Open Web Developer Viewpoint

Just What Exactly Is Email For?

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 03:30:00 EST

I don’t know about you, but when I get long emails my eyes go running around my head. Too many words for me to take in during a busy day when I’m sure I’m suffering from some form of ADHD as I try to multitask beyond human capability. So I ask folks to please, please, puLEASE not send me long emails. But they do anyway. And then they get mad when I don’t read them – especially when they’ve written something personal. They actually expect me to put down what I’m doing and read a one-way missive, interpret what they are meaning and feeling against how I interpret their words, then gather my own thoughts and feelings along the way that I can’t manage cuz the communication is one-way and obviously my thoughts and feelings have no credence – and then, then… then what? I can’t remember what I was thinking and feeling with each paragraph or thought, so I have to go back. And god forbid if I miss something!!

Cloud Computing Can Revitalize Your Career as Software Developer

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 02:45:00 EST

Everyone knows that the longevity and ultimate success of a platform lies in the developers willing to create on that platform. Creating a healthy developer ecosystem in which both the developer and the platform vendor can grow and prosper is very important. No one knows this better than Microsoft. It has long been their mantra that “developers, developers, developers” are the key to success. With most of the new large scale websites and platforms being launched on open source platforms and now the cloud, this is becoming even more important.

The Power of Google and the Promise of Cloud Computing

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 05:45:00 EST

Evans Data Corp announced that use of the Python scripting language has increased by 45% since Spring 2008 according to the most recent North American Development Survey to be released this week to subscribers. Only 13% of developers used Python before Google announced its App Engine platform in Spring 2008, which at the time only supported Python, but that number has increased to 20.3% today. Other scripting language use remained relatively constant, with only small gains or losses in popularity among languages such as Ruby, PHP, Perl and Actionscript.

And Then Came the Browser-in-a-Browser

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 11:00:00 EDT

Google, whose Chrome can claim all of 2.8% of the browser market, has come up with an open source plug-in that runs Chrome inside Microsoft's still dominant Internet Explorer. How's that for brass. It calls the thing Chrome Frame and says it works with IE6, 7 and 8 on Vista and XP SP2, but it's really supposedly targeted at the eight-year-old IE6 mandated by many companies.

Publishers and Authors Ask to Delay Google Hearing to Negotiate New Settlement

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 22:15:00 EDT

Publisher and author associations sought today to cancel a key hearing in the Google Books case to allow private negotiations with Google over digitizing books online. Consumer Watchdog warned that important issues affecting copyright law should not be negotiated behind closed doors. Notice of the motion was filed in U.S. District Court today after the Department of Justice raised objections to the proposed Google Books deal late last Friday. The nonpartisan, nonprofit Consumer Watchdog had also filed an amicus brief opposing the settlement. A hearing was scheduled before Judge Denny Chin on Oct. 7, but the publishers and authors associations said they are negotiating a new deal with Google and claimed it would make no sense for a hearing until that is reached.

Does Software AG Get SOA?

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 18:45:00 EDT

Welcome to the latest BriefingsDirect Analyst Insights Edition, Volume 44. Our topic this week on BriefingsDirect Analyst Insights Edition, and it is the week of July 13, 2009, centers on Software AG's bid to acquire IDS Scheer for about $320 million. We'll look into why this could be a big business process management (BPM) deal, not only for Software AG, but also for the service-oriented architecture (SOA) competitive landscape that is fast moving, as we saw from Oracle's recent acquisition of Sun Microsystems.

Zen and the Art of Network Architecture

Fri, 07 Aug 2009 23:00:00 EDT

"...I'll have one with everything." That is the possibly recognizable punch-line to an old joke about the Zen master ordering a hot dog. I am borrowing this as a theme for the on-going transformation of network architecture. Any successful design must follow the functionality required by the end-user. People want to be able to access information, entertainment, work, and all their friends whenever and wherever they happen to be at the time. While we love to talk about Triple-Play, Quad-Play, and Any-Play, we still see (for the most part) operators building on from a foundation of either Fixed-line, or Cable, or Mobile-wireless. With the pending arrival of the fourth generation of cellular radio technology, the Mobile Operator will be able to provide bandwidth and service experiences on par with their Fixed/Cable brethren. But we still have not seen the real shift in thinking which is to take the Zen approach to network design; "One with Everything".

The Rise of the Government App Store

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 23:00:00 EDT

In a recent post to the CCIF mailing list, Bob Marcus outlined the coming opportunties and challenges facing what he described as "Government Cloud Storefronts". In the post he described Vivek Kundra's (US Federal CIO) vision for the creation of a government Cloud Storefront. This Storefront (run by GSA) which will be launched Sept 9th and will make Cloud Computing resources (IaaS, PaaS, SaaS) available to agencies with in the US federal Government. (an $80+ Billion a year IT organization).

Google Apps Reseller Model Is a Big Fat Joke!

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 22:00:00 EDT

I just watched Google’s Jeff Ragusa’s video clip explaining the Google Apps reseller model. If I didn’t know any better I would have thought the Just for Laughs Festival I attend every year started early. Here is the big joke: Google is offering a whopping 20% of the Google Apps revenue generated by the Channel for directing their customers to Google’s coffers. For those of you that don’t know yet, let me give you the math: Google charges $50 per year per user for access to Google Apps. Gee Goog, you shouldn’t have. I mean really! A cool $10 per year for every user I hand over? Where do I sign up for this cash bonanza!

Plug Your Marketing Leaks

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 14:45:00 EDT

Lead nurturing is often thought about as being found with a flag waving when your leads decide to take action. Waiting to be found is not a strong strategy. In fact, sitting around passively encourages your leads to leak away to competitors working harder to engage them. The secret is generating increased commitment with each and every nurturing touch point.

Google OS - A Cynical View

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 13:15:00 EDT

I really like Google. They produce easy to use applications that work great. I use their search engine about a hundred times a day. Their applications make sense. But this announcement gave me goosebumps. If you didn’t hear that Google has announced that in 2010 consumers will have a chance to enjoy new Chrome-based OS, stop reading and do you homework first.

Chrome OS Screenshot Leaked

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 18:30:00 EDT

It’s Friday, and it’s sunny out here in Seattle, which means that no work will get getting done. In lieu of work, I did some digging with my contacts on the interwebs, and it turns out there is are a couple of screen grabs of the new Chrome OS floating around out there. I [...]

Google Takes on Microsoft Windows

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 07:15:00 EDT

Who knows if Google can transform its strengths in handling megatraffic into the ability to develop a mega-OS?

Google today is primarily an IT company. Yes, it is quite annoying

Flex Developer's Journal: 360Flex Show Report

Fri, 22 May 2009 05:25:00 EDT

Three days of the best conference for Flex developers went by fast. I’ve been attending this great event for the first time, and in the future, I’ll try not to miss this #1 gathering for Flex developers. While Adobe MAX is a lot larger...

The Top 250 Players in the Cloud Computing Ecosystem

Wed, 12 Dec 2007 14:45:00 EST

A robust ecosystem of solutions providers is emerging around cloud computing. Here, SYS-CON's Cloud Computing Journal expands its list of most active players in the fast-emerging Cloud Ecosystem, from the 'mere' 100 we identified back in January of this year, to 250 - testimony, if any further were needed, to the fierce and continuing growth of the "Elastic IT" paradigm throughout the world of enterprise computing.

How OpenSocial Complements Silverlight

Tue, 06 Nov 2007 08:45:00 EST

To take advantage of the OpenSocial implementation in Orkut sandbox, you have to create a Google Gadget with the OpenSocial feature, post the gadget on the Internet, and then add the URL of the gadget as an application. As I looked into the Google gadget API to build this, I found something interesting, the Google Gadget framework exposes the function _IG_FetchContent() that can be used to asynchronously fetch the text at any URL.

Google's OpenSocial: A Technical Overview and Critique

Tue, 06 Nov 2007 02:45:00 EST

One of the Google folks working on OpenSocial sent me a message via Facebook asking what I thought about the technical details of the recent announcements. Since my day job is working on social networking platforms for Web properties at Microsoft and I'm deeply interested in RESTful protocols, this is something I definitely have some thoughts about. Below is what started off as a private message but ended up being long enough to be its own article.

Fifty Million Facebook Users Don't Care About Google's OpenSocial APIs

Tue, 06 Nov 2007 02:30:00 EST

There are 50 million Facebook users who don't know what OpenSocial APIs are...and don't care. There are about 5,000 tech bloggers and developers who think it is a revolution that will 'Checkmate' Facebook and leave them with no moves. TechMeme has over 100 stories saying that OpenSocial is awesome and Facebook is dead. MySpace joins Google on OpenSocial initiative. OK, surely that settles it, Facebook is toast. Nope, not in my opinion.

Is the Rise of Google the End of the Game for Everyone Else?

Wed, 13 Dec 2006 12:00:00 EST

As I write this, the stock price of Google, Inc. just exceeded $500 for the first time in the company's still-brief (two-year) history as a public company. That gives the search colossus a market cap of $150 billion, many times in excess of its physical assets - currently valued at $10.2 billion.

As Google's SaaS Assault Begins, Move Over Microsoft Office?

Wed, 30 Aug 2006 06:00:00 EDT

Does the arrival of 'Google Apps for your Domain' sound the death-knell for Redmond's world domination? That is the question sweeping the industry this week as the owner of the world's most-used search engine released a set of hosted applications 'for organizations that want to provide high-quality communications tools to their users without the hassle of installing and maintaining software or hardware.'

i-Technology Blog: Is There Life Beyond Google?

Wed, 14 Jun 2006 07:30:00 EDT

What comes after Google? Where will the Web, the Internet, the whole nexus of telecommunications, i-Technology, and the quest for a better world, take us?

i-Technology Blog: Google Trends on Java, McNealy, AJAX, and SOA Give Pause For Thought

Fri, 12 May 2006 09:15:00 EDT

Like so many of the ideas that tumble out of the Googleplex into the public domain, Google Trends is irresistible. Jeremy Geelan puts the application, newly taken out of beta and now available to all cyberspace from the Google main page, through its paces by taking it out for a giddy spin around the i-Technology world. The results are surprising...