ShadowRam, April 11, 2005

Microsoft completed its Groove acquisition last week, and skeptics at the company wonder how it will rationalize what Groove has accomplished with what its own SharePoint teams have done. Microsoft should have bought Groove more than three years ago, but the price was probably too high and there's also a "not-invented-here" mentality, says one. How will the Microsoft crew reconcile Groove's technology with two SharePoints, with Exchange, with the e-commerce stuff? It took the company four years to get its SharePoint-Content Management Server (CMS) story straight, so this Groove sitch may be a very long row to hoe, says this insider.

(Come to think of it, has Microsoft come clean about merging SharePoint and CMS? Not really.)

One big question is if Ray will stay and for how long. Deal backers say the respect Microsoft's elite has for him is so immense, that he'll get carte blanche. Detractors say there is no such thing at Microsoft, and that the company has become so IBM-like that Ray's sojourn will be as short as contractually possible.

How cool is it that Volvo and Mercedes-Benz plan to build special iPod docking modules into their cars?

A reported deal to put Microsoft's telemetry technology into a Ferrari, is a tad puzzling, however. A little European birdie says that project is proceeding. No, Windows won't actually run the engine, but it will drive the idiot lights that blink when something goes awry. One has to ask: Is Windows ready for this road test? Insert your own joke here about rebooting your $200K+ roadster every mile or so.

If Oracle's buyout of Oblix and BMC's snap-up of OpenNetwork are any indication, single sign-on (SSO) is hot. One might wonder if small SSO companies such as Version3 might be targets.

Speaking of buyouts, there are rumblings Novell is about to break out its checkbook again. Speculation is that its eyeing JBoss or maybe even MySQL.

We caught a glimpse last week of Jonathan Schwartz' wicked new 'do last week. While he still pulls his hair back, it was shorter at last week's Open Source Business Conference. His handler admitted cutting the trademark ponytail is meant to make Sun's No. 2 look less like a gentle software guy and more like a business-as-usual executive.

A downside to the management shuffle last week at Ingram Micro: Kevin Murai—promoted to president and COO after Kent Foster's retirement—had to skip a planned trip to the Masters golf tournament.

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