft, for it’s part, is deeply dug in, with enormous resources of its own. IBM gave away desktop computing to Microsoft a long time ago. Now may be the best and last chance IBM has to win some of that market back.
The OS War is about to Heat Up July 22, 2008
Posted by AlisterComputeron in Business, Mac, News, Technology, Windows.Tags: Apple, Mac, Marketing, Microsoft, OS, Windows
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I love a good marketing battle. I was a marketing major in college (don’t ask, it’s a long story how I went from marketing to IT). For those of you old enough, you might remember the cola wars and the burger wars in the 1980s. The cola war was, of course, fought between Coke and Pepsi. Pepsi claimed victory in 1985, when Coke changed the 100-year-old formula for Coca-Cola and introduce New Coke. The burger wars were simply brutal. Remember “where’s the beef?” in which Wendy’s slyly attacked the small portion size of a regular McDonald’s hamburger. Wendy’s claimed its burgers were “hot and fresh,” and implied that Micky D’s burgers were made ahead of time and sat around for hours. Burger King got in the scuffle. If I’m not mistaken, Wendy’s and Burger King even fought each other.
Well, fast forward to the mid 2000’s. In 2006, Apple began its “Get a Mac” campaign, with clever ads implying that Macs were cooler and more hip than Windows-based PCs. Apple was able to get in some easy 
shots at Windows when Microsoft introduced Windows Vista to a less-than-enthusiastic reception. Apple has picked up market share over last few years, even edging outAcer to become the third largest computer seller in the US. In its most recent quarter, Apple sold more Macs than it ever had.
But market leaders don’t let a challenger continue landing punches forever. By way of AppleInsider.com:
Microsoft this week offered a window into the first phase of a mega million dollar advertising campaign designed to clear up ‘misconceptions’ about the quality of its Windows Vista Operating system exacerbated by in-your-face marketing efforts on the part of longtime rival Apple.
Like other great market leaders, Microsoft isn’t responding directly to the challenger’s attacks. Instead, Microsoft’s campaign is going to be on the order of “clear[ing] up some confusion and lingering misunderstandings about the XP successor while simultaneously admitting to some early missteps.”
So Apple has awakened the sleeping; now what? Despite Pepsi’s attacks on Coke, Coke is the worldwide softdrink leader. The burger wars had the unintended result of making McDonalds a better restaurant, and they’re still the worldwide fast food leader. The OS war will be no different. Regardless of the arguments about which OS is better, it comes down to a matter of taste and personal preference. Unseating the market leader is a nearly-impossible task.
But sometimes a challenger’s goal is to simply steal some market share from the leader and from the weaker players. Apple has done that. Now its task will be to fight to hold on to those gains.
GM Shares Sink to Lowest Level Since 1955 June 26, 2008
Posted by AlisterComputeron in Business, News.Tags: GM, Goldman Sachs, Stock Market, Stocks
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I know this is a tech blog, but one of my other interests is the stock market. So the “geniuses” at Goldman Sachs downgraded shares of GM to Sell. The stock hit a 53 year low today: GM was the same price today that it was in 1955. According to Reuters, GM has dropped 38% just in the last month “as more evidence has piled up that U.S. auto sales weakened further in June, raising doubts about the prospect for the second-half recovery that GM and other major automakers had anticipated.”
Now if I’m a client of Goldman Sachs, which I’m not, and an owner of GM shares – again, I’m not – I’d have to be wondering why I’m paying Goldman for their research. They couldn’t figure out last fall that the weakening economy, the increasingly tightening credit situation, an uncertain job market, to name a few, just might not be a good thing for GM and the auto makers? Why not issue the sell rating then? Perhaps Goldman Sachs just wanted to be sure that GM shares would tank before scaring their clients. Or perhaps they just didn’t have the stones to make such a bold rating. After all, Wall Street firms rarely issue sell ratings on companies they follow.
I’m no stock analyst, and I do better in the market by investing in mutual funds and adding to them each month, but if shares of the company are already way, way down, why issue a sell rating? I mean, it’s like waiting for your plane to crash, and then ejecting.
