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  • coloneldebu...: 
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  you keep telling yourself that paul.

  Sep 04 02:29 PM | Link | Reply
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  • Archman Inv...: 
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  • The Complete Dividend Plan
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  • The Complete Dividend Plan
  << they need to refresh>>
  
  Really Mr. Otellini?
  They "need" to refresh?
  Wishful thinking or prayer? I'll let you decide.
  
  This from a company that is know for "raising" guidance at opportune times only to disappoint a quarter or so later by saying:
  "Oops, things suddenly got worse out of nowhere"

  Sep 04 02:30 PM | Link | Reply
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  • tweaks: 
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  I'm an IT Manager, and we are still using WIn95, Office97 (OpenOffice where we can) and thin clients with Terminal services. M$ isn't adding value to their product, just making it so their new OS doesn't work with old apps.

  Sep 04 02:33 PM | Link | Reply
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  • AndrewBaker: 
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  Like it or not, new hardware replaces the old stuff a lot quicker in IT. And cloud computing, thin clients and mobile smart telephony will make this even more the case, recession or not. I've picked and am picking my longer term holds from companies in this arena.

  Sep 04 02:40 PM | Link | Reply
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  • Lilguy: 
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  There is a point at which a company (or an individual, like myself) has to refresh its IT systems & software, but I think Mr Otellini is unduly optimistic about 2010 in this regard.
  
  I see absolutely no value in "refreshing" IT because MS has let out another dog OS--or even (miraculously!) a good OS. (VISTA was horrible--and I've never changed to it; still using XP and will until I'm confident OS7 (or 8, 9, or 10) is stable, friendly, and priced right.)
  
  Will the systems themselves die & need replacement? Yes, eventually, but I think the corporate and consumer world are a long ways from that in a major way. In fact, this recession could be a genuine test of just how rugged our old laptops and desktops and even dumb terminals really are. I'll stick with mine until I'm certain (a) it's dead or (b) I can substantially increase my productivity with a new machine (& that's not likely to happen any time soon).

  Sep 04 02:46 PM | Link | Reply
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  • Larrysyr: 
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  The original PC purchases were driven mostly by "killer apps" like spreadsheets and word processing. The next expansion came from the internet. Of course, as speed and reliability improve, some older machines start to act like dinosaurs.
  
  But just what would drive anyone to replace an XP machine? I just "refreshed" my home computer with a quicker, larger memory machine that runs all the same software we're used to, and it cost about $200. I think we're set until "Windows 8" comes out.

  Sep 04 02:50 PM | Link | Reply
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  • tweaks: 
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  I often tell folks that if I ever install a new M$ OS before SP2, I'll have to write myself up and reprimand me! ;-)
  
  
  On Sep 04 02:46 PM Lilguy wrote:
  
  > There is a point at which a company (or an individual, like myself)
  > has to refresh its IT systems &amp; software, but I think Mr Otellini
  > is unduly optimistic about 2010 in this regard.
  >
  > I see absolutely no value in "refreshing" IT because MS has let out
  > another dog OS--or even (miraculously!) a good OS. (VISTA was horrible--and
  > I've never changed to it; still using XP and will until I'm confident
  > OS7 (or 8, 9, or 10) is stable, friendly, and priced right.)
  >
  > Will the systems themselves die &amp; need replacement? Yes, eventually,
  > but I think the corporate and consumer world are a long ways from
  > that in a major way. In fact, this recession could be a genuine
  > test of just how rugged our old laptops and desktops and even dumb
  > terminals really are. I'll stick with mine until I'm certain (a)
  > it's dead or (b) I can substantially increase my productivity with
  > a new machine (&amp; that's not likely to happen any time soon).

  Sep 04 02:57 PM | Link | Reply
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  • TA: 
  • Comments (393)
  We have a huge glut of 5 and 6 year old machines that I am going to replace whether people like it or not. Either that or close the doors.
  
  Windows 7 is fast and excellent, having used it 5 months now(RTM for a month). Going x64 on the desktop as soon as it's officially released. It's good enough to drive a proper refresh.
  
  LOL @tweaks
  I've been in the industry for 15 years and if you don't see how much better the new products are especially compared to win95 and office97, you should have been fired long ago. Actually I still can't believe you still have a job.

  Sep 04 03:09 PM | Link | Reply
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  • Elias: 
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  Companies that are only making numbers by cutting costs while their revenue is falling are unlikely to spend money if they want to manage their earnings. I'd love to see a ramp up in corporate spending, I do believe that corporate spending is the precursor to any recovery. Unfortunately I have not seen many companies announce that they are expanding their CapEx. IT is probably going to be the fastest to pick up and has probably been the slowest to be cut, but I this idea that just because a new operating system is coming out that people are going to buy it is just plain optimistic. Netbooks are thriving on the equivalent processing capability that was present five years ago. Cloud based services like open office don't require newer computers to do the processing, rather they source the processing to the cloud. In addition, when companies finally do decide to upgrade they will be upgrading for a much smaller workforce.

  Sep 04 03:28 PM | Link | Reply
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  • fed_alchemy: 
  • Comments (134)
  I think the new equipment will have to be," dumbed down" to better serve the green shoots accounting revolution. LONG LIVE THE KING

  Sep 04 03:28 PM | Link | Reply
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  • Lilguy: 
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  Good luck, TA! Clearly you are spending someone else's money.
  
  I'm still at 4 years on my laptop, and plan to get 6 from it. Based on my experience in managing enterprise computing, six years may be about the physical limit of most hardware (it's seems to be a full life cycle), but I may test that. In the meantime, upgrades like those Larrysyr mentioned above, are a way to stay current technologically and remain cost-effective.
  
  And, despite your enthusiasm for new versions of MS OS as an IT manager, few real users--even the more tech friendly ones--see much value (other than stability & security) in the newer versions of OS. None worse than VISTA. I'm hopeful that OS7 has it right, but I'm willing to wait a couple of years for people like yourself to find out if it's really better than XP.
  
  
  On Sep 04 03:09 PM TA wrote:
  
  > We have a huge glut of 5 and 6 year old machines that I am going
  > to replace whether people like it or not. Either that or close the
  > doors. ........
  >

  Sep 05 09:48 AM | Link | Reply