John Lamb's Week: Microsoft users are revolting

Do they spend enough time in the washroom?

Monday
This week looks like a tough one for Microsoft. Today sees the introduction of the company's new subscription licence scheme Software Assurance. Existing short-term upgrade schemes have been scrapped. After February 28 2002 commercial firms that buy five or more copies of any Microsoft program will be asked to take out a licence that covers upgrades to the software for three years. With the only alternative to Software Assurance being to buy a full licence every time you want to upgrade, companies that don't want every new bit of software are convinced they'll end up paying more. UK business faces a bill of more than £800m say some user groups. Microsoft argues that users want a simpler scheme and that there will be more winners than losers. Interestingly, Duncan Reid, the company's UK licensing manager, says Microsoft is open to negotiation. In the meantime, user club The Infrastructure Forum (TIF) has made a complaint to the Department of Trade and Industry under the Competition Act. Another group that must be experiencing an uphill struggle at present are members of the Wireless Advertising Association (WAA). Representatives from companies such as 12snap, Avesair, Frost & Sullivan, Logica, Ogilvy Interactive, Ovum, Proctor & Gamble and Unilever will hear the results of an industry survey from Richard Jesty of ARC. Details from Hannah Summers at hannah@eclat.co.uk Tuesday
Whether or not you can text effectively, the short messaging service (SMS) is a mobile phone phenomenon. Now the subject gets its first UK business conference called SMS 2001. SMS aficionados will be chatting about permission marketing, entertainment, gaming, customer relationship management, intranet applications and the future of messaging. Enquiries to Jenny Fuller at jenny.fuller@pentoneurope.com. We always suspected more work gets done in the toilets than anywhere else and now it is official. The Workplace 01 conference includes a session called 'The corporate washroom - its role as the third space'. With speakers such as management guru Charles Handy, Professor Clive Holtham of City University and Professor James Woudhuysen from De Montfort University, who can argue with that? Log on to www.workplace-event.co.uk for details. Wednesday
IBM and Sun are set to tough it out in the open systems server business this autumn with the introduction of new chips. Today IBM will be briefing the media on its 64-bit Power4 processor designed for use in the company's P series of Linux servers. The chip will be taking on Sun's UltraSparc III incorporated into the company's recent SunFire 15K Unix mainframe system.
Further information from company websites www.ibm.com and www.sun.com. Friday
Microsoft is holding a briefing on Microsoft Product Activation - the anti-piracy routines on Windows XP and Office XP that require users to register by telephone or online before they can use the products. Microsoft's Worldwide Product Activation spokesperson, Allen Nieman will be leading the session. Users are concerned about the amount of information that Microsoft will require during the registration process and about potential difficulties with moving programs to new hardware. Microsoft is worried about piracy. Research by the Business Software Association - published earlier in the year - concluded that one quarter of all business programs used in the UK during 2000 were pirated. The estimated value of illegal software was £346m. For further information contact Caroline Baines on caroline.baines@augustone.com Sunday
Industry groupies have a field day at the European Technology Roundtable Exhibition (Etre). It is the largest gathering of company chiefs in Europe. This year's get together will be the first opportunity for over 600 top CEOs to discuss business conditions after the 11 September attacks. Let's hope they can all make it. Speakers down to appear include Michael Dell, CEO of Dell, Michel Bon, chairman of France Telecom, Eric Benhamou, chairman of 3Com, and Mark Hoffman, CEO of CommerceOne. Bill Gates will make an appearance via satellite. The theme for the conference is 'Survive and prosper: the return to value'. Full programme at www.etre2001.com. Finally, I'm compiling a Christmas Party Planner. If you are organising a Christmas bash let me know when and where. For related news and analysis, see
The Bloor Perspective: Microsoft licensing off, nCipher - Broadcom deal on, and some technical consensus
http://www.silicon.com/a47833
Microsoft: Such a selfish lover
http://www.silicon.com/a47778
Microsoft fails to quell the licence critics
http://www.silicon.com/a47687
Microsoft licences set for Fair Trading hearing
http://www.silicon.com/a47668