Paul, I do have thoughts about the episode?s title, ?The Quality of Mercy?! It comes of course from Portia?s speech in Merchant of Venice in which she tries to convince Shylock that he should not in fact extract his due pound of flesh from her friend Antonio, that the more noble, and, in fact, the more powerful thing to do would be to have mercy. It is a beautiful compassionate Christian speech that can move you in the moment?but it?s also utterly cynical. Portia is playing Shylock for a fool; she and the whole wealthy, spoiled Venetian society that is the 16th-century version of Madison Avenue has treated Shylock with nothing but contempt and made it clear that he is beneath their Christian values. Plus Portia is about to use some clever legal maneuvering to cheat Shylock out of his rightful pound of flesh anyway. Mercy in this case is a power play; it is entirely situational and does not arise naturally from a pure heart. ?
One thing Mad Men gives us very little of is a pure heart. Megan is as close as it gets this season, but in general, the show?s philosophy seems to be that people who do the right thing do it despite themselves. An act of mercy arises accidentally from the muck of human existence, like a baby aspirin that appears in a room full of monsters. Did Don do the right thing in that meeting with the St. Joseph?s executives? Did he rescue the whole ad campaign by coming up with that bogus heartrending story about how this was Frank Gleason?s last idea? Did he save Ted and Peggy from themselves by making them acknowledge the fact that their mutual mooning is getting in the way of their work? (And do it in a way they will never, ever forget?) Yes, yes, and yes (and yes).
But still, Peggy?s not wrong when she yells at Don that he?s a monster. Don did not need to shame Peggy and Ted like that. It was in fact part of a power play for him, a corollary to getting Sunkist back and once again vanquishing Ted. It was the right thing to do?Peggy and Ted were poisoning the office atmosphere and they seemed totally unaware of it?but it was also totally cynical and cruel. After betraying his old friend Peggy, Don collapses into a fetal position?this time not in an imaginary crib screaming ?Wah wah? but on his own couch.
Paul, you ask if Pete is Shylock. I think that?s reversed?in that case it?s Pete who is playing the role of Portia (who in the play gives her speech disguised as a man) and Bob who is Shylock. Shylock is the outsider, the one trying to absorb the values of the ruling class he lives in but who is always in danger of getting smoked out. (The Jews and the gays, together again.) Pete already had one fake magnanimous act earlier in the episode, when he ?graciously? agreed to take Kenny Cosgrove?s role on the Chevy account, which he?s been angling for all along. And now with Benson he was again trying to be magnanimous. I have to admit, I could not follow all of Pete?s maneuvers in his speech to Bob Benson. What exactly was he apologizing for? And he?s off limits for ? sex? But in the end he wound up doing just what Portia does?neutralizing an enemy and putting him back in his place.
A subtheme in Merchant of Venice is the spoiled rich kids who come out of this culture of greed. In this episode we get or own version of the tainted next generation. Paul, I deeply appreciated your analysis of boarding school mores. I think you?re right, that boarding school provides Sally with a ruling system she can figure out how to navigate. But I take slight issue with your characterization of how she behaved. Did she really call Rollo out on his behavior and call Glen to the rescue? Rollo was a jerk to call her ?frigid? but is that the same as trying to ?force? her, as she accused him of doing? Or did Sally just knock on Glen?s door because she didn?t want Millicent to win that one, just like her father doesn?t want Ted to win? I tend to side with what Millicent the mean girl told Sally: ?You like trouble, don?t you???
Obesity associated with hearing loss in adolescentsPublic release date: 17-Jun-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Elizabeth Streich eas2125@cumc.columbia.edu 212-305-3689 Columbia University Medical Center
NEW YORK (June 17, 2013)Obese adolescents are more likely than their normal-weight counterparts to have hearing loss, according to results of a new study. Findings showed that obese adolescents had increased hearing loss across all frequencies and were almost twice as likely to have unilateral (one-sided) low-frequency hearing loss. The study was recently e-published by The Laryngoscope, a journal published by the American Laryngological, Rhinological and Otological Society.
"This is the first paper to show that obesity is associated with hearing loss in adolescents," said study first author Anil K. Lalwani, MD, professor and vice chair for research, Department of Otolaryngology/Head & Neck Surgery, Columbia University Medical Center.
The study found that obesity in adolescents is associated with sensorineural hearing loss across all frequencies (the frequency range that can be heard by humans); sensorineural hearing loss is caused by damage to the inner-ear hair cells. The highest rates were for low-frequency hearing loss15.16 percent of obese adolescents compared with 7.89 percent of non-obese adolescents. People with low-frequency hearing loss cannot hear sounds in frequencies 2,000 Hz and below; they may still hear sounds in the higher frequencies (normal hearing range is from 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz). Often they can still understand human speech well, but may have difficulty hearing in groups or in noisy places.
"These results have several important public health implications," said Dr. Lalwani, who is also an otolaryngologist at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center. "Because previous research found that 80 percent of adolescents with hearing loss were unaware of having hearing difficulty, adolescents with obesity should receive regular hearing screening so they can be treated appropriately to avoid cognitive and behavioral issues."
Although the overall hearing loss among obese adolescents was relatively mild, the almost 2-fold increase in the odds of unilateral low-frequency hearing loss is particularly worrisome. It suggests early, and possibly ongoing, injury to the inner ear that could progress as the obese adolescent becomes an obese adult. Future research is needed on the adverse consequences of this early hearing loss on social development, academic performance, and behavioral and cognitive function.
"Furthermore, hearing loss should be added to the growing list of the negative health consequences of obesity that affect both children and adultsadding to the impetus to reduce obesity among people of all ages," said Dr. Lalwani.
In the United States, nearly 17 percent of children are obese, defined as having a body mass index (BMI) of ?95 percentile. (BMI in children is expressed as a percentile; adult BMI is expressed as a number based on weight and height.) Obesity and its associated morbidities have been identified as a risk factor for hearing loss in adults.
The study analyzed data from nearly 1,500 adolescents from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveya large, nationally representative sample of adolescents between the ages of 12 and 19, conducted from 2005 to 2006 by the National Center for Health Statistics of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Participants were interviewed at home, taking into account family medical history, current medical conditions, medication use, household smokers, socioeconomic and demographic factors, and noise-exposure history.
Dr. Lalwani and his colleagues speculate that obesity may directly or indirectly lead to hearing loss. Although additional research is needed to determine the mechanisms involved, they theorize that obesity-induced inflammation may contribute to hearing loss. Low plasma levels of the anti-inflammatory protein adiponectin, which is secreted from adipose tissue, have been found in obese children, and low levels in obese adults have been associated with high-frequency hearing loss (which affects a person's ability to understand speech). Obesity also may contribute indirectly to hearing loss as a result of its comorbidities, including type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and high cholesterolall of which have been reported to be associated with loss of peripheral hearing (relating to the outer, middle, and inner ear).
###
The paper is titled, "Obesity is Associated with Sensorineural Hearing Loss in Adolescents." The other authors (from the New York University Langone Medical Center) are Karin Katz, MD; Ying-Hua Liu, MD, PhD; Sarah Kim, BA; and Michael Weitzman, MD.
The authors declare no financial or other conflicts of interest.
Columbia University Medical Center provides international leadership in basic, preclinical, and clinical research; medical and health sciences education; and patient care. The medical center trains future leaders and includes the dedicated work of many physicians, scientists, public health professionals, dentists, and nurses at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, the Mailman School of Public Health, the College of Dental Medicine, the School of Nursing, the biomedical departments of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and allied research centers and institutions. Columbia University Medical Center is home to the largest medical research enterprise in New York City and State and one of the largest faculty medical practices in the Northeast. For more information, visit cumc.columbia.edu or columbiadoctors.org.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Obesity associated with hearing loss in adolescentsPublic release date: 17-Jun-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Elizabeth Streich eas2125@cumc.columbia.edu 212-305-3689 Columbia University Medical Center
NEW YORK (June 17, 2013)Obese adolescents are more likely than their normal-weight counterparts to have hearing loss, according to results of a new study. Findings showed that obese adolescents had increased hearing loss across all frequencies and were almost twice as likely to have unilateral (one-sided) low-frequency hearing loss. The study was recently e-published by The Laryngoscope, a journal published by the American Laryngological, Rhinological and Otological Society.
"This is the first paper to show that obesity is associated with hearing loss in adolescents," said study first author Anil K. Lalwani, MD, professor and vice chair for research, Department of Otolaryngology/Head & Neck Surgery, Columbia University Medical Center.
The study found that obesity in adolescents is associated with sensorineural hearing loss across all frequencies (the frequency range that can be heard by humans); sensorineural hearing loss is caused by damage to the inner-ear hair cells. The highest rates were for low-frequency hearing loss15.16 percent of obese adolescents compared with 7.89 percent of non-obese adolescents. People with low-frequency hearing loss cannot hear sounds in frequencies 2,000 Hz and below; they may still hear sounds in the higher frequencies (normal hearing range is from 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz). Often they can still understand human speech well, but may have difficulty hearing in groups or in noisy places.
"These results have several important public health implications," said Dr. Lalwani, who is also an otolaryngologist at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center. "Because previous research found that 80 percent of adolescents with hearing loss were unaware of having hearing difficulty, adolescents with obesity should receive regular hearing screening so they can be treated appropriately to avoid cognitive and behavioral issues."
Although the overall hearing loss among obese adolescents was relatively mild, the almost 2-fold increase in the odds of unilateral low-frequency hearing loss is particularly worrisome. It suggests early, and possibly ongoing, injury to the inner ear that could progress as the obese adolescent becomes an obese adult. Future research is needed on the adverse consequences of this early hearing loss on social development, academic performance, and behavioral and cognitive function.
"Furthermore, hearing loss should be added to the growing list of the negative health consequences of obesity that affect both children and adultsadding to the impetus to reduce obesity among people of all ages," said Dr. Lalwani.
In the United States, nearly 17 percent of children are obese, defined as having a body mass index (BMI) of ?95 percentile. (BMI in children is expressed as a percentile; adult BMI is expressed as a number based on weight and height.) Obesity and its associated morbidities have been identified as a risk factor for hearing loss in adults.
The study analyzed data from nearly 1,500 adolescents from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveya large, nationally representative sample of adolescents between the ages of 12 and 19, conducted from 2005 to 2006 by the National Center for Health Statistics of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Participants were interviewed at home, taking into account family medical history, current medical conditions, medication use, household smokers, socioeconomic and demographic factors, and noise-exposure history.
Dr. Lalwani and his colleagues speculate that obesity may directly or indirectly lead to hearing loss. Although additional research is needed to determine the mechanisms involved, they theorize that obesity-induced inflammation may contribute to hearing loss. Low plasma levels of the anti-inflammatory protein adiponectin, which is secreted from adipose tissue, have been found in obese children, and low levels in obese adults have been associated with high-frequency hearing loss (which affects a person's ability to understand speech). Obesity also may contribute indirectly to hearing loss as a result of its comorbidities, including type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and high cholesterolall of which have been reported to be associated with loss of peripheral hearing (relating to the outer, middle, and inner ear).
###
The paper is titled, "Obesity is Associated with Sensorineural Hearing Loss in Adolescents." The other authors (from the New York University Langone Medical Center) are Karin Katz, MD; Ying-Hua Liu, MD, PhD; Sarah Kim, BA; and Michael Weitzman, MD.
The authors declare no financial or other conflicts of interest.
Columbia University Medical Center provides international leadership in basic, preclinical, and clinical research; medical and health sciences education; and patient care. The medical center trains future leaders and includes the dedicated work of many physicians, scientists, public health professionals, dentists, and nurses at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, the Mailman School of Public Health, the College of Dental Medicine, the School of Nursing, the biomedical departments of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and allied research centers and institutions. Columbia University Medical Center is home to the largest medical research enterprise in New York City and State and one of the largest faculty medical practices in the Northeast. For more information, visit cumc.columbia.edu or columbiadoctors.org.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
While running between booths at Computex earlier this month, we were momentarily distracted by these vegetable boxes (maybe it was lunch time as well). As it turned out, this product was launched by Taiwan-based Home Lohas around the same time as when the expo started. The company pitches its hydroponic gardening appliance -- so the vegetables rely on nutritious water instead of soil -- as a hassle-free, low-power solution for growing your own greens, plus it's apparently the only solution in the market that doesn't need water circulation. With its full spectrum LED light, air pump and timers, harvest time can apparently be reduced by about 30 percent. It's simply a matter of filling up the water tank, adding the necessary nutrients and placing the seeded sponge on the tray (the package includes three types of organic fertilizers and some seeds).
The only downside is that this system costs NT$15,800 (about US$530) in Taiwan, and for some reason, it'll eventually be priced at US$680 in other markets. If that's too much, then stay tuned for a half-size model that's due Q4 this year.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) ? It's all about the odds, and one lone ticket in Florida has beaten them all by matching each of the numbers drawn for the highest Powerball jackpot in history at an estimated $590.5 million, lottery officials said Sunday.
The single winner was sold at a supermarket in Zephyrhills, Fla., according to Florida Lottery executive Cindy O'Connell. She told The Associated Press by telephone that more details would be released later.
"This would be the sixth Florida Powerball winner and right now, it's the sole winner of the largest ever Powerball jackpot," O'Connell told AP. "We're delighted right now that we have the sole winner."
She said Florida has had more Powerball winners than any other state.
The winner was not immediately identified publicly and O'Connell did not give any indication just hours after Saturday's drawing whether anyone had already stepped forward with that winning ticket.
With four out of every five possible combinations of Powerball numbers in play, lottery executives said earlier that someone was almost certain to win the game's highest jackpot, a windfall of hundreds of millions of dollars ? and that's after taxes.
Saturday night's winning numbers were 10, 13, 14, 22 and 52, with a Powerball of 11.
Estimates had earlier put the jackpot at around $600 million. But Powerball's online site said Sunday that the jackpot had reached an estimated $590.5 million.
Terry Rich, CEO of the Iowa Lottery, initially confirmed that one Florida winning ticket had been sold. He told AP that following the Florida winner, the Powerball grand prize was being reset at an estimated jackpot of $40 million, or about $25.1 million cash value.
The chances of winning the prize were astronomically low: 1 in 175.2 million. That's how many different ways you can combine the numbers when you play. But lottery officials estimated that about 80 percent of those possible combinations had been purchased recently.
While the odds are low for any one individual or individuals, O'Connell said, the chance that one hits paydirt is what makes Powerball an "exciting game to play."
"There is just the chance that you will have the opportunity and Florida is a huge Powerball state. We have had more winners than any other state that participates in Powerball."
Such longshot odds didn't deter people across Powerball-playing states ? 43 plus Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands ? from lining up at gas stations and convenience stores Saturday for their chance at striking it filthy rich.
Calls by AP to the Publix supermarket outlet in Florida where the winning ticket was sold were not answered Sunday.
Elsewhere, Rich said, lottery officials reported 33 winning tickets for a $1,000,000 prize each were sold around 17 states, led by six tickets in New York. He said lotteries reported 2 winning tickets each for the $2,000,000 PowerPlay, one in New York and the other in South Carolina.
Before the drawing, there was a rush for tickets around the country.
At a mini market in the heart of Los Angeles' Chinatown, employees broke the steady stream of customers into two lines: One for Powerball ticket buyers and one for everybody else. Some people appeared to be looking for a little karma.
"We've had two winners over $10 million here over the years, so people in the neighborhood think this is the lucky store," employee Gordon Chan said as he replenished a stack of lottery tickets on a counter.
The world's largest jackpot was a $656 million Mega Millions jackpot in March 2012. If $600 million, the jackpot would currently include a $376.9 million cash option.
Clyde Barrow, a public policy professor at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth, specializes in the gaming industry. He said one of the key factors behind the ticket-buying frenzy is the size of the jackpot ? people are interested in the easy investment.
"Even though the odds are very low, the investment is very small," he said. "Two dollars gets you a chance."
That may be why Ed McCuen has a Powerball habit that's as regular as clockwork. The 57-year-old electrical contractor from Savannah, Ga., buys one ticket a week, regardless of the possible loot. It's a habit he didn't alter Saturday.
"You've got one shot in a gazillion or whatever," McCuen said, tucking his ticket in his pocket as he left a local convenience store. "You can't win unless you buy a ticket. But whether you buy one or 10 or 20, it's insignificant."
Seema Sharma doesn't seem to think so. The newsstand employee in Manhattan's Penn Station purchased $80 worth of tickets for herself. She also was selling tickets all morning at a steady pace, instructing buyers where to stand if they wanted machine-picked tickets or to choose their own numbers.
"I work very hard ? too hard ? and I want to get the money so I can finally relax," she said. "You never know."
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Associated Press Radio Correspondent Julie Walker and AP writers Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, S.C., Betsy Blaney in Lubbock, Texas, Russ Bynum in Savannah, Ga., John Rogers in Los Angeles and Verena Dobnick in New York contributed to this report.
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Follow Barbara Rodriguez at http://twitter.com/bcrodriguez .
PARIS (Reuters) - French President Francois Hollande has signed into law a bill allowing same-sex marriage, making France the 14th country to legalize gay weddings.
France's official journal announced on Saturday the bill had become law after the Constitutional Council gave it the go-ahead on Friday.
The bill, a campaign pledge by the Socialist president, has been for months hotly contested by many conservatives in France, where allowing gay marriage is one of the biggest social reforms since abolition of the death penalty in 1981.
Opponents have staged huge and often violent demonstrations against the bill and have called yet another protest on May 26. The leader of opposition to gay marriage, a political activist and humorist who goes under the name of Frigide Barjot, has said the protest would draw millions into the streets.
Montpellier mayor Helene Mandroux, who is due to celebrate France's first gay marriage in the southern city on May 29, said the law marked a major social advance.
"Love has won out over hate," she said, while voicing concerns the first gay wedding could attract violent protests.
France, a predominantly Catholic country, follows 13 others including Canada, Denmark, Sweden and most recently Uruguay and New Zealand in allowing gay and lesbian couples to wed. In the United States, Washington D.C. and 12 states have legalized same-sex marriage.
Unlike former president Francois Mitterrand's abolition of the death penalty, which most French people opposed at the time, polls showed more than half the country backed gay marriage.
Nonetheless, with Hollande's popularity ratings at record lows a year into office, the law has proved costly for the president with critics saying it has distracted his attention from reviving the recession-hit economy.
After lawmakers adopted the bill in late April, opponents had sought to scupper it with a last-ditch appeal to the Constitutional Council.
Immune system B cells play a crucial role in the defence of pathogens; when they detect such an intruder, they produce antibodies that help to combat the enemy. They concurrently and continuously improve these molecules to more precisely recognize the pathogens. A team of scientists with participation of the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) has discovered that during this process the cells are able to advance their own evolution themselves by increasing the selection pressure through previously-produced antibodies. The results are also significant for the development of new vaccination strategies.
The principle of evolution signifies the competition for limited resources and a reaction to changeable environmental conditions. This selection pressure is virtually produced by the B cells on their own; they subject themselves to an optimization cycle in the lymph node, a process which only a few of them survive, i.e. particular cells that are able to produce "better" antibody molecules as compared to those that already exist within the body. The quality of these antibodies is tested in the lymph nodes, and only those cells that are able to prove themselves here receive signals from other immune cells that assure their survival.
Every B cell carries a specific defence molecule on its surface. It recognizes certain structures of pathogens ? so-called antigens ? similar to the way a key fits into one specific lock. This molecule is furthermore produced in a certain form that does not remain on the cell surface; rather, it travels with blood and lymph throughout the body. If the antibody encounters an antigen, it either binds it to neutralise it, or it sends out an alarm to other players within the immune system.
At the beginning of an infection there are, figuratively speaking, several keys that do not yet fit properly. This changes in the course of a process that immunologists refer to as "somatic hypermutation": B cells mutate those gene segments that determine the design of both the surface molecule and the soluble variation ? thus influencing how strongly the antibodies attach themselves to the pathogens. Those cells, in which the optimal fit of the key increases, survive and multiply. They then produce the desired molecule in large quantities and thus help us to get healthy again.
But how do the immune cells know that they are on the right way with this arbitrary mutation process, i.e. that the key will fit better later on? Scientists from England, Germany and Switzerland have now been able to answer this question jointly in a collaborative project between Dr. Kai-Michael Toellner, University of Birmingham, and Prof. Michael Meyer-Hermann, Head of the Department Systems Immunology. They published their findings in the renowned Journal of Experimental Medicine. Meyer-Hermann makes use of mathematical models to understand diseases more thoroughly and quicker. "Systems immunology enables us to simulate, in a short amount of time, numerous experimental conditions," he describes his area of expertise. With the aid of such mathematical simulations followed by experimental examinations, the researchers discovered that the antibody producers advance their own evolution, which represents without a doubt an alignment with the enormous selection pressure that we are subject to due to a constant threat from pathogens.
The stage for this process is the so-called germinal centres within the lymph nodes. Here, the maturing B cells encounter the antigens. The researchers' results suggest that completed antibodies from all germinal centres re-appear at the sites of antibody production and bind there to pathogen fragments as well. They represent competition thereby for those cells that are still in the process of refining the optimal fit of their surface molecules. Once the immune cells with their "surface-key" are able to bind to the "antigen locks" more readily than the finished antibodies, they receive survival signals and their key-form asserts itself.
"This is the 'survival of the fittest' as previously described by Charles Darwin on a molecular level," compares Meyer-Hermann. Studies with mice were able to be confirmed in computer simulations only under the assumption that the B cells compete with their own products ? namely the antibodies ? for the right to bind to antigens.
This astounding mechanism could, in the future, improve conventional vaccination methods. "It is plausible that patients could be administered, in addition to a vaccine, sufficiently-strong-binding antibodies," explains Meyer-Hermann. "Our models constructed in the computer suggest that this method accelerates the process of identifying optimal antibodies." The scientists suspect that the addition of antibodies manipulates the reaction to vaccination, since the newly-generated antibodies are now in competition with the externally-introduced molecules. The conditions for selection are thus intensified and the B cells react by producing optimal antibodies earlier on. The result is that vaccinations could take effect quicker.
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Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research: http://www.helmholtz-hzi.de/en
Thanks to Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research for this article.
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Surface Pro, the long-awaited tablet from software giant Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), may be getting all the big attention these days as IT clamors after a device that offers the portability that their C-level executives want, but now with Office integration that lets business users be truly productive. But Microsoft may soon slowly be making inroads with another product ? one that isn?t a household name like Office, Surface or Windows. Here?s the scoop.
Lync is Microsoft?s answer to modern unified communications in business ? a PBX replacement ? with IM and presence, video conferencing, meetings, and telephony. And it?s fair to say that it hasn?t been a huge hit. Companies have been slow to move off their old PBX solutions. So why might Lync?s day be coming? We spoke with Scott Gode (pictured), now a senior director at Avanade, the ?joint venture between Accenture and Microsoft (and formerly with Microsoft MSP Azaleos which was?acquired by Avanade?last year). Admittedly Gode works for a company that sells Microsoft-based solutions, so one would expect him to be promoting those solutions. But he had some interesting insights when it came to the rise of the cloud and a changing of the guard in old-time enterprise?telephony?solutions and unified communications.
Lync?s Perfect Storm?
First, consider the rise of mobile communications and the bring-your-own-device trend. Consumers have driven both of these, and their adoption of them has translated into a comfort level and familiarity with how the technology works and its benefits.
Second,??Microsoft isn?t sitting still. The company recently included the 2013 version of Lync with its?cloud-based productivity suite, Office 365 for business.
Third, Microsoft cares about this space. The company acquired the consumer-based UC company Skype, which so many business customers have used, too, and has much better name recognition than Lync. Microsoft has renamed its UC division as the Skype division and Lync is part of that division.
The Road Ahead
But there is still work to be done, Gode said. While Microsoft is bundling Lync 2013 in with the new version of Office 365 for business, Gode told me that it?s still incomplete when it comes to the voice part of the solution. ?If you want to do an enterprise voice piece, you need to put voice in the enterprise ? a stand alone server on premise.? ?Putting the voice part of the solution into a public cloud means resolving the networking challenges that come with relying on a public cloud for time-sensitive traffic such as voice.
Enterprises want to take their IT to the cloud, Gode told me. ?That?s where they want to go, conceptually. They want to get management of these systems out of their hair. They are not there yet. That?s why Avanade managed services exists.?
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Surface Pro, the long-awaited tablet from software giant Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), may be getting all the big attention these days as IT clamors after a device that offers the portability that their C-level executives want, but now with Office integration that lets business users be truly productive. But Microsoft may soon slowly be making inroads with another product ? one that isn?t a household name like Office, Surface or Windows. Here?s the scoop.