In this month's newsletter, I'll discuss software companies' strategies, give you some spam busting hints, and talk about new servers.
A look at the "bottom line"...
Bill Gates recently announced he's focusing Microsoft's aim on security instead of more features. A recent look at Microsoft's web site also shows a bit of a quieting of the strong sales and anti-competition tone. Why is this? Let's take a look at the "issues" at Microsoft. How does Microsoft earn it's money? New product sales and upgrades, of course. In recent years, how has the growth been? "Off the chart" is a good way of putting it. What's happening now? A dramatic "slow down". Computer sales are falling. I think we're past the "peak" of PC sales and now the market is more realistic. I suspect Mr. Gates is getting a bit tired of hearing each OS bashed as it rolls out. ME in particular was a problem. Novell 6.0 has definitely created problems in the NT/2000/XP server market. An x.0 release that was rock solid stable? NT 4 is still selling quite strongly. People don't trust the new OSs. This is an issue Microsoft needs to deal with. I think Bill Gates decided it's time. End users won't upgrade unless there is a good reason. I'm tired of living with 6 month's worth of bugs, etc. every time I upgrade an operating system. Win 2000 and XP are better, but still don't "play well" with quite a bit of hardware and software. It took Microsoft quite a while to get us all into this mess. It will take a while to get us out. We'll see what happens next. For a look at Microsoft's take on their products' lifespan, click here~~> http://www.microsoft.com/windows/lifecycleconsumer.asp.
Novell's sales strategy is a bit different- sell a solid product, and now expand it to make life easier with other people's stuff (i.e. Microsoft's). Novell has a way of promoting upgrades that is a bit sneakier. They stop selling user upgrade licenses. 4.x license upgrades are hard to find these days. You may have to upgrade if your business grows and you need to add more users.
Spam Attacks!!
(Not the luncheon meat, either)
I'm frequently asked about junk email. How to stop it, in particular. I'm not one to "re-invent the wheel", so here is a web site that does a good job addressing the issue. http://www.scambusters.org/stopspam/
Falling hardware prices hit servers!
How about a Pentium III 1.2 gHz server that supports two processors, 4 gig
RAM, up to SIX hot-swap removable hard drives, built-in SCSI controllers, a
dual hot-swap power supply option, can hot-swap PCI cards,
hot-swap fans, redundant bios, and much more for just over $2,000.
(without drives) Compaq makes one. 
That's it for this issue... if you have a topic you would like me to discuss, just email me!
Until next time... Happy Computing !
Past Newsletters
- May 99 (Viruses)
- July 99 (Maintenance Part 1)
- September 99 (Maintenance Part 2)
- November 99 (Networks)
- January 2000 (Y2K, Windows 2000, Misc.)
- March 2000 (System tips plus Outlook Express Email)
- May 2000 (System Upgrades)
- July 2000 (Easter eggs and more)
- September 2000 (Bugs, crashes, Windows 98, and more)
- Special Virus Issue
- February 2001 (Mid-winter vacations, Windows ME, network terminology)
- March 2001 (Server Maintenance)
- May 2001- (Internet Security)
- September 2001- (A Microsoft Competitor returns)