Microsoft and Open Source: In IBM Mode?
April 10, 2012
In the ongoing war between Microsoft and Google there are areas where Google clearly dominates. One of those areas is mapping. However, according to the recent Computer World article, “Microsoft’s Secret Weapon Against Google Maps — Open Source” we learn that Microsoft has come up with a plan to fight back.
According to the article, Microsoft has been lending support and a great deal of funding to the open source mapping project OpenStreetMap where, much like Wikipedia, volunteers provide the information to build the free service.
Many companies including Apple have already switched from Google Maps to OpenStreetMap in order to avoid paying high fees.
The article states:
“Behind the scenes, spurring all this on, is Microsoft. Microsoft hired OpenStreetMap founder Steve Coast to work for Bing as Principal Architect for Bing Mobile. Coast works on both Bing and OpenStreetMap. In a blog post announcing Coast’s hiring back in November 2010, Microsoft said Coast will “develop better mapping experiences for our customers and partners, and lead efforts to engage with OpenStreetMap and other open source and open data projects.”
While open source, regardless of Microsoft’s potentially shady motives, is usually a good thing for consumers, who knew that commercial outfits would find a way to use open source against one another? Microsoft may be learning from the master of open source as marketing. IBM embraced Eclipse, then Lucene, and pushed its blue shadow into other niches of the open source world. The result? IBM gets a boost from open source and a way to redirect certain research costs from basic search to more high value wrappers like Watson. Is Microsoft just doing open source as marketing or for a more strategic IBM-like maneuver? Worth watching.
Jasmine Ashton, April 10, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Microsoft Watched and Learned as Markets Matured Over the Years
April 10, 2012
There are currently over 125 million SharePoint users and the goal is to reach 500 million with next release of Office. It is clear SharePoint is a ubiquitous system that continues to grow. And with consumers driving social and mobile demands, it is clear that SharePoint, and all of enterprise search, needs to keep up with the growing demand. Jeff Shuey continues the SharePoint mobile and social discussion in his post, “Social SharePoint – An Oxymoron?”
Shuey had this to say,
I wrote a post in 2009 asking — Is Microsoft late to the game? The answer then was yes. However, over the last few years the market has matured and Microsoft has watched and learned. They have taken the long standing Microsoft mantra of Any Place, Any Device and Any Time and have applied some SharePoint salve to it. As the Forbes article states … Microsoft is in a prime position to make it happen.
This is by no means the first discussion on social demands in the enterprise search world, but Shuey does add another interesting level to the discussion by bringing in other sources, like Forbes, and quotes and expert opinions.
Collaboration and social technology development is inevitable as business gets social. To tap into the new possibilities now without having to wait for a new release, consider a third party solution to complete your enterprise search system. We like Fabasoft Mindbreeze. The Mindbreeze solution:
. . . smoothly integrates itself into your website so that the user doesn’t even realize that Cloud services are working in the background. Furthermore, InSite always knows what a user is interested in. Navigation behavior on the website serves as the basis for recognizing their interests. If the user finds themselves on one of your sub-pages on the topic mobility for example, even at this level Fabasoft Mindbreeze InSite still displays further information such as blogs, news, Wikipedia etc. on the relevant topic.
Check out the full suite of solutions at Mindbreeze to see what works for you.
Philip West, April 10, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
PLM not a Quick Fix
April 10, 2012
As many industries are learning about the many cost-cutting opportunities product lifecycle management (PLM) offers they are jumping in headfirst. While PLM will most definitely help streamline production processes and integrate disparate information it must be used with caution and implemented correctly to see results. This responsible use of PLM is discussed in a recent article, “PLM 2.0: Achieving PLM’s Promised Value”, on KurtSalmon.com, as it applies to the retail industry. The article examined how a poorly implemented PLM system would create more work and do more damage to a company than no PLM at all.
The advice given in the article is,
“Clearly, a fundamental understanding of when and how to use PLM is as essential as the tool itself. Implementing PLM to increase process adherence won’t necessarily work if those processes are broken. Using technology to focus communication and drive decision-making can help ensure the right processes are in place.”
We couldn’t agree more that PLM is not a quick fix for any industry. To prevent companies from thinking of PLM in this regard we recommend turning to PLM providers specializing in customer service and training, like Inforbix, so that expectations are clear before embarking on PLM integration.
Catherine Lamsfuss, April 10, 2012
Lucid Imagination Lands Government Big Data Deal
April 9, 2012
Give me an “L,” give me a “U,” give me a…well if I ask you to yell out all those letters on the computer screen, people might begin to think you’re a few bytes short of a complete memory drive. The reason for my cheering, though, was inspired by MarketWatch’s article on “Intelligent Software Solutions Partners With Lucid Imagination to Tackle Government Big Data Challenges.”
Intelligent Software Solutions (ISS) and Lucid Imagination have entered into a two-year joint business development deal, where both companies will create big data search and analysis solutions. The government has been having trouble with processing “teraquads” of structured and unstructured data. The article said:
“ ‘Our relationship with Lucid gets us to a higher level of proficiency on this technology by putting experts on our team to work jointly with us to build tailored solutions for our customers,’ said Wes Caldwell, chief architect, Global Enterprise Solutions Division, Intelligent Software Solutions. ‘We are in the business of providing software solutions for our customers that allow them to mine, manage and analyze large amounts of data and to derive critical knowledge from that data. The promise of harnessing big data to deliver actionable intelligence from an often diverse and vast amount of data is quickly becoming a requirement for many of our customers. By leveraging Lucid Imagination’s enterprise open source search platform, we can deliver better value to our customer base. This partnership is a key component to that strategy and further strengthens our position in that area.’”
The main force behind the joint venture is Lucid Imagination’s open source enterprise search technology that allows companies to build their own search products. ISS will add Lucid’s people to their team and together they will deliver training and support services for their government clientele. Lucid Imagination is proving to the world how powerful and useful open source software can be. Is this the start of a new trend or will it pass by quickly?
By the way, “teraquads” sounds big.
Whitney Grace, April 10, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Unlike Apple, Microsoft Is Not Kidding Around
April 9, 2012
Well, AOL made headlines and some money. Navigate to “AOL Sells 800 Patents for $1 Billion to Microsoft.” I don’t think too much about AOL these days unless it is to wonder why the company is the doppelgänger of Yahoo. The passage in the TechCrunch write up which caught my attention was:
The sale to Microsoft came after a “competitive auction process” the company noted in a statement. It also includes the sale of the stock of an AOL subsidiary (unspecified which in the statement) “upon which AOL expects to record a capital loss for tax purposes and as a result, cash taxes in connection with the sale should be immaterial.”
Hmm. On the surface, the money looks good. Underneath I believe are roiling coils of management snakes. AOL is going to be added back on my watch list. There is more here than meets the eye. I find sales which are “immaterial” fascinating in today’s financial free for all.
As interesting as the surface of the deal appears, I think there is another message in this purchase of patents. Google believes that Steve Jobs was just kidding around and engaging in some harmless staff motivation when Mr. Jobs alleged vowed to rid the world of Android. I know I found that little more than a Bob Hope one liner.
Microsoft is not so friendly. My speculations include:
- A ramped up legal move against Google. I am not sure where the attack will focus, but my hunch is that Android may be on the short list
- More wheeling and dealing to get partners for various Microsoft projects. After all, a partner with a hunger for Microsoft patent assurances may find Redmond’s climate ideal
- An IBM-type approach to intellectual property. IBM is a pretty savvy patent operator. Microsoft can borrow a couple of backyard plays and see if money flows in.
Google’s founders once loved AOL Instant Messenger. I wonder if that love will blind them to the difference between Steve Jobs’ kidding around and Microsoft’s more commercial interests.
Stephen E Arnold, April 9, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Open Source Analytics Information Service Now Available
April 9, 2012
ArnoldIT has rolled out The Trend Point information service. Published Monday through Friday, the information services focuses on the intersection of open source software and next-generation analytics. The approach will be for the editors and researchers to identify high-value source documents and then encapsulate these documents into easily-digested articles and stories. In addition, critical commentary, supplementary links, and important facts from the source document are provided. Unlike a news aggregation service run by automated agents, librarians and researchers use the ArnoldIT Overflight tools to track companies, concepts, and products. The combination of human-intermediated research with Overflight provide an executive or business professional with a quick, easy, and free way to keep track of important developments in open source analytics. There is no charge for the service.
Stories include:
- White House Orders Big Data Solutions
- Public and Private Sectors Combine for Big Savings
- Analytic Revolution Looks Different from 90s Dotcom Boom
According to the publisher, Stephen E Arnold:
We believe that commercial abstracting and indexing services have become untenable for the busy professional. We have combined traditional indexing, literature reviews, and critical commentary which help reduce the time required to pinpoint the meaningful information in this exploding open source analytics field.
Our business model is to provide high value information without a fee. Individuals, law firms, and private equity firms wanting additional information about the people, companies, and products we cover are free to contact us. Like other professional services’ firms, we rely on motivated individuals with an information need to tap into our full-scale, in-depth research.
What sets TheTrendPoint and other ArnoldIT.com information services apart is that its approach is similar to that used by commercial information services such as Medline and Disclosure, two information services designed to make reference services more useful.
At this time, TheTrendPoint.com is designed to complement the finding services which ArnoldIT.com publishes. ArnoldIT.com is one of the leading sources of information on subjects ranging from search and content processing to next-generation intelligence systems.
New content is added to the service Monday to Friday. For more information about the service, contact the publisher at seaky2000 at yahoo dot com.
Kenneth Toth, April 9, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Protected: Exclusive Interview: David B. Camarata, IKANOW
April 9, 2012
Kapow Aims at the Salesforce.com Ecosystem
April 9, 2012
Kapow is branching out. The company has posted a write up titled, “Kapow Software Announces Katalyst Apex Generator.” The Apex Generator integrates with the Katalyst platform in order to easily deploy Katalyst-built integrated processes directly into Salesforce. Kapow’s CTO Stefan Adnreasen stated:
“By strengthening our integration with Salesforce, we’re making it possible to rapidly automate business processes and deliver real-time information from external web apps directly into Salesforce or any Force.com app. Katalyst empowers Salesforce users to make decisions and take action based on a complete view of the information they need, rather than wasting time searching for critical information trapped in external systems.”
So if you’re a Salesforce user, you should check this out. Force.com is a cloud-based platform for creating and deploying collaborative enterprise applications. Their software can be modified to run on mobile devices.
Salesforce is not the only software Katalyst users connect with. In fact, Kapow Software addresses the growing need to integrate myriad applications within organizations. Katalyst has relieved pressure on numerous IT departments previously hampered by a lack of published application programming interfaces (APIs). Headquartered in Palo Alto, CA, the company also has offices in New York, Austin, Frankfurt, and Copenhagen.
Cynthia Murrell, April 9, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Inteltrax: Top Stories, April 2 to April 6
April 9, 2012
Inteltrax, the data fusion and business intelligence information service, captured three key stories germane to search this week, specifically, lesser known industries falling in love with analytics.
“Safety Analytics Fits Every Industry” showed us how big data is adding major advances in public and private security.
“Small Biz Gaining in Big Data” told more about what we already know: data analytics helps level the playing field for small businesses.
“Customer Service Propels Many BI Companies” delves into the ways in which supporting users is helping vendors succeed.
Analytics is invading our world, often in the most unexpected places. This is just a small sampling of the deep research we provide every day.
Follow the Inteltrax news stream by visiting www.inteltrax.com
Patrick Roland, Editor, Inteltrax.
April 9, 2012
Video Search: An Open Opportunity for GreenButton
April 9, 2012
New Zealand is known for its beautiful countryside and all the popular movies filmed there, sheep, and Dot Com. Business Insider reports there is another item to add to the island nation’s “list of reasons to be famous,” “Tiny New Zealand Company Brings Cool Microsoft Video Tech to the World.” The small startup GreenButton used search technology from Microsoft Research and created InCus, a service that transcribes audio and video files to make them searchable. It is aimed at corporation enterprises to make their digital media libraries searchable. We learned:
“InCus is based on Microsoft’s Audio Video Indexing Service (MAVIS), which was previously only being tested by a few government agencies. That makes this the first commercially available use of MAVIS, GreenButton CEO Scott Huston told Business Insider. Naturally, inCus is running on Windows Azure.”
GreenButton also sells an Amazon-like cloud and other cloud applications—they specialize in 3-D rendering apps. Other companies like Cisco and Autonomy have similar services for video and audio, but GreenButton’s InCus is the only one for the cloud. GreenButton has a corner in the market now, but it won’t be too long before a bigger company develops their own video indexing service. Things are heating in this part of the cloud market.
Whitney Grace, April 9, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
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