David M Smith

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Corporate crapware – will consumerization help drive it or eliminate it.

by David M. Smith  |  January 19, 2012  |  3 Comments

Barely a day goes by without more news about Macs gaining in the enterpris and I still see the occasional rant about crapware (e.g., the loads of preinstalled software that comes loaded on consumer PCs by hardware manufacturers). On the surface, these seem unrelated concepts. But I think there is an interesting connection. Crapware in [...]

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Private PaaS, General Page Fault and Colonel Panic: which doesn’t belong?

by David M. Smith  |  September 6, 2011  |  2 Comments

  OK, Trick question. I know it’s kernel panic and by that reasoning, it should be the odd man out. But I will make a case for Private PaaS as the others are always used to mean something real. Private PaaS, not so much. Yes, that sound you hear is my head exploding. Private PaaS. [...]

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Microsoft BUILDing suspense, but letting confusion fester

by David M. Smith  |  August 17, 2011  |  Comments Off

The suspense around Microsoft’s future is building. Many of the answers will be forthcoming during the company’s upcoming Build conference. Nominally a renaming of its PDC and WinHEC developer conferences, this year’s event comes at a critical time for the company. It is facing unprecedented competition from Apple and Google – much of which threatens [...]

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Nokia dilemma about geography and culture

by David M. Smith  |  February 10, 2011  |  Comments Off

Everybody’s weighing in on the big Nokia news expected tomorrow.  This isn’t about the actual choice widely expected to be be that Nokia and Microsoft reach a deal around Windows Phone 7. I actually predicted this when Stephen Elop joined Nokia. So that’s not surprising to me at least. Although the speed at which the [...]

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Windows Phone is “Too Big to Fail”

by David M. Smith  |  November 11, 2010  |  Comments Off

When Steve Ballmer was interviewed at Gartner Symposium in Orlando last month, he said that his riskiest product bet is the next version of Windows.  I agree with him. What’s not obvious is what is on the critical path to that product.  I believe it is Windows Phone 7. Here’s why: It’s simple. it’s the [...]

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Microsoft PDC10 shows big changes

by David M. Smith  |  October 29, 2010  |  1 Comment

As a platform company at its heart, PDC is a great way to understand what Microsoft’s real strategies are.  In addition to its focus on three trends that are popular overall (HTML5, mobile, and cloud), the specifics show some significant changes and enhancements to the the company’s strategy. First, HTML5.   Microsoft led off with this [...]

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Twitter as the CB Radio of today

by David M. Smith  |  September 24, 2010  |  1 Comment

  I’m not saying that Twitter is a fad (as some said of the Internet way back when).  Just trying to make some connections. Two recent events (OK, not so recent as they were a few months ago but hey, I’ve been busy and finally decided to do some more blogging…) made me think about [...]

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Oracle spins its cloud strategy 360 degrees

by David M. Smith  |  September 20, 2010  |  Comments Off

Oracle Open World opened yesterday with a keynote that included CEO Larry Ellison talking about its cloud strategy.  It wasn’t very long ago that Larry was quoted saying some not so nice things about the term cloud. So what’s happened? Has he changed his mind?  Details are sparse and will likely be expanded upon later [...]

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Google and net neutrality: Head Fake or “If you can’t beat ‘em join ‘em”?

by David M. Smith  |  September 15, 2010  |  Comments Off

There has been much talk of Google by way of its partnership with Verizon vis a vis Net Neutrality.  Many opinions describe it as Google going against its long standing “don’t be evil’” mantra. No comment here on that topic. However, Google has indeed backed the concept of net neutrality for a long time.  It [...]

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Elop to Nokia. Will Nokia embrace Windows Phone 7?

by David M. Smith  |  September 10, 2010  |  3 Comments

News broke overnight about Microsoft Office executive Stephen Elop moving to Nokia as CEO. This by itself is shocking news, but what other shocking aftershocks might follow? I’m no Nokia expert. All I know is that my first mobile phone was from Nokia back in the 90s but that nothing they’ve made recently has been [...]

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