NoSQL Kudzu Could Threaten SQL Server
November 15, 2010
You will have to point your browser thing—social or anti-social—at “Microsoft Coaches NoSQL Options for Azure Cloud.” I think I understand the words in the write up. I just am not sure of the Azure, NoSQL, and SQL Server subtext. Azure is, I thought, SQL Server friendly.
Before you jump into the details of Microsoft’s open source friendly ecosystem, think about Kudzu. Wikipedia says here that kudzu is “a climbing, coiling, and trailing vine.” Some arborists are not to fond of kudzu. Will open source digital kudzu thrive in Azure’s cloud?
The notion of running open source on Azure strikes me as interesting. What happens if the cloud friendly effort nibbles at SQL Server license revenues? My hunch is that today’s good words are going to be triggers for Oracle-like behavior. I still can’t figure out what Oracle’s open source strategy is. I find the Java litigation an interesting tactical move, but the big picture is fuzzy.
Here’s a passage that caught my eye:
Microsoft has also started working with Membase to give Azure an in-memory key-value store component using memcached. The pair are looking for ways to tweak Membase’s supported version of memcached for Microsoft’s cloud.
The more open source data management wraps around Azure, the more interesting the situation will become.
Stephen E Arnold, November 15, 2010
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Google vs Oracle: Thermonuclear or Thoroughly Unclear?
November 15, 2010
Google and Oracle have problems. Unlike poor people, money, power, and respect are easily available. Google’s problem is that not too many people like Google in my opinion. I just filed one of my for fee columns and quoted a wit who pointed out that Google is embroiled in legal hassles on every continent except the Land of the Penguins, Antarctica. Google may be little more than a victim of anti Math Club behavior, but compared to 2006, Google is not going to become queen of the prom.
And Oracle? The company has a boatload of unhappy cruisers above the Oracle trireme. Even worse, the winds of open source are disrupting some lucrative trade routes. Oracle wants to make some dough on the Sun Microsystems’ intellectual property, slap a port charge on anyone who docks at the Java rich MySQL harbor, and generally get back to chasing IBM and Microsoft around. Android? A slacker compared to a real US Marine. Ooorah.
I urge you to read “Google Files Sizzling Answer to Oracle’s Amended Complaint and its Opposition to Motion to Dismiss – updated 2Xs.” I would be the first to say, “I am not sure I am following the fancy talk and lawyering in the write up. For me, I found this a useful paragraph:
Wouldn’t it be ironic if Oracle’s patents ended up on the junk heap? Clearly that is Google’s intention. I’ve been hoping for a settlement of this mess from day one. I smell that it is now a real possibility. You can take this amended answer two ways — that it’s Google angling for a better settlement or that it’s Google looking to win the whole enchilada and free up Java for everyone. That last is why I think Oracle might consider settling. If it started all this because of drooling over money from big, rich Google — a common affliction, I’ve noticed — then realizing it might have to sue the Open Handset Alliance or one of its members or even some individual programmer out there somewhere, well, it’s not as appealing a thought. Litigation is about money, and if there’s no deep pockets worth suing, and no easy payday, and a big risk, then there you are. Is it worth risking the patents? The damage is already out there, though. The whole world knows that Google believes these patents Oracle is licensing to everybody are junk. Now that I think of it, that’d be a good reason for Oracle to go forward, if it has confidence in its position. But here’s the bottom line for those of us who don’t care about money: post-Bilski, it’s not so easy to run people over with software patents anymore. And that’s a good thing.
Here’s my take. The US economy is struggling. Two big, rich outfits want to make darn sure each gets bigger and richer. Right now, I am not convinced that either outfit is worth the time and energy. The big losers in this dust up will be difficult to predict, but there will be losers. The winners, on the other hand, are easy to identify. The lawyers will make out like the fine money collectors many are.
Moving on.
Stephen E Arnold, November 15, 2010
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Linguarde Translation Download Available
November 15, 2010
Linguarde translation software is available via a no-charge download. Created by the MindSpec Corporation, Linguarde is powered by Google Translate (a for-fee Pro version is also available). According to the download site, users can “translate Web-pages, e-mail and other documents without opening online-translation sites and buying expensive bulky programs”.
Further, there is no need to open a separate program; Linguarde begins translating when a user simply selects the text to be translated. Linguarde supports more than 50 languages and features automatic language detection. Programs supported are Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Word, Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Adobe Acrobat and others. So, why use Linguarde instead of Google Translate? Linguarde doesn’t require users to visit a separate webpage to get a translation. For those who like to have their translation service at the ready, Linguarde is a good alternative. We located links to TimeMeter here and a stub site for MindSpec here. We don’t have much information about this software at this time. A bit of a mystery I conclude.
Laura Amos, November 15, 2010
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NLP Download
November 15, 2010
Short honk. Want to explore NLP or natural language processing. The search engine and content processing marketing wizards chatter about NLP as often as telemarketers call me. Frequently, gentle reader. You can snag the software at Sofotex here. The Sofotex description says:
LJParser Nature Language Processing is a middleware by LING-JOIN Software is for natural language understanding and web search. LJParser provides powerful modules including precise search text, new words detection, Chinese word segmentation, language modeling and term translation, text clustering, text categorization, text summarization, keywords extraction and duplication detection, which can download and install on Windows, Linux.
We will fire up this puppy next week, but I am urging the goslings to get in gear.
Stephen E Arnold, November 15, 2010
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Google Gives Advice to Facebook
November 15, 2010
No, really. Googlers are telling Facebook what to do to become more social. This comes from the outfit that rolled out Orkut to the delight of certain interesting user communities in Brazil and Buzz to the annoyance of many users. Google had to pay a fine for its social sensitivity over that “Buzz” saw.
This is a metaphor for the Facebook parade. Why doesn’t Google have a band or a float or some twirlers in this spectacle?
Not surprisingly, Google executives continue to amuse this silly goose. Usually former English majors and mid-tier consulting firms crank out management malarkey. But Google is playing this game as well. I think it may be construed as further evidence that Google has begun to show its shrewish side, navigate to “Apps Must Be More Social, Says Google’s Barra.” The main point of the write up is that Google wants applications to be more social. This from the Math Club! Here’s the passage about the Googler’s presentation that caught my attention:
Social media should be an integral part of any app, and personalization will be a key to success, says Hugo Barra, Google director of mobile product management. At this year’s Monaco Media Forum, he refuted speculation Google would be launching its own social network platform, adding, “But we do think social is an ingredient for success for any app going forward. So we’re seeing social more as an ingredient rather than a vertical platform play.” He said personalization would be “absolutely huge” and “being able to relate the different signals that users give you, whether on Facebook or Google, will be a key to success”.
I need to waddle from the goose pond to the shore to think about this.
First, isn’t Google the company that is paying employees to refrain from quitting their job at Google. The numbers I recall are $1,000 and a 10 percent raise for the average wizard and 30 percent raise for the ultra wizard to stay. But the ultimo wizard was offered $3.5 million. Now that’s a management decision that warrants consideration? Google seems to believe that money buys happiness or at least keeping people from abandoning ship? Here’s a question, “Is purchased “love” the same as “real” love?”
Second, hasn’t the Google demonstrated that its interpersonal skills have annoyed some government procurement professionals and the US television broadcasters?
Quote to Note: Cannibal Surprise
November 14, 2010
Nifty quote caught my eye in “iPad Affecting Newspaper Sales.” Here’s the bit:
Murdoch said that the apps were “much more directly cannibalistic” than Web sites, as subscribers read the apps in a manner similar to how they read traditional newspapers. Web readers apparently consume their news somewhat differently. While he didn’t disclose sales numbers, Murdoch said that the newspapers affected include the Wall Street Journal, News of the World, and the Times of London.
I love the phrase “more cannibalistic”. Donner’s Pass, stranded mountain climbers, and … Hmmmm.
Stephen E Arnold, November 14, 2010
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Google and Video Content
November 14, 2010
Short honk: The YouTube blog reported that YouTube is sucking down a lot of video. What’s “a lot”? How does 35 hours of video a minute sound. That works out to 2,100 hours of video an hour. The rest of the math I will leave to you. You can read the news in “Great Scott! Over 35 Hours of Video Uploaded Every Minute to YouTube.” This blog is titled “Broadcasting Ourselves.” The chart below shows the intake of video at the Google.
The other side of the video business is non-YouTube content. I noted “Fox Blocks Google TV” which informed me that Fox has joined ABC, CBS, and NBC in blocking “Google TV from accessing their content online.” As crappy as network TV shows are, the top dogs at these commercial outfits seem to be unwilling to roll over for a Google mouse pad or a T shirt.
I am not a TV person. Video to me, including my own lame efforts, is serial, annoying, and mostly crap. In the race to the bottom of the intellectual barrel, I am not sure who is ahead. Google with 2,100 hours of dross flowing into YouTube each hour or the 500 channels of D minus info pumped out by the “real” television industry.
Quite an honor to win this content I surmise. Will the US economy will rebound with this type of competitive effort? Meh.
Stephen E Arnold, November 14, 2010
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IBM: Chips or Sugar Cubes with Your Coffee?
November 14, 2010
I think this IBM researcher is correct. Nevertheless, I want to point out that a consulting and services firm runs little risk of predictions that reach out to 2025. Point your Rockmelt social browser thing at “IBM Working Towards Supercomputers the Size of Sugar Cubes.” The nano revolution is coming, but the factoid I noted in the write up was:
Recent research at the University of Warwick revealed that next-generation supercomputers with a processing power of 1 exaflop would require the same energy as a small town to operate, which simply is not sustainable long-term.
Good call.
Stephen E Arnold, November 14, 2010
Freebie unlike electricity after QE2.
The Google Pay Up: Desperation or Innovation in HR?
November 13, 2010
“Google Gives All Employees Surprise $1,000 Cash Bonus and 10% Raise” reveals an internal email from Google showing the company has announced that it is giving absolutely all of its 20,000 employees bonuses and raises. The bonus is an automatic tax-free $1,000 for the holidays and the raise is an across the board 10% increase plus an additional raise equivalent to 1X the employee’s target bonus for the year, effective January 1. In addition, there may be additional merit increases based on performance. In these tough economic times should we call this altruism or insurance when other companies like Facebook love to lure knowledgeable Googlers away? The article points out that $1,000 isn’t much, but it’s a lot more than nothing, and spread across 20,000 employees, it’s costing the company $20 million. A 10+% raise on a total cost base of $20 billion, meanwhile, will probably cost the company $1 billion a year, assuming a third of those costs are compensation. Google has had trouble holding on to its employees in the past, but obviously they are hoping that this kind of outlay will keep the ranks of wizards happy and snug in their bean bags. I don’t know. The upside of a Facebook gig with some stock options may be like the sizzle from a roadside Bar-B-Q. Put on those brakes and check that joint out.
Alice Wasielewski, November 13, 2010
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Reflections on Ask.com
November 13, 2010
Ask.com used to be the premier search engine for the Internet. According to the article, “IAC’s Barry Diller Surrenders to Google, Ends Ask.com’s Search Effort” they don’t even break the Top Five. Because of this backslide, Diller’s corporation will be laying off 130 engineers and letting the competition take most of its brute force, Web search business.
In the era before Yahoo and Google you could type in any question and your trusty guide, Jeeves, would take you anywhere you needed to go. Not anymore. It seems that Ask.com can no longer keep up with the Jones’s or, in this case, the Google. The write up asserted:
It’s become this huge juggernaut of a company that we really thought we could compete against by innovating. We did a great job of holding our market share but it wasn’t enough to grow the way IAC had hoped we would grow when it bought us.
Google has grown to be the world’s top search engine, and it seems to control 65 percent of the searches performed in the United States.
Some observations:
- How long will Google be able to sustain brute force indexing? The more interesting services use human input to deliver content.
- Who will be the next Google? Maybe it will be Facebook?
- With the rise of “training wheels” on search systems, will most users fiddle with key words? Won’t “get it fast, get it good enough” may become the competitive advantage?
Google is now the old man of search. I see the company moving clumsily. There was the “don’t go to Facebook” payoffs earlier this week. There is the Facebook game and Google watching from the cheap seats.
Changes afoot. I fondly recall the third tier consultant who told me that Ask.com was a winner. I assume that young person is now advising the movers and shakers about search and content processing. Maybe Google needs an advisor to help the firm move from the cheap seats to the starting line up?
Stephen E Arnold and Leslie Radcliff, November 13, 2010
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