Microsoft and Yahoo Partner
After much back and forth, Microsoft has made a deal with Yahoo that could potentially help the company to rival Google in internet search and advertising. BusinessWeek reports, "Advertisers and online publishers want a viable alternative to the search titan. But analysts question whether Microsoft can avoid losing ground as it implements the complex Yahoo partnership, which could take two years, and afterward come up with real innovations in the business. "We can't afford a hiccup on this," Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said in an interview." Yet some advertisers have already expressed interest in trying out Microsoft-Yahoo over Google, as some feel that its dominance in the space has led to "a lack of innovation and excessive costs."
As a long time user of both Yahoo's search engine advertising technology (which they bought from Overture, formerly named Goto) and of Google's Adwords engine, I can tell you that Yahoo's technology
is much much harder to use. Google is the one to beat here. And they know it, which may be why
their much deserved reputation for simple user interfaces is becoming less and less apparent in their
search engine advertising management interface. Adwords is getting complicated.
Therefore competition in this space can only be a good thing for advertisers. Let's hope Microsoft and
Yahoo can get their act together enough to push Google to improve.
Curt Finch writes for a project management blog.
AOL Brand No Longer AWOL
It's baaaack! Well, it never quite went away. But for some time now AOL has been treating its own name like the crazy aunt in the attic; better tucked away and not discussed except at family reunions involving alcohol.
It appears AOL's new CEO, Tim Armstrong, is the nostalgic type.
In his first 100 days in office, he has:
- divided up the "people's network" group into three divisions: AOL Local and Mapping, AOL Communication and AOL Ventures.
- renamed it's publishing ventures from MediaGlow to AOL Media.
- also renamed it's advertising arm from Platform-A to, you guessed it, AOL Advertising.
For some time, AOL has gone through a self-loathing period with its name; fearing associations with the most notorious and lampooned corporate mega-merger from the tech bubble days. I am, of course, referring to the AOL Time Warner merger (in the spirit of full disclosure, I worked for a Time Warner company during that merger). There's also some wincing every time someone does a free association with the term AOL and comes up with the companion term "dial-up".
I think Armstrong is taking a forward-thinking approach letting go of the past. The truth is AOL was one of the first Internet brands to become a household word. "You've Got Mail" was a movie for crying out loud. People are still watching Meg Ryan cry in her pajamas on late night cable (likely a Time Warner cable system) with a laptop in her bed tapping out AOL instant messages to Tom Hanks.
As we say in Texas, you gotta dance with the one who brung ya. For many of us, AOL was our first prom with the Internet. No hard feelings about all that other stuff. Dial-ups and dizzy mergers? We look back on that and snicker like we do at pictures of our old hairstyles and shoulder pads from the 80's.
Windows XP to Windows 7: Fuhgedaboudit
Even Microsoft is recommending that XP users just scrap their PC's and start over with a new one pre-loaded with Windows 7 when it comes out this Fall.
"If you're running Windows XP, or any other operating system for that matter, we recommend that you experience Windows 7 on a new PC...And while we don't recommend it, should you choose to upgrade your current PC from Windows XP or another operating system to Windows 7, we recommend that you get help with this process from your local computer service provider."- Microsoft's Windows XP upgrade advisor page
Did you read what I read?
- "We recommend that you experience Windows 7 on a new PC"
(subtext: Because the PC makers are really, really fed up with us and the least we can do is encourage you to throw them some business to make up for the sales drought known as Vista)
- "And while we don't recommend it"
(Subtext: Referring to upgrading your current PC from XP to Windows 7, we're not kidding. This is more than just throwing a bone to Dell, HP and everyone else who's mad at us.You really will be ewed-scrayed if you try to upgrade from XP to Windows 7.)
- "We recommend that you get help with this process from your local computer service provider."
(Subtext: If you are crazy enough to try, at least get help! Given that a so-called easy upgrade from Microsoft usually requires a degree in software engineering, several evenings of uninterupted hours of quality time on the phone with tech support and lots and lots of Xanax; one can only imagine what is involved in an upgrade they deem too difficult to do on your own.)
Countdown to October 22nd!
Smartphone Translator
Remember the universal translator device from Star Trek? The real thing might not be far away. Dial Directions, a voice activation and recognition software company, and Sakhr Software, an Arabic speech and language tech company, merged on Tuesday for a new initiative to bring a voice and text translator to smartphones like the iPhone or Blackberry. The new application would allow users to speak either English or Arabic into the phone and have it translated through a cloud-based service. "I would put it close to very close to actually having a perfectly fluent translator with you in your pocket," says Adeeb Shanaa, CEO of the new joint company.
I'm wondering if there are humans in that cloud, ala Amazon Turk or Jott.
Curt Finch writes for a project management blog as well.
Cheapo Laptop Wars
Best Buy should know better than to get in a bare knuckle mano-a-mano price war with Wal-Mart. That's like getting into a hairspray competition with a news anchor. Are you nuts?
Best Buy laid down the gauntlet recently with a $299 Acer 15 inch laptop. It's a great deal, if you can find one in stock.
Wal-Mart shot back this week with a Compaq 15 inch laptop for $298. Now that's what I call rolling back the prices!! One dollar!
I saw the Compaq in my local Wal-Mart sales circular and noted in the fine print that each store only has 10 units. In other words, they aren't serious about selling these things like hotcakes. It's clearly a loss leader to get more computer shoppers in the store who will hopefully buy something a bit more expensive when they see the $298 laptop is out of stock.
So, in the end there really isn't a cheap laptop war; just a laptop war.
My questions:
Will these hot teaser specials persist when Windows 7 comes out or is this just the desperate act of PC sellers dog paddling by until October 22nd when the new O/S comes out?
Are the red hot netbook sales cannibalizing regular laptop sales too, too much and is this evidence of preserving traditional laptop sales?
A Rush Patch Job From Microsoft
Microsoft's next regularly scheduled security patch day is August 11th. Why wait? How about doing it, oh say, today around 10 a.m. PST. Especially when the Black Hat security conference starts tomorrow in Las Vegas and who knows what security holes they'll be wagging their fingers at while they have the presses attention.
(Was that my outside voice?)
Microsoft doesn't do this often and this time they are not saying why; only that they're rushing out patches for Internet Explorer and Visual Studio.
Bottomline: IT staff would be wise to download the patches, so heads up.
Green IT Saves Money
As many of you already know, the recession is having a widespread effect on the technology industry. One example is that many companies are now looking into green IT in order to save money on data hosting. Rhonda Ascierto, senior analyst at Datamonitor, believes that companies "facing critical limitations with their existing data centres, such as a shortage of floor or rack space, are now looking at options such as IT leasing, managed services, virtualisation, cloud computing and software-as-a-service (SaaS)."
With SaaS solutions, the vendor's central data center provides the computing resources to run the application. This means that customers don't have to consume critical resources to generate the power for their own host machine. Not only that, but the redundant backup power and HVAC systems are also handled by the vendor, saving customers money that they could really use in this economy.
Curt Finch is the author of a project management book (that includes a chapter about SaaS) and lives in Texas.
New EBay Changes Catering To Big Dog Sellers
Pity the poor Mom and Pop seller trying to make it on eBay. EBay is instituting more changes today to stack the deck against them and shore up the more established larger vendors.
As first reported by the Wall Street Journal over the weekend, eBay will be dinking with its algorithms in its search engine to favor new products. Additionally (and more outrageously), eBay may even out and out limit its "Featured First" product position to top sellers only. Sellers will also be able to stuff pages with more product pictures (and in bigger sizes).
Features used to personalize pages (big sellers don't have time for such nonsense, while for the little guy; it's their edge) are reportedly going away.
Also going away, apparantly; some of the features used to connect buyers and sellers in communicating back and forth. Big time sellers don't have time for all that one-on-one down home talk. Again, personalization and relationship with customers is Mom and Pop's edge.
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out where my sympathies lie on this one. My question: at what point does the Federal Trade Commission look at this to see if this is, um, fair trade?
A modest proposal:
Perhaps there should be two eBays; the traditional online flea market/auction site that we all remember and love and one for the hard core drop shippers selling everything from discounted auto parts to sneakers. There's a demand for both and there are plenty of entrepreneurs in both tiers that need a place like eBay to chase their small business goals. Why set them up for a train wreck with each other?
I leave you with a quote from one eBayer posted on a message board elsewhere :
"Until eBay lowers their commissions and fees they are merely re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic."
EBay will be holding one of its townhall meetings on Wednesday at 3:30pm P.S.T. to discuss the changes with its masses. Can't wait.
The Sub-$1000 Home Office
Not including tax and title, of course!
Seriously, I remember about 12-13 years ago when the sub-$1000 price point for a desktop PC was all the rage.
Prices on tech gear have dropped so low, I think you can trick out an entire home office for under a grand.
Let's try:
1. 15.6 inch laptop by Compaq - Walmart $298 (starting July 26th)
2. Wireless all-in-one printer/copier/scanner by Cannon - Best Buy $149
3. 8 gig iPhone - $99 (with a two year contract with AT&T)
4. 2 Drawer Filing Cabinet - Staples $129
5. Wireless NetGear G Router - Amazon.com $39.99
6. Flip Phone - 60 minutes (for all those YouTube videos you'll be shooting pitching yourself and your entrepreneural endeavors) - Amazon.com $99
7. Norton Internet Security 1 user/3 PC's - Amazon.com 39.99
8. Microsoft Office 2007 Student Edition - $149 Office Max (Do you really need the $449 Small Business Edition?)
Grand Total = $1002.98
Okay, you'll have to spot me three bucks. But, by the time you write it all off as an unreimbursed business expense; we are back well under $1000 including tax and shipping.
The End of Outsourced Service Centers?
When outsourcing became popular, many American companies rushed to set up offshore service centers in countries like India. Now, however, many of them are starting to back out. Companies such as Citi, AOL, Aviva, Prudential UK and Philips have all ventured to rid themselves of their offshore IT and business process services subsidiaries.
This change comes from the global economic conditions. Inflation and exchange rate changes have caused the cost of these offshore centers to increase. Some experts feel that this is an inevitable result of short-sighted planning. "The larger issue is that these captive centers are difficult to manage and quite a distraction from a company's core business," says David Rutchik, an outsourcing consultancy partner. "They haven't been the panacea they were expected to be."
Furthermore wages in countries outsourcing haven countries, like India, have been rising much faster than in Europe or the U.S., lowering the economic arbitrage available to outsourcers. One study I read recently indicated that management cost was three times higher for outsourced operations than for local ones. In some cases that extra cost is justified by the lower wages, but increasingly it is not.
Curt holds 7 patents and is the CEO of a resource management software company.
Twitter's Twail of Twouble
Don't be fooled by all the cutesy-pie lingo that comes with Twitter. There are increasingly more twicks sprinkled in with those tweets.
It's a sure sign of success, I suppose, that a service has "arrived" online when it becomes one of the new preferred carriers of choice for worms, scams and spam.
Here are some of the key areas of vulnerability:
1. Old fashioned hacks into accounts: It's even happened to the President.
2. Phishing scams. Twitter is, of course, fertile ground for phishing scams just by the nature of how it works.
3. Worms. The Twitter worm that has received the most attention was this year's Mikeyy worm. There have been others.
4. Tiny urls. It's not easy putting your thoughts into 140 characters, especially when you have a link taking up 130 of those characters. Welcome the era of the tiny url, subsequently. This is also a great vulnerability. There are a number of plug-ins and apps you can use to test those links before you actually click through. Do so. Check out Zone Deck, Firefox's Bit.ly preview plug-in, Tweetie and Tweetdeck, as well.
5. You. Yes, you. It's so easy to tweet off at the mouth and not think about where those 140 characters are going and who will see them and, perhaps, exploit them. Be careful about giving out too much information about yourself; your comings and goings, your personal life, where you live, phone numbers, etc.
A Filter Doesn't Need To Be A Dam
Firewalls just aren't cutting it these days. Or more accurately, perhaps they are cutting it too well; as in cutting off more access than necessary and to the point of disrupting workflow and demoralizing employees.
True! Businesses need some way to protect their data from being uploaded to the www (world wide web = wild, wild, west).True! Businesses don't need their employees slacking on company time sending pieces of flair to their 972 friends on Facebook.
True! Businesses don't need their employees visiting high risk sites exposing their hard drives and perhaps the whole network to spyware, malware, viruses, worms, phishers and spammers (have I left any cyber-bad guys out here?).
However...
Also true! Businesses don't need to miss out on opportunities to connect with clients and colleagues through social networking sites. In fact, many businesses would do well to have a presence on the likes of Facebook and LinkedIn.Also true! Businesses need the 20-something workers. They're cheap, they're the future of your business in terms of human capitol and they are more tech savvy and will think of ways to leverage the Internet that you never dreamed of. So, lighten up and give them a listen when they make a case not to filter out social networking sites and other Web 2.0 solutions.
A new survey of primarily IT professionals put out by TechRepublic shows 71% of companies block social networking sites. These companies are primarily enterprise level organizations or the bigger end of small to midsize businesses. So how does this apply to you? Think of it as an opportunity for the scrappy smaller, more nimble business. The big dogs are obviously still stuck in one size fits all mandates from on high. You have options.
I leave you with one.
Check out Palo Alto Networks. It's an example of a network security company creating Firewall and software filters to a smarter level. It's less about filtering out categories of sites or specific IP addresses. Rather, it's a more seamless approach to giving employees the access they need while filtering out the bad stuff; like certain apps, the ability to upload data, etc.
Federal IT Project Tracking Data
Wondering where your tax dollars are going?
USAspending.gov, a website devoted to transparency on government spending, has a new IT Dashboard. Now anyone with an internet connection can access data on federal technology spending. The dashboard includes information on top contractors as well as the performance of various federal IT projects (green means good, red means in trouble). There are a number of charts and other visuals to illustrate where the money is being spent. The site, commissioned by the Obama Administration, refers to itself as "A journey towards greater Transparency and Accountability." According to analysts, this information has been public for years, but not in such a centralized, accessible form.
For another view, listen to the administration's CIO talking about the dashboard...
Curt Finch is the founder & CEO of a resource management software company.
Signs You Need A Tech Makeover
AT&T is having a "tech makeover" contest for small businesses.
To enter, a business (with less than 100 employees and located in the United States) has to upload a two minute video pitching their case why they need a makeover, along with the online application.
You have until the end of August to enter. The winner gets a makeover consultation by a technology expert and loads and loads of new technology gizmos; everything from a Windows Server to AT&T's full palatte of digital business tools (web design, hosting, Digital Express Direct Mail Extreme Membership, etc.).
Here's the link and good luck with that.
This would be a tough contest for many businesses to enter. Oh, there are plenty of small businesses in need of a technology intervention. But, how many realize it and have a clue what exactly they are lacking?
Here are some signs you may be living in the last millenium:
1. Is your company web site still a stagnant brochure site with no interaction with site visitors?
2. Are your employees using bare bones cheap no frills cell phones for business because that's all you will expense, while they whip out their personal iPhones and Blackberrys to keep up with sports scores and movie times?
3. When was the last time you ran any analytics on that brochure site?
4. Are all your employees still working primarily in the office tethered to their cubicles with a desktop PC?
5. Have you ever used web conferencing?
6. Are you still storing all your data on site?
7. Are you too cheap to pay an IT consultant to come in and declutter all the hard drives, as well as install recent patches, etc.?
8. Do you ascribe to the "if ain't broke, don't fix it" approach to technology or do you invest in new technologies that will streamline your business and save you money?
You get the idea. If a number of these questions made you inwardly cringe, you probably have your answer by now.
For most businesses in need of a technology "makeover", the truth is they likely need a technology attitude adjustment first.
One Giant Leap For Mankind
40 years ago today, 600 million people worldwide were huddled around their black and white television sets sharing in one of humankind's most glorious accomplishments; two guys walking on the moon.
Their names were Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. It was NASA's Apollo 11 mission. Along with Michael Collins, the third crew member who stayed with the module while the others took a stroll, it took Apollo 11 four days to make the journey having lifted off on July 16th from the Kennedy Space Center.
I was four years old at the time and my parents, like so many others that day, had the foresight to put us tykes in front of the television with the quiet reverence usually saved for church and told in hushed tones to watch this moment in history; so we could tell our children and grandchildren about it one day.
Well, today is that "one day" and this is what I'll be sharing with my kids.
First, I'll show them this clip.
Then, I will tell them what I remember most; the grainy picture, never seeing my parents so spellbound, the boredom waiting for "the moment", the excitement when it finally did.
We lived in Houston, TX; ground zero for space program mania. In Houston, NASA astronauts were modern day gods; larger than life heroes. Along with every kid on my block, we were all obsessed with going to space. While other kids may have played cops and robbers or cowboys and Indians; we played Neil and Buzz.
For Christmas that year, my Dad gave me a choice between a club house size playhouse or a space capsule. I took the space capsule, of course. I remember stepping out of it with my Mom's laundry bag taking a slow motion high stepping walk around the house gathering various objects laying around pretending that I was collecting moon rocks. We sipped our hot cocoa from NASA mugs in the winter. Moon landing posters adorned my older brother's bedroom walls.
A lot went into making that walk happen; years of successes and failures. It was the culmination and collaboration of some of the most brilliant minds of its time. It was the spark that ignited the computer revolution.
It was validation that you can never dream too big.
And that's why we must never stop telling the story of that day.
Is Firefox's 15 Minutes Up?
For a time, Mozilla's Firefox was considered the bomb when it came to Internet browsers. It was just a year and some change ago that Mozilla released Firefox's 3.0 version garnering a stunning 12 million downloads in just one week; eight million within the first 24 hours after release.
Geez, so what happened?
This week, Mozilla released version 3.5. Did you hear about it? My point exactly.
It was a big "who cares" event.
This is just another cautionary tale of how much the tech landscape can change in a mere 12 months.
Here's what's happened since:
1. Microsoft released a new version of Internet Explorer, new and improved.
2. Apple released a new version of Safari, new and improved.
3. Both of those come pre-loaded onto their respective computer platforms. In other words, it's a passive choice for users. Users need a reason to go looking for Firefox.
and last, but not least...
4. Google launched it's own browser, Chrome, which is doing quite well. By coming out with its own browser, at the same time Mozilla lots it greatest heavyweight champion of Firefox. Ouch!
Question:
- Will Firefox fizzle?
- Will anyone care?
iTunes and Palm Pre No Longer Mix
Memo to Palm Pre users: if you've been enjoying syncing up your Palm Pre to iTunes, then don't bite on the new iTunes update to 8.2.1.
Here's why: Apple is on to you!
When the Palm Pre first came out way back when (a couple of months ago), it had bragging rights that users could sync it up like an iPod.
Unfortunately, it was programmed to be so much like an iPod that it was in fact giving iTunes an iPod-like product ID (in other words, it was what some might call, er uh, a hack).
The folks in Cupertino were not amused.
The new update for iTunes has a fix. If you have a Palm Pre and you want to get around this for awhile longer than just avoid biting on the upgrade option for 8.2.1. The little popup screen, of course, does not mention what it's upgrading.
LinkedIn Asks for Free Services
LinkedIn recently asked thousands of its members to volunteer translation services in order for the site to expand internationally. A multiple choice question survey was sent to these members with questions such as how they would like to be compensated, "with five nonmonetary choices including an upgraded LinkedIn account and none (“because it’s fun”)." Many such members were outraged that they would be asked to provide their professional services for free. LinkedIn argues that rather than trying to rip off its members, it was simply going for the Wikipedia "crowd sourcing" method.
I personally have a number of friends working at various translation entities who are connected to
me on Linkedin.com. I'm sure they loved this one.
Every company would like the things they purchase (including knowledge work) to be free.
They just usually aren't too keen on selling their own stuff that way.
Curt has 7 patents and is the CEO of a timesheet software company in Austin, Texas.
Microsoft Announces Pricing For New Cloud Services
And memo to small and midsize businesses; take a look, because it will be competitive.
Microsoft's coming cloud subscription service, Azure, will be available come November. It's now only available by invitation only through its Community Technology Preview program.
Here's what the pricing structure will look like:
1. Azure's OS will rent out at .12 cents per computing hour...
2. and/or .15 cents a month per gigabyte...
3. and/or .10 cents for every 10,000 storage transactions...
4. There's also a flat SQL starter rate at $9.95 a month.
5. The business edition has a capacity of up to 10 gigabytes and goes for $99 a month.
Interesting foot note; the City of Chicago is already using Azure. Windy City - cloud computing; there's a punch line in there somewhere. I'll let you make your own today.
1.5 Billion Downloads Later
Apple's App Store is turning one today. Time flies when customers download 1.5 billion copies from the 65,000 choices now available at the Apple App store.
One year later, we are seeing "the other guys" playing a sad game of catchup.
Verizon, for example, will be announcing the launch of a new application store at it's developer conference in San Jose on the 28th of this month. The wireless carrier is making it clear that it's application store will only carry Verizon applications and not applications from Blackberry or Microsoft's Window's Mobile Marketplace due to open later this year (I smell a coming tension in those relationships).
Speaking of Window's Mobile Marketplace, Microsoft is announcing today at its Worldwide Partner's Conference in New Orleans an invitation for developers from 29 countries to gain access to start developing new applications in anticipation of the store's launch.
RIM (parent company of Blackberry) has been struggling to get it's application store off the ground for sometime. Just today, it has launched a social networking version of its store called MyBlackberry. Will this be too little too late or put it in the game at last? Stay tuned on that one.
I think these are more important questions to ask:
1. How much is a robust app store driving iPhone sales? Is it the other way around?
2. Blackberry users, for example, are not quite the same demographic as the average iPhone user. Why should we assume a successful application store would be as beneficial?
3. Is the app gap and an age gap? 50 applications on your smartphone may make sense at age 25. Does it make sense to the average 40 or 50 something executive?
Then again, the smartphone gang doesn't really care as much about us fossils who only care about a mobile weather forecast, a map (which our old eyes can't read on that little screeen anyway) and maybe a headline or two.
What Microsoft Does Best
After last week's announcement that Google will be launching it's own operating system next year, Microsoft could use some good press this week.
As usual, it's their Office Suite to the rescue making them look good again.
Microsoft has released it's technical preview (by invitation only primarily for developers) today. Of course, this is no where near the finished product. But early reviews are quite positive.
The new Office 2010 suite emphasizes more tools for better collaboration, work flow across phone, web and PC, as welll as integrating other web applications.
PowerPoint will now include a video editing tool (makes soooo much sense), as well.
As widely reported in recent months, there will be a stripped down free web-based version of Office, as well. This is in answer to Google's free web-based Docs & Spreadsheets.
Here's what I'm seeing:
Google is moving more into Microsoft's space with the annoucement of the forthcoming Chrome O/S. Microsoft is moving more into Google's space with web-based free versions of their software applications, not to mention their new search engine Bing.
Bottomline: The two titans are squaring off for battle and it should be a doozy. I predict it will make the Microsoft Vs. Apple rivalry look like a church picnic before it's all over.
I will leave you with this Office 2010 preview video (summer blockbuster style). Let's see: Transfomers, GI Joe and Office 2010. As the folks on Sesame Street would say, "One of these things isn't like the other. One of these things doesn't belong.'
Uncle Sam Takes on Internet Marketing
So far, companies like Google, Microsoft and Facebook have been allowed to "self-regulate" their marketing practices. This means that companies are largely free to install cookies on web surfer's computers without their knowing it. These cookies then track surfer behavior and tailor ads to their interests in what some people view as an Orwellian fashion.
The era of self-regulation might be nearing its end, according to BusinessWeek. On June 18, 2009, a House of Representatives subcommittee held a hearing to address the issue. There is, however, a concern among marketers that government involvement and legislation will not be able to keep up with the fast pace of technology or adapt itself accordingly.
Pick your favorite Big Brother, Google? Or the Federal Government?
Curt is the founder & CEO of a timesheet software company in Austin, Texas.
Dell's Plans for an Android PDA
Dell, which is a local company here in Austin, Texas, is currently developing a new kind of smartphone minus the phone. According to TechNewsWorld, the company is "developing an Android-based, non-phone device that will run on the ARM architecture instead of an Intel Atom mobile chip," though Dell is not answering questions about these plans.
Some people are not convinced. Richard Shin, an analyst for IDC, said, "Consumers will see a clamshell form factor and will think the device will run applications they are used to using on their computers. The problem is, it won't. [...] It could be a recipe for failure."
Is this Dell's answer to the iTouch?
Curt Finch writes for a project management blog as well.
Google Chrome OS Aftershocks
Welcome to the new operating systems war! For so long it was Windows versus Mac. But this week Google pulled a Pearl Harbor on Microsoft by announcing it will launch its own operating system next year built around their relatively new Chrome browser.
It seems everyone has something to say about it. Here's a round up of quotes and headlines this week:
"Google to Microsoft: It's on"
- C/Net, July 8th
But wait there's more...
“It’s not good news for Microsoft. The real question right now is how bad can it be?”
- David Hilal, FBR Capital Markets Analyst for the Wall Street Journal
And more...
"Chrome OS: Cloud computing made real: Forget Windows. So long Mac OS X. Google's OS lifts computing out of yesterday's desktop paradigm and into the cloud"
- InfoWorld, July 9th
Now we're getting whipped into a frenzy...
A Microsoft nightmare? Google to launch Chrome operating system
- Los Angeles Times, July 8th
Okay, this one crosses over into hysteria...
"Geek Newsflash: Google Drops "Nuclear Bomb" on Microsoft"
- SFist, July 8th
Score a few for Microsoft, and sobriety...
"The Google OS Is Doomed"
- Slate, Thursday, July 9th
Here's the sobriety part...
"Will Google's Chrome OS look rusty by late 2010?"
- Mary Jo Foley, ZDNet, July 8th
More sobriety...
"Chrome OS Not Exactly a “Death Knell” for Windows"
Digital Daily, July 9th
Stay tuned...
Social Media Regulation
A lot of companies today don't know what to do with social media. Some use it for marketing purposes while others fear it. It can be especially difficult for medium- and large-sized companies whose individual employees wish to blog, Tweet and post on Facebook on their own. Many people - from flight attendants to journalists - have lost their jobs because of their online presence, which begs the question: What is the appropriate way to express yourself online without damaging your company in any way? The problem is that the answer to this question is quite subjective, depending on who you ask.
Intel has confronted the issue head on with its Social Media department, which has just published guidelines for Intel employees who wish to "create or contribute to blogs, wikis, social networks, virtual worlds, or any other kind of social media both on and off intel.com."
Curt the CEO of a resource management software company.
Eight Years of Windows XP
Once upon a time, computer users lived on a rhythm of upgrading their operating systems every three years or so (five years on the long side). Then along came Windows XP in 2001 (eight years ago and counting) and then along came Vista (do I hear crickets?), which made us want to stick with Windows XP.
Vista, or as I like to call it on second reference; the Edsel of operating systems, forced a lot of Windows users to just sit out this upgrade and wait for the next go-round. We're still waiting. Windows 7 is due out in the Fall, however we've learned something Microsoft.
That operating system cycle you created and imposed on us to accomodate your bottom line and less our needs is about as relevant to us as a typewriter now.
1. We've learned that if isn't broken, don't fix it. We can limp by with what we already have a lot longer than perhaps we realized eight years ago.
2. There are other fish in the sea. For those of us that have grown weary of XP, we've tried other operating systems like open source solutions or jumped over to Macs.
3. Thin clients make for thin solutions. We're more into our mobile devices now and some of us are pouncing on netbooks. When we talk about operating systems now; names like Ubuntu, Symbian, Android, Blackberry, Palm OS and, of course, the iPhone OS are more likely to be the topic of conversation than Windows.
4. We've gone Amish. We don't want more features and bling that bloats our hard drive. We want simplicity. We are storing less on our own devices and more on the web. Less is more. The only new features we are interested in are speed and stability.
Will Google KO Microsoft?
Welcome to celebrity death match; high tech style. After years of dancing around each other like a couple of heavy weight boxers; Google just threw an old fashioned round house punch at Microsoft by announcing that, yes, it will be launching its own operating system soon. It will be built around their Chrome browser and primarily be used for the netbook market (you know, the only niche of PC sales that are doing anything right now).
Forget the boxing analogy, however. Google has really laid this one out more like a chess master.
First, it offered its free web-based Microsoft Office knock-offs; Google Docs & Spreadsheets.
More recently, it launched it's Chrome browser which is up to 30 million users now in less than a year's time.
Just this week, it removed the "beta" moniker from gmail (it's only been around five years now) which is code for enterprise-ready.
Google's Chrome O/S is expected to come out sometime in the second half of 2010.
Google says this is a totally different animal than its mobile operating system, Android, although they do anticipate some overlap between the two products (they would have to overlap, I would think).
Bottomline: netbooks and especially mobile devices are the two major growth areas for Internet access tools. Desktops and laptops are out, netbooks and smartphones are in. While the former is still king of the cowboys, those numbers are waning while the latter is spreading like wildfire. 20% of all web usage is now through mobile device now - and growing.
It may be six to ten moves away, but one can't help but think that eventually Google will be the one to lean back and say "Check mate!".
CEOs Shun Social Networking
ComputerWorld reports that a recent study by UberCEO.com shows that most CEOs at large U.S. companies are not taking advantage of online networking tools such as Twitter and LinkedIn. An editor at UberCEO.com says, "No doubt, regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley and Reg-FD make CEOs cautious about communicating freely, [but] they're missing a fabulous opportunity to connect with their target audience."
The reality is that the CEOs of the large companies referred to in this study probably did not get to where they are by connecting with thousands of customers in any direct way at all. What they do well (one hopes) is build teams that can build and execute useful strategies well.
If their firm is selling a consumer good, such as a smartphone or basketball shoes, then I can see the argument for getting out there on Twitter and Facebook, even for the CEO. But the CEO of Caterpillar isn't going to sell many bulldozers on Twitter, he's just not.
Curt Finch is the founder & CEO of a resource management software company.
Contact Us 2.0
Every web site has one; the ubiquitous "contact us" page. For so many web sites, this is often a black hole that potential customers fall into and the last thing that happens is contacting of any kind.
I would even go so far and say that it is perhaps the weakest link (literally) on the average business site. For all the great information, pitch copy, fresh blog entries, company bios, pictures of products, etc.; who cares, if you don't follow through on a contact.
Check out "Visitor Contact". Yes, it's another free Web 2.0 service. But, this one looks promising.
Visitor Contact is sort of a like a Constant Contact service, only it offers customized visitor contact pages instead of customized e-newsletters.
I like it for the following reasons:
1. It's a way to design a visitor contact form with more personalization for your company.
2. It offers analytics to keep track of who has contacted you and where they are geographically located.
3. It adds a layer of protection from spammers for your company.
4. You can set it up to trigger an automated response back to inquiring site visitors, so they immediately know you are not one of those sites with a "black hole" contact us page.
5. Did I mention it's free!
How to get married on the net...
Being a hopeless romantic, I handed my girlfriend (now wife) a Subway sandwich and a diamond ring when she'd just gotten out of the shower.
It was not really the extravaganza she was looking for, but I was still able to convince her.
That was 7 years ago, and it never occurred to me to do something geeky on the internet.
But now we have a guide, 5 Geeky Ways To Ask Someone To Marry You On The Internet
You can make a Youtube video, build a website, or email her a GPS hunt.
It brings a tear to my eye it does.
Curt has 7 patents and is the CEO of a timesheet software company in Austin, Texas.
What Exactly Is A Netbook, Anyway?
If you think that's a dumb question, then you are in a minority according to a new survey put out by the NPD Group.
Netbooks have been the darling of the PC industry over the past year or two. When you look at desktop and laptop sales, it is easy to see why. Desktop and laptops have tanked right along with the economy, while netbooks have soared.
But what is a netbook and what is their benefit?
Consider the survey results:
1. 60% of the people surveyed say that they only use their netbooks at home, as opposed to taking it on the go.
2. The same 60% say they bought their netbook for using on the go. Hmmm.. and what happened?
3. For those that went shopping for a notebook and ended up coming home with a netbook, 58% said they were ultimately not happy with their decision (duh!). Meantime, 70% who said they went shopping for a netbook and came home with a netbook are ultimately happy with what they got (duh, part duh!)
Maybe part of the problem is the definition of "netbook", which seems to be a moving target.
When netbooks came out, originally, they were exclusively loaded with open source operating systems, which kept the price down by avoiding pricey Windows software.
Netbooks typically had seven to eight inch screens. Then the size crept up to ten inches and are well on the way to 12 inches. You can also get them with Windows XP.
Tell me again, what is the difference?
Originally, they were supposed to be something different than a notebook and not just a baby notebook. Well guess what? Notebooks appear to have a little brother now.
Additional, theories:
If so many netbook buyers started out as notebook shoppers; could it be that the real appeal is a) the right price in the wrong economy and/or b) Windows XP on a 10 inch screen is more appealing than Vista on a 15 inch screen?
I'm just saying...
How to Prevent IT Project Failure (3 of 3)
3. Data for the CXO
For executives, it is impossible to make effective decisions without knowing what people are working on or how the projects are doing. Additionally, if strategic projects do not have priority for critical, scarce resources, it will cause stress for the organization as a whole. Many organizations feel that it is enough to track project progress on a percentage complete basis. Unfortunately, this is not consistent with established methodologies, which nearly always suggest that the only accurate measure of progress is tracking work effort (i.e., time).
It is extremely important to present project data to management in an easily consumable way. Executives just want to know, at a glance, what is broken or about to be broken. They are problem solvers, and they can only succeed if they have up-to-date, accurate information. Such data will also allow executives to prioritize projects based on their value to the organization and its core strategy.
Curt Finch is the founder & CEO of a resource management software company.
Microsoft's New Deal Style Help
I often give Microsoft a hard time on this blog. Not so this time. I want to give their program, "Elevate America" a mention.
Elevate America is Microsoft's way of helping American workers get a leg up and perhaps get off the unemployment line in the midst of this tough economy.
Here's what the program has to offer:
- Microsoft is offering free or low cost tech training and even certification opportunities for up to two million people over the next three years, some of it is directly available through Microsoft. Other offerings are in partnership with a number of states that have already signed on to the program. Those states include, so far, Washington, New York, Florida, Virginia.
- It offers basic technology skills training that covers how to put together a resume and send it out electronically to fundamental web site design.
- There are vouchers for tuition to certification course work and even the exams.
- It also includes special training for college students and grads, along with job placement assistance.
Yes, one could interpret all of this as a bit self-serving; a way to further expand the Microsoft IT army giving businesses more reason to stick with Windows, etc.and avoid open source solutions. Take a step back on this one, however. Microsoft is a business, after all. Their job is making money. Businesses don't do anything without getting something out of it in return, even if it's just a play for some good public relations.
I don't have a problem with that and this time Microsoft has earned some good PR.
Job training assistance in an economy where the unemployment rate is dancing around the double digit barrier is a site for sore eyes. This is not retraining for menial, low paying jobs. These skills are for good- salaried white collar professions. The skills are highly mobile, too.
At a time when so many Americans are out of work and yet there is a need to import workers from out of the country to fill good high tech positions; this is a great program to offer.
I hope other states will join the effort.
I hope businesses will join the effort. Perhaps instead of outsourcing work to other countries, some will instead consider pointing job candidates to this program and then hiring these new entry-level workers instead.
