Windows dressing

Can MS please everyone, or is it stretching itself too far? Pieter Preston reports.

For someone who has been in the industry for only seven years, AdamPreston reports. Taylor occupies a remarkably important position within the world's most powerful software company. Originally from the world of finance, Taylor is now responsible for the technological development and worldwide marketing of Microsoft's operating systems.

At this year's Inside Track, PC Dealer conducted an exclusive interview with Taylor in which he discussed, among other things, Windows NT 5 - Microsoft's impending premier operating system, scheduled for release in the UK in early 1999.

Taylor spoke about the product with the kind of evangelical enthusiasm you experience only in the presence of a Microsoft employee. He was very happy to discuss the role of NT in Bill Gates' Windows vision and the revolutionary benefits it promises to bring to the corporate customer, but less sure about the implications NT will have for the sales channel.

'I am not an expert on the UK channel,' he warned.

But it does not require an expert to spot the potential flaw in a policy which aims to please three parties - manufacturer, reseller and consumer - with different basic priorities. As systems become long-term investments for businesses and the technology - both hardware and software - becomes more enduring, companies are starting to spend a greater share of their IT budgets on the overall management of their systems - on maintenance and consultancy, not on new kit.

For a software manufacturer that has vowed to stay out of the service arena, this presents a major concern. If customers are satisfied with the capabilities of their machines, how can Microsoft encourage them to fork out for expensive upgrades that do not offer radical improvements?

And if the technology is better than what came before, it will take more sophisticated hardware to accommodate the more powerful programs. In this scenario, Microsoft is faced with the challenge of persuading businesses that it's in their own interests to spend even more money on IT development.

Plainly, this cannot go on ad infinitum - something has to give.

Microsoft has addressed the problem by plugging NT 5 as the ultimate Windows platform for the business user. According to Taylor, two key objectives have dominated the development of this product and will serve to convince corporate customers that it is a worthwhile investment - a radical increase in the ease of manageability and a 50 per cent reduction in the total cost of ownership.

It sounds great for the business user. And in that respect it solves Microsoft's immediate marketing headache. But if what Taylor claims is true, it will mean reduced service opportunities for Microsoft's channel partners. And as one certified solution provider told me: 'We rely on services to make a living.'

Ironically, Taylor summed up this concern when he asked an audience of nearly 1,000 Microsoft solution providers: 'So, do these advancements in manageability put you people out of a job?'

It was meant as a joke. I'm just not convinced the channel shares his sense of humour.