Xerox invented the Mouse...and gave it away...

Columbia Prof Calls Out HP : “It's like selling a car without selling the keys to lock it,”

“It may ultimately lead to telling everyone they just have to throw their printers out and start over,” he said. "Fixing this is going to require a very coordinated effort by the industry," Stolfo said.

It's Deja Vu, all over again.

First it was security breaches related to our hard drives.  Then it was the toner particles - as dangerous as toast.  Next toner bombs.

Today, a group of Colombia students and one very smart professor are ringing the warning bell.  This time, 50 million devices fall under the scrutiny of The Columbia University Intrusion Detection Systems Lab.

At first, I laughed. ALL HP printers are shipped "wide open" - I've seen it myself when in training, we intercepted print streams, changed the amount and the pay-to-the-order-of name and printed a check.

It's not that difficult, does not exclusively apply to HP and has been a known phenomena for decades.

And then there was the toner particle scare - great headlines, but in reality, toner dust is about as harmful as toast particles...snore...

And who will ever forget the plastic-explosive-in-the-HP-toner-cartridge trick, Al Kinda, pulled - genius.

Triumph!

No, really.  Check out the stripie guy's dual neck, thingie...

Managed Print Services in 2012: The Year the VAR's come calling...

11/27/2011

Is it too early to write about next year? No, it isn't.

The Death of The Copier calls out the obvious:

2012, the year of the VAR?

More specifically:

The year the VARs try to learn meter reads to billing...

The year the VARs try to sell MpS like every other managed service...

The year the VARs make all the mistakes we did, five years ago...

2012 the year we lose the 'p'..

2012 the year the little fish consumes the big fish...MpS devours MS...

Oh my...

The Monk recognized...well done...

"...You're Not a guy...the world is full of guys...be a man..."

Say something...Smart

Say something...Clever

Say something...Honest

Say something...Scary

Say something...Painful

Say something...Meaningful

Say...Anything.

"Kickboxing...sport of the future? I can see by your face...no..."

The world is full of MpS-Guys.  Like the flim-flam men of the past. Every corner has a toner house, and every sales guy can recite "automated desk-side delivery" and "vendor agnostic".

We have our own society and associations. Every trade show, OEM, and dealer conference has an MpS session. The MpS market is blowing up to 78 billion by 2015, a 20% increase.

Incredible.

2012 will see another titanic shift as the VARs, the IT guys who hate printers and copiers, dive into our little niche - Battle Royal.

"...by choice man..."

With so many 'guys' out there, so many, empty, curb-side pundits - it's time to be a Man.  It's time to hold that boom box over your head, in front of your Malibu, and step out on the Edge.

"...I gave her my heart and she gave me a pen..."

It's going to hurt and you may only get a pen out of the deal, but you will be whole and you will be your own guy.

"...Say Anything..."

You may not get this, but some will. Say Anything, as long as it's not what "they" tell you to say. Dig deeper, go further than CPI. Do more than 'assess'. Look beyond the 'close'. Stay big, not small. Be.

Focus