Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> espoused:
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> CIOs Uncensored: For The Sake Of IT, Leave XP Alone
>
> ,----[ Quote ]
>| I just finished a presentation to a group of nontechnical executives, and I'm
>| even more angry about Microsoft's plan to end shipments of Windows XP this
>| summer. I'd been making my list of reasons Microsoft shouldn't get rid of XP.
>| Now I've got one more biggie--it's going to set back the hard-earned progress
>| CIOs have been making in getting IT viewed as a strategic part of their
>| organizations.
>|
>| [...]
>|
>| A flurry of discussion ensued, which one executive director summarized this
>| way: "Basically, it's the IT guys telling us what to do without asking
>| again." Huh? It's not your IT guys--it's Microsoft. Bill Gates, did you hear
>| that? You just got the entire IT profession lumped in with you and your
>| software plans.
> `----
>
> http://www.informationweek.com/news/management/interviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=208402425
> http://tinyurl.com/57t2st
>
> That's where Newham and Steele step in and do the shilling. Microsoft wants to
> be back in the race...
>
Half the problem here is that IT is *not* strategic to most organisations,
it's infrastructure like desks, chairs, offices, phones and so on. The
attempts to paint IT as a solver of problems (total tosh, people solve
problems, not systems), have ended up with CIOs in this nasty position
where they feel that they are without realistic choices.
If they'd focussed instead on getting the best deal, avoiding lock-in,
using integrated solutions, independent support houses and open
platforms, they'd not have a problem now, they could just ignore
Vista/NT6 and wouldn't have to worry one jot about whether XP would be
supported going forward, because it wouldn't matter.
Their applications would be hosted independently of the client-side OS,
so they wouldn't be in the dreadful position of having to keep the two
"in step".
Unfortunately, 30 years of poor decision making has got us to this
point, *but*, there's always time to fix these problems, and there's no
time like the present (as my nan would say). So go on, folks, crack the
lock-in, separate your business planning from Microsoft's roadmap.
--
| mark at ellandroad dot demon dot co dot uk |
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| Cola trolls: http://colatrolls.blogspot.com/ |
| Open platforms prevent vendor lock-in. Own your Own services! |
|
|
