Connecting the dots ...
List, list…like I’ve said, it’s THAT time of the year. So let’s consolidate, where we can. Why bother having a separate Technology and Person of the year:
…when we can have it combined. Ladies and Gentlemen, meet the iZuck:
Slim, portable, does not talk back
(Cross-posted @ CloudAve » Zoli Erdos)
CloudAve readers know I am a fan of edgy marketing. Now it’s time to update my recently compiled inventory of software marketing pranks. A major show like Salesforce.com’s DreamForce would not even be real without some guerilla marketing activity – except the players seemed to have traded places this year. Guerilla Marketing is normally David’s weapon, but this year Goliath – Holy Microsoft – came down to us earthlings running around on Segways handing out MS Dynamics CRM discount coupons:
Image credit: Centernetworks
I did not get Forced
On a side-note…
(Cross-posted @ CloudAve » Zoli Erdos)
Warning: I think I’m becoming a curmudgeon – except that title has until now been reserved for somebody else 
. But I still have doubts about the recent transaction: LastPass acquired Xmarks.
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?
(Cross-posted @ CloudAve » Zoli Erdos)
Oh, the typewriter. Is it:
If you are my generation, there was a time when you called it a business machine. You typed letters (OK, perhaps your assistant did), folded them, stuck them in envelopes, mailed them and waited a few weeks for the response.
Yes, it was possible to conduct business – it was just slow. Email changed our world – perhaps that’s why we’re sticking to it:-) But our kids have moved on – to them email is what the typewriter was for us…
(Cross-posted @ CloudAve » Zoli Erdos)
Today’s big news is that HP is dropping Siebel CRM now owned by Oracle in favor of Salesforce.com.
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 …
(Cross-posted @ CloudAve » Zoli Erdos)
I called it a Software Marketing Prank, but hey, apparently customers do listen…
…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…
(Cross-posted @ CloudAve » Zoli Erdos)
Fellow Enterprise Irregular Evangelos Simoudis is definitely worth following. As an active Venture Capitalist he often focuses on his portfolio experience – but through that micro-lense gives us an overview of the market, “The State of SaaS” per se, confirming / contradicting based on real life, real companies what many of us see as trends.
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:
(Cross-posted @ CloudAve)
In the 90’s I used to laugh at friends who all used Yahoo! as their personal email service. I did not understand how anyone could put up with the slow speeds of web-mail, and tried to convince them to install a decent email client, like Outlook, which is what most of them used in their corporate jobs.
Then things changed: Outlook grew into a bloated monster, it brought otherwise fairly speedy computers to a grinding halt and finding stuff in the archives of years of email became a gargantuan job. A new web-based email service came to rescue: Gmail was fast, well-organized, included productivity-boosters like labels and conversation-threading, and most importantly, you could not only search but also find old email in seconds! For this former Outlook-fan the switch was a no-brainer – in fact I ended up ditching almost all desktop software, moving online. (Gmail for mail and Zoho for most other tasks).
Life was good, I stayed productive and Gmail grew into a suite of productivity services by Google. Too bad it’s breaking down – again…
(Cross-posted @ CloudAve)
Recently I’ve been experimenting with Google Latitude: I wanted to see if I could use it to replace the “family locator” function that most mobile carriers offer at a premium price. This would require that your child or elderly parent or whoever’s whereabouts you care about carries the phone in their pocket with the display off, while it continues to send its location to you.
No can do. Partly due to Latitude, partly due to the mobile carrier. The problem with Latitude, at least on Android 2.1 is that as soon as the phone goes to sleep, your GPS shuts off – I understand it as default to save battery life, but Latitude should offer the option to continue using GPS, if I so chose.
Without GPS …
(Cross-posted @ CloudAve)
Twitter is abuzz this morning with MySQL news:
What these messages refer to is that Oracle dropped InnoDB from the free Classic Edition, it is now only available starting with the $2,000 Standard Edition. A few days ago we heard support prices were increased – none of this should come as a surprise, the writing had been on the wall ever since Sun’s acquisition by Oracle. And of course it’s not only MySQL, all Open Source products are on uncertain grounds – there’s a reason why many of the OpenOffice folks split off and are now supporting the new fork, LibreOffice.
I don’t pretend to be the Open Source expert, thankfully we have one, Krish, who recently chimed in on the issue. What I want to do this morning is to take this opportunity to publish an internal email from a smart software CEO who instructed his teams to migrate away from MySQL several months ago. While he wishes to remain anonymous, this is not a leak, I am publishing it with his permission. (Yeah, I know, a leak would have made this story a lot juicier…). Here’s the email:
I posted this internally to an employee question why I am asking our company to move away from MySQL towards Postgres (instead of Ingres).
I would answer the “Why not Ingres” with one word: GPL.
Let’s step back and think about the “People are angry with what Oracle is doing with MySQL” statement. Actually why could Oracle do this with MySQL? How was it possible for Oracle to do this? After all MySQL is “open source” and could be “forked” right?
To be honest, I had long anticipated this move on the part of Oracle…
(Cross-posted @ CloudAve)
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