What a wonderful world...
Summary: the Vista and Office 2007 releases are great opportunities for computer managers. And just plain fun!
In the spirit of full disclosure I must admit I drink very substantially from the company KoolAid. Certainly more so than most. But that was true prior to actually working here (which is 8 years now). I suppose I've been a Microsoftie for about 16 years in that sense.
So days like today totally psyche me. Vista and Office 2007 hit the retail market today and the marketing hounds have been unleashed! Marketing materials are released worldwide in a huge variety of forms. From the inside we have the opportunity to watch it unfold, so I may have more visibility than you do, but I expect the marketing will make an impact over the next few days, weeks, or months. More importantly, the 'Microsoft phenomenon'''s most recent wave, which started years ago, now meets reality. The products will be making an impact for the the next few years. A LOT of good, sincerely passionate people have put a tremendous amount of sweat and tears into this wave so I believe it will be amazing. Maybe that's the KoolAid speaking - we'll see.
I think part of the reason the 'Microsoft phenomenon' excites me is that I'm old enough to remember when transistors and LEDs were an amazing technological breakthrough. Let alone the 4004. I remeber arguing with one of my bosses about whether anyone really needed color monitors (not graphical monitors - just colors). Reminiscing with guys that did wirewrapping. So when I see our highly integrated digital lifestyles, I'm truly impressed. Here I am sitting in my home theatre/office watching HD video from my home province (B.C.), an internal company video, and my favorite shows from today (all with great sound) and I'm blogging away with you and getting some real work done (will the e-mails and IM's ever stop?). How cool is that? (Ok, I should get a life, but my wife and dog seem to understand).
This Vista and Office (and related products!) release is taking that reality to the next level. As a techie that does it for me. Why would anyone want to be in management or something when they could be living this technology wave?
So how does this all relate to computer management? The direct relationship is that we all have a lot of work to do in coming months and years to deploy the new products, set configuration standards, report on their status, patch them (ok, they won't be quite perfect), etc. Job security, baby! The indirect relationship is that our computer management tools get that much better - better reports than ever, easier administration, great security, unprecedented automation, etc. More fun than ever before, and it's been plenty fun enough so far.
And lest we forget, Microsoft is all about the community. There's something like 100,000 Microsoft employees, vendors, etc. but orders of magnitude more partners, MVPs, developers, writers, trainers, bloggers, newsgroup posters, etc. And yet more orders of magnitudes of customers and thier techies. WE have all contributed to this wave, and should take a bow for that. Now we get to go profit from it. Sweet.