David Coursey

Theres been a lot of talk around eWEEK.com about the future of the Tablet PC, so Ive decided to add my two cents worth. My prediction? Someday every business notebook that uses a Microsoft operating system will be a Tablet PC. And most of them will even have tablet features! Whether you will use your […]

People who have only recently become familiar with a company called SCO will be forgiven if they believe the three initials refer to the companys “Suit-Crazy Owners.” This is, after all, the company thats pinning its future on winning lawsuits against competitors over technology it really had no part in creating. I wont try to […]

Thinking about SCOs chances of prevailing in its battle against Linux, I am reminded of a cartoon I once saw. It shows a scientist—probably a physicist—in front of a blackboard covered with figures and calculations. The final calculation ends with the notation, “A miracle occurs!” I may not remember the cartoon totally accurately, but the […]

I hate to be late to the party, but the recent discussion between Jim Louderback and Rob Enderle about Apple makes some good points and misses others. /zimages/3/28571.gifTo read their views, click here. For example, arguing over whether Apple should be in the PC business is lunacy. You can argue whether Apple should be in […]

At the risk of seeming ungrateful, I have to wonder whether Microsofts free anti-spam add-on for Exchange servers is really such a good deal. Sure, it is for me, right now, but isnt this the sort of “good deal” that got Microsoft into trouble with the feds over Netscape? The same sort of “good deal” […]

The best thing about Microsofts new Intelligent Message Filtering add-on for Exchange Server isnt that its free—its that it really works. Of course, having the ultimate “nice price” makes choosing IMF almost a no-brainer. I have been using IMF for several days—too early to really make a determination—but the early results have been excellent. If […]

Customers sign up, may or may not pay a customization or setup fee, and then pay for the software on a monthly, quarterly or yearly basis—much as they pay for any other business service. Pricing is often variable based on how much service the customer consumes, allowing the commitment to expand or contract as business […]

At the SIIA Enterprise Software Summit last week, I had the chance to talk with senior executives from both MySQL and Red Hat Inc. This was fun, as neither company had been close to my hit parade in years past. What I learned from my conversations with them was the importance of separating the religion […]

How has the enterprise software business changed in the post-dot-bomb era? If theres one thing, its that theres now an emphasis on right-now value. Perhaps thats because customers are more in-charge of their vendor relationships than they have been in the past. It used to be that enterprise vendors—hardware and software both—and their corporate IT […]

Its easy enough to say good riddance to Microsofts wireless hardware business. When they first came around—ahead of the September 2002 release of the gear—to show me their “easiest to install” Wi-Fi devices, I told them in no uncertain terms that it was a mistake to get into the business at all. Why? The world […]