As a ’soft southerner’, although one that strongly believes that there is life beyond the Watford Gap, it is with much excitement and anticipation that I venture North today to attend the Sage Visions Event in Newcastle.

Every high profile software house uses such events to laud its achievements over the past year, and I am sure Sage will not prove an exception to the rule. However, the invitation only attendees have been assured, that this is not going to be an opportunity to sing the praises of the likes of Sage 50 Accounts (formerly Sage Line 50) and Sage ACT! contact management software.

That’s interesting because you might think what else is there to talk about? Okay, there must be some back slapping and congratulations dished out (probably in large amount s) to the ‘Sage Business Partner/ Developer’ of the year, but after that, what do the all of the non-winners of the awards take away with them?

Sage

In the classic sketch from ‘Not the Nine O’Clock News’ Mel Smith walks into the electrical retailers to buy a ‘Gramophone’, (when first broadcast in the early 1980’s) Mel’s character was about 30 years behind the times. The full effect of his ignorance of technology is played out showing how superior knowledge can be used to devastating effect against the uninitiated. The awkwardness of the situation is timeless. Read more

So, the day of execution for Windows

“It’s not the Wall Street Crash of 1929, It’s not going to be The Great Depression of the 1930’s, it’s all quite different…er…honest…” Read more

The announcement (Thursday 17th July) by The Telegraph Media Group (TMG) that Google Apps will replace Microsoft Office as the productivity suite for its 1400 employees should send a warning call to Microsoft. In my mind it’s a bombshell! Not that Microsoft will mourn the loss of 1400 business users (a drop in the ocean of its installed customer base), but for what the move represents. Read more

It threatened the worst. Yesterday saw a month’s rain fall in the space of 24 hours. Today…Death by PowerPoint - slow and painful. What’s more all this taking place in an economic climate bleaker than yesterday’s British Summer.

I’ve just returned from a Sage Software Business Partner event in central London. Read more

As of June 30, large PC makers will no longer be able to sell Windows XP-based PCs, at least on mainstream notebooks and desktops. Retailers will also have only until their current supply is exhausted to sell boxed copies of the operating system. Despite a brief “Save XP” movement (and continued criticism of Windows Vista from many corners), it appears that Microsoft is not going to change the deadline, which is now just 10 days away. Read more

Surely, there are two words which describe how the Google search engine has caught the imagination of the global village- simple and brilliant! Read more

Ahhh, the wonders of technology! I can sit and write this blog whilst waiting for an RAC man to fix my broken down car, stranded as I am, on a London arterial car park. Whatever happened to the boast that we would all be rescued from roadside boredom within 40 minutes? Read more