Latest Blog posts from ITServicesConnected.co.uk

Dell Partner Direct

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Dell are well known for being a direct to customer approach company without the use of any middle man or retail shop selling their range of desktop computers, notebooks, netbooks, servers and other equipment.

A major shift in strategy developed Dell's Partner Direct program encouraging companies to resell Dell products allowing companies to take advantage of partners knowledge and experience of dell products.

Despite Dell well being known for a direct business model, Dell currently has well over 30,000 partners world wide with 15,000 in the US, who resell Dell's products and services.

IT Services Support is pleased to announce that as of the 24th February 2010 we are officially a DellDirect Partner.

Being a Dell Direct Partner provides us to access to the whole of the Dell product range at incredibly competitive prices, along with the expertise and full support of Dell.

Windows Phone Series 7

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Microsoft has produced a smart phone OS since 2000, but recently Windows Mobile has become somewhat stale with no major changes since the original release of Version 6 in February 2007. The recent release of 6.5 being nothing more than an unwanted stopgap until the next version.

Since then the mobile market has changed dramatically for both the domestic market and business users. All devices running innovative software that have upgraded the capabilities of mobile phones.

Two years of Apple iPhone, nearly a year-and-a-half since the launch of the first Google Android phone and a year since the unveiling of the Palm Pre, all looking to build market share and no response from Microsoft in what is a giant game of leapfrog.

Microsoft has finally come up with answer to bring itself a fresh approach into the mobile market. A fresh approach with a brand new operating system at the core and new name for a new time. Gone is the name Windows Mobile.

If you have a Zune music player, you should recognise the Microsoft's phone platform immediately. The Zune software, although has struggled for market share, is known for working well and doing what it needs to do without a cluttered interface.

Microsoft has acknowledged that this is a crowded market, because of this they have been challenged to produce a new experience.

What really matters is when Microsoft decide to release this new Mobile OS. At this point in time it is unlikely Iphone and Android users will consider a Microsoft powered phone, they may however take business from RIM.

ChangeWave Reseatch - Recently Documented Future Smart Phone Buying

There's a lot to be excited about with this new approach from Microsoft, but we all know how this story turns out. Six companies come in, which four or three have the market share in 2 years time is anyone's guess.

Apple iPad - Our View

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On Wednesday 27th January, Apple CEO Steve Jobs revealed a new class of Apple product, apple's first tablet machine named the IPad.

The reaction to which has been of mixed review, both positive and quite cynical feedback, of which the one that has summed up our initial feelings towards the product are summed up with the following.

Looking at the product in depth the criticism has been quite just. Apple have always been known for being a marketing machine showing unwavering passion for their products. The apple Ipad is running a tweaked version of the same Mac OS X product that run's Apple's Iphone and IPod Touch.

Among the limitations that have been well document in the Iphone and Ipod Touch products have been the ability to multitask applications. A decision made by Apple on performance grounds. The OS also does not support Adobe's Flash plugin, which makes it hard to understand how this can be the "best browsing experience" as Apple would claim where this will leave many rich content sites unbrowsable.

Tablet PC's are not a new concept. The idea was originally announced as a product by Microsoft in 2001 of which over the years a number of keyboardless state PC's and convertible keyboard designs has emerged, typically working with a stylus.

With the emergence of Windows 7 and it's improved touch input and apple's recent development of touch and gesture input the market of tablet pc's has been given a needed boost.

Whether the product will be successful is remains to be seen but initial reaction has shown to see the ipad as anything but ground breaking. It is difficult to see who this product is for where on first glances, it is nothing more than a IPod Touch on your lap. The product falls between not quite a laptop and not quite a smartphone. The whole product is based on the idea of making our lives easier. What applications that could be potentially be developed for the platform may very well determine it's success.

Among the more interesting announcements for the product is that it will be possible to run Windows 7 on the hardware using Citrix XenDesktop & Citrix XenApp application allowing you to remotely run an application and an Operating system. With a combination of the Hardware and the open environment of Microsoft's Desktop software, or indeed potentially other operating systems or applications, the Ipad could become a very interesting business product.

Will you be investing in an Ipad? Give us your thoughts.

Welcome to the IT Services blog

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Welcome to the IT Services blog.

Over the coming weeks we will be taking are more in depth and personal look at news and developments that we feel affect the IT Industry, issues that affect Businesses and our general thoughts and comments from the engineers at IT Services.

Product announcements, changes in software, known threats. Issues that affect SME and large enterprise businesses alike. We hope to take a more personal but objective view that we feel may be of interest to readers.

We feel that the aim of this blog may change over time, with a mixture of short and longer items while complimenting our regular news feed.

Any comments or suggestions will be more than welcome as we take a look at a range of news, issues and general thoughts.