Xerox and the "Universal Print Driver"
Industry Analysts praised the Xerox Global Print Driver and Mobile Express Driver print drivers for simplifying printing management for IT departments and making it easier for workers to print from multiple locations. The drivers' ability to support competitive printing devices, as well as nearly all Xerox printers and multifunction printers (MFPs) played a key role in the award selection.
"The beauty of technology is when it makes things simple," said Ted Needleman, senior technical director of Industry Analysts Technical Services Division. "The Xerox drivers work regardless of who made the printer plus you don't need to spend all kinds of time setting them up. Xerox has made the whole process seamless."
"This award underscores Xerox's dedication to delivering real-world solutions that help our customers simplify their processes, become more productive and improve their bottom line," said Rick Dastin, president, Xerox Office Group. "
Providing these free print drivers is just one way Xerox continues to stay ahead of the technology curve and anticipate the needs of our customers."
SOURCE: Xerox Corporation
Imitation is the greatest form of flattery...
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Friday, October 10, 2008
You Think Man Can Destroy the Planet?
"What intoxicating vanity."
"Let me tell you about our planet.
Earth is four-and-a-half-billion-years-old. There's been life on it for nearly that long, 3.8 billion years. Bacteria first; later the first multicellular life, then the first complex creatures in the sea, on the land.
Then finally the great sweeping ages of animals, the amphibians, the dinosaurs, at last the mammals, each one enduring millions on millions of years, great dynasties of creatures rising, flourishing, dying away -- all this against a background of continuous and violent upheaval.
Mountain ranges thrust up, eroded away, cometary impacts, volcano eruptions, oceans rising and falling, whole continents moving, an endless, constant, violent change, colliding, buckling to make mountains over millions of years.
Earth has survived everything in its time. It will certainly survive us. If all the nuclear weapons in the world went off at once and all the plants, all the animals died and the earth was sizzling hot for a hundred thousand years, life would survive, somewhere: under the soil, frozen in Arctic ice. Sooner or later, when the planet was no longer inhospitable, life would spread again. The evolutionary process would begin again. It might take a few billion years for life to regain its present variety.
Of course, it would be very different from what it is now, but the earth would survive our folly, only we would not. If the ozone layer gets thinner, ultraviolet radiation sears the earth, so what? Ultraviolet radiation is good for life. It's powerful energy. It promotes mutation, change. Many forms of life will thrive with more UV radiation.
Many others will die out. Do you think this is the first time that's happened? Think about oxygen. Necessary for life now, but oxygen is actually a metabolic poison, a corrosive glass, like fluorine. When oxygen was first produced as a waste product by certain plant cells some three billion years ago, it created a crisis for all other life on earth. Those plants were polluting the environment, exhaling a lethal gas.
Earth eventually had an atmosphere incompatible with life. Nevertheless, life on earth took care of itself. In the thinking of the human being a hundred years is a long time. A hundred years ago we didn't have cars, airplanes, computers or vaccines. It was a whole different world, but to the earth, a hundred years is nothing.
A million years is nothing.
This planet lives and breathes on a much vaster scale. We can't imagine its slow and powerful rhythms, and we haven't got the humility to try. We've been residents here for the blink of an eye.
If we're gone tomorrow, the earth will not miss us."
Click to email me.
"Let me tell you about our planet.
Earth is four-and-a-half-billion-years-old. There's been life on it for nearly that long, 3.8 billion years. Bacteria first; later the first multicellular life, then the first complex creatures in the sea, on the land.
Then finally the great sweeping ages of animals, the amphibians, the dinosaurs, at last the mammals, each one enduring millions on millions of years, great dynasties of creatures rising, flourishing, dying away -- all this against a background of continuous and violent upheaval.
Mountain ranges thrust up, eroded away, cometary impacts, volcano eruptions, oceans rising and falling, whole continents moving, an endless, constant, violent change, colliding, buckling to make mountains over millions of years.
Earth has survived everything in its time. It will certainly survive us. If all the nuclear weapons in the world went off at once and all the plants, all the animals died and the earth was sizzling hot for a hundred thousand years, life would survive, somewhere: under the soil, frozen in Arctic ice. Sooner or later, when the planet was no longer inhospitable, life would spread again. The evolutionary process would begin again. It might take a few billion years for life to regain its present variety.
Of course, it would be very different from what it is now, but the earth would survive our folly, only we would not. If the ozone layer gets thinner, ultraviolet radiation sears the earth, so what? Ultraviolet radiation is good for life. It's powerful energy. It promotes mutation, change. Many forms of life will thrive with more UV radiation.
Many others will die out. Do you think this is the first time that's happened? Think about oxygen. Necessary for life now, but oxygen is actually a metabolic poison, a corrosive glass, like fluorine. When oxygen was first produced as a waste product by certain plant cells some three billion years ago, it created a crisis for all other life on earth. Those plants were polluting the environment, exhaling a lethal gas.
Earth eventually had an atmosphere incompatible with life. Nevertheless, life on earth took care of itself. In the thinking of the human being a hundred years is a long time. A hundred years ago we didn't have cars, airplanes, computers or vaccines. It was a whole different world, but to the earth, a hundred years is nothing.
A million years is nothing.
This planet lives and breathes on a much vaster scale. We can't imagine its slow and powerful rhythms, and we haven't got the humility to try. We've been residents here for the blink of an eye.
If we're gone tomorrow, the earth will not miss us."
Click to email me.
Thanks to Google, No More "Drunk Email"
You gotta love this...
I guess this is a new issue, people sending out emails while drunk and regretting it in the morning.
Didn't Jerry McGuire do the same thing...sorta?
Much like the breathalyzer attached to the dashboard of your '69 Mustang, Mail Goggles is designed to stop you from ending up in the "Chappaquiddick" of Cyber-dom by forcing you to complete a few math questions.
Once the numerical hurdles are overcome, your email is sent to your "ex" or your idiot boss and into the ether. Oh and saved forever on one of the off-shore, water cooled, Google Data centers.
Funny stuff.
I guess this is a new issue, people sending out emails while drunk and regretting it in the morning.
Didn't Jerry McGuire do the same thing...sorta?
Much like the breathalyzer attached to the dashboard of your '69 Mustang, Mail Goggles is designed to stop you from ending up in the "Chappaquiddick" of Cyber-dom by forcing you to complete a few math questions.
Once the numerical hurdles are overcome, your email is sent to your "ex" or your idiot boss and into the ether. Oh and saved forever on one of the off-shore, water cooled, Google Data centers.Funny stuff.
Thursday, October 9, 2008
HP Placed in "Leaders" Quadrant for Managed Print Services in Magic Quadrant Report
The "Magic Quadrant..."
Last update: 3:00 p.m. EDT Oct. 8, 2008
SAN DIEGO, Oct 08, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- HP (HPQ:
Hewlett-Packard Co.today announced industry analyst firm Gartner, Inc. has placed it in the Leaders Quadrant in its Magic Quadrant for Managed Print Services Worldwide.
The Gartner Magic Quadrant positions vendors according to their "ability to execute" and their "completeness of vision" in managed print services (MPS).
According to Gartner, the completeness of vision axis "reflects each MPS provider's prospects for success by analyzing its view of the market, its service operating model, and its strategic plans for growth and service improvements."
Gartner evaluated vendors on the quality and efficacy of the processes, systems, methods or procedures that enable their performance to be competitive, efficient and effective, and to have a positive impact on revenue, retention and reputation. According to the firm, vendors are judged on their ability and success in capitalizing on their vision.
"We believe being placed in the Leaders Quadrant in Gartner's Magic Quadrant for 'completeness of vision'and 'ability to execute' is a testament to HP's unique insight into the Managed Print Services industry," said Bruce Dahlgren, senior vice president, Worldwide Solutions and Services, Imaging and Printing Group, HP. "HP delivers a complete set of services to reduce total business costs, improve paper-based workflows and maximize productivity for customers worldwide."
According to the report, Gartner classifies leaders as providing MPS to a wide range of customers, including the largest and most geographically dispersed, so they must demonstrate a truly global reach. They must demonstrate not only the skills to deliver today's MPS, but also the understanding, initiative and resources to prepare for tomorrow's. Leaders characteristically augment the full scope of MPS with a wide range of added-value services.
Last update: 3:00 p.m. EDT Oct. 8, 2008
SAN DIEGO, Oct 08, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- HP (HPQ:
Hewlett-Packard Co.today announced industry analyst firm Gartner, Inc. has placed it in the Leaders Quadrant in its Magic Quadrant for Managed Print Services Worldwide.
The Gartner Magic Quadrant positions vendors according to their "ability to execute" and their "completeness of vision" in managed print services (MPS).
According to Gartner, the completeness of vision axis "reflects each MPS provider's prospects for success by analyzing its view of the market, its service operating model, and its strategic plans for growth and service improvements."
Gartner evaluated vendors on the quality and efficacy of the processes, systems, methods or procedures that enable their performance to be competitive, efficient and effective, and to have a positive impact on revenue, retention and reputation. According to the firm, vendors are judged on their ability and success in capitalizing on their vision.
"We believe being placed in the Leaders Quadrant in Gartner's Magic Quadrant for 'completeness of vision'and 'ability to execute' is a testament to HP's unique insight into the Managed Print Services industry," said Bruce Dahlgren, senior vice president, Worldwide Solutions and Services, Imaging and Printing Group, HP. "HP delivers a complete set of services to reduce total business costs, improve paper-based workflows and maximize productivity for customers worldwide."
According to the report, Gartner classifies leaders as providing MPS to a wide range of customers, including the largest and most geographically dispersed, so they must demonstrate a truly global reach. They must demonstrate not only the skills to deliver today's MPS, but also the understanding, initiative and resources to prepare for tomorrow's. Leaders characteristically augment the full scope of MPS with a wide range of added-value services.
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Economic Chickens Coming Home to Roost
Credit Crunch putting deals on hold.
Solution Providers Say Credit Crunch Putting Business On Hold
By Craig Zarley, ChannelWeb
11:00 AM EDT Wed. Oct. 08, 2008
Solution providers report that the credit crunch is starting to impact their business as customers either cancel or delay projects because of the inability to secure financing.
Wednesday's decision by the Federal Reserve to cut its key federal funds lending rate by half a percentage point to 1.5 percent and its discount rate by the same amount to 1.75 percent is expected to have little immediate impact on the situation. Solution providers say it's not the cost to borrow, but the availability of credit that is impacting the market.
"This week alone I've had two deals that the customers would have financed themselves through a bank but they were turned down," said Manuel Villa, president of VIA Technology, a San Antonio-based solution provider. "They then had to look for leasing options, but the leasing companies told them they couldn't do the project. Even leasing companies are getting tight with their approval process. That tells me that credit is tight all over."
Villa said the deals were relatively small, about $20,000 each, but the customers were well-established professional firms that have been in business for more than 10 years.
"If I've got two deals that are put on hold because of lack of capital, there are certainly some other folks that are seeing the same thing right now," he said. "This is a real problem now, but I hope that it is temporary."
Mark Singh, president of Abacus Computers, a Midland, Texas, solution provider, said he, too, has seen several projects that he expected to go through put on hold in the past few weeks. "Nobody has told us [that they can't get financing], but I suspect that some deals are being slowed down right now," he said. "Some projects that we expected to go through just aren't going. I think the credit crunch is slowing down some business."
Most well-established solution providers say they have yet to seen any restraints put on their lines of credit either from distributors of finance companies such as GE Capital. But they agree that anyone that is new to the business or lacks a sound business model is vulnerable in this economic climate.
Villa, for example, says a diversified business model will help him mitigate the impact of the credit crunch, noting that his public-sector business is still strong. "The public sector works with budget cycles a year in advance," he said. "Once the funds have been allocated for a project, they go forward with it."
Solution Providers Say Credit Crunch Putting Business On Hold
By Craig Zarley, ChannelWeb
11:00 AM EDT Wed. Oct. 08, 2008
Solution providers report that the credit crunch is starting to impact their business as customers either cancel or delay projects because of the inability to secure financing.
Wednesday's decision by the Federal Reserve to cut its key federal funds lending rate by half a percentage point to 1.5 percent and its discount rate by the same amount to 1.75 percent is expected to have little immediate impact on the situation. Solution providers say it's not the cost to borrow, but the availability of credit that is impacting the market.
"This week alone I've had two deals that the customers would have financed themselves through a bank but they were turned down," said Manuel Villa, president of VIA Technology, a San Antonio-based solution provider. "They then had to look for leasing options, but the leasing companies told them they couldn't do the project. Even leasing companies are getting tight with their approval process. That tells me that credit is tight all over."
Villa said the deals were relatively small, about $20,000 each, but the customers were well-established professional firms that have been in business for more than 10 years.
"If I've got two deals that are put on hold because of lack of capital, there are certainly some other folks that are seeing the same thing right now," he said. "This is a real problem now, but I hope that it is temporary."
Mark Singh, president of Abacus Computers, a Midland, Texas, solution provider, said he, too, has seen several projects that he expected to go through put on hold in the past few weeks. "Nobody has told us [that they can't get financing], but I suspect that some deals are being slowed down right now," he said. "Some projects that we expected to go through just aren't going. I think the credit crunch is slowing down some business."
Most well-established solution providers say they have yet to seen any restraints put on their lines of credit either from distributors of finance companies such as GE Capital. But they agree that anyone that is new to the business or lacks a sound business model is vulnerable in this economic climate.
Villa, for example, says a diversified business model will help him mitigate the impact of the credit crunch, noting that his public-sector business is still strong. "The public sector works with budget cycles a year in advance," he said. "Once the funds have been allocated for a project, they go forward with it."
Monday, October 6, 2008
HP, a molecular biologist, Napa and Green Mentality
10/6/08
Good people, great wine, good times...
I recently attended a Green Conference hosted by HP, in Napa - while the conference was held at the very nice Meritage, our "field trips" included a Green winery, Merryvale Winery the facility at Starmont and the City of Napa Recycling and Composting Center(affectionately, and incorrectly referred to as "the Dump")
Both stops were fascinating.
Meritage/Starmont -
I have been to Napa many times, but had never been part of a tour like then one HP arranged for us. Because the theme of the conference was Green, I felt visiting a green winery both appropriate and interesting.
What made the trip most interesting to was the person giving the presentation and the manner in which it was delivered.
There was NO PowerPoint, no projector, no written agenda, no boardroom, no Halo Room, laser pointers or stage lights. Just a group of "printer geeks" standing in a field, learning about Viticulture & Enology - and sustainability.
Our hostess, Remi Cohen, holds a bachelors degree in Molecular and Cellular Biology, Master’s Degree in Viticulture & Enology from U.C. Davis, and in 2008, she completed her M.B.A. at Golden Gate University in San Francisco.
Wow - and the best I had hoped for was Lucy.
We didn't learn how to sip a wine, or how to swirl the wine in a glass, or determine how much sugar is in the solution...nope, we learned that in order to determine the amount of water in the ground, one method involves burying scales under a plot of turf and to monitor weight fluctuation.
I had never met a molecular biologist before - and to be completely honest, I hold most "intelligentsia" in pure disdain. I tend to think of "intellectuals" as "those who sit around and talk about what others have done, without actually doing anything themselves..."
I am a little embarrassed to admit, but, Miss. Cohen made me realize my blatant stereotyping.
I learned a great deal -
All the rain water is saved.
Solar panels provide enough energy each day to power 250 homes.
The structure is very green - double windows, zone climate controlled system and the wine was excellent.
----
City of Napa Recycling and Composting Center - "It's not a Dump, it's a Recycling Plant..."
We have come a long way since the times of the "Iron Eyes Cody"
There are huge machines that sort most of the materials, still, there is a crew of of people who hand pick the larger glass objects out.
To the right of the entrance, huge, heaps of steaming bio-material - the compost heap - is routinely watered lest the internal tempurature of 130 degrees give new meaning to "the burning bush".
Over to the left, the county's largest deposit of E-Waste waits. Canon copiers, Xerox printers, HP 9050's, large, flat-panel displays and even electric can openers - all staged and waiting to be sold by the pound and then broken down, unscrewed,and disassembled by Second Chance employees.
And out back, bales the size of VW's, stacked three stories high, composing of compacted tin cans, soda cans, plastic bottles and containers - each going for around $1,500.00.
And guess who is buying all out "trash"...China.
That's right, China sends over containers full of toys, and lead-tainted candies and we send back our "garbage" - the balance of nature, at its best.
Click to email me.
Good people, great wine, good times...
I recently attended a Green Conference hosted by HP, in Napa - while the conference was held at the very nice Meritage, our "field trips" included a Green winery, Merryvale Winery the facility at Starmont and the City of Napa Recycling and Composting Center(affectionately, and incorrectly referred to as "the Dump")
Both stops were fascinating.
Meritage/Starmont -
I have been to Napa many times, but had never been part of a tour like then one HP arranged for us. Because the theme of the conference was Green, I felt visiting a green winery both appropriate and interesting.
What made the trip most interesting to was the person giving the presentation and the manner in which it was delivered.
There was NO PowerPoint, no projector, no written agenda, no boardroom, no Halo Room, laser pointers or stage lights. Just a group of "printer geeks" standing in a field, learning about Viticulture & Enology - and sustainability.
Our hostess, Remi Cohen, holds a bachelors degree in Molecular and Cellular Biology, Master’s Degree in Viticulture & Enology from U.C. Davis, and in 2008, she completed her M.B.A. at Golden Gate University in San Francisco.
Wow - and the best I had hoped for was Lucy.
We didn't learn how to sip a wine, or how to swirl the wine in a glass, or determine how much sugar is in the solution...nope, we learned that in order to determine the amount of water in the ground, one method involves burying scales under a plot of turf and to monitor weight fluctuation.
I had never met a molecular biologist before - and to be completely honest, I hold most "intelligentsia" in pure disdain. I tend to think of "intellectuals" as "those who sit around and talk about what others have done, without actually doing anything themselves..."
I am a little embarrassed to admit, but, Miss. Cohen made me realize my blatant stereotyping.
-The point here is even if you actually are a brain surgeon, rocket scientist or a micro-biologist specializing in Viticulture, it is possible to communicate with an audience without talking down to the audience. -
I learned a great deal -
All the rain water is saved.
Solar panels provide enough energy each day to power 250 homes.
The structure is very green - double windows, zone climate controlled system and the wine was excellent.
----
City of Napa Recycling and Composting Center - "It's not a Dump, it's a Recycling Plant..."
We have come a long way since the times of the "Iron Eyes Cody"
There are huge machines that sort most of the materials, still, there is a crew of of people who hand pick the larger glass objects out.
To the right of the entrance, huge, heaps of steaming bio-material - the compost heap - is routinely watered lest the internal tempurature of 130 degrees give new meaning to "the burning bush".
Over to the left, the county's largest deposit of E-Waste waits. Canon copiers, Xerox printers, HP 9050's, large, flat-panel displays and even electric can openers - all staged and waiting to be sold by the pound and then broken down, unscrewed,and disassembled by Second Chance employees.
And out back, bales the size of VW's, stacked three stories high, composing of compacted tin cans, soda cans, plastic bottles and containers - each going for around $1,500.00.
And guess who is buying all out "trash"...China.
That's right, China sends over containers full of toys, and lead-tainted candies and we send back our "garbage" - the balance of nature, at its best.
How Green Is My Money..."Will Going Green in Business printing go the way of OS/2?
Paperless Offices, Killer Toner , Carbon Offset - "A World Without Sin"
It's not Easy Being Green - "Don't Take My DeskJet"
Click to email me.
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Managed print Services : 2008
It's just my view. These are MY "top of mind" events and posts in 2008, in no particular order:
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