Hazy Promises of AI Data Magic
December 11, 2020
Forbes has posted an article that sounds full of promise, “How to Understand All of Your Data to Transform Your Business.” Unfortunately, the piece is full of logical flaws. We note that writer Daniel Fallmann’s company, Mindbreeze, is part of Fallsoft in Austria, and is Microsoft centric. When he speaks of “all” your data, he seems to be talking about the inclusion of unstructured data. That is the holy grail data management vendors have been chasing for years, with less success than once hoped. Fallmann states what is now the obvious:
“Almost everybody hates filling out forms. That’s why you write a note instead. You send an email or text. You record an audio message. You create a video. You communicate in an unstructured, humanized way. Unlike metadata in forms, which are structured, these other methods of communication are unstructured. Unstructured data lacks metadata, and semi-structured information has limited metadata. The real value of unstructured data like an email, for example, is in the body of that email. You and I can often make sense of an email and other semi-structured and unstructured information. However, for a company, and for search, understanding the essence of a message is not that easy. This is problematic because when you can’t get to the essence of a message, you miss out on opportunities. You find it difficult — if not impossible — to connect the dots of your enterprise data. As a result, a wealth of knowledge that already exists in your enterprise goes to waste. That’s a lot of waste considering that unstructured data represents more than 80% of enterprise data.”
All true. But being able to define the problem does not mean one has the solution. The piece goes on to assert that machine learning can be used to connect the dots between structured and unstructured data, to criticize mindless silo migrations, and to stress the value of removing outdated or incorrect data from one’s database. So far so good. But Fallmann’s generic claims that new technology is “changing everything” lack substance. He fails to provide any factual backup for his assertions about AI or any definition of knowledge management or content management systems.
Doesn’t this company license enterprise search?
Cynthia Murrell, December 11, 2020
Can Enterprise Search Improve Governance? Security?
December 10, 2020
I thought about this question after I read “BA Insight Delivers Internet-Like Search for Egnyte Customers.” The write up is a content marketing item with some jazzy jargon; for example:
AI-driven enterprise search
Connector-driven software portfolio
Intelligent recommendations
Machine learning
Natural Language
User behavior
User productivity.
What is, I ask myself, AI driven enterprise search? I don’t know what AI means, and I still have not figured out what “enterprise search” means after writing The New Landscape of Search and a number of other books and monographs on this subject.
My recollection is that Attivio has been wrapping layers of functionality around Lucene, but maybe my recollection is faulty. I do recall the interesting business intelligence application which pivoted on baseball data.
But that was in 2007 when former Fast Search & Transfer professionals pivoted from ESP (enterprise search platform) to Attivio. Attivio’s founder told me “attivio” was an Italian-like word which implies forward movement. Today a jaunty MBA would call this “kinetic branding.” Whatever.
The focus of the marketing collateral is a deal with an outfit involved in resolving content chaos and delivering information cohesion. I am not exactly sure what this means, but here is the description offered by Attivio’s partner / licensee Egnyte:
Your files contain your most critical data, but, more than ever, they’re sprawled across disconnected systems, devices, locations, and apps. Egnyte enables you to gain visibility and control across a hybrid content stack while also improving employee experience and driving business advantage.
Egnyte is in the compliance business, the data governance business, the risk reduction business, and the cyber security business. But the key value proposition seems to be:
Unified multi cloud content search
Specifically:
Egnyte is the only all-in-one platform that combines data-centric security and governance, AI for real-time and predictive insights, and the flexibility to connect with the content sources and applications your business users know and love – on any device, anywhere, without friction.
The words “only” and “all” are blinking yellow lights to me. Categorical affirmatives are tough for me to accept. These types of “make a case” statements are, however, popular with the millennials and thumbtypers in marketing departments.
I took a look at one of the buzzwords used to describe the Egnyte system powered in part by Attivio and learned that these are the functions the platform delivers:
- Breach reporting
- Classification policies (for GDPR compliance, CCPA, HIPAA, etc.)
- Content lifecycle management
- Content safeguards
- Custom keyword classification
- Data subject access requests
- Issue detection and alerting
- Insider threat and ransomware detection
- Multi-repository governance .
The combination of cyber security and search is interesting. However, the cyber security sector seems to have some explaining to do. Cyber crime particularly insider threats and phishing are experiencing a bad actor gold rush. Adding to the woe are reports of a cyber security firm’s inability to prevent a crippling cyber attack; specifically, “U.S. Cybersecurity Firm FireEye Discloses Breach, Theft of Hacking Tools.” What this means is that cyber security super stars are not secure. Thus, questions about a firm which is a relative newcomer to cyber security equipped with “only” and “all” assertions may face some interesting questions about the security of Egnyte and Attivio systems. I know I would ask some questions and carefully consider the responses. Insider threats and phishing are topics of interest to me.
Several observations:
- Search vendors are indeed working overtime to find markets for what is a downloadable utility function
- Partnerships are one way to generate sales leads and revenue from technical services and training
- Organizations, regardless of type, face significant findability, security, and regulatory challenges.
Interesting play, but “only” and “all” are big concepts, particularly when Amazon AWS, to cite one example, offers technology to deliver a similar solution directly or via its extensive partner network.
Stephen E Arnold, December 10, 2020
Clouds Hide a Basic Truth: Rebuilding Mandatory
December 10, 2020
I read “There Must Be a Better Way to Build on AWS.”
Here’s the passage I noted:
The real cost of going with AWS is its complexity. There is hardly anything more important to an early-stage startup than moving fast, but this is exactly where AWS fails startup founders. It is hard to set up and manage, which is the opposite of fast.
The article spells out a truth which gets modest coverage in the zip zip world of headline feeds:
So startup founders are forced to choose whether to bite the bullet with AWS, or to move fast and pay a premium for tools like Firebase — only to have to rebuild from scratch later anyway.
I think this is an interesting observation. Amazon AWS has several “hooks” to lure innovators. These must be factored into the Bezos bulldozer’s operations manual:
- Lock in. Amazon has generated a 21st century version of the IBM lock in model.
- Radar pings. Innovators on Amazon can get a financial break. Amazon gets an opportunity to see what works.
- A stealthy bulldozer. Innovators may not hear Amazon coming. Why? The old school corporate machines ran on noisy diesel engines. Amazon’s bulldozer is electric, thus, it is quiet unless one hears the sound of objects being crushed.
Net net: Useful article with a great punch line. Build on Amazon only to rebuild another way. Efficient? Sure, do the work twice.
Stephen E Arnold, December 10, 2020
Score Your Business Meetings: I Usually Award Fs
December 10, 2020
COVID-19 made Zoom a necessary tool. YouTube and TikTok are filled with Zoom call mistakes from students pranking classes, pets interrupting calls, and people forgetting to wear pants. While Zoom inadvertently changed the way business meetings are conducted, it has not changed how boring they are. TechSpot reports that emotions might change when it comes to meetings because “Microsoft Patents Technology That Can ‘Score’ Meetings Based On Facial Expressions And Body Language.”
Technologists are already obsessed with sympathetic metadata, AI mining the Internet for emotional content, while YouTubers and other streamers are equally obsessed with positive feedback and gaining subscribers. Microsoft has combined both these trends into an “insight computer system” that relies on AI to interpret meeting participants and scores them. The scoring system takes body language, facial expressions, room temperature, time of day, and attendance numbers into consideration.
Business meetings are boring and usually do not augment productivity. Remote working has changed the game, because attendees can goof off more than when they are physically present. Microsoft designed the sentimental conference rating system to analyze participants and help businesses determine if a meeting was successful. It sounds more like a Orwellian monitoring tool:
“GeekWire notes that the company was criticized for enabling what appears to be workplace surveillance when it rolled out its “Productivity Score” feature in October. Wolfie Christl of the independent Cracked Labs digital research institute in Vienna, Austria, writes that it allows managers to see the “number of days an employee has been sending emails, using the chat, using ‘mentions’ in emails etc,” turning Microsoft 365 into a full-fledged workplace surveillance tool. Microsoft, of course, insists that Productivity Score does not spy on workers.”
Microsoft has reversed course, after asserting that its tools are not used to spy on people. Good to know. I score my most recent meeting an F.
Whitney Grace, December 10, 2020
Social Media Is Allegedly No More Addictive Than Other Fun Activities
December 10, 2020
Thumbtypers, rejoice.
Documentaries are informative films that tell factual stories, but they are edited to tell the most entertaining story to earn money. Netflix recently released the The Social Dilemma documentary that explains how Facebook is an addictive activity. People are now ranting about social media addiction, but they have been doing that for years. Axios states humans become fearful about addiction with every new media technology, like the novel. Read more about the so called “addiction” in: “The Social Media Addiction Bubble.”
There is no denying that social media can be addictive. The same can be said for other media technology: videogames, TV, Internet. Addiction is a problem, but labeling something as an addiction does not help find solutions. Psychology professionals have not created an official “Facebook addiction” diagnosis, however, there is a Bergen Facebook Addiction Scale that determines individuals’ dependency on social media.
Facebook addiction is a subset of Internet addiction. Social media and technology experts do not want their creations to cause harm. For the most part, social media does not cause harm. Projecting fear onto information media is a “moral panic” and masks bigger issues. There is usually something else that is the root of addictive behavior whether it is in the form of depression or simple escapism:
“Addiction theories also promote a sense of powerlessness by imposing “all or nothing” thinking, as sociologist Sherry Turkle argued in her 2011 book “Alone Together.”
• “To combat addiction, you have to discard the addicting substance,” Turkle wrote. “But we are not going to ‘get rid’ of the internet. We will not go ‘cold turkey’ or forbid cell phones to our children…. The idea of addiction, with its one solution that we know we won’t take, makes us feel hopeless.”
Our thought bubble: Addictions typically are driven by an effort to numb pain or escape boredom, and solutions need to address demand for the addiction, not just the supply.
• People with fulfilling jobs, healthy families and nourishing cultures are a lot less likely to get addicted to Facebook or anything else.”
It is easier to blame something that is a tool and easily controllable than focus on the deeper issues behind the underlying behavior. Cars cause accidents, pollute the environment, and drain natural resources. Cars, though, are a tool and are not the underlying problem behind death, pollution, or depletion. The problem is humanity. How to fix the problem? You repair human habits by addressing what is wrong.
Whitney Grace, December 10, 2020
Teams: Its Future Seems to Be Emulating the Feature-itis of MSFT Word
December 10, 2020
Someone asked me to test Zoom in 2016, maybe earlier. It was a lot more useful than Freeconference.com’s IBM video service which was available to me at the time. Zoom is getting more cluttered. I have to deal with automated calendar, endless updates, icon litter, and weird controls scattered across the Web site, the app for my Mac Mini, and the Web browser implementation. I can record and probably acquire a Zoom brain implant add in.
But Microsoft Teams makes Zoom’s accretion of wonkiness look very 16th century. I read “Features Added to Microsoft Teams in November 2020 Update.” My reaction was a question, “Has Microsoft discovered its next Microsoft Office?” (I was tempted to mention Microsoft Bob and Microsoft SharePoint, but I de-enthusiasmed myself.)
What’s Teams do? For starters, you can check out Microsoft’s explanation of “more ways to be a team.” Typical of thumbtypers’ marketing woo woo, Teams is linked to Microsoft 365. Okay, I get it a subscription and/or volume licensing with a dollop of lock in. Imagine. meet, chat, call, and collaborate in just one place. Also, one can:
- Instantly go from group chat to video call with the touch of a button.
- Securely connect, access, share, and coauthor files in real time.
- Stay organized by keeping notes, documents, and your calendar together.
However, Teams is an application environment too. The November 2020 write up points out:
Microsoft now made the new Power Apps app for Teams generally available. It allows you to create and deploy custom apps without leaving Teams. With the straightforward , embedded graphical app studio, it’s never been easier to create low code apps for Teams. you’ll also harness immediate value from inbuilt templates just like the Great Ideas or Inspections apps, which may be deployed in one click and customized easily. The new Power Apps app for Teams are often backed by a replacement relational datastore – Dataverse for Teams.
The “dataverse.” That’s similar to my term “datasphere,” but the datasphere exists and includes the dataverse in my opinion.
Yep, the “world” of Microsoft. What’s interesting is that Salesforce understands that Microsoft’s response to Zoom may be the start of a new bit thing. Even Amazon has joined the party with its mostly ignored Chime thing. (Amazon AWS provides the zoom for Zoom, so for now, the Bezos bulldozer is carving new revenue paths in other markets.) And Google is active in this sector as well, but for the life of me, I cannot recall the name of the conference/messaging service du jour. Google sells ads and will probably get serious when a US government Department of Energy conference call can be enhanced with an advertisement from Duke Energy or Exxon).
One thing is clear in my opinion: Microsoft Teams has the feature-itis affliction. I was at a Microsoft meeting years ago when one of the Softies pointed out that 95 percent of Word users relied on fewer than 10 functions.
What do I do when I use Zoom? Participate in a video call. If I need to take notes, I use a pencil and paper. If I need to add an event to my calendar, I write it in my monthly planner. If I want to zone out, I post a background that shows me looking at the camera and nodding.
Keep it simple? Not likely.
Stephen E Arnold, December 10, 2020
Cisco Webex: An Amazing Assertion
December 9, 2020
I am not a fan of video meetings. I am not thrilled with video in general. I did, however, read “Webex Could Finally Be Catching Up to Zoom and Microsoft Teams.” Cisco acquired Webex in 2007. So that’s 13 years ago. At the time WebEx was better than previous solutions. Hey, anyone remember Databeam? The article, not surprisingly, focuses on what Cisco WebEx is now going to do in the zooming 2020s. Put that aside. This is the passage in the write up which caught my attention:
This is why we are driven to deliver a Webex experience that is 10x better than in-person—and at the same time make in-person interactions 10x better too.
Now most in person meetings I have attended were generally awful. Years ago a lawyer and Washington, DC, big wig named Manning Muntzing could run good meetings: Started on time, agenda, and a time limit. Dick Cheney, the Halliburton executive who accidentally shot his attorney, also ran a good meeting. I won’t comment on how disagreements were handled.
But Silicon Valley meetings in venture backed companies were not good experiences when revenue goals were not met. Often there were wizards toying with mobile phones, coming and going, occasional smirking, and a lot of fidgeting.
Now Webex is going to make a meeting 10x better. Okay. And the interaction thing. Yeah, that works well in the Rona era. Yep, 10x. Now. After 13 years. Got it.
Stephen E Arnold, December 9, 2020
Intel Whips Its Quantum PR to Horse Ridge II
December 9, 2020
I noted that China has out-Googled Google in the quantum supremacy horse race. The “real” news outfit South China Morning Post published “China Claims Quantum Computing Lead with Jiuzhang photon Test, Creating Machine One Trillion Times Faster Than Next Best Supercomputer.” I spotted this emission from Intel, the fabrication super company: Intel Debuts 2nd-Gen Horse Ridge Cryogenic Quantum Control Chip.
The question that came to me was:
Do the Jiuzhang engineers use Intel’s Horse Ridge?
I don’t know.
There were two thoughts which surfaced as I read these articles:
- Google has been either equaled or surpassed by China
- Intel’s quantum computing announcements seem out of step; for example:“With Horse Ridge II, Intel continues to lead innovation in the field of quantum cryogenic controls, drawing from our deep interdisciplinary expertise bench across the Integrated Circuit design, Labs and Technology Development teams. We believe that increasing the number of qubits without addressing the resulting wiring complexities is akin to owning a sports car, but constantly being stuck in traffic. Horse Ridge II further streamlines quantum circuit controls, and we expect this progress to deliver increased fidelity and decreased power output, bringing us one step closer toward the development of a ‘traffic-free’ integrated quantum circuit.” –Jim Clarke, Intel director of Quantum Hardware, Components Research Group, Intel
Quantum computing is a lightning rod for claims about supremacy and a convenient band wagon for companies take for a ride. (I really want to say “horse ride” but I will not. I shall trot peacefully along.)
Stephen E Arnold, December 9, 2020
Interesting Post on Microsoft Github: Teams Vulnerability
December 9, 2020
I found this interesting post on Github, one of Microsoft’s open source plays. “Important, Spoofing” – Zero-Click, Wormable, Cross-Platform Remote Code Execution in Microsoft Teams.” The post explains how to compromise a Teams environment by sending or editing an existing Teams message. The message looks just peachy to the recipients or recipients. Teams is plural. When the recipient looks at the message the malicious payload executes. The post points out:
That’s it. There is no further interaction from the victim. Now your company’s internal network, personal documents, 365 documents/mail/notes, secret chats are fully compromised. Think about it. One message, one channel, no interaction. Everyone gets exploited.
Microsoft calls the exploit spoofing. Keep in mind that Microsoft has more than 100 million active users of its Zoom killer.
Stephen E Arnold, December 9, 2020
How to Be a Data Scientist
December 9, 2020
Do you want to be a data scientist without [a] going to a university, [b] watching YouTube videos, and [c] relying on persistence? If you answer “yes” to any of these questions, “You Don’t Need a Ph.D. in Data Science, but…” offers a road map. One tip: Figure out how to do a regression in Excel. Okay.
- The write up includes a number of suggestions, including:
- Kaggle notebooks
- Free book books
- Free courses from universities
- Why Python, R, and SQL should be on your radar
- The value of math and statistics
- How to get a job.
Interesting summary. But imagine math and statistics at the tail end of the article. Perhaps whose disciplines should have been identified at the top of the list. Just a thought.
Stephen E Arnold, December 9, 2020
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