The Group the iPhone 3G Forgot

June 20, 2008 – 4:09 am

Any attempt to criticize a product that has not yet been released is generally foolish. The web is awash with complaints about the iPhone 3G’s camera, debates about Assisted GPS, and countless other alleged deficiencies for a product hasn’t even been released yet. I certainly don’t want to be lumped in with those who have committed this folly; and yet, I have spotted a problem. This problem is not a missing feature of the phone itself. The problem is with one of the highly touted ( and really cool ) services that the iPhone is built to use. Although it was not stated explicitly the missing service can be gleaned from reviewing the keynote, press releases and other information directly from Apple.

Apple left a large percentage of small businesses without a push services solution. Push services ( for those who missed it ) is the ability of the iPhone to synchronize calendars, contacts and email over the airwaves with intervention. For anyone who works from the field this would be a God send. You would be able to make appointments while out of the office and be sure that your secretary hasn’t booked something for the same time. Email would arrive without having to manually hit the send and receive button or wait a preset amount of time. Contacts could be updated from the office in real time. Anyone who has forgotten to sync their phone and missed an appointment would know just how valuable these features really are.

My definition of small business may differ from the mainstream. I consider small businesses to be companies owned and operated by less than 10 - 20 people. Some would label this group the Small Office/ Home Office crowd. Whatever label you choose to apply, a push email, calendar, and contact solution was not presented for this group. I work with this group on a daily basis, see the about page for details, and I can state for a fact that most of them will not be able to use the push features of the iPhone. I can think of only one that uses an Exchange server. This group consists of lawyers, realtors, independent artists and other creative industry businesses. They are by nature small businesses, but a disproportionate amount of them ( compared the MS and Apple market shares ) use Macs.

Apple’s announcement detailed the ability of the push features through Exchange and MobileMe. Exchange servers are typically used in the upper end of the SMB market as they can be quite costly to maintain. MobileMe will be used by individuals and it is a great solution for them, but the inability to use a company domain name will be a deal breaker for the aforementioned small businesses. So where does that leave this group. Apple also briefly mentioned that a new version of OS X Server named Snow Leopard will be released next year. As detailed on their website and a couple press releases this server version will provide for push services, but it is not due to be released for another year. Almost everyone of my clients now uses Google Apps as an Exchange replacement. I am holding out hope that in the near future Google will come to the rescue and provide push services. Until then you can count me as one of the outsiders looking in.

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Baby Vista Swallows a Bug

June 20, 2008 – 2:52 am

This is just too funny to pass up. So it turns out that a paper in Seattle published an article in late January that served as a progress report on Vista one year after release. Now here is the funny part. For that entire year some poor old man could not get his printer to work. After reading the article Microsoft sent help. And not just some underling mind you, they set the manager for the printing group.

Here is the best part:

Here’s what White figured out: When Mr. Walling bought his new Windows Vista machine, he initially used the installation disc that came with his Dell 942 All in One printer that he had been using with his previous PC. That disc was meant for Windows XP. The problem: Dell’s printer driver for Windows XP did install on Windows Vista. But it didn’t work. And it couldn’t be easily removed.

So not only did Vista happily install software without doing any kind of compatibility verification, it also forgot where it put everything. Kudos to them for caring enough to send someone of this level to the customers home albeit it took several trips. However - rant begins - I expect more from a software company of the size and stature of Microsoft. They have been releasing operating systems for almost 15 years. By now they should be more than capable of preventing issues like this from occurring in the first place. They call it quality control - look into it! And FYI - we ( your customers ) are not your testing department.

The whole situation reminds me of raising children. As any parent can attest a small child will pick up anything and everything and promptly put it in their mouth. Their parent has to tell the child that whatever they are attempting to devour is not compatible with their digestive system and remember to put said object where the child can not reach it. What strikes me as funny is the fact Microsoft, a company with 79,000 employees sells a software product that has all of the intelligence and an functionality of a toddler.

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Microsoft vs Apple - A Sports Analogy

June 14, 2008 – 1:58 am

Anyone who watches sports can identify with this situation. One team builds a substantial lead going into the final period/quarter/whatever of the game. The last period starts and it becomes obvious that the team is no longer playing to win. They are playing not to lose. In a majority of these games the team that is behind overtakes them and ends up winning. Now let’s apply this situation to Microsoft and Apple. The funny thing is that this happened to both sides in this game.

Apple initially took an apparently insurmountable lead with the Apple II. It was the first useable PC to be sold to home users. However Apple built their hardware and software in-house and refused to license their technologies to anyone else. The Apple II was a run away success. They delivered a computer that was compact enough to sit on a desk, it was cheap enough that families could purchase one, and it had features that beat even the mini-computers being sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars. However Microsoft took another strategy, they developed their software to work on the emerging IBM compatible or clones that were being manufactured by hundreds of companies. Economies of scale drove the cost down, resulting in a cheaper computer than the Apple. Developers flocked to the platform as there was money to be made. Over time Apple’s less aggressive strategy allowed Microsoft to become the behemoth it is today and damn near killed Apple.

Flash forward twenty years and extend the sports metaphor even further. Think of your favorite team. Now think of the stars of that team say 10 years ago. Think Bird & McHale or Magic & Kareem. Now imagine that the management of their respective teams made a decision. Work with me here - I know it’s not practical - just meant to illustrate. The team decides that the pair is so popular with fans that they should keep them around indefinitely. Can you imagine Magic & Kareem playing into their late 40s? There is no way they could keep up with the younger players in the league.

This is precisely what Microsoft has done. Windows 3, 95, 98, 2000, XP and even Vista have clung to code and architectural design decisions made in the DOS era. Underneath the new jersey is a 45 year old basketball star whose body is so run down that it cannot keep up. To make matters worse it does not appear that they have learned their lesson. It has been argued that Windows Vista was pretty much a re-write of Windows, and even though all of the incompatibles it introduced would seem to support this, I remain unconvinced. Too many similarities remain. For an example see this post. Pay attention to the part where it is stated that Windows XP software will run ( maybe limp is a better choice of words ) on Vista.

My point in is this. Starting over is tough. We hang on to things for sentimental reasons, laziness, stubbornness and whole host of other reasons. It takes a lot of guts to admit you were wrong, especially for a company as successful as Microsoft. A single design flaw is all it took to sink the Titanic. We can all agree that Windows has at least one. Maybe it’s time for Microsoft to rethink their position. What they did in the past was great. Windows brought computing to the mainstream. But maybe it’s time to start over. A little company named Apple traded their team in for a new one. A look at their growth since 2000 should tell you that Apple’s new team is doing quite well.

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