Posts Tagged ‘Rants’

In another blinding flash of brilliance…

Tuesday, May 18th, 2010

Microsoft decided not to offer any upgrade pricing for Office 2010.  This to me reeks of arrogance.  We often had clients that would like to purchase their Office licensing via OEM channels – as this gives them the ability to purchase office at the lowest possible price.  Then later once a new version comes out, if the client deems the business value high enough they have been able to purchase an upgrade for the specific machines that they wish to upgrade to the latest version.  However in their latest decision, Microsoft have basically said no more.  No more upgrade.  The only way people can get a cheap version of Office 2010 is if you’ve been subscribing to Software Assurance.  That means you will have needed to buy into the Microsoft vision for future product development well before you see the product.  It’s like insurance except you don’t know what you will get or how well it will work for your business until it’s there.  Oh and if the product you get is not what you need or they change the product in some way that is not good for your business then too bad… you already paid your money.

Microsoft. Listen up. When you do things like this you really show that you are not listening to the needs of our clients.  You give cause to things like GoogleApps thinking they will own the world.  Unfortunately they are even worse than you.  I would not trust or recommend GoogleApps to any of my clients, and that means right now the only REAL alternative is to pay full price for Office 2010.  I don’t like it, but believe me – when there is another decent alternative… I’ll be moving to it.  Keep on doing what you are doing and you will find that we’ve all jumped ship to other products.  You’ve been told about this for many a year now, but it fails to sink in.

Tags: Business Focus, Office 2010, Rants
Posted in Blog | 2 Comments »

Bad website design with automatic language selection

Monday, April 26th, 2010

Many websites are designed to allow for multiple languages.  They often will detect where in the world you are and adjust the language settings to suit that aspect of it.  I had not thought too much about it until now.  I’ve been in Taipei, Taiwan for the last week and I’ve attempted to use some common sites to do various things.  I’ve found that many of the sites all default to Chinese language and some of them do not make it easy for you to change it to your native language – in my case English.  here’s what YouTube looks like from Taiwan.  No where on the page, no matter what link I clicked on, could I change it to English – this made the site unusable to me which was a real pain in the rear.

I tried to hover over various links and then see what URL they linked to in the hope that I could change the language to English – but without luck.  In the end I gave up and will post my videos once I get home tomorrow.  I did like Trends method though.  When I entered www.trendmicro.com into my URL bar in IE, it gave me the Taiwanese site by default, but it also listed the Country in the top right corner of the screen.  I found that when I hovered over it, the site showed me in English a list of all sites in the world – therefore it allowed me to quickly change to the US or Australian English site.

Tags: Rants
Posted in Blog | 1 Comment »

Grrr to Bigpond and usage limits

Thursday, April 8th, 2010

My home network is on a 50GB plan with Bigpond, and 3 days ago I received notice that I’d hit 40GB for the month.  Our month ends on 10th, therefore 10GB left to go for the week.  For some reason however we used that 10GB in 3 days. grrr… now we are speed limited to 64kbps.  Ok – the solution for me today is to bump the limit – which means 100GB and $129/month now instead of the $109/month I was paying.  However that only takes effect from midnight tonight so I’m stuck at 64kb for the day today.

Consider for a moment that if my business was 100% reliant on the Cloud for everything then I’d be totally screwed for the next 24 hours.  If I had staff then they would be stuck at stupidly low speed and be unable to work.

 

 

Now – the next thing I need to do is to install a firewall that allow me to measure which devices are downloading the data, and WHAT they are downloading.  Maybe then I can catch out my kids when I find they are downloading lots of things I’ve told them not to   more on that another time.

Tags: Cloud Computing, Rants, Telstra
Posted in Blog | 3 Comments »

EBS 2008 is dead – Post Mortem time

Monday, March 15th, 2010

I spent some time this last week being very angry and upset over Microsoft’s decision to kill the EBS 2008 and future mid market product based on it.  It’s now a week later and I’ve got to say I’m really surprised at the lack of response from other resellers on this topic.  I’m also somewhat surprised at some of the comments and in particular who they come from on my previous blog entry from a week ago.  Don’t get me wrong – I really appreciate it and I think it’s helped "realign" my expectations for the future.  I don’t like to end things on a negative and I always try hard to look for the light at the end of the tunnel, so where to from here?  I thought a post mortem would be in order as I believe very much in trying to learn from our mistakes.

Why did this hurt me and my business badly?

I think the first reason it hurt was because I personally had invested a LOT of time into EBS 2008.  I had for 12 months last year, worked part time with Microsoft in getting the message out there to the channel.  I was tasked with helping resellers understand the EBS positioning and messaging at a technical level along with other things. I was able to help project the message to the channel because I personally believed in it.  I believed that this product had what we needed to help move things along in the Medium business space.

I have over the past 4-5 years been involved in discussions with the EBS team as the product developed.  There are bits of EBS that I can say "that was my idea" and that gave me a great feeling, being able to personally contribute to a product that would have such positive effects on business’s that deployed it.  I’ve installed EBS countless times during the beta’s and helped find and resolve many issues with it (like the one where it downloaded 10GB of WSUS data immediately after installation that would kill most Aussie internet connections).

At a business level, we’ve invested and were investing more and more into it.  We had a number of our techs train up on it, and play with it even at home.  One of our guys even spent $10,000 of his own hard earned cash to buy a server just so he could virtualise EBS and learn it’s ins and outs.  We’ve had customer discussions about their growth and sold them on the idea that EBS was a natural growth path out of SBS.  We’ve had long term planning discussions with customers and got them budgeting for EBS as their business grows.  Now we need to go back to them and tell them that the products will cost more, and the implementation services will cost more as well.

All this hurts when you find the product is no longer there…

 

What went wrong and what can we learn from this?

I think we can learn a few things from this and hopefully the good people at Microsoft will think about this when they next have a crack at the Medium Business space.

Lack of proper positioning – initially EBS was positioned as the big brother to SBS and I feel that was wrong.  It had the SBS resellers saying it was too expensive, and the medium business customers were thinking it’s too small for them.. Sure once you get past those initial impressions with customers the problems and concerns go away.  You realise that EBS was in fact well suited for the Medium business space.  I believe that Microsoft have more recently however realised this and were set on a better course.

Lack of decent reseller training – EBS is a deep product indeed – and I really don’t think that the depth of training was there for the SMB reseller.  The most you had was a 5 day course on EBS (which was normally run as a 3 day abbreviated course). During that time you had to come to grips with the unique EBS installation method, System Centre Essentials, Exchange 2007, ForeFront Security for Exchange and ForeFront Threat Management Gateway.  Each of those products are deep in their own right.  Therefore it’s my belief that there should have been two levels of course – the first being a course for the experienced IT tech that takes them over the Unique EBS things, the installation process, and the customisations that EBS had done for it.  The second course would be more in-depth on the component products.

Lack of ability for resellers to SELL the product – I honestly don’t believe that most SBS resellers had the knowledge or ability to correctly position and sell EBS.  Most SBS resellers are very focused on the smaller end of the SBS market and they do very well there indeed.  However selling to the Medium Business market is a different beast altogether.  You are selling to the IT manager, not the small business owner.  You are dealing more with budgetary processes that have longer lead times than in the SBS space.  A typical SBS sale can be proposed, and closed in 3-4 weeks, however an EBS sale can be 6 months in the making as you work with a larger business and their processes.  Those things don’t exist in the SBS space anywhere near as much as they do in the medium business space.

 

What can be done to make it better?

I feel that Microsoft have left us hanging for the moment.  We don’t know (aside from the Enterprise level products) what we can provide to our clients.  Microsoft have said that EBS is not needed anymore as there is a move to the cloud…. that being the case they need to clearly communicate this to the reseller channel. They need to provide a solid roadmap NOW for their resellers to enable us to build OUR joint business together.  Microsoft may be our largest vendor in terms of influence on our business direction, and that is certainly something we are thinking long and hard about. 

They need to provide more guidance on how to more quickly install EBS style configurations.  For example, I’ve yet to find some decent guides on how to get SCE up and running quickly and have it tuned the same way that EBS was done.  I’d love to see a guide on how to get SCE up and running and configured in under an hour.  We need similar guides on the remaining components as well.  These will help us continue to service the Medium business space at a cost effective manner and hopefully will not blow out the services installation costs which can cripple a project like this.

They need to provide guidance on how to use advanced features of the products – ie TWWEB is a partial replacement for RWW – but so little is known about it, how to configure it and so on.  We need guides that will show us how to do these things.  The information I’m sure is available somewhere on www.microsoft.com but finding it can be difficult.

 

Final thoughts

My final thoughts on the subject relate to the future for other members of the Windows Essential Server Solutions (WESS) family.  With EBS 2008 dead, there is no longer a family as such… there’s just SBS 2008.  We’re back to where we were a few years back with a single product.

I’ll be watching carefully developments in this space as should you.  Be mindful at all times of what your customers requirements are and ensure that you provide solutions to their requirements – that is after all why you are the trusted advisor is it not?

My concern is that Microsoft are too caught up in trying to compete with others vs making products that suit customer requirements.  I think they need to concentrate on being the flame, not the moth.

 

This will be my last post on this topic for a bit.  Yes I’m still upset, but we need to move on and focus on things that we can use to help our customers make more money and in turn it’s effect on our business models and hip pockets.

Tags: Business Focus, EBS 2008, Rants, SBS 2008
Posted in Blog | 2 Comments »

Microsoft kill EBS (Essential Business Server)!

Saturday, March 6th, 2010

I learned about this yesterday, but due to NDA could not talk about it until now.  This has been the most frustrating 24 hours I can remember.

At 8am PST Friday March 5th, 2010, Microsoft pronounced dead on arrival their EBS Product Line. This includes both the upcoming release (EBS v2) and the current product EBS 2008.  June 30, 2010 is the last day of sales for EBS 2008 and they have totally killed the next version of EBS v2 which was in development.

Wow…. this is an amazing wake up call for us all.  Here is a product (EBS) that has been in the making for the last 5 years, and only publicly available since November 2008, and now just over 12 months after it’s gone on sale, Microsoft have canned not only it, but all future versions of it.

I don’t know about you, but this scares the shit out of me.  I’ve built my business for years on the SMB space, and just when I thought Microsoft was really starting to understand the needs of the Medium business market, they go an cancel the product. I had an insight into EBS v2 but can’t disclose what was in it.  What I can say was that I was even more assured that the EBS team really GOT IT.  They UNDERSTOOD what the Medium business market needed.  So what do Microsoft do with all this knowledge…. they go and kill the only product they have that suits that market.  They leave current SBS customers with no real viable upgrade path from SBS except to their ENTERPRISE products…

They’ve effectively said that we think that the medium business market can make do with individual server products, rather than an integrated suite like we have with SBS.  They’ve decided that all that marketing over the past few years about how it’s easier to manage multiple servers in your EBS network via one console is just marketing crap and there is no real value in it at all.  They’ve decided that the Medium business market does not need features such as Remote Web Workplace or any of the great functionality that the EBS team have produced.

The people on the EBS team – led by Chuck Archer – they really know their stuff.  I’m saddened to hear that the last 5 years of THEIR HARD WORK has led to this.  Microsoft should be ashamed of itself for this decision.  I really cannot understand the rationale behind Microsoft making this decision.  I’ve been told that “it will be fine, just wait for the next version of Windows server and you’ll see…”  Sorry Microsoft – but that is likely 2 + years away… what do I sell my customers NOW???

Let’s look at this from other perspectives.

What about the partner channel?  EBS has been slow to pickup in the channel because Microsoft really didn’t do a great job of promoting it correctly.  Initially they promoted it as “big SBS” which was plain wrong as it was so much more, and honestly your average SBS reseller is not selling into the EBS market.  That I think was a major flaw in Microsoft logic – believing that any SBS reseller could sell EBS.

Ok – so what about those resellers that were starting to “get EBS” or those that got it from the start?  Where are they to go next?  Well some are just going to seriously loose out on their business.  Personally – I was predicting around $500,000 NEW Revenue from EBSv2 in the next financial year in my reseller business Correct Solutions.  We had around 8 sales lined up already with clients and even today I was due to take an order for for $110,000 of HP server hardware that I had to hold off on until I figure out what the alternate strategy is.  Microsoft – you fail to realise that those of us that have built a business around this and have supported you EVERY SINGLE STEP OF THE WAY are now going to pay the price.

Am I angry… yes.  I’m angry for a few reasons.  I’m angry because I didn’t see this coming.  I didn’t predict that Microsoft would make such a dumb assed move as to kill a product like this that held such great potential.  I’m angry because I believed in my heart that this was winner and I KNOW that customers will be adversely affected by this decision.  I’m angry because I’ve spent a fair bit of my own blood sweat and tears selling this product to our clients – heck we did an EBS 2008 install TODAY and now I have to tell the client on Monday that the product is discontinued.  I’m angry because maybe I drank too much of the Kool-Aid and actually believed in Microsoft.  Yes – maybe I’m the dumb ass in all of this. Maybe I should not be trusting Microsoft with my future or the future of my business.  Microsoft you are making me rethink a lot of things.  I’ve got to say that you will probably make a LOT of resellers do the same with this move.

So, I’ve got to ask one final question…. what next Microsoft?  What dumb assed move will you make next and take us by surprise?

Tags: EBS 2008, Microsoft, Rants
Posted in Blog | 13 Comments »

Fabulatech USB over Ethernet Problems

Tuesday, February 16th, 2010

Many of you will know that I’ve been a big proponent of the Fabulatech USB over Ethernet software specifically for use with the Microsoft Hyper-V environments.  I’ve spoken very highly of their product and how we use it in our client environments.  Well I’m sorry to say that has changed.  We are now testing an alternate product to suit this requirement called KernelPro.  So far our tests have shown this product and vendor to be superior in all the ways that the Fabulatech product has failed us.

So how has the Fabulatech product failed us? Where do I start.

How about BSOD on the Hyper-V host?  Install the product, and reboot. The Hyper-V host BSODs and you can’t get out of it.  Your only choice is to go into Last Known Good Configuration and try to remove the product… whats’ that the product says it’s removed but now is still there?  Ok – let’s ask Fabulatech support… yes – we did that… over 2 weeks ago, provided the memory.dmp file.  That was on the 4th Feb – their response was “we don’t have anyone that can analyse that until 8th Feb.”  Ok – not ideal but we wait.  We’ve sent a number of followup emails from them since then and are as at today – 12 days after sending them the memory.dmp still waiting on a response.

How about random lockups of the Hyper-V host?  Again something we’ve seen.  Fabulatech’s response “we’ll fix it eventually…”  They are not taking into account that we’ve purchased their product to solve business problems and those business problems need to be solved now, not “eventually”.

Let’s try their Serial over Ethernet with Serial Fax Modems then… only to find out that it’s not working. The product has gone past the 30 day eval, so we’ve had to pay for it.  Fabulatech has again been involved in investigating the problem… I believe for 3 months now.  So we’ve decided to ask for a refund so that we can at least install another product.  Fabulatech’s response is “We don’t provide refunds, we provide the evaluation period for you to try the product which you have then purchased. We will fix the product eventually”

So the problem for us here, is not just a failure of the product, but a failure of the organisation to understand the business requirements of our customers and respond in an appropriate time.  We have gone through all the correct channels to obtain support and help, but to no avail.  I can therefore only decide to no longer use their product and also to advise others of my decision to change so that they too might not have the same problems.  I’m keen to hear more about your experiences with this product too.

Tags: Business Focus, Hyper-V, Rants
Posted in Blog | 1 Comment »

Harvey Norman enters the fray on Windows 7 Pricing

Wednesday, November 25th, 2009

Over a month ago, I blogged here and in CRN Australia about the insane price delta between the US price for Windows 7 and the Australian price for it.  The initial response I got from various quarters was that nobody has really made a concern of this to Microsoft and they felt that it didn’t really affect sales.  Microsoft commented that the fault was with the retailers themselves causing the high price of Windows 7.  Today it was revealed however that Australia’s biggest nationwide reseller of computers, Harvey Norman has been loosing sales due to the price delta vs. online stores such as Amazon.  Also in the article, Microsoft effectively ADMIT that they CHOOSE to charge Aussies more… basically because we earn more money… that to me is not only totally unfair, but so close to a rip-off I can’t see daylight.

Really, Microsoft… what will it take for you to listen to us? Should we all start buying our product from China for everything?  How will that affect the local MS office in the long run?

Tags: Business Focus, Rants, Windows 7
Posted in Blog | No Comments »

Your account has been speed limited…

Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009

Yes – it’s a message that we here in Australia are all too used to seeing.  Most ISPs here offer their broadband in various speed limited / capped plans to rip us off even more.  I’m with Telstra Bigpond and my billing cycle starts on 10th of the month.  Due to Telstra monopoly over the phone exchanges they are the ONLY ONES that I can use to get DSL2 + here at home.  I’ve tried unsuccessfully but we are on a RIM exchange and ONLY TELSTRA can do this due to their internal policies.

I’ve been ill the last few days with a massive chest/throat infection and today the day that Sydney is gripped by the fiercest dust storm in history, I’m now forced to head out to client sites to do work that I could have done from home… all due to Telstras billing practices.

Oh – yes – I do have an option.. I can increase my plan from the 12GB per month – which BTW is both upload AND download, to 25GB.  Therefore my monthly cost will now be $109 per month…(I have a static IP which they charge and extra $10 for per month.  And once I increase my plan I canNOT decrease it therefore being FORCED to stay on the higher charges.

People wonder if Cloud computing will take off here in Australia, whilst there are predatory billing practices like this from our largest telco and whilst they own the majority of the communications infrastructure then no – it’s a dead duck.  No business person in their right mind is going to move everything to the cloud whilst things like this exist.

Tags: Cloud Computing, Rants, Telstra
Posted in Blog | No Comments »

The difference between Yoda and you

Friday, May 22nd, 2009

Tags: Rants
Posted in Blog | No Comments »

Identity theft – someone stole my SBSGuru ID.

Thursday, March 6th, 2008

Tags: Rants
Posted in Blog | No Comments »

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