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Ad Age Provides Color on Yahoo’s Rudderless Boat

The ad biz does not feather this goose’s nest. I received a mobile call today from a person from New York. He was annoyed that I have consigned Yahoo to the dust bin. I listened to the arguments the caller advanced. I recall the points about traffic, brands, and visibility on Madison Avenue. I told the caller, “Great points. Let me do some thinking.”

I poked around and saw a reference to the Ad Age article “Why Yahoo Still Matters for You.” You can read the full text of the story here. The authors were Abbey Klassen and Michael Learmonth. The headline, in my opinion, was misleading. The write up provided me with more evidence about Yahoo’s rudderless boat. Among the points I noted were:

• The company lost an account because it lacked ideas
• Yahoo has potential
• Yahoo has more levers to pull than some of its competitors.

None of these points has enough wood behind them to get me to change my mind. Yahoo has been around about 15 years. I think its lack of ideas is evident in the wacky and ineffective search system. One example today: I wanted a football score. Then on the sports splash page I wanted to find the results of last night’s NASCAR race. The search box beckoned me and returned Web wide results, not results about sports. Guess I am the only person in the world who wants to run a sports related query from Yahoo’s sports portal. Yahoo may have levers, but it needs to get a firm hand on its rudder and steer the boat away from Victoria Falls.

Stephen Arnold, November 17, 2008

Overflight: Google’s Web Logs Aggregated

Overflight is now available on the ArnoldIT.com Web site. Click here to access the splash page. Google publishes more than 70 Web logs. When Dave Girouard made a comment at the Web 2.0 conference about Google Apps as a platform, this was old news. Via the Overflight service, the ArnoldIT.com analysts “knew” about this functionality and were able to relate the various posts about a hackathon and Google’s enterprise ambitions days before the Web 2.0 conference. Prior to the dissolution of several of the financial institutions to which ArnoldIT.com provided open source intelligence, we heard repeatedly, “You guys seem to be ahead of the curve when it comes to Google.” You can see how useful Overflight has been. Just click here and read about my two Google studies written in 2005 and 2007. The information revealed in these analyses are just now finding their way into the Google information mainstream.

That’s true and part of the reason is what we had been doing for a number of clients, including Threat Open Source Intelligence Gateway, which is not a public service. We also used these tools for projects when vendors wanted to know what type of activities one or more companies were likely to pursue.

Overflight is an RSS aggregation service. The service that is now publicly available aggregates the headlines from Google’s 74 Web logs. We group the most recent headlines using the same categories that Google favors. Our for fee service offers more bells and whistles, but now you can navigate to www.arnoldit.com/overflight and see at a glance what Google is publishing on its own Web logs. For example, click on one of these headings and you will be able to browse by individual Web log the latest headlines:

• Google wide, which is Google’s umbrella term for general Web logs. Most of the information that you read about the company in many well known news services appears on these Web logs first
• Google products, which is a collection of Web logs about specific products. Most of the postings are signed by product managers, but these posts go through Google’s internal clearance process to help ensure that the product comments are in sync with the corporate game plan
• Google ads, which is a round up of the advertising and and advertiser related Web logs. At ArnoldIT.com, we don’t pay much attention to advertising, but millions of people live or die because of the success of their Google ads. We noted that Google’s ad Web logs contain quite interesting references to certain little known innovations such as “matching”. You will be able to read more about these technologies in my forthcoming Google and Publishing study for Infonortics, Ltd.
• Google developer, which is a particularly interesting collection of Web logs that provide information about “where and how the rubber meets the road” when creating applications for the Google application spaces. Adhere Solutions, owned by my son, finds these posts quite interesting. The technical information is often unknown by Google’s public facing marketing and sales professionals.
• Google region, which is a collection of Web logs that provide information germane to Google’s segmentation of its global markets. Many of these Web logs are in English but some are not. You will need to use Google Translate to make sense of the postings. Our commercial version of Overflight automates the translation for you.

Why am I making this service available? There are three reasons:

1. A number of people have discovered that my studies of Google (more information is here) are two or three years in front of Google. I thought that it would be easier to put up a version of Overflight to show people how open source intelligence can reveal significant information before the high profile media outlets or the big buck, dead tree tech writers reveal a scoop that is to me “old news”.
2. I funded a new award at the JBoye 08 conference to acknowledge individuals who are putting actionable intelligence in the hands of European information and technology professionals. At the JBoye 08 conference, I explained that I wanted to “give back” cash, recognition, and tools. I am nearing the end of my career, and I don’t really feel the need to keep the Google Web log collection under cover any longer.
3. Google has spawned an amazing number of news services, stories, and Web log postings. Frankly, I was tired of seeing information that was stale. Many of the stories appear on the Google Web logs and then these are recycled as breaking news. I decided to put the source in front of people so individuals can decide if they want to get Google information that is a bit fresher.

Keep in mind that Google would like to convert this addled goose into paté. If a Web log or Web logs disappears, we will try to work around a glitch. At this time, I plan to leave the service up for at least six months. If there is interest in the service, I may make available some additional content processing tools. I have no “search” function activated. If you think that would be helpful to you, post a comment.

If you wish to criticize the service or make suggestions, please, use the comments section of this Web log. If you are cut from the same cloth as Barry and Cyrus, two people who offer assertions, not hard facts, be aware that specifics are what makes this goose happy. If you don’t find the service useful, don’t use it.

If you want to talk with my team about our open source intelligence services, feel free to write me at seaky2000 @ yahoo dot com. Put “overflight” in the subject line. In a lousy economy, good intelligence can make the difference between a successful organization and an unsuccessful organization. Napoleon’s alleged statement is appropriate today, “The right information is nine tenths of any battle.”

Stephen Arnold, November 17, 2008

Useful Primer on How to Sell Software

I am not too keen on business books. I know. I know. Martin White and I have just written a business and management book called “Successful Enterprise Search Management (Galatea, 2008). Just because I write books doesn’t mean I have to like my own work. That’s why I have a superstar coauthor like Mr. White. The kind people who read early drafts of the book and made quite helpful suggestions suggest that Mr. White and I have done pretty good word. One person indicated that our 200 plus page study was a “benchmark volume”. I hope the person was not writing this from a dentist’s chair after a dose of laughing gas.

The point is that I don’t read much of the baloney that passes for management advice. I worked at Booz, Allen & Hamilton before the company became a body shop and evidenced schizophrenic behavior toward its different businesses. Moms love those flashy MBAs degrees from upscale universities. For me, I learned to winnow the goose feathers from the giblets when those kids explained how to “save” a business. Look up the history of John Deere to understand that to which I refer.

Please, navigate here and then here to see the two part article by Dennis Byron. His “The Software Channel: Lessons Learned from How the Biggest IT Spenders Acquire Enterprise Software.” You will find the write up quite interesting and useful. As the economic noose tightens around the neck of some search and content processing companies, Mr. Byron reminds us of the importance of understanding procedures. I don’t agree with a few of the points in Mr. Byron’s analysis, but that is small potatoes because he has delivered a very good main dish.

The key points in his write up for me were:

• His diagram of how the software channel works is quite useful
• He provides a summary of tips about how an established software channel can help a software developer
• He summarizes some of the new pricing and deal options that are becoming evident for the last part of 2008. Some of these will carry over into 2009.

I downloaded his article, and I think I may make some changes to his channel diagram. A happy quack to the reader who alerted me to this article in IT Business Edge.

Stephen Arnold, November 16, 2008

Yahoo Bites the Bullet

I have been a critic of Yahoo for many years. The company’s technology strategy makes an addled goose look like Leopold Kronecker. The company bought companies and allowed each to operate in a silo. The technology gurus fiddled as advertisers burned when the ad people couldn’t get data about Yahoo demographics across its different silos. Then the company went wacky and drove its share price into the ground. All Things Digital reports that reality has infected the Yahooligans. “Yahoo Layoffs Set for December 10 (And, No, Jerry Yang Is Not Leaving Too)” provides the details of the pre holiday event. You can read Ms. Swisher’s write up here. Mr. Swisher offers a bit of color about the proposed tie up of AOL and Yahoo. I won’t add to that subject other than to say the Yahoo crazy math of 1 + 1 = 3 doesn’t make much sense to me.

A more interesting question is, “Will the layoffs make any difference other than a pumping up the balance sheet a bit?” In my opinion, “No.” Yahoo has an untenable cost burden due to its technology promiscuity. The present management team does not have a way to address the cost problem effectively. More is needed than some layoffs. The company needs to begin the painful process of downsizing and rebuilding. Whole chunks of the business are going to have to be sold or shut down. Yahoo is a ship in need of an overhaul and quickly. Time is indeed running out.

Stephen Arnold, November 16, 2008

A Traditional Newspaper Tries to Get Hip

I read in CIO Magazine here that the UK newspaper the Telegraph is a content provider for Google Android. The story “Telegraphy Newspaper Is First  Google Android Content Provider.” Leo King does a good job of explaining that the Telegraph Media Group has an Android application that will, according to Mr. King:

provide users with news and sports feeds, as well as travel and motoring information, and can be downloaded from the Android Marketplace.

In August 2008, the same Telegraph unit offered content to iPhone users. I am encouraged by this innovation. My question is, “What were these folks doing for the last decade?” Google has been chugging happily along, offering opportunities for companies to hook up with Googzilla for years. The fact is that these action, although admirable, are in my opinion too late to make save the game. Traditional newspapers are facing demographic challenges, rising costs, and advertisers who have to decide between food and running adverts. More innovation is needed, but the good news is that the Telegraph is making an effort.

Stephen Arnold, November 16, 2008

Adhere’s SPIRAL Leverages the Google Search Appliance

Adhere Solutions, the innovative Google partner creating a buzz for next-generation solutions for Google’s enterprise products, announced its SPIRAL methodology. Google has placed more than 24, 000 Google Search Appliances on customer premises since the product’s début several years ago. Many customers want to build on the GSA device, and often need assistance. Adhere Solutions has a proven methodology to make the GSA more than a search system.

The SPIRAL methodology encapsulates the collective experience of Adhere’s consultants, who have vast experience in web search, site search, and enterprise search deployments. With the SPIRAL process, organizations now can leverage search best practices to design, develop, and deploy Google’s suite of enterprise products and technologies.

Erik Arnold, co-founder of Adhere said:

Everyday we talk to customers who want to put the full power of the Google Search Appliance to work for them. They want to offer users a robust search experience, tailored to their needs. Our SPIRAL methodology saves organizations time and money by helping assess users’ needs, apply search best practices, and fully benefit from the enterprise search technologies that Google has to offer.’

The methodology bundles analysis, consulting, and coding into one business process. Adhere Solutions has used the approach to extend the utility of the GSA at the American Library Association, the Department of Energy, and the Federal Trade Commission.

Google has a solid track record in selecting partners who can deliver. Adhere Solutions has emerged as one of the “go to” partners for enterprise applications with the Google Search Appliance as technology component. You can get more information about Adhere Solutions here.

Donald Anderson, November 14, 2008

ZDNet Identifies Google’s Fatal Flaw

Sure, the stock is at 2005 levels. The company took it on the snoot with the Yahoo deal, the possible loss of the Verizon account, and grousing about employee options that are underwater. Dana Blankenhorn’s “Google Fatal Flaw Revealed” takes a view of Google that I have not previously considered. As a result, here ZDNet article is a must read. I don’t want to spoil the “fatal flaw” for you. Click here and you will see the “fatal flaw” revealed in the first subhead. In my two Google books, whose titles will not retype today, I identified a number of Google vulnerabilities. I admit. I did not hit upon the weakness Dana Blankenhorn’s researched unearthed. For me, aside from the fatal flaw, the most interesting comment in the article was:

Yet whether I’m covering the efforts at Chrome, at Android, or at Google Health, what I see are Google employees working on a Google Island, depending only on fellow Googlers and Google-made code in their efforts.

The idea is that Google is an island. I know that the company buys technology. The purchase of Transformic, Inc. is an example. Most people don’t recognize the name of this acquisition. Google doesn’t talk about some of its more interesting activities. My own research about Google suggests that when it buys a company, it gets new people. In the case of Transformic, the gurus running that shop attracted more fresh talent to Google. As a result, Google has a number of engineers and scientists who are steeped in the type of systems for which Transformic was developing. As a result, I think that Google may be operating as an island, but it is an island with regular shuttle service to the mainland, abundant bandwidth, and very dynamic presence at certain technology venues. See if you agree with the ZDNet article and share your comments.

Stephen Arnold, November 14, 2008

Google: Site Search Tweak for Publishers

DMSNews published on November 13, 2008, “Google Launches On Demand Indexing for Publishers.” You should take a gander at this interesting article here. The author, Mary Elizabeth Hurn, describes Google’s new on demand indexing service. The service is, from what I understand, an extension of Google’s site search service. The new service includes more controls over what the Site Search robot does. The one demand service will, according to Ms. Hurn, “effect only searches within a publisher’s site and not searches done from Google.com.” In the 1980s, indexing was the primary source of revenue for commercial database producers and companies such as Dialog Information Services and LexisNexis. Google continues to move into the high-value content arena. My thought is that the Library of Congress may face competition from the Google.

Stephen Arnold, November 14, 2008

Google: We’re Reliable, No, Really Reliable

InfoWorld ran a remarkable story by Juan Carlos Perez called “Google Cries Foul over Coverage of Google Apps.” You must read the full text here. This is a three part story, and I have to admit I found it surprising. To sum up the long write up, I would say, “We’re Google. We’re reliable. Really reliable.” There were a number of interesting comments in the well written story. For me, the most memorable is this passage:

We’re definitely hearing what people are saying and responding to feedback in that very transparent way and also looking at whether we need a centralized place like Amazon and Salesforce do.

My take is that after 10 years in business, Google might want to have a way to allow customers to allow customers to talk to a human Googler or get a pleasant email response to a problem. I find the word “transparency” amusing. In fact, I wrote a column for KMWorld about Google’s summer of transparency. Well, fall is here and the transparency like the clear summer sky of Kentucky seems to have become opaque. Just the opinion of an addled goose who heard today that a customer with some serious money invested in Google Search Appliances couldn’t reach a Googler with a question. Probably a fluke, not a transparency issue at all.

Stephen Arnold, November 14, 2008

More on Google as a Monopoly

If you want some Google as a monopoly goodness, click here. The article “The Google Monopoly Expands” gathers together information that supports the Google as monopoly assertion. Joe Wilcox summarizes information that will provide attorneys with some excitement. For me, one of the most telling comments in the article was this statement:

We now have two loveable losers, Sun and Microsoft, in a last-ditch gasp, but to do what? Sun is past the point of stopping people from defecting to other low-end servers…Also, not to put too fine a point on it, but who the heck uses StarOffice?

Google may prefer reading articles that praise the firm’s “green” programs, its lava lamps, or its track record of innovations. Google’s power does not seem to intimidate Mr. Wilcox. For me, my feathers are quivering in fear.

Stephen Arnold, November 13, 2008

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  Stephen E. Arnold monitors search, content processing, text mining and related topics from his high-tech nerve center in rural Kentucky. He tries to winnow the goose feathers from the giblets. He works with colleages worldwide to make this Web log useful to those who want to go "beyond search". Contact him at sa [at] arnoldit.com. His Web site with additional information about search is arnoldit.com.
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