I admit when Chatter first came out, I did not get it.  Yeah, another activity stream, so what?  I’ve long agreed with Chief Curmudgeon Dennis Howlett that activity streams without business context offer little value in business.  Things started to get interesting when Chatter added the ability to follow documents, opportunities and other business objects.  Aha!  So now we’re getting business context in Chatter!  But why?

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I simply don’t get it: Vista is barely out, nobody seems to like it, CIO’s refuse to upgrade, analyst firms tell them to wait, individual users who tried it switch back to XP, others time their new PC purchase so they can still get an XP machine – generally speaking Vista was as poorly received as the ill-fated Windows ME.

Apple is gaining market share, the major computer manufacturers are offering Linux PC’s, the Web OS concept is getting popular, applications are already on the Web – can anyone clearly see the shape of personal computing in 2012? (Yes, I know MS plans for 2010, I’m just adding the customary delay.) Will it still matter what OS we use to get on the Internet? How can Microsoft be so out of touch?

I was right and I was wrong.  Right in the assessment, that Vista’s main competitor was Microsoft’s own solid OS, WinXP – there was simply no reason to upgrade.  Yet as buying new computers with Good Ole Vista became increasingly difficult, many of us got stuck with Vista.  I was wrong in not foreseeing that Vista would turn out to be such a disaster, that millions of Vista victims would end up paying the ransom to get out of the trap and get the version of the OS that actually works: Windows 7.

What followed was two peaceful years when Windows computers simply worked.  Yes, They Just Worked. Almost like a Mac.

Then the unexpected (?) happened…

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First, here’s how you call from your Chat list: click the phone button.. then voila!:

As it happens, none of my contacts pick up my test call – I suppose the feature is too new, nobody knows where the funny sound comes from or how to react.  They will get used to it.  But here’s the real surprise: it has VoiceMail.  To the World.  Literally:

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Cartoon by Dave Walker

A few hundred thousand (numbers range from 150k to 500K) Gmail and Google Apps users had the scary experience of losing ALL their email content yesterday.  Their account was accidentally “reset”.  Google acknowledged the error, and issued a statement that they are working on restoring “lost” content.

Let’s stop and think here a minute.  Is your lifetime’s worth of information sitting in email?  Do you have redundant backups / copies? (there is a difference, as we’ll see).  If not… stop everything, and rush to fix it.

There are a few steps anyone can take easily to have redundant copies of their entire email account – I don’t mean just backup to restore from, but  live copies you can switch to any time.

1. Keep an offline copy in an email client.  I don’t use email clients anymore, much prefer the native Gmail UI.  But even if you don’t normally use email clients, you can still occasionally start Outlook, Thunderbird, Mac email…etc.  Fetch everything via IMAP, then make redundant copies.
2. Auto-copy to another Google account.  Set up an account you won’t actively use – its sole purpose is to fetch email from all your other email accounts (Google or external) via POP and serve as an archive….

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(Oh, and Googlers who read this are most welcome to chip in to help )

The following video introduction is a bit “cutesy”:

-and that’s quite intentional.  In fact simplicity is one of the key points in Zoho Books:

• Clear, streamlined UI, tabs, easy terminology –i.e. Money In, Money Out. This service is clearly targeted at non-accountants, which is most of us in a small business – hey, even I can understand most of it.
• That said, Books offers the opportunity to share data and collaborate with accountants (Ouch, did I really needed that reminder for tax time?;-) )
• Multi-currency support – this is typically a later add-on in many systems, but Zoho has a wide international presence with most of their other services
• Integration with Zoho CRM, Invoice, Mail – somewhat basic now, will be improved as we’ve seen with the rest of Zoho’s offerings
• Support for electronic payment systems like Paypal, Google Checkout, Authorize.net. This is a “hidden treasure” inherited from twin service Zoho Invoice, which is a subset of Book’s functionality and can be easily upgraded. Why hidden? Because relatively few know that Paypal offers 50 cent (yes, that’s $0.50 per transaction) Business Payments NOT available through the Web, only via their API, i.e. apps like Zoho Invoice and Boooks.

Having said that, is Zoho Books a Quickbooks killer?

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I really liked Xmarks – when it was Foxmarks.  A simple bookmark synchronization service that would keep your Firefox up-to-date no matter where you logged in.  Essential Cloud Computing when we’re no longer enslaved to one computer only.

Then it became Xmarks, started to offer password sync and several other services, including “enhanced” Google Search – i.e. adding a social layer to Google’s algorithm. I opted out of password sync, sticking to the basics.

LastPass, on the other hand was a solution for the password conundrum – so good, that Ben was ready to dismiss his usual concerns.  The transaction probably makes sense for both parties: Xmarks was going down the drain, having experimented with business models and running out of cash.  LastPass picks up millions of users.

So why am I ranting?

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It’s a bit unfortunate that this is presented in the context of personal ego wars – unfortunate, but understandable,  considering that Oracle has been on a warpath with HP ever since former CEO Hurd got ousted, in fact they launched a global manhunt for incoming HP CEO Leo Apotheker.  But ego clashes make good stories.

That said, the real story …

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…and they vote with their feet checkbook.  Today NetSuite claims over 500 customer defected from Sage to NetSuite.  Make no mistake, this is not simply one software company “stealing” another one’s business…

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One such essay is Insight as a Service.  It’s about what I called the “hidden business model enabled by SaaS” in 2006: using aggregated data for benchmarking.  Four years later it’s no longer hidden, but a growing business with great future:

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