Price Cutting: An Online Mystery
December 17, 2010
One of the mysteries of online is the behavior of users. Individually the actions are idiosyncratic. Put the behaviors of many users together, and you get a completely different insight into what happens in online environments. The usage data don’t falsify online actions. The more data one has, the easier it is to identify what’s hot and what’s not and what’s working and what isn’t.
Traditional media is starting to get with the online program. The chatter about tracking user behavior is one signal of growing awareness of the value of online behavior.
Every once in a while, a story appears in the “real” publishing industry that highlights one of the mysteries of online. To get the information first hand, navigate to ”Amazon Can’t Dent iTunes.” The online version of the story was live as I write this on December 17, 2010. If the link is a 404, you can chase down a hard copy of the December 17, 2010 hard copy newspaper. The main point of the story for me was that Apple’s iTunes has resisted Amazon’s price cutting.
Amazon is like the Energizer bunny, one of the great ad campaigns in my opinion.
Now in a normal business, a “sale” or “close out” will attract shoppers. In retail, lower prices are one of the standard items in the selling tool kit. A local store had a surplus of weird green sweaters. I saw a sign that said, “Sweaters. $10 each.” The shoppers took the bait like a hungry trout in late autumn.
The Wall Street Journal story told me that price cutting in digital music has not worked out too well for Amazon. The Apple iTunes and snazzy hardware ecosystem has kept its grip on music. I am not a music person, so the fascination with digital music is interesting, but of no consequence to me.
Merging of Lucene Solr Reported
December 17, 2010
A reader sent me a link to “Lucene and Solr Development Merged.” We are working to track down the details, but I wanted to capture the news item. In addition to the development merger, the write up references Riak Search. Here is the passage that caught my attention:
With merged dev, there is now a single set of committers across both projects. Everyone in both communities can now drive releases – so when Solr releases, Lucene will also release – easing concerns about releasing Solr on a development version of Lucene. So now, Solr will always be on the latest trunk version of Lucene and code can be easily shared between projects – Lucene will likely benefit from Analyzers and QueryParsers that were only available to Solr users in the past. Lucene will also benefit from greater test coverage, as now you can make a single change in Lucene and run tests for both projects – getting immediate feedback on the change by testing an application that extensively uses the Lucene libraries. Both projects will also gain from a wider development community, as this change will foster more cross pollination between Lucene and Solr devs (now just Lucene/Solr devs).
Riak Search is described in “Riak 0.13, Featuring Riak Search” and “Riak Search and Riak Full Text Indexing”.
The primary information appears on the Riak Web site in a Web page titled “Riak Search.”
Riak Search uses Lucene and features “a Solr like API on top.” According to the Basho blog’s article “Riak 0.13 Released”:
At a very high level, Search works like this: when a bucket in Riak has been enabled for Search integration (by installing the Search pre-commit hook), any objects stored in that bucket are also indexed seamlessly in Riak Search. You can then find and retrieve your Riak objects using the objects’ values. The Riak Client API can then be used to perform Search queries that return a list of bucket/key pairs matching the query. Alternatively, the query results can be used as the input to a Riak MapReduce operation. Currently the PHP, Python, Ruby, and Erlang APIs support integration with Riak Search.
The story “Riak 0.13 Released” provides additional information, including explicit links to download Riak 0.13 and Riak Search for a variety of platforms.
At first glance, Riak Search makes search and retrieval available to NoSQL data stores like the Basho Riak open source scalable data store.
A number of questions require some further data collection and consideration:
- Will other NoSQL implementations “bundle” or “snap in” a search component?
- What are the technical considerations of this approach to search in NoSQL data stores?
- Are there any performance or scaling issues to consider?
The blending of the Lucene Solr merging story with the Riak Search information caught us by surprise. Time to flip through the Rolodex to see whom we can call for more information. If a reader has additional insight on these two items, please, use the comments section of the blog to make the information available to the other two readers of Beyond Search.
We did a bit of sleuthing and wanted to pass along that Riak may be using some of the Lucene/Solr analyzers. One view is that the indexing and search code may not be Lucene based. The implication is that scaling and performance may be an issue. Faceting and group may also be an issue. Without digging too deeply into the innards of Riak Search, we suggest you do some testing on a suitable data set or corpus.
We located some information about Solr as NoSQL. You can find that information on the Lucid Imagination Web site at this link.
Stephen E Arnold, December 17, 2010
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Tips for Deploying a Project Like Enterprise Search
December 17, 2010
I recommend “Staging Servers, Source Control & Deploy workflows, and Other Stuff Nobody Teaches You.” The article by Patrick in the MicroISV blog is an excellent description of some engineering basics often overlooked. He points out that his lessons came from a non-US firm for which he worked. The implication for me was that most US firms don’t do methodical engineering. I don’t know if that sweeping generalization is accurate, but the tips he describes are indeed useful.
He wrote:
I worked for almost three years as a cog in a Japanese mega corporation, and one of the best parts about that experience (perhaps even worth the 70 hour weeks) was that they taught me how to be a professional engineer. Prior to doing so, my workflow generally involved a whole lot of bubble gum, duct tape, and praying. I spent a lot of time firefighting broken software as a result, to the detriment of both my customers and myself. Talking to other software developers has made me realize that I’m not the only person who was never taught that there are options superior to bubblegum.
The write up then covers the use of staging servers, version control workflows, and tested, repeatable deployments.
Image source: http://wildomarmagazine.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/clueless-excuse.jpg
In terms of search, most of the problems in search come from lousy engineering, bubblegum as Patrick states.
One quick point: there has been some chatter about head-to-head testing of search systems before making a choice of vendors. This type of evaluation is perhaps the best way to determine if a vendor’s system will work on the potential licensee’s content and deliver the precision, recall and performance required by the spec.
Know what. Talk is easy. Doing is hard. The reason circles back to this post and “stuff nobody teaches you.” Most organizations don’t have a tight spec for search. Most organizations don’t know what problem the system is to solve. Most organizations don’t have the test corpus, the infrastructure, or the staff to run a test.
Search is implemented via bubblegum engineering. Know what? Get it wrong and the search system will suck. Let me be clear. The vendor may not be at fault for some of the many, many problems information access systems create for the users.
“Nobody teaches” translates to a thriving business for failed journalists and English majors in mid tier consulting firms. “Nobody teaches” reflects on those implementing as well as those building. Bubblegum in today’s economy can be expensive. Just my opinion and a suggestion: read Patrick’s Web post.
Stephen E Arnold, December 17, 2010
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Why Big Name Enterprise Search Is So Costly
December 17, 2010
“How Much Time Out of Your Day Does IBM Waste?” is about IBM’s WebSphere Application Server and related components. The author does a good job of explaining how undocumented dependencies and bugs suck up his work time. Of course, a company that relies on IBM technology has made a business decision that probably had little to do with the challenges the firm’s technical professionals must face on an on going basis.
Here’s a passage from the write up that caught my attention:
The sad thing is that RAD is nothing but Eclipse, weighted down with IBM plugins and I love Eclipse. The latest release, Helios, is one of the nicest IDEs that you can use and it is totally free. It does everything RAD can do and it leaves a lighter foot print…
If this is an accurate statement, it shines a bright light on IBM’s use of open source technology. I am not sure I enjoy what the light shows me. Like many other 66 year old geese, I prefer the stage illusion of a well-oiled machine and its bullet proof engineering. Reality is often different from the marketing collateral I suppose.
The other passage I downloaded to my IBM file was this one:
No one ever calculates the lost productivity when the consider IBM products and really no one looks at the amount of money spent either. There are plenty of open source solutions that are faster, easier to configure and support is a Google away. My preference is to use Tomcat. Since every sane developer pretty much uses Spring anyway, Tomcat is the perfect choice and it is easy to support and maintain. JBoss is another great choice if you must have more J2EE container features, but again, by using Spring, they are mostly unnecessary.
Lost productivity. That means money. And when chief financial officers look to reduce costs, will the beancounter’s eyeballs focus on the expenses (both direct and indirect) that some large vendors’ software imposes? I know the answer is, “It depends.”
And enterprise search?
OmniFind 9.x is based on open source technology. I did this mental calculation: What’s the cost of direct and indirect engineering associated with a full IBM-centric search system? I ran through the costs of the hardware, field replaceable units, engineering support, and maintenance for WebSphere, OmniFind, and training for the bits and pieces? How much?
A lot. What got me thinking was that IBM is using open source to generate revenue for its high margin businesses like consulting, engineering support, and maintenance.
The point of the Jeviathon article was that he wanted to use other, lower cost tools, but the IBM commitment locks in certain technical challenges and, of course, the revenue for IBM from services.
After reading Jeviathon’s article, I formed a different impression of IBM’s commitment to open source. Thinking about Oracle’s stance on open source, I concluded that open source may be a stalking horse. If big name search vendors follow in IBM’s footsteps, the deployments have built in costs that may be difficult to control.
Big time search solutions are expensive because they are designed to generate a revenue stream for the vendor. No problem with that, of course. I like the idea of open source software providing the base and then the vendor wrapping the solution in Velcro so the hook dig in and keep the money flowing from the client to IBM. Would IBM take such actions to generate revenue? I don’t know, and it is an interesting hypothesis to consider.
Stephen E Arnold, December 17, 2010
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Exorbyte eCommerce Search
December 17, 2010
Move over Mercado and Endeca, Exorbyte is joining the ecommerce search arena and is making a grab for the little guy. The brief, informational overview video on Exorbyte’s Commerce Search details the main strategy behind this powerful search service engine.
It opens by explaining that the “name of the game is conversion rates”, i.e. tons of marketing dollars bring window shoppers to e-retailers, but the key lies in converting those browsers into shoppers. Unless that happens, all that marketing money spent getting the shopper to the site goes straight down the toilet. So Exorbyte has analyzed why people leave an online store without making a purchase and the number one contributing factor is that browsers cannot find what they want. To combat this issue, Exorbyte offers merchandising focused reporting features that take the functionality of Google Analytics a step further. These reports can tell you what people are actually searching for and more importantly, what queries are yielding no results so autocomplete fields can be adjusted accordingly.
Only slightly related, but I would be remiss if I didn’t also mention Exorbyte’s novel error tolerance capabilities. Spelling errors in search queries are a problem of the past.
What could be most amazing is you can have search implemented on your website within fifteen minutes thanks to the user-friendly interface. And, Exorbyte offers a 30-day free trial. Once you are pleased with the initial results, and Exorbyte is fairly certain you will be, you will begin paying a flat monthly fee based on the number of queries per month, starting at $119 for the littlest guys.
If you want to check out what Exorbyte’s ecommerce search can do on a live site, check out the example they provided in the video: www.onlynaturalpet.eu.
Sarah Rogers, December 17, 2010
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Funnelback Feature List Slideshow
December 17, 2010
We’ve unearthed a slideshare.net document worth mentioning: the Funnelback Enterprise Search Features list.
Acquired by the open source software services company Squiz in 2009, Funnelback is an Australian-based enterprise search engine and services company with a client list including universities, government agencies and large corporations spanning three continents. In Funnelback’s own words:
“Our technology is used to search information across the breadth of an organization. We offer externally hosted search solutions as well as in-house server installed solutions and consultancy services. We search across websites, intranets, portals, databases, fileshares and many other data sources. Our feature rich, high powered, customizable, search engine allows organizations to find accurate information quickly and easily.”
For a concise overview of what Funnelback offer, visit the link above to the four page features list. Whether you are interested in the particulars of its search features, query language, results & reporting or security, amongst even more categories, it’s all organized and detailed right there.
Sarah Rogers, December 17, 2010
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Autonomy Closes Deal with Big Dutch Law Firm
December 17, 2010
The infrastructure software company Autonomy recently garnered worldwide attention thanks to its Intelligent Data Operating Layer technology. According to the News Blaze article “Leading Dutch Law Firm Selects Autonomy iManage Workflow Manager,” Houthoff Buruma who is currently one of the largest law firms in the Netherlands has chosen the Autonomy system to lead its brand new client intake system.
Current laws drafted to fight money laundering as well as terrorism requires the firm to perform background checks on all new clients. The programs visual tools as well as real time monitoring information will offer great assistance during Houthoff Buruma’s screening process. The Autonomy iManage Workflow is a great choice because it helps to “routes documents and raises alerts, delivering improved governance and greater efficiency through time and cost saving. “
This is a reasonable win for the Autonomy brand considering Zylab is generally considered the go to guy for on site business search and litigation tools. To add spice to the sale, this win is right under the awning of the ZyLAB team too.
April Holmes, December 17, 2010
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SharePoint White Papers Categorized
December 17, 2010
I know you need some reading over the New Year’s holiday. I just learned that Bill Baer, a “master for SharePoint”, has published “Categorized Index of SharePoint 2010 White Papers. I don’t know too much about building categories. My miserable attempts ended with the ABI/INFORM controlled term project and limped through several taxonomy projects for the late and lamented Ziff Communications Corp. Certainly my skills are nothing compared to the 20 somethings now pitching ontological skills that would make a monk in Mont St Michel’s scriptorium weep.
I did notice that there was a top level category for search called “Search.” There is one white paper in the category: “Search Topology Operations in SharePoint Server 2010.” The fastest category was the collection of white papers about making SharePoint run like an Olympic sprinter. Search is a tidy little category.
We all know that search—particularly with the tools Microsoft provides—is no big deal. If it were a challenging function, I would anticipate more white papers. Now that performance topic warrants lots of words.
Is SharePoint search trivial? Is performance the big problem? Interesting page. All those white papers about performance. There is message there.
Stephen E Arnold, December 17, 2010
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Autonomy Hits Top Tech Ranking and Number 21
December 16, 2010
Short honk: My hunch is the enterprise search in 2011 is going to be a blend of super charged innovations and marketing. The Memphis Business Journal made available a story with a hook that snagged me. The story is “Autonomy Named to Bloomberg Businessweek Hot Tech 50 Ranking.” Autonomy has the distinction of joining quite distinguished company; for example, Apple, Akamai, and Wipro. There are several companies on the list that offer findability components in their products; for example, Cisco and OpenText. Autonomy is the company most closely associated with search in this Businessweek list. The full list is at this link at this time (December 16, 2010, 10 30 am Eastern). A happy quack to team Autonomy.
Stephen E Arnold, December 16, 2010
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Lucid Announces Enterprise Search
December 16, 2010
Short honk: I learned via Marketwire that Lucid Imagination has announced the general availability of its enterprise search system, LucidWorks Enterprise. According to the report, the new search solution scales, features a cost-effective architecture, and delivers “enriched document handling”. The software is available without cost. Lucid Imagination offers a complete range of for-fee consulting and engineering services. For more information, navigate to www.lucidimagination.com.
Stephen E Arnold, December 16, 2010
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