Protected: Microsoft Certifications a Must
February 16, 2011
Spending for Info Tech Rose
February 16, 2011
Short honk: Good news, if accurate. TechEYE.net reports that “IT Spending Reached $1.5 Trillion in 2010.” Now that’s quite a number!
The article elaborates:
“This represented the fastest rate of growth since 2007 indicating good recovery from the financial downturn, with the increase being driven by pent up demand for hardware upgrades and infrastructure investment following the financial crisis.”
So, many companies have finally made the replacements and upgrades they put off during the financial crises; hardware sales outpaced those of software and services.
Growth is expected to continue through 2011, driven in part by investments in new technology such as cloud computing. Though the global economy is still volatile, analysts believe it is now stable enough for IT to thrive. And, of course, sales to emerging markets is ever an expanding field.
Cynthia Murrell February 16, 2011
Freebie
Social Search Excitement
February 16, 2011
Rumors abound. Will Google or Facebook buy Twitter. The idea is that Twitter can do the news better than more traditional services.
Business Insider reports that “Whoever Gets Social Search Right Will Beat Google — Just Like Google Beat Alta Vista.” Quite an assertion. However, we’ve been monitoring the tense rivalry between Google and Facebook. Facebook has edged Google out as the most popular website due to its social networking functions. What’s interesting to note is that back in the 1990s when Alta Vista was searching content, Google realized the number of links on a page reflected it’s relevancy. After that epiphany, they controlled the web. Now social networking data is the factor that needs to be analyzed. If you figure out the formula for social searching, you’ve got it made. The write up says:
“To be really good, a social search site should also take into account a huge range of user behavior — text messages, IMs, opinions in online forums like Yelp, even online purchases — and somehow stitch all of those pieces of information together into a coherent view.”
Here’s another thorn in Google’s side, Bing and Facebook have a business relationship. Bing will incorporate Facebook’s information into its searches. Excitement ahead.
Whitney Grace, February 16, 2011
Freebie
Google and VoIP Hassle
February 15, 2011
Short honk: There may be nothing to this report of a legal hassle between Google and VoIP Inc. I do want to document the Reuters’ story “Lawsuit Accuses Google of Stealing Trade Secrets.” The legal matter surfaced several years ago but has become an issue again. We don’t have much of a comment. Reuters did hazard:
The lawsuit claims trade secret theft, unfair competition, unjust enrichment and breach of contract and seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages, disgorgement of illegal gains, an injunction and attorney’s fees.
VoIP Inc. seems to want to gnaw on this matter. Is VoiP Inc. a miniature poodle or a bulldog?
Stephen E Arnold, February 15, 2011
Freebie, unlike lawyers’ work
Microsoft Has a Fan at Forbes
February 15, 2011
Our initial reaction to this write up was, public relations coup. The Wall Street Journal runs similar fluff on its online services as well. But the Forbes’ love fest with Microsoft warrants documenting.
Forbes’ “Why Microsoft Will Win the Small Business Cloud War” finds no fault with Redmond. The article lauds the company’s steady addition of key applications to the cloud, though products we’re used to, such as Word, Excel, and Outlook, aren’t scheduled to be there until later this year. Reasonable cost is another plus. Say Forbes, the real advantage Microsoft holds over its cloud competitors, however, lies in brand familiarity:
“[Microsoft’s] products are used and liked by millions of small business people around the world. We don’t want to change. We don’t want to learn new products to do the same things we’re already doing. We just want to do things quicker and better. As long as Microsoft makes it easy for us to adapt to the cloud we’ll go along with them.”
Fair enough. However, one key component was left out of this analysis: search was not mentioned. We want to know- how effectively will we be able to find what we’re looking for in Microsoft’s cloud? We wonder, “Will Forbes’ staff will be able to answer that question too?”
Cynthia Murrell February 15, 2011
Freebie
A Facebook Revolution?
February 15, 2011
On a flight across the US this afternoon, I thought about “First Facebook SIM Card Released.” Facebook in firmware: An even bigger deal that the smart money at Kleiner Perkins pumping cash into the Facebook corporate body. What kept nagging at me was the Google Egypt revolution person talking about Facebook. Why didn’t the revolutionaries use Google, Microsoft, or Yahoo? I think the reason is that those services are like the old marketing chestnut: buggy whip businesses. The idea is that Facebook is the motor car and the buggy whip crowd needs to make seat covers or 20” inch wheels with flashing lights.
The SIM card underscores the opportunities Facebook creates as Googlers use Facebook, Microsoft cuts deals with Nokia, and Yahoo tries to reinvent itself more quickly than AOL. What occupied me was the steady push of social interaction on Facebook. Sure, there are many other successful social sites, but none has the motion picture, the smart money, and the exposure on 60 Minutes. I keep thinking, “Facebook was the method for some of the Egypt turmoil.”
Search, although interesting to me, was not where the action was in Egypt. The innovators were not cooking up a gizmo for Android. The Kleiner JP Morgan-tinged folks were not yammering about Google. Nope, Facebook.
As the jet lumbered along below its cruising speed ostensibly to arrive when a gate would be available, I formulated three thoughts:
- Facebook is going to rise and then fall faster than any of the other Internet super kids. But that exposure on 60 Minutes and that money suggest a collapse may take some time.
- Facebook morphs into an application platform with SIM gizmos becoming just the first of a series of innovations to make social interaction the cat’s pajamas for lots of people under 30. In short, a different type of revolution is brewing.
- Facebook becomes the tool for altering governments. No wonder France wants to censor the Internet. Facebook might be the method that will reinvigorate some ageing UCal Berkeley types and some unemployed youth in countries scattered far and wide.
What’s this mean? I am not sure, but I am glad I am not competing with Facebook. I am glad I am not a wobbly government. I am glad I don’t have to explain to investors why it took six years to invest in what looks like a company on the upswing. And what about Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo? Time to retool the buggy whip factories perhaps?
Stephen E Arnold, February 15, 2011
Freebie, definitely a freebie
Protected: BA-Insight Longitude
February 15, 2011
What Has Google Learned from Salesforce.com?
February 15, 2011
Several years ago, a Googler made a comment about Salesforce.com. My recollection is that the person, no longer laboring in the Elysian Fields said, “We really like those guys.” The “those guys” referred to Salesforce.com. In one of my Google briefings, I mentioned that Google was not yet ready to get married to Salesforce.com. Google did some flirting but nothing serious.
I read the oddly named article “Could Google Risk Taking on the CRM Market?” Despite the headline, the main idea of the article is sound. The question becomes, “Will Google compete with the big dogs in customer relationship management?” Now CRM is an ambiguous phrase. For some poobahs, CRM is nothing more than a reason to sell a search and retrieval system so the “customer” can look up his or her own answers. The idea is for the licensee to fire staff or outsource to customers and low wage workers as much of the annoying queries from paying customers. CRM is a refuge for search and retrieval vendors who find the competition too stiff for the big jobs which go to companies with modern, scalable systems that work as information platforms. CRM is a smaller fish pond and the fish are not the predators found in the Fortune 1000 market.
I see the future… Source: http://reason.com/blog/2011/01/10/the-cbos-crystal-ball
Others, like Salesforce.com, see CRM as a way to keep track of prospects, proposals, and the detritus essential to closing a deal. Sales professionals, as you may know, live or die by their contacts. Putting those contacts in a system that the boss can tap for reports is a hot idea for some senior managers. Mercenary sales professionals use systems like Salesforce.com to manage their professional life. No matter what happens on the job or when a laptop is ripped off, the sales person’s contacts are safe in the Salesforce.com cloud.
Google, Change, and Adsense
February 15, 2011
Tech Eye has an insider’s scoop about what’s going on with Google: “Big changes” coming to Google.” The Google employee named Moultano states that organizational wise Google has been hit with a whirlwind tornado. Competent employees are allowed to devote a portion of their business time to personal projects. This could potentially be harmful to Google, but it doesn’t appear that it will change. According to TechEye:
“That said, Google has been doing extremely well with its current business model. Its fourth quarter 2010 results showed a revenue increase of 26 percent on the same period in 2009, so while it has changed its CEO, it’s unlikely that it will shake up the company structure too much to deal with the “chaos” one worker suggests is present.”
Moultano also states that Adsense is a project Google is focused on. There’s been talk of changes being made to Adsense for awhile, but we should see them soon. It’s difficult to provide high quality, on-topic ads, but that is where Adsense is going. It’s apparent that Google is changing, and we wonder if those variable Adsense payouts will be in flux too?
Whitney Grace, February 15, 2011
Freebie
For You Watson Fans: Better than SkyNet
February 14, 2011
Short honk: Want to read the upside of IBM’s most recent push into information processing. Navigate to “Why IBM’s Watson Is NOT Skynet (It’s Better).” Best quote for the true blue believers:
But it is impressive. From Watson’s Jeopardy play so far, it’s apparent that Watson does two things extremely well: 1) looking at data from a host of sources, finding the answers it wants extremely fast, and 2) understanding the nuances of natural human speech and writing. The other things it does—learning as it goes along and pressing a buzzer quickly—are nice, too, but aren’t really that novel.
Accuracy? About 85 percent. That’s an A in today’s world of fluid standards. Tattoo Charley in Louisville can slap an IBM logo on your guns while you wait.
I hear, “I’ll be back” now.
Stephen E Arnold, February 14, 2011
Freebie.
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