No More SaaS? Long Live SES! :-)
SaaS, Software February 27th, 2007
Dennis says the term SaaS is no longer relevant I don’t necessarily agree, but here’s my quick take on it. What’s after SaaS? It ain’t SaaS 2.0.
Long Live SES = Software Enabled Service.
Update: It just occured to me that I first used this term in August 2006, describing EchoSign.
Deadly Kites
Misc February 26th, 2007
“At least 11 people died and more than 100 people were injured at an annual spring festival in eastern Pakistan celebrated with the flying of thousands of colourful kites, officials said today.
The deaths and injuries were caused by stray bullets, sharpened kite-strings, electrocution and people falling off rooftops yesterday at the conclusion of the two-day Basant festival.”
(full story here)
Hm.. for a peaceful, safe kite festival, come to Berkeley this summer.
Listening to Consumer Survey Apple Upgrades iPhone
Humor February 26th, 2007
Kudos to Apple, their attention to customers is exemplary. Just as soon as we found out that consumers won’t pay $500 for the iPhone, they came back with a much enhanced version. Is this the iPhone Plus? Or perhaps iLive? iDo? 
(Hat tip: Dennis Howlett)
Breaking News: President Bush Plans to Bring the Troops Home on JetBlue
Humor February 23rd, 2007
“Under increased pressure to announce an exit strategy from Iraq, President George W. Bush revealed plans today to bring U.S. troops home on the budget airlines JetBlue.
According to most official estimates, with its recent spate of scheduling problems and flight delays, JetBlue could take up to seven years to bring U.S. troops home, and possibly ten years in the event of inclement weather.”
(the Borowitz report, via BL Ochman)
Why I’m NOT Writing about Google Apps
Blogging, Business, Collaboration, Personal Productivity, SMB / SME, SaaS, Software, Technology February 22nd, 2007
Of course it’s a significant move. Not that it happened today… or was unexpected. It’s been evolving in front of our eyes, the significant news IMHO is not the pricing, but the Service Level guarantee of 99.9%.
(Well, on second thought, there is a surprise: where is JotSpot?)
But is there anything else to discuss? Not really, already dozens of posts appeared, and before you know TechMeme will become useless for the next two days, as it will be completely overwhelmed with me-too posts on the Google announcement.
I’ve actually been planning a more speculative post on Google’s foray into the SMB Business Applications market, but that will now have to wait for the echo to die off….
Update: Hehe .. Robert got to the same conclusion.
Update (2/22): Sound of reality from Zoho’s CEO:
“Our business plan is not based on us beating Microsoft or Google, it is based on serving customers well enough to earn a profitable share of the market. Business is not superbowl, though it often appears that way in a 24Ă—7 news cycle. It is perfectly possible for a smaller company to offer a compelling product to customers and earn a perfectly good living, without “winning” the market.”
Please Update Your Feed URL
Misc February 21st, 2007
If you are my subscriber, please check the feed URL and make sure it is:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/zoli
The Feedburner service is more manageable than the one offered my blog platform, and using it ensures continuity should I change platforms in the future.
And of course if you haven’t subscribed yet, you can always do so by clicking on the
button in the upper right sidebar area.
Thank you for being my reader either way.
The Scary Thing about Contextual (?) Advertising
Blogging, Marketing / PR, Misc February 19th, 2007
No matter how much ad-placement algorithms improve the inevitable mistake happens from time to time. The article on Yahoo News discusses how Eastern European countries who agree to host the US missile defense system risk being targeted by Russian missiles. Now, what better ad to display, than a cute little Yahoo Rocket? 
Of course this is not as extreme as this ad right after Katrina hit New Orleans:
See also:
The Day Google Became the Center of the World
Humor February 17th, 2007
The day Google became the Center of the World is February 12th, 2007. Don’t look for a product announcement, or breaking through another revenue barrier though… it’s something a lot simpler.. yet symbolic.
I live in the San Francisco Bay Area, previously in Los Altos, now in Pleasanton – small towns people outside the region wouldn’t know. So whenever I am asked where I live, the obvious explanation is “it’s x miles from San Francisco”.
It all changed on 2/12/07, when Aaron Stanton, the guy who decided he just *had to* be heard by Google arrived in San Francisco. He is staying at a friends’s in San .. .what? In San Francisco, about 40 minutes outside of Mountain View.
Mountain View The Googleplex has become the Center of the World.
(P.S. try entering Googleplex in Google Maps )
Protecting Children in the 21st Century by Tossing them Back to the 19th Century
Humor, Misc, Politics February 15th, 2007
I don’t understand this uproar. Of course Senator Ted Stevens is right. Social networking sites should be banned. The Internet, too. And TV. In fact, let’s ban electricity. Books should be burned, except the Bible. All children should wear a black uniform, their heads shaved bald. Libraries, schools closed, children should only go to church. Wait! Have they not been sent to re-education camps yet?
(I’ll be back with more great ideas after getting some inspiration from here)
Is it OK to Check Email During Meetings?
Business, Misc, Personal Productivity February 14th, 2007
Paul Kedrosky is surprised at the results of the in a WSJ survey on in-meeting email habits:
“This strikes me as unrealistic and “do what I say, not what I do”, but I’m curious what people think. Granted, perpetual in-meeting emailing is bad, but discrete checking once in a while is fine.”
I’m not surprised, in fact the survey asked about “feelings”, which to me translates to “do what I say, not what I do”. I voted “never OK”, but I do plead guilty to occasionally doing it.
I certainly disagree with Paul on “discrete checking once in a while is fine.” No, it’s NOT fine. But there is another side of the coin: my time, your time, everyone’s time is valuable – don’t waste it with endless, formal, long meetings. I would not think of checking email at a well-structured, efficiently run, productive and participatory meeting for fear of missing out on something important.
(Note: I took a snapshot of the poll 500 votes after Paul did, and the percentages are more or less the same, which indicates a fairly consistent public opinion).
Zoli Erdos
