On a recent visit to Apple Computer, I had an invigorating technical give-and-take about the Xserve G5 that made my day. But what kept me up that night was a question that stopped me in my tracks: What do I mean when I say "Apple's core constituency?"
I can't comprehend reports in the media that portray IBM as a troubled company. Perhaps there is another company with that name or my research is completely off-target. Neither of these is likely, so it must be that the prophets of doom — having failed to hasten the demise of Advanced Micro Devices, Apple Computer, and Sun Microsystems — have chosen a new target.
A representative of AMD and I joked on the phone recently about analysts and their passionate convictions regarding the failure of certain corporations.
Technology is out of control. Or at least, it has achieved a level of complexity that puts it out of reach for most humans, and increasingly, even IT professionals.
To the chagrin of purists, the complaint most often aired by Unix users (by that I mean Unix, Linux, and BSD) is Unix’s inability to run Windows applications.
Tried-and-true platforms are safe and comfortable places for IT to build. But platforms aren't rocks; they're icebergs. The place you choose to stand might remain steady and anchored for all eternity. Or you might wake up one morning to find a crack under your feet and have to make a hurried choice between staying put and risking a long jump to another berg. Maybe the ice will split and crash into the sea, taking you with it.
Recent weeks have been filled with marvelous news from Advanced Micro Devices Inc., Apple Computer Inc., Novell Inc., Sun Microsystems Inc., Transmeta Corp., and countless others. These developments should fill the atmosphere with excitement and anticipation, making the recovery not only obvious but thrilling. Journalists view these events through their jaundiced telescopes, finding ways to suck the life and color out of all that happens below the level of Hewlett-Packard Co., IBM Corp., Intel Corp., and Microsoft Corp. It's a pity that so few of my colleagues seem to enjoy their work anymore. I've never had a better time.
I'm quite particular, even protective, about my development tools. Microsoft's Visual Studio 6 is the only integrated development environment that came out of the box matching the way I think and work. I bonded with VS6 so well that I used it to code for other platforms.
I recently celebrated my own weirdness by burning six hours on the road for a 45-minute discussion with Sun Microsystems’ CTO of software, John Fowler, who was visiting nearby to stump for Sun’s much-anticipated Project Orion.
Jonathan Schwartz, executive vice president of software at Sun Microsystems, wears the satisfied smile of a politician who's so sure he'll be elected that he's already bought a house in the electorate. In his view, the tally is a formality. Schwartz seemed ready to repaint the JavaOne banner outside a recent exhibition to read "Java Won".
There are rare occasions when you have to choose between staying on schedule or reworking the plan to accommodate an unexpected, significant stroke of luck. When good fortune falls from the sky, don't dodge it just because of the extra work or because it will derail your deployment plans. That would be as smart as throwing away a winning lottery ticket because it's cluttering up the counter.
A few recently introduced products round out the modern Mac user's arsenal.
For the first time, Apple Computer’s WWDC (Worldwide Developers Conference) featured an enterprise IT track this year. It was a gamble; reading mainstream IT publications, you get the clear message that the media and analysts are determined to keep Apple in its old box. Writing off an inventive company is a convenient way to avoid the effort of understanding its work, a mistake I would have made if my editor hadn’t smacked me and said, “Look at what Apple’s doing.” I’m not surprised that analysts and writers haven’t tuned in yet. Apple is a difficult company to understand not because its products are unfathomable — each is quite easy to comprehend and describe. What takes effort is putting all of the pieces together into a coherent strategy. Apple doesn’t spell that out for anybody; that’s a reflection of Apple’s humble approach.
The SCO Group could not have started a more lopsided fight than its row with IBM. However, there are more urgent doings in White Plains (IBM HQ), such as turning good ideas into barrels of cash, something SCO hasn’t managed for the past 20 years.
AMD’s Opteron, unlike other 64-bit CPUs, can run the 32-bit software companies use now, as well as the 64-bit software they will increasingly rely on. Tom Yager looks at the newcomer.