Microsoft Bond Sale
May 12, 2009
My thought upon reading “Microsoft to Sell First Corporate Bond in Three Parts” here was, “Routine stuff.” I did some thinking and asked myself some questions that I could not answer:
One: “Is this step an indication that the economy is not being kind to the Redmond powerhouse?”
Two: “Are the cost control challenges becoming sufficiently difficult that the company wants to be ahead of the curve when it comes to cash?”
Three: “Has Microsoft felt pressure from Google and other enterprise competitors so that there is concern that the cash flow from these important markets may be less robust?”
I pay closer attention to search than I do games or personal music players. My experience suggests that the cost of revamping Microsoft’s various search activities is going to demonstrate a growing appetite for investment.
Stephen Arnold, May 12, 2009
Information Architecture and Search
May 12, 2009
Usability guru Jakob Nielsen’s “Top 10 Information Architecture Mistakes” here is a useful list of issues to consider. What struck me as particularly useful was his second point “Search and Structure Not Integrated.” He wrote:
search and navigation fail to support each other on many sites. This problem is exacerbated by another common mistake: navigation designs that don’t indicate the user’s current location. That is, after users click a search result, they can’t determine where they are in the site — as when you’re searching for pants and click on a pair, but then have no way to see more pants.
Within the last 10 days, I have had four separate discussions with “search experts” who were in the midst of trying to use search to fix deeper information problems. One content management wizard told me in Philadelphia, “Search is not able to deal with the complicated information stored in an industrial strength CMS.” No kidding. You expect a third party solution to resolve the glitches in these linguini code monsters? A person at a big money consulting firm opined, “We see search as a Web 2.0 solution to our heterogeneous content.” Yep, and I see myself as 15 years old. Fantasy, sheer fantasy.
You will find Mr. Nielsen’s other nine points equally insightful.
Stephen Arnold, May 12, 2009
Perfect Search and Adhere Solutions: Google Extender
May 12, 2009
I learned from my son (founder of Adhere Solutions) that his team and Perfect Search have a new product available, OBX. I was impressed with the OBX and the way in which the two companies explained their innovation.
The One Box Extender (OBX) allows users to search databases quickly and cost-effectively within the Google Search Appliance.
The One Box Extender (OBX), this product will extend the Google Search Appliance to enable organizations to search their database content with blistering query speeds – all delivered seamlessly though the Google Search Appliance’s OneBox interface.
Presently, Google Search Appliance users search their database content by sending the query through the OneBox Connector to retrieve results from different systems. This approach places query load on the database(s), and slows down the speed of the search for the end users. The Perfect Search One Box Extender (OBX) for the Google Search Appliance enables rapid search of Oracle, Microsoft SQL, DB2, MySQL, and any other SQL compliant database without placing any additional load on these systems. The OBX integrates within the same Search Engine Results Page for database search through the Google Search Appliance’s OneBox API.
Perfect Search and Adhere Solutions… enabling hyper federation.
Traditionally, enterprise search solutions are expensive and can be challenging to implement. The Google Search Appliance with the Perfect Search OBX provides a cost effective, appliance-based solution to index valuable database content. Many current Google Search Appliance users leverage Google’s OneBox connectors as a way to avoid indexing database content purely for cost reasons. Now, these organizations can index their database content, increase speed and relevancy, remove load from their database for a low cost.
Features of the One Box Extender include:
- Integrates the power of database search with the Google Search Appliance OneBox
- Provides connectivity to Oracle, Microsoft, DB2, MySQL, and other JDBC databases
- Can be used to search Microsoft Exchange email records
- Can index millions, or even billions of database records at a fixed cost
- Removes load on existing database systems
- Provides better results than traditional SQL queries
- Results appear within the Google Search Engine Result Page instantly
- Much lower cost than traditional enterprise search software approaches
- Complies with database security policies
- Customizable database displays.
“Adhere Solutions was founded by a team of search industry veterans with the vision of extending the capabilities of the Google Search Appliance and meeting the demand for associated professional services. We provide Google Enterprise customers with support throughout installation and configuration as well as applications built exclusively for the Google Search Appliance,” said Erik Arnold, director, Adhere Solutions. “Through the partnership with Perfect Search we will be able to offer Google Search Appliance customers the ability to search indexed databases without a massive spike in costs.”
“We are thrilled to be able to partner with such an outstanding organization as Adhere Solutions,” states Tim Stay, CEO of Perfect Search Corporation. “They have deep expertise providing robust solutions utilizing Google’s applications for the enterprise. With their guidance, we have been able to integrate the speed and capacity of the Perfect Search indexing and search engine to the breadth and functionality of the Google Search Appliance.”
“The OBX extends the functionality of Google’s strong suite of enterprise applications to large content repositories such as massive databases and email archives,” states George Watanabe, VP of Business Development at Perfect Search. “Historically, searching these very large data sets have been very expensive, but today, Perfect Search and Adhere Solutions are providing a cost-effective search solution that works seamlessly through the Google OneBox interface.”
Adhere Solutions is a Google Enterprise Partner providing products and services that help organizations accelerate their adoption of Google technologies and cloud computing. Adhere Solutions’ team of consultants help customers leverage Google’s Enterprise Search products, Google Maps, and Google Apps to improve access to information, productivity, and collaboration.
Perfect Search Corporation is a software innovation company that specializes in development of search solutions, focusing on speed, scalability, stability, and savings. A total of eight patents have been applied for around the developing technology. The suite of search products at is available on multiple platforms, from small mobile devices, to single servers, to large server farms. For more information, contact Perfect Search at www.perfectsearchcorp.com or +1.801.437.1100.
When I spoke with Perfect Search and got a description of the OBX, I concluded that Perfect Search and Adhere had moved beyond basic mash up and into a new territory. The phrase that was used to describe this product was “hyper federation.” This was the first time I heard this description, and I think that Perfect Search and Adhere have broken new ground and have a way to explain what their engineers have accomplished.
Stephen Arnold, May 12, 2009
Alpha Cold like Cuil or Hot like Google
May 11, 2009
Adam Ostrow has an excellent write up about the Wolfram Alpha system. He works through the limited examples in a useful way. Compared to the MIT Technology Review analysis, Mr. Ostrow took the pants off MIT’s Alpha reviewer. He gathers screenshots of the mash up and answers the demo Alpha has on offer. For me, the most interesting comment in the article was:
Ultimately, it’s hard to see how Wolfram Alpha could be called either the next Google or the next Cuil. Rather, it seems to have the ambition of making accessible a whole different type of information, that could be quite useful to a significant subset of Internet users. And eventually, that might make it a good compliment, but not a replacement, for today’s leading search engines.
Clip and save this write up for reference.
Stephen Arnold, May 9, 2009
Google and Dish TV
May 11, 2009
DISH Network is promoting a new Google service: Google TV ads. I saw the promo commercial on FSN Ohio during a baseball game. It’s all “testimonials” about how placing television ads on DISH Network has helped people’s businesses boom with hits and return on investment. Businesses can always use more ads at an affordable cost, and Google certainly has a lot of reach! You can see at product demo at http://www.advertiseondish.com, which redirects you to the Google cover page. Google’s definition: “Google TV Ads is a flexible, all-digital system for buying more accountable and measurable TV advertising. Using the familiar AdWords interface, you can launch a TV advertising campaign in minutes.” You can pick up the service at http://services.google.com/ads_inquiry/tvadsproposal using an existing AdWords account, and there’s a FAQ that even gives you price estimates. It’s a great idea. Not only can you tap Google’s online potential, now you can expand into the visual market as well without going through a marketing agency.
Jessica Bratcher, May 10, 2009
Real Time: Fad or Foundation
May 11, 2009
Ben Parr wrote “Is Real Time the Future of the Web?” I had not considered this question because moving one mode of communication from a traditional telephone to a mobile device with a keyboard is part of the hybridization and diffusion of technology that characterizes “cut and paste” innovation. Mr. Parr raises some interesting questions in his article here. The one that intrigued me was, “Is it [real time information] sustainable?” On the surface, the answer is, “Yes.” After some reflection, I think that the emergence of text mining, predictive analytics, and comprehensive surveillance may have a significant impact on certain types of real time information flows. The Hawthorne Effect may have a side and backspin which causes certain changes in information behavior. The examples I am thinking about include:
- Bad guys using non monitored channels in order to remain outside the real time flow; for example, hire a person to deliver a coded message
- Teens using F2F (face to face) communication for important information such as the kid with parents away for the weekend
- Executives discussing deals by walking down a noisy sidewalk in a metro area.
Check out Mr. Parr’s approach. I will keep thinking about how certain communication methods may make real time online communications unattractive.
Stephen Arnold, May 10, 2009
XML as Code and Its Implications
May 11, 2009
I read Tom Espiner’s ZDNet article “EC Wants Software Makers Held Liable for Code” here. I have been thinking about his news story for a day or two. The passage that kept my mind occupied consists of a statement made by an ED official, Meglena Kuneva:
If we want consumers to shop around and exploit the potential of digital communications, then we need to give them confidence that their rights are guaranteed,” said Kuneva. “That means putting in place and enforcing clear consumer rights that meet the high standards already existing in the main street. [The] internet has everything to offer consumers, but we need to build trust so that people can shop around with peace of mind.
Software makers for some high profile products shift the responsibility for any problems to the licensee. The licensee is accountable but the software maker is not. I am not a lawyer, and I suppose that this type of thinking is okay if you have legal training. But what if XML is programmatic? What does that mean for authors who write something that causes some type of harm? What about software that generates content from multiple sources and one of those sources is defined as “harmful”?The blurring of executable code and executable content is a fact of online life today. Good news for lawyers. Probably not such good news for non lawyers in my opinion.
Stephen Arnold, May 11, 2009
Autonomy Scores a PR Coup
May 11, 2009
If you are in the search marketing business, you may want to do a case study of Autonomy. The London Times’s story “It May Seem Confusing but Autonomy Can Help” by Mike Harvey was a master stroke. You can read the full text of the write up here. With headlines going to Google, Microsoft, and Wolfram Alpha, Autonomy’s management has wrested attention from these firms and slapped the attention on its products. The subhead for the article made a case for building an organization’s information framework with Autonomy’s digital building blocks with this statement, “The company’s technology enables customers to decipher information from multiple sources, giving it a world-leading role.” For me, the most interesting comment in the article was:
According to Dr Lynch, Autonomy is leading a revolution in the information technology industry. After 40 years of computers being able to understand only structured information that could be found in the rows and columns of a database, computers armed with Autonomy’s software can understand human-style information, such as phone conversations. That means, Dr Lynch argues, that Autonomy now has the world’s most advanced search engine for businesses, which can help companies to reveal the value in the masses of e-mails, phone calls and videos that form the majority of ways in which staff communicate with each other.
I think it will be interesting to see how its competitors respond. Oh, the article includes a biographical profile of Sir Michael Lynch. Not even Messrs. Brin and Page rate that type of coverage.
Stephen Arnold, May 11, 2009
Link Horror: The Thomas Crampton Affair
May 10, 2009
Link loss is not movie material. Careless “removal” of a server or its content can cause some pain. You can read about the personal annoyance (anguish maybe”?) expressed by journalist Thomas Crampton. His stories written for a fee have disappeared. The details are here. There is another angle that is not just annoying, it is expensive to rectify. Wikipedia linked to a Web site called IHT.com, the online presence of the International Herald Tribune, or was was the Web site. You can read about that issue here. Now the Wikipedia links are dead and the fix is going to require lots of volunteers or a script that can make the problem go away. Either way, this is an example of how organization’s think about what’s good for themselves or what those organizations perceive is the “right” approach and the unexpected consequences of the decision. I see this type of uninformed decision making too frequently. The ability to look at an issue from an “overflight” position is seen as silly, too time consuming, or not part of the management process. I think the Thomas Crampton Affair might make a compelling video.
Stephen Arnold, May 10, 2009
Security: Search a Factor
May 10, 2009
Security of online information is critical to any company who operates on the Internet, from large corporations to medical institutions to the federal government. Remember the stolen laptop? Security online, especially when setting up a database of searchable, confidential material, is a herculean task, because if it’s online–someone can search and find it. Case in point, a headline from May 7: US Med Data Held Hostage by Hackers; Ransom: $10M. See the article at http://bit.ly/16IoZi. Hackers stole over eight million cases of drug prescription records, social security numbers, and driver’s license details from Virginia on April 30. It was reported that several layers of protection failed and allowed the hackers access. It’s not the first time something like this has happened. Data security online must be improved, or we’re all going to be facing a lot more fraud in the future.
Jessica Bratcher, May 10, 2009
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