Archives for September 2006

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WebEx Connect to Compete with AppExchange

Posted on September 26, 2006 ·

WebEx has traditionally been known for its Web-conferencing, but it clearly aims to be more: they just announced their own   “AppExchange” labeled WebEx Connect: a collaborative platform to combine WebEx’s own strengths in web-conferencing, IM, document sharing  …etc. with applications from their ecosystem partners, which initially include BMC, Business Objects, Genius, MindJet, NetSuite, SoonR, SugarCRM and Zoho.

Clearly, the partner-list is not (yet) comparable to the AppExchange, but this is really a pre-launch announcement, largely aimed at soliciting more ISV’s – by the time of the anticipated availability at Q1 2007 there should be a lively ecosystem around WebEx Connect as the collaboration and workflow engine. 

Talk about engine, it’s based on technology from Cordys, a BPM/SOA platform company founded by none other but Jan Baan whose ERP company gave SAP a run for their money in the 90’s, especially in manufacturing.  Business Process, Workflow expertise from Baan + Collaboration from WebEx = sounds like a promising marriage to me.

Why WebEx?   There is a simple answer… actually there are 2 million answers – that is the number of WebEx’s current user base, becoming available to partner ISV’s.   That’s about 4 times Salesforce.com’s reach.

It’s probably a low-risk speculation that we’ll see more of these “ecosystems” emerge, as  application companies strive to reposition themselves as platforms.   Eventually AppExchange won’t become *the* platform and neither will Webex Connect – they will be one of several platforms, with ISV’s supporting several of them, collaborating here, competing there.   Back-scratching some, back-stabbing some…

If you’d like to know more, the best chance to meet most of the above mentioned companies is at the Office 2.0 Conference.

 

Update: Related posts below.

 

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Filed Under: Business, Collaboration, Enterprise Software, ERP / CRM, SaaS, Software, Startups, Technology ·
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A Blogaholic’s Withdrawal Symptoms

Posted on September 25, 2006 ·

Something’s wrong this Monday morning.  My blog reader is empty.

First I suspected a glitch caused by the Attensa upgrade I just did on the weekend, so I checked Bloglines: same result.   Wow. Complete blog silence.  On to checking Technorati Favorites: same.

Ahh, perhaps there’s a feedburner outage: check their page, no signs of any trouble.  Weird. Are people really not talking this morning?  Let’s check a random selection of my favorite blogs …. yes, the old-fashioned way, really typing their addresses in my browser: still nothing.

What’s going on?  Are bloggers really not talking this morning?  I’m getting nervous .. clicking refresh on ny reader every five minutes or so… ahhhhhhhhhhh… off to the espresso machine.

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Filed Under: Blogging ·
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Dunn-less HP Still Has Baggage

Posted on September 22, 2006 ·

So finally Pat Dunn is gone.  Completely, immediately.  This is definitely better than the lame half-steps the board originally took, keeping her as Chairman for 4 more months, and as Board member even longer.

Too bad she (they) waited long enough to get her inducted in the Bay Area Business Hall of Fame Shame.  How pathetic.  But wait, there is more. ZDnet reports that HP is the “sole corporate sponsor of the Privacy Innovation Awards that are going to be handed out next month at a gala event in Toronto.”

“Insert your own punch line: Hewlett-Packard Co., the Palo Alto-based technology company facing federal and state investigations over spying on board members and journalists, is cosponsor of an award for “privacy innovation.”

Lovely. I guess in HP-speak Spying=”Privacy Innovation”.  Talk about HP in the post-Dunn period, I still maintain what I said before we knew that Mark Hurd may be involved, too:

“Mark Hurd will be the new Chairman while keeping his CEO position. He may be the savior of HP and untainted by the current scandal, but the separation of CEO and Chairman roles is a fundamental principle of good Corporate Governance.”

Messr. Hewlett and Packard are still turning in their graves.

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Filed Under: Business, Misc, Technology ·
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The Crush Goes On: Much Ado About Nothing

Posted on September 22, 2006 ·

TechCrunch crushed TechCrush, reports Stowe Boyd.  But wait: Mike “TechCrunch” Arrington says it’s just a friendly conversation. TechCrush themselves report all is clear…

Oh, well… back to business. Crunch on .. or crush on?

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Filed Under: Blogging, Business, Startups, Technology ·
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Who Needs the $100 Laptop? Just "Borrow" one from the Government

Posted on September 22, 2006 ·

The Federal Government seems to be in the business of giving away free computers… how else could we explain that “More than 1,100 laptop computers have vanished from the Department of Commerce since 2001” ? (source: Washignton Post).

The second part of the quote is even scarier: “including nearly 250 from the Census Bureau containing such personal information as names, incomes and Social Security numbers, federal officials said yesterday.”

Gee. I don’t even want to think trough the privacy implications.   Scott McNealy was right.

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Filed Under: Business, Misc, Politics ·
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Blogs and Wikis Are the New Web

Posted on September 22, 2006 ·

Traditional web sites are so 20th Century – Blogs and Wikis bring them to life, and they are easier to set up. Perhaps not surprisingly, a Web 2.0-focused VC, Union Square Ventures was one of the first to replace their entire Web site with a blog – read the rationale of the switch. Corporate web sites soon followed suit, just look at Architel and Return Path as examples. Now, for some shameless self-promotion, my earlier tips on the subject: Blogs To Replace Personal Web sites.

In Wikis are the Instant Intranet I also talked about how companies can set up a living-breathing Intranet, one that people can actually use, not just passively read by deploying a wiki: ” in the large corporate environment a wiki can be a lively collaborative addition to the Intranet (see the wiki effect by Socialtext CEO Ross Mayfield), but for smaller, nimble, less hierarchical business a wiki is The Intranet.” (note: I am not just speculating on this: been there, done that in my prior life).

Now Sydney-based Customware raised the bar:

The entire web site (not only the Intranet, but the customer-facing web) is built on a wiki – Confluence by Atlassian. (hat tip: Mike Cannon-Brookes)

Update (9/28): The Atlassian Blog points to several other wiki-powered sites that look-and-feel like traditional websites.

Update (9/22): Just as soon as I posted this article, I saw this pic on Rod Boothby’s blog:

Itensil, short for “Information Utensils” builds “a self-service technology that we’re calling Team Wikiflow that captures collective intelligence and delivers it as reusable team processes.”

I have to admit I haven’t heard of Itensil – it will be exciting to meet them, as well as Atlassian, Socialtext, Zoho, ConnectBeam, EchoSign and many other companies in the collaboration space at the Office 2.0 Conference.

Update (4/12/07): Here’s a list of corporate websites powered by CustomerVision’s BizWiki.


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Filed Under: Blogging, Business, Collaboration, Enterprise Software, Software, Technology · Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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Bay Area Business Hall of Shame

Posted on September 20, 2006 ·

(Updated)
This is NOT a joke: on the heels of the widening HP Spy Scandal deposed (?) Chairman and Chief Spy Patricia Dunn is still scheduled to be inducted into the Bay Area Business Hall of Fame at a $500-a-piece Gala Dinner at the Westin St. Francis.  The other inductee is former Chevron Chairman & CEO George M. Keller.

I don’t know Mr. Keller, but I don’t believe he is involved in any dishonorable activities, and frankly, if I were him, I would feel very-very inconvenient right now.  Perhaps to the point of rejecting the “honor” of sharing the pedestal with HP’s Master Spy.   

Fellow Hall of Famers, HP Founders William  Hewlett & David Packard must be turning in their graves now that that the Executive who did the most to destroy their company’s reputation is being honored along with them.   Other business legends in the Hall of Fame must feel the same: Eugene Kleiner & Thomas J. Perkins, William Hambrecht, Charles Schwab, Gordon Moore, George Lucas, Larry Sonsini.  As we know, at least Mr Sonsini and Mr Perkins were subject to HP’s pretexting – this must make for cozy dinner company 🙂

If Patricia Dunn had any decency left, she would not provoke further attention and public outcry by accepting the honor and attending the Gala,   But for all we know now, she plans to. 

Perhaps the other participants will save the day and boycott what would otherwise become the Bay Area Business Hall of Shame… (?)

Update (9/21):  Apparently no-one “saved the day”  Patricia Dunn was toasted and inducted yesterday.

Related articles:

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Filed Under: Bay Area, Business, Politics, Technology ·
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Colbert Beats Chuck Norris in Budapest

Posted on September 16, 2006 ·

About two months ago the Government of Hungary announced a public online poll to determine the name of a new bridge to be built over the river Danube in Budapest. They probably expected a famous Hungarian statesmen, hero, poet or musician’s name to emerge at the top of the list.

The only problem was, they left the vote wide open, and in the early rounds Chuck Norris took the lead. That is, until Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert sensed a historic opportunity: he called his loyal viewers to vote on him.

They certainly did, and when the poll was closed, Steven Colbert beat out Chuck Norris, John Stewart and all famous Hungarians, accumulating over 17 million votes.  That’s only a mere 7 million votes than the entire population of Hungary.

To announce the results, Hungary’s Ambassador to the US, Andras Simonyi came to the show.

He handed Colbert an official document pronouncing him the winner of the contest.  He also spelled out two minor conditions:

  • Colbert has to become fluent in Hungarian
  • Colbert has to be dead

The first one may not be such a deal, after Colbert correctly pronounced the word “bridge: in Hungarian, the Ambassador declared him fluent enough.  The second condition is a bit tougher: unlike the US, Hungarians name their public places after deceased famous people. That said, Hungarians are entrepreneurial enough to find some solution.  The Ambassador provided Colbert with a Hungarian passport and some Hungarian currency, inviting him to the construction site:  “Once you’re there, we’ll find a way to deal with this minor issue… “

Will Colbert take the chance?

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Filed Under: Humor, Misc ·
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Socializr – Yawnr?

Posted on September 13, 2006 ·

Since I was the first one to “discover” Socializr (see Socializr – Friendster 2.0?) I figured I should report it is now out with a “gamma” release.  I guess we shouldn’t read too much into what gamma means, since Auren Hoffman recently saw the alpha version… he thinks  “this is going to be a great company.”

He probably knows why – I don’t.   Perhaps I am just too cynical… but I can’t get excited by yet-another-social-networking site. So rather than a boring attempt to describe it, here’s a detailed review on Vested Ventures.

 

Hm… I wonder if $1.5m funding should be enough to get a decent logo … or did they spend all the money on hiring   babes  Exec Assistants ?  Oh, well, perhaps by the time they get to the Zeta release:-)  

The company’s Founder is none other but Jonathan Abrams whose previous startup, Friendster seems to be coming back from the ashes, having been granted a wide, generic patent on online social networking.

The layout is boring, but the Socializr-ers (wow, how do you say that?) certainly have humor:

Our motto: “Don’t be boring.” (because Google already took “Don’t be evil.”)

Founded in 1848, during the California Gold Rush, Socializr, Inc. is located in San Francisco, California, and was originally used by prospectors, miners, and gamblers to coordinate outings to popular saloons. This mysterious company is now run by a large team of magic elves, and assisted by junior computer programmer Jonathan Abrams.

Socializr is a “Web 3.1” company. “Web 3.1” is an arbitrary and silly label like “Web 2.0”, but even sillier, and 55% cooler! And everyone knows nothing works right until the 3.1 version.

Update (9/14):  TechCrunch appears to have a similar assessment.

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Filed Under: Business, Social Networking, Software, Startups, Technology ·
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Lame Executive Search "Matches"

Posted on September 12, 2006 ·

Long ago I’ve established a profile on BlueSteps.com.  It’s dormant, I did not bother to go back and de-activate it, the occasional email does not bother me.  This morning I am ROFLMAO having received the following “match against my profile”:

Function:  Finance and Accounting/CFO
Industry:  Hospitals
Region:  Augusta, GA, Georgia, United States
Salary:  $100,000 – $150,000

There’s not a single bit in this search that would match my profile.  This is simply pathetic.

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Filed Under: Business, Software, Technology ·
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