Good morning. Sorry for the lack of updates yesterday. I left my hotel in Vegas at 4 am and spent the day on cramped US Airways planes, and was wiped out by the time I got home. I've got a lot to do today between the podcast, phone briefings, and of course the Kinect, and then I have to get ready for an all-day Microsoft briefing in New York City tomorrow. Ugh.
--
Dell CEO states the obvious: Windows Phone 7 is easier to develop for than Android. Well, duh. But here's another dirty little secret: it's easier than iOS too. Shh!
--
I'll have more on this in Windows IT Pro UPDATE next week, but Microsoft has published an interesting blog post describing Windows 7 momentum. Here are some interesting tidbits:
There are 1.2 billion PCs in the worldwide ecosystem.
There was 4.15% global PC unit growth in 2009, with nearly 17% growth expected for 2010 ... continuing at a rate of nearly 13% in 2011; PC sales have rebounded with Windows 7 as a key driver.
The number of IT managers that are deploying Windows 7 on new PCs will increase to 83% within a year.
Nearly all enterprise companies (89%) surveyed are moving forward with their Windows 7 plans within the next 24 months.
Windows 7 TCO/ROI: The average savings is $140 per PC per year and the average ROI is 131% in just over 12 months.
[Of the] over 350 million PCs sold in the last year, over 200 million [were sold] to consumers. There has been an increasing demand on IT by end users to move to Windows 7 as they experience the benefits at home.
Desktop virtualization will make tasks easier through technology and Microsoft virtualization provides the ability to separate the desktop into layers: User State, App, and OS. Since there are several virtualization technologies to consider, we have recently added a new Microsoft Desktop Virtualization zone on Springboard which offers guidance and tools to help IT Professionals learn about our desktop virtualization technology.
Today, Windows Intune is designed for businesses with unmanaged or lightly managed PC’s that need basic management, our long-term strategy is that Window Intune will integrate and deliver similarly rich functionality of our on premise products, like System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) and the MDOP, via the cloud. [Note that Intune is not currently available; it will ship in 2011. --Paul]
--
Is it me, or are all of Apple's many hardware problems curiously "fixed" by software updates? Between the iPhone 4 and the MacBook Air, it's unclear why we still respect Apple for its hardware design. Isn't "working" the prerequisite anymore?