Vista seems to have left a very bad taste in many people’s mouths… or at least this is what the media would have you believe. Sure, Microsoft’s licensing model is confusing, and since when did Microsoft’s licensing model every really make sense?

Let me start by saying that I swore I would never, ever, ever post something on Vista.

Why? Well, let me tell you I get so sick of hearing the back and forth on Microsoft and how bad Vista is… I swear it’s like watching the 6 o’clock news, and looking forward to who’s been shot, stabbed, or otherwise abused in life… Not that fun!

That being said, I am responsible for setting tactical and strategic technology policy within my company. We evaluated Vista when it was first released, and there was no compelling reason to upgrade; we would have incurred more cost, both in labor and upgrade costs, as well as not seen any significant impact to business.

As always, times change, and I am a firm believer in watching the bleeding edge very closely. My theory is that once the early adopters have lost a few fingers, it should be safe for me to move in.

So I watched, and I waited, and kept watching… and there was a lot of bad press on Vista, some genius negative TV ad campaign (which were really quite funny), and hte entire debacle over whether Microsoft 2.0 would be able to survive post-Billy and without Yahoo!’s advertising business unit…

Well, Microsoft isn’t the dominant enterprise operating system for a reason. I’m not saying 10 years from now Microsoft won’t go the way of Novell, but folks why is Vista receiving such bad press?

Maybe it’s just me (post service pack 1) along with my dual core processor and 4 GB of RAM, but come on…

I wouldn’t advocate just rushing out and purchasing Vista like you would a new iPhone, but if you are upgrading your hardware, don’t be bashful about the new stuff. Embrace the fact that XP is in its silver years and its days will pass into the west. Don’t resist change… Vista really doesn’t deserve all this bad press.

So there, I put my stake in the ground, and that’s all I have to say about that.

Image courtesy of MouseRunner.com

Ken Stewart’s blog, ChangeForge.com, focuses on the collision between the constantly changing worlds of business and technology. Ken is also the Director of Technology at Kearns Business Solutions.

In Mark Evan’s post, Did We Get Suckered by Firefox 3?, he asks a very pointed question. Firefox topped 8 million downloads in a 24 hour period, which reports are stating could be a new world record (Chattahbox).

Mark wasn’t too pleased with Mozilla, and immediately points both barrels and fires:

Everyone likes something shiny and new so it didn’t come as much surprise to see eight million people download Firefox 3… While Firefox is becoming more popular, the reality is people who enthusiastically downloaded as soon as it was released into the wild may have been suckered.

Why is it that Mozilla has this mystique of greatness, anyway?

I’m not so sure anyone got “suckered”, and I’m not of the opinion Firefox is some messiah of browsers. For that matter, I’m certainly no fanboy of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer.

I get the impression that many almost feel as though Mozilla has some underlying obligation to fix world hunger or bring peace to the Middle East. I mean, come on! The fanatics that follow Apple or tout Google act as if they are some ’dynamic duo‘ out to stop the evils of Corporate America too.

It’s easy to get caught up in the positive spin of a company, but let’s cut the hype… Firefox is a browser just like IE, and just like Safari. I am a user who wants to surf the web, read e-mail, and conduct my business and personal affairs in a connected world. 

I will tell you that I have worked with FF 1 and 2 with no great applause. They’re OK, but interoperability with other suites in my line of business applications have been spotty. I was truly hoping FF3 would fix some of that, but it appears that in fixing some issues others have arisen.

Now that’s a shocker: a software company that has bugs in their code? No, not Mozilla. They’re curing AIDS in Africa with each download - aren’t they?

The black and white of browsers:

Listen folks, I don’t mean to downplay world events - or more importantly anyone’s role in helping others. I’m all for that. However, let’s look at this just like a business. These companies are in business. I love the competition that both Firefox and Safari bring to the table because it helped Microsoft get a clue and clean up some (I said some) of their crap code in IE.

Now speaking of code, FF3 has been all but working smoothly since I downloaded all but less than a week ago. My trusty RoboFormssoftware isn’t working properly and completely disappears at times - and let me tell you keeping track of all the passwords I have is a hassle without it. AJAXey sites don’t function very well that I can tell, like Plurk. Now who knows if that is truly Firefox or the A-Team just goofing with their code base again, but IE7 doesn’t seem to hiccup very much.

Well, maybe these are all tweaks, and maybe not. However, if I put on my, “I’m just a normal user” cap, I don’t care. I want my software to work, out of the box, with no customization. I know, call me lazy - call me idealistic, but don’t call me unrealistic!

The bottom line:

Mozilla isn’t on some grand crusade to make the world a better place by downloading their code. They are a business looking for market share. I’m sure they would be the first to tell you that if you generally want to make a difference in the world, sitting in front of their browser is not the place to be.

Oh well, I’ll wait for a .1 release to fix some of the hiccups along with my software vendors releasing some updated code as well. Until then, I’ll probably kick back to my trusty IE - sorry boys and girls.

Oh well, this is my rant on Firefox 3 for now, do you have a beef with it, or just with what I’m saying? Speak up - because I can’t hear you!

Do you ever just call up a customer and ask them questions about what would make them happy? Well, I did. I had been toying with the idea of beta testing a [tag]Mac[/tag] in our business to see where it would fit, but I couldn’t really decide where to put it.

I called one of our account managers about some problems with his [tag]mobile device[/tag] and the fact that he hated the [tag]BlackBerry[/tag]. One thing led to another, and he asked if we might ever consider putting a Mac in our environment. The light bulb went off.

I am a little on the tortured side, I admit. For those of you who don’t know me, I’m the kind of guy who is never satisfied with status quo. Don’t get me wrong, I like stability (because the keeps me in a job), but I really like looking towards the horizon and bringing innovations to the business to make my customers happy.

I wouldn’t classify my style of innovation ‘bleeding edge’, but it might be characterized as ‘the bludgeoned edge’. I have had my fair share of beatings on selecting a products that were in the growth phase, but I have also found that it is often the best way to be influential over the development of a product as well.

A whole slew of questions sprinted through my head, but a technically savvy sales rep might be just the personality disposition I actually need to give honest feedback and a real-world test - not some IT lab.

So, am I insane? Apple isn’t fully ready yet for the [tag]enterprise[/tag], and third party line of business applications are quite sparse… So BootCamp with Vista becomes a fall back, but is that really an Apple solution? Now I’m just hosting different types of hardware that might not fall under my standard maintenance plan creating exceptions that could cause additional helpdesk calls.

On the other hand, is there any validity to the fact that Macs need less support? I still find that hard to believe, but that’s what I hear at least.

I’m still struggling on the answer to this question, and I would really love some help from [tag]Apple[/tag] on enterprise standardization tools. In this case, my choice seems to be between innovation or stability…

That’s a tough choice for me, and one that might likely drive me insane…

I got some interesting feedback from my recent post, Can Apple Take Over the Enterprise? Kontra, over at CounterNotions, seems to think there are no significant challengers to Apples huge marketshare gains in the recent months:

Who then can challenge Apple?Not Palm or Motorola (extremely weak and rudderless leadership); not RIM (no OS level hw/sw integration, little UI and very limited consumer market expertise)…

Our company has used Windows Mobile devices for several years, and has recently launched a BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) offering geared towards our Sales personnel. I have found the UI for the BlackBerry to be better as a phone, but less rich as a PDA. We now run a blended strategy of both BES and ActiveSync solutions. It has been our observation that less technically-inclined individuals prefer the BlackBerry solution, whereas technically-inclined people tend to prefer the gadgets offered by a Windows Mobile device.

The BES solution offers stability, granular security control, and a superior phone experience to that of Windows Mobile devices. However, The Windows Mobile ActiveSync (same platform Apple is basing their Enterprise Roadmap upon) option is less costly and natively supports Outlook/PDA integration on the fly (without use of 3rd party solutions).

While I have not personally used the iPhone, if the Touch is any indication of how well a UI can perform, the phone must be a wonderful marriage of form and function. BlackBerry and Windows Mobile alike have met the needs of their customers, but have not followed a basic tenant, “technology should improve the lives of those it touches.”

The iPhone is realistically the device to match this tenant, but Apple has hooked their wagon to that of Microsoft, an arch-rival in the desktop arena. Add to this, ActiveSync is not perceived as being an enterprise-class solution by many in the circles I travel, but it has its place in the SMB. This will help Apple continue to gain marketshare, but not enough to oust RIM in OS version 2.0.

RIM hasn’t done itself any favors with its recent patent infringement suits and NOC outages. Microsoft and Apple were both quick to point out their solution did not have such weaknesses. Needless to say, RIM enjoys a dominant spot in the enterprise for a reason, it is a solid performer and is perceived to be much more secure (from this writers perspective this has been mostly true).

It was a bold move for Apple to forge into an extremely competitive space, and they will need to strategically innovate to continue their growth. For now, Apple is beholden to Microsoft and AT&T, but is seemingly biding its time, waiting for a choice opportunity to strike.

I predict Apple will continue to gain marketshare and will be able to better negotiate deals with vendor/partners once they have established themselves as a dominant player. The next strategic step for Apple and RIM might be to port the Blackberry agent across to the iPhone, just like RIM did with Windows Mobile; that might serve Apple’s need to push a superior hardware model while protecting RIM’s base of licensees. Could that pave the way for a merger or acquisition? Hmm… that’s definitely worth chewing on!

At a recent Apple March 6 Event, Steve Jobs and some of his team outlined both the iPhone Enterprise Beta Program and iPhone Software Development Kit (SDK). While the long awaited SDK has been eagerly devoured by developers across the industry, I was keenly watching the Enterprise Roadmap.

In a nutshell, this allows the iPhone to connect to a Microsoft Exchange Server using ActiveSync. Thus, the end-user can receive “pushed” e-mail, calendar events, and contacts. This one area signals a storm that is long overdue in the world of technology, the introduction of a truly disruptive technology such as the iPhone & iPod Touch.

For a long time, Microsoft has catered to the goliath of enterprise business, giving this audience just enough of what they needed to hook them into an ever growing web of Microsoft products. They quickly understood that businesses wanted integration across their networks, to bring a common user interface (UI) to everyone. Why spend a lot of time and money on integrating software platforms when you have at least a promise of integration with a suite of solutions by one provider.

Microsoft leveraged their dominance in the desktop market to grow into the office suite, back office products, and even the mobile market.

Apple on the other hand had floundered without Steve Jobs at the helm, and has been playing catch-up for quite some time upon his return. However, by “the 4th quarter of 2007, the iPhone surged to a 28% share of the US converged device market…” (TechCrunch). With the veritable flop of Vista (to date), the surge of adoption of the iPhone and iPod products, and the launch of the iPhone Roadmap Apple stands poised to ride a cresting wave of unfounded end-user adoption…

Even though many people are making a big deal out of the iPhone, there are some other key things that hold true adoption of the Apple offerings back, and those are 3rd party application integration. Sure you can run Office 2008 on a Mac, but does it really work? Does it really play as well with the OS as it might on Vista?

Enter virtualization technologies… and I’m not just talking about Bootcamp or parallel here people; there are revolutionary new offerings whereby applications themselves can be pushed to the desktop for an extremely rich user experience while allowing IT an easier path to management.

And let’s not forget SaaS (Software as a Service). The ability to have an almost desktop-like experience is quickly replacing the “old” model of licensing and extending the enterprise across work and home computers securely. IT staffs are scrambling to handle more diverse fleets of hardware and software every day, and the resurgence of centralization (e.g. virtualization and thin/web clients) is gaining some tremendous ground and attention.

All these things play to Apple’s advantage, as the underdog. However, these are just as easily capitalized on by others as well. So what is the catalyst that will tip Apple over the edge to gain true marketshare? Giving customers what they want how they want it… see Starbucks!

I’m going on record! I predict that IF apple continues on its iPhone Roadmap, continues to develop disruptive technologies (as they have proven they can do), and can keep giving customers what they need and want, in 5 years Apple will have between 25% - 45% marketshare in the business desktop/notebook space.

 Yes, Apple can take over the enterprise! Next, can Apple unseat RIM BlackBerry?

My birthday is coming up this week, and my loving and caring wife actually decided to purchase me a real want, an Apple Touch! This little device wasn’t cheap in my opinion, and was definitely classified as a want - NOT a need… Now, many of you have been exposed to either the iPhone or Touch (and certainly have your opinions), but it really got me thinking about gauging success in terms of whether you meet the needs requirement document - or whether you step past that and also meet the wants that often get dropped off the list.

 I have loved my various iPods over the years, and credit Apple (much like all pundits) with a truly creative and unique offering to the market - a game changing, paradigm shift in the market. When they released the iPhone, not only did they do a superior marketing job (as Apple almost always does), but launched a truly revolutionary OS platform that finally does bring an intuitive interface with most of the things I want and need in an electronic device.

Many of you probably suffer from the same blurring of home and work life that I do (according to many surveys), and a device that allows me to keep “my life” together (both personal and professional) is truly wonderful. I mean I’ve been using smart devices for years, both Palm and Windows Mobile - and recently RIM BlackBerry. All seem to lack something, but I can now see that the only thing Apple is really lacking for a blockbuster smartdevice is simply more integrations - a trend that has been ramping up for some time with EDI, etc. - but it has really taken off with the advent of what most people commonly refer to as Web 2.0…

 According to a February 2008 article on TechCrunch, the iPhone is second only to RIM in the US smartphone market.

Figures released from research firm Canalys show that Apple’s iPhone in now second only to RIM (Blackberry) in the US smartphone market.

In the 4th quarter of 2007, the iPhone surged to a 28% share of the US converged device market behind RIM’s 41%, but ahead of 3rd third placed Palm on 9%. The iPhone was ahead of all Windows Mobile device vendors combined with a market share of 21%.

Despite its still limited official availability, Apple moved into 3rd place globally, behind Nokia (52.9%) and RIM (11.4%). Apple’s 6.5% global smart phone market share put it 19,000 units ahead of the struggling Motorola.

So, it’s an interesting case study in  the simple fact that when you really meet the needs AND wants of your customers (end-users for all you IT pogues out there), it becomes a game changer… it’s ultimately the greatest metric for true success, as indicated by these staggering numbers. Now, all Apple has to do is stave off the on-slaught of me-to companies that is bound to come (according to their Q1-08 10T). That just goes to show you success won’t allow you to stand still, you always have to adapt to the ever-changing marketplace.

 Well, I’m off to enjoy my new Touch… It really was the one of the best gifts I have received in a long time…