I'm really trying to be stupidly poetic for some unknown reason. Maybe because I'm really, really REALLY tired right now. Commuting an hour each way to work (2 hours on Fridays) at 44 years old is very taxing.
Ok, on to the subject...
Like many wonderful IT folk, I work in an environment called "big corporate WAN place" which is built (mostly) on Windows Server 2003. Like many big corporations, they're slow to adopt new technologies and products. Not because they just don't want to, but because most places like this have developed meticulous methods and processes for handling what we all love to call "change management". The real reason behind that is "stability" (ok, you could also say "reliability" or "availability" or "sensibility" or even "lack of humility" - any will do). That's not a bad reason either. You can't expect to maintain consistent services for 20,000 "customers" if you develop a habit of tossing new things into the mix because "they're cool" (dude!).
But, like most IT folk that actually don't fear change (ok, we frigging die for it, but we have to be patient to earn the almighty paycheck), we will be powerless to resist the urge to propose something like this at a staff meeting, most likely on a friday....
"Hey guys, I was playing with Windows Server 2008 and it's really cool! Maybe we...."
Dead stop, Sound of brakes skreetching and trash cans getting knocked down.
And you get THE STARE of death. You know what I mean.
So what gives? Why is it that the reaction is expected before the question is posed? And why does it seem that it's even more pronounced with WS08 than it was with WS03? Do you remember when you first had discussions about going from WS2K to WS03? Or even NT4 to WS03? I'll bet it really wasn't that horrific of a discussion. Now, try that same approach with WS08 and watch the response. If you're lucky (and if you are, please hire me?) your coworkers and boss all say "cool! yes! let's get a beer first and then start working on that idea!" Man, I would need a box of tissues.
No, really though, it seems more often than not, there is increased resistance, actually, more appropriate would be to say there's increased "distrust" regarding WS08. This is extremly unfair in my humblest opinion. WS08 really is amazing. I'll avoid sounding like Billy the OxyClean guy, but if you haven't actually tried it on, you really should. Go download it and throw it into a VM and start beating it up. You will be amazed. It is simply the best server product (OS-wise) Microsoft has ever produced. Period. Hands-down. End of story. Umm, er, not so fast, I'm not done telling my story yet...
After some digging and questioning, I've found that it's almost always related to Vista. Yes, Vista. The FUD surrounding Vista, particularly in business environments, has spilled over into WS08. Corporate IT folk have heard the market slathering of how great Vista is and what Vista can do and all that, but that sweet smell has faded considerably in the face of mounting opposition from many directions, even from mixed marketing signals coming out of Redmond itself. So they've all developed a distrust for Microsoft marketing and this really wraps around operating system products it seems. I can't say this evident with Office, System Center and database products (among others), just with regards to their operating systems.
Unfortunate indeed. Microsoft really needs to regroup, rethink and redirect their efforts away from the shiney robot magazine ads, the monotonous voice tone TV ads espousing business ROI crap and get down to what sells the product: impressing the IT guys. That's what works. Because even when the CxO golfing buddy crowd isn't down with the 4-1-1 of something new and exciting, the IT folks are already there and they will find clever, creative, and inventive ways to stealthily weave it into the environment regardless of bureaucratic obstacles. Don't believe me? What has happened with Linux in the past 10 years? Hmmmm? I doubt 1 in 100 CEO's gave explicit directives to put Linux into the data center, yet it got there somehow. I rest my case.
Microsoft: The product is cool. It's worthy. Let it sell itself. Stop with the dumb ads aimed at MBA people. Adjust your sites and get to work. We're waiting.