Office 2010 includes a lot of interactive and collaborative technology that ties into other products such as SharePoint, Lync and InfoPath, but the reality is not everyone has fully invested in those other products so one may think, what’s the point of going to Office 2010 because we’re not going to even use those other products at this point. Well the good news is Office can do more than just play with those collaboration products; in fact it actually has a lot of subtle, useful tools that make the everyday work experience just a little bit easier on you.

Email is a very important messaging tool that that we know and love, in fact we probably interact through email more than our phones, so Microsoft has provided some practical tools to make our daily use of email a little simpler. One is the Out of Office message. Like Marty McFly, Office 2010 can also see into the future. Once you add a contact name into the “To” Box, Outlook will let you know that your contact is out of the Office so as you’re about to type your message you can decide to abort the email all together or format your message differently knowing that the person you’re about to send it to may not immediately read their email. Doc Brown would be proud. Office also has Mail Tips, where it lets you know that you’re about to Reply to All, which is nice to know just in case you’re about to send a very regrettable email to everyone in your company. HR would be proud. It also has a Forgotten Attachment detector. If you’re sending out an email that reads please see attachment, Office recognizes that you’ve written the word “attachment” in the body of the email so it will let you know to actually attach the file if you have forgotten to do so, because as you know it’s always rewarding when the person you wrote the email to asks “what attachment?” Doh! Homer Simpson would be proud. Lastly, when someone sends you a meeting request, Outlook shows you what other meetings are sandwiched between your meeting, that way you can see how much of a crazy day you’re going to have or how much time you have to recoup from you lunch food coma. Yikes, I have a ½ hour to suck down a 5 Hour Energy! Dyn-o-mite!!! Jimmie Walker would be proud.

If you’re still running an older version of Office, one of the great things about Office 2010 is that it allows you to work anywhere. It’s incorporated a lot of functionality into mobility products such as the Windows Phone and iOS devices. If you’re stuck in a cab in NYC and have to make a few edits to a presentation, Office 2010 allows you to view and edit PowerPoint presentations and Word documents on the fly right on your phone as Microsoft has made an investment in the fidelity of the product to make the application look exactly the same on the phone as it is on a PC. However, it’s much smaller especially if you’re using the Derek Zoolander ridiculously good looking tiny phone. In addition if you don’t have a collaboration tool like Lync or WebEx, Microsoft has built in presentation capabilities right into Office 2010 which allow you to broadcast PowerPoint presentations on your PC or phone right on the web through a shared URL.

Office 2010 also added hundreds of more commands, which at first is a bit overwhelming, but they did it in such a way that it’s organized into a variety of tabs on a ribbon. For instance if you click on a picture it brings you right to a tab where you can make any edits to that picture on that tab without having to jump around all over the document.

Lastly if you purchase Office 2010 with Software Assurance you’ll receive a whole bunch of other benefits, the first of which is Office Home Use Program which lets employees download a copy of Office for their personal PC for $9.95. The cool thing is the employee has a full functioning copy of Office that they can use at home for work or let their kids do their science projects on. Ok, so maybe it’s not that cool, but from a manageability standpoint when an employee downloads Office the employee would sign a separate EULA from the one provided to the company under their Volume License Program. With this agreement the employee would be required to remove the Office from their PC if they were to leave the company, keeping the company off the hook in trying to retrieve the Home User license. In fact, if someone does leave, the employer can redistribute that Home Use license to another employee. Also, with Office 15 coming down the pike, Software Assurance would provide new versions rights to have access to Office 15, when it’s finally released, allowing the end user to enjoy the new features of Office (which may include touch capabilities).

If you’re on an older version of Office and are looking to upgrade, now is a great time to do so. With the purchase of Office, as well as other products, Microsoft is offering their Big Easy promotion which provides subsidy dollars for implementation of future solutions and products including software and services. Basically, depending on the quantity and type of software you purchase, Microsoft will give you money back in the form of a check that you can use for future purchases!

I wanted to talk about the shift I have seen in technology that we use in business every day. This transformation has been just as large and disruptive as virtualization. 10 years ago, the end user hardware and software was set and had very little diversity or customization. It was Win/Tel (Windows running on Intel processors) all the way with Microsoft Office. There was very little or no working from home, and you had to be in the office or have a VPN to the office to do your work.

Fast forward to today and the end user client and software environment has a lot more options. The other architects and I have daily conversations about thin clients, zero clients, iPads, iPhones, Android phones, VDI (Virtual Desktop Infrastructures) so workers can work from anywhere. I am also seeing many more Apple Macintosh’s in business environments. Exchange is moving into the cloud as in storage, social networks and many companies we work with consider Instant Massaging as a key business application.

You can blame Apple and the usability of the iPad and iPhone, Samsung and other Android tablet and phone manufacturers or the continued advances in technology, but you cannot deny that providing applications and data to end users is not just Windows, Office and a desktop anymore.

I had an interesting personal experience with this recently. I have been a Windows user for most of my life. I do have an iPad and have been using that more and more. I needed a new personal laptop and after much soul searching and justifying the additional cost, I purchased a MacBook Pro. It took me years to talk myself into paying more money for essentially the same hardware. Well, I am very happy that I did. I find the Mac has almost all of the applications that I use, and I have VMware Fusion for any Windows applications that are not supported. I really enjoy using the Mac more and find it much more usable than the Windows laptop I use for work. Gestures and the awesome usability of the mousepad (trackpad) make this my personal choice of hardware going forward.

The bottom line is that today’s IT department has many more choices in how to deliver applications and data to their end users. This can be a management nightmare, if not planned correctly, but does offer end users many more options to stay connected and do the work they need to anyplace, anytime, and on (almost) any device.

Feature: Searching

Aspect: Usability

One of the coolest features in Windows 8 is the ability to run a search from the desktop simply by typing.  You don’t have to hit the “Start” button first in order to do this (granted, there isn’t a Start button any more).  Searching in this method seems much faster than before, and the results are grouped more logically.  The search experience is made even better because the fonts are much bigger, well laid out, and easier to read.  This makes sense because if you think about it, when you’re doing a search that’s ALL you’re doing at that time, so why not take up a big chunk of screen real estate so you can more easily see & control what you’re doing.  In Windows 7, when you start to type in the search box, results are returned on-the-fly (real-time) like they sometimes do when you search using Google.  However, searching in Windows 8 is “smart,” and it learns which applications you use most often by keeping track of what application you chose when searching. Let’s say this is the first time I have ever searched for the term, “Task.”  When I run that search, the 1st result is “Task Manager” and the 2nd is “Task Scheduler.”  If I choose “Task Scheduler” then the next time I search for “Task” it’s the 1st result this time and “Task Manager” is 2nd.  If I run the search 2 more times and choose “Task Scheduler” each time, then I must run the search 4 more times and choose “Task Manager” before it becomes the 1st application in the results once again: 2 + 1 = 3 which is < 4 (I was told there’d be no math).  That is a very simple algorithm, and I’m sure Microsoft has much more complicated ones that involve the tide charts & the price of pork bellies.  The point is that they have taken the time to improve the usability of their software for a feature that works pretty damn well today.  And in a world where there is so much data and many applications on your computer and on the Internet, searching is going to be the quickest & easiest way to find something.  It’s quicker to type 1 letter (“T”) & then hit “Enter” in order to fire up Task Manager than it is to move your mouse to the Taskbar, right-mouse click, & choose “Task Manager.”  That’s why keyboard shortcuts can be so powerful.  You can do almost any command in an operating system or application using a keyboard and the less time your hand has to move between the keyboard & mouse/trackpad the more quickly you can get your job done (so you can play Angry Birds during lunch).  There are going to be many, many more keyboard shortcuts with Windows 8 & taking the time to learn them will be a huge productivity boost.

I’ve just scratched the surface of what Windows 8 does to improve upon what is already an outstanding operating system in Windows 7.  Please stay tuned as I hold a magnifying glass to new & improved applications like Remote Desktop, Windows Explorer, & Internet Explorer.  Next on my list is taking a look at Microsoft’s revamped hypervisor, Hyper-V 3.0, which is sure to shake-up the hypervisor world despite VMware having such a huge chunk of the market.  As Lloyd said, “So you’re saying there’s a chance…”

In IT, the concept of what we consume and how we got to that consumption model correlates to the concept of Order. So, Order focuses on how IT is consumed and why it’s consumed that way.

Business needs drive IT models, and as business needs change so does the way we leverage IT. An organization may have started out with a traditional on-premise solution that met all needs, and over time has morphed into a hybrid solution of internal and external resources. Likewise, the way users consume IT changes over time. This may be due to underlying business change, or possibly due to “generational” changes in the workforce. In either case, where IT is today does not always reflect its true nature.

Using consumption as a metric, we can group IT environments to bring to light how they have evolved, and expose their future needs. Some examples of different Orders might be:

Contra-Private – IT is mostly a private resource and is not specifically consumption driven. The IT organization uses their own internalized set of standards in order to identify the technical direction of the platforms. Shunning industry standards and trends, they often take a less-is-more approach to the tools and services they provide to the business. Ironically, their platforms tend to be oversized and underutilized.

Mandatorily-Mixed – here IT leverages a mix of internal, external, hard-built and truly consumed resources because the business demands it. IT may have less power to make foundational decisions or affect policy, but they typically will be better funded and be encouraged to work with outside groups. Often the internal/external moat is drawn around the LOB application stack, and these tend to be overly scaled.

Scale-Sourced – In this Order, IT would be incented to make efficiency and flexibility their guiding principles for decision-making. The business allows IT to determine use of and integration with outside services and solutions and relies on them to make the intelligent decisions. This Order is also user driven, with the ability to adopt new services and policies that drive user effectiveness.

The Family classification is the first real grouping of organisms where their external appearance is the primary factor. Oddly, what is probably the most visually apparent comes this deep in the classification model. Similarly within IT, we can now start grouping environments by their IT “appearance,” or more fundamentally, their core framework.

If you dissect a Honey Badger, it would probably be evident that it’s very much like other animals in the weasel family. It’s overall shape and proportions are similar to other weasels, from the smallest Least weasel to the largest Wolverine. So size is not the factor here, what is more important is the structure, and what type of lifestyle that structure has evolved to support. Therefore, in IT, Family refers to the core structure of data flow within IT systems.

Here are some examples:

Linear – IT is built along a pathway that conforms to a linear work flow. Systems are built to address specific point functions such as marketing, financials, manufacturing, etc. Each system has a definitive start and stop point, with end to end integration only. Input/output is translated between them, often by duplicated entry, scripted processes, or 3rd party translation. One function cannot begin until another has completed, thus creating a chain of potential break-points and inefficiencies.

Parallel – Workstreams can be completed concurrently, with some form of data-mashing at the end of each function. While this structure allows for users to work without waiting on others to complete their functions, it does require additional effort to combine the streams at the end.

Linked – Here, systems are linked at key intersections of workflow. Data crosses these intersections in a controlled and orderly fashion. Often, the data conversions are transparent or at least simplified. The efficiency level is increased, as dynamic information can be utilized by more than one person, however the complexities of this approach are often fraught with underlying dangers and support challenges.

Mobius – If you know the form of a Mobius strip, you get the idea here. In this form, it doesn’t matter what side of the workflow you are on, everything flows without interruption or collision. If this is delivered by more than one integrated system, then the integration is well tested and supported by all parties involved. More likely, this form is enabled by a singular system that receives, correlates, and forwards the data along its merry way.

Both the Order and Family are where we start to see the benefits of a Cloud IT architecture. Built to specification, consumed in a flexible, on-demand way, and enabling the true flow of information across all required systems may sound like nirvana. But, consider that our limiting factor in achieving this goal is not technology per se, but our ability to visualize and accept it.

I took the plunge over this past week and decided I would check out the Windows 8 customer preview.  Now one would think that I would simply spin it up in a VM given my background in the virtualization space but that would have been way too easy.   No, I wanted to see it on bare metal so I blitzed my primary work laptop and went about installing natively.  First impression during the install process…  Holy **it, this is crazy FAST!  Yes, I have an SSD drive and I was installing from a USB 3.0 external hard drive but still; WOW the core install was done in less than 5 minutes from start to finish.  Installing Windows 7 Enterprise via the exact same method was more like 20 min, so far so good.

Then the system boots for the first time and I enter in the basic data (computer name, user name, etc.) and once complete the glorious Metro interface appears.  Now, I have seen Metro before at a Verizon store on a Windows Phone, but that has been the extent of my experience with it so, needless to say, it is drastically different from any other desktop OS that I had ever seen.  I fumbled around in Metro a bit, launching a few of the built in apps like photo, mail, etc. before going into the “desktop” app.  Ok, now this feels like home, very similar to Windows 7 desktop but there is no “classic” start menu here.  If you go to the lower left of the desktop and click on the start menu pop up, back to Metro you go.  To me, this felt a bit clunky but obviously I’ve been using Windows in pretty much the same way since 1994 so I’m a bit used to “how it’s supposed to work” vs. any new paradigm shift like Metro.

From this point, I went about installing drivers and apps.  The base install found just about all of the hardware in my HP 8540w, but I did have to grab the actual Nvidia graphics driver (Win 7 flavor) in order to get Aero Glass working.  I got the wireless connectivity going but noticed that it wasn’t very easy to get into “advanced” wireless settings; that said I got connected and was ready to rock.

I then moved on to MS Office 2010 and other core apps.  I installed all of these apps via the desktop “app” then went out to Windows Update to get everything patched.  So far, so good.  Throughout the process, I fumbled around a bit trying to find how to access simple stuff like control panel and how to switch between running Metro based apps and the desktop.  Secret here, check the corners… lower left in the desktop is the start menu (Metro interface), upper left is basically your alt-tab replacement where you can see the single desktop app along with any other running Metro apps and can switch between them by clicking on what you want.  The upper right brings up a bit of a “settings” style menu, and here is where you can control devices, multi-monitor setup, get to control panel, power off or restart, get to wireless settings, etc.  Lower right while in the desktop app simply shows the desktop background just like in Win 7.  Still, the overarching theme here is FAST…  I cannot express enough how much faster everything is with Windows 8, at least at the core.  I did notice that Outlook seemed about the same speed as on Win 7, but just about everything else I ran was noticeably faster than it was on Win 7.  I hope this performance sticks around to the final release.

So, now that I have a shiny new Win 8 install, it was off to work.  I’m spending a few weeks working remotely from out in Phoenix and had to fly to LA for a meeting so I took a chance and brought only the Win 8 laptop with me.  Fortunately, everything worked fine and even PowerPoint with multiple monitors was no problem.  I did have one key problem upon returning in that my Juniper SSL VPN client would not function properly, and this kept me from being able to use my VoIP softphone as it requires full VPN connectivity to function.  Other than that, I didn’t have any other major app issues.  However, I couldn’t get over how I simply spent 99% of my time in the desktop app and what a pain it seemed to be whenever I did use a Metro based app to switch back and forth.  Remote Desktop is a prime example here as it is a native Metro app in Win 8, but it just wasn’t smooth in my opinion when switching back and forth between the RDP session and other desktop apps.  It was completely obvious to me that Metro is really “touch centric” vs. “click centric.”  I wish I had some type of tablet to test this out on as it would probably rock, but, as an OS for a traditional laptop/desktop, I simply was not very impressed except for, wait for it, yes, that SPEED factor.

However, in the end, even that was not enough and over the weekend I went back to Win 7. In the corporate world, Win 8 will be a complete nightmare from a training perspective, which I think will lead to extremely sluggish adoption. If you thought the Office ribbon generated some help desk calls, that’s nothing compared to this.  I’m probably going to be buying some stock in New Horizons and other training facilities as they will most likely be overrun with training requests if/when the corporate world decides to adopt Win 8.

In Part 1, I set up a conversation that compares the classification of IT to the taxonomy for biology, which we all (ideally) learned in high school.  Using the seven levels of classification, I began to outline how we can determine the genealogy of technology as it exists today in IT environments.  The hope is that we can use this taxonomy to categorize IT environments and identify those where our specific services and values align, and to better guide our customers moving forward.

At the Kingdom level, I identified three business/IT classifications that focused on how IT is viewed by the business.  These were Cost Center, Operational Enabler, and Profit Generator.  Within each of these, we can further define the characteristics of any particular environment with the next layer of taxonomy:  Phylum.  Because so much of the taxonomy comes from root Latin, I took the liberty to subtly insert some Latin
flavor, so I beg forgiveness in advance.

In biology, Phylum is used to group organisms into divisions based on a general body type.  Back to our Honey Badger, it resides in the Phylum Cordata, indicating that it has a core body structure based of a hollow dorsal nerve cord (basically a spine and brain stem configuration).  And since we know Codata exists within the Kingdom Animala, we also know from this one term that the Honey Badger is not a plant, bacteria, nor a fungus.  So using this as a guideline, we can divide each IT Kingdom into several phyla, which characterizes IT by its general operating philosophy.

Kingdom Cost Center

Phyla Prehistorica -   IT thinks in terms of the past versus the present or future.  Judgment and evaluation are based on what has worked in the past, even if that past includes such gems as LattisNet and Microsoft BOB.  The perspective of a Prehistoric is often skewed against newer innovations as being less secure, less flexible, or just plain not needed.

Phyla Genericus – The use of “generics” or consumer-grate alternatives to Tier 1 solutions.  For example, white box servers and free editions of software.  Support and updates may be available if the vendor is not retired and living on a beach somewhere, however the response and coverage offerings are usually less than complete.  Integration and cross-platform troubleshooting is a challenge, as well as creating value statements for moving toward top-tier platforms.  I’ve encountered NFR implementations in production, and a fear of the term licensing (not that I blame them for that).

Phyla Customata – Environments where IT looks at customization as a badge of honor and an expression of talent.  While some percentage of customization may be beneficial to the business, going this far degrades the ability of the organization to stay within view of technology best practices, or to adopt newer technologies that may solve the same problems in a more efficient way.  The business may not realize it, but they are at the mercy of the customizing agent.  Resistance is futile, to give a shout out to my Star Trek homies.

Kingdom Operational Enabler

Phylm Isolata – Environments that are tightly controlled by entrenched, long term IT staff or vendors. While the platforms may have been built to specification at the time, they are now customized or controlled to protect the interests of the original implementers or sponsors.  Change here is all but impossible, without the buy in of those currently in control. The underlying theme in these environments is one of “go along to get along.” Find your niche, and demonstrate your value, and your role may expand.

Phyla Impervius -  Working with impervious environments requires skills different than those of the isolata.  IT staff and management stay up to date on IT trends and technologies, but because these environments are viewed differently based on the perspective of business units or managers, investment is not a sure thing.  Therefore, IT will be very selective in where they apply their dollars, and will push back relentlessly if their internal concepts differ from yours.

Phyla Supersizus-  Often in IT environments that have successfully begun to bridge the gap between Cost and Profit, growth is exponential.  We see scenarios where the user to server ratio approaches 2:1.  Where the technology may not be top of the line (see genericus), the availability of funding has been consumed too quickly.  Scale and redundancy may have been addressed, but with a result of being overbuilt. Unless these environments are reigned in and operational costs reduced, the next round of funding may force IT to buy from the dollar menu.

Kingdom Profit Center

Phyla Complexia – When dealing with Profit Centers, often you run into complex environments that utilize great technology and have very skilled IT talent.  While initially your role may be minimal, great success can be had by showing forward looking value.  Concentrating on understanding the why and how of their IT choices are critical, so that you can find gaps to work from.  Internally, IT may not think that vendors and providers can assist due to their purpose-built and complex platforms, so break down the walls by addressing individual gaps and not trying to overreach.  Show value, build a relationship, and it’s a win/win.

Phyla Adequata – Even though IT is profit generating, that does not mean that the business provides an open checkbook. In this phyla, IT is built to the levels required to maintain a pre-defined level of benefit to the business. If the platform is operational and meeting demand, then IT focuses on operational initiatives and feature benefits. Performance or future growth is not the determining factor for investment, but should challenges arise, money will be spent to continue to keep IT up to speed.  Think in terms of Legos here.  The base is built, has a solid operating foundation, and as need arises blocks of capacity or features are added.  Virtualization and cloud is a great play here, as the technical concept matches very closely to the underlying business/IT philosophy.

Phylm Simplicitus – There exists a segment of the Profit Center Kingdom that prides itself on simplicity when it comes to IT.  Keeping things streamlined, creating automated processes and change control, and living by a mantra of alignment to best practices allows IT to focus on more strategic requirements.  Often in this phyla, you will find IT will consider many alternatives to challenges or initiatives and settle on the one that provides the least disruption to their current “way of life.”  They may forgo that one differentiating feature in order to maintain the status quo. This can be a very effective philosophy for the business, and IT acts as the guardian at the gate.

When looking over these divisions, you can see some common characteristics in Phylum under different Kingdoms.  That’s ok, because these are not hard and fast rules but, rather, guidelines.  You certainly can have a Cost Center that has Impervius characteristics, or a Profit Center in the grips of a Customata culture.

Think of the Phylum division like a movie trailer.  By understanding the Kingdom/Phylum relationship, you may be able to avoid plunking down $24 bucks on the next Mars Needs Moms bomb.

Part 3 Coming Your Way Soon!