Google Finally Ends the Folder vs. Label War – What’s Next? Find the Answer Here.
Personal Productivity, SaaS July 1st, 2009
Bear with me for this somewhat long post, for I am not only discussing the sweeping changes Gmail made today, but in the end will also tell you what they are going to do next year – or perhaps after that.
Gmail Changes
The Gmail label changes announced today and to be released to accounts slowly (you may not see them yet, I only have them on one account) are ones that I’ve long been waiting for, and that most reviewers seem to underestimate, thinking of them as mere cosmetic or usability changes, i.e. “drag and drop”, “right-side labels retired”..etc. We can always trust good old Lifehacker to call it what it is: Gmail Gives Labels the Folder Treatment.
Folders vs. Labels
Because they are. Folders, that is. Just very few people realize that. The Folders vs. Labels debate is older than the tenancy debates we discussed recently, with two deeply religious camps (apologies for the extreme characterization):
Tags: algorithm, email, folders, gmail, Google, labels, productivity, tags, usability, xref
Two recent posts by Enterprise Social Software vendors Jive and Atlassian set up a huge debate amongst my fellow Enterprise Irregulars. Here’s the money-quote from Jive:
It’s not so long ago that it felt embarrassing to say the words "SaaS" and " single-tenant" in the same sentence. For years, it’s been an industry mantra that it’s simply impossible to have a scalable SaaS business without multi-tenancy.
Both Jive and Atlassian went single-tenant. That’s a red flag with many SaaS purists. But there’s more then just tenancy. What if customer data stays behind the firewall, while the application is still provided over the web? Is that still considered SaaS? Do customers really care about such issues, or do they look for innovation in features and services?
And a bonus: the #1 SaaS icon supposedly delivers on-premise, if the deal is big enough…
Tags: atlassian, cloud computing, data security, Enterprise Software, infrastructure, jive, multi-tenant, On-Demand, on-premise, private cloud, readwriteweb, SaaS, salesforce.com, sharepoint, single-tenant, software architecture, software as a service, tenancy, xref, zoho
Break Free of Vista for a $50 Ransom. Catch Win7 Upgrade While You Can.
Business, Software June 26th, 2009
Fellow Windows Vista victims, there’s light at the end of the tunnel: we may soon set ourselves free and only have to pay a $50 ransom. I just did.
The $50 ransom is not a bad deal. Forget the myriad of Win7 SKU’s and whopping prices all the way to $319.99. I’m calling BS: the real standalone Win7 price is $50 or $100. Period.
Tags: microsoft, operating system, os, vista, vista final, vistasucks, win7, Windows, windows 7, windows upgrade, windows xp, winxp, xref
Promoting SaaS on eBay?
Humor, Personal Productivity, SaaS June 23rd, 2009
This listing on eBay is hilarious, almost makes me wonder if it’s a true listing or carefully planted advertising for Google Apps (and SaaS in general). But the seller appears to be real, has been on eBay for ten years… Here we go, get Microsoft Office w. Outlook for $75, because:
It’s brand new and never been opened. My boss bought it right before I moved the whole company over to Google Apps.
We never looked back, but here’s your opportunity to live it up, 90’s style, with this great, retro piece of Microsoft 2007 software.
Tags: auction, eBay, google apps, marketing, microsoft, ms office, Outlook, SaaS, xref
Zoho Office for Sharepoint: Use SaaS, Keep Data Behind the Firewall
Collaboration, Enterprise Software, SaaS June 23rd, 2009
One of the major roadblocks to SaaS providers’ entry to the enterprise is IT and Business concerns about corporate security, thinking of the firewall as the last line of defense.
Microsoft SharePoint has a very strong position in the Enterprise as the incumbents behind-the-firewall collaboration server, and for years smart Collaboration and Social Software vendors with better functionality, like Atlassian, Socialtext, Jive Software, Newsgator have been "playing well", adopting their services to SharePoint.
Now Zoho joins, announcing Zoho Office for Microsoft SharePoint, which combines the benefits of a collaborative SaaS Suite with the (perceived or real?) security if keeping data behind the firewall.
Tags: Collaboration, Exchange, firewall, Google, microsoft, ms office, Outlook, SaaS, security, sharepoint, zoho, zoho suite
Skype Spam
Software June 22nd, 2009
The last place I expect to receive spam is on Skype, and so far it has remained clean, I assume due to my privacy settings:
So how on earth could this have popped up on my screen:
[12:05:42 PM] Zora Giannoni: hi! i’m briannahh from http://www.slutsdating.com are we still on for saturday?
No, Zora, or Briannah or whoever you are: we’re not on. Anyone with similar experience? Are we seeing major trouble with Skype?
Netbooks Resurfaces from Hibernation as WorkingPoint: SaaS for SMB with Nicer UI but Much Less Functionality
SaaS, Software, Startups June 17th, 2009
I’ve previously covered Netbooks, provider of an Integrated SaaS Business Suite for Very Small Businesses.
The company had an affordable On-Demand integrated business management solution for the VSB – very small businesses, the “S” in SMB / SME: typically companies with less then 25 employees, sometimes only 3-5, and, most importantly, without professional IT support, in which case Software as a Service is a life-saver.
NetBooks tried to cover a complete business cycle, from opportunity through sales, manufacturing, inventory / warehouse management, shipping, billing, accounting – some with more success then others. The process logic, the flow between various functional areas was excellent, but it was rendered almost unusable by a horrible UI. And it didn’t scale… so the company disappeared for a long year, completely re-building their code base.
Read on …
Tags: accounting, Accounting Software, bearingpoint, branding, business bydesign, business names, crm, Enterprise Software, erp, inventory management, manufacturing software, netbooks, netsuite, On-Demand, order fulfillment, procurement, quickbooks, SaaS, salesforce.com, small business software, smb, sme, vsb, workingpoint, xref
Opera Unite Turns Your Computer into a Web Server. But Will You Want It?
Software, Technology June 16th, 2009
The little browser that could … was how the Opera browser was often referred to around 1996-98. The best browser packed with innovative features that Internet Explorer and Firefox were forced to copy: tabbed browsing, popup-blockers, saved sessions, zooming, mouse gestures to name a few. But it never really took off, continuing to hover around 2% market-share forever.
Today Opera proves again they are innovators: they claim to “reinvent the web” with the launch of Opera Unite.
Tags: browser wars, browsers, chrome, Collaboration, file sharing, firefox, ie, opera, opera unite, web infrastructure, web server, xref
Brits, the Masters of the Universe… the Facebook Universe
Marketing / PR, Social Networking, Software June 12th, 2009
Image via Wikipedia
The University of Salford in Manchaster will offer a Masters degree in Social Media, focusing on Facebook and Twitter.
Salford claims to be the world’s first to offer a Masters course in social media, but they are not. That title goes to Birmingham City University which announced their one-year course in Social Media in March. For a cool £4,400 ($7,200) you get a Master’s Degree of … well, let’s just say questionable value.
Tags: facebook, online degrees, social media, Twitter, xfer
Wordpress Theme for a Family Physician?
Misc, Software June 11th, 2009
I’m trying to “Web 2.0-ize” a friend who is a primary care (family) physician. The big plan is to give him a site he can easily update, and that will build up some Google juice over time – surprise, surprise, that’s a blog. 
He WILL blog, but not too often – so this should not look like a blog, more like a traditional website with just a section on the main page for the refreshing content – or in Wordpress lingo, a theme that has several buckets for static content, and just one smaller area for blog posts.
Can you recommend a good theme? Thanks.
Tags: family doctor, medical theme, physician theme, wordpress themes
Zoli Erdos
