What the most influential people in IT want for Christmas

You would think that the most influential people in IT would want for nothing. However their continued success depends on the volatile technology market moving in their favour. In this article we take a look at what the key players will most likely ask of Santa Claus this Christmas.

Bill Gates, Chairman, Microsoft – Its reputation in respect of security coupled with the rise in open source adoption is putting the software giant ‘on the back foot’. Some decent viruses that highlight security weaknesses in Linux would be most welcome.

Carly Fiorina, CEO, HP – The printer-to-consulting giant under the firm leadership of Ms Fiorina is on the ascendancy. But what galls her is that most people see HP as the world’s biggest printer company. A coherent analyst-friendly marketing strategy would do nicely.

Larry Ellison, CEO, Oracle – Christmas appears to have come early for Mr Ellison. But I think the old adage ‘ Be careful about what you wish for..’ applies here. Oracle is now faced with the joys of integrating PeopleSoft and JD Edwards into the business, whilst at the same time still being miles behind enterprise applications leader SAP. Larry actually needs an infrastructure company so that Oracle can properly ‘tool up’ for the software industry end-game battle, which will be fought on the architecture landscape. Looking at the main players, ie Microsoft, Sun and IBM, this appears to be an entry condition.

Henning Kagermann, CEO, Sap – Perhaps being altruistic, is simply delighted to see his peers get exactly what they ask for.

Scott McNealy, Chairman and CEO, Sun Microsystems – Sun appears to be juddering in terms of how it will take the business forward. The focus seems to be ‘under the technology bonnet’, which makes for a more difficult sell at board level. Attack Linux, embrace Linux, copy Linux are just three recent mindsets adopted by Sun. A business strategy that is focused on delivering business benefit to its customers would be a well-received present.

Sam Palmisano, CEO, IBM – IBM is planning an assault on Microsoft on a number of fronts. Open source and Java are some of the more high profile weaponry. Java remaining in the hands of Sun limits IBM’s approach. Sun making Java an open standard (ie a gift to IBM) would cause much delight around the boardroom Christmas tree at Big Blue.

Darl McBride, CEO, SCO Group – SCO Group’s business model seems to be based on suing prospective clients, and anybody else for that matter. This makes for an unpredictable cash flow. So no doubt it will be hoping that Microsoft will want to buy more Unix licenses (for whatever reason) this Christmas.

Let me know if I have missed anyone!

Ade McCormack

ade@auridian.com

What the most influential business people need for Christmas!