I don't make it up, $ill is assemblying his Army of Bloat to take on the shaking Queen of Anti Trust!!!
Can SWAT Teams Rescue Win2000?
Mary Jo Foley , Sm@rt Reseller & Scott Berinato, ZDNet
Microsoft is stressing Windows 2000's reliability over its NT 4.0 app support, but the company nevertheless is trying earnestly to make what could be difficult migrations look effortless.
Microsoft has sent a handful of SWAT teams to its Rapid Deployment Partner/Joint Deployment Partner (RDP/JDP) beta sites to help some of its biggest Win2000 test accounts port their custom apps from NT Server 4.0 to Windows 2000. Back in Redmond, all available hands are testing packaged apps for Windows 2000 compatibility.
Microsoft officials declined to provide specifics on its SWAT team strategy, but a company spokesperson says the effort was "not out of the ordinary." Indeed, Microsoft embarked on a similar app-portability strategy before it launched Windows 95, with top developers and testers buying copies of every shrink-wrapped package they could find to run through its testing paces.
Still, some partners and early adopters say the SWAT team strategy may be more of a PR ploy than a pro-customer effort.
"The RDP/JDP folks are revolting. They're tired of Microsoft stringing them along with delivery dates. They want Microsoft to address migration and to get access to code and real information," says one partner close to Microsoft, who requested anonymity.
Under the auspices of the RDP program, Microsoft and selected certified partners go on-site and assist customers. Microsoft conducts weekly troubleshooting conference calls and provides participants with access to fixes, interim updates and other pertinent information. Microsoft selects those participants from its large commercial accounts, which are handled by its Enterprise Customer Unit.
Custom app integration is one area the SWAT teams are targeting. But while Microsoft would like customers to tightly hook their custom apps to new Win2000 features like Active Directory, some customers just want to ensure that their current NT apps will run on Windows 2000.
"I don't anticipate any problems getting our custom apps to run," said one beta tester, whose partner services firm was setting up a SWAT team. "But we're eight months from deployment, and any integration of those apps with Active Directory will come some time after that, if at all."
In order to be considered as an RDP candidate, Microsoft initially required Win2000 RDP sites to deploy Beta 3 of the operating system in production. However, some RDPs and partners say Microsoft has relaxed that requirement as of late.
Scott Berinato is a PC Week senior editor.
Microsoft's Big Push
Investing $30 million for Win2000 app readiness
Establishing Windows 2000 porting labs at 15 sites
Seeding 500,000 customers/developers with Beta 3
21,000 Microsoft employees now run Win2000
Spending $40 million on Windows 2000 training of 150,000 IT and channel professionals
Sending SWAT teams to early adoption sites |
