News and Analysis to 29th October 2003
Foghorn Leghorn?
You would be forgiven for thinking that Longhorn,
Microsoft’s next generation operating system is a relative of the famous Loony
Tune character. At the recent Professional Developers’ Conference (PDC) in Los
Angeles, Bill Gates declared the operating system, due to be available as a
beta version in Summer 2004, as the biggest release of the decade on a par with
Windows 95. Both web services and XML get a mention, which suggests that these
buzzwords will be with us for another few years.
Bill Gates admits to insecurity
Money isn’t everything. Even
billionaires can feel a little insecure. Bill Gates used the PDC to admit that
Microsoft has been slow to respond to the security challenges its products seem
prone to. He didn’t go as far as saying that his products were intrinsically
flawed from a security perspective. This would have come as no surprise and
would have increased Microsoft’s credibility, particularly if it had a feasible
roadmap to address this. The current Trusted Computing Initiative might as well
be called the Trust-me Computing Initiative.
At this rate there may well come a time when it is more efficient to
package the security patches onto the CD and download the associated product
from Microsoft’s website.
Google searching for Wall St.
shortcut
The founders of popular and
private search engine provider Google are planning on a big payday. The Wall
Street investment banks are braced to overcharge for this technology-based IPO
(Initial Public Offering). But Google is considering alternative routes to
market, including online auction. Google could handle this direct, which would
be a fine example of disintermediation. It would also allow the price to be
more reflective of the market and would avoid the dotcom practice of ‘spinning’
whereby favoured customers got preferential allocations of shares, thus leaving
Joe Public to fight over the leftovers at what would be an inflated price.
Microsoft pushes for Office move
Need a word processor that
can bold text and also do underlines? Or perhaps a spreadsheet that can average
a set of numbers? Then you’ll be needing Office 2003. It’s like Office 95, but
you get the chance to pay again. Okay so it also has IP (Intellectual Property)
management capability and embraces XML. According to a recent survey from
Yankee Group and Sunbelt Software, 50% of the 1,500 IT administrator
respondents are quite happy with Office 2000 and only 19% are using Office XP.
It would appear that the business issue this product addresses is only felt by
one company, who happens to be the vendor.
Credit rater observes Sun
Sun Microsystems appears to
be teetering on the edge of a black hole. This well respected stalwart and
Microsoft conscientious objector is starting to look like it’s heading for the
Tech Sector departure lounge. Credit rating agency Standard and Poor has
decided to put Sun on its CreditWatch list after an analyst from Merrill Lynch
made some hard hitting recommendations in respect of how the business should be
taken forward. Sun’s ‘everything Microsoft is bad’ philosophy could steer it
towards becoming one of this decade’s best-loved technology casualties. I am
sure Dell is already sizing it up.
Nokia goes downmarket
One would expect that
premium pricing goes hand in hand with brand leadership. Despite Nokia’s better
than expected third quarter results, analysts are concerned that the proportion
of its sales attributable to entry-level phones is increasing. Rival
Sony-Ericsson recently announced that it has achieved profitability and now
holds 6% of the market (compared to Nokia’s 39%). But the name of the game is
enhancing market appeal by inferring that the customer’s choice of mobile phone
is a reflection of their lifestyle. Sony in particular is an expert in such
marketing.
PCs in demand
PC shipments surprised even
research firm Gartner in the third quarter, up 14.1% on the year. The bulk of
the purchases were notebooks. Clearly many people find holidays stressful in
that their work doesn’t simply evaporate in their absence. So a notebook seems
to be the ideal beach companion to eliminate ‘return to work’ phobia. Judging
by the shipments Dell, HP and IBM could do worse than to expand into
sunglasses, beach towels and other holiday accoutrements. I honestly believe
there is a market for an integrated mosquito defence system. Using a laptop driven rotatable canister
holder, blue-toothed to a pair of ‘’fly-by-wire’ sunglasses, the wearer tracks
the offending insect. Beach observers will notice the mosquito repellent
synchronise its orientation with the glasses. Once the user has locked on to
the doomed mosquito, the ‘lock and load’ key is pressed. The repellent spray is
released and heads roughly in the direction of the mosquito until it meets the
line of sight path between the glasses and the target. At this point it streams
down the line of sight and the mosquito becomes history. That is real user
driven (and bug free) technology.
IBM – Steady as she goes
Despite the general global economic malaise CEO Sam Palmisano
is steering IBM through profitable waters. He appears to be very in tune with
the market with plans to recruit 10,000 more staff into high growth areas such
as middleware and services. He also has $700m to spend on training. However he
is falling short of stating that we are on the road to recovery, so 2004 could
be another quiet year.
Gone phishing
UK bank Halifax is the most recent victim of an online scam
known as ‘phishing’, causing it to close down the website. In essence this
involves fooling customers into taking action such as revealing their security
details or to even transfer money overseas. The victims do so because they
believe they are receiving official emails from the bank. Barclays, Lloyds TSB
and NatWest have also been targeted.
