The News Review:
- Google’s business software takes on Microsoft
- Steve Jobs’ iTunes dance
- Companies should prepare for iPhones
Google’s business software takes on Microsoft
Seattle Times – Feb 23, 2007
Versions of ffice range from $149 to $679 according to Microsoft’s Web site. The big question is how willing businesses and individuals will be to shift from in-house software such as ffice to tools that reside on remote servers dependent on an Internet connection. And while ffice can cost hundreds of dollars more than the Google package the Microsoft product has features including the PowerPoint presentation software that Google lacks. Working in favor of Google’s online tools in addition to the price difference is the fact that companies won’t have to devote resources to maintaining upgrading and repairing problems that might develop with the software. David Hawk dean of the School of Management at the New Jersey Institute of Technology said some businesses may migrate portions of their work to the Google platform but he doubts there will be a significant short-term shift. “A piece of a company will experiment with it to see how it works or how it doesn’t work. There’s bound to be hiccups and a lot depends on how big those are” he said.
Steve Jobs’ iTunes dance
salon.com – Feb 23, 2007
So if you shellac a one-atom-thick layer of DRM over a product you get the full power of the American legal system as a weapon to use against competitors. Apple may have created a successful.
Companies should prepare for iPhones
ITBusiness.ca – Feb 23, 2007
“I think Apple’s going to very tightly control the flow of applications onto this device” said Charles Golvin principal analyst for Forrester Research in San Francisco. “There are certain things that as a business user you need and it’s not clear if it’s on the device yet. ” Is there support for Microsoft ffice documents such as PowerPoint or Adobe PDF? “Without those things it’s usefulness as a business tool would be greatly reduced but I think Apple recognizes that. I would be greatly surprised if those applications either didn’t come bundled with the phone or quickly found their way onto the phone inexpensively. Still Golvin doesn’t think Apple will go directly after the business market. Those targeting that market such as RIM don’t need to start worrying about Apple said Brian Sharwood of the SeaBoard Group in Toronto. The two companies are going after very different markets and whereas Apple sells a piece of hardware RIM sells a service he said.