Google Fumbles Government Ball
February 14, 2009
MarketWatch ran a story called “Google’s Sales to Uncle Sam in Apparent Decline” here. For me the most interesting information in the write up is the analysis of Office of Management & Budget data that show Google’s government sales declining, not from a lofty peak but from a pile of pennies and nickels. For example, the OMB data reveal that Google’s government sales wizards–if the data are accurate–racked up these revenue figures:
- 2006-$413,9060
- 2008-$81,046
- 2009-$4,030 (since September 2008 to the present).
I am not sure about these figures. Google, true to form, won’t talk to me, and the company’s financial reports are only slightly more helpful than the masterpieces of misdirection generated by Amazon’s financial knights.
Let me offer several observations, which set forth my opinion about these data:
- The GOOG has a number of resellers who sell to the US Federal government. Now MarketWatch is a pretty sharp outfit, backed by the brain trust that delivers CBS into my living room. Perhaps these New York and San Francisco specialists should navigate to the GSA Web site, run a query for Google, and check out the names of the resellers who are the authorized vendors to the US government. One of these outfits ships Google Search Appliances into Federal agencies with monotonous regularity. These authorized resellers collect the dough and then pay Google its share. The US government in general and the OMB in particular does not track these types of sales as Google deals. Trust me. These are Google deals, and the appetite for Google Search Appliances is growing.
- The GOOG has partners who deliver services to various Federal agencies. Same deal as the Google Search Appliance resellers. The partners handle the customer service, do the work, and in some cases collect money. The GOOG bills for certain services; the partners bill for others. The relationship between Google and partners is murky, but the partners servicing the Federal government are an elite crew and the GOOG seems to be well pleased with the sales these outfits are generating.
- Various big integrators in DC Google-ize certain projects. Here’s how this works. The integrators are a type of Google partner. The integrator gets a contract. (No, I won’t name these outfits because I do work for one of the most respected and successful in the Federal space. OMB tallies what the integrator bills, and does not break out the payments the integrators make to the GOOG.
How far off base is the MarketWatch article? Well, here in the goose pond, the goslings and I would characterize the write up as being in the next county. MarketWatch has some big name writers with reputations hewn of dead tree tradition. Too bad the way the Federal government works does not match up with the financial acumen of the researchers, analysts, and writers laboring in the MarketWatch vineyard.
The GOOG in the Federal sector is a disrupter and a big player. Check it out yourself. Navigate to some Federal Web sites and see what search engine is used. Then get a tour of an agency like the Post Office or maybe one of intel outfits. Count the Google Search Appliances. Once you have some first hand data and look into the reseller methods, then give me a call so I can tell you my estimate of Google’s Federal government footprint. In the meantime, when you see a figure like $4,030 attached to Google revenues over a six month period, it ain’t even close.
Stephen Arnold, February 14, 2009
RDBMS: Reports of Its Death Exaggerated
February 14, 2009
Tony Bain’s “Is the Relational Database Doomed?” is an interesting article. You can find it in ReadWriteWeb.com here. The point of the article is that “new” databases are becoming more widely available. Relational databases are showing their age, particularly in the petabyte and exabyte world in which we swim. The multi-part article provides some background, a useful table of comparison between the RDBMS and the “new” Key Value Database. The wrap up is a discussion of the upside and downside of the key value database and then a snapshot of new database offerings such as Google AppEngine Data Store, SQL Data Services, and some newcomers like Mongo and Drizzle. I liked the write up. My focus is not on a database replacement. I am more interested in the data management issues and dataspaces. Sue Feldman and I wrote a report on these topics in September 2008. Looking at a database is like understanding an automobile by looking at a dealer’s promotional literature for a vehicle. Useful certainly. Where the action is? Nope.
Stephen Arnold, February 14, 2009
Google: The De-Valuator
February 13, 2009
First, it was the Terminator. (Remember SkyNet?). Then it was the Governator. (Remember a solvent California?) Now it is the De-Valuator. (Remember traditional media?) Silicon Valley Watcher Tom Foremski reminded me that traditional media are now looking at Googzilla as more than a search and ad company. Going slowly and piecing together data are often prudent. But a 10 year investigation that only now yields insight may be a bit drawn out for the dinosaurs of information. You will want to read “Google Devalues Everything It Touches” here. (I love those categorical affirmatives.) The core of the article is a summary of Mr. Foremski’s ruminations about a Charlie Rose, a name that means zero to me, series on the future of journalism. For me, the most interesting comment in the write up was this quote attributed to Robert Thomson, Managing Editor of the Wall Street Journal (a unit of the hard breathing Murdoch empire):
“Every newspaper is of itself a great brand, and to have brand value on the Web is to have a great advantage.”
Not only is this probably beyond the reach of the Wall Street Journal, the realization that the Web is where the action is comes a bit late in the game. Keep in mind that the Wall Street Journal, like the New York Times, has been trying to crack the online market for a long time. Both companies’ efforts predate Google’s début.
In my opinion, it is too late. None of the US newspapers have a killer online brand. The Financial Times is in the same boat. Google may be a De-Valuator in the world of traditional media. Viewed in terms of new media, Google is the Great Navigator, blazing a trail for other innovators whose services Mr. Thomson probably does not use on an hourly basis. But I wager one quill that the 12 year olds not far from where he resides are busy with MySpace.com, Facebook.com, and Twitter.com and services I can’t pronounce.
At least the traditional media executives have some workable ideas for their memoirs.
Stephen Arnold, February 13, 2009
Whoosh: Python Search Libraries
February 13, 2009
A happy quack to the reader who alerted me to Whoosh, “a fast, featureful full-text indexing and searching library implemented in pure Python.” You can read about Matt Chaputt’s code here. Among the Whoosh features we noted were:
- Support for fielded indexing and search.
- Zippy indexing and query processing
- Snap in scoring algorithm (including BM25F), text analysis, storage, posting format, etc.
- A Python spell-checker (as far as I know, the only one).
You won’t be using this on your Vista machine. The libraries are useful in such applications as:
- When a pure-Python solution is desirable to avoid having to build/compile native libraries (or force users to build/compile them)
- When you need a research platform
- When the Pythonic interface is useful.
You can download the snake-quick system here.
Stephen Arnold, February 13, 2009
It’s Official: Commercial Radio a Dead End
February 13, 2009
The Google backed out of its print ad play. Why? Print ads are not exactly the digital Oklahoma land rush. Now the GOOG is killing off its radio ad business. CNet reports that 40 Googlers will get a chance to browse Google’s immature online job service available from http://base.google.com. Just try a few queries here. You can read the CNet story here. Stephen Shankland included this Google people sensitivity quote in his article:
“We hope to find other roles for the majority of the people concerned and will work to make that happen over the next couple of months. However, given that we are exiting the broadcast radio ad business and selling the Radio Automation business, we expect that up to 40 people may not be able to find other roles at Google.” Google said employees will have about two months to apply for new jobs within the company. The service itself will shut down May 31.
The Dilbert in today’s Courier Journal newspaper addresses this nifty trick of making an employ “apply” for a job at his own company when the pink slip arrives. Microsoft used a special pink slip to thwart leakers and employees annoyed at the RIF (reduction in force). The Google bought dMarc Broadcasting in early 2006. You can read the official Google announcement here. Although Mr. Shankland does not name the company that will be sold, dMarc may be the first Dodgeball of 2009.
More changes are comin’ round the mountain according to the addled goose’s text mining tools. Google is winnowing the market probes that don’t yield what Google covets: eyeballs, advertisers, and cash. With a surfeit of wizards looking for work, even Xooglers may be forced to flip burgers and do home computer repairs.
Stephen Arnold, February 13, 2009
Google Panoramio
February 13, 2009
I included a description of Panoramio in my Google briefings for some clients in 2008. No one in those sessions had ever heard of the service. You can check it out by navigating to www.panoramio.com. The company bought the company which had integrated photography with Google Earth. The GOOG plopped most of the Panoramio functionality into the Googleplex (my term for Google’s infrastructure). The Panoramio blog announcement is here. Panoramio has been discovered by news hounds in the datasphere. Search Engine Roundtable learned that Panoramio users can post questionable content via the service. The main story is here. The images may offend some, and we addled geese quickly pecked elsewhere. The goslings snorted and checked out Panoramio more thoroughly. Several of the more geeky goslings noted that stalkers and others of questionable repute might find this service “interesting”. If more info flaps across our field of vision, we will pass the links along.
Stephen Arnold, February 13, 2009
Not Search but Really LANL
February 13, 2009
Several years ago I gave a lecture at LANL (Los Alamos National Lab). The outfit struck me more like a college campus than a secure facility. Maybe I’m jaded, but I would have made a few tweaks. If you are curious about security and electronic information, you will want to read “Los Alamos National Lab Missing 67 Computers” here. I thought it was inappropriate to crack wise about LANL’s personnel locating a missing hard drive behind a photocopier. Hey, I have found some interesting stuff between giant Xerox copiers and the wall. But 67 computers lost from a secure facility? That’s gnarly. For me the most interesting comment in the write up in Computerworld was:
“They [LANL execs] say, at best, there is no sensitive information,” Drake said. That suggests that no system is in place for knowing what kind of information is contained on computers used at the laboratory, or if there is one, that it isn’t functioning as it should….
I have some doubts about certain nations’ information technology practices. The loss of 67 computing devices is remarkable, particularly in the US at a national lab. If you know what LANL wizards do, you might find time to send a handwritten letter to your friendly Congressperson or Senator.
Stephen Arnold, February 13, 2009
Overflight Updated
February 13, 2009
Just a quick note to tell you that the ArnoldIT.com Google Web log newstream service, Overflight, has been updated. We have added the Google Web log about social media and tossed in a handful of other Google blogs. You can access the splash page for the free service here. If you are interested in what’s new from Google as set forth in “official” Google Web logs, you can use this pick list to review content from Google’s own grouping of topic areas:
- Google wide news and announcements at http://www.arnoldit.com/overflight/google-wide.html
- Google product information at http://www.arnoldit.com/overflight/products.html
- Google ad programs, including video at http://www.arnoldit.com/overflight/ads.html
- Google developer information which often contains important information applicable to the other topic areas. This is a must read at our goose pond at http://www.arnoldit.com/overflight/developer.html
- Google regional information, which is semi-useful. Hot items like the reorganization in Israel may or may not be announced first in these Web logs at http://www.arnoldit.com/overflight/region.html.
Combine these sources with general Google yip yap and the new ArnoldIT.com Google patent search service at http://arnoldit.perfectsearchcorp.com/, and you can get a useful triangulation of what Googzilla seems to be doing. These services are offered without charge. I want Cyrus (a Googler who does not read Google’s own technical papers and patent documents), assorted breath mint obsessed pundits, multi-tasking mavens, trophy-generation, azure chip consultants, carpetbaggers, and ingenuous parvenus to have a shot at Google information from open sources. Quack.
Stephen Arnold, February 13, 2009
Google Blood Hound: The Movie
February 13, 2009
Privacy mavens will want to read Gizmodo’s “My Tracks for Android Logs Your Day via GPS, Uploads to Google Maps” here. I don’t want to spoil your fun or your paranoia. For me the most interesting comment in the write up by John Mahoney was:
Along with the mapping, the app displays statistics in real time like elevation, distance traveled, speed, etc. My Tracks can also use Google Docs’ little-known but very cool ability to receive the output of web forms in a spreadsheet, so you can track your routes and see your average speed over time.
And, yes, Mr. Mahoney includes a link to a video to make the potential of the My Tracks application quite clear to good guys, to bad guys, and all the guys in between. To crank your fear knob, read this article.
Stephen Arnold, February 13, 2009
Arnold Interviewed in Content Matters
February 12, 2009
A feathering preening item. Barry Graubart, who works for the hot Alacra and edits the Content Matters Web log, interviewed Stephen E. Arnold, on February 11, 2009. The full text of the interview appears here. I read what I said and found it coherent, a radical change from most of my previous interview work for KDKA in Pittsburgh and a gig with a Charlotte 50,000 watt station. For me, the most interesting comment in the column was Mr. Graubert’s unexpected editorial opinion. Mr. Graubart graciously described me as the “author of the influential Beyond Search blog.” A happy quack for Barry Graubert.
Stephen Arnold, February 12, 2009
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