Rick Savoia

Study says adoption of Windows 7 will be slow

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If you think Windows 7 will finally lure users away from XP and redeem Microsoft for Windows Vista, think again, says a new study.

The study, released this week by Kase Networks, reports that 84% of respondents have no plans to upgrade to Windows 7 in the next year. The new operating system is due out by the end of 2009, however the study says a majority of companies will be slow to adopt or migrate to it, choosing to either move to Macs or Linux or stick with Windows XP. Of those who do plan to move to Windows 7, more than half said they were going to do so “specifically to avoid Window Vista”.

The study polled 1,142 IT professionals and found that while some respondents were receptive to the new operating system, many were reluctant migrate over to it immediately for several reasons. 88% of those who were reluctant listed software compatibility as their primary concern. 42% said economic conditions were also a factor.

The study also indicated that while many still plan to stick with XP for awhile, users were aware that there were other options available and many were considering a move to non-Mircosoft operating systems. Although 99% of respondents were using Microsoft operating systems, 50% considered adopting Apple or Linux based operating systems instead, a 7 percent jump from another study conducted in 2008.

What does this mean for Microsoft? Windows is its mainstay. About 40% of its revenue comes from Windows licensing. After losing a three year battle to sell the masses and the enterprise on Vista, Window 7 could make or break their business in the OS marketplace.

As limited in scope as this study may be, it is indicative of a mindset and a stigma among users about a post-XP Windows world. Windows XP is still popular, but it is nearing its end-of-life and, while still spry, it is showing its age. Eventually it will be time to upgrade to something.  Windows 7 needs to be a hit or Microsoft will have nothing for XP users to upgrade to and they  will inevitably migrate to something else.

The study is available at http://www.kace.com/pdf/analyst-report/Windows-7-Adoption-Survey.pdf

Barrister to bill service providers $100 for tardiness – techs are ticked

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Barrister is frustrating service providers again and this time they are really ticked.

Barrister Global Service Network, which claims to be “the oldest and largest woman-owned computer service company in the United States”, is a national contractor based in Louisiana. The company was founded 1972 and advertises a network of 15,000 techs on the roster who are independent contractors. The company is well established and is well known among field service technicians and IT consultants as a source of contract work.

Barrister had a good reputation with field service technicians at one time, however within the last few years many service providers have complained about poor communication and slow or non-payment for services rendered.

The payment issues were initially blamed on Hurricane Katrina, which wreaked havoc on the entire state in which Barrister is based and all but put the company out of business. However, three years later the company is back in business and seems to be a different company with a different attitude, according to some service providers.

A few weeks ago Barrister surprised 15,000 techs on their network when they sent an e-mail outlining an new Quality Initiative Program.

The following is the content of the e-mail:

“Dear Technician,

Effective Monday, February 16, 2009, we are going to be launching our Quality Initiative Program.  This initiative will reward those technicians that show up on time for their ETA, perform quality work, provide updates and closing information from onsite, etc by sending them more work. 

With the Quality Initiative program we will begin to penalize those technicians that do not show up on time for their ETA, do not perform quality work, do not provide updates and closing information from onsite, or who turn back calls after accepting them.

Effective Monday, February 16, 2009 any technician who is late for an ETA without notifying Barrister, or who doesn’t show up for an ETA will be charged a $100.00 penalty.

As you may know, our competitors offer 100% money back guarantee to their customers in regard to the quality of the technician and the work performed. With today’s economy, we have to be more customer focused and more quality driven then ever before.  

This initiative will ensure our field technician’s representing us are focused on quality as well, and the technician’s that have poor performance will have financial ramifications. “

Some techs are fed up. Many have stopped accepting calls from the company altogether.

The response to the e-mail in tech forums was overwhelmingly negative. Although a few posted positive or neutral comments about their relationship with Barrister, most of them considered the new initiative an attempt by Barrister to circumvent or avoid payment for contract work altogether. This was understandable, since some of them were still waiting for payment for jobs performed months earlier and at least one had been stiffed completely.

I received an e-mail from tbird635 that summed it all up. 

He said: “I got that email too. What really stuck out in my mind were the words ‘This initiative will reward those technicians that show up on time for their ETA, perform quality work, provide updates and closing information from onsite, etc by sending them more work.’ And just where will this additional work come from? I see maybe one a week now.”

He then pointed out another line in the Barrister e-mail that he found ironic.

“And this gem….
‘This initiative will ensure our field technician’s representing us are focused on quality as well, and the technician’s that have poor performance will have financial ramifications.’  Focused on quality??? More like focused on their watches.”

“If I were running late, and knew I was going to get nailed for that $100, I’d turn around and go home and return the favor by giving them an unfinished (and unbillable) job. as well as a P-o’ed customer (who may then seek an alternative to them). 
I think I’ve done my last Barrister job.”

Barrister is listed in The Force Field National Contractor directory under Barrister Global Services Network, Inc..  Members of The Force Field who have performed work for Barrister can rate the company and leave comments in the listing.

I called Barrister today to get their side of the story. After explaining to the operator who I was and what I was calling about, I was placed on hold for 10 minutes until someone audibly hung up the phone.

Vista downgrade to XP lawsuit draws ire – from both sides

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Today I read an article on Computerworld about a woman  who filed a lawsuit against Microsoft after she was charged $59.95 to downgrade her brand new laptop from Windows Vista to Windows XP. She alleges that by billing her for exercising her downgrade rights, Microsoft is engaging in monopolistic and anti-competitive practices.

Many readers sided with the user. A few sided with Microsoft. Both sides had interesting arguments but there was one response that got my dander up. One anonymous user said this:

“Microsoft charging to downgrade? A sensible solution considering Microsoft probably should have stopped selling XP entirely a year or two ago. They’re giving people the option to downgrade.”

“Giving” them an option to upgrade? They were at one time. Microsoft isn’t “giving” an option now. They are selling it to them.

The anonymous user continued. “What if this same lady went to ‘downgrade’ and instead of being told ‘Give me 60 bucks’ she was told ‘No.’ ? What then?”

What then? Good question. The answer – then she is stuck. She would either be forced to use Vista – or nothing – if she wanted to use Windows. That’s how you treat a customer? Force them into an upgrade they don’t want or go elsewhere? If so, that’s a company that would never keep my business.

Forced upgrades from a vendor is an unfair and potentially monopolistic practice. How would you take it if the only telephone company was Bell and every time they upgraded their service you had to purchase a new $200 phone from Bell Telephone or you couldn’t use the service? You have a phone that you are perfectly happy with but you can no longer use it. You couldn’t use any other phone service. It was Bell Telephone or nothing.

What, you say? who is Bell Telephone? Why, that was the monopoly that was broken up a few decades ago for just that sort of thing.

Windows may belong to Microsoft, but your computer belongs to you. So does your data. If you must use Microsoft products to access your data, then you should have unfettered access to it. To force a user to upgrade in order to access what is rightfully theirs or they are locked out of it is nothing short of ransomware.
Windows and Office may not be ransomware per se, but what Microsoft is doing is questionable. Forced upgrades may or may not be unethical, but charging users for downgrades is sleazy.

Gates releases the bugs for real – philanthropy or crime?

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Bill Gates released a bunch of bugs to the public yesterday, literally. During a presentation at the TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design) Conference  in Long Beach, California February 5, Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates opened a jar of mosquitos and let them loose on an unsuspecting audience of elitist rich and famous Hollywood types to demonstrate the need for a cure for malaria.

Apparently Bill and wife Melinda Gates pledged $168 million to the research and eradication of the illness, which is primarily spread through contact with mosquitoes in third world countries. He was giving a presentation at TED to raise awareness of the disease.  “not only poor people should experience this”, Gates said, just before opening the jar.

After sufficient reaction to the stunt Gates assured the audience that the mosquitos were not actually infected with malaria. However, while the audience understood the symbolism of the exercise, it wasn’t necessarily well received. eBay founder Pierre Olmydar tweeted out “That’s it, I’m not sitting up front anymore.”

Now, I’ll admit that the idea of gathering a bunch of rich elites in a room and making them sweat a little is probably on the minds of a lot of the rest of the country, but this just isn’t right. It’s a little weird, even for Gates. However, that isn’t what bothers me.

What bother me is that he could get away with such a stupid stunt, and it is stupid. Aside from the sensationalism it draws from the media and obvious jokes about Bill Gates and buggy products, there’s a real issue about a lack of accountability for the actions of someone who happens to be one of the most well-known and wealthiest individuals in the world.

Forget the claim for a moment that these mosquitos are malaria-free. Are they free of other communicable diseases as well? That little fact is yet to be corroborated. Even if they are, who wants to be bitten by a mosquito anyway?

The mere possibility of such an assault by blood-sucking flying insects in an enclosed room full of human beings initiated by a deliberate action on the part of another is, in my book, nothing short of a crime. Sure, the insects may not be infected and they may not even bite anyone, but there is always a risk someone will be bitten. They were deliberately released into a captive crowd with little or no notice. I consider that assault with a potentially deadly weapon, even if that weapon wasn’t loaded.

This is the equivalent of someone holding up a convenience store with a toy gun. It may not be a real weapon, but it doesn’t matter. It’s still robbery and it is still a crime. If a lunatic attacked someone with a needle and said they had AIDS, they’d be charged with attempted murder, even if they were bluffing. It’s not the act that is the crime in these cases, it’s the intent.

If someone off the street pulled the stunt Gates apparently got away with, they would surely be arrested and charged with such a crime. Why not Gates? Is it because he gives away money and is called a philanthropist? Hey, I used to give to the United Way. Why should I get a parking ticket?

There is a lot of talk about this mosquito stunt on the net. There are jokes and snide remarks and even a few who are “enlightened” by the symbolism of the act. Not from me. I am angry because someone did something that was clearly  out of line and he got away with it when others would be punished. Why? Because he is Bill Gates.

Standards only apply to those who follow them. – Rick

Netbooks are destroying Microsoft? I don’t think so

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Last week I read a post by Computerworld blogger Preston Gralla that made me stop and go “huh”?  Gralla says Linux on Netbooks are killing Microsoft. According to Preston, Netbook sales are driving Microsoft to layoff employees because Microsoft is losing margin.

While there may be some truth to the fact that Linux is gaining an edge in the Netbook market, it is hardly killing Microsoft, whose revenue is not driven by the operating system alone. In additon, while Microsoft is losing margin, it can hardly claim that the company is tanking because of the netbook market alone.

Where did Gralla get the data to base these assumptions on? From hard numbers? from industry analysts? No. He based a lot of it on conjecture, mostly from those who commented on a previous blog post on a related topic and he admitted as much in his post. He reasoned it out himself, saying such things as  “Microsoft most likely gets less for each copy of Windows sold on a netbook than it does on a desktop machine”, “Microsoft probably gets less for XP than it does for Vista” and “Microsoft will likely continue to be paid less for Windows 7 on a netbook than on a more powerful PC”.

Most likely? Probably? Will Likely? Seriously, Preston, did you research any of this before you posted?

First, let’s look at the facts.

“Microsoft most likely gets less for each copy of Windows sold on a netbook than it does on a desktop machine.”

That is purely a guess on your part, and while there is some truth to the conjecture, it doesn’t mean Microsoft is losing money. Here’s why:

1. Fact – Although Microsoft lists pricing of OEM licenses for system builders, Redmond does not advertise or discuss pricing for Tier 1 royalty OEMs. It is generally private between Microsoft and that royalty OEM account. Netbook manufacturers are royalty OEMs, not lower tier system builders, so they do get a big break on the price while the system builder pays whatever price is set for those licenses through the channel.

However, although the royalty licensing is considerably less, its still not free, so those OEMs do indeed pay for those licenses and Microsoft does indeed make their money.

2. Fact – Microsoft is a business, not a charity. They give breaks to their Tier 1 OEMs, but they do not operate at a loss. They still build their margin into it. They are still making money.

Bottom line: Yes, this is a true statement. However it insinuates that Microsoft is LOSING money selling Windows on netbooks and making it on desktops, which is totally untrue. The Netbooks licenses still sold at nice markup and a fair profit. They just make a much larger markup on the desktops and, as some system builders may confide, more than fair.

“Microsoft probably gets less for XP than it does for Vista”?

This one made me laugh.

3. Fact – Windows XP is currently being installed or rolled back onto PCs at an estimated rate of 3 to 1. Bad for Vista? Yes, it is. Bad for Microsoft? Yes and No. Yes in terms of Microsoft’s ROI in Vista, no in terms of Microsoft’s ROI in XP.

4. Fact – Windows Vista cost a lot more to develop than XP. Redmond spent over $1B developing and marketing Vista. It spent a lot less than that developing XP. Vista has been available for two years. XP has been around for about nine. In fact, it is still selling strong, in spite of the company’s attempts to take it off the market.

5. Fact – As mentioned earlier, an estimated two thirds of Vista users use their downgrade rights to migrate to XP. They are no longer running Vista, yet Microsoft still counts it as a Vista sale and not XP, since the Vista license was initially purchased.

6. Fact – Vista is priced higher than XP, which means that when a user downgrades from Vista to XP, they are actually paying MORE for XP than they would had they purchased a PC with XP instead of Vista.

Bottom line: Has Vista returned on its investment? No. Has XP? You bet, and more. Microsoft made that back years ago. given the facts, Microsoft lost money on its investment in Vista, but made its money back on XP years ago. This means that the actual cost of producing XP and bringing it to market is so minimal the margin on an XP sale is way beyond reasonable. So, while Vista could be considered a write-off in many respects, XP is like selling bottled tap water and is basically a cash cow for Microsoft.

“Microsoft will likely continue to be paid less for Windows 7 on a netbook than on a more powerful PC”?

7. Fact – A royalty OEM license, or any system builder license for a particular product or version on a netbook is the same license as the one on a laptop. Vista Whatever is Vista Whatever, Office Whatever is Office Whatever. It is the same license and basically costs the OEM the same whether it is attached to a netbook, laptop, desktop or tablet PC. It’s not the device itself that determines the price, but what the software the license is for.

Now, could Microsoft make an exception for a netbook? Of course. But in such a scenario Fact 1 applies.

8. We don’t know the pricing for Windows 7 yet, so we really can’t draw conclusions. However, Microsoft has said that Windows 7 would have at least as many versions as Windows Vista and would have similar price points.

Bottom line: With the facts given above, does it matter?

“There’s very little margin on a machine selling for $200 or $300, and so Microsoft simply can’t charge full freight for Windows on one.

Now, this one just floors me. Preston, the MSRP of a netbook has little to do with what Microsoft decides to charge for its software.

8. Fact – Microsoft doesn’t care what we sell the computer for, they aren’t selling the computer, they are selling the software that is bundled with it.

9. Fact – Microsoft may negotiate with the royalty OEMs, but at the end of the day they charge what they want and the OEM decides how low they can sell the netbook with the license installed and still make a dollar.

10. Fact – System builders generally pay in advance for licenses or blocks of them, whether they use them or not. If I buy 30 copies of Vista put ten licenses on ten PCs and installed Linux on the rest of them, Microsoft got their money. I’m just stuck with 20 licenses in inventory.

Bottom line: whether the manufacturer sells a netbook for $1 or $100, Microsoft still charges the system builder what they charge according to the OEM license agreement. Whether the vendor makes money on the resale is the vendor’s problem, not Microsoft’s.

Winner of Technibble Contest announced

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During the last six weeks had a contest on The Force Field podcast. The prize was a copy of The Computer Business Kit from Technibble , a collection of sample business forms and documents that are needed in the computer business. It contains maintenance contract samples, work order samples, engagement forms and more.

 The rules were simple.  All you had to do was send an e-mail with the number and the name of The Force Field episode which featured Bryce Whitty and Technibble on the show to  comments@theforcefield.net by January 30, 2009. All correct entries were entered in a drawing held today.

The answer was Episode 20 – Technibble .

The winner of the Technibble contest is Michael Murray of Bartow Onsite Computer Solutions . Congratulations, Michael!

For those who didn’t win, don’t despair.  I am planning more contests for the coming year with more chances to win great prizes. Listen to The Force Field podcast for  more information and your chance to win.

If you would like a copy of The Computer Business Kit, it can be purchased directly at www.technibble.com for $49.

Thanks to everyone who participated!

OpenOffice.org releases version 3.0.1

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(TheForceField.net ) January 27, 2009 — The OpenOffice.org Community officially announced the  release of OpenOffice.org 3.1 to the public today. OpenOffice.org 3.1 is the latest release of the open source office suite originally developed by Sun Microsystems and is considered by many to be one of few serious competitors of Microsoft Office.

The latest version of OpenOffice.org addresses several minor issues and bug fixes and includes enhanced support for grammer checkers as well as an increase to the number of words in word lists. OpenOffice.org 3.1 is considered a minor update to 3.0, released on October 13, 2008.

A complete list of issues resolved in the new version is available in the developers' release notes at http://development.openoffice.org/releases/3.0.1.html .
 

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John McCreesh, OpenOffice.org Marketing Lead, announced the release in an e-mail to the OpenOffice.org marketing group this morning and hinted that the next version was two months away. "The next release of OpenOffice.org to contain significant new user features will be OpenOffice.org 3.1, scheduled for general availability at the end of March," McCreesh said. The Office suite is released under the GNU/GPL and is freely available. OpenOffice.org v3.0.1 is currently available for download in over 90 languages  for Windows, Linux, OS X and OpenSolaris at http://download.openoffice.org .

 

 

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Does Obama really have a Blackberry? Does it really matter?

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For months I’ve noticed headlines about President Obama and his use of a mobile phone. At first I sort of just shrugged it off as it was just somewhat of a novelty, at least to some, that a president would carry around and use one. Millions of Americans have and use cell phones every day and it seems only natural that an American leader would do so as well. Even if past presidents never carried or used one, it was only a matter of time before one of them did. So what’s the big deal?

Apparently the media thinks it is one. In fact, they seem to be somewhat fixated on exactly what device Obama uses and worry over whether or not he plans to keep it.  If it was one article for filler or diversion that would be fine, but they’ve been harping on it for months now and it’s getting a little ridiculous.

Computerworld published an article yesterday over an argument as to whether or not Obama’s phone is actually a Blackberry and, if not, what it possibly could be. It’s not the first one they’ve published, either. There seems to be some real concern at Computerworld as to whether or not the President gets to keep his Blackberry, if it is indeed one.

It’s not just Computerworld. CNN, Wired, Gizmodo and other media outlets, both old and new, are hung up over Obama’s phone. They’re not playing around, either. They are making a serious issue out of it, or at least they are trying to.

Seriously, with all the real and important issues to cover, who cares what mobile device he uses? Apart from the obvious promotional aspects of the this trivia for the manufacturer of the device, whatever it really is, why is this worth anyone’s time or effort to worry about or even discuss?

Yes, I know and understand what the real concern is about. It isn’t all about fashion. It’s about security. There is some real concern about just how safe it is for a U.S. President to be using any old mobile phone to discuss things that could affect our national security. It is a real issue and I certainly understand that. But, let’s be real here. 

First, just how secure can you make any mobile device? If they can be secured they can also be hacked. As far as I know there is no wireless device that is completely secure and unhackable. If the communications are that classified and sensitive, the bottom line is that he really shouldn’t be using a commercially available, personal, consumer grade mobile device for those communications at all.

Then again, he is the President. If he wants to use a Blackberry, the NSA should find a way to make it happen so that he can.

Which brings us back to the celebrity aspect of it all.

This isn’t one article on the President and his phone. This speculative drivel has been going on for quite awhile now. It seems every day Computerworld or some other media outlet has published or recycled one more article attempting to spark some sort of debate over the president and his mobile communications device. That’s fine for a little diversion but to make it into some sort of major story or debacle is utterly ridiculous and a waste of web space on an otherwise informative site.

Are we all that shallow and hung up on the details of a popular figure, whether it be a corporate executive, pop star, sports icon, politician or some other celebrity that we expend our time and energy worrying about what mobile device he or she uses instead of what he or she may do with their status or, in the case of the President, what policies he may enact that could affect our world in the years to come?

Let the man carry a Blackberry, iPhone, Google Android phone, Samsung, Motorola or whatever device he wants to use. As long as they can secure it to NSA standards and make it work, frankly, I don’t care what brand it is and his personal preference of a phone is none of my business anyway. What I want to know is what he is doing while he is in office and how it will affect my family, my business and my life in the next four years. Cover those stories instead. That is what is really important. The rest of it is utter nonsense.

Circuit City short circuits: all stores closing

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(TheForceField.net) January 9, 2009 –Circuit City announced yesterday that it will clear out inventory and close its stores beginning today.

In an announcement posted on its web site January 16, the big box retail consumer electronics chain said the company was going out of business and would close all 567 stores across the country. The company said it would begin liquidations sales today and sell off remaining inventory until the end of March. Firedog tech services will complete existing repairs but no further jobs will be performed.

The announcement came as no surprise to the industry as Circuit City has struggled for a number of years against competitors such as Best Buy and Wal-Mart. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in November 2008 and already closed some of its stores. The company was also in talks with at least two potential buyers in an attempt to sell off the chain, however the deals fell through and left the company no other option but to shut down.

"We are extremely disappointed by this outcome", vice chairman and acting CEO James Marcum said in a press release on the company's web site January 16. "The company had been in continuous negotiations regarding a going concern transaction. Regrettably for the more than 30,000 employees of Circuit City and our loyal customers, we were unable to reach an agreement with our creditors and lenders to structure a going-concern transaction in the limited timeframe available, and so this is the only possible path for our company," Marcum said.

The closing comes at a difficult time for the nation's economy. It will add 34,000 employees to the number of jobless. It will also leave the market with fewer competitors in the retail consumer electronics market and will leave consumers with fewer choices.

The official announcement is available at http://www.circuitcity.com/closed.html .

 

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Microsoft releases Windows 7 beta to public

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(TheForceField.Net) January 8, 2009 — Microsoft will release Windows 7 beta got public review and testing January 9. According to Microsoft's Windows 7 web site, the operating system will be available for download beginning Friday afternoon.

Windows 7, the next generation of the Microsoft Windows operating system, is purportedly leaner and faster than its predecessor, Windows Vista while retaining Vista's overall core. Windows Vista has had a slow adoption rate since it's release at the end of 2006.

Consumers have been less than enthusiastic to adopt Vista and many companies skipped an upgrade to Vista, opting instead to wait for the launch of Windows 7. Windows 7 beta can be downloaded at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/beta-download.aspx