Entitlement Generation Wins
March 20, 2009
Sarah Perez has an interesting write up in ReadWriteWeb.com. Her story “Why Gen Y Is Going to Change the Web” here explains why Google is a big threat to companies who don’t see Google as much more than a Web search company peddling ads. On the surface, her story is about 13 to 31 year-olds. I am plagued by these folks but that’s normal. Old age home candidates face a big hurdle when understanding those a half century younger. I don’t want to summarize the characteristics of this cohort. Read her list first hand.
My view is that Google and Googley things are part of the this cohort’s environment. This means that it makes no difference what I and those like me have as information behaviors. The Googley groups are going to make social computing, cloud computing, pervasive computing, and other types of computing the norm. Companies that think Google, Twitter and similar services are not in their business or mildly disruptive are going to be in for a jolt. Big changes coming. And fast.
Stephen Arnold, March 20, 2009
Google: More Legal Pressure
March 19, 2009
Google is creating some work for attorneys. TechDirt here has a useful write up called “UK Recording Industry: Investigate Google for Not Giving Us Money”. Google has money; therefore, Google is a juicy target. That’s too bad, but I think the company will face continuing legal hassles. For me, the most important comment in the write up was:
At some point, perhaps, it will dawn on Sharkey, Billy Bragg and others in the UK music business that, in their demand to get “paid” tons of money for everything, they’ve forgotten that the music is only one part of the value proposition — and the community and platform that YouTube provides is another big part of it. The very fact that they want their videos back up shows they recognize this fact implicitly, even if they’re going through massive cognitive dissonance in somehow lashing out at Google for making that point clear.
Stay tuned. No pun intended.
Stephen Arnold, March 19, 2009
Another Kill Google Assertion
March 19, 2009
I don’t know about you, but a company with an 85 or 90 percent market share in Web search with a corresponding $18 or $20 billion in advertising revenue is not going to be easy to kill. Nevertheless, you may find Henry Blodget’s “Facebook Could Kill Google” here an interesting addition to the “kill Google” literature. The idea is that Facebook is growing rapidly and Google doesn’t have much of a response. Maybe Google’s arthritic? Maybe Google figures that Facebook like Twitter is an aberration? Who knows? The most interesting segment of the write up is a very nifty chart that shows Google sucking the exhaust fumes of the Facebook hot rod. If you want lots of data to shore up your argument that Facebook will kill Google, download and save this article.
Stephen Arnold, March 19, 2009
Google: Walking the iPhone Knife Edge
March 19, 2009
iPhone accounts for a large chunk of mobile search. You can tap some stats here, but like most of these Web traffic estimates, grab a salt shaker. Season to taste. Google provides Mac power plugs in its meeting rooms. Message: Windows users not wanted. Google offers nifty features for the iPhone. Googlers love to drop into Unix whilst iTunes hums in the background. With so much Apple goodness, imagine my surprise when I heard from two different sources today that the GOOG may be readying a low cost or no cost Gphone plan. Is this true? Tough to tell but my sources are not given to flights of fancy. A subsidized phone makes sense. AT&T offers a deal to iPhone customers. For details, click here for “AT&T Bringin’ Sexy Back, Offering iPhone 3G at No-Commitment Price, No Activation.” My hunch is that the GOOG wants to get a larger share of the mobile Web traffic without an intermediary like Apple. More info on this interesting rumor as I can locate it.
Stephen Arnold, March 20, 2009
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A Darker Shade of Azure
March 19, 2009
Joe Panettieri’s “Microsoft’s Windows Azure Cloud: Dark for a Day” summarized the outage for Microsoft’s cloud service. You can read the article here. The most interesting comment in the write up was:
But 22 hours of darkness doesn’t inspire peace of mind in cloud systems. And I’m starting to think that Amazon.com — backed by loads of open source applications — is the cloud to beat.
Google has converted Gmail into Gfail. Now Microsoft has stumbled. Maybe Mr. Panettieri’s analysis is dead on?
Stephen Arnold, March 20, 2009
New Brin Invention
March 19, 2009
You may want to take a look at US7,505,964, filed in September 2003. This is an invention by Sergey Brin, Simon Tong, and some other heavy hitters at Google. The invention is “Methods and Systems for Improving a Search Ranking Using Related Queries.” Old stuff. Nope, not in my opinion. Here’s how the Googlers with the assistance of their legal eagles describe this invention:
Systems and methods that improve search rankings for a search query by using data associated with queries related to the search query are described. In one aspect, a search query is received, a related query related to the search query is determined, an article (such as a web page) associated with the search query is determined, and a ranking score for the article based at least in part on data associated with the related query is determined. Several algorithms and types of data associated with related queries useful in carrying out such systems and methods are described.
The invention makes clear one of Google’s approaches to determining facets of a query. The invention like other Google Brin assisted innovations has implications for other Google search methods. Download you copy from www.uspto.gov.
Stephen Arnold, March 19, 2009
Microsoft Search PR Blitz
March 19, 2009
Two articles today (March 18, 2009) set forth information about Microsoft search. I read each and concluded that Microsoft is stepping up its public relations activities about search and retrieval. Google continues to widen its lead in Web search. The company is also making headway in the enterprise. Google’s competitors point to the many weaknesses of the Google Search Appliance. While not perfect, the company is nosing close to 25,000 appliances shipped to customers worldwide. A typical Google customer is the Washington DC city government, recently in the news. Microsoft’s response is evident in these two articles:
- The Ars Technica article “Why Microsoft Continues with Search: It’s Still Not Solved” here. I agree but there is the problem of Google’s market share and Microsoft’s losing ground relative to Google. Forget “good”; think an AT&T style ecosystem.
- The Microsoft Channel 9 “Xin Wang: Science Fiction, Artificial Intelligence and Search” here. Useful information but not much that will allow Microsoft to leap frog Google.
My take on these two write ups is that Microsoft wants to call attention to its efforts to catch Google.
Stephen Arnold, March 20, 2009
AITC: DC Company in the Spotlight
March 19, 2009
Update: March 21, 2009: Fall out from the DC government matter here.
My recollection is that the government of the District of Columbia has a large operation. I never gave the entity much thought until I heard a discussion at a conference last year about the DC municipal government’s use of the Google Search Appliance for information retrieval. With about 25,000 of these gizmos in licensee locations, the happy yellow boxes have a number of enthusiastic users. When President Obama tapped Vivek Kundra to be the chief technology wizard, I expected some open source enthusiasm. I was in a meeting in DC and learned that Google solutions were getting some traction in various meetings. Uppity Woman’s Web log offered some food for thought; for example, this snippet from The Business Insider is quoted by the Uppity Woman, “Vivek is a fan of running offices on low-cost Google (GOOG) Apps, and even proposed letting people pay their parking tickets on Facebook.”
I was surprised when the authorities took action because of alleged improprieties. I was not familiar with one of the firm mentioned in this Washington Post article. I don’t know how the allegations will play out nor do I care. Here’s what I snagged here from AITC’s Web site:
AITC is a highly professional company with strong ethics and business values. At AITC we believe in delivering unparalleled business value to our customers through our highly competent and dedicated team of professionals who constantly strive to create, design and execute cutting edge ingenious solutions as well as create new business opportunities for our customers. AITC is certified as an 8(a) company by SBA. It is also certified as a LSDBE by the DC Government. AITC is a prime contractor for IT Services (Schedule 70) with GSA. It is also a prime contractor of DCSS for IT Services with the DC Government.
A representative project undertaken for the DC government was:
Project: IT ServUS Program
Client: Office of the Chief Technology Officer, Government of the District of Columbia
Project Description: This program provides a “One stop shopping” for all desktop and desktop infrastructure needs. The support of AITC includes the following:Perform Tier 1 support for one or multiple District Agencies
Ensure each reported problem is resolved in a timely manner, tracked according to standards and escalated/re-assigned as appropriate
Communicate problem resolution and additional information to Operations group managers and support teams
Communicate problems in a non-technical manner, to customers with varying levels of expertise
Monitor and resolve assigned issues received through the call-tracking system
Act as a liaison point for re-assigning tickets to a separate Tier 2 support service desk
Train government employees in proper procedures for the requisitioning and procurement of goods and services in Procurement Automated Support System (PASS); Train employees in documenting, reviewing, and approving staff in PeopleSoft Time and Labor; Liaison agent for reassignment to the Tier 2 support desk; Troubleshoot and password reset in PASS and PeopleSoft; Microsoft Office (Exchange server with Access) and Windows XP Home and Professional troubleshooting.
Not a word about search or Google. I found this good. I didn’t find an AITC blog entry about this allegation of fancy dancing. The most recent news release on the company’s Web site was dated October 3, 2008. This discussion turned up on the DICE job Web site, and it offered some interesting comments. A video with some useful, informal comments is here. Sushil Bashal’s biography returns a 404 from the AITC Web site. Some info is available on ZoomInfo.com here. No bio for him appears in either the main Google index or the Google cache, which I found interesting.
I will continue to poke around. Interesting issue and interesting connections maybe?
Stephen Arnold, March 19, 2009
Google on the Hot Seat
March 18, 2009
Google got some good news. President Obama’s chief technical officer was back on the job. The sudden step down was as surprising as the allegations against two of Vivek Kundra’s assistants. Mr. Kundra was, in my opinion, one of the supporters of Google-type thinking in information technology. You can read about the return of Mr. Kundra here. Now Telecommunications Online reported here that:
An online privacy group called on Tuesday for government regulators to investigate the adequacy of Google Inc’s security safeguards after the company inadvertently released consumers’ private information this month.
The FTC is now holding this fresh hot potato. Coincidences? I don’t think this is the case. Google is the lucky recipient of interesting attention.
Stephen Arnold, March 19, 2009
Google Stat: On Target or Just Wrong
March 18, 2009
Google bashing is a popular sport. A new March madness? Navigate here and read “One Stop Cop Shop”. The headline baffled me, but I found this paragraph from the Guardian (UK) Web site surprising:
But figures just released by netmarketshare.com show that Google now has 97.5% of global mobile search. The time has come to ask what the long-term implications of this are. Any investigation would have to be done by an international body whether the OECD, the World Trade Organisation or a coalition of regulators. But it would be in everyone’s interest, not least Google’s, to have a serious look at the implications of all this before it is too late.
Two points: quite a market share for Googzilla. And more legal agitation ahead for the kids in Mountain View.
Stephen Arnold, March 18, 2009
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