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SAP TechEd: Windows is Out. But Windows are In.

My fellow Enterprise Irregulars are at SAP’s TechEd in Berlin, Germany.  David Terrar is apparently in Windows-prison, as he observed:

Here in the Bloggers Room at SAP TechEd 2008, the Windows users (of which I am one) are consigned to one end of the room. We have to take regular abuse from the Mac fanboys. As you can see, the score is Apple Mac 8 Windows based PCs 3. In the blog world we M$ types appear to be a dying breed.

I told him he’d probably get a very different count in the keynote theater, where the real corporate folks are, who don’t have a choice – unless they all work for Citrix. smile_wink

Photo credit: David Terrar

But there’s something else strikingly obvious on this photo. Windows is out.  But Windows are in – I mean the real ones, letting daylight in.  This is something we’ll never get in the US.  I almost forgot the luxury of having windows (not the MS-kind) is quite normal in Europe.

Comments

  1. Cheers Zoli! The idea of REAL windows being important never even occurred to me -and Berlin’s a great city.

    Getting beaten up by the Mac/iPhone crowd is just something to be endured. Will try and take a proper corporate PC headcount amongst the 4,500 attendees here!

  2. Sooo sick of Apple zelots 🙂 My windows just works, since 2.9 it just works. Out of two apple products in our office (one minimac one laptop) two have failed.
    the mini after 3 months of use, and the laptop came with a fauly LCD (white spots) that they didn’t want to replace.

  3. Jan, I bet you also have that *other* type of windows in your office 🙂

  4. Hi Zoli,

    actually did the “very different count in the keynote theater, where the real corporate folks are”… and the result?

    Pen and paper mostly, nary a laptop in sight except the analysts and bloggers… hang on a sec, nope, the bloggers had their Nokia/Blackberry/iPhones instead, twittering live!

  5. Looks like I’m a perpetual Windows-prisoner: just ordered an Acer Aspire One, one of those tiny netbooks, specifically as a travel/conference “blogging machine”.

  6. That’s funny, i almost bought one too. Looks like a pretty cool machine, i played with it at a shop a couple of times. The quality of the whole thing seems to be much better than the Eee PC, would appreciate a review 🙂

  7. Jan, CrunchGear just reported on an even cheaper version: $309. But as I commented there, I am happy with the few extras mine will have @ $399.

  8. Thanks!

  9. @Sig,
    I’m sure that the lack of power points and the variable wifi contrbuted to a lot of us sticking to the BlackBerry or the iPhone in the sessions.

    @Zoli,
    It’s fascinating how this new Netbook category is developing – I think it’s great… a few years ago a mini notebook was an ultra-premium item only a few could afford!

  10. @David, you may have experienced a lack of power points, but I’m sure there was an abundance of PowerPoints 🙂

  11. @Zoli,
    You bet – SAP have a special Powerpoint generator to make sure every slide is filled with words, and at least 2 complex diagrams. They certainly haven’t heard of Guy’s 10/20/30 rule.

  12. All you have to do is ask … well, then sort and manage and prioritize and plan and implement after the flood of feedback comes in.

    But ask, and ye shall receive from consumers. (one of the Open Innovation commandments for business)

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