Platform as a Service (PaaS) requires a robust tool-set that has to go through a stringent selection process before someone picks it as their platform to build strong solutions on. The folks selecting it usually know the risks associated with picking a wrong platform. That is why I picked the title of this blog post "Do not pass on PaaS" - make sure you pause and get a good understanding on what you are going to have in your bag of tools to face this new IT landscape.
Platform as a Service (PaaS) requires a robust tool-set that has to go through a stringent selection process before someone picks it as their platform to build strong solutions on. The folks selecting it usually know the risks associated with picking a wrong platform. That is why I picked the title of this blog post "Do not pass on PaaS" - make sure you pause and get a good understanding on what you are going to have in your bag of tools to face this new IT landscape.
Remember Hamlet and the quote, "The lady doth protest too much, methinks"? While in this case it isn't a lady, the question still applies to Apple's CEO. Steven P. Jobs posted a 1,700-word letter on Apple’s Web site on Thursday, explaining the company’s decision not to allow the multimedia software Adobe Flash on Apple’s mobile devices, including the iPhone and iPad. The letter titled "Thoughts on Flash" ran the gamut from philosophical issues about the nature of closed platforms to complaints about performance and crashes.Why would Steve go to the trouble of sharing his "diatribe"? Think back to the Hamlet quote.
Remember Hamlet and the quote, "The lady doth protest too much, methinks"? While in this case it isn't a lady, the question still applies to Apple's CEO. Steven P. Jobs posted a 1,700-word letter on Apple’s Web site on Thursday, explaining the company’s decision not to allow the multimedia software Adobe Flash on Apple’s mobile devices, including the iPhone and iPad. The letter titled "Thoughts on Flash" ran the gamut from philosophical issues about the nature of closed platforms to complaints about performance and crashes.Why would Steve go to the trouble of sharing his "diatribe"? Think back to the Hamlet quote.
The New York Post claims the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission are playing rock-paper-scissors and the winner will get to open a preliminary antitrust investigation of Apple and its newfangled Flash-blocking rules restricting iPad and iPhone developers to Apple’s development tools, making them good only on Apple’s platforms. The paper quotes an anonymous “person familiar with the matter.”
The New York Post claims the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission are playing rock-paper-scissors and the winner will get to open a preliminary antitrust investigation of Apple and its newfangled Flash-blocking rules restricting iPad and iPhone developers to Apple’s development tools, making them good only on Apple’s platforms. The paper quotes an anonymous “person familiar with the matter.”
Apple says it sold its millionth iPad last Friday, 28 days after the dingus went on sale April 3, a faster uptake than the vaunted iPhone. It also said iPad users had downloaded 12 million+ apps from the App Store and over 1.5 million ebooks from the new iBookstore. In a statement Steve Jobs said that “demand continues to exceed supply.” There are some 5,000 apps for iPad that take advantage of its Multi-Touch user interface, large screen and high-quality graphics. iPad will run almost all of the 200,000 apps on the App Store, including ones users bought for their iPhone or iPod touch.
Apple says it sold its millionth iPad last Friday, 28 days after the dingus went on sale April 3, a faster uptake than the vaunted iPhone. It also said iPad users had downloaded 12 million+ apps from the App Store and over 1.5 million ebooks from the new iBookstore. In a statement Steve Jobs said that “demand continues to exceed supply.” There are some 5,000 apps for iPad that take advantage of its Multi-Touch user interface, large screen and high-quality graphics. iPad will run almost all of the 200,000 apps on the App Store, including ones users bought for their iPhone or iPod touch.
As a diversion from its high-profile “who-knows-where-it-will-end” dogfight with Gizmodo over an errant iPhone prototype, Apple has posted a longish open letter on its web site over the signature of its CEO Steve Jobs reiterating all the reasons why Apple has no use for Adobe’s Flash technology. Steve – or his ghost writer – says Adobe mischaracterizes the Apple ban when it says it’s business-driven and only meant to protect the Apple App Store. He claims it’s technology-driven.
As a diversion from its high-profile “who-knows-where-it-will-end” dogfight with Gizmodo over an errant iPhone prototype, Apple has posted a longish open letter on its web site over the signature of its CEO Steve Jobs reiterating all the reasons why Apple has no use for Adobe’s Flash technology. Steve – or his ghost writer – says Adobe mischaracterizes the Apple ban when it says it’s business-driven and only meant to protect the Apple App Store. He claims it’s technology-driven.
So Gizmodo has lawyered up. And blogger Jason Chen has lawyered up. And the seller of Apple’s errant billion-dollar iPhone prototype – identified by Wired as 21-year-old college dropout Brian Hogan – has lawyered up while Apple has been hoist on Jon Stewart’s “Comedy Central” petard as a bunch of heavy-handed “appholes” because of the whole affair. The first thing the lawyer for Gizmodo did was to put it about that Gizmodo could sue the police for melodramatically breaking down Chen’s front door last Friday night and carting away all his computer equipment and other electronic paraphernalia – which is apparently still sitting untouched at a forensic lab somewhere waiting for somebody to decide if a crime has been committed like Apple alleges.
So Gizmodo has lawyered up. And blogger Jason Chen has lawyered up. And the seller of Apple’s errant billion-dollar iPhone prototype – identified by Wired as 21-year-old college dropout Brian Hogan – has lawyered up while Apple has been hoist on Jon Stewart’s “Comedy Central” petard as a bunch of heavy-handed “appholes” because of the whole affair. The first thing the lawyer for Gizmodo did was to put it about that Gizmodo could sue the police for melodramatically breaking down Chen’s front door last Friday night and carting away all his computer equipment and other electronic paraphernalia – which is apparently still sitting untouched at a forensic lab somewhere waiting for somebody to decide if a crime has been committed like Apple alleges.
Apple has confirmed that it bought Intrinsity last month, as widely assumed. It now appears, however, that the Austin, Texas, semiconductor developer contributed the ARM core of the proprietary processor Apple is using in the iPad. Quoting the Microprocessor Report’s Tom Halfhill, the New York Times puts the price at $121 million, less than half what Apple paid two years ago for PA Semi, the low-power PowerPC specialist, Apple’s first processor acquisition. Integrity is good at tickling processor speeds and in collaboration with Samsung got the Hummingbird ARM to 1GHz last summer. And Samsung reportedly makes the newfangled iPad A4 chip.
Apple has confirmed that it bought Intrinsity last month, as widely assumed. It now appears, however, that the Austin, Texas, semiconductor developer contributed the ARM core of the proprietary processor Apple is using in the iPad. Quoting the Microprocessor Report’s Tom Halfhill, the New York Times puts the price at $121 million, less than half what Apple paid two years ago for PA Semi, the low-power PowerPC specialist, Apple’s first processor acquisition. Integrity is good at tickling processor speeds and in collaboration with Samsung got the Hummingbird ARM to 1GHz last summer. And Samsung reportedly makes the newfangled iPad A4 chip.
Apple's iPad is being launched as a consumer device, however, according to recent studies, there is little doubt that it will join iPhone as a valuable enterprise productivity tool. IT departments should consider iPad when planning strategies and policies to ensure corporate information is properly managed and secured. This is the moment that I saw the iPad light when I presented at the Sybase Developer days in Europe.
Apple's iPad is being launched as a consumer device, however, according to recent studies, there is little doubt that it will join iPhone as a valuable enterprise productivity tool. IT departments should consider iPad when planning strategies and policies to ensure corporate information is properly managed and secured. This is the moment that I saw the iPad light when I presented at the Sybase Developer days in Europe.
Web 2.0 and Social Networking – what do those two technologies have in common? When looking at them independently, and from a purely technical point of view, you might think they don’t have a lot in common. However, merge the concepts of two of the hottest technical advances to come around in a while and you have the power to change the world. Not all at once, as change happens over time, but they do provide a framework and the opportunities for major change, which is a first step and much of what we discuss here. My hope is that you can use this excerpt as a reference that provides some concrete guidelines for creating and then implementing a strategy for Web 2.0 and Social Networking integration within your group or organization. Much of the focus in the Web 2.0 and Social Networking space has been toward customer interaction; that is, how to draw in or collaborate better with customers through blogs, forums, or Facebook and MySpace pages; how to increase brand or product awareness or drive sales with viral marketing campaigns; or how to increase customer satisfaction using AJAX so that pages are updated almost automatically. We’ll look at these ideas and more. However, we also turn our focus inward to the enterprise to see how we can use new strategies and technologies to increase productivity, collaboration, knowledge management, and creativity of our employees and partners.
Web 2.0 and Social Networking – what do those two technologies have in common? When looking at them independently, and from a purely technical point of view, you might think they don’t have a lot in common. However, merge the concepts of two of the hottest technical advances to come around in a while and you have the power to change the world. Not all at once, as change happens over time, but they do provide a framework and the opportunities for major change, which is a first step and much of what we discuss here. My hope is that you can use this excerpt as a reference that provides some concrete guidelines for creating and then implementing a strategy for Web 2.0 and Social Networking integration within your group or organization. Much of the focus in the Web 2.0 and Social Networking space has been toward customer interaction; that is, how to draw in or collaborate better with customers through blogs, forums, or Facebook and MySpace pages; how to increase brand or product awareness or drive sales with viral marketing campaigns; or how to increase customer satisfaction using AJAX so that pages are updated almost automatically. We’ll look at these ideas and more. However, we also turn our focus inward to the enterprise to see how we can use new strategies and technologies to increase productivity, collaboration, knowledge management, and creativity of our employees and partners.
There is no question that success for the entrepreneur starts with a breakthrough (or at the very least great) product or service. Yet too often, entrepreneurs fall into the “field of dreams” mentality (in the words of Terence Mann, AKA James Earl Jones: “build it and they’ll come”). But the truth is that defining the product is just the beginning. Entrepreneurs must spend significant time thinking about the complexity of their sales process and the cost of customer acquisition, as these factors will strongly impact a company’s ability to make money and attract investors. An obvious requirement for a successful startup is that they are able to make more money from a customer than they spend for a customer, i.e. Lifetime value (LTV) should be greater than cost of customer acquisition (CAC) (see my prior blog post, Startup Killer: the Cost of Customer Acquisition). In this post, we’ll focus on the complexity of the sales cycle for various different types of B2B software and hardware products, and looking at how that impacts the viablity of startup business models by increasing CAC. And I will introduce a “zone system” that entrepreneurs can use to help evaluate different start up sales models.(Note: This post is primarily about B2B technology companies. Some of the concepts may apply to B2C internet, or to other industries, but it was not written with them in mind.)
There is no question that success for the entrepreneur starts with a breakthrough (or at the very least great) product or service. Yet too often, entrepreneurs fall into the “field of dreams” mentality (in the words of Terence Mann, AKA James Earl Jones: “build it and they’ll come”). But the truth is that defining the product is just the beginning. Entrepreneurs must spend significant time thinking about the complexity of their sales process and the cost of customer acquisition, as these factors will strongly impact a company’s ability to make money and attract investors. An obvious requirement for a successful startup is that they are able to make more money from a customer than they spend for a customer, i.e. Lifetime value (LTV) should be greater than cost of customer acquisition (CAC) (see my prior blog post, Startup Killer: the Cost of Customer Acquisition). In this post, we’ll focus on the complexity of the sales cycle for various different types of B2B software and hardware products, and looking at how that impacts the viablity of startup business models by increasing CAC. And I will introduce a “zone system” that entrepreneurs can use to help evaluate different start up sales models.(Note: This post is primarily about B2B technology companies. Some of the concepts may apply to B2C internet, or to other industries, but it was not written with them in mind.)
VMWare and Salesforce.com joined hands to launch VMforce which they claim the world's first enterprise Java cloud. Not sure why it is the first enterprise cloud for Java? We have Java-based cloud solutions from the industry leaders Google (AppEngine), Microsoft (Azure) and from other cloud vendors such as Stax, Rightscale, etc. Can't these host enterprise Java applications? I don't understand why VMforce is claiming their solution is the first enterprise Java solution. It is another PaaS (Platform as a service) solution similar to AppEngine, Azure, etc. In fact SpringSource has the similar solution called SpingSource Cloud foundry that runs on Amazon EC2 infrastructure. The only difference is - VMforce runs on Force.com infrastructure using vSphere 4, a virtualization operating system from VMWare.
VMWare and Salesforce.com joined hands to launch VMforce which they claim the world's first enterprise Java cloud. Not sure why it is the first enterprise cloud for Java? We have Java-based cloud solutions from the industry leaders Google (AppEngine), Microsoft (Azure) and from other cloud vendors such as Stax, Rightscale, etc. Can't these host enterprise Java applications? I don't understand why VMforce is claiming their solution is the first enterprise Java solution. It is another PaaS (Platform as a service) solution similar to AppEngine, Azure, etc. In fact SpringSource has the similar solution called SpingSource Cloud foundry that runs on Amazon EC2 infrastructure. The only difference is - VMforce runs on Force.com infrastructure using vSphere 4, a virtualization operating system from VMWare.
Salesforce.com and VMware on Tuesday announced a partnership to jointly deliver, sell and support a new enterprise Java cloud called VMforce. VMforce will bring together the technologies, expertise and communities of these two cloud computing companies, driving the tectonic shifts in the information technology industry. With VMforce, the more than 6 million enterprise Java developers, including the over 2 million developers using the Spring framework backed by the SpringSource division of VMware, will have an open path to cloud computing. Now, CIOs and IT departments will be able to leverage their existing programming skills and investments in Java applications, and take full advantage of the industry-leading Force.com platform to build Cloud 2 enterprise applications that are social and work on any mobile device in real-time. VMforce will dramatically simplify how enterprises and enterprise Java developers can harness the economics of cloud computing without compromising the flexibility, control and choice they require.
Salesforce.com and VMware on Tuesday announced a partnership to jointly deliver, sell and support a new enterprise Java cloud called VMforce. VMforce will bring together the technologies, expertise and communities of these two cloud computing companies, driving the tectonic shifts in the information technology industry. With VMforce, the more than 6 million enterprise Java developers, including the over 2 million developers using the Spring framework backed by the SpringSource division of VMware, will have an open path to cloud computing. Now, CIOs and IT departments will be able to leverage their existing programming skills and investments in Java applications, and take full advantage of the industry-leading Force.com platform to build Cloud 2 enterprise applications that are social and work on any mobile device in real-time. VMforce will dramatically simplify how enterprises and enterprise Java developers can harness the economics of cloud computing without compromising the flexibility, control and choice they require.
California’s Rapid Enforcement Allied Computer Team broke down the door to Gizmodo writer Jason Chen’s home Friday and carted off four computers and two servers plus an iPad, cell phones, digital cameras, hard drives and flash drives under a warrant issued by a San Mateo Superior Court Judge. They hauled the stuff off to a forensic lab to see what the widgetry might reveal about Gizmodo’s $5,000 purchase of the iPhone 4G prototype that an Apple engineer left in a Redwood City bar