Google Wave Guide
November 4, 2009
Short honk: Free-conomics delivers a manual for Google Wave. You can download your copy here. The manual presents the basics. Useful. No mention of the data space relationship but most people are not interested in that concept… yet.
Stephen Arnold, November 2, 2009
Maybe the Internet Was a Really Bad Idea?
November 4, 2009
I suppose that the last gasp of traditional media is to long for the days before the “Internet”. Read “The Monster Devouring Us.” Do you get the sense that the Daily Mail would be happier when paper was cheap, most folks were illiterate, distribution took place via horse drawn carts, and newspaper distributors were seven year old boys? I liked the line up of evils that the “Internet” has wrought. Even better was the spin that the wizards who created the “Internet” wish they had gone to pub and thrown darts or put that message in an envelope and dropped it in the letter box.
The problem is not the “Internet”. The challenges are more deeply rooted. Technology makes the idea of unintended consequences fun to analyze. I think it will be tough to go back in time, maybe to the halcyon days of the broadsheet. What I thought as I read the article was that if London, England’s newspapers continue on their present track, I will read about the evils of the “Internet” on a blog. Mr. Murdoch and a former official from the lands of the Tsars. Really.
The article has a great photo of the first computer used to send an email. I was hoping for the Web cam that showed the coffee pot at Cambridge University, however.
Stephen Arnold, November 4, 2009
Bet you a dime that no one paid me to write this opinion down. I am reporting this fact to the Administration on Aging.
Microsoft Casts Doubt on Google Apps Data
November 4, 2009
I expected the Doubting Thomas approach to Google and DT arrived. I read “Microsoft Questions Google Apps’ Momentum, Touts 1M Online Business Suite Customers” and learned that Microsoft thinks that the Google is fudging its numbers. Serious stuff in my opinion. As far as I know, Google has not made any comments about the 100 million SharePoint licenses. The passage in the Computer World article that resonated for me was:
“I [a Microsoft executive] have a really hard time understanding their [Google's] numbers,” he said. “You simply don’t know what their paying user numbers are. Analysts predict that they are pretty small. It’s hard for us to really know.” Asked what he thought of Google’s high-profile win of the City of Los Angeles for a 5-year, $7.25 million deal to use Google Apps, he said, “I feel like we are winning lots and lots of deals. We can’t spend too much time worrying about what they [Google] are doing. I feel good about how much progress we’ve made in a short period of time.”
Coincident with the Doubting Thomas play, Microsoft chopped its own prices for cloud based services. What lingers is the idea that Google is not telling the truth about its market penetration. The price cut suggests to me that whatever the Google numbers are, those numbers have forced Microsoft to lower its prices. Interesting.
Stephen Arnold, November 4, 2009
I want to disclose the FHA that no one gave me one red cent to write this blog post.
A Weird Way to Sell an Enterprise Search Report
November 4, 2009
Short honk: I have seen some frisky marketing collateral in my professional career. I found the positioning of an azure chip consulting firm’s most recent report about information retrieval a world class positioning statement. First, navigate to “Research and Markets: Global Outlook Report on the Information Retrieval Services Industry”. Next read this paragraph:
The report offers a rudimentary overview of the industry, and details trends and issues such as, high growth opportunities in Enterprise Search, growth of electronic medium for information delivery, and threat for traditional information retrieval service firms from booming search engines. [emphasis added]
Yep, I am ready to spend hard cash on a rudimentary overview of the information retrieval industry. Amazingly sophisticated word choice. I enjoy a romp with a rudimentary industry overview. Sure do.
Stephen Arnold, November 4, 2009
I want to disclose to the dictionary authorities that I wrote this blog post for free.
Endeca Lands a Large eCommerce Tuna
November 4, 2009
CNBC reported that Grainger (a parts company) has tapped Endeca to provides the company with a new search system. These types of deals are in the seven figures, and based on the information in the CNBC story, the deal taps the core competency of the Endeca system. The article “Grainger Launches New Online Search Tool: Makes Doing Business Online Easier” included what i thought was an interesting comment:
The new online search tool provides quicker, easier and more accurate service, helping customers save time and money.
Databased content certainly needs improved search methods. Results that look like IBM green screen reports are not in step with the digital generation’s expectations. I found this check list of features thought provoking as well (I am quoting from the source document):
- Guided search navigation uses product specifications such as keywords, item numbers, national stocking numbers, cross-reference numbers, and many more.
- Multiple sorting options allow customers to sort their search results by price, brand, category, and delivery.
- Helpful product icons assist customers in identifying products with specific properties such as “green.” — Product category landing pages have relevant and useful information on product use, selection and reference information.
The key for Grainger will be the net increase in sales attributable to the new system. Hopefully hard ROI (return on investment) information will be available as it was for the Endeca Border’s system. Additional information is available from www.grainger.com/newsearch.
Other vendors offering similar products include Exalead, Exorbyte, and Perfect Search. I wonder if Grainger did a head to head test of Endeca against one or more of these systems?
Stephen Arnold, November 4, 2009
No one paid me to write this article. I did get an email from Endeca once. Does that count?
YAGG: My Old Pal Gmail Sneezes
November 3, 2009
Short honk: The Register reported a Gmail YAGG (yet another Google glitch). Minimal info on the Google Apps Dashboard. The goslings in Harrod’s Creek were not affected. Some Google users were if the Register report is spot on.
Stephen Arnold, November 2, 2009
A YAGG freebie.
SchemaLogic and Its MetaPoint
November 3, 2009
At the SharePoint conference, SchemaLogic announced its MetaPoint software. According to the company:
Multipoint integrates with Microsoft Office to tag and classify documents automatically when they are created and suggests to the user where documents should be stored on the Microsoft Office SharePoint Server. Multipoint helps employees find and share information more effectively while improving corporate information governance and regulatory compliance.
I have been notified about a number of products and systems that add functionality to SharePoint. I am having some fun trying to figure out which features and functions are the distinguishing ones. SchemaLogic offers its metadata repository to organizations eager to bring consistency to metadata across different enterprise software systems. The Metapoint service offers a similar functionality for SharePoint 10.
I am not able to endorse any particular SharePoint 10 metadata management system at this time. This is on our to do list. In the meantime, procurement teams will have the opportunity to install, test, and evaluate these systems. Exciting and time consuming. SharePoint 10 itself is a ton of fun and integrating a third party metadata system will be an outstanding learning experience in my opinion.
Stephen Arnold, November 3, 2009
Notice to the Department of Commerce: no one paid me to write this article explaining its fun factor.
Recommind and the On Premises versus Hosted Services Options
November 3, 2009
I read “One Quarter of UK Organizations Unnecessarily Outsource All eDisclosure Needs, Recommind Comments” as I was updating my briefing about content processing in 2010. The write up puzzled me. Recommind has positioned itself as a player in enterprise search. In this article, the company apparently conveyed the impression that Recommind is a leader in “information risk”. I also found interesting this assertion:
Recommind believes that organizations should refrain from outsourcing all information management responsibility when it comes to eDisclosure…
Outsourcing is an important part of eDiscovery options offered by Autonomy, Brainware, and dozens of other firms. In fact, hybrid solutions are often needed because the challenges of eDiscovery can be demanding due to time constraints or the volume of information that must be processed in a specific period of time. So “all” strikes me as one of those silly categorical affirmatives that appear to give a service an advantage but serve to point up the logical weakness in some marketing talk.
The one part of the write up I found useful was the link to an eDiscovery survey that contains some useful data. You can find the Fulbright & Jaworski report here.
Stephen Arnold, November 3, 2009
I wish to report to the General Services Administration that this was a freebie.
Google Books a Pressure Point
November 3, 2009
SiliconValley.com’s “Desire to Scan Old Books Has Critics Casting Google as Goliath” provides an interesting insight into scale. The meaning of “scale” means big. Google is a cutting edge company because it operates at scale.The company has been focused on big data for more than a decade. Now the light bulb has been turned on. Most of Google’s competitors do not work at scale, although companies like Amazon, Microsoft and Yahoo are working overtime to convert their existing systems so they too operate at scale. The challenge is that Google’s infrastructure is “as is”. Most competitors are in “to be” mode.
The SiliconValley.com article makes clear that scale is the reason that Google Books has become a problem for publishers, competitors, authors, and rights holders, among others. For me the most interesting comment in the article was:
“It really took something this big and grand to show that Google does have problems, and does have vulnerabilities, and can be exploitative,” Vaidhyanathan [law professor] said. “I’m as surprised as anybody that this turned out to be the moment in which Google’s true nature came to light.”
In my opinion, these types of write ups are useful. I wonder what critics of Google have been doing for the last decade. Google Books is not a new project. What’s new is that observers are now in the same position as a person who hears a sonic boom and looks into the sky to see the aircraft. The problem is that the sonic boom alerts the observer that an aircraft has passed, not where it is or where it is going.
Google Books is not an end game. Google has more options to exercise.
Stephen Arnold, November 3, 2009
Nope, a freebie.
Google and Its Video Ecosystem
November 2, 2009
The Guardian’s “Google Seeks to Turn a Profit from YouTube Copyright Clashes” is one of those “close but no cigar” write ups about the GOOG. The point of the story is that Google can work with copyright holders to monetize videos on YouTube.com. The idea is that content can generate cash and the copyright owners become Google partners, not enemies. The article references Google’s digital fingerprint technology which is disclosed in one of Google’s open source documents. The story had an interesting factoid:
At the moment YouTube says it streams 7bn videos a week and only 1bn of those are monetized. Of those 1bn, a third make money through the ContentID system.
The point that is omitted is that Google’s method makes it possible for a copyright holder to use Google as an integrated motion picture company just like those the Hollywood moguls of old assembled in the analog days. Google does it digitally and shifts the monetization load to copyright holders if those folks want to take control of the process. Check the eyeball count for YouTube.com here.
Stephen Arnold, November 2, 2009
Not a penny for this write up, trusted US Postal Service.
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