Google Chrome OS – Mr Gates, please come back?

The announcement by Google of its new OS has the industry buzzing - and it will certainly be interesting to see the clash of these titans. Google will strike Microsoft right in its heartland– the Windows desktop system and its accompanying office package. Of course, the OS is still very much 'vaporware', but the threat is real.

I remember the ‘attacks’ by IBM (OS/2), Novell (Dr DOS), Corel & Borland (on Office), as well as Linux in more recent years. Each time Microsoft prevailed simply because it had the better product, the better marketing and the competing product was just not ‘different’ enough. So Microsoft has the track record to shake off Google - only things are little different now.

The market parameters have changed and so has Microsoft. Microsoft is no longer the lean, mean and focused company that it was in the nineties. It has not focused on its main stay products – Windows XP/Vista and Office. There has been little innovation for those products whilst the market has been demanding faster and more manageable versions.

Instead, Microsoft has been messing about making Financial and CRM software (Dynamics), VoIP / Conferencing software (OCS/Response point), Firewall software (ISA server), Xbox, Zune, Online Search, Online ads - and not been very successful at it! Does Microsoft need to be in those businesses? I think not. The stock market does not think so either. Luckily Google has been kind enough to give Microsoft a headstart (Chrome OS will not come until 2010)

Windows is an excellent operating system and Microsoft has the credentials to come out victorious against Google. But it will require focus and commitment.

Who better then Bill Gates to lead such an effort? He has done it before in 96 when he embraced the internet. He has the vision to do it. Build a brand new netbook OS!

As a Microsoft Shareholder: Mr Gates, please consider a come back to head up this effort!

3CX wins Readers Choice Award

3CX just won a readers choice award - ahead of Cisco and Asterisk. See the full information on the readers choice results here:

http://www.windowsnetworking.com/news/WindowsNetworking-Readers-Choice-Award-IP-PBX-Servers-3CX-Phone-System-for-Windows-Apr09.html

Advantages of a Windows based PBX

Last week I released a whitepaper explaining the advantages of a Windows based PBX over an appliance or a linux based PBX. I detailed the top 10 benefits. You can view the whitepaper in PDF format here. 

I also created a short presentation on youtube. Feedback welcome!

3CX checks in at hotels worldwide to bring VoIP to Hospitality industry

I read somewhere that about 30% of telephony ports worldwide are installed at Hotels. That might be exaggerated, but undoubtedly there are a lot of hotels worldwide with large phone systems in place.

And most of these hotel pbx systems are overpriced, aging and ‘under featured’. A huge opportunity therefore for 3CX. 

I am convinced that a software based PBX, with its flexibility and adaptability can be more easily integrated with hotel software then a traditional PBX, an appliance or a Linux based PBX. Furthermore, the hospitality industry can greatly benefit from voice applications.

So I am happy to announce the release of 3CX Hotel Module – which turns 3CX Phone System in to a full featured hotel PBX that supports Check in, Check out, DND, Maid status, billing, guest voice mail and more. And supports popular hotel software such as Fidelio and more.

Watch my Youtube presentation on the new module here, or read the press release!

Version 7.1 goes live!

3CX Phone System v 7.1 was released today.

The big feature was the new 3CX Assistant. The Assistant makes using the phone system for each extension user much easier.

In addition, its also the basis for integration with other CRM software such as Microsoft Outlook and Salesforce.com The integration modules are in beta and can already be downloaded.

You can view the press release here.

Windows Server 2008 Foundation – good – very good!

Microsoft announced a new server version – Windows Server 2008 Foundation. In a nutshell this is a lower cost OEM version of Windows Server 2008 – of course a few features have been removed but all the key features are there including Active Directory.  Essentially a File, Print (and why not PBX) server for Small to Medium business. 

With server costs as low and hardware specs as good as they are today, the average brand new rack mounted $1000-$1500 server will easily be able to handle being a PBX as well as a file and print server. 

And if such a server runs Windows Server already, pre-installed just like the way you buy a notebook, then choosing a Windows based PBX as your next communications solution is pretty much a no brainer. :-) 

SKYPE sees the light

I was pleasantly surprised by the announcement that SKYPE has finally opened up to SIP based PBXs. You can register for the beta program here. This is amazing news for the VoIP industry and I believe will further accelerate its growth. SKYPE has good international rates, and calls to Skype users are of course free. More importantly, customers using SKYPE can call your company at nocharge! For many businesses this will mean more customers. Something to be welcomed in time of recession!

Until the final release of the SIP to SKYPE service of SKYPE, we have made available a beta of 3CX Gateway for SKYPE. This free add-on based on an open source solution from mhspot.com that allows you to use SKYPE with 3CX right now. You can download it here. 

Hak 5 Internet TV show gives 3CX heads up!

I was happy to see 3CX on Hak5 today. Actually, very happy :-)  Hak5 do Internet TV shows on Technology and the content is actually pretty cool. Matt LeStock showed how to install 3CX in under 10 minutes, which included running the install process which takes quite a chunk of that. Some qoutes from Matt:

"After having an urgent need to replace our aging PSTN based telephone system which costs $100/hr for some monkey to come in and make a simple extension change, my company decided it was time for something we could control." 

"My company is a Microsoft shop, end of story. I have no need, nor the time to do something in linux that would take me personally longer than it would in Windows. You may be quicker, and that’s good for you, but I can’t be bothered. Windows works for my company, and that’s all that you need to know"

"All in all I’m pretty satisfied with the 3CX package. While I can’t get into every nitty gritty detail of my phone system, I don’t need to. The software works, a few small issues not withstanding) and I can eventually turn over basic user maintenance to someone who isn’t an IT person because it really is that easy to use."

Lovely! Couldnt have said it better! Thanks Matt!

Take a look at the show!

Crisis courtesy Microsoft Excel

Microsoft Excel is a dangerous tool. Although excellent software, Microsoft Excel has some part in the current recession. Back in the early nineties when I was sitting for my MBA, I used it to calculate the potential of a new business idea. ‘Navigator’ was to be a piece of software distributed by travel operators interactively selling holiday destinations in sound and motion. Of course the business plan accompanying it was made in Microsoft Excel. In just a few hours, we had projected how the business would grow. We’d see fat profits. This time next year we would be millionaires! Microsoft Excel said so! After investing ALL my savings into the project, I quickly found out that calculating yourself rich in Excel was just way too easy. Excel was deleted from my PC and the network.

Over the years though the use of spreadsheets became increasingly popular. Accountants and investors projected (and expected) infinite growth based on its formulas. Business managers, blinded by fat profits displayed in numerous different colorful charts, made the corresponding investment decisions. Excel operators even started making it into decision making positions – and competing with their excel operator friends for the biggest and most ‘profitable’ spreadsheet.

Even BANKS, notoriously slow, and conservative, succumbed to the Excel bug, and so things multiplied and we now have the biggest recession since the 30’s.

I have always ignored the content of spreadsheets, preferring that projected growth be explained in words. It’s a lot harder to do, and it sifts out quite a bit rubbish from the get -go. Business decisions should be based on intuition, not on spreadsheets.

3CX VoIP Nuggets on Youtube channel

Over the past few months we have been working on creating a series of video tutorials, called "VoIP nuggets", about 3CX Phone System and VoIP and SIP in general. These video tutorials are published on 3CX' Youtube channel. The VoIP Nuggets are authored by 3CX staff, the 3CX user community as well as technology partners such as Patton. The tutorials are provided free of charge. 3CX’ VoIP nuggets are available at:

http://www.3cx.com/blog/category/voip-nuggets/

The 3CX Youtube Channel is here.

Let me know if you have any suggestions for VoIP Nuggets - i.e areas where you feel more visual explanation/documentation would help!