Microsoft Loving Apple These Days?

I've written about my new Mac in the past and thought it was about time to write about it again. Prior to the release of the iPhone, Apple was running those ads with Justin Long, the hip young guy who used to be on the Ed show, and John Hodgman who (in the commercials) bears a rather strong resemblance to a tight cheap-suited/sportcoated, un-hemmed pants, bad hair day, chubby version of Bill Gates. I'm sure you've seen at least one of them - here's a collection of all 15 of them a user has put on YouTube.

Well done and yes they make me smile! Apple is really letting Microsoft have it huh? My first impression was yes but let's think about this a bit. Mike Q sent me an email last week saying that one out of every six notebook computers sold in the U.S. is now an Apple. I seriously doubt these are first time computer users and the majority of them are PC converts like Mike, myself and many of our academic and business/industry colleagues.

What's the first thing a PC convert asks when they decide to take a close look at the Apple machines? Does it run Windows?! The answer used to be no but today, with Intel processors and applications like Bootcamp, Parallels and VMWare, both the Apple and Windows operating systems can co-exist on the same machine. In the case of Parallels and VMWare, both operating systems can be used simultaneously.

Microsoft has to be loving this - the company doesn't sell hardware - they sell software. Let's take a look at what the average user will spend from a Microsoft product perspective starting with a new Mac user who is a Windows "convert" and still wants/needs Windows apps:

Parallels Desktop 3.0 for Mac (non-Microsoft product): $79.99
Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate: $209.79
Microsoft Office 2007 Professional for Windows: $499.95
Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac: $399.00

[note: all Microsoft prices from Microsoft website]

Adding up just the Microsoft applications gives $1108.74! What's really interesting is the fact that many (including myself) actually purchase two versions of Office that run on the same machine. Of course people can get away with upgrade pricing or get academic pricing (yes I did) if eligible. This drops the price a bit but you get the idea.

Now again, from a Microsoft product perspective, let's take a look at the purchase of a new Dell notebook - let's say a new Business Class Lattitude.

Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate: $209.79 (it's likely a lot less $ for Microsoft since Dell gets volume pricing from Microsoft)
Microsoft Office 2007 Professional for Windows: $499.95

[note: all Microsoft prices from Microsoft website]

Adding these numbers gives $709.74 - still a hefty sum but less.

Laugh at the ads if you wish - people at Microsoft have to be smiling. Of course the real threat to Microsoft is not Apple - it's the free webware apps like ThinkFree, Google Docs and Spreadsheets, Zoho, etc......

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Read Show Notes and listen to Mike Q and my latest Podcast titled Enterprise 2.0 linked here.
Podcasts also free on iTunes.
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Digital Kids

CNET's News.com has been running an interesting series since the first of the year titled Digital Kids. They've published eight pieces so far this year - you can find them all linked here. I've enjoyed reading these and have touched on some of the topics. The most recent is titled Say so long to traditional letter writing and was writen by Stefanie Olsen. Stefanie starts by decribing Catherine Cook, a straight A student who had to look up how to mail her Georgetown University application - she forgot where to put the zip code.

Here's a quote from the piece:

"It shouldn't be much of a surprise that Cook thinks letters and snail mail are going the way of record albums and pay telephones. In fact, many kids say that e-mail--one of the Internet's oldest forms of messaging--has lost its appeal for everything except keeping up "adult" or professional relationships".

Th piece goes on with some comments from Cindy Post-Senning, Director of the Emily Post Institute - you may remember Emily Post or have heard of her. Emily's most popular book is Etiquette, first published in 1922 and currently in its 17th edition, having most recently been updated by Peggy Post, Emily's great-granddaughter-in-law,

Good stuff and I have tremendous respect for the Emily Post Institute and the things they do. I'm not really too worried though about kids not being able to address envelopes. For kicks I asked both my 12 and 16 year olds what they would do if they forgot how to address an envelope. They both rolled their eyes (duhhh Dad) and said they would just look it up on-line. So, what the heck, I did a quick Google search of "How to address an envelope" and, they're right, it's easy to find in many places. One of the best references I found is this from Sul Ross University, a school in the Texas State University System.

In the News.com piece Ellen Seiter, a professor of critical studies at the School of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California is quoted:

"All types of writing helps all other types of writing,"

"The important thing about writing is formulating thoughts and ideas."

My two daughters write more than I ever wrote when I was their age. One of their favorite places is FanFiction.Net. You also have to throw MySpace, Facebook, discussion forums, blogs, etc, etc, etc into the mix. The difference is they are not doing it with a pen and paper. I'm not worried.

Shutdown Redux: Some Good Advice

I've written about shutting down (a friend recently referred to it as "going off the grid") in the past....... well....... if you've sent me some email over the last 10 days or so I apologize if I have not replied yet. We've been on vacation in Clearwater the last couple of weeks - I'm typing this in the terminal of the Tampa Airport.

It was a good vacation - I can always tell it's been good when I answer the question most people ask - "What did you do"? If my answer is along the lines of "Not much" or "Not really sure" then that was a good vacation from my perspective anyways. Sure - we did a bunch of stuff - lots of snorkeling, swimming, eating, fishing - still have not caught a snook off the beach - yet. We did catch a bunch of other fish (some that we still cannot identify) and we got a lot better at throwing a casting net for bait.

We also connected with some old friends and made some new ones. My daughters (12 and 16 now!) have both been playing violin for a long time (12 years for the 16 year old and 9 years for the 12 year old) and yes - they brought their violins with them. They practiced (a little) and played a couple of times for and older couple we know - if I had to guess I'd say they are both in their mid 80's. Turns out the woman had once been an accomplished pianist - she started when she was 6 years old and ended up stopping when she got married. I found it ironic since she has a beautiful grand piano in their beautiful home overlooking the beach and the Gulf of Mexico - what an inspirational place to play.

After my daughters finished playing yesterday both her and her husband told us how upset they were that she had stopped playing and how her sister had not stopped playing. It's a pretty major regret for both them. We've all heard this same advice applied different ways but it's basically the same - don't stop. Pretty good advice I would say. I'm glad my girls had a chance to hear it from someone else and I know they'll remember it. Thank you Bunny and Mel.

I picked up one more little gem that I stuck in the back of my head from Pierre Thiry. Pierre is director of The Institute for Convergence of Optical and Network Systems (ICONS) at the City College of San Francisco. Pierre called me on my cell wanting to setup a call yesterday (Monday) to discuss an opportunity both of us are working with the same company in different parts of the country. I wrote back to him, told him I was on vacation but could still make the call. Pierre got back to me and said let's move the call to Wednesday. He finished with the line "Vacations are precious". Thanks Pierre.

Two excellent pieces of advice.

I'm late on some email - if you've sent me something I promise a reply tomorrow!

Stealing Copper Wire and How Much an Old Penny is Worth

A retired neighbor of my parents collects scrap metal. He does pretty well scavenging the town dumps looking for things people have tossed that have copper in them. He also collects brass and aluminum - he especially loves the heavy aluminum covers of old gas grills. A couple times a year a guy comes out with a truck with a scale on it and he gets paid by the pound. He's learned picking up scrap metal can bring in some good supplemental income.

Occasionally he'll pick up some discarded wire in the dump or a construction site - the last time I was visiting I asked him what he did about wire insulation since he is paid by the pound. The answer is simple - he burns it off.

It looks like thieves have discovered copper also - venturing outside the town dumps and up the telephone poles, cutting wire, burning off the insulation and selling it by the pound to scrap companies. The problem has gotten so bad in the Las Vegas area that Embarq, the 4th largest telecom company in the United States, announced on Wednesday that they are offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of anyone caught stealing copper wire. Here's few Embarq quotes from a piece in The Register:

“Copper theft is going on in any town across the nation. But we thought we’d start here because of the high number of incidents,” commented Charles Fleckenstein, a spokesman with Embarq.

More than 60 people have been arrested for copper theft this year in Las Vegas alone. This type of crime has been on the rise globally in recent years, due to the soaring value of coppers and other metals, which can often be sold as scrap at recycling depots.

"You've got people that are going out there and trying to steal wire cable," said Embarq spokesman Charles Fleckenstein. "It's an area where we have almost 13,000 miles of cable and it just looked like a real good area to get started."

"Copper thieves often drive vans, don hard hats and scale telephone poles, in an attempt to blend in with legitimate telephone workers. But instead of fixing broken lines, they pilfer the wire used to connect ATMs, emergency 911 call centers and phone service".

According to Kitco Metals, scrap copper was selling for approximately 70 cents per lb in August 2002. It closed on Friday at a little over $3.40 per lb.

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I'm going to move off topic for a bit. Copper.... you may be thinking pennies - right? A new US penny has a mass of 2.5 grams but wait - new pennies minted after 1982 are 97.5% zinc core with 2.5% copper plating..... not much copper. However, before 1982, their mass was 3.0 grams and they were 95% copper.

Let's take a look at the value of a pre-1982 penny based on the $3.40 per lb copper scrap cost.

1 lb = 453.59237 grams - we can use this to calculate the value of 1 gram of copper:

Value of 1 gram of Copper = ($3.40/lb)/(453.59237 grams/lb) = $0.00749/gram = .749 cents/gram

Now, a pre-1982 penny weighs 3 grams and is 95% copper - it looks like we may be able to make some money here:

Amount of copper in a pre-1982 penny = (.95)(3 grams) = 2.85 grams

Based on .749 cents per gram for scrap copper:

Value of a pre-1982 penny as scrap = (2.85 grams copper/penny)(.749 cents/gram copper) = 2.135 cents/penny!!

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Is it legal to sell pennies as scrap? I'm not sure - the closest answer I've found is here. Regardless - a pre-1982 penny is worth more than twice its face value as scrap and you know what some (legal or illegal) are doing....... and..... Zinc closed at $1.40/lb on Friday........

Copper thieves are not just stealing wire and old pennies - air conditioner units are also hot items because they contain a lot of copper. Image living in Las Vegas in the middle of the summer and having your phone lines cut out and air conditioner stolen...... Sweltering heat with no way to call the air conditioning company - bring on Fiber to the Home.

And speaking of fiber to the home - last month I blogged here about Verizon cutting out copper lines to homes that are having FIOS fiber to the home service installed. If Verizon is cutting this stuff out and dumping it in a landfill tell me where - I'll quit my job, buy a truck and hit the dumps!

iPhone Hacked Again

A New Jersey 17 year old, George Hotz, says he spent 500 hours trying to figuring out how to unlock his iPhone on T-Mobile - it looks like he's done it. George, a pretty sharp kid planning to attend Rochester Institute of Technology this fall, posted a 10-step hack on his blog Thursday and also posted a video on YouTube:

Shortly after the iPhone came out it was hacked the first time - providing a way to use iTunes, surf the web, etc using a WiFi network and without AT&T activation. Today, iPhonehacks.com claims there are actually four different documented methods to unlock an iPhone.

Before you go trying to hack your iPhone like George you may want to read Engadget's Know Your Rights: Is it illegal to unlock my iPhone?

These are interesting times.

Muni WiFi : One Year and a Minneapolis Bridge Tragedy Later

Minnie Ingersoll, Chris Sacca and Larry Alder from the Google Alternative Access Team have released some first year Mountain View, CA Google Wireless "data points" on the Official Google Blog. Here's some highlights:

- the network' has over 400 mesh routers that cover approximately 12 square miles - 95% of the mesh routers are used each day
- approximately 25,000 homes are served
- approximately 15,000 unique users are currently using the network each month
- since January 2007, network traffic has grown almost 10 percent each month
- the network is currently handling approx 300 gigabytes each day
- each day approximately 100 distict types of WiFi devices are accessing the network (I wonder how many are iPhones?:)

A Mountain View WiFi coverage map is linked here, Areas that do not have coverage typically do not have light poles to place the network equipment. If you happen to live in an area of Mountain View that currently does not have coverage you can contact Goggle about hosting a Google WiFi node on your property. Contact information is listed on the coverage map page.

Municipal WiFi networks were all the rage last year. Today a lot of the excitement has worn off - it's time to get some of this enthusiasm back. CNET News published an interesting but unfortunate piece on August 8 titled Citywide Wi-Fi network put to test in Minneapolis with reference to the I-35 bridge collapse tradegy on August 1. It just so happened USI Wireless had been deploying subscription based Wi-Fi in Minneapolis (one of my favorite cities) since April, with about 18 square miles of the city currently covered. Much of the initial installation was in the area of the I-35 bridge collapse. Here's a few quotes from the CNET piece:

"Within moments of the bridge's collapse, USI CEO Joe Caldwell said he was on the phone with James Farstad, a wireless consultant for Minneapolis involved in setting up the Wi-Fi network, to see what he could do to help".

"The first thing Caldwell did was open up the subscription-based Wi-Fi service so anyone could use it for free. Because the network had only been built around part of the disaster, Caldwell then ordered additional Wi-Fi radios to be placed in areas surrounding the catastrophe to blanket it with signals, providing an additional 12 megabits per second of capacity to the area around the bridge collapse.

Caldwell hoped that people with Wi-Fi-enabled smart phones would use the wireless network instead of their cell phones to make calls, thus alleviating the flooded cellular network. Cellular service in the area was overloaded within 30 minutes of the collapse, Farstad wrote in a blog he posted earlier this week".

"That evening, usage on the network jumped from 1,000 registered USI Wireless customers before the disaster struck to 6,000. Exactly how many of those 6,000 users were actually using the Wi-Fi network in lieu of the cell phone network isn't known. It's unlikely that many people were able to use the network for voice communications, given that most cell phones don't have Wi-Fi capability and those that do may not be able use voice over IP clients".

Here's more from CNET:

"... it provided a network for the community to City of Minneapolis resources, hospital emergency coordination units, State of Minnesota Department of Transportation traffic routing information, Red Cross Blood Bank collection points, and local and national news outlets".

"The USI Wireless team also quickly installed three Wi-Fi-enabled cameras that had been purchased by the city for a community policing effort, but hadn't been deployed yet. The cameras were set up along the river banks near the disaster site to provide a live video feed over the network directly to the command center".

"I'm not really sure what the relieve effort would have looked like if this network had not been in place," Caldwell said. "You can't really download these detailed maps easily using an EV-DO card. And you definitely couldn't have the kind of video streaming that is there down there now."

This story reminds me of my frustration with the saturated cellular networks as I was trying to contact friends and relatives in Manhattan after the Sept 11 World Trade Center attacks..... So many Muni WiFi projects have stalled in this country including the most publicized one in San Francisco. It's time to get these projects back on track..... Kudos to forward thinking municipalities like Mountain View and Minneapolis along with companies like Google and USI Wireless.

Goodbye and Congrats to a Buddy

This is something I have been dreading writing because I knew it would eventually happen. Many of you that I’ve met at conferences/meetings/etc have also got to know Steve Budd, Springfield Technical Community College Assistant VP of Development. As a next step in his career Steve recently decided to begin his search for a presidency and – no surprise to anyone that knows him – he has been offered and has accepted the presidency position at the New Hampshire Community Technical College – Claremont. The Clarement press release is linked here. This was actually the first presidency Steve interviewed for – congrats to Steve and Claremont – you’ve really made a great choice!

I would classify Steve as a new breed of Community College leader – willing to take some risk and understanding that risk does not always result in success. Working closely with Steve over the last few years we’ve had our share of successes and failures. I‘ve always believed the signs of a person’s true character appear after failure and not success. I’m sure most would agree.

One of my favorite bloggers, marketer Seth Godin, recently published a couple of short blogs, one titled Toxic employees and the second titled Toxic bosses. In the Toxic bosses blog Seth finishes with the following line:

“Great marketers often have the unusual combination of humility and confidence. Toxic ones have neither”.

I'm going to take some liberty and change "marketers" to "presidents" in Seth's quote.

I get out a lot – meet a lot of faculty, administrators and yes – presidents of colleges. I’ve met good ones and not-so-good ones (of course in my opinion and.... no names!). I usually can judge pretty quick but have never really been able to put into words how. Seth’s words hit it on the head - "the unusual combination of humility and confidence". Among other positive characteristics Steve has this unusual combination.

Congratulations again - Steve and Claremont.