Community
Tolly on Technology
Open source and secret sauce
04-11-07
A few weeks back, one of The Tolly Group’s testing clients got a fair bit of press when it announced test results showing
that its open source, Fast Ethernet router outperformed Cisco’s 2821 Integrated Services Router.
Redmond vs. Red Hat: Divide and conquer
12-15-06
As we close out the year, it is instructive to ponder last month's pro-Linux announcement by Microsoft. It tells us a lot
about how the company's thinking is evolving with respect to competition. And, more importantly, what that might mean to customers
in the coming year.
TCO and the PC upgrade problem
06-12-06
While the corporate world still remains married to Windows at the desktop, Linux vendors are making efforts to start cracking
this market. The vendors have acknowledged that working with Linux distributions generally require more "under the hood" type
of knowledge than most corporate users care to deal with and are working to evolve the "hobbyist" look and feel to a more
corporate one.
Virtualization coming to desktops
05-29-06
Whether you like it or not, if you are at all involved with selecting the corporate desktop, you are going to have to deal
with virtualization. Intel's recent announcement of its vPRO and its attendant publicity campaign will make sure of that.
The regression of software openness
03-06-06
It is ironic that when it cost real money to produce hard-copy documents and microfiche and ship it to customers, programming
information was readily available, but in today's world of soft copy and Web-searching, Microsoft continues to deny this information
to the world.
VoIP: more survivable than legacy PBX
12-19-05
For many years, those of us in the analyst community had been talking about the coming migration to VoIP. While we touted
the benefits, virtually everyone acknowledged that the price we would pay would be to say goodbye to the vaunted "five nines"
of 99.999% uptime. But innovations achieved during the current VoIP revolution illustrate that VoIP systems can be demonstrably
more survivable and reliable than their predecessors.
Closing the door on Windows
09-12-05
They say insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. So instead of buying my nth Windows
machine, I purchased an Apple PowerBook G4. That was 60 days ago. I'm not going back.
Does the OS matter anymore?
06-20-05
Most of us have been conditioned for so long that the Microsoft "platform" is essential that we scarcely pause to think about
alternatives. But as long as we can perform our essential tasks - print that report, send that e-mail - does the operating
system really matter?
Circumventing Microsoft
03-14-05
Notwithstanding the fact it will be many years before very many corporate users might be able to work in a "Microsoft-free"
environment, there appears to be significant effort being put forth to make it a reality. From the geekiest tech pubs, like
the Java Developer's Journal to august ones such as The Wall Street Journal, circumventing Microsoft is a hot topic.
Microsoft: Sitting duck - with baggage
09-13-04
OK, I know that I won't win any awards for the mixed metaphor that headlines this column. But, as I flipped through a recent
issue of The Wall Street Journal and saw, first, a piece about Microsoft's woes with Internet Explorer and then a piece about
the delay of WinFS beyond 2006, that is what came to mind.
Windows XP: 'Lite' at the end of the tunnel
08-30-04
The ultimate "simplification," though, is to remove all support for PC-to-PC home networking and printer sharing. Back to
the good, ol' "simple" days of sneaker-net. Only Microsoft would try to get away with taking most of the value out of a product
and telling the customer that it is for their own good.
Lookout for Outlook
08-16-04
The Google-like simplicity of Lookout from Lookout Software is a welcome relief. And simpler is better. Not only are your
search results delivered, by default, ranked by relevance but using simple keywords, such as "from," you also can hone your
search without resorting to the likes of the aforementioned "double advanced" menus.
Linux creeps into the enterprise
05-24-04
It is not a question of "if" you'll deploy Linux in your company, but rather when - and how deep. There's a good chance that
you've deployed it already and don't know it. Even if you're not ideologically opposed to Microsoft, there are just too many
benefits to ignore Linux for very long.
Another black eye for 'Trustworthy Computing'
09-15-03
When the "worms of August" arrived, I wonder what percentage of the Internet's bandwidth was consumed downloading service
packs and "critical fixes" from Microsoft?
Microsoft's Munich
07-07-03
Some three score years ago, a meeting in Munich played a pivotal role in determining the course of a world war. As that Bavarian
city gets set to roll out Linux to the desktops of its 14,000 knowledge workers, it might evolve into the most important battle
yet in the escalating war between Windows 2000/XP and Linux.
Application service provider or self-service?
11-25-02
I need what ExpertCity offers with its GoToMyPC service. I was sold - until I saw that, for enabling the service on just two
target PCs (my minimum), I'd have to pay $30 per month. (They offer a 25% discount for annual contracts.) I had the same reaction
to this as I do to Columbia House CD club mailings - go away.
Contact info
Kevin Tolly is president and CEO of The Tolly Group. E-mail him.
• Dell puts Linux and Atom in Vostro PCs
• Mozilla names best Firefox 3 add-ons
• Torvalds: Fed up with the 'security circus'
• Dell Latitude ON - big win for Linux
• Open source advocates hail appeals court ruling
LinuxWorld Conference and Expo San Francisco, August 4-7, 2008.
Linux Plumbers Conference Portland, OR, Sept. 16-19, 2008.
FreedomHEC Santa Monica, November 8-9, 2008.
