March 8, 2010
iPAD ASPECT RATIO
Apple has a new TV ad for the iPad that appears to be deliberately deceptive.
One of the strangest choices for the Apple iPad was its shape – nearly square, like an iPod or an old-fashioned TV, instead of widescreen, taller and narrower, like an iPhone or a widescreen TV. The proportions of an old TV or CRT monitor are 4:3 – almost square. A new widescreen TV or monitor is proportioned like a movie screen, usually 16:9. The screen on the iPhone is not quite true widescreen (it’s somewhere in between 4:3 and 16:9), but one […] continued
February 9, 2010
MICROSOFT FLOUNDERS
Windows 7 is a staggering achievement. Microsoft delivered exactly the right product at the right time and will completely dominate desktop computing for the foreseeable future.
Microsoft shows no signs of being able to do anything similar in any of the other areas that will be important to consumers and small businesses in the next ten years.
At some point in the next few months, Microsoft will roll out revamped versions of its Windows Live family – Hotmail, Messenger, Skydrive, and the main Windows Live portal. Some screenshots have leaked but very little information has been […] continued
November 30, 2009
THE SHRINKING OF THE LONG TAIL
A full-scale war is brewing between Amazon and Wal-Mart and it’s not completely obvious that consumers will be the winners. Prices are not the only thing that matters; we will all be poorer if we have less variety available as a side effect of the war.
Wal-Mart started the war last month by marking down ten best-sellers to ten dollars if they were ordered online from Wal-Mart. Amazon responded quickly by matching the price, Wal-Mart went down another dollar, Target jumped in to lower things a few more cents, and the result is that I got Stephen King’s massive […] continued
November 25, 2009
BLACK FRIDAY
Have you noticed how the Thanksgiving shopping experience has changed in the last few years?
Until recently, merchants tried to build excitement by keeping the Friday sale prices secret until the Thursday ads appeared in the newspaper. An online cottage industry grew up around early leaks of the sale information, causing WalMart and Target and the other giants to get terribly excited and issue dire threats of lawsuits against anyone daring to publicize their sales. That never really made much sense, actually.
Meanwhile, as online commerce took off, the online retailers tried to create “Cyber Monday” out […] continued
November 9, 2009
LEXISNEXIS KILLS BILLING MATTERS
Billing Matters, the LexisNexis law office billing and accounting program, was killed last week. This was circulated Thursday and appeared in the TechnoLawyer newsletter.
"Effective September 1, Billing Matters® will be placed in maintenance mode. During maintenance mode, LexisNexis will continue to resolve known issues and provide technical support in accordance with our standard practices, but no new features or functionality will be added. Billing Matters will continue to be released in conjunction with new versions of Time Matters until Billing Matters is sunset on 12/31/2013. Existing users of Billing Matters will continue to have access to update versions
[…] continued
November 4, 2009
MICROSOFT ONLINE SERVICES LOWERS PRICES
Microsoft Online Services has unexpectedly become more affordable and a more compelling choice for small businesses. I want all law firms and businesses with five or more employees to consider moving their mail to hosted Exchange mailboxes.
Effective immediately, the price of a hosted mailbox has been cut in half to $5/month per mailbox. Existing MOS customers will automatically get the price break starting today.
Later this month, mailboxes will be increased in size to 25Gb at no extra charge.
For a small monthly subscription fee, small businesses can get the full value of Exchange Server:
MULTIPLE
[…] continued
November 2, 2009
MICROSOFT DROPS OFFICE ACCOUNTING
Microsoft is now completely out of the accounting software market, following Friday’s announcement that it is dropping all of its remaining Office Accounting products.
At one time it appeared that Microsoft was going to be a player in accounting software for small business. It created overlapping products – “Small Business Financials,” “Small Business Accounting,” “Microsoft Office Accounting” – and claimed to be fully committed to staying in for the long haul. By the end […] continued
September 30, 2009
HP DATA VAULT FOLLOWUP
Philip Churchill’s WHS blog has more details on the HP Data Vault, built on Windows Home Server. There are some fuzzy screen shots in the HP white paper showing that HP’s software has been lightly overhauled to make it look more businesslike, with less emphasis on media streaming and sharing photos and music. The HP Data Vault is otherwise virtually identical to HP’s consumer MediaSmart boxes.
This strikes me as a good thing. The Windows Home Server devices deserve a businesslike look and feel – they’re tremendous for small businesses. I’m looking forward to setting them up.
September 29, 2009
HP & WINDOWS HOME SERVER FOR BUSINESS
Devices built on Windows Home Server can be perfect for backups and file sharing in small business networks. Here’s more information about what it means to use Windows Home Server to back up workstations in small businesses.
It’s been hard to explain that to business owners. The name “Windows Home Server” does not precisely shout out, “Backup System For Small Businesses,” does it? I’ve felt uncomfortable in law offices unpacking the HP MediaSmart from boxes festooned with dancing photographs and filmstrips and happy children’s faces.
The reality is that Windows Home Server backs up […] continued
September 7, 2009
WINDOWS FOUNDATION SERVER 2008
Trying to help a very small business decide on technology that will last for 5-10 years has always been an interesting challenge, and the choices are completely different now than they were just a few years ago. Small Business Server 2003 was an obvious choice for a long time but Small Business Server 2008 is only one of many possibilities now, and I’m frequently recommending alternatives, especially for businesses with 4-10 computers where SBS 2008 might be overkill.
Microsoft has quietly released an interesting product, Windows Foundation Server 2008, and I’m not sure yet where it fits in. It […] continued
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