Here at ENKI, I'm one of the few people who uses Windows for my daily work, since I communicate a lot with customers and have to be able to prepare documents for them as well as for our website.  Because our services have until now been delivered largely on Linux, I'm the object of constant teasing about my attachment to Windows.   So when my computer started to go on the fritz, I purchased a new computer and decided to investigate moving to Linux and running my legacy Windows applications in a desktop virtualization environment while I figured out how to divorce myself from them.  Being that I need my computer for work, I decided to limit the amount of time I spent trying this out to a couple weeks' worth of evenings.  Despite that, it turned out to be quite a saga!  I ended up discovering that desktop virtualization isn't quite ready for prime time, at least on a Linux host environment.  You can read the details below...

My first task was to choose a distribution of Linux to use.  I started by trying out Ubuntu, since I'd never used it before.  I'm also familiar with PCLinuxOS, which we have on some of our laptops here, and is one of our customers.  Both are easy to set up and get working, and have great support through their forums, but each one failed to support the silent operation features of my new computer (fan control and the automatic processor clock scaling.)  I'm sure with enough tweaking I could have made it work, but since I was trying to replace Windows, I decided to go for a supported Linux solution.  I picked SUSE Linux Enterprise 10/SP1, which you can purchase with support from Novell.  Novell sells SLED10 as a replacement for Windows, claiming that it is usable right out of the box for office applications.  SUSE installs easily, has a lot of Windows-like features built in (including the popular open source desktop suite, Open Office) and is easily configurable in the installer or control panel, similar to Windows.  SLED10 also supports Xen-based desktop virtualization out of the box with easy configuration and no additional cost.   We use Xen here at ENKI to deliver our virtual private data centers and it's a rock-solid, reliable virtualization environment that I can trust. Unfortunately, SLED10 didn't support my PC's power management because the hardware drivers in it were too old.   I could update them, but then I wouldn't get support - and some of SLED10's modules were dependent on the old drivers!   I'm hoping SP2, coming in a few months, will solve that problem.  I liked SUSE so much that I tried the free SUSE Linux 10.3, since Novell sells support for it as well.   I was able to get the power management to work, but I couldn't get the promised support because the call center in Ireland is only available from 1am to 9am PST, which didn't do me a lot of good. 

However, once I tried to get the Xen-based virtualization running on SUSE Linux 10.3 and install Windows, I ran into a showstopper.  The Nvidia and ATI drivers for Linux do not support Xen.  As a result, you're forced to run Linux with a VGA driver that keeps you from using all the incredible whizzy graphical desktop managers as well as any graphics-intensive programs, slowing screen updates to a crawl.  I spoke with the development manager for Nvidia's desktop graphics processors last week, and he's aware of the problem and told me that his team is working on it.   But I wasn't quite ready to give up on Linux yet, for two reasonse: Compiz-fusion, the graphical desktop manager in SUSE Linux (and other distros) is so amazing and beautiful that both Apple and Microsoft have years of work to catch up -  I was totally captivated by it! Also, Linux's easily downloadable repository of thousands of instantly usable and free applications is a big draw.  So I decided to give Linux another try by using VMWare virtualization instead of Xen.

I downloaded the free trial of VMWare Workstation, and installed a copy of Windows XP on it.  I ran through the lengthy Windows update process, installed my applications, and finally ran the files and settings transfer wizard to move my personalization and files from my old computer into Windows on VMWare.  But I ran into trouble right away:  despite the fact that I've moved from a 2.2GHz Athlon 64 computer to a 3 GHz Core 2 Duo, Windows ran about 1/3 as fast in VMWare as it did on the old computer.  A lot of digging around on the VMWare forums found some bugs that were 2 versions old, which keep VMWare from scheduling multiple CPUs correctly.  So I turned the number of CPUs that VMWare supports down to 1, and suddenly Windows was as fast in my virtual environment as it was on my old computer.  Next, I tried to install Adobe CS2 into my virtual Windows, and ran into another problem: VMWare "lost contact" with the CD-ROM drive after the first install disk and the install failed.  Back I went to the forums,  where I discovered another 2-version-old bug and a workaround that allowed me to install CS2.  But the problems kept on coming, including display problems that kept me from controlling the virtual machine successfully and forced a reboot of Linux; problems reliably mounting the host's file system to exchange files between Windows and Linux; inability to use USB keys successfully; VMWare mouse drivers that blocked XP from recognizing my trackball, and on and on.  After finding all these long-neglected bugs in VMWare's knowledge base, as well as suffering disappointing performance, I came to the conclusion that I didn't want to pay about $200 to VMWare on top of $150 to Microsoft, only to end up with an environment that was going to be more problematic than the scary comments I'd ready about Windows Vista.   In the process, I also realized that I'd have to think very carefully about basing end-customer services on VMWare as well, since the sheer volume of long-term unrepaired bugs that I ran into was pretty daunting.

So, it's clear that desktop virtualization isn't quite ready for prime time, despite VMWare's assurances and advertisements to the contrary.  I'd love to try Xen on the desktop, but due to lack of video driver support, that's not quite ready either.

There actually is an alternative that eliminates the need for Xen or VMWare virtualization at all.  It's called Wine, and it's a Windows emulator.   It's even commercially supported by CodeWeavers as a product called "CrossOver Linux"   CodeWeavers has a compatibility database for Windows applications.  Unfortunately, the ones I use most often - Outlook, Photoshop, and Illustrator - don't have 100% compatibility yet.  I've heard good things about Wine on the Linux forums, and recently read an announcement from Adobe saying that they'd work on versions of their software that worked in WINE, so the future looks bright for it.

In the end, I decided to postpone the move to Linux on my desktop and installed Vista on my PC.  It wasn't without problems, including - surprisingly - no driver for my favorite Kensington track ball, but in general it was painless and I'm very satisfied with the speed and improvements in Vista.  But I miss the beautiful Linux desktop!

Over the last couple years that we've been growing ENKI, we've seen how important it is for us to pick vendors that we're really excited about doing business with - vendors we can see as partners in our business that help it grow.  As a small business, our partners have a huge effect on our business and the overall impression we can make on our clients, so picking good ones is critical for us.  I was talking to Dave about this at lunch the other day and we realized there's a pattern to good and bad vendors that we could see early on and would help us pick partners that naturally fit in with our win/win business approach in the future. 

First of all, I'm not going to name many names here - that's not the point.  But if I rave about a vendor, you can take that as a recommendation :)  The best vendors are ones where there isn't any drama in our relationship: we can trust them to deliver their product or service and we never feel betrayed or taken advantage of by them, nor do we feel we have to keep asking (or begging) for some sort of change in our relationship in order to run our business.  We can always enthusiastically recommend them.  The worst vendors keep us constantly looking out for a replacement vendor, or wishing we could because we're locked in to a relationship that we can't easily extricate ourselves from.  It's hard to recommend them to others.  Unfortunately, despite our best efforts so far, the majority of our vendors fall into the group which we'd have trouble recommending.  (If you read my Small Business CRM Challenge blog articles, you can see how frustrating this can be.)

So by now you're probably wondering what the patterns are that we've seen, and how you can use them to pick your vendors.  The strongest and most determining pattern seems to be where the vendor lies on the scale of expedience versus complacency.  Both states seem to stem from their views of their own financial success.   The expedient vendors will put on a happy face and say what it takes to get your business, since they are on the financial edge and need business badly to stay afloat.  In their mind, doing anything for the sale is justified, but you rapidly become cynical of their promises since they can't live up to them - often because they're just too strapped to do so.  Just as troubling are the complacent ones, who have a history of success or a lock-in business model and think they're entitled to your business as a result, without working to earn it.  These vendors betray your trust by acting unilaterally in their own interest, since they think they're the only game in town. 

So how do you see these patterns in advance?  In my experience, the expedient vendors are visible up-front because they offer large discounts or a complex pricing structure with lots of add-on packages that obscure the final cost to you behind a low buy-in price.  In other words, they're thinking, "just sign the contract!!!"  The complacent vendors are more difficult to spot: you'll probably need to do some research on their existing customer base, perhaps by searching online discusion groups.  One telltale is a high buy-in price or inflexibility in negotiating a contract.  They're thinking, "we're the only game in town." It's not always easy to see these patterns, but I'm learning to be a more feel-my-way-through-it kind of guy and if I feel cynical or betrayed in my initial contacts with the vendor, I stay away, since these feelings are harbingers of what is to come.  What's going on here in either case is that the vendor or their representative is avoiding some sort of humiliating experience of loss by the way they're dealing with you - and that's a powerful motivator to keep on practicing this dysfunctional behavior.  So the ultimate thing to look out for is loss-focus (or its littermate, gain-focus.)

What about the opposite - a vendor you can't say enough good things about? If I'm to believe my own analysis, these are vendors who are neither complacent nor expedient.  What does that look like?  I thought about this for a long time and realized it meant that the preoccupation with the humiliation of loss isn't foremost in their minds.  They're having fun, they're passionate about their work and product, and they're connected to their source of internal strength and resources rather than in a relationship of dependence with their customers.  The one word I could think of to describe this was "Courage."  Good vendors exemplify courage.  I know this sounds like one of those kitschy motivational posters you sometimes see in executive offices, but there's some truth to it.  If your vendor is courageous, they aren't focused on milking your business like a cow, but rather building a partnership that benefits both parties: a win/win relationship.  The relationship stops being about them and how they can survive, and starts being about exploring success together because business is about drawing on each others' strengths.  This aligns with the practices that most highly successful executives embody.

OK, so how do you recognize a courageous vendor?  In my experience, they're willing to listen and then act on that listening - not just look like they're acting. This takes a lot of humility - knowing that you don't have all the answers - and that's rare. In our lives, we usually get humility from humiliation and given that we spend most of our time avoiding it, it's a dearly-learned state!   Lately, businesses have realized that looking like you're listening is important, and have created customer relationship management systems, customer surveys, and customer service agents dripping with faux humility to give the impression they listen.  Don't get me wrong: these are good practices, but they have to be backed up with the courage to truly listen and act.  As a small or medium-sized business principal, you know the value of relationships.  So it pays to create a personal relationship up-front and see if your vendor is listening.

I had an experience this week with a vendor I already am enthusiastic about: Kerio Technologies.  Their product just works, and is easy to use.  Their support is effective and doesn't waste your time.  Their pricing is reasonable and easy to understand.  We went to their offices to talk about sales synergies and while we were standing in the hall, their CEO, Scott Schreiman, walked by on his way to get a soda.  He stopped, and listened.  Really listened.  And then he asked us into a conference room to listen some more, without making our time together about him or his company.  He wasn't selling or trying to get rid of us, even though we're a small customer of his.  He was relaxed and open to what was transpiring.  It just reinforced my desire to do more business with his company.  I know that whatever partnership I create with him, even if it isn't working at the time, will be able to move forward because of that orientation to listen.

Finally, my personal observation is that Gandhi's famous words, "Be the change you want to see in the world," still apply more than ever to your business dealings.  If you can be courageous, you'll attract similar partners to yourself since you will all know what's important in a relationship.