A Technical Manager's Perspective

Dan Farber moves to CNET

I know that this story has been out since mid February, however after seeing this Kara Swisher interview of Dan Farber, I knew that I had to comment. Dan Farber is moving from ZDNet to become the Editor and Chief of CNET's news.com. I think that this is great for Dan and will miss him on the Between the Lines Podcast. I have a lot of respect for Dan and the work that he has done at ZDNet. He has helped to bring legitimacy to both Blogging and Podcasting, and hopefully he can help CNET.

Here is Kara's interview:

Technorati : CNET ZDNET

Dion Hinchcliffe's Enterprise Web 2.0 Predictions

Technorati : Enterprise 2.0 Web 2.0 SOA SAAS

Predictions for 2008

With the New Year approaching it's a time for predictions. Here are my thoughts on Technology in 2008:

1) I see the continued adoption of Web 2.0 and Enterprise 2.0 applications in Business. This adoption will not be across all applications but instead will key on the applications where communication and social involvement will help internal processes. Enterprise 2.0 will become another tool for Business and Applications Analysts to use when considering application upgrades and new deployments.

2) Web Services will continue to grow along with Java adoption and Service Oriented Architecture. A lot of companies have invested in Java, Web Services and SOA. SOA will help to provide a platform to scale larger applications and the adoption of Web Services will help to justify the need for true SOA deployments, which will give developers more options when accessing data and building applications.

3) Identity and Authentication Management will grow and gain greater acceptance. OpenId is just the start of this trend. Once OpenId starts to gain acceptance, stronger authentication tools will be used along with OpenId to maintain a secure Identity. Here is a list of the many Identity Working Groups

4) Cloud based computing will continue to grow with new opportunities in the Cloud Based High Performance Computing market. We will see more Software As A Service applications and as the Cloud Based HPC market grows, more vendors are going to want to move to a SAAS model.

5) We will see more Social Media Projects and new Social Networks hitting the marketplace. New vendors will give Business better choices when deploying internal social networking tools and new features will help the big players like Facebook and LinkedIn. However, I predict that this market will start to slow down in late 2008 with many smaller social networks merging or going away.

6) Mobile Web will gain greater acceptance as Vendors reduce the cost of accessing the Web via your phone and start to offer more services via the mobile network.

7) Open Source solutions will continue to grow and gain acceptance within larger organizations. More vendors will start to offer support for Open Source solutions as this will provide Business with an additional revenue model.

8) The Gaming industry will continue to surge with new adoption in both the Online and Game Console segment. New titles come out every day and there is an increase in softer non-combative titles which are becoming very popular.

9) Google will continue to expand into other markets. We will learn more about Open Social in 2008 but will have to wait until 2009 to see the impact of open social, however Google will continue to diversify and introduce other Business Models.

10) Microsoft will be around for a long time, and their Windows Server 2008 release will be stable and quicker than Windows Server 2003. Adoption will be slow throughout 2008 until the first service pack comes out, however my prediction is that this will be a stable OS that gains adoption in 2009.

11) Acceptance of Microsoft Vista will be very slow and will require multiple Service Pack updates before it becomes a favorable choice. I predict that it will be 2009 before we start looking at Vista as a recommended desktop solution.

12) Prepare for a slowdown. Gartner, Global Insight, and the Wall Street Journal predict a 30-36% chance of a recession in 2008.

Happy New Year

Technorati : Technology Predictions 2008

More MET news - Ross Levinsohm Interview

Here is another post on the topic of Media and Technology. Kara Swisher from the All Things Digital Web site had a conversation with Ross Levinsohn around Media and Technology. Ross started a VC firm called the Velocity Interactive Group which is funding Media and Technology startups. He talks about the involvement of independent artists and the monetization of video and other Media Companies.

Technorati : MET Digital Media Technology

PodCamp Boston 2 - Boston Area Technology Professionals

Are you a Technology Professional in the Boston Area ?

Have you seen the shift in Technologies toward a Web-Centric Web-Services approach to applications where the Web has become an application delivery mechanism as opposed to a document delivery system. If so, and if you would like to learn more, then you should consider attending:

PodCamp Boston 2, October 26 - 28, 2007, at the Boston Convention and Expo Center

PodCamp Boston 2 is the new media community UnConference that helps connect people interested in blogging, podcasting, social networks, video on the net, and new media together for three days to learn, share, and grow their new media skills. Whether you're just interested in new media or an experienced veteran, PodCamp Boston 2 is for you!

I attended PodCamp Boston last year can tell you from a first hand experience that this conference is not your typical Marketing/Advertising based conference. You don't need credentials to help or speak. Anyone who is so interested may contribute. Commercial pitches are discouraged. All PodCamps obey the Law of Two Feet. If you turn a speaking opportunity into an advertisement, PodCampers will simply walk out.

This year I am hosting a discussion on "Web 2.0, Enterprise 2.0 and Beyond". The discussion is open to everyone and I welcome input from other facilitators and everyone attending PodCamper Boston 2.

Technorati : Enterprise 2.0, Podcamp Boston 2, Web 2.0

Mr Enterprise 2.0

Here is a nice SlideShare that introduces many Enterprise 2.0 concepts from Scott Gavin. This slideshow has been available since May and is a great visual tool to better understanding Enterprise 2.0.

Congratulations to Scott on the great job ........

http://www.slideshare.net/slgavin/meet-charlie-what-is-enterprise20

Great Enterprise 2.0 post

I have seen the shift in Technology and believe in the move toward an open, collaborative adoption of applications in the Enterprise. I have followed this topic in the blogosphere and shared my thoughts on many occasions.

There has been a lot written and communicated about Enterprise 2.0, however, I came across as an exceptional post on the subject that I wanted to share with you. The post called What is Enterprise 2.0 was written by Fred Cavazza, a French Technologist with a passion for change in the enterprise. This is a good starting point for folks looking to explore Enterprise 2.0, a great reference point for the Enterprise 2.0 work that has already started, as well as a great reference point for Enterprise 2.0 applications and strategies that we can start adopting now.

I have included some of Fred's thoughts and examples below, but I would urge you to read the complete post and visit the many reference links embedded within the post. I really enjoyed browsing thru the many Web 2.0 - Enterprise 2.0 tools and applications that will become the foundation for computing in the future.

Fred Cavazza - What is Enterprise 2.0:

"Enterprise 2.0 is above all about sharing and collaboration"

"real benefits of Enterprise 2.0 will only come from a renewed IT architecture"

Enterprise 2.0 is above all about sharing and collaboration. Launching a blog, a wiki or an online workspace without anticipating collaborators' adhesion is a pure waste of time and money. The biggest mistake is to under-estimate habits' weight and change reticences. Information (the one and only) is a very rare commodity and collaborators are fighting hard for it. They stock it in files which are jealously protected by password and non-shared directory.

Working in wiki-mode, sharing know-how and experience on a blog are counterintuitive ways of working, the opposite of what we hardly learn in the enterprise "jungle": being seen by your managers as indispensable to the functioning of the enterprise. This was to date the most reliable way to advance in hierarchy and to collect end-year bonus.

But the (business) world as changed: Chinese competitors can now produce goods for 1/10th of your price and Indian competitors can provide services for 1/5th of your price. Moreover, this is only the beginning since those two countries are facing similar low-cost labor work competition (Philippine for China and Sri-Lanka for India). Conclusion: To maintain competitiveness, we must change our working habits, methods and tools. The main objective is to enhance business-critical information flow.

The biggest challenge for a collaborator is not to find the right information (because it is there, somewhere…) but to find it on a minimum of time

Let me insist for the last time on two essential rules:

• All those tools are completely ineffective if collaborators do not embrace them. Global management has to show the example by validating and encouraging necessary changes in work habits and methods. Experimentations can be made to evaluate collaborators needs, but you will be forced one day or another to convince you top management.
• Efficiency is enhanced if those tools work together. Try to imagine the power of such a portal as the one described in my chart: collaborators connect every morning on their personal start page to monitor activity or project advancement ; they have powerful social tools to quickly find information or key-competence ; with some few clicks they can access or deploy adapted online applications or build some.

But remember that tools are only supporting collaboration, only users can make it happens.

Technorati : Enterprise 2.0
Del.icio.us : Enterprise 2.0
Buzznet : Enterprise 2.0

What is a Wiki

What is a Wiki ?

Most of us know about wiki's from wikipedia however, how many folks have actually contributed to wikipedia or one of the many other public wiki's ?

For those of you that have not contributed, here is a little video from Lee at Common Craft that outlines how to use and contribute to a wiki.

Click To Play

Great Job Lee ......

Technorati : web 2.0, wiki

Enterprise 2.0 - The Evolution of the Web

After listening to both EnterpriseRave 2.0 sessions, my first reaction is that there is a lot of hype surrounding Enterprise 2.0 and not a lot of research and success stories. I think the hype is good for us, as it leads to more discussion and better definition and may stir the interests of the fridge Business and IT managers that do not follow industry trends.

Andrew McAfee asked the question: "What is the short term future for Social Software applications in the Enterprise ?" and provided some guidance to the answer by asking if it will have "Broad and Deep Penetration in the market; is it a fad or a Flash in the pan; or is it somewhere in between?"

Many responded with the "somewhere in between" answer and that is exactly where I see it.

Broad penetration would have to start at the top of an organization and work it's way down thru many levels or management and control before reaching the end-users. Also, in large organizations access to outside blogs and wikis are blocked at the proxy or firewall and end-users do not have the required privileges to install wiki or blogging software. which prevents a grassroots effort.

Is it a Fad or a Flash in the Pan ? Not at all. I think the fact that so many in the industry are talking about this shows the interest. I see as many other see this as the evolution of the web and not something that is going away.

I do not think there will be broad penetration however, I do think we will start to see adoption of certain applications that align well and meet certain business needs. No business manager is going to jump on the Enterprise 2.0 band-wagon because there is a lot of hype and discussion, however they will if we can show them how these technologies can help resolve their business problems.

We need to be advocates for these technologies and identify where it will fit into our business, however I would caution you to stay away from buzzwords like Web 2.0, and Enterprise 2.0 when dealing with senior business folks and instead concentrate on the features that these tools bring like collaboration and documentation.

Technorati : Enterprise 2.0, Web 2.0

Web 2.0 moving to Enterprise 2.0

In December I wrote about my understanding of Web 2.0. In January and February I touched on SOA, BPM, EIM and Enterprise 2.0. I have been skeptical about WEB 2.0 adoption in the Enterprise and look forward to Enterprise 2.0 strategies to be introduced in business. This past week ZDNet's Dion Hinchcliffe wrote about the new studies and reports that show a movement toward some Web 2.0 and Enterprise 2.0 strategies, however points out that there many discussions occurring at the Senior C-level, and there is already a movement started at the ground level surrounding blogs and wiki's. To read more .......

More results on use of Web 2.0 in business emerge by ZDNet's Dion Hinchcliffe-- The last few weeks have seen a series of interesting new reports, studies, and papers on the past, present, and future of Web 2.0 concepts and applications as applied to businesses. Most notable for many industry watchers have been fairly rigorous new works by McKinsey & Company as well as Forrester, whom have each released the results of broad surveys of executives in various industries. The focus of both surveys was to capture a picture of the interests, activities, motivators for Web 2.0 adoption of several thousand C-level executives in medium to large companies...........

"Effective Web 2.0 in the enterprise, whether that's basic Enterprise 2.0 or a much broader and expansive view of Web 2.0 design patterns and business models which I've called Product Development 2.0 for lack of a better term, actually requires the active support of both the users on the ground as well as the top levels of an organization to really take off. Business are structured much differently that the consumer Web and major impediments to use of Web 2.0 production and consumption scenarios exist. This include lack of good enterprise search, mountains of closed legacy systems, the challenge of securing highly open, deeply integrated applications, and conflicting data models (XML, relational data, rich media, and more.) These are all challenges to the ultimate success of Web 2.0 in the enterprise, even to the point that some organizations are increasingly at risk of IT users doing so much themselves that the IT department can begin to lose control."  Read full article

I see this move to Web 2.0 / Enterprise 2.0 as a change in Computer Information strategy and philosophy. We have worked thru the days of punch cards, green terminals, closed systems, open systems, client server, static web strategies, and now we are moving beyond that to a Web Services - Service Oriented Architecture that is secure enough for the Enterprise and flexible enough to allow input and refinement from many more sources within Enterprise.