ShadowRAM: November 7, 2005

Given Dell&'s recent problems, we&'d like to hear from Steve Jobs what Apple would do if it bought Dell.

To be fair, Michael isn&'t the only one who may be red-faced over Apple&'s recent success. Remember all the rumors about the Apple buyout aspirations of Sun/Scott McNealy?

Here&'s something we didn&'t expect after the introduction of process and portfolio management (PPM) products from IBM, HP, CA, et al—pushback from the IT department. (PPM. IBM. HP. CA. IT. Got that? OK.)

PPM strips the veil from network operations to give a balanced look at resources being used, developed and end-lifed so as to maximize resources. CEOs and CFOs get the concept and love it. But solution providers are discovering many business units and IT managers aren&'t so keen. Why? They often like to hide what they are working on. Anyone ready to close a PPM sale based on that argument?

In the aftermath of Hurricane Wilma, Tech Data teamed with Kodak and McAfee to deliver 600 cases of water to employees of TigerDirect.com. The online retailer employs about 450 people at its Miami headquarters, 70 percent of whom were without power at home after the storm hit. TigerDirect&'s generator kicked in when its own power went down, resulting in minimal disruption to its own day-to-day business.

Salesforce.com&'s Marc Benioff didn&'t need to pelt anyone with shaving cream or eggs last week on Halloween. He just sent out this e-mail about Microsoft&'s new “Live” strategy: “It&'s the Day of the Dead, a holiday that honors the lives of departed loved ones. Microsoft is having its own quite secular version today. Bill Gates and Ray Ozzie announced a series of ‘Internet-based software services&' with ‘Live&' appended to some familiar names: Windows Live, Microsoft Office Live, Windows Live Messenger, and so on.” The clear implication is that Microsoft&'s current product line should be renamed with similar zeal: Windows Dead, Microsoft Office Dead and Windows Live Messenger Dead.

The quote of the week goes to Sun President Jonathan Schwartz, who remarked on his blog: “I know it&'s heresy for someone in my position, but my view is regular users shouldn&'t run servers in their homes.”

He&'s preaching to the choir. We can&'t even get reliable uptime from our Sears washing machine.