More on Google as a Monopoly
November 13, 2008
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
Google and Novel Content
November 13, 2008
On November 11, 2008, Google received a patent for the invention “Detecting Novel Content”, US7451120. In my opinion this is an important Google invention. The system and method makes it possible for Google to identify a segment of a document that contains interesting information. “Novel” is a code word for distinctive information. The abstract for the invention is:
A system determines an ordered sequence of documents and determines an amount of novel content contained in each document of the ordered sequence of documents. The system assigns a novelty score to each document based on the determined amount of novel content.
Let’s assume that Google uses this invention. What can the method deliver? My thought was a compilation of novel content on a user-specified subject. Traditional publishers cut and paste to create anthologies. In the 15th and 16th centuries books that were collections of snippets were used to teach students Latin and Greek. Another possible use of the method would be to snip content from one document and place that snippet and its metadata into a dataspace.
Stephen Arnold, November 13, 2008
Public Demo of Overflight Coming
November 13, 2008
A version of the ArnoldIT.com Overflight intelligence service will be made available on Monday, November 17, 2008. You will be able to access the service via a link in the Beyond Search Web log post.
What’s Overflight? In a nutshell it is a round up of what’s new at Google. The information sources are published by Google. Each of the sources is public, but most of the sources are not well known nor are the contents easily available in one dashboard.
A number of people asked me how I kept track of Google many activities. Instead of trying to explain one of my techniques which have been available to my clients for years, I decided to put up a sample of the service. The demo site provides useful but no frills information. The for fee version of the service which was used first for the Threat Open Source Information Gateway after 9-11 to 2006 when I stepped away from that business sector.
With Overflight, I can scan multiple pages of Google information, identify an interesting topic, and then perform other operations. The demo site does not include my search and content processing options. I will see what type of traffic Overflight attracts and make a decision about the search component in the next month or so.
Because this is a demo, I am not prepared to make a commitment to keeping the service online, free, or publicly available. When I post the link, take a look. You will find that comments by Google executives are often explicitly stated in one or more of these Google information sources.
What does that mean?
For me, I am able to get a sense of where Google may be going before the action appears in the high traffic Web logs or in a dead trees publication.
Is the service fool proof?
No, nothing I do is fool proof. I am an addled goose.
Stephen Arnold, November 17, 2008
Chrome: Caesar or Napolean
November 13, 2008
I enjoy Datawocky, a Web log written by a Google observer. The most recent post is “Google Chrome: A Masterstroke or a Blunder?” You can read the full text of the essay here. My take away from the September 7, 2008, write up changed over time. When I first read the essay, I thought it was quite balanced. I revisited the article today as I was preparing to write my KMWorld column. On the second pass, this passage caught my eye:
Two striking historical parallels come to mind, one a masterstroke and the other a blunder, in both cases setting into motion events that could not be undone. In 49 BC, Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon with his army, triggering a civil war where he triumphed over the forces of Pompey and became the master of Rome. And in 1812, Napoleon Bonaparte had Europe at his feet when he made the fateful decision to invade Russia, greatly weakening his power and leading ultimately to his defeat at Waterloo. It will be interesting to see whether Chrome ends up being Google’s Rubicon or its St. Petersburg.
The historical parallel on my second reading struck me as odd. Arrogance, pride, and confidence in power brought about the downfall of both Caesar and Napoleon. Both leaders ended their lives in nasty circumstances. Furhtermore the aftermath of both leaders’ lives was continued momentum for their policies.
What does this have to do with Chrome? I think Chrome is one piece of the Google technology puzzle. It is a bold play to allow Google access to information of many types. Once in Chrome, a user cannot easily determine what is Google and what is some other service. In fact, when one navigates to another Web page is it necessary for Google to hand off that user? Google can easily serve some information from its cache. Google could become the Internet for a Chrome user or for a Google phone user.
Please read the Datawocky essay. Let me know if you think the distinction between Caesar and Napoleon is a valid one? Then let me know if you think Chrome is a browser or just the front end to a Google-intermediated Internet.
Stephen Arnold, November 13, 2008
Microsoft Verizon Deal Said to Be Near
November 12, 2008
Google learned that Sun Microsystems cut a deal with its former enemy Microsoft. Now Google may have to adapt to Microsoft’s winning the contract to provide mobile search to Verizon. Steven Muil’s “Microsoft Said Closer to Verizon Search Deal” provides a good summary of what appears to be happening. For me, the most interesting comment in Mr. Musil’s story is this comment:
Google’s preoccupation with regulators over the Yahoo deal reportedly helped create the opening for Microsoft with Verizon, the sources told the newspaper. The move comes as the two companies ramp up their efforts in the mobile arena. The first phone based on Google’s Android mobile operating system–a challenger to Microsoft’s Windows Mobile–recently went on sale.
This comment made clear to me that Google, despite its brilliant record of successes, is not immune to big company disease. When a deal like this slips away, I am inclined to think that the management team is rushing from meeting to meeting, email to email, and decision to decision without appropriate management oversight. Chaos is often useful when cutting and pasting code widgets together to create new applications and services. However, business deals have a different composition. Deals can slip away because details get overlooked because everyone is too busy.
Is this deal set in concrete? I don’t know. What I do know is that the messages sent about the misfire with Yahoo, the Sun shift to Microsoft, and now this alleged tie up between Microsoft and Verizon resonate with me. Has Google underestimated Microsoft? I am eager to see what tomorrow brings.
Stephen Arnold, November 12, 2008
Business Intelligence on the Upswing
November 12, 2008
Enterprise Systems published Stephen Swoyer’s “Search and Text Analysis Lead BI Push” on November 12, 2008. The article is quite useful. Mr. Swoyer extracts some interesting data about a surge in business intelligence. His provides a snapshot of IDC’s latest study on the topic and provides links to a useful article about analytics in general. You can read the full text of his write up here. For me the most interesting comment in the article is a quote from Sue Feldman, IDC’s research vice president. Ms Feldman told Mr. Swoyer:
“Although this market has continued its rapid growth in the first half of 2008, economic indicators for IT spending are bleak,” she comments. “IDC expects slower growth in all markets, including search and discovery software,” Feldman continues. “Although these external factors will impinge on what is a fast growing market, IDC still predicts 17 percent growth for search and discovery software in 2008 and 12.9 percent growth for 2009. This is down from the 28 percent growth we saw in 2007, but certainly a healthy increase. With the economy so volatile, this could change if economic conditions worsen.”
With plain vanilla search ubiquitous, the interest in business intelligence underscores the need for solutions oriented information access. The challenge will be for vendors to package their software and systems to deliver. In choppy economic seas, marketing assurances have to be backed with pay offs the clients can verify.
Stephen Arnold, November 12, 2008
GT&T: Ma Google Expands Her Comms Service
November 12, 2008
I saw a Reuters story on the South African Web site MoneyWeb.com. The story was “Google’s Gmail Takes on Skype, Adds Video and Voice to Chat.” You can read the story here. Sam Diaz posted “Gmail Expands to Include Voice and Video” here. Both stories explained the new communication features available in Gmail. For me, the most interesting comment appeared in Sam Diaz’s story:
Google launched video and voice chat for Gmail – not necessarily a ground-breaking feature but somewhat different from other models because the feature is built into the Gmail inbox window, instead of a separate application.
The original Google blog post about this development appeared in the Gmail Blog here. Uptake on this story seems rapid. The most interesting comment for me was this remark on the Official Google Blog here:
Video chatting from Gmail is as easy as sending an instant message. With our team spread out across Google offices in Sweden and the U.S., it’s been really handy in helping us work together.
Google seems to be “dog fooding”. This is a term used at places such as Microsoft to describe products used by employees prior to their release.
When I logged into Skype today, there were 14 million users online. Gmail’s new voice feature has a fraction of this user base–for now. My hunch is that Google is continuing its slow, steady march to global telephony. When I read these two stories, I mentally flash forwarded several years. Google is become the Global Telephone & Telegraph Co., a 21st century version of the pre-break up AT&T. Instead of Ma Bell, we now have Ma Google.
Stephen Arnold, November 12, 2008
App Engine Hackathons
November 12, 2008
A flurry of Web log posts swept through my newsreader when Google suggested that its enterprise initiative might support developers. You can read one of these posts here. If you are interested in learning a bit more about what Google’s enterprise unit might support, sign up for the Google App Engine Hackathon. There are two hackathons. One in in Atlanta, Georgia, and the other in Ann Arbor, Michigan. You can read more on Google’s Web log here. According to Google:
There will be talks on the major features of Google App Engine at different points throughout the day. We will run through developing an app with the SDK and show how to deploy and manage applications on Google App Engine. Google App Engine and Python enthusiasts from the community will be on hand to help and to answer questions throughout the day.
Google events are often crowded. The Atlanta hackathon is Saturday November 15, 2008 from 10AM-6PM at Google Atlanta in Millennium in Midtown, 10 10th Street NE, Suite 600, Atlanta, GA 30309 (map). The Ann Arbor hackathon will take place Monday November 17, 2008 from 10AM-6PM at Google Ann Arbor in 201 S. Division St., Ann Arbor, MI 48104 (map) You have to navigate here to sign up. The announcement of these hackathons was made on October 31, 2008, several days before the comment by Google at the Web 2.0 conference.
Stephen Arnold, November 12, 2008
TrackVia: Redefining the Online Database Query
November 12, 2008
A happy quack to the reader who sent me a link to “TrackVia: Powerful Search Tool for All the Nooks and Crannies.” You can read the full text of the article by Jack Germain here. Mr. Germain provides quite a bit of detail about his experience with this hosted service. I navigated to the TrackVia Web site here in search of some basic information about an outfit of which I had never heard. After you read Mr. Germain’s story, you may want to explore the TrackVia Web site.
Some of the points that caught my attention about this company and its service were:
- Change tracking
- Supports attachments
- Allows statement in natural language and provides a report set up feature with filters
- Point and click data manipulation
- Seamless integration with a Web site.
You should take a look at the quite good demonstration here.
What I found interesting about TrackVia is that its strengths make evident the weaknesses of desktop database and spreadsheet tools. I noticed four features that set TrackVia apart:
- The search function is the method of querying the database. TrackVia’s content processing tags, stores, and manages notes and attachments.
- The storage feature operates seamlessly. Users don’t have to know where an object is nor memorize a method to hook an object into a traditional database.
- The tight integration with a browser blurs the line between a remote and a local application. Data can be local if a user wants to download them. Data can be remote for any user, so it is no longer necessary to shove files around.
- Report generation requires zero specialized skills. If the data contain zip codes, a report is automatically displayed with the data on a Google Map. (This tie up with Google is interesting to me.)
The company was founded in 2005, and it the backing of some high profile investment firms. With the growing interest in cloud computing and data management, the TrackVia system seems poised for rapid growth. After watching the demo, I came away with several interesting ways to use the service. Check it out.
Stephen Arnold, November 12, 2008
ISYS:web 9 Now Available
November 11, 2008
A happy quack to the reader in Colorado who alerted me to the new release of ISYS Search Software Version 9.0. I had a pre release version, and I found that its speed and date features were particularly useful. According to ISYS Search Software:
ISYS:web 9 offers customers several major enhancements, all designed to deliver the speed, efficiency and accuracy required to find information fast. More importantly, ISYS has expanded its content mining capabilities using predictive and reliable methods that help customers better understand their content. Through its Intelligent Content Analysis, ISYS notes key characteristics about a content collection, such as metadata patterns and entities, and leverages these facets in the interface to provide a more fluid search and discovery process.
Among the new features are:
- Intelligent Query Expansion. Designed to give users greater context and avenues to pursue, Intelligent Query Expansion offers suggestions based on your query and the document. For example, a search for “SharePoint” might suggest “SharePoint search web part.”
- ContextCogs are snippets of relevant and contextual information pulled from third-party sources and displayed alongside standard ISYS results. When a search is executed, the query is also passed to each registered Cog, which could include enterprise-level applications, Internet search engines or Active Directory Contacts.
- Intelligence Clouds enable rapid navigation of key information. The tag cloud appears as a collection of search terms and phrases, with the various terms shown in larger or smaller fonts depending on their density within the index.
- Improved Performance and Scalability. ISYS:web handles most search requests concurrently with a higher throughput. Additionally, we’ve increased index capacity from 24 gigabytes to 384 gigabytes per index. With indexed data representing, on average, 10 to 20 percent of the total data size, ISYS can now index two to four terabytes of information per index.
- Search Form Customization. ISYS now offers both automatic and custom designed search forms. For automatic search forms, users point the wizard at their indexes and ISYS creates a search form automatically by analyzing the content and structure of the information. ISYS also offers a point-and-click method for creating forms for searching structured information.
- Index Biasing. ISYS told me that the company wanted to enhance ISYS:web’s tuning capabilities. “Tuning” in this context means giving administrators with the ability to adjust the weighting on entire collections of documents. This option enables an organization to further tune relevance to suit specific situations; for example, boost specific content across result sets.
- De-Duplication. ISYS automatically identifies identical documents and either removes them from the results or visually marks them. This capability is of particular importance to legal professionals conducting discovery work, or any user attempting to conduct analysis of a given content collection
- ISYS:web Federator allows customers to federate their searches across both ISYS and non-ISYS content sources. ISYS:web displays results from each source separately, allowing users to navigate between the sets of results without compromising relevance.
- Exchange Indexing. Particularly important for responding in a timely manner to discovery requests, ISYS:web enables administrators to centrally create and manage individual indexes for each user’s email account. Administrators can also opt to make these indexes available to end users, relying on Active Directory permissions to ensure users can only search the email indexes for which they are authorized.
I ran several queries on the new system. You can read about my tests and examine a sample screen shot here. In my April 2008 study for the Gilbane Group, I identified ISYS Search Software as a “company to watch.” In fact, I highlighted the company in lecture about enterprise search in 2009 here. For more information about the company, navigate to the ISYS Search Software Web site here. You can download a trial version of the software here. If you want to get a flavor for the company’s commitment to search, you may find the interview I conducted with Ian Davies, founder of ISYS Search Software a way to understand the firm’s approach to information access. I conducted the interview in March 20008, but it is quite relevant today (November 11, 2008).
Stephen Arnold, November 11, 2008
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