Knee jerk reaction: Intel doesn't think it can be competitive in future processor markets. Outside of the PC it's been a long string of non-breakthrough products for Intel. It's doubtful they will be able to compete in future mobile device products.
Whether Intel is conscious of what this means is only known by the select few at Intel uppermost management. If Intel starts to cut back on hardware investments then we'll have our answer.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
New Shakeup at Microsoft, Time for Ballmer to Go
If you look at the companies that Microsoft is losing to they are all led by technology people.
Ballmer's forte is marketing, not technology. His chief accomplishment, the "better together" marketing of infrastructure products with Office, has created a new billion dollar product in SharePoint. But this is a limited advance given where the company was at the time he took over.
Microsoft needs someone with a passion for technology as its leader. Passion is needed to cut through the product silos that define the company. Love of technology is the dog food you eat to compete with Apple, Facebook and Google.
Ballmer's forte is marketing, not technology. His chief accomplishment, the "better together" marketing of infrastructure products with Office, has created a new billion dollar product in SharePoint. But this is a limited advance given where the company was at the time he took over.
Microsoft needs someone with a passion for technology as its leader. Passion is needed to cut through the product silos that define the company. Love of technology is the dog food you eat to compete with Apple, Facebook and Google.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
A cynical view of today's stock market activity
Many of the largest banks in Europe are set to lose a staggering amount of money if Greece defaults. Rating agencies predict losses of up to 70% on Greek bonds. Understandably, given recent history, the banks are looking to be bailed out by their governments.
Is it so hard to hypothesize that markets are being manipulated to cause panic? The object of the panic being to force governments into action to restore the people's confidence in the markets (and the governments). Banks will be made whole for the greater common good.
Is it so hard to hypothesize that markets are being manipulated to cause panic? The object of the panic being to force governments into action to restore the people's confidence in the markets (and the governments). Banks will be made whole for the greater common good.
Monday, May 3, 2010
Flash or Not?
If Flash was introduced today as a new product would it succeed?
Everyone has had the experience where you open a web page and your disk drive starts spinning and cpu usage hits a hundred percent. Typically I just close the page.
Right now what Flash has going for it is existing installations. This will keep it alive for some time. Without significant improvements Flash will be gone in five years.
The same statements also hold for Acrobat.
Everyone has had the experience where you open a web page and your disk drive starts spinning and cpu usage hits a hundred percent. Typically I just close the page.
Right now what Flash has going for it is existing installations. This will keep it alive for some time. Without significant improvements Flash will be gone in five years.
The same statements also hold for Acrobat.
Friday, April 30, 2010
Has HP Killed Slate?
TechCrunch is reporting that HP has killed off Slate, a Windows 7 based tablet computer scheduled to be delivered later this year. I haven’t seen any confirmation of this by HP or Microsoft so for now I take the report with a large dose of skepticism. But if this is so then all I can say is Wow!
The report from TechCrunch has HP has rejecting Windows 7 as being unsuitable for a tablet computer. That is not difficult to accept. The amount of time that an iPad can function on a single charge is remarkable. It has set the standard that other devices must meet. A desktop operating system like Windows 7 matching that performance is hard to imagine. Prior to buying Palm, HP had no viable alternative OS to pursue the tablet market with. That is obviously no longer the case.
Anyone who has developed for the Microsoft platform over the past ten years understands that the company has all but abandoned native platform development. They have instead focused development on the coding framework .Net and graphics frameworks Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF).
The decision to follow this path has paid dividends. The increased productivity of application development using these tools has placed Microsoft in firm possession of the business application development market.
However the downside to this strategy is now apparent. The hardware required to have software based on these frameworks perform adequately makes the development methodology ill suited for mobile devices. Since Windows 7 is highly dependent on WPF it’s energy needs have a floor that cannot be changed and may make suitable long term operation by battery impossible in devices smaller than laptops.
What about the pull of Office? HP would not only be leaving Windows behind, they would be accepting life without Office on their tablet devices. Its quite possible that they also reached the conclusion that Office is not suitable for mobile devices. After years of selling new releases of Office by adding features the Office suite is huge.
As stated above this information is unconfirmed by either company but it does makes sense. This points to fail in so many ways at Microsoft it would be devastating and rock the company to its core.
This isn’t a hit at Microsoft’s internet or entertainment properties. This goes straight to the heart of where the money is: Windows and Office.
The report from TechCrunch has HP has rejecting Windows 7 as being unsuitable for a tablet computer. That is not difficult to accept. The amount of time that an iPad can function on a single charge is remarkable. It has set the standard that other devices must meet. A desktop operating system like Windows 7 matching that performance is hard to imagine. Prior to buying Palm, HP had no viable alternative OS to pursue the tablet market with. That is obviously no longer the case.
Anyone who has developed for the Microsoft platform over the past ten years understands that the company has all but abandoned native platform development. They have instead focused development on the coding framework .Net and graphics frameworks Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF).
The decision to follow this path has paid dividends. The increased productivity of application development using these tools has placed Microsoft in firm possession of the business application development market.
However the downside to this strategy is now apparent. The hardware required to have software based on these frameworks perform adequately makes the development methodology ill suited for mobile devices. Since Windows 7 is highly dependent on WPF it’s energy needs have a floor that cannot be changed and may make suitable long term operation by battery impossible in devices smaller than laptops.
What about the pull of Office? HP would not only be leaving Windows behind, they would be accepting life without Office on their tablet devices. Its quite possible that they also reached the conclusion that Office is not suitable for mobile devices. After years of selling new releases of Office by adding features the Office suite is huge.
As stated above this information is unconfirmed by either company but it does makes sense. This points to fail in so many ways at Microsoft it would be devastating and rock the company to its core.
This isn’t a hit at Microsoft’s internet or entertainment properties. This goes straight to the heart of where the money is: Windows and Office.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Why HP Had To Buy Palm
HP today is living off revenue streams created in the last century. Those products have been and will continue to be subject to price pressure from lower cost competitors and alternative technologies.
Desktop PC’s and printers have become a race to the bottom. Further growth in printer consumables will be limited by cheaper manufacturers and the continued advancement of electronic communications in business.
HP has not been a leader in consumer technology. This problem is made larger by the current trend of consumer tech pushing into business. The expectations of people when they use electronics has changed. Basic functionality is no longer enough. Industrial design distinguishes devices that people want to use from those devices that are currently assigned by their employers. As work has entered all parts of our lives the devices we use for work have become more personal.
The reason HP had to buy Palm is that the didn’t have the industrial design talent to meet this new need. The talent is missing in the their hardware and most especially the human interface of their software. Palm has this talent.
What is the most likely reason HP will fail with this new strategy?
Mark Hurd. His overall strategy for HP has been reduce cost, reduce cost, and then reduce cost some more.
That will not work any longer. They must be innovative and daring in this market. They will try things that fail and that must be okay. When you’re looking for home runs you have to accept some strikeouts.
Cost cutting has led to a lot of unhappy people at HP. If management is satisfied with keeping Palm as a separate subsidiary then the attitude of existing employees is not on the radar. However if they, as they must, want to integrate webOS into other product areas they must have employees buy into what the company is doing. To be brilliant you have to be invested in what you are doing.
Will HP succeed? I give it a 60% chance of succeeding. HP engineers will be re-energized by the chance to work in areas they can brag on. Management is the question. We’ll know within a year. If HP has new webOS phones and a tablet on the market they are in the game. If they are still digesting things at the one year mark then they are toast.
The big tell will be to see what happens when HP releases Windows 7 and webOS devices in the same timeframe. That’s when we’ll know whether HP management has the gonads to sacrifice current revenue streams in order to insure the future.
Desktop PC’s and printers have become a race to the bottom. Further growth in printer consumables will be limited by cheaper manufacturers and the continued advancement of electronic communications in business.
HP has not been a leader in consumer technology. This problem is made larger by the current trend of consumer tech pushing into business. The expectations of people when they use electronics has changed. Basic functionality is no longer enough. Industrial design distinguishes devices that people want to use from those devices that are currently assigned by their employers. As work has entered all parts of our lives the devices we use for work have become more personal.
The reason HP had to buy Palm is that the didn’t have the industrial design talent to meet this new need. The talent is missing in the their hardware and most especially the human interface of their software. Palm has this talent.
What is the most likely reason HP will fail with this new strategy?
Mark Hurd. His overall strategy for HP has been reduce cost, reduce cost, and then reduce cost some more.
That will not work any longer. They must be innovative and daring in this market. They will try things that fail and that must be okay. When you’re looking for home runs you have to accept some strikeouts.
Cost cutting has led to a lot of unhappy people at HP. If management is satisfied with keeping Palm as a separate subsidiary then the attitude of existing employees is not on the radar. However if they, as they must, want to integrate webOS into other product areas they must have employees buy into what the company is doing. To be brilliant you have to be invested in what you are doing.
Will HP succeed? I give it a 60% chance of succeeding. HP engineers will be re-energized by the chance to work in areas they can brag on. Management is the question. We’ll know within a year. If HP has new webOS phones and a tablet on the market they are in the game. If they are still digesting things at the one year mark then they are toast.
The big tell will be to see what happens when HP releases Windows 7 and webOS devices in the same timeframe. That’s when we’ll know whether HP management has the gonads to sacrifice current revenue streams in order to insure the future.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
HP Buys Palm, What Does It Mean?
The big question is what does this mean for the relationship between HP and Microsoft. It's been reported for some time that HP has been developing a lightweight OS for its netbook type computers and now it goes and buys Palm.
You have to think that HP is preparing for a time when Microsoft will no longer be king of the hill. It makes sense from a risk control perspective. A company the size of HP would be derelict if it did not prepare for a very possible future.
So why Palm? HP must not believe that Microsoft Phone 7 will be a viable competitor for iPhone and Android. This is a huge step down for Microsoft.
Why doesn't HP just develop an Android handset instead? First they are late to the game for Android. Second, a company the size of HP must be a market leader in order to justify being in the business. Android has too many cooks to allow for a leader beyond Google.
Who are the winners and losers?
Winners: Palm, HP and probably Dell because their entry in the market has been validated with HP's entry.
Losers: Microsoft, the major supplier for Microsoft just gave it a vote of no confidence in today's most strategic market. Apple, webOS perhaps the iPhone's best competition was dead and buried, now its back at the table and just got bankrolled.
You have to think that HP is preparing for a time when Microsoft will no longer be king of the hill. It makes sense from a risk control perspective. A company the size of HP would be derelict if it did not prepare for a very possible future.
So why Palm? HP must not believe that Microsoft Phone 7 will be a viable competitor for iPhone and Android. This is a huge step down for Microsoft.
Why doesn't HP just develop an Android handset instead? First they are late to the game for Android. Second, a company the size of HP must be a market leader in order to justify being in the business. Android has too many cooks to allow for a leader beyond Google.
Who are the winners and losers?
Winners: Palm, HP and probably Dell because their entry in the market has been validated with HP's entry.
Losers: Microsoft, the major supplier for Microsoft just gave it a vote of no confidence in today's most strategic market. Apple, webOS perhaps the iPhone's best competition was dead and buried, now its back at the table and just got bankrolled.
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