News and analysis to 24th January 2008
Microsoft’s enchanted CIO
It’s not just the kids that see the value in a trip to
Disneyland. In a recent visit Microsoft had its wish granted. It now has a new
(ex Disney) CIO. And to keep the paperwork to a minimum he has the same surname
(Tony Scott) as the software giant’s previous incumbent (Stuart Scott). ’The
earlier Scott was fired for what was vaguely described as a ‘violation of
company policies’. Let’s hope the new guy doesn’t try to take the Mickey.
No indication of downturn for Indian players
A number of Indian service providers have reported good
quarterly results despite the backdrop of a potentially recessionary US
economy. Satyam reported a 29% quarter on quarter increase in profit. Wipro
similarly announced an 11% increase.
HCL, Tata and Infosys have all announced profit rises. The strength of
the rupee against the dollar will have some bearing on these results. It is not
clear whether this can be interpreted as an indicator that the market is
unnecessarily pessimistic about the economy or whether the situation is so bad
that companies are simply offloading their IT functions to reduce cost.
Oracle nails BEA
After a prolonged period of cat and mouse, BEA has succumbed
to Oracle’s $8.5bn offer. It did a good
job in pushing up the price from the ‘take it or leave it’ $6.7bn. However
BEA’s product portfolio and client base will nicely complement that of Oracle.
The market will watch closely to see how well the Oracle python can digest this
substantial meal, as it would appear to be suffering some indigestion from its
earlier acquisitions.
Billy does Vegas
Bill Gates delivered his last keynote speech at the recent
Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. He plans to step down as Chief Software
Architect in July. Gates wore a light purple sweater and matching checked
shirt, perhaps as a nod to the packed audience of techies that queued for up to
4 hours to be there. He laid out a vision for the next digital decade
highlighting that high-density media, the user interface and connectivity
technologies will shape the future. Gates has long held a vision of computers
with a natural interface. The end point being virtual reality, where you work
in and not on the operating system.
Given that he has recently invested $392m in a Mexican brewery called
Femsa, he may well be continuing his interest in virtual reality.
Every little helps
Dell has announced that it is to sell its PCs and laptops
via UK retailer Tesco. It already sells through Wal-Mart and plans to also sell
via PC World and Currys. This feels like a desperate measure. Entering the
‘stack ‘em high sell ‘em cheap’ space is unlikely to move Dell up the value
chain. Previously Dell was an MBA case study on how selling direct was the way
to go. Then again Dell may have recognised that the money is in the consumer
space and it is better to exploit the established routes to market rather than
compete with them. No doubt next stop Starbucks. “Would you like a dual-core
laptop with your skinny latte?”
RIP Navigator
AOL has decided to pull the plug on support for its Netscape
Navigator browser. At one point it had 90% of the market. Today it is 0.6%. AOL
will continue to deliver security updates until February. From there users are
flying solo. Today Microsoft’s Internet Explorer has circa 80% of the market,
with Firefox owning circa 16%. AOL has been influential in the development of
Firefox through the Mozilla Foundation. It is likely that Netscape’s remains
will be handed over to the Foundation. There may be some useful organs left in
what was an industry-leading product.
