IT looking forward

Video recorded at Microsoft tech days, 16 April 2010, following (and referencing) David Bishop at Microsoft’s “Vision of the Future” presentation. Enjoy!

What personality is your IT department?

Over the years I’ve spent quite a lot of time thinking about the idea of IT maturity models – which are great in principle, but, to be frank, a bit of a blunt instrument when it comes to gauging reality. Many IT organisations are quite comfortable where they are in terms of maturity for example [...]

Why Sun Microsystems makes me angry

It’s not often in this job that I feel genuinely cross about an industry situation, but I find that’s the case with Sun Microsystems. before I start I should declare my hand – I used to run a Sun environment of a few tens of servers and a few hundred workstations. When I say “I [...]

Reading The Big Switch #1 – the economist’s world view

Recently I’ve got into the habit of picking up (largely from the Library) a number of books of a certain genre, and ploughing my way through them – in general, it is the ones that are most compelling that will drive me past the first few pages. And so, I currently have, on the bedside [...]

Cloud computing – myth or reality?

If you’re interested in cloud computing and whether there is any substance behind it, you may wish to take a look at this presentation. It was compiled following discussions across the Freeform Dynamics team, and is undoubtedly a work in progress – we shall update our understanding as this area of IT evolves and solidifies. [...]

Shorts: the Zune as a cautionary tale for Microsoft interoperability

The Microsoft Zune. Nice hardware. well thought through. Works with Xbox. However. Requires own sync software. Doesn’t work with Windows Media Player. Can’t interact with Windows Mobile. Two indexing mechanisms, on top of Windows indexing. Online social tools still vapourware. No integration with Mesh. And, for the record, no non-Windows client. Ouch.

Social existentialism, and the Yourdon-Fry effect

“I’m no stranger to celebrity myself,” said the man. And in a way it was true – he had spent many years working closely with such types. Who was he? It doesn’t really matter – he could have been a journalist, a PR guy, a lawyer, a waiter, a taxi driver or indeed, even a [...]

Just registered for Vollee

Apparently my phone passes the test, so a link is on its way. Second Life on mobile phones, in case you’re wondering.

Pitching at briefings, and the evolving analyst space

Here’s a story. When I first became an analyst for Bloor Research in 1999, I remember going to a briefing with IBM at Bedfont Lakes near Heathrow, with none other than Steve Mills. I knew he was important, but frankly, I had little idea why – I had come straight from an IT consulting background, [...]

Computers that just work…

… and do we need faster computers anymore? Themes I’m thinking about. Interestingly, the former points towards Microsoft and Apple, and the latter points towards open source. I think. More to follow.