Pay As You Go Stymies Online Bad Guys
April 23, 2009
I was surprised to learn from PCWorld that “pay as you go” is a method for thwarting online pirates. You must read the story “Pay-As-You-Go a Way around Piracy, Microsoft Says” here. Owen Fletcher reported:
Microsoft could reduce losses from software piracy by expanding pay-as-you-go plans like those it has tested in developing countries, a company executive said today. Charging users as they access services, rather than in one up-front purchase fee, could “take some of the pressure off of the purely licensed model of software,” Craig Mundie, Microsoft’s research head, said in an interview.
The idea is interesting. If you don’t pay, the computer fails to run the application. To make this work, the user will need a persistent Internet connection. The hitch is that my Internet connections (two high speed broadband hook ups) are not very reliable. Even when these are working, we experience issues with Windows Genuine Advantage even thought we pay the MSDN fees, Apple iTunes which thinks I have five authorized computers not two, and various Adobe products that generate such messages as “updated failed to launch” every time I launch Adobe CS2 on a machine with Adobe CS3 installed.
Great in theory. Practice, at least in the near future, is not likely to work in my office. I am even more skeptical about getting this notion working in some of the exciting countries I have had the pleasure of visiting. Moving this notion to enterprise applications like search raises even more questions for me. Microsoft is anchored in on premises technology, so the company has some engineering hurdles to get over as well.
Stephen Arnold, April 23, 2009
Consultant Tells Vendors Not to Push Unneeded Products
April 22, 2009
Now that’s quite a statement from a consulting professional. Many consultants make a living selling and upselling services that clients don’t need, don’t want, and didn’t know existed. Once I fought past the irony of the advice giver, I concluded that a mini trend is building. You will want to navigate to ZDNet here and read “Enterprise Software: Are Customers Being Pressured So Vendors Can Make Their Numbers? here. At this point, you may want to answer, “Yes.” I did. Well, that’s the story. For me the most interesting comment was:
Governor says enterprise customers should get aggressive as well. They can pay more attention what their developers are says, to avoid buying software that will end up as shelfware. Also, many open source solutions may be just as good as their commercial counterparts. And take advantage of the cloud. “Focus more on work and less on dog and pony shows. If its going to take 18 months to decide what platform to adopt you’re doing it wrong.”
I have highlighted the operative phrase “open source”. The financial crisis is going to force organizations to rethink certain technical decisions taken in the past. The trend is open source. The expert delivering this message got the main part buried but at least the idea is there. Oh, put your valuables in a locked drawer when meeting with azure chip consultants. Come to think of it, the suggestion may have applicability in other software related situations, particularly search, content processing, and data management.
Stephen Arnold, April 22, 2009
Hooray the Mainframes Are Back
April 22, 2009
I recall my first computer class in 1963. Trips to the data center, actually the data center waiting room. There were three keypunch machines, one counter, and a couple of people who logged names and controlled one’s life. I figured out that working in the data center was the way to go, but that’s another story.
I loved the whole mainframe game. Clean room, crisp and chill air, and the freedom to run programs any time. None of that “drop off your cards on Wednesday before 3 pm and pick up the output and card deck on Monday at noon.” No way.
Imagine how happy I was when I read “Virtualization Is ‘the New Mainframe,’ VMware Says” here. One statement from the thinly veiled news release is a keeper:
Virtualization is the mainframe for the 21st century,” said Stephen Herrod, VMware’s CTO, at an event to launch the company’s new vSphere 4 software, an update to Virtual Infrastructure 3, at its headquarters in Palo Alto, California.
A new generation of computer science majors get to experience the thrill, the power, the control of mainframe environment. I’m glad it’s back. When I hit the retirement trail, I can moonlight on the grave yard shift in the virtual data center. I think I remember how to wield power over those hapless penitents. Run their deck first, no way.
Stephen Arnold, April 22, 2009
eBay: Another Yahoo
April 22, 2009
I am tired of the Microsoft Yahoo grade school love affair. The Google “dossier” function is old news because the GOOG disclosed similar functions in a patent application containing the Michael Jackson example two or three years ago. (If you are a reader of this Web log, you know that Googler Cyrus [last name withheld by me as a courtesy] told anyone who would listen that I made up the example. I am not interested in how much Yahoo’s revenues have fallen. Not much of a surprise because the Yahooligans are drifting despite senior Yahoo technologists’ insisting that I am wrong and the Yahooligans are right. They aren’t. Now the revenue problem puts the company into flashing yellow light mode.
No Google, no Microsoft, and no Yahoo.
Let’s think about this recent Forbes.com article “eBay: Back to Basics” by Taylor Buley here. The write up does a credible job of summarizing some of eBay’s challenges. I want to be more specific. eBay is a bit like the snail darter. The creature is like Kentucky’s own Townsend’s Big-eared Bat. Endangered.
Here’s my take on the eBay problem which includes some points either deleted, ignored, or known to be too addled for the buttoned up Forbes crowd and their pop up ads:
- Search. The eBay search system does not work for me. Let’s say I want to buy a refurbished Hewlett Packard NC4010 laptop. Try the query. What do you get? The same lousy results I do. Anything with the string. Try to limit to the actual computer itself. Not possible. This problem is sufficiently annoying to make me endure the wackiness of Google Shopping or the Amazon outfit that routinely changes my one click settings. Anything but eBay. The search system is awful in my opinion. eBay tried Thunderstone. eBay rolled its own. I am not sure what can be done to fix the core finding engine. My hunch is that there is neither the money, the desire, or the expertise to pull this baby out of the fire.
- Fraud. I learned a long time ago that eBay works overtime to keep the magnitude of the fraud issue under wraps. I have been snookered a number of times. There was the famous mobile phone play by a person with the alias of Wiguna. I took matters into my own hands, located the Wiguna person, and in person relayed my experience to an individual familiar with the outfit where Wiguna did some work. With this indirect method, I got my money back. I don’t think I am alone. eBay is trying to “do” security but not spending enough management time and attention to understand the magnitude of the problem and then not having enough resources to take action. Too little and too late, much too late.
- Vendors. The actions eBay has taken have angered some folks who sell products on eBay. Maybe this is a replay of the tragedy of the commons. But up the road from Harrods’s Creek, a small eBay service company has shut its doors. The company could not cope with the combined effects of the hassle, the fees, and the fraud. A couple more Kentucky folks have to shoot squirrels to eat I suppose. The cause was eBay, not these honest people who sold my used computer gear for me.
The most recent actions underscore the cluelessness of the company. Skype and StumbleUpon are in play. Skype was a poorly taken decision. StumbleUpon was simply fumbled by inept running backs. The management teams have not been able to take purposeful action, underscoring the fact that MBAs and folks with great personalities cannot run companies anchored in technology that cannot be fossilized. Change has marginalized eBay and now the company is in the same canoe as Yahoo.
Forbes is skeptical. I’m not. I think eBay’s radar is not working. Like a blinded big eared bat, a collision is inevitable.
Stephen Arnold, April 22, 2009
Wall of Shame: Yahoo’s Digital Barrier
April 21, 2009
Short honk: Bloomberg.com’s “Yahoo’s Balogh Works on Tearing Down Wall of Shame” stopped me. Brian Womack’s article here said, “Yahoo! Inc. Chief Executive Officer Carol Bartz said last month that she created a “wall of shame” for products she isn’t happy with. She’s counting on her top technology executive to fix them. Ari Balogh, recruited as chief technology officer last year, added product-management duties in February after a reshuffling of the Sunnyvale, California-based company. Balogh now needs to chart the future of Yahoo’s more than 50 products – – from e-mail to online dating to the search engine.” I loathe the extra clicks I have to perform to see my email. I don’t think too many products is the sole issue. This addled goose believes that Yahoo’s user interface is old, wonky, and annoying. More than cosmetics are needed at Yahoo. With silos and heterogeneous infrastructure, cosmetics may be what Yahoo has time and money to do.
Stephen Arnold, April 21, 2009
GEFCO and Exalead: Win International Prize for Innovation
April 21, 2009
Congratulations to GEFCO, and by extension, Exalead, for winning the Grand Prix et Trophée de l’innovation prize in recognition of innovation in business information management. The trophy was presented on April 7, 2009, by
CIO-online.com, Le Monde Informatique and IT News Info. There’s a video of the awards here ttp://www.trophees-cio.com/ and a PDF profile of the winners and projects at CIO Online.
A leading European provider of vehicle transport, logistics, and other transportation services, GEFCO earned its award thanks to Exalead, a leader of search based business application solutions and information access in the enterprise and on the web. GEFCO won the CIO-online.com trophy for its new vehicle track and trace service built on Exalead CloudView’s platform (You can read about CloudView here.
GEFCO uses Exalead CloudView to drive a search based application engine and real time operational tools for reporting, query, and analysis of the database of vehicles delivered logistics and spare parts management.
ArnoldIT.com interviewed Paul Doscher, U.S. CEO of Exalead, in January 2009, and Mr. Doscher spoke of their partnership with GEFCO then. He stated:
GEFCO is using Exalead to track their vehicles. GEFCO’s new ‘Track and Trace’ application is built upon Exalead’s flagship platform that offers powerful search functionality and can provide up-to-the-minute information from an extremely large data set. You can read the entire interview on the Search Wizards Speak service here.
Jessica Bratcher, April 21, 2009
Cyberwarfare Shoots Down an Aircraft
April 21, 2009
Short honk: Everyone from the Wall Street Journal to Slashdot is reacting to the reality of cyberwarfare. You can read the Wall Street Journal’s tabloidesque coverage here. For those of you with a more scholarly approach to what’s been going on for many years, click here to buy and then read Information Warfare by Winn Schwartau. Although more than 15 years old, you may as well start with one of the best discussions I have examined. Put the energies and hand waving into practices that close security loopholes. The barn, the horse—you know the aphorism. Search is an important function in these escapades. Unlike some enterprise search vendors, some bad guys use sophisticated findability methods.
Stephen Arnold, April 21, 2009
Web Log Mash Up: SodaHead and Technorati
April 21, 2009
A happy quack to the reader who sent me a link to this story on MSN Money: “SodaHead Joins Forces with Technorati to Enable Content Exchange between Blogging Powerhouses” here. The word “powerhouse” caught my attention. I zipped over to http://trends.google.com and queried “sodahead, technorati, blogger, and wordpress”. The Google chart told me on April 20, 2009:
The lines along the x axis are SodaHead and Technorati. The gold lines is Google’s Blogger.com and the green line is WordPress. I think these data provide interesting context for this statement that appeared in the MSN story:
SodaHead, a leading opinion community focused on discussing today’s hottest topics, announced a strategic partnership with Technorati, the authority on the blogosphere. The powerful alliance gives SodaHead members direct access to Technorati content embedded in SodaHead’s online community. Additionally, Technorati will feature SodaHead’s topical “Polls of the Day” selected by relevancy to Technorati posts.
My thought is that Technorati may be looking for a way to regain momentum. Polls may do it. What’s clear is that buzz in Web log centric companies seems to be falling into the gravitational pull of Blogger.com and WordPress. I expect more changes for Technorati in the months ahead. The idea of mashing up social information (polls) with blog content is interesting, but will it be enough? I once relied on Technorati for search. Now I find myself looking elsewhere for fast cycle information. More real time content available within Technorati with a supple search system would be a definite lure for me.
Stephen Arnold, April 21, 2009
Rev Up Your Web Strategy: New Study from J Boye
April 21, 2009
Beyond Search read with interest “Best Practices for Creating a Web Strategy: What Web Managers Need to Know”
by Dorthe R. Jespersen & Peter E.B. Nissen J. Boye March 2009. You will want to snag a copy even if you are content with your present Web site. (More information is available here.)
The first line of the Executive Summary is “Too many web teams suffer from lack of direction or constant organizational battles.” This reviewer, once a one-man information center and web manager, experienced the problem of direction first hand in failing to get a web strategy for a non-profit off the ground as his CEO told him straight off that the budget was no problem and that he would take full responsibility. He grabbed the ground and the direction and eventually terminated this reviewer’s position.
Using interviews with nineteen mostly Danish public and global organizations and a couple private companies and drawing upon several conferences and a 250 member community of practice in Europe facilitated by J. Boye, this monograph is targeted at the web manager who wants to create a good web strategy. While specifically aimed mainly for the web manager of public websites, I find much that private commercial web managers will benefit from. Furthermore, I believe the European longer term perspective and careful presentation will be welcomed by webmasters and companies in the U.S.
This 35-page vendor neutral paper spells out clearly and with abundant examples how to engage and understand web strategy obstacles tactically and how to communicate with the correct language and produce effective deliverables within the context of the organization’s structure and politics. It is above all a management document for web managers. Forty percent of its pages are dedicated to its raison d’etre that web strategy is an in-house process involving top management, stakeholders, and others and makes it clear that, although the web team would prefer dealing with tools and technology, the real problems have to do with overall business goals, describing an urgent business need that is web-answerable, defining priorities and establishing meaningful measurements to evaluate the benefit of the implemented web strategy.
Actionable yet many layered and dimensioned, the authors make this also a guide for builders of intranets and provide an external link for alternative advice on how to expedite in special situations and circumstances.
The troubleshooting chart at the close nicely sums up and provides clear pointers. This is an important contribution and I look forward to more publications from this firm.
FYI, one of the co-authors has a blog posting entitled “Creating the perfect web strategy: signs of danger” at http://www.jboye.com/blogpost/creating-the-perfect-web-strategy-signs-of-danger/
Marc Arenstein, April 21, 2009
Microsoft and Its Cost Value Message
April 21, 2009
We live in an era of knowledge value. I encountered this phrase after a visit to Japan 20 years ago. The idea is set forth in a very important book called The Knowledge Value Revolution. You can get a copy here. Taichi Sakaiya will require some effort, but I think the time will be well spent. One idea in the book is the notion of value. When I read articles or hear speeches that use the term “value” I wonder if the speaker has internalized Mr. Sakaiya’s explication.
I read the CNet article “Microsoft to Open Source: Please Don’t Compete on Price” here. As reported by Matt Asay, the Microsoft plea is for open source vendors to shift from marketing that pitches price as an advantage and start talking about value. I had to read the summary of Sam Ramji’s comments twice to make sure I understood his angle.
The notion of “value” is quite different from cost. A cost is easy to describe and measure. To soften the edges of the cost analysis, MBAs and other grifters have chopped up costs into indirect and direct costs. Some add notions of “burdened” and “unburdented”. Systems designed to track costs in certain government agencies simply don’t work. These systems were set up to put some costs in one silo and other costs in different silos. Then guidelines were put in place to prevent one silo from reporting costs is exactly the same way as another silo. In self defense, most savvy managers pick a specific cost factor and hang the project on that cost. The idea is to make an apple to apple comparison of the cost of licensing a search system or the cost of running an on site training program for 10 people. The manager ignores indirects and otehr types of MBA and accounting embroidery.
Value, particularly value in an information centric organization, is even fuzzier. Value sucks in costs and runs them through a denin stressing machine so the dollars become soft and edges get frayed. The “value” becomes fuzzy and it is more difficult to pull off an apple to apples comparison of a soft, fuzzy concept that a licensing cost. Marketers thrives in the value space. Heck, that’s what Shakespeare would be doing if he were alive today. There’s big money in the jargon, buzzword, and euphemism business.
“Knowledge value” kicks up the argument several levels. The perception of value pivots on the information available and how those data exist in a context. Mr. Sakaiya analyzes the concept of “knowledge value” in such a way that even I could figure out the brilliance of the Toyota Corporation’s Lexus pricing tactic.
What Microsoft is doing is remarkable. On one hand, the company is making many separate products available in one shopping basket component. The price for these shopping baskets is very attractive. XP for a netbook is a bargain because Microsoft is using price to shut the door on Linux. SharePoint includes search, collaboration, work flow, Web design, and content management for a flexible price that is usually lower than competitors’ price points for comparable features.
Microsoft competes on the basis of price. Sam Ramji wants everyone else, particularly the open source vendors, to compete on value. The idea is that Microsoft imparts more value to its products because of its widespread adoption, its dominance on the desktop, the number of junior college programmers who can use VisualStudio, and the vast Microsfot support network. The value is so great that the low price suddenly is put in a context of serious investment in the Microsoft ecosystem.
The way I understand Mr. Ramji’s argument is that Microsoft can compete on price. Everyone else can compete on value.
I am not sure if Mr. Ramji would agree with my interpretation. I have a hunch that open source vendors who provide software at a lower license cost are prepared to argue that their service fees are more competitive than Microsoft’s. The value, therefore, is a combination of lower licnesing costs and going-forward strategy that gives an organization greater control of those hockey stick cost overruns that often plague some enterprise software deployments.
Open source is gaining traction. How do I know? The “plea” expressed in this summary of Mr. Ranji’s remarks underscore the fact that open source is an issue for Microsoft. Google is a problem but open source may be an even bigger problem going forward. I am looking forware to a bargain priced copy of Windows 7.
Part of the knowledge value revolution is that buyers are getting better at determing which companies deliver knowledge value, not just lower prices and basic value.
Stephen Arnold, April 21, 2009
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