======================================================================== ENTERPRISE WINDOWS: OLIVER RIST http://www.infoworld.com ======================================================================== Monday, September 13, 2004
GUTTING LONGHORN IS A BAD IDEA By Oliver Rist Posted September 10, 2004 3:00 PM Pacific Time My presidential choices look like an episode of "Fear Factor," my sister thinks the only newsmagazine not influenced by the government is Mother Jones, IBM took my beautiful ThinkPad T40p back, and Microsoft just announced that Longhorn is going to lose features just so we can install it on Redmond's sales schedule. About the only good thing I've got going is that football season starts next week (after 20 years of painful endings, I'm still giddy when I think of the Pats starting off as favorites). ADVERTISEMENT -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- INFOWORLD PRESENTS A SPECIAL REPORT ON STORAGE MANAGEMENT The unrelenting growth of data storage needs, which set off a chain reaction of solutions targeted at the Fortune 500, has filtered down to affect IT operations of small and midsize businesses (SMBs). This report features 10 tips to help purchase storage management solutions. Additional information, including results from InfoWorld's research on the storage market is also included. Sponsored by Veritas. REGISTER AND DOWNLOAD NOW http://newsletter.infoworld.com/t?ctl=8ABA4D:2B910B2 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- In the meantime, I read another pundit's essay on why the Longhorn-gutting is the right decision for Microsoft -- how extending the schedule will upset PC makers and how Redmond risks mass defections to other platforms (like those crazy Linux people) if it doesn't keep close to its release schedule. See, columns like that are what happen when you approach this industry from the press kit perspective. If you put down your press card and get dirty in the real world a bit, you quickly see that gutting Longhorn is definitely not a good decision. Certainly not for us, meaning Microsoft's end-users and IT customers. Several of the businesses with which I work are seriously considering moving everything to Linux -- and absolutely none of them are doing it because Microsoft isn't releasing enough new products. They're considering a change specifically because the grasping fingers in Redmond are releasing too many products, each pulling you toward yet other Microsoft products. It's become a veritable whirlwind of new releases, upgrades, patches, release schedules, and, most problematic, ongoing license fees. Not to mention all the extra bucks spent on IT staff-hours, consultants, and the continuing mirage of security. In the eyes of these IT managers, Linux doesn't represent more features; it represents some peace. A little breathing room. A little yoga-mat time so they can once again figure out how to make PCs a business tool instead of a budgeting burden. It has become a recurring and increasingly painful meeting for me and countless other IT directors, network managers, and consultants: the Annual Microsoft Expense and New-stuff meeting (aka AMEN, which is, coincidentally, the last word we utter before going into the conference room). They used to occur only every two years or so. But between Office, Exchange, SQL Server, the rest of the nebulous Server family, and the operating systems, I seem to be in several such meetings at least once per year per client. And don't think the suits aren't noticing. In a time that can only be described as "economically troubled," Microsoft is single-handedly making the IT department a bigger cost center than ever. And that's exactly what we don't want to be right at this moment. Now Microsoft is telling me flat out that not only can I expect continued AMENs, but the one I'm going to have in mid-2006 is going to be about fewer features. This is a good thing? Same money, fewer features, and with the looming prospect of yet more dollars out the Windows when the features not ready for 2007 come galumphing along in 2008 as part of a can't-be-ignored-but-once-again-untested service pack upgrade. Yeah, that'll sell easy. Or worse yet, an interim product upgrade that actually has software license fees associated with it in addition to the consulting dollars. Ouch. If Microsoft wants to keep companies from looking at Penguin migrations, then it must start thinking about its customers. A lack of new features isn't the problem. The security nightmare coupled with this endless stream of upgrade costs is what's driving customers to look at Linux. They're not hunting for advanced features (although they are pleasantly surprised when they find out what the Penguin can do). They're just looking for a stable set of computing tools they can use to work their business without having to worry about some kind of massive upgrade upheaval. Linux gives them that opportunity, Redmond doesn't. My vote would be for Microsoft to push Longhorn out until 2009 if need be. Meantime, work your posterior off making Server 2003 and XP the most stable and secure platform it can be. Then, when 2009 rolls around, you'll have something exciting, feature-rich, and worthwhile to offer customers that appreciate the platform. That's a tough scenario for the Penguin. Or you can keep twisting your customers' arms every year and a half, forcing them to "upgrade" to whatever you've got ready at the time while endlessly dipping your fingers in their piggybanks. See how far that gets you. Oliver Rist is a senior contributing editor at InfoWorld. ======================================================================== Run-around Cringely No one has seen Cringely's face, but the word is that he really gets around. Get inside information and computer industry gossip you won't find anywhere else in Robert X. Cringely's "Notes from the Field" column. 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