Pentaho: More Open Source Business Intelligence Moxie
March 31, 2009
Business intelligence gets knocks for complexity and performance. In my work, I hear about the direct and indirect costs of business intelligence systems. Those buying BI suites and systems drink the KoolAid and then seemed amazed that the manager of customer support doesn’t know what reports mean or how to get reports that answer specific questions. One of these three weaknesses can be addressed in part by the new Pentaho release. Open source business intelligence lets a customer sidestep some of the licensing fees. Alas, some of the other costs remain.
Pentaho, an open source business intelligence vendor, released a new version of its BI suite. You can read the details here. The company’s tag line for version 3.0 is “User friendly, cloud ready, and community powered.”
This new version includes an updated dashboard design tool. The idea is that an authorized user with no training can create a display of metrics without having to wait in a queue for a developer. The notion of personalization eliminates the grousing that canned reports are of minimal use to most line managers. This new version hooks into Amazon’s cloud services. The design of Version 3.0 makes it easier to integrate specialized functions or “hook in” other enterprise data.
There are basic search tools, but like other business intelligence systems, finding information via a key word query lags the more traditional analytic functions. More information is available here. A demonstration is available, but I had to register my trusty boxer dog as a prospect in order to gain access to the information. I much prefer basic information to be available without requiring me to register an animal. When I know I have a need for more detail, that’s when I would be willing to register. Your mileage may vary, of course.
Stephen Arnold, March 31, 2009
Google Security Method Echoes Microsoft’s No Problem Policy
March 31, 2009
Short take. Google Docs has some security issues. Google’s view of these issues, according to PCWorld here, is to reassure. PCWorld wrote:
In an official blog posting, Jonathan Rochelle, Google Docs’ product manager, details why the company has determined that the issues included in the analyst’s report are far from critical.
Banks don’t talk too much about security. Microsoft doesn’t talk too much about security. Google doesn’t talk to much about security. Factor these sentences and you get, “Don’t worry.” You will have to make your own decision about which services are ready for prime time in the real world.
Stephen Arnold, March 29, 2009
Desktop Operating Systems: A Partial Romp through the Graveyard
March 30, 2009
I was enticed by the title of this ComputerWorld article here: “Gone But Not Forgotten: 10 Operating Systems the World Left Behind” by Matt Lake. I am an old and addled goose, so the amount of detail provided for each of the 10 operating systems varies quite a bit. Mr. Lake does a good job with the highest profiles systems, less well with the older, smaller OSes. What struck me when I read the article was that none of the operating systems differed significantly under the kimono. I grant the coding was different and features available to developers varied. The significant difference was the interface. What I noticed from the screen shots was that the look and feel of the operating systems converged. Over time, the interfaces moved from the inscrutable to the explicit. My take away from the article was that the operating system has become mostly irrelevant to the user. The interface is shifting from the explicit to the anticipative. The implications of this in my opinion translate to significant market upheavals. Who will suffer? Most of the enterprise software vendors will find themselves on the wrong side of shift. Interoperability will eventually become a smart software problem. Products like Chrome, therefore, which look like a browser but are in effect software versions of space ports that connect the world of the user’s data craft with the larger universe, are important.
Stephen Arnold, March 29, 2009
For the Millions of Cloud Computing Ontology Lovers
March 29, 2009
I love ontologies, particularly those created for some of the one day seminars that are available. I love cloud computing analyses, particularly those created by the azure chip consultants who would not walk past, let alone paddle, in the addled goose’s pond. I loved the write up by Kevin Jackson in CloudComputing.com’s “A Tactical Cloud Computing Ontology.” You must read the article here. Mr. Jackson tackled the job of taming two of the most widely used buzzwords at information technology conferences today–cloud computing and ontology.
He presents several diagrams that put the cloud computing idea into a framework. the diagrams are useful, but they do contain some terms that I am not exactly sure how to define. Nevertheless, the distance between cloud computing and its ontology is narrowed. He outlined three actions and considerations the reader may wish to consider. I can’t quote this complete sequence, but I can identify broadly the ideas:
- Merge the cloud and on premises experience so the user doesn’t see much of change
- There will be some differences when using the proposed framework
- Something I don’t fully understand well enough to summarize: “As a way to organize an enterprise’s body of knowledge (architecture) about its activities (processes), people, and things within a defined context and current/future environment.
I am still thinking about how this framework applies to search across secure and open content sources in a regulated environment with known network bottlenecks. My hunch is that others will be thinking about these issues before embarking on a composite architecture. No harm from thinking either.
Stephen Arnold, March 28, 2009
Learning from the Cloud Manifesto
March 29, 2009
I ignored the cloud manifesto, pointing out that secrecy is useful. Obviously the document was not intended to be kept under wraps, so a mini-microblogging storm raged. CNet’s The Wisdom of Crowds ran James Urqhart’s article “Cloud Computing: What We Learned from Manifestogate”. You can read this write up here. The article includes links, an itemized list of the four ways to perceive the cloud manifesto, and a conclusion that strikes a positive note: “open is good.”
In my experience, the clouds owned and operated by commercial enterprises will behave the same way opposing forces have behaved since stone age tribes split into factions and promptly embarked on chatter and warfare. The crazy idea that the cloud operating environments will behave in a way different from other technology battles is off base and not in line with what is now going on among the Apple, Microsoft, and Google camps in mobile services. I am omitting the other players because I don’t want to trot out too many examples, which are legion.
Amazon’s cloud may communicate under circumstances determined by the world’s smartest man who is now working as an order fulfillment clerk about 45 minutes from where I am writing this post. Google will play ball as long as those folks follow the Google rules. Microsoft is going to do what Microsoft has done since its inception and make an effort to enforce its agenda.
Each of these companies will yap about open standards. Each of these companies will put their pet open source wizards on display. Each of these companies will attempt to capture as much of the market as users, competitors and regulators allow.
At some point in the future, the agendas will shift from the cloud to the next big thing. At that point, a big dog will be in the yard and the other dogs will cooperate or get their necks broken. I appreciate Mr. Urqhart’s view. I think we’re in line for a good old fashioned standards battle. Forget cannon fodder. Think column fodder. CNet will be in seventh heaven.
Stephen Arnold, March 29, 2009
Library of Congress Makes Citizens as Fish Splash
March 28, 2009
For me, the Library of Congress is more of a museum than a research facility. Even Google looks like a limping dog when compared to the zippy content flashing across the Twitter spam machine. The Library of Congress, according to TechWhack here, is going to put some of its info on YouTube.com and Apple iTunes. Okay. But the best part of the TechWhack write up was this statement, a true classic in my opinion:
Matt Raymond, the library’s director of communications spoke about the new developments: “Our broad strategy is to ‘fish where the fish are,’ and to use the sites that give our content added value — in the case of iTunes, ubiquity, portability, etc.”.
I do like that citizens, users, customers, whatever as “fish”. Good stuff.
Stephen Arnold, March 28, 2009
Business Intelligence Dies, Business Analytics Lives
March 28, 2009
The SAS marketing and public relations machine shifted into high gear in the last two weeks. I received some news releases, and I have seen references to various new SAS initiatives, including the almost obligatory shift to a cloud option for SAS customers. The cloud and Software as a Service are positive steps for vendors of certain types of complex software. Licensees of some complicated systems can’t afford the headcount needed to configure and maintain these brain busters.
The most interesting article I saw referencing SAS was Kathleen Lau’s “Analytics Versus Intelligence” here. The key point in this SAS-centric write up is that business intelligence is a gone goose (no reference to the goslings here in Harrod’s Creek). The future belongs to business analytics. The statement in the write up that bolstered this assertion in wordsmithing was:
Gaurav Verma, global marketing manager for business analytics with SAS, said customers have to deal with ever-diverse and complex business issues, and are demanding tools with a short return on investment that enable “proactive, predictive, and fact-based decision-making.” Using the word “framework” and not “platform,” said Davis, reflects the fact that the latter implies two to three years of implementation and an over-shot budget, a scenario that organizations must avoid. But a framework “implies an iterative approach” that renders a faster return on investment. “The reality is, the framework becomes the platform over time,” said Davis, referring to a company’s ability to leverage existing investments.
Okay, I think I see the difference, but will customers? More important to me is that I have found that organizations are pushing back against hugely complex systems that are tough to understand and even more difficult to measure in concrete financial payback.
My hunch is that SAS may be on the front edge of traditional number crunching software vendors who find that the old formula no longer works. Business analytics, if I read Ms. Lau’s article correctly, may be the new wonder drug, designed to cure revenue and competitive pains.
Stephen Arnold, March 28, 2009
Microsoft and the Secret Cloud
March 27, 2009
I am in Houston and several people asked me about the story “Microsoft Criticizes Drafting of Secret ‘C loud Manifesto’”. I looked for the document and located a version here. If something is secret, I find it hard to get excited about a secret that has been exposed. The secret document is now in the wild. This is a matter for the company and its own controls. My view: irrelevant matter to me.
Stephen Arnold, March 27, 2009
Google Glitch Rationalized
March 27, 2009
Google has become a chatty Cathy of late. An interesting and insightful l example is “How Google Routes Around Outages” here. Writing in Data Center Knowledge, Rich Miller’s summary of a conversation with Googler Urs Holzle provides some information about the recent Gmail outage. For me, the most interesting comment by Mr. Holzle was:
There are several different layers of “routing around” problems – a failing Google File System (GFS) chunkserver can be routed around by the GFS client automatically, whereas a datacenter power loss may require some manual intervention. In general, we try to develop scalable solutions and build in the “route around” behavior into our software for problems with a clear solution. When the interactions are more complex and require sequenced steps or repeated feedback loops, we often prefer to put a human hand on the wheel.
There are other interesting factoids in the write up. Useful information. However, Gmail went down. This is the issue, not what Google does to stay online.
Stephen Arnold, March 27, 2009
Google Apps Book Review
March 26, 2009
Quick hit: Slashdot ran a useful book review by Lorin Ricker of a new book called “Google Apps Deciphered — Compute in the Cloud to Streamline Your Desktop”. Click here to read the review. I found it helpful.
Stephen Arnold, March 26, 2009
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