Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Internet » The gTLD Metamorphosis

Posted by echa 5:15 PM, under | No comments

The gTLD Metamorphosis | Internet How fast will this cocoon hatch? How soon will gTLD spread its wings and show off its real colors? It all depends on the fast-track orientation that's now in the spotlight and, most importantly, on when gTLD-based models are able to demonstrate real global cyberbranding and image-expansion opportunities.

The cocooned gTLD has started to spread its wings, and soon it will show its colors and become a butterfly. Its well-guarded fuzzy and slow progress has finally propelled it to a much-anticipated metamorphosis, but the world still waits for some flying maneuvers. Mother ICANN has worked very hard to coax it along to this stage.

It seems that mainstream global brands, their leading ad agencies, major law firms protecting their complex intellectual property portfolios, and creative services need to come forward. So far the coy debates and borderline fear mongering have been mostly about floods of squatters and trademark defense posturing. Such mythical notions are destined for a head-on collision with factual issues of name identity marketability and suitability by gTLDs. The markets need point-by-point clarity to settle the confusion.

The conference events on gTLD have started, and that's excellent -- but they have to build momentum and higher frequency. The world is a very large stage, and few gatherings of often the same people and same topics will not make a dent. After the big announcement by ICANN in June, followed by a few thousand news items, the excitement has quieted down, leaving corporations and senior management worldwide wondering what just happened.

Corporate World Doesn't Get gTLD

A quick survey of top senior marketing executives in North America by AARM points to a mere 2 percent of executives "having some very limited or somewhat confusing ideas without any reasonable understanding of what a gTLD is all about."

The other current buzz in the Internet columns, blogs and media is that it's a US$187K money grab, a threat to mega trademarks, and an invitation for a flood of cybersquatters. How wrong.

On the legal front, IBLS also did some research and found that legal practitioners have been trying hard to find a simple approach to connect potential customers with highly suitable gTLD opportunities, but they haven't been getting any serious response. On the global naming complexities of branding, AZNA is also providing executive intelligence briefings on such matters.

The main problem is a lack of corporate world understanding as to what a gTLD is. By and large, domainers -- a very small group of Internet technocrats familiar with ICANN-related services -- are all positively engaged. They are playing with domain aftermarkets and domain name registries that deal with highly competitive pricing for basic domain name registrations.

Beware of Unhappy Surprises

The sum total of all these people, if measured in tens of thousands, is still an insignificant number. This is a serious global marketing issue poised to get the attention of hundreds of millions of businesses out there.

How fast will this cocoon hatch? How soon will gTLD spread its wings and show off its real colors? It all depends on the fast-track orientation that's now in the spotlight and, most importantly, on when gTLD-based models are able to demonstrate real global cyberbranding and image-expansion opportunities.

The biggest surprise for the corporate world will be the sudden realization that there is no more room to file -- or their dream names have been already taken -- as the window in the first round closes. For major players with the right combinations, these will be the biggest shocks, as well as very major marketing setbacks.

Internet » The Best Protector of Privacy Online: Market Competition

Posted by echa 5:11 PM, under | No comments

The Best Protector of Privacy Online: Market Competition | Internet For at least the past two years, Facebook has been hammered from nearly every direction -- by consumer advocacy groups, the media and Congress -- about its seemingly cavalier attitude toward protecting user privacy. That was before Google+ debuted. After watching Google+ attract 20 million members in its first two months of operation, Facebook is now addressing many longstanding complaints regarding the lack of privacy on its network.

Online privacy was in the news again this week -- and Facebook, not surprisingly, figured prominently in many of the stories.

What was surprising, however, was that Facebook wasn't being castigated for implementing some new policy that made it appear the social networking giant was trampling users' privacy rights in its rush to tap new revenue streams.

The role of privacy-robbing villain was being played -- at least this week -- by comScore, a Web information broker. ComScore collects data on Web-browsing habits by getting users to agree to let the firm track their activity in exchange for free software or sweepstakes entries.

ComScore sells the data it collects to some of the world's largest businesses -- including high-tech companies like Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT), Yahoo (Nasdaq: YHOO) and Facebook.

On its site, comScore acknowledges that it monitors all Internet activity of consumers who agree to participate in its data-collection programs -- including the acts of filling online shopping carts, completing application forms and checking online accounts.

Data-Collection Lawsuit

In the process of tracking this activity, a user's credit card or other account numbers may be collected, the firms warns, adding that "when this happens, we make commercially viable efforts to purge our database of such information."

Now, a lawsuit filed by Edelson McGuire alleges comScore is routinely collecting much more personal information that it admits to on its site, and maintains it does nothing to purge this information from its files. The suit, at least to my knowledge, does not say what comScore is doing with all this highly personal data.

For its part, comScore says the lawsuit is without merit and rife with factual errors in regard to its business, and that it intends to aggressively defend itself against this action.

ComScore -- as its customer list suggests -- is a highly regarded source of information on how the general public uses the Internet and related technology. I've relied on ComScore data on several occasions when doing research for articles related to social media usage, and I've never had reason to doubt the veracity of its findings.

I have no knowledge of the inner workings of ComScore, however. So, I have no way of knowing exactly what data it collects from users -- or what it does with the data it obtains.

An Ongoing Issue

I'm inclined to believe ComScore ultimately will be vindicated in this matter. But that won't stop us from hearing more about the issue of online privacy.

In fact, the subject of online privacy figures to become more contentious as the competition to identify and secure new sources of online revenue intensifies over time.

The good news for consumers is that marketplace competition -- not government regulation -- is the only thing that will offer users any sort of protection from truly abusive privacy practices on the part of Web companies.

If you doubt that, consider what Facebook did this week.

While ComScore was being accused of dirty data-collection tactics, Facebook was unveiling a host of new features that give its users more control over what information appears in their Facebook profiles.

Google+ on the Scene

For at least the past two years, Facebook has been hammered from nearly every direction -- by consumer advocacy groups, the media and Congress -- about its seemingly cavalier attitude toward protecting user privacy. It was obvious that Facebook needed its users to share as much information as possible so it could sell that information to potential advertisers. It also was evident that since Facebook had no real competition, it had no need to heed the calls for protecting user privacy.

That was before Google+ debuted. This new social network is geared toward allowing users to control exactly what information they share with specific individuals. By creating "circles" on Google+, users can separate their personal lives from their professional lives -- and even create tighter, private groups within those segments. Social networking no longer means automatically sharing your entire life with the global village.

After watching Google+ attract 20 million members in its first two months of operation, Facebook is now addressing many longstanding complaints regarding the lack of privacy on its network.

Your Home on the Web

"Your profile should feel like your home on the web -- you should never feel like stuff appears there that you don't want, and you should never wonder who sees what's there," said Richard Cox, Facebook's director of product, in a blog introducing new features the company started rolling out Tuesday.

"The profile is getting some new tools that give you clearer, more consistent controls over how photos and posts get added to it, and who can see everything that lives there," Cox added, before listing the new features, which mimic much of what's in Google+.

The major changes involve allowing users to set privacy settings as they are posting items on the site, rather than having to go to a separate page, as well as being able to change those settings after an item has been posted.

With the new features, for instance, a user can determine exactly who in their network can view a post rather than have it automatically go out to the world. Even more important, from a privacy standpoint, is a host of features that give users at least some control over what information other users are allowed to post about them.

These Should Be Standard Features

As I reviewed the new features, many of them struck me as no-brainers that should have been standard in the first place -- such as the ability to see how something you post appears on the actual Facebook site. Then again, there was no reason for Facebook to help users' manage their online image.

With only 20 million users, Google+ has a long way to go to offer any real competitive challenge to Facebook. Still, we're seeing how powerful even the threat of competition can be in changing a company's behavior.

Anyone who's concerned about online privacy should hope that Google+ can become a real social networking force.

Internet » SAS Social Media Analytics Keeps an Album of Performance Snapshots

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SAS Social Media Analytics Keeps an Album of Performance Snapshots | Internet "Consider how many people are generating tweets. The notion of compiling people who tweet about your brand in an A to Z directory has been difficult to develop," said SAS product marketing manager John Bastone. However, the SAS Social Media Analytics application does that, and also lets users rank the authors in terms of how influential they are, on what topic they tend to post, and so on.

SAS is beefing up its SAS Social Media Analytics application with new features that give users a better handle on their social media effectiveness: improved tracking of past versus present performance, and benchmarks to assess competitors' performance.

"A lot of this functionality seems as though it would be routine, but few companies on the market actually offer it," John Bastone, global product marketing manager for SAS Customer Intelligence, told CRM Buyer.

Keeping Social Progress Score

For example, the company's new social scorecard module lets managers view channel activity over a period time on such sites as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr.

Essentially, it provides a snapshot of how a company did on, say, Facebook at a particular time.

SAS screen shot
SAS screen shot | Internet

"We find when we ask clients how many Facebook fans they have at the moment, they can answer," Bastone said, "but they cannot answer how many they had in, say, June or this time last year."

If a company can answer those questions, he continued, it is usually because there is a social media intern or employee manually logging in the data every day.

"That is what our application does now - it programmatically snaps every KPI (key performance indicator) that a firm may want for social media outreach," he said.

With this information in hand, a company has the necessary foundation to develop longer-term strategies.

"You can start to do things like correlate campaigns or certain actions, cross-reference them, and so on, to understand what is most effective," said Bastone.

Author Hubs

The author hub is another new module. It provides insight into online authors -- or people who post comments, in other words. The point is to give customer care departments information about who their biggest fans are and, conversely, who hates them the most.

It is another capability that is not easy to build in social applications, Bastone said.

"Consider how many people are generating tweets. The notion of compiling people who tweet about your brand in an A to Z directory has been difficult to develop," he noted.

However, this feature does that, Bastone continued, and also lets users rank the authors in terms of how influential they are, on what topic they tend to post, and so on.

In short, "it helps a company see who has the most influence on its brands," he said.

Comparing by Industry

The upgrade app also has new competitive intelligence functionality that compares what people are saying about your company in social media to what they're saying about a competitor. It serves as a microscope to examine how your brand and its competitors are perceived, Bastone said.

It can compare many different functions, such as public relations or research and development, he said. It can also delve into industry-specific issues, such as style and handling in the automotive sector.

The application has added industry-specific sentiment engines in several industries, in fact, including retail, telecommunications, hospitality, gaming, banking and automotive.

"Those taxonomies are essentially prefabricated environments," said Bastone.

Internet » Investors Dance to Pandora's Q2, but How Long Will the Music Last?

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Investors Dance to Pandora's Q2, but How Long Will the Music Last? | Internet Pandora has reported on its first quarter as a public company, showing big year-over-year gains in revenue and listener hours. Wall Street responded possitively, but doubts remain about the Internet radio providers long-term viability. Meanwhile, other sites wait in the wings with IPO plans of their own.

Internet radio service Pandora announced its first results as a publicly traded company on Thursday.

Quarterly revenues totaled US$67 million, 117 percent up year over year (YoY), and listener hours hit a new high of 1.8 billion, up 125 percent YoY, Pandora said.

Advertising revenue more than doubled, from about $27 million to more than $58 million.

However, net losses also increased year over year, from $1.6 million in Q2, 2010, to $1.8 million in Q2, 2011.

Pandora's earnings figures are unaudited.

Investors seemed pleased -- the company's stock was up by 10 percent Friday afternoon. But with losses growing as revenue grows, could Pandora be selling its way to bankruptcy?

Pandora spokesperson Deborah Roth pointed the E-Commerce Times to the webcast of the earnings call when asked for comment.

And what about other companies in what's often been categorized as a group of social-oriented websites that have either gone public or may do so soon -- LinkedIn, Zynga and Groupon, for example? How are they faring?

Is Reaction to Pandora Overblown?

"There seems to have been a mildly euphoric reaction in the market because Pandora seems to be closer to profitability," Rick Summer, an analyst at Morningstar, told the E-Commerce Times.

"We would encourage folks to take a bit of a step back and look at this company," he added.

The cost of acquiring content, lack of support from the music industry, and the behemoths entering the music business -- Google (Nasdaq: GOOG), Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) and Yahoo (Nasdaq: YHOO) -- are all threats to Pandora's survival, Summer said.

Rising Costs

Over the course of the next four years, Pandora's content costs are going to rise, Summer warned.

At the end of 2010, Pandora's content costs were 49 percent of revenue; in Q2, 2011, they were 58 percent. If Pandora had to pay 2015 licensing rates for content, the cost of content would be 79 percent of revenue, Summer said.

"We have a business model that's only going to experience accelerating costs, so they're going to have to be able to get greater yield and utilization out of their existing advertising inventory," Summer pointed out.

However, moving more to mobile may not be that helpful, because "generally CPMs in the mobile world are less than in the Web world," Summer said.

CPM is the cost per 1,000 impressions, meaning how much advertisers will pay per 1,000 people accessing an ad.

With Apple, Google and Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) all offering music in the cloud, the squeeze on Pandora will intensify, Summer predicted.

"Simply saying you have a different model from them, as Pandora does, isn't enough," Summer said. "We have an unproven business model for Pandora."

Lack of support from the music industry may be the hardest obstacle for Pandora to overcome.

"The owners of the licensing rights want to ensure they get the best rates for their content, and it's not clear that they have an interest in supporting Pandora," Summer said.

The Other Social Bubble Babies

Like some others in the field, Summer considers shares of LinkedIn, a social network that also went public recently, as overpriced.

"LinkedIn is a great company, but we think it's overvalued," Summer said. "We're currently reevaluating where its value should lie."

Investors should keep a close eye on how LinkedIn spends money, Summer suggested.

"If it spends heavily in being a news and destination site, that would give us heartburn," Summer stated.

Zynga, which publishes social games such as "Farmville," filed in July for an IPO, and it's widely believed it will be valued at up to $20 billion, barring any unforeseen circumstances. However, the company's valuation could also take a beating after the IPO if investors begin to see it as a one-trick pony.

Groupon, which offers online coupons, has already seen its luster fade. In March, there were rumblings that it would seek a $2 billion IPO, but by June, analysts were questioning that valuation as well.

"We don't say Groupon has a bad business model, but we say it has an unproven and challenged business model," Summer said.

"We're not altogether thrilled at where the company is, and we tell our investors that this is not investing in anything that's proven yet," Summers added.

Internet » Slide CEO Slips Away as Google Pulls the Plug

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Slide CEO Slips Away as Google Pulls the Plug | Internet A year after it purchased social media app and game maker Slide for a reported $200 million, Google has shut the company down. Meanwhile, Slide's CEO Max Levchin is walking out the door. Whatever the reasons, the developments suggest Google feels it has its social media sea legs and is now willing to bet on a single product: Google+.

After two months of basking in the accolades Google+ has received, Google's (Nasdaq: GOOG) social media strategy is again the cause of some head-scratching.

The search engine has decided to shut down Slide, a social media app and game maker that it bought about a year ago. Even more eyebrow-raising: Its founder and chief executive Max Levchin is leaving.

Levchin is pursuing other opportunities, Google said. Meanwhile, most of Slide's staff is remaining at Google to work on other ventures. Google did not return the E-Commerce Times' request for further comment in time for publication.

In a blog post, Slide warned its customers that a number of its products and applications will be retired, including its flagship Slideshow and SuperPoke Pets, as well as more recent products such as Photovine, Video Inbox and Pool Party.

A Sudden Decision

The decision to shutter Slide reportedly came on rather suddenly. Google reportedly paid US$200 million for Slide when it purchased the company. With Google and Slide silent on the matter, the rumor mill has gone into overdrive regarding the circumstances behind the move.

For instance, some believe that Slide's decision to release its more recent apps first on iOS instead of Android was the reason behind the move.

Another school of thought advocates the position that Levchin was the true target for Google when it acquired Slide, as it was floundering in its own attempts to roll out a viable social media strategy. As cofounder of PayPal, Levchin has significant cred in this area.

Then, Levchin was pushed out when Google+, headed by other executives at Google, proved to be the winning formula.

The news has also given rise to speculation that Levchin didn't fit in with the new Google as defined by recently anointed CEO Larry Page -- that is, a more focused Google less inclined to experiment and incubate new projects and technologies.

Of course, there is also the possibility that Levchin is, in fact, simply leaving to pursue other opportunities.

Wither Google+?

Whatever the reasons, the developments suggest Google feels it has its social media sea legs and is now willing to bet on a single product.

"Google has decided to place all of its social media efforts behind the development of Google+," William Weaver, a professor of Integrated Science, Business and Technology at La Salle University, told the E-Commerce Times.

"Technology and software elements from previous Google projects such as Google Buzz and Google Wave have been incorporated into Google+, and it is possible that various elements designed by Slide may find their way into Google+ as well," he said.

Also, Slide was not built solely on Levchin's expertise, he said.

"In addition to the code assets acquired with the purchase of Slide are the programmers experienced in the design of social applications such as FunWall, Fortune Cookie and SuperPoke, designed for use with Facebook," he noted. "It is expected that a majority of the former Slide employees will continue as Google employees assigned to projects throughout the company."

Barely a Blip?

In all likelihood, the shuttering of Slide won't rock Google's boat, according to Lawrence Knorr, a faculty member at Harrisburg University of Science and Technology.

"The closing of Slide will be met with questions like "What was Slide?", he told the E-Commerce Times.

"Google purchased Slide in order to tap the social media applications engineering expertise of its key people," he said. "Now Google is focused on rolling out Google+."

Internet » iTunes TV Show Rentals Canceled for Low Ratings

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iTunes TV Show Rentals Canceled for Low Ratings | Internet Ninety-nine-cent TV show rentals from iTunes are no more. Apple has pulled the offering from its online entertainment store, reportedly due to a lack of user interest. TV shows are still available for purchase on iTunes, and movies can still be rented through the service. This and the emergence of iCloud will likely further reshape Apple's approach to entertainment.

Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) has stopped offering 99-cent TV show rentals from iTunes. The decision comes about a year after the option debuted.

Movie rentals are still available. TV shows may still be purchased for download, usually for the price of US$1.99 to $2.99.

The move appears to be in response to user demand for owning a show rather than just using it for a short period of time. Apple did respond to MacNewsWorld's request for further comment, but in a statement to All Things D, the company confirmed customer demand for downloads over rentals was the reason for the switch.

"Experts were wrong. The consumer wants to own, not rent," Laura Martin, senior media analyst at Needham & Company, told MacNewsWorld.

As entertainment and content providers put together the first online media outlets, there was an overwhelming belief that since a tech-savvy generation had so many options -- everything from mainstream channels like Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX) and Hulu to illegal streaming websites, -- users would be content with simply streaming a TV show, or renting it on a temporary basis. iTunes rentals automatically delete themselves after a set time period.

Based on demand, however, it seems that if users are going to pay for a show, they prefer having it backed up to watch whenever they please, rather than just rent it.

"It didn't seem like the demand was really there for rentals. They tried it, but obviously the economics really weren't there," Michael Corty, an analyst at Morningstar, told MacNewsWorld.

"It seems to be a big point going against the prevailing content wisdom, and it seems as though a premier digital content player is going to be an ownership model," said Martin.

As the Interenet becomes a more mainstream way to watch television, content providers are jumping on board.

"Content companies are more than happy to provide their content online because the way they get paid now is through the TV ecosystem. They're doing everything they can to make it available, and from a content side they want you to be paying for a subscription, or getting advertising dollars," said Corty.

Apple TV Future

There is also speculation that Apple's move could be the first of many in another revamp of Apple TV, probably backed by the much-anticipated iCloud online service. The system would make it possible, among other things, for a TV show or movie to be downloaded on one device like an iPad and then stopped or started later on any other device, such as a PC or an iPhone.

As content providers come to believe that users want to watch TV on a variety of platforms anytime, anywhere, they may be more eager to jump on board with a company that can promise a streamlined digital experience.

"There is a definite trend for people wanting their content on multiple devices. All these companies are jockeying for that," said Corty.

Anyone's Game

The upcoming iCloud service is a way that Apple could have a leg up on companies like Netflix and Hulu, despite their large user bases of loyal, paying subscribers.

The hype about iCloud in tech circles is also an indication that the online entertainment business is still lacking a clear leader and could be anyone's for the taking.

"We're in the first inning of figuring out what the digital business model is for this," said Martin.

Even though the rental model didn't work for Apple, it's changed its approach in hopes of being a leader in digital entertainment as well.

"Netflix is going to have something like $3 billion in sales this year, but Apple has a balance sheet with over 70 billion in cash. They've got the means and wherewithal and the technology to compete in this business," said Corty.

Computing » On Slashdot's Lost Taco and Apple's Big Turnover

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On Slashdot's Lost Taco and Apple's Big Turnover | Computing "One valid criticism [of FOSS] is that too many projects are 'me-too,'" suggested Slashdot blogger Barbara Hudson. "'Me-too' means you're playing in their home field, and conceding that they are the reference by which you will be measured. FOSS should not be competing by being 'just as good.' 'Think different' worked for Jobs and Apple; maybe it can work for FOSS."

There may not be enough tequila in this world to see the tech community all the way through to the end of August 2011.

We've had Googlerola; we've had the ever-escalating software patent storm. We've had HP's (NYSE: HPQ) lily-livered maneuvers regarding webOS and PCs.

Did we need more than that? No, we did not. Yet more is just what we got last week in the form of a one-two punch: First Steve Jobs's resignation as Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) CEO, then similar news from Slashdot's Rob Malda, or CmdrTaco.

'Please Help Me'

Now, longtime readers of the Linux Blog Safari column may remember that Malda contributed more than a few insightful comments over the years.

Linux Girl, in fact, still considers him a good personal friend, and understands completely that he's been too busy to comment for the past (*cough*) three years.

She'll never forget, though, a few of his wittier gems. When asked if Linux geeks tend to need help with the romantic side of life, for instance, Malda replied, "I hate to make broad generalizations about hundreds of thousands of people, but yes. Yes we do. Please help me."

Of the compatibility between Linux and women? "I'd ask my wife if she'd let me out of my box," Malda said.

Malda's farewell letter drew well more than 1,400 comments in about 24 hours on Slashdot, with plenty more dispersed across the rest of the Web.

We'll miss you, CmdrTaco!

The Ripple Effect

The departure of Apple's icon, of course, made a similarly big splash in the rest of the computing world, where the retrospectives and analyses are still coming fast and furious.

Linux Girl has never been a big iGadget fan, but the news will clearly have a profound effect on the industry in general.

The big question down at the blogosphere's Punchy Penguin was, will it affect Linux? Bloggers, as per their wont, had no shortage of reactions.

'A Terrible Business Plan'

"Good riddance!" was the opinion of blogger Robert Pogson. "Maybe Apple will quit suing the world and making enemies with a new guy in charge."

Apple has already "ticked off Samsung, one of its suppliers, all the users of Android/Linux products who number in the millions, all the developers of software for Android/Linux, all the suppliers of parts for Android/Linux systems, Google (Nasdaq: GOOG), and me for unleashing software patents on the world," Pogson explained.

"That is a terrible business plan and suppresses initiative," he added. "Carried to its logical conclusion, all smartphones and tablets will be excluded from USA/Europe because everyone will violate everyone else's patents. Is that what Apple wants? They are insane."

'It Will All Be on Cook'

For Slashdot blogger hairyfeet, the real question is, "Can Cook come up with new products like Jobs could?

"Like his style or hate it, the man had a vision and a way of finding new markets," hairyfeet opined. "There are probably three to four more iDevices left in the pipe. After that? It will all be on Cook."

Indeed, "no matter how you cut it this is a blow for Apple," consultant and Slashdot blogger Gerhard Mack agreed, "but they should be able to coast on their current lineup for at least a decade."

No Friend to FOSS

Chris Travers, a Slashdot blogger who works on the LedgerSMB project, didn't see any big implications for Linux.

"While Apple is involved in the FOSS community, I really don't see a major impact there," Travers told Linux Girl. "I have never really seen Steve Jobs as a friend to Free/Open Source Software. I don't see Apple becoming more or less of a friend after his departure."

Barbara Hudson, however, drew out some lessons for FOSS.

'We're Just as Good'

"Think of it -- if Steve Jobs hadn't asked John Sculley, 'Do you want to sell sugar water for the rest of your life or come with me and change the world?' Apple's board of directors wouldn't have replaced Jobs with Sculley less than 2 years later," began Hudson, a blogger on Slashdot who goes by "Tom" on the site.

In competing with commodity PCs, Sculley "basically undermined Apple's premium value, saying, 'We're just as good,'" she pointed out.

"It's true that during Sculley's tenure, sales rose by a factor of 10 before the crunch and Apple's near-death experience, but those were boom years for anyone who could assemble anything resembling a computer," Hudson asserted. "His handling of Apple brands, by creating too many different products with too much overlap, created confusion."

That, in turn, "made it much easier for Jobs, when he came back, to say, 'No, we're going to have only a few products, and they're going to be GREAT!'" Hudson explained.

'Think Different'

So, "in a way, Jobs' biggest mistake set the stage for his biggest success," she opined. "What sets Jobs above other leaders is that he was able to embrace it and reshape the company, which will forever be identified with him."

What lessons are there here for FOSS projects?

"One valid criticism is that too many projects are 'me-too,'" Hudson suggested. "'Me-too' means you're playing in their home field, and conceding that they are the reference by which you will be measured.

"FOSS should not be competing by being 'just as good,'" she concluded. "'Think different' worked for Jobs and Apple; maybe it can work for FOSS."

Computing » Steve Jobs' Exit: The Day the Magic Died

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Steve Jobs' Exit: The Day the Magic Died | Computing Sun Tzu has been dead for thousands of years, and he is still required reading in military and business courses. People, products, companies and countries pass, but knowledge is often sustained. Steve Jobs' unique approach to product strategy -- and it really is product strategy -- could outlast the country, let alone Apple. And I think it should, because it is that brilliant.

It is amazing to me the number of people I know who are basically saying Steve Jobs (some wonderful quotes from him here) leaving Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) will not change Apple. Most saw what Apple was like with Jobs, have seen that no similar company has been able to repeat what Apple has done over the last decade, and have seen both Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) after Gates and Disney (NYSE: DIS) after Walt. They even saw what happened to Dell (Nasdaq: DELL) during the short time Michael stepped down. But Jobs, who is even more hands on than the most-micro manager any of us know, will pass without a ripple. Wow -- now that is a reality distortion field.

The song that is going through my head goes, "Bye, bye, Miss American Pie, took my Chevy ...," and it is titled, "The Day the Music Died." I'll share what I think Steve's truly lasting legacy is for life in general. I'll close with my product of the week, an offering from Sony (NYSE: SNE) that shows the unique difference that Jobs brought to his products.

Apple Is Changed

You take out of the mix a guy who is a known micromanager and who rules a company largely using fear, and the firm is changed. Arguing it isn't is like, well, taking a leg off a chair that is wobbling and arguing the three legged chair is as good as new. Except with Steve Jobs, given how much he touched, it would be more like two legs.

For instance, take a look at the patents that Jobs personally touched. There are 313 of them on critical Apple products, most having to do with the look and feel of the offering. Whether or not they would have existed could be argued; whether they would have been the same can't, because he touched and changed every one, and his was the vote that counted at the table.

He isn't a guy that offers up a suggestion as an option -- he is the guy who says "this is the way it will be." If he truly touched each of these products, he had a significant impact on what the outcome was.

The Nature of the Change

Looking back at Microsoft, Disney and even IBM (NYSE: IBM), the first-year changes were typically rather subtle. Disney and IBM were a bit more sudden, because Walt died and Thomas Watson Jr. stepped sharply away from the company. Bill still showed up a few times to speak on behalf of the firm. However, inside the companies, the changes were far more noticeable far earlier, as the new management took control.

At Disney, it was a massive influx of MBAs and outflow of undegreed founding employees. At IBM, it was a hard shift to financial controls and a sharp move away from hands-on employee management. At Microsoft, it was the evaporation of a driving vision.

What typically happens when a micromanager leaves is an increasing degree of rebellion against that now-absent micromanager. Micromanagers rarely explain the why behind their decisions, and Jobs isn't exactly famous for explanations. They just demand they be followed, and that means skills don't transfer. In fact, micromanagers, by their nature, don't really want skills to transfer because they equate control with status -- and if you can do it yourself, they see that as a lack of control.

While this only ensures that Apple will be different, think for a moment -- how many firms are doing as well as Apple is? If you are into sports -- I'm not, really -- and recall the 49ers football team used to be unbeatable and now is anything but, do you recall what changed? Ownership of the team passed between brother and sister in 1999, and the team was pretty much done from then on. That's the same as changing the CEO but leaving the employees in place -- and we are talking siblings.

Clearly, this idea of Apple suddenly going into printers as the new growth market is farfetched, and intended to be, but the firm is unlikely to be able to maintain its status at the top of tech -- let alone where it is today, which is almost over every other company in any market.

Certainly anything is possible, but looking at other firms that have had a transition like this, only IBM held on for a long time and only because it was designed by two generations of founders to outlast both.

Wrapping Up: Steve Jobs' Legacy

A lot of us have different views about what Jobs legacy will be. It won't be the ads, though some are clearly iconic. I don't think it is the products. Did you know that IBM used to make cheese cutters, for instance? How many people even remember the first product that put Apple on the map, the Apple II? It isn't really the company either, given it was created by a number of people; while redesigned around Jobs, it will undoubtedly change a lot over the next decade and might either do major acquisitions or become acquired at some future point. The point is that Jobs' fingerprint on something that is largely based on a lot of changing employees is likely already disappearing with every post-Jobs hire, in any case.

I think it is the content in the Apple University (note the info-graphic clearly shows a change in Apple stock performance when Jobs isn't there), which is overseen by Jobs, led by people who understand him, and attempts to pass on Steve's process to future generations.

If successful -- and note that Jobs is in the loop for consistency/compliance and doesn't really have a replacement -- this could limit, much like the IBM University does, how much of what Steve Jobs provides in terms of process is lost. It could cause a core part of Jobs' unique capabilities to continue after he is gone -- perhaps for generations.

Sun Tzu has been dead for thousands of years, and he is still required reading in military and business courses. People, products, companies and countries pass, but knowledge is often sustained. Steve Jobs' unique approach to product strategy -- and it really is product strategy -- could outlast the country, let alone Apple. And I think it should, because it is that brilliant.

Product of the Week: Sony Vaio Z

Product of the Week Steve Jobs historically has talked about two companies he modeled Apple after: Porsche in terms of product design, and Sony in terms of consumer focus and product strategy. To me, that means if any company could beat Apple in its core market, Sony should be able to, because it was a big part of Apple's successful redesign.

Currently, the closest thing Sony has to a current generation MacBook is the Vaio Z. It is light, it is sexy, in many ways (on spec) it is truly better than a MacBook -- particularly if you are, like me, a Windows user.

Sony Vaio Z Series | Computing

Sony Vaio Z Series

This Vaio compares to the 13" aluminum MacBook Pro, and it stands out with many more choices. That asset is where its problem lies, though, because that likely drove up cost and limited its market.

But let me give you the high points. Instead of aluminum alone, it is built up of graphite and aluminum. Instead of just a built-in battery you can't replace, it has an optional external battery (up to 16 hours of battery life vs. a good 7) that can be hot swapped and charged alone (this last is really unusual, even in Windows boxes). Instead of 1280x800 native resolution it has 1600x900 or an upgrade to 1920x1080 resolution. Instead of one hard drive, it can have twin SSDs. It has an optional dock and a built-in fingerprint based security system the MacBooks lack, and instead of 4.5 pounds, it comes in (without the slice) at an amazing 2.5 pounds (even with the slice it is about a full pound lighter).

However, all of this doesn't come without a cost. This little puppy will set you back between US$1,799 and $2,200 (retail), while the MacBook is between $1,200 and $1,500. Both products would be considered premium offerings, and clearly the Sony would be more exclusive. For the extra $700, you get what is likely a far more useful result, but you are in nosebleed pricing territory, and you can't get to high volumes there.

The Sony would appeal to folks who like to mess with things and represent about 5 percent of the market. The Mac would appeal to folks who just want to get things done -- or more like the other 95 percent -- and both are priced out of the mainstream. Apple forces people to buy higher in the market; Sony would suggest a different lower-priced product for most (like the $625 VPC-S135X/B). The end result is Apple has fewer SKUs and higher margins, while Sony has more products.

As a customer who favors this product, I like Sony's approach; as an investor, I'd prefer Apple's. These two products showcase, more than any other thing I can think of, what makes Apple different. It builds a product that is aspirational for most people and focuses on maximizing margin. Others, like Sony, try to maximize total volume by trying to meet existing and very diverse product needs.

In the end, I can't think of any other product in the market that is likely to give a new Mac owner a little product envy, I certainly have a bit of lust in my heart for this puppy. Because of that -- and mostly because it drives home the point of just why Apple is different -- the Sony Vaio Z is my product of the week.

One final thought: Ultrabooks, the platform Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) will be bringing to market later this year, are very similar to the System Z and will likely highlight Windows 8 next year. They will also price on top of the MacBooks. That will make things more interesting shortly. You know, the biggest change may be that without Jobs, Apple just doesn't seem unbeatable anymore.

Computing » IBM to Build Super-Storage Phenom

Posted by echa 4:08 PM, under | No comments

IBM to Build Super-Storage Phenom | Computing In order to keep working when disks fail, the system reportedly not only stores multiple copies of data on different disks, but also pulls data from other drives when one goes down, and writes that data to a replacement drive slowly so the computer the array serves has enough capacity to continue working. If more disks nearby fail, the rebuilding process speeds up.

IBM (NYSE: IBM) is working on a 120-petabyte storage array that will consist of 200,000 disk drives, according to the MIT Technology Review.

The array is expected to store about 1 trillion files.

It's being developed for a client that needs a new supercomputer for detailed simulations of real-world phenomena.

Storing the metadata about the information in the array -- the names, types and other attributes of the files in the system -- will require about 2 PB.

The largest arrays available today are reported to be about 15 PB.

IBM spokesperson Ari Entin confirmed the existence of the superstorage project, but researchers were not available to provide comment in time for the publication of this article.

Issues With Big Storage

Building an array of this size requires solving several technical issues, and it could pose unique problems to users.

"Much of what has been learned in the data center over the past 30 years is only partially relevant to answering the question of whether it makes sense to put 100 petabytes into a single basket," Jay Heiser, a research vice president at the Gartner (NYSE: IT) Group, told TechNewsWorld.

"The bigger the drive, the harder your data falls," Heiser said.

For example, a problem with an EMC (NYSE: EMC) DMX-3 storage array in a data center outsourced to Northrop Grumman (NYSE: NOC) brought down the systems of 27 agencies in the State of Virginia earlier this month.

"While there are advantages to putting a lot of eggs into bigger baskets, eventually a point is reached at which further increases in basket size are counterproductive," Heiser warned.

Making It Work

IBM's engineers reportedly developed a series of new hardware and software techniques for the hypermassive storage array, including wider storage racks and a water-cooling system.

Using water instead of air to cool the storage array is a reasonable approach because IBM "has a lot of experience" with water-cooling systems for mainframes, David Hill, principal at the Mesabi Group, told TechNewsWorld.

In order to keep working when disks fail, the system reportedly not only stores multiple copies of data on different disks, but also pulls data from other drives when one goes down, and writes that data to a replacement drive slowly so the computer the array serves has enough capacity to continue working.

If more disks nearby fail, the rebuilding process speeds up.

The super-array uses IBM's General Parallel File System (GPFS), a highly scalable clustered parallel file system that spreads individual files across multiple disks so the computer can read or write multiple parts of a file simultaneously.

In July, IBM researchers used the GPFS system running on a cluster of 10 eight-core systems and using solid state storage to scan 10 billion files on one system in 43 minutes. The previous record, set by IBM researchers in 2007, saw 1 billion files scanned in three hours.

Million-Year Guarantee

"IBM's built some of the highest-end supercomputers in the industry, so it knows how to do this stuff," Joe Clabby, president of Clabby Analytics, told TechNewsWorld.

What about disk failure, the perennial bugbear of storage arrays?

"I don't see how there can be any sort of storage system that doesn't sometimes become corrupted, and require not just restoration, but sometimes reconstruction," Gartner's Heiser remarked.

"IBM has developed techniques, which it has employed on at least one existing storage system, to compensate for the fact that individual drives will be failing on a more or less continuous basis," Hill said.

"That is why it can claim that a million years can go by without loss of data and no compromise in performance," Hill added.

It's likely that users won't be allowed to replace totally dead drives, and rebuilds of failed drives will be done on spare drives, Hill said. Also, IBM will probably use disk grooming techniques -- deleting old and unnecessary files on disks.

"As long as not too large a percentage of disks fail, there is really no need to physically replace them," Hill pointed out. "Few disk systems are fully utilized anyway, so a percentage or two of failed disks should not be a problem."

Computing » VMware Floats a Global Cloud

Posted by echa 3:58 PM, under | No comments

VMware Floats a Global Cloud | Computing As VMware kicks off its 2011 VMworld confab, the company has announced several new offerings. Among them is a global cloud offering that links clouds from multiple service providers in varios countries around the world. The idea behind Global Connect is to provide multinational enterprises highly available cloud computing services locally in the various countries where they operate.

VMware (NYSE: VMW) made a number of announcements at VMworld 2011 in Las Vegas on Monday. Among its new projects is a global cloud offering.

This is, so to speak, a network of clouds from multiple services in various countries. Customers will work with their local vCloud Datacenter service provider to get into the global cloud.

Other interesting product announcements from VMware were vCloud Connector 1.5, which provides data transfer between public and private clouds; and vCenter Site Recovery Manager, which will let enterprises failover their applications to a service provider's site.

Whether or not global cloud access a good thing remains to be seen. Security in the cloud is not necessarily ironclad, and there's the possibility of data leaks, among other risks.

VMware did not respond to requests for comment by press time.

Cosmic Consciousness?

The idea behind Global Connect is to provide multinational enterprises highly available cloud computing services locally in the various countries where they operate.

The enterprises will go through their local vCloud Datacenter service provider, who will orchestrate service delivery internationally with Global Connect.

VMware's vCloud Datacenter services are built on VMware secure cloud infrastructure, including VMware vSphere, vCloud Director and VMware vShield. They provide globally consistent cloud infrastructure, management and security, and are offered by VMware certified providers.

Global Connect customers will only have to sign a single contract and will get a unified management console across the clouds they use with vCloud Connector.

Enterprises can find a local vCloud services provider by going here.

The Cloud Connection

VMware announced vCloud Connector in February. This is a free plugin that lets VMware vSphere administrators immediately begin deploying and managing virtual machines across VMware vCloud services from within the VMware vSphere client,

Version 1.5 of vCloud Connector was announced at VMworld 2011.

VMware vCloud Connector 1.5 will automatically retry and resume transfers interrupted by network problems. It will be accessible from any compatible Web browser and will also be available as a plugin for the vCenter Console.

Picking Up the Pieces

Disaster recovery has always been an issue for IT, and four VMware service provider partners Monday announced plans to introduce cloud-based disaster recovery services built on vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.

They are FusionStorm, Hosting.com, Iland and VeriStor. The four will offer their services on a pay-per-use model.

Site Recovery Manager 5 includes built-in hypervisor-based replication for VMware vSphere environments and lets customers use heterogeneous storage across sites, cutting their storage costs.

Further, vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5 automates the entire site recovery and migration process. It also includes an automatic fallback capability that can automatically reverse replication and execute recovery plans so data is sent back automatically to the production site.

The Cloud and Safety

The security and reliability of the cloud has been called into question repeatedly, what with the hacking of Google's (Nasdaq: GOOG) infrastructure last year, a recent failure involving Amazon.com's (Nasdaq: AMZN) servers, and the Anonymous hacks into Sony's (NYSE: SNE) PlayStation cloud network.

Can enterprises feel safe putting their data in the cloud? And what about government mandates that certain data can't be stored in servers outside the borders of the data's country of origin?

Security "is more an issue around how the VMware infrastructure is implemented in a company's IT infrastructure than a weakness in the technology itself," Charles King, principal at Pund-IT, told the E-Commerce Times.

"You can have the most expensive and high-security locks in the world in your house, but if you forget to lock the door, somebody can walk right in," King added.

As corporations move toward the internal/external hybrid cloud, they are "going to have to start thinking about these issues in a way they never thought of before," King pointed out.

However, some businesses, such as companies in the defense industry, may not be able to use VMware's global cloud because the risk of a mistake would be too high, Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group, warned.

It's likely to be safe to use the cloud for disaster recovery and failover, Enderle said.

"It's unlikely that both a local and an international cloud service would fail as a result of the same disaster," Enderle told the E-Commerce Times. "If they did, you might argue the disaster would be of global proportions and that would be the bigger issue anyway."

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