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"The printer segment was traditionally one that HP didn't have to worrytoo much about," Forrester analyst Rob Enderle told the E-Commerce Times."They've always had competition, but the threat from a company that canalso supply customers with all their other computing needs is a new wrinkle."

Forrester analyst Rob Enderle said Microsoft appears to be making extra efforts to put as many outstanding legal matters to rest as possible "Even if the money and time they spend fighting doesn't turn up in its quarterly results, it still is hanging over them," Enderle told t...

The VeriSign alliance is designed to give Microsoft a well-respected security ally, Forrester Research analyst Rob Enderle told the E-Commerce Times, a likely acknowledgment that Microsoft needs assistance to recover its security reputation. "Microsoft is the biggest and its ...

"Anytime they can get something off the table for relatively short money, they're probably going to grab it," Forrester analyst Rob Enderle told the E-Commerce Times, citing earlier settlement agreements that ended class-action consumer suits. "The fact that this deal has some long-range upside for the company only makes it more appealing."

"They're hitting or even surpassing a lot of the targets," Forrester analyst Rob Enderle told the E-Commerce Times. "The enterprise business has to remain a concern, however, since that was what was driving the merger in many people's eyes." The company's enterprise sales unit...

Forrester analyst Rob Enderle told the E-Commerce Times that there have always been enterprises that have sought to resist Microsoft, but most find few alternatives that are as well developed as the software giant's products "The reason they got to be the biggest in the first ...

"They didn't need this right now," Forrester analyst Rob Enderle told the E-Commerce Times. "It undermines the progress they're telling customers and partners they've been making." ...

Forrester Research analyst Rob Enderle told the E-Commerce Times that a desire to score more enterprise customer wins was one reason why HP and Compaq combined forces after a bitter proxy and legal battle. So far, though, while the combined company has scored dozens of outsou...

Forrester Research analyst Rob Enderle said he believes Sun's shares have reached levels at which a takeover is a distinct possibility, since the company's technology is still highly regarded in the industry. He speculated that only three firms, Hewlett-Packard, IBM and Dell, would be in a financial position to make such a move. Sun's market cap is about $11.8 billion.

"Dell has clearly been the biggest beneficiary of this merger," Forrester analyst Rob Enderle told the E-Commerce Times. Still, he added, the merged HP appears to be doing better than expected, with recent service contract wins a clear outgrowth of the two companies' union. ...

Patience might be a virtue in other ways, too. Forrester analyst Rob Enderle told the E-Commerce Times that even though the core of Windows Server 2003 has been better tested than previous Microsoft operating systems, companies would do well to wait until the first service pack is released. By doing so, IT decision makers will appear to be prudent buyers...

Forrester analyst Rob Enderle agreed, calling Windows 2003 Server a sharply improved offering that many likely will see as the company's first truly scalable server product "If it weren't for the economy, this thing would likely set sales records," he told the E-Commerce Times...

Forrester analyst Rob Enderle said Microsoft has taken the easy road in several recent legal matters, indicating a desire to put the antitrust issue to rest. "It can only be a distraction from the real goal, which is to continue to be innovative and drive new products to mark...

Giga Information Group analyst Rob Enderle told the E-Commerce Times thatalthough Microsoft has continued to drive sales of software in an otherwise bleak tech spending environment and has seen tablet PCs start to take root, the software giant now may be starting to question whether sales of personal computers to consumers will recover anytime this year or early in 2004...

"If you look at how PCs are sold today, it's all about the listening and viewing experience," Giga Information Group analyst Rob Enderle told the E-Commerce Times. Although it has made serious inroads into the entertainment PC market only in recent quarters, Microsoft has mad...

Giga Information Group analyst Rob Enderle told the E-Commerce Times that Microsoft's security suffers largely because of the company's success. "I'm not sure any other software firms have figured out security any more than Microsoft, but they don't get targeted the same way ...

Publisher 2003: A new design application for creating marketingcommunications FrontPage and InfoPath combine what Microsoft describes as "the world'sfirst" graphical XSLT (extensible stylesheet language transformations)editor. XSLT acts a bridge between an XML database on the back end anduser-input features on the front end. Hitting the Right Note Much of the analyst buzz surrounding Microsoft Office System is focused onOneNote. Though it might seem like a small add-on, rather like Notepad isattached to Windows, this program points to a new paradigm of front-endcomputing. "OneNote has been developed to address tablet computing," Rob Enderle,research fellow at Giga Information Group, told the E-Commerce Times. "It fits thetablet metaphor and enables users to categorize, search for and find theirthoughts better than with pen and paper." Unchanging Market Share Meanwhile, although Sun's announcement coincided with Microsoft's, Yankee Group senior analyst Laura DiDio said Microsoft's key competitor is not StarOffice. "StarOffice will have appeal for the SOHO [small office and home office] market, but the overall market share won't change appreciably," she told the E-Commerce Times. Microsoft's marketshare of the office productivity field is at least 90 percent. "Microsoft's biggest competitor is itself," DiDio added. "With the economicdownturn and the quality of Microsoft's earlier products, the challenge willbe to get customers, even those who would absolutely love to migrate, up andrunning. Customers simply might not have the cash." DiDio predicted a 15 to 20 percent adoption rate during the first year, andshe emphasized that the fate of Windows Server 2003 will play a part in Office System's penetration curve. Enterprises still using Windows NT 4 on the back endmight see Server 2003 as a compelling upgrade opportunity, and they could scoopup Office System at the same time to realize the full potential of a more unified system. New Paradigms While the commercial fate of Office System remains to be determined, thereis universal agreement that Microsoft is aiming high with this product. "This is a pretty important and substantial release," Yankee Group senior analyst Dana Gardner told the E-Commerce Times, "because it really changes the file structure and the ability of files to be shared. Given the wide adoption of XML in this product, Microsoft has given its software developers the opportunity to use Office applications as front ends in a way they didn't have access to before." Giga's Enderle noted that Office System is the first version of Office thathas gone through the advanced security testing adopted by Microsoft nearlytwo years ago. "Substantial work has been done on Outlook," he said. "It is more reliable and less susceptible to network problems." Backward Compatibility However, though network integration and streamlined information flow are positive developments, a question of compatibility exists. Microsoft is including server elements in its Office System beta 2 distribution -- but those elements will not be included in the final product, and enterprises will have to purchase them separately if they want a full upgrade of the front and back ends. Microsoft Office System is backwardcompatible with previous servers, however. "The server upgrades are required to achieve the system's full potential,but [Office System] is, by itself, a vastly improved product," Enderle noted.

But Giga Information Group research fellow Rob Enderle told the E-Commerce Times that there is now an inherent contradiction in Sun's position. By thwarting Microsoft's ability to distribute Java in the first case, then complaining that Microsoft is not using Java enough in the second case, Sun is on untenable ground, according to Enderle. "Microsoft is in a stronger position," he said...

Whatever happens, the CCIA's charge has set an unusual, and perhaps unique, precedent intrans-oceanic antitrust relations. No eyebrows would be raised if a U.S. alliance were tackling a European company. And the European Union's investigation of a U.S. company is not odd. But Giga Information Group research fellow Rob Enderle told the E-Commerce Times, "This is an unprecedented instance in which U.S. vendors are going after another U.S. vendor in Europe."

And even though he has his share of detractors, Microsoft's Bill Gates is also a visionary who brings an important strategy to the table: a slow and steady march forward, no matter what, according to Giga Information Group analyst Rob Enderle. "Microsoft never stops innovatin...