Curtis Franklin

By default, all packets of data traveling across a local-area network (LAN) are created equal. If all of the traffic on a network is text- or file-transfer-based, the system is workable--and no one notices when a 40MB file is delayed by 50 milliseconds as more bandwidth is made available to all users and applications.

If one type of application on a network is dramatically different from the others and requires far more bandwidth, however, problems can occur. The most common examples involve Voice-over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phone service and streaming video.

When you take into account its purchase price and all of the consumables it requires--toner or ink, paper, imaging drums, and more--you may find that a printer is one of the most expensive pieces of IT equipment in your business.

When any one user needs access to an expensive machine only intermittently, sharing the hardware among as many users as possible makes sense. The simplest way to accomplish this in an office is to put the printer on the office network, where all network users can reach it.

Editor's note: An editing error mischaracterized how to test IPv6 capability from a network. We have removed that reference, and we regret the error.

The Internet promises unlimited connectivity, but such connectivity requires that computers and devices find one another through a common address plan. The current plan, in place since the late 1970s, is running out of open addresses, and a new scheme called IPv6 is being put in place to power the Internet's next stage of growth.

Get ready for the iPad clones. In a week that, according to Apple, saw iPad sales hit the two million unit mark, IDG News Service reports that the Computex Taipei trade show is anticipating demonstrations of a dozen or more rivals to the iPad.

ASUS is showing this Eee Pad EP101TC at the Computex Taipei trade show

I have a confession: I'm a switcher. My long journey with Windows, which began even before Windows with MS-DOS, ended with Windows Vista. While so many others navigated the Vista debacle by sticking with Windows XP, I gave Vista a try -- and gave up. I leapt to the Mac OS.

Could Windows 7 lure me back?

A small business is not necessarily a simple business. That rather basic lesson has taken much of the computer industry far too many years to learn. Successful SaaS vendors have realized that small businesses need the same sort of functions and support that large enterprises get -- just in smaller quantities. Clearly Microsoft has come to the same realization with the release of Small Business Server 2008.

Small Business Server (SBS) is designed to be the only software sitting at the center of a small-business network. The wealth of functionality includes Windows Server 2008, Exchange Server 2007, Office Live Small Business 2008, Windows SharePoint Services, and Windows Server Update Services. Network and server security are available with SBS, though they're not included in the basic price. You'll get a trial license for ForeFront and Windows Live OneCare, which extend malware coverage to Exchange and all Windows clients on the network. If you want to continue to use them, though, you'll have to pay for additional on-going licenses.

YouTube is part of the social fabric of the Internet now, with "watch this video" e-mails of the new millennium replacing the joke-list e-mails of the '90s as high-level corporate time-wasters. YouTube has made stars of some and fortunes for a few. In doing so, it has defined video as an easy, common way for regular folks to communicate with one another. Google is taking the easy video concept to business collaboration with Google Video, a video-sharing service designed for intra-business communications with team members, partners, and business colleagues.

If there's one application that everybody has, and depends on, it's Microsoft Office. The newest Office, though, has met with a mixed reaction, thanks to a changed user interface that caused concern in some quarters and increased connections with Microsoft's collaboration technology that has intrigued many in IT -- but is optimized for Vista environments that have been slow to gain adoption.

At the same time, more people are adopting Apple's Macintosh, where the newest Office incarnation has been roundly criticized for being just a partial implementation of the real thing. And the desktop Linux community is hoping that the emerging class of ultra-low-cost PCs and laptops may jump-start adoption -- and a need for Linux-based office productivity software. Thus, the time is right to see if you can live without Microsoft Office.

[ Read InfoWorld's comparative review of Google Docs, Lotus Symphony, OpenOffice, and Zoho. | If you're looking to dump both Office and Windows, find out whether you can really switch to Mac OS X or convert to desktop Linux. ]

In the early days of the PC, Microsoft Office faced several vibrant competitors, but today, only a puny WordPerfect survives as a commercial product, and barely that. Mac users have the option of Apple's iWork suite, which works well for basic tasks but is oriented more toward visual document preparation than large-enterprise workflow.

But a new generation of competitors -- Google Docs, IBM Lotus Symphony, OpenOffice.org, and Zoho -- is emerging from two different directions: cloud computing services and open source software. While businesses have embraced SaaS (software as a service) for enterprise applications from CRM to security, and open source software for server operating systems and infrastructure component firmware, they have been far more reluctant to move desktop productivity software to either open source or the cloud. Still, the feature sets and user interfaces of the competition have developed to a point at which they can be considered serious options for personal productivity tasks.

So it's plausible to switch to an Office alternative. But how do you go about actually making the switch? There are several factors to work through, since technology is far from the only issue that has to be considered when thinking about a shift from a market leader to less-popular competitor. And each can have a cost.

The Cost of Training

Businesses considering alternatives to Office of course have to anticipate a steep cost of change. One of the great advantages of Microsoft Office is the number of people who know how to use its applications. In any switch to an alternative, you would likely need to do a good bit of training -- especially of heavy Excel users who tap into the significant and sometimes inherently complex functionality in that product. And don't forget the cost of rewriting all the Excel macros that create the monthly executive dashboard reporting at the company.

The new user interface introduced with Office 2007 is cited by some as creating an opportunity for exploring new applications, since the "ribbon" device used in Office 2007 is so radically different than that of earlier Office versions. An application suite like OpenOffice.org, which features a user interface similar to that used in Office 2003, could require less user training than the new version of Microsoft Office.

There are many third-party options available for training users on Microsoft Office products. But there are significantly fewer options for training employees in the use of other personal productivity suites. Developing application training courses in-house can be an expensive proposition, though such lessons have the advantage of being able to focus on an organization's particular use patterns and standards.

Many organizations don't feel it necessary to provide training to every employee on Microsoft Word and Excel, since so many employees come into their positions with experience in the software. That same level of prior knowledge can't be assumed for other packages -- with minor exceptions. In the legal field, for example, WordPerfect is still commonly used, and experience in its use is expected.

If training can be dealt with, there remain other issues, some of which involve software used by partners, customers, and suppliers.