Oracle and Java: An Potential Hitch in the Google Get Along
April 22, 2009
Let me acknowledge that the love and kisses outlook for Oracle and its newest acquisition, Sun Microsystems is wonderful. The sun is bright. The weather is perfect. Life is good. Okay, now you have the optimist’s view of how Oracle’s owning Java, MySQL, and other assorted useful bits and pieces of technology will work out. There are some cheerful analyses such as PCWorld’s “Microsoft Could Be a Winner in Sun Oracle Deal” here and more pragmatic analyses such as “Winners and Losers from Oracle Sun” in Seeking Alpha here.
Now, let me outline several issues that have been the subject of much discussion among my colleagues and advisors. The focal point of our discussions is Google. Oracle and Google are pals. Here are the items that may conflate to become a hitch in the get along:
First, control. Google supports Java up to a point in its very important Google Apps service. Google Apps supports Python, but in Googley fashion, support is not how Google approaches its mission critical enterprise initiatives. To make sure that Python is truly Googley, Google hired the person who is the “owner” of Python, Guido Van Rossum. Not surprisingly Google’s support for Python is more than good; it is outstanding. Google’s support of Java is what in my opinion warrants the phrase “sort of”. The idea behind Java, which is not perfect by any means, is that those who embrace Java love it all. Google likes some of Java, preferring to rely on its own systems and methods for the odd bits that Google engineers don’t support. Why is Google going whole hog with Python but only part of the hog with Java? In my research, this approach accomplishes two things. First, Google makes the App Engine service more approachable by Java developers. More developers means more pressure on Microsoft, faster uptake for the App Engine, and more “hooks” into the enterprise whales. Second, Google Apps is a one way street. Google wants those applications running in the GOOG’s belly. Migrating from Google is not part of the present game plan. Oracle will have to confront this “sort of Java” support sooner or later. Either way, there could be significant consequences for Oracle and Google. What if IBM goes off the Java reservation? What if Google gets significant traction in the enterprise and Java becomes one of the nails in Oracle’s database highway? What if the open source community goes crazy with the “sort of Java” approach by the GOOG?
Second, newer technology. in 2007 and early 2008 I talked with various database gurus. Some of these folks were suits from the giants of the database world. Others were entrepreneurs who were rushing to commercialize database and data management systems that could address some of the Oracle challenges licensees of that RDBMS face. Some of those with whom I spoke were familiar with the data management systems at Googzilla offered other information. The result of this primary data collection was to make my analysis of Google’s open source technical papers and public documents more nuanced. I formulated this hypothesis: The Google wants a piece of the revenue from the enterprise data management cash flow. The money in the database world pools around the ankles of IBM, Microsoft, and Oracle. Sure, there are other players such as Information Builders and Sybase among others, but in the Fortune 500 database evokes images of IBM, Microsoft, and Oracle logos. If correct, Google will push into data management and almost certainly cause a reaction from IBM, Microsoft, and Oracle. Microsoft will just fight back. IBM and Oracle will have to have a meeting to figure out what the cost of splitting from the GOOG will be. I don’t think that the GOOG will lose much sleep over annoying the Big Three. The Big Three will be more concerned about Google. The concern right now does not exist. My research revealed that none of these three big database players see Google as “industrial strength”. That brings us back to the App Engine and Java.
Finally, operating costs. The financial climate is not brightening based on the information flowing to me and my goslings. As financial pressure mounts, enterprise licensees will be looking for a way to get out from under: [a] increasing maintenance fees for databases, [b] the headcounts required to manage the enterprise database systems, [c] slash lease or capital expenses for the storage and other gizmos these systems demand. The appetite for more hardware is not easily slaked. Oracle won’t be in a hurry to provide solutions that do not require Sun hardware in my opinion. IBM and Microsoft will have to get in gear to make their cloud computing solutions more than marketing collateral. That leaves Oracle exposed and Oracle’s best friend ideally positioned to use its Googley technology to make the pain somewhat less troublesome. That “sort of Java” support may make the Google option more attractive in my opinion.
To sum up, I see stress and potential fractures in the future. I hope the sunny day and warm weather persists. I think a storm front may be building. I think I need a decaf Java to sip as I watch the weather change.
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
Autonomy and Rich Media: Pushing Back OpenText and Endeca
April 21, 2009
OpenText and Endeca had no respite from the marketing machine from Autonomy. Forbes.com’s news release service here distributed “MediaBin now Joins Autonomy Virage Family of Products to Deliver Complete Rich Media Management”. My search files show that Autonomy has been active in the podcast, digital video, and rich media sector for several years. Autonomy rebranded the Interwoven MediaBin product as the Virage MediaBin. You can get more information about MediaBin here.
Will Autonomy push Open Text and Endeca around or will the OpenText and Endeca duo offer too much resistance to the Autonomy marketing machine?
Autonomy has been quite good about maintaining support for products it has acquired. Autonomy’s approach makes it easy for the company to give the customer a choice about information management systems and methods. IDOL, Autonomy’s integrated data operating layer, becomes the plumbing for these different systems. In my opinion, OpenText and Endeca will now find themselves the focal point of Autonomy’s formidable marketing earthmover. Will OpenText and Endeca be the granite that breaks the blade of the Caterpillar D10T WH or will Autonomy push the two companies around the enterprise information landfill? Should be exciting to observe from the mine run off pond here in Harrod’s Creek, the high technology center of Kentucky.
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
Semantic Roll Up: The Effect of Financial Compression
April 21, 2009
A flurry of emails arrived today about the tie up among several companies with good reputations but profiles that are lower than those enjoyed by Autonomy and Endeca. You can read the official news announcement here about the deal among Attensity, Empolis GmbH, and Living-e AG. The conflation is called The Attensity Group. Here’s a snapshot of each company based on the information I ratted out of my files in the midst of new carpet, painting, and hanging new boxer dog pictures:
- Attensity. Deep text processing. Started in the intel community. Probed marketing. Acted as ring master for the tie up.
- Empolis GmbH. (Link was dead when I checked it on April 20, 2009.) A distribution and archiving system and file based content transformation. Orphaned after parent Bertelsmann faced up to the realities facing the dead tree crowd. Now positions itself in knowledge management.
- Living-e AG. Provides software products that enable efficient information exchange. Web content management, behavior analysis. Founded in 2003 as WebEdition Software GmbH.
The news release refers to the deal as a “market powerhouse”. This is the type of phrase that gets me to push the goslings to the computer terminals to do some company monitoring.
It’s too early for me to make a call about the product line up the company will offer. Should be interesting. Some pundits will make an attempt to presage the future. Not this silly goose. The customers will decide, not the mavens.
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
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