Interesting times...
Amazon.com Inc. will buy digital audiobook provider Audible Inc. in a deal worth about $300 million that expands its push into digital content and ratchets up its rivalry with Apple Inc.
Audible, based in Newark, N.J., sells thousands of audiobooks from authors such as John Grishman and Stephen King that can be downloaded off the Internet and played on computers, iPods or MP3 devices. Audible supplies the audiobooks that are sold on Apple's online iTunes store.
Imho, this is a very pragmatic and customer-focused move on Adobe's part
We had all the noise last week about IBM supporting Open XML in a number of their products. Today I learned that Adobe's Buzzword, a web based wordprocessor, now supports reading and writing .docx files. Very cool: http://forum.buzzword.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&p=980
I think they also have plans on supporting ODF, but it's not clear when that will be available.
Brian Jones: Open XML Formats : Buzzword now supports reading and writing Open XML
A harsh Yahoo reality check
Listening to the droning, jargon-filled Yahoo conference call on Tuesday night, you could only think that Jerry Yang and Sue Decker were aiming their conversation only at analysts who needed to fill out their 2008 spreadsheets.
That strategy didn’t work. Yahoo shares are down 9 percent today to $19.01. The analysts have been busy reducing their target prices on the stock. Citigroup, Oppenheimer and Pacific Crest Securities dropped Yahoo from their recommendation lists. This is what Sandeep Aggarwal, of Oppenheimer, said in his note downgrading Yahoo shares and reducing his price target from $30 to $20 a share:
With margins in free-fall, and no clear revenue implication of the investment spending, we believe investors are likely to view the stock as a value trap.
Yahoo’s Vision-Goes-Here Strategy - Bits - Technology - New York Times Blog
Timely snapshot
Overall, the U.S. non-game PC software market at retail stores totaled $3.3 billion in 2007, a 15 percent increase over the $2.9 billion generated in 2006. The rise is even more notable, as sales had been essentially flat from 2000 through 2006.
But, a whole lot of that is due to Microsoft, largely because of Office, but also because of Vista's debut. According to NPD's Chris Swenson, 80 percent of the total growth in the market can be attributed to the release of those two products. Also of note, security software sales increased 55 percent compared with the prior year, Swenson said.
Office 2007 sales spur software market | Beyond Binary - A blog by Ina Fried - CNET News.com
An interesting case study in fault tolerance
Two undersea telecommunication cables were cut on Tuesday evening, knocking out Internet access to much of Egypt, disrupting the world’s back office in India and slowing down service for some Verizon customers.
One cable was damaged near Alexandria, Egypt, and the other in the waters off Marseille, France, telecommunications operators said. The two cables, which are separately managed and operated, were damaged within hours of each other. Damage to undersea cables, while rare, can result from movement of geologic faults or possibly from the dragging anchor of a ship.
2 Communication Cables in the Mediterranean Are Cut - New York Times
Timely reality check, including details on how the MacBook Air supports multi-touch (even though it's not a touchscreen device)
We are now witnessing the emergence of a new user interface for digital devices, including laptop computers, advanced cellphones, wireless portable data gadgets and other types of computing products.
This interface is generally called “multitouch,” and it involves using one or more fingers on a screen or touchpad to perform special gestures that manipulate lists or objects on a screen — without moving a mouse, pressing buttons, turning scroll wheels or striking keys.
Scary case study -- read the full interview
But beyond the evident failure of internal control technologies lie wider vulnerabilities in the global financial system. It is possible that the deeds of 31-year-old Jerome Kerviel at Societe Generale triggered global stock sell-offs, says Andrew Lo, director of MIT's Laboratory for Financial Engineering. And that points to widening systemic risk in ever more complex financial markets.
Update to my NYT article-related post this morning: Bill Gates is definitely familiar with the work of Muhammad Yunus, as this 2007 speech transcript indicates -- Gates, Craig Mundie, and Yunus co-presented at the Microsoft Government Leaders Forum last April in Beijing.
To elaborate on the context for my post: I was intrigued by the "conspicuously missing" theme after reading about Gates' "creative capitalism" thinking and reading a review of the recent Yunus book last week.
Thanks to the folks at Microsoft (Waggener Edstrom, to be precise) who brought this to my attention. It's a very timely and important topic domain, and it's good to know the dots are all connected.
Bill Gates, Craig Mundie: Microsoft Government Leaders Forum -- Asia 2007
See the full post for details on Altova XMLSpy's Open XML capabilities
While Open XML may not yet be an ISO standard, it is already standardized by ECMA and - even more important - all documents created by Office 2007 are already stored in Open XML by default, so there is an abundance of documents whose content you can now reuse much more easily and productively than ever before. So instead of waiting for the ISO vote or paying too much attention to all the political battles being fought around it, I want to show you how you can already take advantage of Open XML (sometimes also called OOXML or Office Open XML) today.
This is the first article in a series of blog postings that I plan to write about practical Open XML tips & tricks, so I encourage you to subscribe to my XML Aficionado blog (via RSS or via e-mail), if you haven't already done so. This will ensure that you get future articles from this series automatically as soon as I post them.
Aiming high...
EnterpriseDB Corp. plans in March to start beta-testing an online version of its Oracle-compatible database that will leverage Amazon.com Inc.'s Web-based computing and storage services.
The EnterpriseDB Advanced Server Cloud Edition will be much more powerful than the SimpleDB Web database that Amazon itself plans to offer, claimed Bob Zurek, the Edison, N.J.-based software vendor's chief technology officer.
[...]
"What MySQL was for LAMP, we will be for the Cloud," he said, referring to the popular open-source technology stack of Linux, Apache, MySQL and either Perl, PHP or Python.
Another Amazon 'cloud' database, but this one will be Oracle-compatible
Interesting times
The Wall Street Journal has just accepted Facebook's request to be online friends.
Hoping to tap into the growing buzz of online social networks, the Journal is adding a feature to its Web site that will allow readers to see which Journal stories are popular among that user's Facebook friends.
I've been wondering about that; see the full article for more context-setting
Conspicuously missing from the appeal, which asserted that human nature is not just driven by greed but also by concern for our fellow beings, was any reference to the work and thinking of the Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus.
The microfinance innovator, who is known as the “banker for the poor,” recently wrote a book, “Creating a World Without Poverty: Social Business and the Future of Capitalism,” that foreshadows Mr. Gates’s newfound social philosophy.
Many Are Already at Work on Fulfilling Gates's Vision - Bits - Technology - New York Times Blog
Joe Wilcox on the Microsoft/WSJ news
Google should start looking over its shoulder. Wall Street Journal Digital Network is only the beginning.
Today, Microsoft announced that it had reached an exclusive contextual and paid search advertising deal for Wall Street Journal Digital Network sites, including AllThingsD, Barrons, MarketWatch and Wall Street Journal.
While seemingly just another ad and search deal, it's the first sign that the winds are changing in the direction of Redmond, Wash. Microsoft's press release quotes Brian McAndrews, former aQuantive CEO and now senior vice president of Microsoft Advertiser and Publisher Solutions. Microsoft paid $6 billion for aQuantive for a reason.
Microsoft Watch - Web Services & Browser - Microsoft Scores Journal Ad Deal
A timely reality check; see the full article for more context
Mr. Malda said that Digg must move to deemphasize that vocal minority in the overall voting. But then it would inevitably alienate its core user base. “All these sites start with a nucleus of dedicated people. Then as the gawkers join in you see a dilution. People who were there originally feel alienated and feel that the thing they helped created is being perverted.”
“I try not to paint Digg as my arch-nemesis. The Digg method and Digg community are a wider audience than Slashdot,” he said. “But with sites like Digg, it’s the wisdom of the crowds or the tyranny of the mob. You never know what you’re going to get.”
Slashdot Founder Questions Crowds Wisdom - Bits - Technology - New York Times Blog
See the full article for more on Yahoo's focus areas
Yahoo also said that as part of its plan to revive its fortunes, it would cut 1,000 jobs by mid-February to reduce costs and narrow its focus to its most important businesses.
The company, however, said it planned to invest aggressively in some areas, like advertising technology and selected portions of its Internet portal, as it tries to capture a larger share of online ad dollars. Since some laid-off employees could apply for new jobs at Yahoo, the net effect on the work force, which recently grew to 14,300, was not clear.
Yahoo to Cut 1,000 Jobs, and Warns on Growth - New York Times
Never underestimate (Clearwire founder) Craig McCaw...
In the last few weeks, newly installed Sprint Nextel Corp. Chief Executive Dan Hesse has moved quickly to impress investors with layoffs and an upper-management shake-up at the wireless carrier. Now there are signs he is teeing up a bold restructuring of the company's $5 billion plans to build a new high-speed wireless network using WiMax technology.
Sprint has revived serious discussions with WiMax start-up Clearwire Corp. to form a joint venture that would bring in outside funding from the likes of Google Inc., Intel Corp. and Best Buy Co., people familiar with the matter say. The plan could dramatically lower the price tag of Sprint's WiMax project and allow Mr. Hesse to focus on fixing the company's core cellphone business -- answering two concerns Sprint investors have had.
Or Jeff Bezos:
[...]
WiMax could be a sorely needed distinguishing point for Sprint, especially if new WiMax devices emerge that capture consumers' interest. Amazon.com Inc., whose Kindle e-reader works over Sprint's existing cellular network, has approached the carrier about building a separate WiMax mobile device that would be tailored more to Web surfing, multimedia downloads and e-commerce, according to a person familiar with the discussions. One issue in the talks is how much Amazon would have to pay Sprint for wireless access, the person said. An Amazon spokesman declined to comment.
Quite a roller coaster
VMware shares lost a third of their value yesterday, closing down $28.13 to $54.87. EMC, which owns about 86 percent of VMware, slumped $1.02, or 6 percent, to close at $15.89.
EMC chief executive Joe Tucci called the sharp drop in VMware shares "a hell of a reaction," and blamed it on a jittery market that's declined about 6 percent since the start of the year. "You've got a very fidgety market out there," said Tucci. He also noted that VMware only began trading last August, when EMC sold 10 percent of the company to the public. Originally priced at $29, VMware shares soared as high as $125 last fall, but drifted lower even before the earnings report. "It's a young company, it's only been trading for two quarters, and there'll be some volatility," Tucci said.
Supply and demand...
Owners of Apple's iPhone may have unlocked an "astounding" 1 million handsets to run on unauthorized wireless networks, depriving the company of lucrative monthly fees, Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. said.
That estimate represents 27 percent of about 3.75 million iPhones sold last year, Toni Sacconaghi, the top-ranked computer analyst by Institutional Investor magazine, said Monday in a note. His previous estimate was 750,000 unlocked phones.
Definitely not your average start-up...
In a statement Monday, CEO Diane Greene praised the company's position, even as it faces a stepped-up attack from Microsoft and other rivals.
"We begin 2008 with more than 100,000 customers, 500 technology and consulting partners, nearly 10,000 go-to-market partners, and more than 5,000 employees," Greene said. "As others begin to enter the market, VMware and our partners are continuing to broaden and deepen our highly reliable end-to-end virtualization solutions."
VMware's sales disappoint, shares plunge | Beyond Binary - A blog by Ina Fried - CNET News.com
Sign of the times
In the last two years, companies in the travel business including Starwood Hotels and Resorts, Marriott International, Delta Air Lines and Southwest Airlines have introduced blogs to promote their products and brand images, as have business travelers who want to narrate experiences and share complaints.
One of the newest sites useful to business travelers is BoardingArea.com, a portal created by Randy Petersen, the frequent-flier program expert and founder of the online forum FlyerTalk. BoardingArea is essentially a directory to blogs that address issues of interest to business travelers.
Life in the fast lane...
VMWare Inc. reported that its fourth-quarter net income more than doubled on an 80% increase in revenue, but shares of the high-flying maker of virtualization software plunged more than 25% in after-hours trading because Wall Street was expecting more.
[...]
Expectations are so high for VMWare that even a relatively small miss, such as $5 million, can start a big stock selloff. The revenue miss also signals how more intense competition from Microsoft Corp., Oracle Corp. and other companies is starting to take its toll on VMWare.
VMWare's Profit, Sales Surge But Shares Fall in Late Trading - WSJ.com
A timely and disconcerting reality check; see the full article for details
Electronic voting systems--introduced en masse following high-profile problems with traditional voting systems in the state of Florida during the 2000 presidential election--were designed to quell fears about accuracy. Unfortunately, those concerns continue to permeate political conversation. The Emergency Assistance for Secure Elections Act of 2008, introduced recently by Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ), proposes government funding for jurisdictions that use electronic voting to switch to systems that produce a paper trail. But many experts say that a paper trail alone can't solve the problem.
Yow...
The switch, called the Nexus 7000, will provide a sharp increase in traffic capacity over the company’s current products, to 15 trillion bits of data a second.
Cisco, of San Jose, Calif., the world’s largest producer of network equipment, offered a range of examples to try to capture the significance of the increase in speed. It said the switch could transfer all 90,000 Netflix movies in 38.4 seconds or send a two-megapixel digital image to every human being on earth in 28 minutes.
Cisco to Sell Faster Switch for Flood of Remote Data - New York Times
Sign of the times
Software, an anchor of the Boston-area technology scene, remains the largest recipient of venture capital nationally. But while venture outlays for energy, biotechnology, and medical devices have surged, the latest MoneyTree venture capital report shows that growth in software investments slowed noticeably in 2007.
"Software isn't the Wild West it was 10 years ago," said Sunil Dhaliwal, general partner at Battery Ventures, in Waltham. "Software is a mature industry. At the same time, 'clean tech' has captured everyone's imagination as the growth industry of the next decade. People believe that there are problems to be solved and money to be made."
Glad to see this
The service has become routine in airports and coffee shops, and is even appearing on airplanes. But commuter trains have taken longer to adapt.
"If we really want to try to boost commuter ridership, then the way to do that is to have a difference that gives a competitive advantage for people getting on a train rather than getting in their car," Grabauskas said in a phone interview.
Wi-Fi gets trial run on Worcester/Framingham commuter trains - The Boston Globe
Check the full article for more details
On Jan. 21, Agassi, Olmert, Peres, and Ghosn unveiled the novel project, under which Agassi's Silicon Valley company, Better Place, will sell electric cars and build a network of locations where drivers can charge and replace batteries. Olmert has done his part, too. Israel just boosted the sales tax on gasoline-powered cars to as much as 60% and pledged to buy up old gas cars to get them off the road.
Agassi contends that Israel is just the start. He hopes to expand his business into several other countries over the next few years, with China, France, and Britain among the potential markets. Ultimately, he believes that his company and others like it could shake two pillars of the global economy, the $1.5 trillion-a-year auto industry and the $1.5 trillion-a-year market for gasoline. "If what I'm saying is right, this would be the largest economic dislocation in the history of capitalism," says Agassi.
Interesting times...
Hoping to spice up its offerings to a discouraged consumer, Zillow recently recalculated the values on 67 million homes over a 12-year period, a database of figures that took up 4 terabytes of memory. The company figured it would need six months and millions of dollars to make it happen. Instead, Zillow ran the job over the Internet, on 500 computer servers rented from Amazon.com. It took only three weeks and cost less than $50,000.
"This is a computer-development playground," says Spencer Rascoff, chief financial officer of 165-employee Zillow.
An interesting roundup in the New York Review of Books
With such riches to choose from, you might think it would be a snap to put a bunch of blogs into a book and call it an anthology. And you would be wrong. The trouble? Links—those bits of highlighted text that you click on to be transported to another blog or another Web site. (Links are the Web equivalent of footnotes, except that they take you directly to the source.) It's not only that the links are hard to transpose into print. It's that the whole culture of linking—composing on the fly, grabbing and posting whatever you like, making weird, unexplained connections and references— doesn't sit happily in a book. Yes, I'm talking about bloggy writing itself.
Is there really such a thing? A growing stack of books has pondered the effects of blogs and bloggers on culture (We've Got Blog and Against the Machine), on democracy (Republic .com 2.0), on politics (Blogwars), on privacy (The Future of Reputation), on media (Blog: Understanding the Information Reformation and We're All Journalists Now), on professionalism (The Cult of the Amateur), on business (Naked Conversations), and on all of the above (Blog!). But what about the effect of blogs on language?
Are they a new literary genre? Do they have their own conceits, forms, and rules? Do they have an essence?
Be sure to check the final paragraph of the full article :)
A timely Amazon Kindle reality check, including some useful data on the oft-referenced Steve Jobs quote in this context; read the full article
Yet, when Mr. Jobs was asked two weeks ago at the Macworld Expo what he thought of the Kindle, he heaped scorn on the book industry. “It doesn’t matter how good or bad the product is; the fact is that people don’t read anymore,” he said. “Forty percent of the people in the U.S. read one book or less last year.”
To Mr. Jobs, this statistic dooms everyone in the book business to inevitable failure.
Only the business is not as ghostly as he suggests. In 2008, book publishing will bring in about $15 billion in revenue in the United States, according to the Book Industry Study Group, a trade association.
One can only wonder why, by the Study Group’s estimate, 408 million books will be bought this year if no one reads anymore?
Freed From the Page, but a Book Nonetheless - New York Times
Timely market segment snapshot
Over all, speech recognition was a $1.6 billion market in 2007, according to Opus Research, which predicts an annual growth rate of 14.5 percent over the next three years. Dan Miller, an analyst at Opus, said that companies that have licensed speech recognition technology would probably see faster revenue growth, as more consumers used the technology. The cellphone market holds the most potential, given its billions of phones, but cellular providers are still working out the business model for such services.
The Coming Wave of Gadgets That Listen and Obey - New York Times
Dave Kellogg's take on Metaweb/Freebase:
Metaweb, makers of the unfortunately named Freebase, recently announced that they have raised a whopping $42.5M venture round led by Goldman Sachs and Benchmark Capital.
Freebase is trying to create a database of knowledge with a collaborative Wiki-like approach. The differences are (1) there's much less in it today, (2) it leverages Wikipedia as a source, (3) it's far easier to edit entries in Freebase than in Wikipedia, and (4) it doesn't follow a strict encyclopedia-like entry per topic.[...]
I haven't spent that much time on GoogleBase, but I'm not all impressed with what I see when I go there. My take is that Freebase is what GoogleBase wanted to be.
eBay plans to evolve by more effectively exploiting search
Now the company is working on something far more ambitious: a system that will evaluate customer feedback, data from its PayPal payment system, shipping costs and so on to present the very best deals to shoppers.
“With eBay and PayPal, we have more closed transaction data than anyone else on the Internet,” Mr. Donahoe said. “There is a lot of talk about Google’s relevance-based search,” he said referring to Google’s system of showing ads based on how often users click on them. EBay can use more information to provide better results, he said.
John Donahoe’s Plan to Save eBay: Better Search - Bits - Technology - New York Times Blog
It'll be interesting to see how this plays out. XForms is going to be a pivotal variable.
IBM this week quietly updated its Lotus Symphony desktop applications with a feature that hints at its broader strategy to use the Web and standards to up-end Microsoft's massive Office business.
Introduced last September, Lotus Symphony is a free suite of applications based on OpenOffice, an open-source alternative to Office. The fourth beta of Symphony, due for release next week, will add a module that will let IBM and other software companies add extensions to these applications.
Under a strategy called "Beyond Office," IBM is developing several technologies to make Symphony an extensible development platform for business applications and Web-based document editors.
IBM to take Lotus Symphony apps 'Beyond Office' | Tech news blog - CNET News.com
Impressive momentum
Microsoft’s strong performance was led by its three major businesses: personal computer operating systems, office productivity programs and software that runs computers in corporate data centers. The company, the world’s largest software maker, continues to struggle and lose money as it battles Google in its new markets for Internet services and online advertising.
But for Microsoft, that is a financial challenge of the future, one overshadowed by the heft and continuing growth in its personal computer products, led by the Windows Vista operating system and Office 2007. Microsoft’s desktop software divisions accounted for 56 percent of the company’s revenue and more than 80 percent of the operating profit of its product groups.
Microsoft Delivers Strong Growth and Includes a Sunny Forecast - New York Times
Oops...
A French bank announced Thursday that it had lost $7.2 billion, not because of complex subprime loans, but the old-fashioned way — because a 31-year-old rogue trader made bad bets on stocks and then, in trying to cover up those losses, dug himself deeper into a hole.
French Bank Says Rogue Trader Lost $7 Billion - New York Times
Bummer -- not only will most of the site content not be free, the price is actually going up...
Mr. Murdoch made his latest comments at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in answering a question. "We are going to greatly expand and improve the free part of The Wall Street Journal online, but there will still be a strong offering" for subscribers, he said. "The really special things will still be a subscription service, and, sorry to tell you, probably more expensive."
The mix of free and paid content will continue to be tweaked, however, and a good portion of Wall Street Journal content increasingly is available free online. Free content includes the Journal's breaking-news alerts and personal-finance and lifestyle content, as well as videos, blogs, podcasts and other interactive elements. This month, the Journal began offering free access to all of its Opinion section.
If you've passed on the complimentary ODF/OOXML overview because of the registration page, you can now skip that step and download the pdf here. Please also consider skimming the responses we've been posting on the Burton Group Collaboration and Content Strategies blog, e.g., this response to the Ars Technica post on the overview.
Steven Levy's take on the Air (concluding paragraphs):
In one sense, this is a prescient look forward to the day when people will store their digital assets remotely, "in the cloud," as this concept is described. But since it's still a couple of years before my voluminous iTunes collection of movies and songs will be stashed in the ether, I need a computer with a standard-size drive, and the Macbook Air will work for me only as a second machine, a luxury item for on-the-go use.
While these omissions may be troubling -- especially to someone in a down-turning economy deciding whether to spend a premium sum for a computer with sub-premium storage -- the fact is that simply using the Macbook Air, as I'm doing right now in writing this review, is rather copacetic. Though I can quibble with a few of Apple's choices of what to take off, the product's dimensions and design definitely show that that the losses were not in vain. The things that Apple left on were the ingredients for a quality computer. And did I mention how thin it is?
Steven Levy - The Slimming of the MacBook - washingtonpost.com
Looks like Apple has created another artful but disposable device (e.g., no removable battery); see the full review for details.
Apple finally has entered the subnotebook market, introducing a lightweight laptop meant to please road warriors. But, typical of Apple, the company took a different approach from its competitors. The result is a beautiful, amazingly thin computer, but one whose unusual trade-offs may turn off some frequent travelers.
The new aluminum-clad MacBook Air, which I’ve been testing for several days, is billed as the world’s thinnest notebook computer. Its thickest point measures just three-quarters of an inch, which is slimmer than the thinnest point on some other subnotebooks. And it employs some innovative software features, such as fingertip gestures for its touchpad that are similar to those on Apple’s iPhone
An interesting application of database technology...
The Bush administration's warnings about prewar Iraq, from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's "mushroom cloud" to Vice President Dick Cheney's statements on weapons of mass destruction, were released on Wednesday in a searchable online database.
The Center for Public Integrity, a Washington research group highly critical of U.S. policy in Iraq, put together 935 comments uttered by eight top administration officials including President George W. Bush in the run-up to the March 2003 U.S.-led invasion.
Database assembles U.S. warnings of Saddam threat | Tech&Sci | Technology | Reuters.com
A timely ODF/Open XML reality check, including a summary of several government policy decisions in this context; see the full post for details. Via Doug Mahugh.
Looking at the list of current policy positions at the bottom of this post and aligning them with recent experience, I think the following three points are worth some ongoing consideration;
1.Technology and Standards will continue to evolve, is is vitally important for any government defining policy in this area that all options are open for exploiting any new innovations as they become available to the market.
2. Achieving interoperability is rarely as straight forward as selecting a single technical standard, and many of the policy positions around the world recognize this. Applications need to be designed to work together, groups need a solid framework for collaboration and the standards need to be ready to support these two objectives.
3. There are plenty of examples from history where the selection of a single standard has not worked out well for organizations. I have some personal experience of this having spent a few years during the 1990s assisting with the deployment of several agency wide x.400 email systems.
p.s. yes, I realize Oliver Bell is Microsoft's Regional Technology Officer for Asia Pacific
A Closer Look At Those “Single Standard” Policy Mandates : Oliver Bell’s weblog
Strange days indeed
The commercial arm of the British Broadcasting Corporation is expected to announce a partnership with MySpace on Thursday to make some of its content available on MySpace, the popular social networking Web site.
MySpace, part of the News Corporation, controlled by Rupert Murdoch, said Wednesday that the relationship was its first global agreement with a major broadcaster. The companies will share advertising revenue.
Growing Online, BBC Is to Join With MySpace - New York Times
A perspective piece from Opera's CTO
Two years ago, the Acid2 test was announced in this column. Acid2 is a complex Web browser test page that shows a smiley face when rendered correctly.
The test, published by the Web Standards Project, has been a tremendous success in weeding out browser bugs that stop Web designers from reaching pixel perfection in their pages. Safari and Opera ship Acid2-compliant versions, and the upcoming Firefox 3 will also pass the test.
Kinda curious that CNet is running a perspective piece from the CTO of a company that's complaining to the EU about Microsoft, especially when the piece includes assertions such as
"Finally, it seems, Microsoft has decided to take Web standards seriously. Designers will no longer have to spend countless hours trying to get their pages to look right in Internet Explorer while adhering to standards. Unfortunately, I think that the celebration is premature."
Acid2, Acid3, and the power of default Perspectives CNET News.com
A timely reality check
In an effort to reinvigorate growth of the core eBay site, Mr. Donahoe said he would shift eBay’s emphasis from auctions to fixed priced listing, which could make the experience of buying on eBay more like the one customers have come to expect from sites like Amazon.com.
[...]
“Auctions will always be the core of the core of eBay, it’s what makes eBay unique,” Mr. Donahoe said in a joint interview with Ms. Whitman on Wednesday afternoon. But he noted that fixed priced sales now account for 40 percent of eBay’s marketplace revenue. “We are following our users. They like convenience so what we are simply doing is putting a more explicit focus on that.”
Meanwhile, Meg Whitman is off to campaign for Mitt Romney.
EBay’s New Leader Moves Swiftly on a Revamping - New York Times
Interesting times...
Free enterprise has been good to Bill Gates. But later today, the Microsoft Corp. chairman will call for a revision of capitalism.
In a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the software tycoon plans to call for a "creative capitalism" that uses market forces to address poor-country needs that he feels are being ignored.
"We have to find a way to make the aspects of capitalism that serve wealthier people serve poorer people as well," Mr. Gates will tell world leaders at the forum, according to a copy of the speech seen by The Wall Street Journal.
Cool Popfly usage scenario
Adam Nathan created a pretty cool Popfly gadget the other day. You can see it on this very blog if you look to the right: the Recent Posts section. Basically, this is a Popfly mashup that reads the last few blog posts from my blog and generates a nice HTML list that I can then present on the right side of my blog.
A View from Elsewhere : Make Any Blog Show Your Most Recent Posts
See the post for links to more detailed reviews; it looks like a very timely and important book
Big Think’s breakdown: Businesspeople of all persuasions should read the first two chapters, and keep going if they have an interest. And they should have an interest — the book is clearly written and social business is a growing phenomenon (witness Google’s emerging Foundation, in the news last week for announcing its plans). Yunus is an economist and a CEO, and his vision comes out of his practical experience. That experience will be widely useful to companies that want to understand what it takes to create a social business, and what they might mean for markets (on one level, Yunus is showing how to tap gigantic groups of consumers).
Big Think » Summing up Muhammad Yunus, “Creating a World Without Poverty” on BNET
An impressive commitment
Microsoft said Tuesday it's renewing a commitment to an education program called Partners in Learning.
The company pledged $235.5 million over the next five years to the program, which it started with $250 million in 2003.
During that time, more than 90 million students and teachers in 101 countries have participated in programs to put more technology at their disposal through training and discounted software sales.
Business & Technology | Microsoft backs education program | Seattle Times Newspaper
More Apple details
It didn't matter that the Silicon Valley star reported its highest-ever quarterly profit and revenue. It was a given that Macintosh computer sales jumped more than the competition, that profit margins on iPods grew and that the company still expects to sell 10 million iPhones by the end of this year.
Investors, already spooked by recession talk, focused more on Apple's conservative forecast. Apple fell $5.72 to $155.64 before the earnings release then tumbled to $138.50 after-hours.
Business & Technology | Apple results stellar, investors let down | Seattle Times Newspaper
Lots of good news for Apple, despite the negative market reaction to Apple's financial outlook
Most interestingly, while overall iPod sales of 22 million increased by only 5 percent worldwide, revenue grew at a faster 17 percent rate, to $4.0 billion. The reason is the growth of the iPod Touch, which costs $299 or $399, more than other iPod models.
On the conference call with investors, Apple executives described the Touch, which can surf the Web over a Wi-Fi connection, as a new sort of device that will open a new market.
Can the Touch Revive Apple’s iPod Sales? - Bits - Technology - New York Times Blog
Maybe they should change it back to "Apple Computer"; iPod sales were essentially flat in North America, for the most recent quarter, while Mac revenue grew 47% year-to-year.
The iPhone remained a bright spot for the company. Apple sold 2.3 million in the quarter, according to Mr. Oppenheimer, and is on track to sell 10 million in 2008, as projected.
Apple shipped 2.3 million Macintosh computers, and revenue from Macs grew 47 percent from the year-ago quarter.
Mr. Sacconaghi said sales of Mac computers could start showing lower year-over-year growth. IPod sales could suffer, he said, because the company has been slow to update its cheaper iPod models, and holiday sales of MP3 players at the retailer Best Buy were down.
Apple Earnings Up, but Stock Falls on Outlook - New York Times
Sign of the times
The newest Wi-Fi hot spot is in the cabins of American Airlines' planes.
American, owned by AMR Corp., is testing high-speed Internet service provided by Aircell LLC, said Doug Backelin, the airline's manager of in-flight communications and technology.
By this summer, the world's biggest airline, measured by passenger traffic, expects to provide Internet service on its Boeing 767-200 aircraft, used for longer flights, and gradually to add service across all of its fleet.
A useful snapshot -- see the full article for details
These are only two examples of the mood pervading the announcements at Lotusphere. IBM thinks it's on a roll, and the company is trying to ride the surge forward. At least at Lotusphere, these efforts are being met with ecstatic cheers from the audience. But IBM's not alone in competing with some of Microsoft's crown jewels: Google has also thrown its hat in the ring with the free, Web-based Google Docs. Adobe's recent acquisition of the Web-based word processor Buzzword may become yet another challenge--one that could become more formidable if the company transforms Buzzword into a cleverly portable desktop application by means of its AIR technology. (See "To the Web and Back Again.")
Technology Review: Blogs: TR Editors' blog: The Lotusphere Gauntlet
Another perspective on the PBS special I mentioned yesterday
PBS has a new documentary they’ve asked me to let you know about. It’s called “Growing Up Online” and it’s aimed towards parents and intends to show the way in which today’s kids have grown up always having the internet.
Although I haven’t seen much of the documentary except for the teaser trailer (a bit alarmist if you ask me, but you can see yourself below), I agree with part of the premise and disagree with others.
See the full post for more
Useful snapshot -- read the full article
Type OOXML ODF into any search engine and gain an instant window into what is perhaps the most astonishing corporate brawl of the 21st century, a stoush characterised by Xero's Rob Drury as "a fascinating political struggle that goes to the heart of the factions in the technology industry.".
National Business Review (NBR) - Business, News, Arts, Media, Share Market & More
I'm sure organizations struggling to address ever-expanding compliance requirements find this amusing
For years, the Bush administration has relied on an inadequate archiving system for storing the millions of e-mails sent through White House servers, despite court orders and statutes requiring the preservation of such records, according to documents and technical experts.
President Bush's White House early on scrapped a custom archiving system that the Clinton administration had adopted under a federal court order. From 2001 to 2003, the Bush White House also recorded over computer backup tapes that provided a last line of defense for preserving e-mails, even though a similar practice landed the Clinton administration in legal trouble.
As a result, several years' worth of electronic communication may have been lost, potentially including e-mails documenting administration actions in the run-up to the Iraq war.
White House Has No Comprehensive E-Mail Archive - washingtonpost.com
Setting the record straight
Yesterday, a NYT tech column suggested that Mitch Kapor of Lotus was responsible for the fundamental innovation of the spreadsheet.
Today I said, quoting Dottie Hall, that actually Dan Bricklin and Bob Frankston had invented the spreadsheet, with VisiCalc for the Apple II -- but Kapor had brought it to the PC world with Lotus 1-2-3.
Kapor writes to say that's wrong too!
As long as we're beating a dead frog, let me add my two Linden dollars*: Bill Gross was responsible for Lotus Magellan, not me. I had nothing to do with it.Also, "and while he (me, that is) can be credited with introducing the spreadsheet for the PC," is not true either. Both VisiCalc and MultiPlan were available when the IBM PC shipped in October 1981. 1-2-3 didn't hit the market until January 1983.
Mitch is a classy guy -- and his track record, including 1-2-3 and Agenda (and the funding to bootstrap Lotus Notes), among many other things, is still very impressive.
James Fallows (January 21, 2008) - Mitch Kapor on spreadsheets, Magellan, etc
Check the full press release for details
Microsoft Corp. today articulated an expanded role for virtualization as a key enabler of its Dynamic IT vision and outlined a companywide strategy to help accelerate the broad adoption of virtualization. To help drive its strategy, the company also announced the acquisition of Calista Technologies Inc. to improve the end-user experience for virtualized desktops and applications; an expanded alliance with Citrix Systems Inc. in the areas of client and server virtualization; more flexible licensing options for virtualization using Windows Vista; and new tools that provide best practices to deploy Microsoft virtualization software.
“Very few customers are able to reap the benefits of virtualization today,” said Bob Muglia, senior vice present of the Server and Tools Business at Microsoft. “We estimate that less than 5 percent of companies are utilizing virtualization technology because it is simply too cost-prohibitive and complex. We believe Microsoft’s comprehensive approach — from desktop to datacenter — is unique to the industry by delivering solutions that address virtualization at the hardware, application and management levels. Our approach is not only one of the most comprehensive in the market today, but we believe it is also one of the most economical. This combination brings a big strategic advantage and cost savings to customers.”
Sign of the times
EMC Corp., of Hopkinton, is bringing corporate data backup online as it launches a major effort to deliver data-storage services via the Internet - a concept called "software as a service," or SaaS.
Today, EMC will release MozyEnterprise, a service that will let business customers automatically back up their servers and desktop and laptop computers. The data will be uploaded via the Internet, encrypted to prevent unauthorized access, and stored at EMC-operated data centers.
"Anyone with a broadband connection and an Internet browser can provide online backup for their PCs," said Roy Sanford, vice president of marketing for EMC's SaaS business.
EMC launches service to back up corporate data online - The Boston Globe
Go figure...
Local fans seeking to be a part of history are driving Super Bowl ticket prices to record highs. With the Patriots trying to complete the first-ever 19-0 season, tickets to Super Bowl XLII are commanding several times the typical face value of $700.
At local seller Ace Ticket, seats start at $3,200 in the upper-level end zone and go as high as $10,000 apiece for midfield.
Local fans drive Super Bowl ticket prices to record highs - The Boston Globe
Cool...
Embarcadero Technologies is continuing its support of the Eclipse community with its release today of EA/Studio Community Edition, a free business process modeling (BPM) tool. This new tool represents the third database tool built by Embarcadero on the Eclipse framework.
"Embarcadero's release of EA/Studio Community Edition expresses the company's continued endorsement of Eclipse-based software," said Mike Milinkovich, executive director, Eclipse Foundation. "We're pleased to see Embarcadero bring its expertise in commercial database tools to the Eclipse community. This new offering underscores the increased productivity and flexibility that can be achieved by leveraging the Eclipse platform with first-class software like Embarcadero's database tools."
Embarcadero Press Release: Embarcadero Releases Free, Professional-Grade Business Process Modeling Tool
Looks like must-see TV to me -- Tues 1/22 9:00 P.M. Eastern
MySpace. YouTube. Facebook. Nearly every teen in America is on the Internet every day, socializing with friends and strangers alike, "trying on" identities, and building a virtual profile of themselves--one that many kids insist is a more honest depiction of who they really are than the person they portray at home or in school.
In "Growing Up Online," FRONTLINE peers inside the world of this cyber-savvy generation through the eyes of teens and their parents, who often find themselves on opposite sides of a new digital divide. From cyber bullying to instant "Internet fame," to the specter of online sexual predators, FRONTLINE producer Rachel Dretzin investigates the risks, realities and misconceptions of teenage self-expression on the World Wide Web.
See the full post for details.
I learned this afternoon from Gray Knowlton, that a commenter on Brian's blog had linked to a couple of interesting items over on IBM.com. It looks like IBM has at least a couple of products that are now supporting the Open XML formats.
Sign of the times...
In the two months since MTV Networks and Harmonix released the music-based video game Rock Band, players have purchased and downloaded more than 2.5 million additional songs made available after the game's initial distribution.
Activision, meanwhile, said it has sold more than 5 million new songs via download for Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock since it began adding downloadable content in early November.
'Rock Band,' 'Guitar Hero' drive digital song sales | CNET News.com
Coinciding with the first day of Lotusphere...
Companies are making the switch to Microsoft’s unified communications and collaboration (UC&C) platform to help increase employee productivity, reduce IT costs and improve business processes. Microsoft and its industry partners are working to make the transition even easier. The release of an updated version of Microsoft Transporter Suite for IBM Lotus Domino along with powerful tools from Microsoft partners are easing the transition process for customers moving to Microsoft Office, Microsoft Exchange Server and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server from IBM Lotus Notes and Domino.
PressPass caught up with Chris Capossela, Corporate Vice President, Microsoft Business Division, to go behind the scenes and understand first hand what’s driving the transition and what is fueling this trend.
Q&A: Microsoft Courts Lotus Switchers with New Migration Tools
Strange days indeed
In a major departure from its traditional business model, E.A. plans to announce Monday that it is developing a new installment in its hit Battlefield series that will be distributed on the Internet as a free download. Rather than being sold at retail, the game is meant to generate revenue through advertising and small in-game transactions that allow players to spend a few dollars on new outfits, weapons and other virtual gear.
The Video Game May Be Free, but to Be a Winner Can Cost Money - New York Times
Glad to see this
Today, with big-name bloggers and video, it barely resembles the same site, having evolved into one of the livelier places on the Web for public policy debate and news analysis. And the number of readers going to the site has quadrupled.
Readership will get another boost starting Tuesday, when TheAtlantic.com will abolish the fire wall that has allowed only subscribers to the print magazine to see most of its articles online. It will make its archive accessible, too.
A Venerable Magazine Energizes Its Web Site - New York Times
Maybe not the coolest, but still very successful
The world’s largest social networking site, MySpace has grown far past being merely “a place for friends,” as its slogan states. With an estimated 110 million monthly active users, MySpace is undeniably a powerful tool for advertisers who seek reach and efficiency.
Richard Greenfield, a media analyst for Pali Research, called MySpace a fantastic acquisition from a return-on-investment standpoint. The site was sold for $580 million; Mr. Greenfield said it was expected to have around $800 million in revenue in fiscal 2008, mostly through advertising.
Interesting article about IBM's evolving modus operandi
This is not the IBM of the 20th century, when Big Blue defined what it meant to be a multinational. Back then, its subsidiaries in 160 countries behaved like mini-IBMs—essentially, standalone operations serving their local customers. But replicating itself became too costly for IBM. So now the company is reorganizing around the principle that it will perform work for customers where the jobs can best be done—tapping the right talent at the right price.
Snapshot of Google's philanthropy efforts
Each of these initiatives is deliberately high-risk and high-return, says Dr Brilliant. If the pilots go well, Google.org plans to scale up fast; at the moment it is spending much less than Messrs Brin and Page promised. Dr Brilliant thinks that being effective demands a narrow focus: this week's announcement was as much about telling people inside and outside the firm what Google.org will not do as what it will. Among other things, it decided against getting involved in microfinance, which Dr Brilliant thinks is now awash with money, or trying to eradicate a disease (something he found especially hard to let go, given his personal history in the battle against smallpox).
Timely snapshot -- see the full article for details
Although VMware is best known for its hypervisor, it now makes more money from a suite of other products, such as software to manage virtual machines. And it has been successful at persuading other computer firms to make their wares work well with its products, thus building an ecosystem around its emerging platform.
How was it possible for a newcomer to leave incumbents such as HP, Microsoft and Sun Microsystems in the dust? One reason was that VMware had the right product at the right time. More important, VMware delivered “a non-disruptive disruptive technology”, as Ms Greene puts it. Customers can install it without having to rejig their existing set-ups. By contrast, other virtualisation efforts were too ambitious and required extensive changes.
Some responses on the CCS blog -- see the full post for details
Five days ago Ars Technica issued its view of the Burton Group ODF/OOXML report and made it clear that they disagreed with its findings, going with the headline, "Analyst group slams ODF, downplays Microsoft ISO abuses."
We've had some questions from Burton Group clients and others about the article, so I thought it would be worthwhile to go through where we agree, where we disagree, where Ars Technica mischaracterizes what we said, and where it's wrong.
Dave Kellogg's take on the Sun/MySQL AB deal
Frankly, this deal caught me by surprise. I've been critical of Sun at times, but I think this is a smart move for them. It continues their trend of trying to offer open source and/or cheap software tools (e.g., Star Office) that undermine incumbents in large markets. And it will help them transition to from a wounded workstation and server company to something else. What "something else" is I'm not sure. I am sure, however, that they can't stay still, so in a sense any motion represents potential progress.
Burton Group's Craig Roth on the portal implications of the Oracle/BEA acquisition; see the full post for more details
In particular, portal buyers have reason to be dismayed. As I wrote in The Four Portals of the Apocalypse back in October, both Oracle and BEA offer two overlapping portal products. I don't buy the argument that they are meant for different audiences. It is true that different products may serve certain audiences better, but slicing a market into segments like that would require building products with those segments in mind and all four products were built from the ground up to do their best at meeting a broad set of needs even if they were strongest in one area (like BEA Portal for infrastructure developers or Oracle WebCenter for Web 2.0). This acquisition puts enterprises that have any of these four portal products in production or has need for a portal product to be purchased within the next year into a state of limbo.
In case you haven't had time to read the report yet, here's another snapshot (tangent: I've had a sufficient amount of hate mail on this one now, thanks :)...)
The report's authors also argued that multinational tech firms such as Sun Microsystems and Novell are backing ODF to loosen Microsoft's grip on the XML-based documents cash cow.
Despite its strong support for Microsoft to continue to dominate the Office landscape, the Burton report warns the software giant to work closely with other vendors and customers to ensure it lives up to its commitments. It said: "If Microsoft abuses standards initiatives, the market response will be swift and severe."
This is turning out to be a pretty interesting day so far :)...
Oracle Corp. said it will acquire BEA Systems in a $8.5 billion deal three months after BEA slapped away an Oracle takeover offer as too low.
Oracle would pay $19.38 for each BEA share, a 24% premium to Tuesday's close price of $15.58.
Oracle made an unsolicited $6.7 billion, or $17 a share, takeover proposal in October, but the company let it expire weeks later after BEA said the bid was unacceptable. At the same time, BEA added it was looking to start negotiations with interested parties willing to pay at least $21 a share.
Oracle Strikes Deal to Buy BEA Systems for $8.5 Billion - WSJ.com
Fascinating -- I'll have more to say about this over the next couple days, as the deal details are divulged
We announced big news today - our preliminary results for our fiscal second quarter, and as importantly, that we're acquiring MySQL AB.
If you're interested in the financial details for the quarter, tune in to our conference call (see details on sun.com) today - we'll obviously have more to say as we release our formal results on January 24th.
Never a dull moment for the Microsoft legal department...
The fresh complaint on interoperability, made by an alliance of software makers called the European Committee for Interoperable Systems, claims that Microsoft has not disclosed enough information for a range of products that compete with its Office and Outlook programs. The complaint, which is backed by corporations including International Business Machines, Nokia, Sun Microsystems and RealNetworks, was lodged with the commission in February 2006.
Another take on the recent Burton Group report
The Burton authors released this study “to help catalyze and advance the debate” between OOXML and ODF before the February ISO standards vote, Creese blogged. So, debaters, what’s your take on Burton’s findings?
Reviewing the reader comment/discussion thread following Mary Jo Foley's article, I'm reminded of Hillary Clinton's "Well, that hurts my feelings ... but I'll try to go on" comment, during the recent New Hampshire debate.
I spent 13 years of my career working for Lotus, Groove (long before Microsoft acquired it), and Macromedia. I am very familiar with Microsoft's competitive modus operandi. I also think Microsoft is playing well with others on Open XML, and that a lot of the anti-Microsoft flaming in this context is self-defeating.
» Independent study advises IT planners to go OOXML | All about Microsoft | ZDNet.com
A few quick comments on this article:
1. Burton Group does not do -- and has never done -- "vendor-sponsored" writing. No vendor-funded "white papers", no thinly-veiled pay-to-play marketing pieces. The vast majority of Burton Group customers are large end-user enterprises -- commercial, government, and higher ed (i.e., not software vendors) -- and Burton Group has a nearly 20-year track record of vendor-neutral objectivity.
2. The content Eric Lai references that I'm going to present Wednesday (and also at the February, 2008 Office Developer Conference) is precisely the same presentation you'd see if Guy Creese or I were asked to present on this topic at, e.g., Lotusphere; Burton Group is non-modal...
3. Burton Group's mission includes catalyzing industry debate about pivotal topics, and attempting to get IT types to focus more on the substantive issues than the politics, marketing, etc. Sometimes, as in this case, that can be provocative, but that's part of trying to foster constructive debate about issues that matter. On that note, BTW, you may want to check out Catalyst 2008, where the rapidly-evolving ODF/OOXML debate will be on the agenda.
4. For now, please consider reading the overview in question, and share your impressions...
Excerpt from the Computerworld article:
The OpenDocument Format (ODF) remains "more of an anti-Microsoft political statement than an objective technology selection" by users, according to a report released Monday by analysts at Burton Group, who recommend that companies adopt Microsoft Corp.'s Office Open XML document format whether or not it is approved as an ISO standard next month.
Midvale, Utah-based Burton Group said that the report was neither commissioned nor paid for by Microsoft. However, Burton analyst Peter O'Kelly, one of the report's co-authors, is scheduled to make a presentation at an Open XML press briefing that Microsoft plans to hold in the Seattle area on Wednesday. Also speaking will be multiple Microsoft executives involved in the Open XML standards-ratification effort.
Open XML trumps ODF in document format fight, consulting firm says
Hmm -- a pattern is converging, with many in the press and blogosphere expecting the 3G iPhone, expanded movie rentals, and an Apple TV box that isn't awful... so I'm betting Jobs will pull a few surprises, including a tablet Mac that's basically a super-sized iPod Touch.
Any but a cursory revision to Apple's iPod lineup is highly unlikely. The lineup was last refreshed in September, including the addition of the iPod touch, and Apple tends to announce its iPod updates at special events scattered through the year.
We also likely won't see a much-rumored Mac tablet personal computer, which has been discussed as a larger version of the iPhone, lacking calling features but including its touch screen. Jobs has never been warm about tablets, and the best current tablet computers, while reasonably good, haven't sold well.
An interesting milestone
EMC Corp., the market-share leader in big computer storage systems, said it will start selling flash-memory drives -- similar to those in ultra-portable music players -- to replace some of the slower disk drives in its most powerful systems.
The flash drives, to be available later this quarter, let computer programs retrieve information about 30 times faster than the input-output process in a traditional hard-disk drive and use less electricity, EMC said. But they cost about 30 times the price of a disk per megabyte of information stored.
Perhaps a telling leading indictor; see the full article for more context-setting
The share of Google searches that result in visits to Google Maps has skyrocketed since last year, according to the online traffic-measurement firm Hitwise. Over the week ending Jan. 6, 2007, 0.22 percent of Google searchers went on to Google Maps. During the same week this year, 0.67 percent did. Hitwise calculated the figures by analyzing the behavior of 10 million Internet users.
An interesting reality check
On Christmas, traffic to Google from iPhones surged, surpassing incoming traffic from any other type of mobile device, according to internal Google data made available to The New York Times. A few days later, iPhone traffic to Google fell below that of devices powered by the Nokia-backed Symbian operating system but remained higher than traffic from any other type of cellphone.
The data is striking because the iPhone, an Apple product, accounts for just 2 percent of smartphones worldwide, according to IDC, a market research firm. Phones powered by Symbian make up 63 percent of the worldwide smartphone market, while those powered by Microsoft’s Windows Mobile have 11 percent and those running the BlackBerry system have 10 percent.
Timely snapshot of Google challenges and opportunities
Traditional portals like Yahoo, AOL and Microsoft have long sought to keep users captive by offering them an array of information, communications tools and online shopping. But lately, their grip on consumers has been loosened as a new generation of users increasingly rely on search engines to find their way on the Web and spend more time on social networks. Yahoo said its transformation is all about remaining relevant in this new environment.
“We need to become more social, and we need to become more open,” said Jeff Weiner, who as executive vice president for the network division is leading the effort to retool Yahoo’s sites and services. “There is a huge opportunity to become more relevant to people.”
Quite a return-on-time-investment...
Mr. Frind built the Plenty of Fish Web site in 2003 as nothing more than an exercise to help teach himself a new programming language, ASP.NET. The site first became popular among English-speaking Canadians. Popularity among online daters in many United States cities followed more recently, and with minimal spending on advertising the site. According to data from comScore Media Metrix for November 2007, Plenty of Fish had 1.4 million unique visitors in the United States. In December, Mr. Frind said, the site served up 1.2 billion page views, and page views have soared 20 percent since Dec. 26.
BW review of The Big Switch. Also see Nicholas Carr's blog for extensive book excerpts.
Carr is no stranger to raising tough questions about technology's future. Four years ago he had tech executives sputtering over his provocative book, Does IT Matter? His argument then was that information technology was turning into a commodity, like electricity, and that companies could no longer hope to gain competitive advantage by buying the latest and greatest hardware and software. The Big Switch, which can easily be read on a cross-country flight, goes much further in describing that transformation and exploring its consequences.
Interesting checkpoint, but hypertext authoring is probably a better bet...
The writer A.J. Liebling famously observed that "freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one." Of course, blogs have made it possible for all to share their views in electronic form. Now advances in printing technology mean you can immortalize your thoughts in a bound book for as little as $20.
A stark reality check
At $24.09, Thursday’s closing price, Yahoo has a market capitalization of $32 billion. When Mr. Lindsay looks at the company’s $2 billion in cash, along with its holdings in Yahoo Japan, Alibaba (the Chinese e-commerce firm) and other entities it doesn’t run, he comes up with a value of $13.24 a share. That leaves a value of $10.51 a share for the actual business of Yahoo, making the value of Yahoo’s core business about $14 billion, or 7 percent of Google’s $200 billion market value.
Mr. Lindsay runs through a litany of problems with Yahoo’s core business that reduce its value in his calculations. The company’s overall audience is stagnant and its share of Web searches is falling. And it is losing lucrative revenue from providing e-mail and other services to phone company broadband systems.
Yahoo’s Core Value Is Falling - Bits - Technology - New York Times Blog
Extensive cover story in Fortune
... about living with Bill, working with Warren Buffett, and giving away their billions.
Sounds like a timely and useful debate; see the article for more details
Andrew McAfee, an associate professor at Harvard Business School, is often associated with the phrase "enterprise 2.0," and is bullish on the impact of wikis, blogs, and other Web 2.0-era software within a business context.
In contrast, Tom Davenport, the president's chair in information technology and management at Babson College in Wellesley, Mass., has been skeptical of Web 2.0 software's value on its own, and argues the functionality may not be all that new.
"A lot of things in wikis could have been done in Lotus Notes," Davenport said during Friday's debate. "Should we get hyped up about a new generation of technology when the old technology could do a lot of the same things?"
Davenport also quibbled with the very phrase "enterprise 2.0," calling it far too dramatic.
A timely and thoughtful bit of speculation -- read the full post
With CES over and the San Francisco Macworld Expo set to begin on Monday, we pundits are turning our attention to Apple, the big technology business success of not only 2007, but of the entire decade. Steve Jobs has his Macworld keynote address coming and will no doubt deliver to us a few of the products we've all been predicting, presented with a level of showmanship simply not seen elsewhere in the industry. But my job this week is to look beyond products, to take a step back and give a long view of where Apple is headed. And the centerpiece of this analysis is my conclusion that Apple will inevitably buy Adobe Systems.
More details on the Burton Group ODF/OOXML overview, from a Guy Creese post:
Burton Group has just published a comprehensive overview of the ODF/OOXML debate, along with projections and recommendations for IT planners. We’ve made the overview available for free (I must admit I'm not sure for how long), as we believe this topic warrants expanded industry debate before a February, 2008 ISO ballot on OOXML, and we want to help catalyze and advance the debate.
Additional context to consider:
Please note that this overview, like all Burton Group research, is a completely vendor-independent perspective; Burton Group does not engage in vendor “white papers” or other vendor-paid writing projects. This is another way to say we'll probably ruffle some vendor feathers on this one, but we've tried hard to look into this objectively and in some detail (the report is 37 pages long).
It also builds on themes we’ve covered in other recent research, including next-generation hypertext, DITA and other means of improving XML content reusability, and XQuery. Collectively, we believe these advances will fundamentally improve the ways information workers collaborate and manage content.
Go download and read the overview and let us know what you think.
Collaboration and Content Strategies Blog: Free Report on ODF/OOXML Available
I don't personally care much about the movie download part, but I eagerly look forward to the day when I'll have a spindle-less laptop/tablet -- bonus if it's basically an iPhone/iPod Touch-like user experience with a bigger screen, optional keyboard, and the ability to run my favorite applications. I also look forward to using this class of device with a spiffy Geordi La Forge-style eyeglass-based display (see, e.g., this example).
As the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas winds down to lackluster reviews, Apple is expected to grab the spotlight with an ultra-slim laptop computer and online movie rentals at its biggest annual show next week.
Slim Apple laptop expected at Macworld Tech&Sci Technology Reuters.com
Chandler continues to morph, but without Mitch Kapor, going forward. Check out Dreaming in Code for a classic book on this domain.
"I would say I had a lot of ambitions that we wound up, for very good and practical reasons, scaling back on," Kapor said in an interview Thursday. He described the outcome as "a working subset of a grand vision."
Kapor said his interest in continuing waned. "We found ourselves in the situation that the team wanted to continue on very much," he added. "I found myself in a different place. I did not have that same level of commitment and desire, because I had the original dream in mind."
Kapor said the saga has proven to be a "huge learning experience" for him. "It's been a mixture of many different emotions. I would say it would be unfair to single out disappointment as a leading factor [in withdrawing my support]," he said.
Update: Mitch Kapor to phase out involvement in OSAF - Yahoo! News
Another interesting twist in this context: Stephen Elop also used to work for Lotus -- he was a Lotus Consulting director in the mid-90s, with responsibility for Canada and the midwestern US. Small world; I was also at Lotus then, running Notes product management, and worked with Stephen when I was VP Strategy at Macromedia during 2001 - 2002. Perhaps Stephen will have time to occasionally join the monthly Lotus alumni club breakfast meetings in Redmond...
[Update: details from this page: "Prior to joining Macromedia, Elop was Senior Vice President, Systems/CIO for Boston Chicken, Inc. (1994-1998), one of the largest food retailers in the United States. Prior to this, Elop was a Director in Lotus Development Corporation's Consulting Services Group, with responsibility for Canada and the US mid-west (1992-1994). Elop joined Lotus as part of the acquisition of Soma, Inc., a Canadian software development and management consultancy."]
Some observations from Joe Wilcox:
The choice of Elop is in some ways revealing. He is former Macromedia CEO, and he remained with Adobe in the top field operations position for a year following the merger. I've been saying for years that Adobe and Microsoft are on collision course in the enterprise. Biggest competition comes from Microsoft's Business division. It's no coincidence, methinks, that Raikes' replacement comes from Adobe/Macromedia. The Elop choice foreshadows where Microsoft is going in the enterprise, and it's to places where Adobe also competes.
