Nickname: Mark

Review: To solomonrex: If IBM is so perceptive why are they still wasting time with Lotus Notes? Talk about developers working on an office suite! SharePoint and Office don't necessarily need developers. They do some useful things out of the box. Not to say Notes doesn't either. It does e-mail and collaboration well, out of the box. But if any product has been "guilty" of creating whole developer groups within corporations just devoted to itself, Notes is it.

Date reviewed: Mar 24, 2006 2:23 AM

Nickname: MhD

Review: OK so let me understand this.... Front office tools become scalable back office tools with just a little bit of Microsoft pixie dust. Customers simply sign on the dotted line and fire their IT staff. Voila! They are no longer needed. Microsoft software will take care of it all. What is Ballmer smoking? This statement, in and of itself, represents Microsoft's complete lack of understanding of enterprise computing requirements.

Date reviewed: Mar 21, 2006 5:43 PM

Nickname: chief

Review: It seems that every time MicroSquash gets most of the severe bugs out of an OS, they add a few bells and whistles and call it a new and improved OS that will fix everything. If it wasn't for third party utilities, AV software, and firewalls my PC would be a sitting duck. It is rebuilding all this infrastructure that is some of the hidden costs in going to a "new & improved" OS--as well as the problems in trying to get legacy software operating.

Date reviewed: Mar 21, 2006 7:37 AM

Nickname: Doobie34

Review: Intergrating a desktop operating system and productivity application is about as much use a choclate tea pot to enterprise users. Integration in real terms means giving users information from all systems and letting them work seamlessly across them. This of course includes mainframe applications and multiple other Unix and legacy systems (some mainframes have code running on them that are over 30 years old; Bulmer was sucking is thumb when they were written). Tell me how these new products can integrate all of that, then I might listen. Until then, I'll just keep patching my PC for security holes.

Date reviewed: Mar 20, 2006 10:37 AM

Nickname: mega

Review: No R&D at IBM? I thought they lead in patent filings?

Date reviewed: Mar 19, 2006 8:53 PM

Nickname: visitor1

Review: All the reasons why the days of proprietary software are numbered: http://www-1.ibm.com/linux/competitive/windowsToLinux.shtml

Date reviewed: Mar 18, 2006 8:51 PM

Nickname: mortenb

Review: People want the best platform to run their applications on. I firmly believe linux will be that platform, mainly because it can be custom tailored so much better than any AIX, Windows can.

Date reviewed: Mar 18, 2006 5:45 PM

Nickname: techwatcher

Review: The assault with Office and Vista are just the aircraft carriers they show off--behind them are a set of other innovations, like Microsoft CRM, that are really taking hold in the marketplace and spreading like wildfire. The true test of Ballmer's strategy will be how these secondary offerings that build off the core two assests fare. Only time will tell how they do on those fronts(and they may be quit about those in the name of lower expectations), but we'll be watching closely.

Date reviewed: Mar 18, 2006 7:56 AM

Nickname: Thukpa

Review: I am not sure of Microsoft beating IBM in its own backyard. I have little confidence in whatever Microsoft touches. They end up doing an inferior job at the end of the day. However, I just bought Call Options today on Microsoft. After hearing Sony dropped the ball on PS3, I thought Microsoft got something to gain traction on video game. Also, major PC upgrade with Vista is on the horizon. So, I thought why not skim some cream from Microsoft and put it in my mouth. Go MSFT, soar...soar higher..touch the sky....and make me richer.

Date reviewed: Mar 18, 2006 4:18 AM

Nickname: Scared-To-Death

Review: God help us all! Rather than having "people-ready" what Microsoft has is "hacker-ready" products.

Date reviewed: Mar 17, 2006 11:56 PM