New Microsoft Focus
August 2, 2010
The lingo is now Job One. In 2008 it was enterprise search. (And how is that working out?) Then I learned that the real focus has been cloud computing since 1995. The other day there were eight focus points. Today I read “Ballmer: Microsoft-Powered Tablets Are ‘Job One Urgency’.” I know Microsoft is a big outfit and can handle lots of different tasks at the same time. I am, however, surprised that the target changes so quickly. The areas on which Microsoft is attending at the * same * time are big dudes, people. For me, this was the killer passage in the write up referenced Microsoft’s forthcoming iPad killer:
“They’ll be shipping as soon as they are ready,” Ballmer said, offering few details on the products, which he said will come from partners, not Microsoft itself. “It is job one urgency. No one is sleeping at the switch.”
Like the Kin?
Stephen E Arnold, August 1, 2010
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Pundit Ignores Information Retrieval Reality
August 1, 2010
Short honk: I don’t have the energy to deal with “Cookie Madness”, an essay that appeared in the Buzz Machine. Maybe academics are afflicted with “a certain blindness” to use William James’s brilliant phrase? Maybe academics forget that most of the people using computers don’t know that their online activities can be tracked, including hover time, mouse movement, and cursor movement patterns?
More important is the penchant for publishers and reporters to embrace the roots of American journalism. The catch phrase for this approach to information fit nicely under the precept at the Courier Journal’s WHAS television unit as “If it bleeds, it leads.” Why? Money. Simple. Fear, controversy, and explosive allegations are the chemicals that feed the modern Venus Fly Trap of journalism. Nothing is more effective than creating an issue and then huffing with indignation about that issue. Quite an information ecosystem, right?
The Wall Street Journal is owned by a modern media mogul, presumably an owner of properties employing journalism school graduates, new media specialists, and even PhDs in social collaboration (whatever that means). When these rosy cheeked warriors arrive, those titanium tipped diggers will ferret out what sells.
The Wall Street Journal is focusing on fear and breathless explanations of how a computer system can track a user’s every online action. Hey, as long as it generates sales and gets the pundits’ panties in a bind, the Wall Street Journal’s story about tracking is doing its job. At least the journalists working on the story have jobs, for a while at least.
Sigh. Next Hyde Park moment coming up. Film at 11. Now this word.
Stephen E Arnold, August 1, 2010
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Why Companies Are Not Countries, The Sequel
August 1, 2010
When I was in Spain doing a little project for the US government, I had a conversation in the foyer of the Cervantes Institute. The young person with whom I talked asked me, “Why do American companies act like they are like the Roman emperors before the decline?” I thought a moment and said, “American business is designed to reward those who have the ego of Julius Caesar and the money to get their own way. Just like the Hapsburgs.”
She laughed and replied, “Yes, American Caesars like Douglas McDonald.”
“No, not McDonald, MacArthur.”
“Ah, now I remember, but he was cut down to size, right? she asked.
“Yes, but now the government is influenced by lobbyists, so American companies see themselves as having more power than elected officials.”
“Ah, so sad,” she said. She walked off to get a piece of chicken.
Why is this conversation in a blog about search?
Navigate to “Google Says China Web Search Blocked.” Google continues to learn the difference between an American company and a country. American countries can hire lobbyists, cut deals, and use money to make life smooth as Chinese silk.
A country makes laws, has a police force, a secret service, and power, real power. Google tried to tell China what to do. China dipped into The Art of War and we learned:
Google Inc’s Web search and mobile services in China were blocked on Thursday, according to a message on the company’s website. It was unclear whether access had been blocked by the Chinese government or if it was a temporary service disruption. A Google spokesman said he did not have any immediate information on the change in service availability.
Can Google wiggle out of this set back? Maybe but Google is a company; China is a country. Guess who will blink first.
Stephen E Arnold, August 1, 2010
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Carrot2 Update
August 1, 2010
Carrot2 has developed a multi-faceted search clustering engine available as open source framework Carrot2 has developed its own Lingo and LTC document clustering algorithms, and offers ready-to-use components for fetching search results from every conceivable source and can automatically organize the search results into thematic categories! Carrot2 is implemented in Java, and very easily integrates with non-Java software. Interested in crawling your Web site? Nutch is an open-source project featuring a Carrot2-based search clustering plug-in, so you’ll get all crawling, searching, and clustering in one piece. Carrot’s spin-off company, Carrot Search uses Lingo 3G document clustering and specializes in multilingual clustering, synonyms, advanced tuning, and scalability for organizing text documents into clearly-labeled thematic folders. If you need accurate, on-the-fly search clustering engines, check out http://project.carrot2.org/index.html.
Brett Quinn, August 1, 2010
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Microsoft and Focus
August 1, 2010
I am the type of goose who can do one thing at a time. If I am plugging away on one of my silly projects and you speak to me, I will jump. I might even emit a “yikes”. That’s nuts, of course, but that is an example of how I get things done. Focus. One thing at a time.
When someone tells me that he can focus on two things at once, I know that focus means something different to this person than to me. When someone tells me, he can do four or five things at once, I know that is pretty much impossible. Here’s a test. I have a rock. You are talking on your mobile, watching your kid on the swing, and standing in the middle of a highway. So, explain that focus thing to me again. Now I throw a rock at your head. I will cheat by creeping around behind you and throwing the rock without your watching me. What about that focus? If you try to keep me in sight, you are going to lose sight of the kid. Maybe a car will hit you? Whoever is talking to you on your phone is going to ask, “Dude, what are you doing?”
So navigate to “Microsoft: We Are Focusing on Eight Core Businesses.” Here’s the statement I noted:
Actually, Microsoft has eight core focus areas, General Manager of Investor Relations Bill Koefoed, told the Wall Street analysts (and a few of us press types) attending the day-long event.
The eight, according to Koefoed:
- Xbox and TV
- Bing
- Office
- Windows Server
- Windows Phone
- Windows
- Business users
- SQL Server
So now read “Steve Ballmer: Microsoft Has Been Focusing on cloud for 15 Years.” Notice that the cloud is not on the Koefoed list. Also, the statement about Microsoft’s activity in the cloud for 15 years puts us back to 1995. I may have missed something, but I never thought about Microsoft as a master of hosted services.
Obviously I was not focusing. I am flawed because I try to keep my lists consistent and I cannot focus on nine things at once. So maybe that “eight” should be “nine”? And what happened to search; specifically, $1.2 billion Fast Search thing? Not a point of focus apparently.
Stephen E Arnold, August 1, 2010
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