All Rats on Deck, Please

Another sign of the looming apocalypse in Redmond...

Microsoft cuts Vista prices to urge upgrades

Fate, it seems, is not without a sense of irony.

Microsoft Reveals the Truth

(h/t The Open Road)

Microsoft's court testimony: people want PCs, not operating systems

Several interesting points in this post, not the least of which are Microsoft executive admissions that they really can't control the adoption rate of their operating system and that it doesn't matter what the OS can do for consumers. I'm interested in this point: most people buy PCs, not OSs, and Microsoft shouldn't spend their resources on "enthusiasts".

Well, some enthusiasts take the OS into account when making purchases. And this enthusiast has pretty well had it waiting 15 years for Windows to basically get its act together. This enthusiast is moving to Mac...

Welcome to the Real World, Young Lady

Australian girl banned from tennis club for grunting

I try to stay away from sports (one of my main passions) on this blog, but I couldn't resist this time. This situation, and the club management response to it, reminds me so much of the legalistic attitude from management all over the world when it comes to controlling others. They tell you that if you don't change your behavior you're out, but when they're called on it, they deny they said anything of the sort. Weasels...

The money quote: "No one is not allowing her to play. Sorry, I can't say anymore than that." Yeah, you're not preventing her from playing, but you ARE telling her how she has to behave to play. Yeah, I know, it's a private business, but...damn...

MDM:It's Not the Product (II)

Another great post by Rick Sherman:

MDM: It’s Not About the Product - Part 2

One thing - he likens the search for an "MDM Product" to the quest for the Holy Grail. For those who know me, you know just where my mind went when I read that...

What to Think...What to Think...

(updated below)

Microsoft's massive openness pledge: APIs, protocols, data portability, community

Is this:

• Microsoft finally acknowledging the reality of the open-source revolution
• The first dying breath of a non-competitive empire
• The wolf lying in bed luring Red Riding Hood closer

Based on everything I've seen of Microsoft's behavior over the last 20 years, I'm betting on this until I actually see otherwise...



(h/t The Open Road)

Update:

The blogging world is so fast - a clarification after an hour of flogging in comments:

The dust settles on the Microsoft openness pledge: What's the reality?

The Mad Dash Accelerates

Microsoft: Vista SP1 will break these programs

Backward-compatibility is always an issue, but it appears to be a huge one with Vista. Tell me again why isn't everyone running headlong to Mac*?

* I've already started my migration...

T-Shirts for VCs

...and no, I don't mean the Viet Cong...

T-Shirts for VCs

I guess it just goes to show that there is a market for everything...

(h/t Techmeme)

Five Users Plus One

This article is a few months old, but I just saw it, so therefore it's new...

The 5 users you meet in hell (and one you'll find in heaven)

Check the comments - I like the sixth user added - "Instant Dude." Perhaps we can come up with a superhero outfit for him...

Awesome

Brain control headset for gamers

I've wanted to see this for a long time. Of course, we have to take care to guard against what would happen in a movie like Brainstorm...



I always wanted to have a MIDI jack implanted in my forehead so I could just write music by thinking about it...maybe I'll live long enough to see that happen.

Information Resource Management

As usual, Larry English is ahead of the curve...

TDWI Keynote: Larry English Takes on the Status Quo

The first person to publicly call Master Data Management technology a "silo"...Brave, but accurate. Hopefully some day I will have enough credibility to get away with a statement like that.

Life Imitates Art

...or, All I Ever Needed to Know I Learned from Dr. Strangelove...



Metadata management is an arcane discipline. Very arcane. It doesn't make for good cocktail party chit-chat, except for those of us who never were really good at that sort of stuff. Therefore, a metadata management initiative needs to have a really good marketing plan for any chance at success in the enterprise.

I just had a meeting that illustrated this point brilliantly. A tech support person understood what we were doing and how it would help, but had no idea we were doing it. Peter Sellers rang in my head...

"Of course, the whole point of (the program) is lost...if you keep it a secret!!! Why didn't you tell the world, eh?!?!?"

If you're implementing metadata management, tell everyone you know, even if you risk boring them to tears. You never know who might be enthusiastic about it...

Here Comes Buffy in a Blue Vest

This happened a lot faster that I thought it would...

Wal-Mart puts stake through HD DVD's heart

Maybe the market at large actually learned something from the chaos that was VHS vs. Beta in the 80s. I have no horse in this race, but now maybe the hi-def DVD market will take off, with people like me making the move instead of sitting on the sidelines while a "winner" was determined.

As Tommy Lee Jones said in Men in Black, "Guess I'll have to buy the White Album again..."

UPDATE: Well, the format is now and truly dead...

Toshiba Announces Discontinuation of HD DVD Businesses

Clemens

Time out for baseball...

These people are such children...

Mr. Clemens, people don't like you now. Contrary to your opinion, it isn't because they're out to get you, or they're jealous. It's because you act like this guy:



"Gee, McFly, if people find out I've taken HGH, it would make me look bad. You wouldn't want that, would you, McFly?"

Grow up, Roger, or you might just end up waxing cars for a living...

Time for a New Model

h/t The Open Road:

That Guy Clicking Your Ad? You Don't Want Him

I enjoy watching paradigm shifts, mainly because I like to challenge the assumptions that people make. This shift reminds me of the shift that is occurring in television advertising, sparked by the market penetration of DVRs. They are now shifting to more product placement in shows, which means that eventually every TV show will end up looking like The Truman Show.

"If I don't see ya - good afternoon, good evening and good night!"

A Chat with Tech Support

I don't know whether this makes me feel better because I'm not alone or makes me shake my head in further disgust...

A Chat with Tech Support

I've had three really bad experiences with technical support organizations over the last six months. I have two main complaints:

• They all seem to be reading from scripts, ignoring the individual dynamic of most tech support issues.
• They assume that you're an idiot, no matter how hard you try to display your own acumen.

For example, I was advised by a tech support person to "clean boot" Windows and add in one memory-resident program at a time until the conflict was found. At 1.5 hours per program run (due to the nature of the program), I calculated that this troubleshooting could potentially take more than 40 hours to complete. I'm not divulging my bill rate, but I assure you that my rate for 40 hours of work is more than the $70 retail price of the software.

I think it's time to think about blowing up the current process and starting over...

(Thanks to The Open Road for the original post)

Cable Cut Fever

There's a Ted Nugent song in here somewhere...

Cable Cut Fever Grips the Web

It's heartening that conspiracy nuts can always come up with something to obsess on...

ERP Licensing and Maintenance Train Wreck Approaching

CIOs Sick of Enterprise Software Pricing, Forrester Finds

Licensing and maintenance costs have always been confusing - at PeopleSoft, we had to throw our hands up and admit that our own product could not handle our pricing model (we had to link to an Excel sheet - sheesh!). I agree with Matt here - the increase in complexity is a sign of a sector in increasing desperation.

One other thing - what do these companies charge maintenance for when they won't support any module that is customized? The client is forced to buy a maintenance contract, but usually can't get any support since most software is not used "out of the box." I'm not arguing with the fact that it's virtually impossible for an ERP support crew to support code that they (the vendor) did not write. I do argue with the fact that companies are forced to pay for maintenance contracts that they can't use. It makes us all look bad.

How to Run a Business Into the Ground*

United Air to Charge Some Fliers for 2nd Checked Bag

I already have a lot of reasons not to fly United, so this doesn't directly affect me. The sheer audacity of the move is impressive, though. The following quote says it all:

"Our customer research shows that only about one in four customers check a second bag,'' Executive Vice President John Tague said in today's statement.

So, it makes perfect sense to me to chase away 25% of your potential customers...especially from a company that has steadily deteriorated over the past several years.

*Sorry for the vivid metaphor, but these people continually cheese me off...