Treo 800w Rejoins the Smart-Phone Feature-Set Pack: Too late I am afraid

The first Treo device with built-in Wi-Fi connectivity is worth a look for companies running a Microsoft back-end infrastructure. However, Palm has been struggling to get out new and modern versions of their phones. When I view the specs on this, I am not excited as there is nothing special about it. Other vendors are coming out with Windows 6.1 mobile handsets that have more to offer. Unfortunately for Palm, but good for technology gadget lovers as we know that the competition will just put vendors to sweat. Got to love the technology market!

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Hefty price tag spoils iPhone's launch party: evidence of cultural differences in product launches

Economic Times reports that hefty price tag spoils iPhone's launch party in India. However, I am tempted to conclude that it might also be partly a cultural question. Maybe there is a cultural aspect that Apple has ignored (other than price) in its launch. Unfortunately, large organizations such as Apple sometimes seem to think that people and cultures are the same: "Everybody should love iPhoone". There are hundreds of examples (even when US companies have launched products in India within shampoo business) that not everything works in the same way. Eventually, I am sure that there is going to be traction even for iPhone, but I am sure that this has been a dissapointment for Apple

How Cloud Computing Is Changing the World: It is really happening

A major shift in the way companies obtain software and computing capacity is under way as more companies tap into Web-based applications. All of the big players, Microsoft, Oracle, Google, IBM, and Salesforce.com are betting that SaaS is in the mainstream and based on my own experiences having talked to hundreds of people around the world, it is really happening. It is a wake-up call to software companies (ISV's), no question about it.

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Ozzie puts his own spin on 'ThinkWeek': The dreamer of Lotus Notes and MS Groove has some clout for sure

REDMOND, Wash.--Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates was known for his twice-yearly endeavors known as "ThinkWeeks," intensive retreats where he pored over technical papers written by his employees.Ray Ozzie, who succeeded Gates as Microsoft's chief software architect, says he would rather "dream" than "think."I like the approach that Ray Ozzie is taking. Instead of gettting influenced over everybody else, Ozzie spends some time of his own to dream what needs to happen next. Obviously, these dreams relate back to the discussions that he has had but he tries to do in a way that reflects his own vision. Nobody can claim that he would not be a visionary, just think about Lotus Notes and Groove that he has dreamt about and built with his teams. Ozzie is leading the way of Microsoft to get their offering to the cloud and this drive has already changed lots of things such as Microsoft Dynamics Online competing directly with Salesforce.com solution for customer relationship management solutions.

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RIM Begins BlackBerry Bold Release: the battle of software platforms continues

Apple's iPhone 3G is about to be challenged by RIM's new BlackBerry Bold, the mobile and wireless device maker's first 3G offering. While solidly holding on to its traditional business market share, RIM hopes to slice into Apple's iPhone 3G sales by offering the new BlackBerry Bold with a set of consumer-oriented features including a 2-megapixel camera with video recording capabilty, a music player, GPS and Wi-Fi.The mobilty market is getting heated... RIM is coming out with its first real 3G phone that is going to challenge Nokia with Symbian platform, Microsoft with its Windows Mobile 6.1 operating system and of course iPhone and Android platforms.

Consumers will benefit from the fact that innovation is happening. The battle of software platforms will continue the next few years and what is interesting is that software is the one that will mostly differentiate the phones besides the hardware side of things such as screen technology (touch). Also, the virility of ecosystem is what is going to drive. This has been demonstrated with iPhone and its hundreds of consumer applications that have been created the last few months.

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Ohjelmistoalan muutokset vaikuttaneet myös työskentelytapoihin

Tietoviikko Online raportoi tänään (Henna Savolainen) että ohjelmistoalan nuoret yrittäjät osaavat kiertää olemassa olevat talouden rakenteet ja rajoitteet. Organisaatiomallit, uudet teknologiat ja virtuaalinen työskentely on tullut jäädäkseen. Vanhat pinttyneet käsitykset organisaatiosta ovat ohi ja ne yrittäjät jotka yrittävät kasvattaa organisaatiotaan vanhalla mallilla, tulee varmasti ajatumaaan ongelmiin. Aloittaessani TELLUS International, Inc organisaation muutama vuosi sitten, tein päätöksen, että kaikki tulee pohjautumaan virtuaaliseeen työskentelyyn käyttäen hyväksi välineitä jossa aika ja paikka ovat merkityksettömiä. Kirjoitin tästä myös kirjanssani "Onnistu suuressa maailmassa" joka tuli ulos Talentumilta jouluna 2007.

Virtuaalinen työskentely ei tietysti onnistu jos kyseessä on fyysiseen tuotantoon keskittyvä yritys, mutta jos yrityksellä on lähinnä tietopääomaa, virtuaalinen työskentely edesauttaa globaalin organisaation rakentamisen ilman suuria kustannuksia. Olen itse tehnyt tämän ja tästä on hyvä kokemus. Voimme aukaista edustuston missä hyvänsä päin maailmaa ja välineet ovat henkilön käytössä muutamassa minuutissa.

Windows XP or Windows Vista: Analysts can't agree on the statistics

It has been interesting to follow the discussion of Windows Vista adoption. One of the latest discussion is from Chris Flores that questions in his blog how Forrester Research analyst Thomas Mendel can claim that Windows Vista has been rejected in the enterprise and suggests that organizations should wait and re-evaluate their Windows Vista deployments and wait for the new Windows 7. I read recently that Gartner suggests that organizations should move to Windows Vista as a jump from Windows XP to Windows 7 could cause even more issues as most of the infrastructure (laptops and desktops) will not be feasible for Windows 7.

Personally I do not get why this discussion is relevant. As far as I am concerned, it is like asking whether I would like stick to my old bag even if I knew that a new model would make me more productive. Vista has been around, I have been using it for more than year and a half and I would not go back to Windows XP. Also, I believe organizations will have to move towards Vista as ISV's will be reluctant to support XP in the long run. I would not.... Also, Microsoft has worked out the worst kinks of Vista, the security model is better than in XP.. so what else would one expect...

I think analysts are trying to get publicity by coming out with these types of arguments and statements. Also, when I checked the comments on Mr. Flores blog, it is unfortunate that there are lots of unfounded claims. In the long run, this discussion will go away.