Archives for 2006
Vapor in Bubble 2.0
Posted on September 26, 2006 ·
After Vaporware, here comes VaporStream! OK, let’s get serious:
“E-mail has a problem – it creates a permanent, time-stamped record that is out of our control” – starts the intro to VaporStream, just launched at DemoFall.
Am I hearing reading right? Is this really a problem? I’m having a hard time thinking of legitimate reasons why a business would need to send email that’s not really email but a self-destructing image, without header information and generally untraceable.
Then again, some businesses may just welcome this. Too bad.
Social Drinkers Earn More
Posted on September 26, 2006 ·
“The study published in the Journal of Labor Research Thursday concluded that drinkers earn 10 to 14 percent more than teetotalers, and that men who drink socially bring home an additional seven percent in pay.
“Social drinking builds social capital,” said Edward Stringham, an economics professor at San Jose State University and co-author of the study with fellow researcher Bethany Peters.” (full article here)
What can I say … I surrender:-) Want to do even better? Forget beer, drink red wine, for the health benefits. Oh, and to support the local economy – at least us, Californians
Tags: social+drinking, drinking+study, compensation, compensation+study, networking, beer, wine
The Anatomy of Enterprise Overhead Bloating
Posted on September 26, 2006 ·
Good reading:
“Real Overhead: The percentage of your workforce that does not interact with either the product or the customer
This is always a fascinating conversation with customers. In my last startup we had 2.6% of the workforce in this category. 97.4% was interacting with the product or the customer. I just worked with a Fortune 500 client where this ratio is around 25-35% (they can’t quite figure it out). In their case thousands of people do something else but what makes the company create value.”
Full article at Right Place @ Right Time
Tags: Enterprise+Overhead, Overhead, Productivity, Corporate+Overhead
Walflop
Posted on September 26, 2006 ·
Wallop: Too late, too little. Check out OM’s poll:
- Its years too late
(27%) - Just in time to save us from MySpace (13%)
- Stop the Social Network madness (60%)
Thank you for voting! Total votes cast: 45
Tags: wallop, wallflop, microsoft, social+networks, social+networking, myspace, facebook, friendster, socializr
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.
Tags: Webex, webex+connect, BMC, Business+Objects, Genius, MindJet, NetSuite, SoonR, SugarCRM, Zoho, ecosystem, Appexchange, cordys, Baan, Jan+Baan, mashup, enterprise+mashup, collaboration, integration, soa+platform, bpm, bpml, bpms+
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.
Tags: blogs, blogging, blog+silence, blogaholic, blog+withdrawal
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.
Related posts:
- Dunn done is just the start for cleanup at HP
- HP’s CEO: “I will thoroughly investigate myself…”
- New Role Raises Eyebrows
- HP – Ding Dong, Dunn is Gone
Tags: HP, HP+Scandal, HP+Board, HPGate, Dunngate, Patriciagate, corporate+governence, business+ethics, Hall+of+fame, Hall+of+Shame, Privacy+Innovation+Award, privacy
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?
Tags: techcrunch, techcrush, /message
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.
Related posts:
Tags: laptops, notebooks, $100+notebook, $100+laptop, government, federal+government, privacy, Social+Security, Census+Bureau, +Scott+McNealy
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