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Michael Dell pulls a Steve Jobs
Michael Dell has returned as the chief executive for the computer manufacturer that he founded in 1984.
The move reminds of the return of Steve Jobs to Apple in 1997 after he ceded the CEO chair in 1983. The main difference of course is that Jobs was forced to leave Apple in 1985, where Michael Dell has always stayed on as the company's chairman.
Dell needs to revamp its product portfolio just like Apple needed to 10 years ago.
Dell has branded itself as a maker of low cost machines and now is stuck selling systems that lack in profitability and has been pushing high end systems under the XPS brand and acquired Alienware.
But contrary to Steve Jobs, Michael Dell isn't known for his technology vision. Instead he is a clever businessman who was able to adopt an innovative business model that literally killed much of the competition. Beige computer boxes don't drive growth anymore. Innovation and appealing design do.
It remains unclear if Michael Dell can provide a solution to those problems.
Dell at CES last January
January 31, 2007 at 11:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Vista's "wow" gets put on hold
We're still puzzled why Bill Gates passed on the geek capital of the world for the launch of Windows Vista and opted for an event in New York instead. As a reward Silicon Valley has responded to Microsoft's biggest software launch ever... by completely ignoring it.
Microsoft chose Time Square in New York for the official unveiling, but in San Francisco it settled for a basement bound CompUSA computer store in the downtown area. The shop opened its doors at 10pm for a special event featuring San Francisco 49ers quarterback Alex Smith. For nerds with jobs, the store opened early this morning at 7am with a special performance by local radio personality Joe Rock.
The nightly opening brought out a small crowd, which reportedly didn't buy more than a dozen of Vista boxes/systems (it went for discounted printers and memory instead). The morning event meanwhile can be described only as a Complete Failure.
We showed up bright and early, hoping to witness a stampede for this revolutionary software, or at least some excited Microsoft fans eagerly waiting to get a copy of the first new Windows operating system in more than five years.
Maybe it was because many customers were hesitant to migrate to a new and largely unproven Windows version that in many cases requires costly graphic card updates. Or perhaps is a 7am release event just another demonstration of Microsoft's continued misunderstanding of its customers.
Microsoft marketeers resort to Starbucks, as Windows Vista failed to provide any eye-opening experiences this Tuesday morning.
January 30, 2007 at 11:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack
Bill Gates does the Daily Show... still not funny
If you ever doubted about Bill Gates' geek status, you only need to watch his interview with John Stewart in the Daily Show on the eve of the Windows Vista launch.
The interview itself isn't that interesting, but Stewart drives home two essential points that underline why Microsoft Windows is still too complicated. First he leaves Gates speechless when he asks what the F12 button is for (seriously... when is the last time that anybody used it?). Later Gates baffles his host when he talks about beta software, a term that few people outside the world of geeks understand.
Microsoft, or at least Gates, still doesn't understand that normal people just want a computer with an on and off switch, not a Swiss army knife.
January 30, 2007 at 08:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack
What will Windows Vista allow us to do?
Microsoft's top brass Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer have officially unveiled Windows Vista for consumers.
If you're really desperate, you can go to one of the launch parties at select CompuUSA or Best Buy stores tonight in the US. CompUSA even has some football stars to ensure that the event attracts some attention (football, as our recently hired US senior editor described it, is a sport where you can "watch large men run into each other").
Microsoft has been talking about Vista and its features for so long now, that we're suffering from an overdose. 3D application may be visually appealing, but after watching rotating windows flip by for months, it's just another feature.
The software is more secure. But just like a boat, you only find out that it has sprung a leak when it's too late. We'll happily credit Microsoft when we'll witness a drop in the number of cyber attacks two years from now (or sooner, hopefully).
Vista's media capabilities won't be of much use until we see some appealing hardware devices that are designed for the living room, or that allow consumers to easily access their data through a media adapter. And meanwhile Cisco and Google will try their hardest wipe out the foundation from under Vista by moving all our data online.
Vista admittedly is cool and a great piece of software. But time will tell if it will help us do amazing new things, or merely provide access to great new services.
January 30, 2007 at 01:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack
MySQL wished that Oracle would offer support, but it isn't
Oracle wiped out $700m of Red Hat's market capitalization when the database vendor unveiled that it would offer support for Red Hat Linux at a lower price that Red Hat's subscriptions.
But although the offering provided a competitive threat to Red Hat, it also validated the vendor's status as the world's leading Linux distributor.
MySQL wouldn't mind receiving a similar kiss of death, the firm's CEO Marten Mickos told Comptuer Business Review.
The story actually goes further by stating that "Oracle has suggested it will offer support for the MySQL code, undercutting the company, and Oracle is already distributing the open source database management system."
Mickos however was quick to refute the story's most blatant claim. Oracle has never suggested that it would offer support for the open source database.
And when it comes to distributing the database, that has been the case ever since Oracle started distributing Red Hat Enterprise Linux. The database after all is bundled with the Linux distribution. But turning that into a distribution agreement is like stating that Ford is in the gasoline refinery business, just because it there is gas in the vehicles that people buy.
"I never said that Oracle has threatened MySQL.(I think this may have
been the writer's editorial comment)," Mickos said in an emailed
statement. "Instead, I view it as a positive thing that Oracle
distributes MySQL. I have often suggested that Oracle should distribute
MySQL and I've made the same suggestion to Microsoft. Perhaps Oracle,
Microsoft or IBM will provide support for MySQL and that could be good
for open source in general. (And note that Red Hat, HP and others
already do so.)"
It's just another case of watching an experienced spin doctor at work.
Mickos
January 29, 2007 at 10:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Lost in linking translations
Last week Intel put together a last minute press event at its Santa Clara, CA corporate headquarters where it showed off its first working 45nm processors. They are slated for availability by the end of this year.
We were invited and produced a news piece, shot some pics of Intel CEO Paul Otellini (including the one on the left) as well as a video from the event.
Now blogging legend Rober Scoble (pictured below) is upset because we didn't link to any other blogs in our posts about the announcement.
Ok, I'll take the bait.
Scoble left a comment on Saturday morning requesting a link to a video of his. Admittedly, I didn't notice it until Monday morning. The video is 40 minutes long and provides a tour of one of Intel's fabs where the 45nm chips will be manufactured. It's a fine video, but the big news about Intel's the High-k and metal gates transistors is tucked away about 20-25 minutes into the video, way beyond my attention span. And even then, if offers largely the same information that is offered elsewhere. If Scoble would have pasted the link in his comment, I would have left it there.
We linked to news copy that we at vnunet.com produced ourselves (full disclosure: this blog is published by vnunet.com, currently part of the Nielsen Company (formerly called VNU) and soon to be owned by 3i). Because we feel that the copy is relevant to our readers.
If the latter is the case, Scoble is simply wrong. We do link to blogs if we feel that they provide relevant information that is accurate and verifiable, or if we use blogs as a source for a story – both on this blog and in our news coverage on vnunet.com.
A story that we fact checked and researched ourselves by definition is more verifiable to us than any blog posting. The sole exception would a blog posting by the Intel engineer who invented the technology (but even then we will often verify the authenticity of the posting with Intel's PR department). In this case our news story provided relevant information, so we linked to it instead of the NY Times or Podtech.net (Scoble's current employer, which had a reporter present at the Intel event).
Yes, we like traffic to our websites because it helps us pay the bills. So if all other factors are equal, we'll still link to our own content first. But we don't have a 'no linking' policy.
If Scoble claims that in general we should just link to blogs instead of established media, that's fine too. We appreciate his input and we'll continue to link to blogs if they information they provide is accurate, verifiable and relevant to our readers. Which is what we've always been doing.
Any discussion about how established media deal with emerging media is one worth having. But it seems that we are singled out for the wrong reasons.
I just hope that somehow I'm completely missing Scoble's point, in which case I'm sure that he'll find the comment section below. Otherwise, we'd happily continue to link to blogs when needed.
UPDATE:
Scoble seems to have come to his senses: "Raising a stink doesn’t bring the traffic"
January 29, 2007 at 08:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack
Intel's revolutionary 45nm evolution
Intel today won a race that nobody expected it to lose. The company unveiled the world's first 45nm processor: the Penryn (pictured right)
More notably, the chipmaker however unveiled that it did so without resorting to any fancy production techniques to cut power leakage. Instead it combined two promising technologies to get record results.
Intel has claimed bragging rights for being the first to get to High-k and metal gate technologies. The company's chief executive Paul Otellini (pictured left) must be especially proud of finding the appropriate materials to use in its metal gates.
But there is nothing fancy about the way that it got there: Intel essentially went down the list of elements found the materials that showed the right results (it is using two different materials for different functions).
The High-k gate meanwhile provide some much needed headroom in shrinking it down for future generations: the current 65nm chips use a layer that is only 5 atoms thick. Leave out one atom during production, and you just increased leakage by 20 per cent. The new technique uses hafnium instead, which is spread on so thick that there is plenty to shave off for future, smaller generations.
IBM too is preparing High-k technology, which it is expected to share with AMD and other chip manufacturers.
But lets get back to earth. Us mortal consumers will never see a single atom of hafnium. What does this get us?
We'll see a dramatic reduction in overall power consumption by our computers, allowing for longer battery life for our notebooks and ultra mobile PCs (UMPC). Or ultra slim and fanless desktop designs to match your living room sofa.
Enterprises will be able to fit more servers in a rack without increasing the overall power consumption of their data centres.
But that doesn't solve AMD's design lead in the server x86 space. The company still is the only one to have publicly spoken about having a monolithic quad core processor in the works. Intel meanwhile will remain to slap two dual core dies on a single chip, causing some significant overhead, performance loss and increased power consumption.
But that won't bother Intel much for now. The company can rest assured that its hold on the mobile market is tighter than ever and will continue working on more advanced chips. Today is Intel's party, and nothing is going to spoil it.
Photo of Intel's Penryn 45nm processor.
January 27, 2007 at 05:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBack
A look inside Intel's Penryn 45nm processor (video)
Intel Friday night unveiled the world's first 45nm processor. The chip isn't just the smalled one available today. More importantly, the company has solved the problem of chip leakage by swapping out some of the materials used to build chips.
The chipmaker furthermore has succeeded in cutting chip leakage without making any drastic changes to its design and production process. It merely swapped out some of the materials that is uses to construct transistors.
In the video below, we take a closer look at the issue of leakage and show how Intel's Penryn processor cuts it.
January 27, 2007 at 05:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack
Intel unveils its 45nm chips (video)
Intel has reached the 45nm finish line first. The chip maker at its corporate headquarters earlier this week showed off the first 45nm chips running on notebooks, desktops and servers.
Nobody doubted that Intel would get to 45nm, but the company surprised many by showing working silicon at such an early stage. Intel achieved this by minimizing the changes that it made to its chip design. The firm merely swapped out some of the materials that is used to manufacture its processors.
Chip manufacturing is a delicate process where the smallest change can have many unforeseen consequences.Sticking
to a well known production process limits the disruption in production
facilities, which in turn will result in higher yields and ultimately
more money in Intel's bank account.
In the video below Intel employees including CEO Paul Otellini discuss the benefits of the new chip.
January 27, 2007 at 05:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBack
AMD and Microsoft showcase Vista (video)
Earlier this week, AMD and Microsoft hosted a joint event in San Francisco to show how Windows Vista will be presented on a variety of devices.
AMD exec John Taylor gave us a tour of his gadgets and showed off a few examples of how Vista looks and feels on systems ranging from mid-level consumer desktops to high-end gaming monsters to tablet PCs.
Videos of the demos are available after the jump.
January 27, 2007 at 01:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack
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