Thom's Guided Tour » Apple

Is RIM Blackberry the New Novell?

Thom — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 23:21:38 +0000

The big red Novell N used to control the enterprise market.

In 2010 – Blackberry is to Apple as Novell was to Microsoft circa 1994. As hard as it may be to remember back that far, Microsoft was once an upstart that was derided for not being substantial enough to effectively serve business server and networking needs – suitable only for stand-alone PCs. Novell was seen as the proper choice for enterprises looking to network resources together. Blackberry is in the same position today with regards to email-enabled smartphones and making many of the same mistakes that Novell made.

Tablet Tabula Rasa

Thom — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 22:43:47 +0000

This is one speculative guess on what the iSlate Tablet might look like.

Despite having used and abandoned multiple tablets over the years, I’m still looking forward to Apple’s much anticipated iSlate, iPad or iMustHaveIt Tablet (or whatever it will be called). Of course those old tablets were used primarily for work, and the new Apple tablet is primarily a consumer device that might augment my professional life with no intention of being a replacement for my work laptop.

Inertia in IT – Changing Hearts and Minds

Thom — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 19:32:18 +0000

Tradition isn't just a song from Fiddler on the Roof - IT departments can be too traditional.

It is ironic that IT departments, whom people would assume would be most comfortable with change, can be in fact some of the most hide-bound corporate employees rigidly bound to traditions and policies that may no longer be relevant to today’s business environment.

Bring Out Your Dead! Windows XP – Not Dead Yet

Thom — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 21:03:27 +0000

As much as Microsoft would love to put Windows XP onto the cart of Dead OS's, Windows XP isn't dead yet.

Fans of Monty Python’s Holy Grail will remember the infamous “Bring out your dead – I’m not dead yet” sketch. With the release of Windows 7, Windows XP is the guy saying “I’m not dead yet”, while Microsoft is the guy saying “you will be”.

Updates – Revisiting Past Topics

Thom — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 13:40:31 +0000

Update columns are the crutch of columnists, both on and off-line.

A column of updates is every columnist’s favorite crutch when ideas aren’t flowing and blogging is no different. But of course, I am doing an update column because I think that some of the previous topics I’ve written about earlier are worth updating, not because I’m suffering from a lack of ideas.