12 Things to Watch for This Fall | eWeek

12 Things to Watch for This Fall

12 Things to Watch for This Fall
Written By
eWEEK EDITORS
eWEEK EDITORS
Aug 22, 2007
2 minute read
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12 Things to Watch for This Fall

12 Things to Watch for This Fall

eWEEK editors make their bold predictions as to which companies will buy a competitor, which vendors will roll out significant improvements to their products and which will become more of a force in the future.


12 Things to Watch for This Fall – Prediction #1

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HP will offer business desktop Linux. This will quickly be followed by all the major OEMs offering at least limited preloaded Linux systems.—Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols, editor-at-large


12 Things to Watch for This Fall – Prediction #2

3

Microsoft will buy Facebook. —Darryl Taft, senior editor


12 Things to Watch for This Fall – Prediction #3

4

Salesforce.com will get a run for its money from a competitor (not necessarily Microsoft). —Darryl Taft, senior editor


12 Things to Watch for This Fall – Prediction #4

5

Google will get into the tools space and either buy a toolmaker or launch some tools of its own. —Darryl Taft, senior editor


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12 Things to Watch for This Fall – Prediction #5

6

Dell will launch its channel program. —Pedro Pereira, editor, eWEEK Strategic Partner


12 Things to Watch for This Fall – Prediction #6

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Expect more consolidation among managed services platform vendors. —Pedro Pereira, editor, eWEEK Strategic Partner


12 Things to Watch for This Fall – Prediction #7

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The hardware-as-a-service model and leasing through the channel will get a nudge, but financial companies will proceed with extreme caution. —Pedro Pereira, editor, eWEEK Strategic Partner


12 Things to Watch for This Fall – Prediction #8

9

Microsoft will formally launch its services platform. —Joe Wilcox, Microsoft Watch editor


12 Things to Watch for This Fall – Prediction #9

10

BMC Software is going to make an acquisition in the network management space. BMC does not have much presence in network management, but it intends to change that. —Paula Musich, senior editor


12 Things to Watch for This Fall – Prediction #10

11

BEA Systems will be bought this year by HP, Oracle or SAP. Bet on it. —Chris Preimesberger, senior writer


12 Things to Watch for This Fall – Prediction #11

12

A server-making company will debut a high-performance app or storage server that will need no air cooling. —Chris Preimesberger, senior writer


12 Things to Watch for This Fall – Prediction #12

13

Rent-a-Data Centers will continue to grow like crazy as SMBs and smaller enterprises decide to outsource their data center needs. —Chris Preimesberger, senior writer


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