Tag Archives: Gary Chen

About 2330 days ago Business Software

What is Linux?

The beginning of 2007 will see the arrival of a new version of a widely used computer operating system (OS). This latest version will see many new advances over the current editions, and is likely to be quickly adopted in the coming months. This isn’t Windows Vista, the long-awaited update of Microsoft’s flagship computer operating system. This new much-heralded update is actually based on Linux, the open-source operating system. The major launch is Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5, expected to be commercially available in January. That will be followed soon after by Open Enterprise Server from Novell. And while Linux is still trailing Microsoft’s computer OS in overall popularity, it has a higher growth rate while coming from a small base, according to George Weis, an analyst with Gartner Inc., a Stamford, Conn. research firm.  Much of this growth is coming in computer servers, popular with some small and mid-size businesses that deal in a high volume of data over a network. “The two OS for the server in the future will be Linux and Windows,” Weis says. “Linux is an economical cost-justified OS for the X86, Intel-compatible platform, and the benefit of Linux over Unix is really closing.” Linux has about $8 billion in annual revenue from server shipments, which is expected to grow to about $13 billion by 2011, according to a Gartner forecast. At the same time, Microsoft’s Windows will likely raise $22 billion in revenue from servers over the same time. But the interesting factor is that the $13 billion in revenue for Linux is in a market for what many people consider free software. History of Linux Linux isn’t a new phenomenon. Linux was developed in the early 1990s as an alternative to an OS called MINIX, itself an alternative to Unix. Linus Torvalds, then a student at the University of Helsinki, wanted to develop something that was both free and open. The result was Linux. During the past decade, software has maintained cult popularity, offering a desktop alternative to Windows or the Apple OS. But its real power as been on the server side. Linux, at its core, was designed to be developer-friendly, and as a result grew with the development of the World Wide Web in the mid-1990s. Nicholas Petreley, editor-in-chief of the Linux Journal, says the OS has a bit of a dubious past. “It was a popular Web server for pornographic websites,” he says. “It was free and stable, and this proved it was a reliable Web server.” At the same, Linux started being used because it could emulate a Windows file and printer server, and many IT departments essentially “snuck in” the OS to save money, says Petreley. “Once Oracle and IBM supported Linux, it came out of the closet,” he adds. Now, he estimates that 80 percent to 90 percent of businesses use Linux in some way. Business uses of Linux There are different ways that Linux can be used in the small and mid-size business environment: in desktop PCs, servers (such as e-mail servers), and on workstations (such as graphic workstations). Companies need to undertake cost analyses to figure out whether a move to Linux in any of those categories makes economic sense – figuring out the costs associated with upgrading, any new licensing fees and finding technical staff that can shepherd the changeover. However, one of the great misconceptions about Linux is that businesses can just run it for free. While there are plenty of free downloadable versions, most small and mid-size businesses still pay for commercially-available versions that feature the traditional tech support you’d find with Windows or even Unix. For business use, the main downside of using Linux is simply application availability, says Gary Chen, a small business IT analyst with the Yankee Group, a Boston-based research firm. “An OS isn’t really useful without apps to run on top of it. Linux has some good applications but there still exist major holes and in some areas there isn’t the amount of choice as for Windows,” Chen says. “This is changing, but building an ecosystem that can rival the Microsoft system will certainly take a lot of time.” In addition to commercially-available server packages from companies such as Novell and Red Hat, there is a growing body of open-source software available for free that can help a small business develop Web services, host databases, and provide network monitoring. In this respect, Linux is a very solid choice for a small company with a small information technology budget, or a larger company trying to shrug off some painful licensing fees. Another attribute of Linux is that it is generally virus free, and many long time users speak highly of how it seldom crashes. Of course, with every silver lining there may be clouds. Most notably says Petreley, “There is no one to hold financially responsible should you have problems.”

About 2361 days ago Business Software

How to Choose Office Productivity Software

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When choosing office productivity software — the suite of functions, including word processing, spreadsheets, presentation software and an e-mail program — the knee-jerk reaction is to first look at Microsoft Office. After all, it is the most ubiquitous. But popularity doesn’t matter to everyone. Derek Featherstone, founder of Further Ahead, of Ottawa, a Web development firm, uses a combination of Apple’s iWork on his Mac, which includes the Pages application for documents and Keynote for presentations. He also uses OpenOffice, an open source office productivity suite, “because it was free, compatible with pretty much every other office suite out there.” Featherstone says that he works on three computers at a time — a Mac, a Windows-based PC, and an open-source Linux machine. “I wanted to be able to have a tool that worked no matter which computer I happened to be using at the time and not to have to pay for three licenses,” Featherstone says. “As a small business, minimizing costs is essential. OpenOffice lets me do just that.” Featherstone is one of a new breed of entrepreneur who believes that when it comes to office productivity software there’s more than one choice out there. Small businesses miss out on upgrades Right now Microsoft Office dominates the small and mid-size business market. However, many of these packages were purchased years ago, and were not upgraded, even though Microsoft refreshed the offering in 2003. What that means is that small businesses using an older Office version may be missing out on features enabling them to increase productivity. As it is, many small businesses don’t use many features beyond the basic functionality. “Ninety percent of MS Office’s higher functionality isn’t used by most users, who simply want to keep track of finances, write office letters, and put together small presentations, etc.” says Adam Braunstein, senior research analyst at the Robert Frances Group, a business advisory to technology executives. “That’s too bad,” Yankee Group analyst Gary Chen points out, “because Office comes out with cool things that people almost never discover — such as support for tablet PCs, collaboration tools, and locking down sections in a Word document that can’t be edited.” And yet, Microsoft has been spending a lot of time focused on the small business market, and currently has a free product out for small businesses. In addition, Microsoft is coming out with its newest version yet, Office 2007, with even more updated versions of its features. The bottom line is that the customers still aren’t getting everything they could out of their product. “That left the door open for other start-ups to get in there,” says Chen. One of those is the commercial version of OpenOffice, the free office suite and Open Source project that Featherstone uses, called StarOffice. StarOffice is spear-headed by Sun Microsystems. It’s a neat alternative, says Chen, and supports much of what’s available on Microsoft Office. Sun is trying to lure people in with snazzy features, such as multiple toolbars, migration aides, Web publishing tools, etc. It’s giving Office a run for the money. CFOs are happy with it, though; StarOffice is a fraction of the cost of Microsoft Office. Battle of the productivity programs “With the many different formats out there you can send a file and the receiver can’t open it or if they do it looks weird,” says Chen.  Right now, Microsoft is the format that everyone can open. OpenOffice is a cross platform. It can run on Linux. So, people can use whatever platform they want. And it’s free. Also, the online versions are not tied to an install on a particular computer, says Forrester analyst Michael Speyer. “You can use them anywhere that has Internet access.” Another thing to consider with the Open Source products is that there is an emphasis on introducing new, exciting features. There are a lot of OpenOffice choices and more coming. Look out for Google to make some waves in the area. Right now, Google offers some business applications over the Web, and considering the huge cash hoard that the company is sinking into research and development,  their products will only get better. Right now, their offerings are free, and in the get-what-you-pay-for kind of way, there are lots of ads. Reading distracting ads, however, isn’t the ideal situation to increase productivity at work. The areas where the rival products still trail behind Office, says Andrea Peiro, CEO and founder, Small Business Technology Institute, are mostly related to collaboration — such as documents version control, integration of the revision process with -email programs and interaction with some server-side technologies.  “In a multi-employee environment with highly structured document management processes, these features can be extremely important, but for most other situations these alternatives represent excellent low-cost options,” says Chen. How to figure out what suite is right for your business Chen recommends that small business owners ask themselves the following questions: How much do you use the office suite? Which features and functionality do you use and need? Take a look at the complexity of the documents you use and produce and look at what level of support you need. Something to consider if you use free products is that if you want support you’ll need to pay extra. What is your budget for the product and for support? Office is much more expensive than its competition, running several hundred dollars per computer. If you are looking for something else to cast your vote for, Peiro suggests considering the following, which offer a high degree of compatibility with Office in terms of file formats: OpenOffice This is a free multiplatform office suite and an Open Source project that’s compatible with all other major office suites. WordPerfect Suite This old standby — remember WordPerfect anyone? — costs about $250.00. 602 PC Suite Low-cost alternative started in the Czech Republic. It includes a word processor, spreadsheet, photo editor, and photo album organizer. ThinkFree Web-based office application. It’s free but doesn¹t include a database application.

About 2422 days ago Setting Up a Website

How to Avoid “Abandoned Cart Syndrome”

It’s often referred to as “abandoned cart syndrome” when a shopper leaves your website after flagging products for purchase. Something happens between the time they add an item to the cart and checkout. The question is, do you know what it is? “Potential customers who leave your website prematurely aren’t going to tell you what turned them off, so the burden is on you to figure out what that is,” says Gary Chen, an analyst for small and medium business strategy at the Boston, Mass.-based Yankee Group market research firm. It could be any number of things, says Chen, including difficult navigation, out-of-date information, surprising shipping costs or taxes, payment restrictions, identity theft concerns or unclear return policies. Why customers abandon their carts The New York-based eMarketer research firm included some eye-opening findings about why customers abandon their carts in a recent report. Citing data collected by WebSurveyor, an online survey software and hosting service, among the most often cited reasons that online shopping experiences during the holiday season last year were unsuccessful were: comparison shopping (30 percent), shipping cost too high (27 percent), ran out of time (27 percent), product out of stock or backordered (16 percent), and technical problems with the shopping cart (8 percent). Tips to avoid cart ditching A Direct Marketing Association survey conducted by online retailers in October 2005 offers some tips to limit shopping cart abandonment. 1. Try to limit the number of clicks in the shopping process. Experts say that registration before buying is a big turn-off to customers unless they understand what’s in it for them — fewer clicks the next time. Limit the number of steps a customer has to take to pay you. It’s that simple. 2. Track pathing, a networking approach that alters network communication paths. Make sure that customers aren’t dumping the virtual shopping cart because of slowness involving technology on your end. 3. More transparency in pricing. The sooner a customer knows the price, including shipping and handling, the better. Consider installing a quick S&H calculator on the site to help. 4. Test for navigation glitches. The best way to understand the customer shopping experience is to test drive a shopping cart yourself. That way, you can find broken links or mislabeled items before your customer jumps ship. 5. Improved customer support via the website. The big companies now deploy instant chat on their sites. That might be out of the price realm of smaller companies, but make sure the shopper knows how to contact you, where you are located, what your policies are and where they can e-mail a question. Needless to say, respond promptly. 6. Encourage buyers to use an electronic payment service. Paypal or one of the major credit cards is a good way to help complete the sale. Customers are turned off by having to mail a check before they receive goods. Troubleshoot by returning to the basics If customers keep abandoning their shopping carts on your company website instead of completing the purchase, you may want to consider going to a professional instead of handling the problem in-house.  “Basically, there are two methods to add shopping cart functionality: go with a hosted online e-store to handle this for you or use software to add a shopping cart to your existing site,” explains Chen. The trend is the former — to outsource the store — because most SMBs don’t have the time or inclination to program a shopping cart, says Chen. “It’s often smarter to go with an existing off-the-shelf online solution, such as Yahoo! Stores or Pro Stores Pro Stores, now owned by eBay. Don’t think you can do a better job yourself.” Plans for these hosted sites can cost less than $100 a month, says Chen. Some companies, such as Doral, Fla.-based Fortune3 offer both an e-commerce hosting solution and do-it-yourself option. Fortune3’s Web shopping cart “wizard” software costs a flat $495, although the fee is waived if an e-tailer uses Fortune3’s Web hosting solution (plans start as low as $30 a month). “A shopping cart shouldn’t be sophisticated for both the owner and the customer,” says Fortune3 CEO Fortunato Farache. “A shopping cart should be four things: functional, fast, good-looking and secure. If the consumer senses a defect in any of these areas, they will likely leave the site.”

About 2422 days ago Setting Up a Website

Hiring a Web Designer

Doug Hamlin, president and CEO of Torrance, Calif.’s AutoMedia Solutions, knew it was time to revamp his website. To keep up with the advertising market, he had shifted his business model from business-to-business to consumer, but his website had yet to reflect that. He needed to completely overhaul is website to advise consumers on which cars to buy and on car maintenance. He needed to implement changes like getting rid of his password-protected website and donning a more consumer-friendly look and feel — and that was just be the beginning. In the first go-round, AutoMedia had built its website internally, but the company recognized it didn’t have the needed expertise to build a more complicated site. Diverting the attention of his small staff to build the site wouldn’t be efficient. He wanted to find a service provider who would listen and understanding his company’s needs. But who would do that job? “Unless you are funded with venture capital, you need to be efficient,” says Hamlin. So an expensive design agency wouldn’t be the right fit for AutoMedia; Hamlin needed to hire a Web designer or small design firm. Here are five things experts say he should look for: Consider experience Ask to see work the Web designer has done before. There’s a reason for the cliché: “The best indication of present and future behavior is past behavior.” Other client sites will show you the designer’s credibility as well as their different styles and designs. “By the work, you know the craftsmanship,” says Harley Manning, vice president and research director at Forrester Research. Also, ask the designer to tell you who the site was designed for and what their needs are. “If they can’t describe the person, it’s a huge warning sign,” says Manning. Andrea Peiro, founder and CEO of the Small Business Technology Institute, says a Web designer should have a minimum of two years’ experience and at least two current references. The references should be checked to see if the vendor delivers on time; is responsive to client needs; provides consistent, professional service; meets or exceeds expectations; and provides solutions at an agreed upon price. Expect multi-skills Does the company or individual do design as well as development? A good one would do both. Sometimes a really creative person can only take the technical part so far. A designer may be able to design a pretty site but it could be a problem if, say, you need a shopping cart, notes Gary Chen, Yankee Group analyst for the small and medium business strategies decision service. Look for full-service firms wherever possible. It shouldn’t be surprising that great programmers don’t usually make good graphics. Beyond design and production If it’s within your budget (and it never hurts to ask), find out what else the company can do for your site. For example, can they also help you market your website? Can they help you optimize your site for search engines? Many Web designers will at least have some feel for this. Justin Kitch, CEO and co-founder of Homestead Technologies, Inc., which provides website creation software and other e-commerce solutions services, encourages users to look for new ways to improve their websites. One example: Homestead offers site analytics and metrics to look at your site and see who is filling out your forms. That way you can tailor any changes to be more effective. Process matters “What separates a bad site and a good site is how well it influences the performance of the business,” says Peiro. There should be a sign-off process and the designer should give you a creative brief as an overview. There should also be a document outlining technical specifications — a blueprint for programming. Make sure that he is building a site that fits the needs of your business and industry, says Peiro. Location, location, location AutoMedia Solutions’ Hamlin had an instinct to go local.  Being local has its benefits. For one, there’s more hands-on care. The close interaction is also appealing. “I found my new vendor by doing Internet searches for someone in the area,” Hamlin says. After a couple of conversations, Hamlin drove to nearby Irvine to meet with Victor Liu, CEO of Web Advanced, and his team. There was an immediate connection. “Like everything, business is about relationships,” says Hamlin. “And, then like most decisions, you take a leap of faith and go.”

About 2422 days ago E-Commerce

Great Free Tools for Online Business

One of the great things about the Web is the proliferation of free information and tools available. There is even a movement out there, called Open Source, which Wikipedia defines as describing “practices in production and development that promote access to the end product’s sources.” Here’s how you can take advantage of the generosity out there that’s ripe for the picking: Get set-up:Check out the website for SCORE, a non-profit which describes itself as “Counselors to America’s Small Business” and “America’s premier source of free and confidential small business advice for entrepreneurs.” The site offers loads of free tools and advice such as how to write up a business plan, build a website, and position your business. It should be one of the first stops that any small business owner should make if he hasn’t already, and even then it should be a routine click because there is often new information posted. Look around: There is help for small businesses to be found all over the Internet, says Victor Liu, co-founder of Web Advanced, a Web design firm in Irvine, Calif. One site that aggregates them for you is The Free Site, essentially an online holding pen of practically every free deal out there (hence the name).Some tools to help you ramp up your online presence include Marketing Today, which offers information about online marketing, and Any Browser, which lets you know how others see your site when it pops up on their browser. The latter also provides tools to fix things in case it turns out that the site others are seeing is indeed not what you intended. For better functioning websites, Liu highly recommends Google Analytics, which can help you find out how much of your traffic is organic versus paid. Get the message out: Blogs and podcasts can be valuable tools for companies to promote their sites. Paul Epstein, CEO of High Voltage Interactive, an online marketing firm, has suggestions of where to get started on these. For free information about blogs check out Technorati and also see Blogwise about setting up your own. For information on how to set up podcasts, check out PodBlaze. If it’s free, can it be good: Gary Chen, the small and medium business strategies analyst at the Yankee Group, a Boston research firm, also is cynical. A lot of free sites are not what they appear to be; they have hazy privacy policies. Check to see what the policies are — a quick search on the Internet to see if anything bad comes up can be a good start. “But, if you’re not sure, stay with a more reputable site,” he says. But even if it is reputable, as with anything gotten for free, especially if the service isn’t be offered by a non-profit organization, be careful. Justin Kitch, CEO and co-founder of Homestead Technologies, Inc., a website creation software company that once had a different business model involving giving away free product, knows of what he speaks. “If something is for free there’s a reason,” he says. “If you offer a free service you can’t think about the free customers. The most important person is this case isn’t the customer it’s the sponsor.”