Web-Tones

MS & the Open Source Community?

Link: history.forward() - Port 25: The Open Source Community at Microsoft. The boys from Redmond have been quietly reaching out to the the Open Source Community for quite some time and now apparently they are doing it in a much more public way.

This is obviously a recognition by MS that open source is a force to be reckoned with and is here to stay. MS is changing its world view because events on the ground have forced them to. They are pragmatic. They are neither good nor evil. They are behaving as a rational monopolist would, despite the fact that their monopoly is "not what it use to be."

The same is true for Google. They are neither good nor evil. They will simply behave (as they should) like a rational monopolist. When companies possess this kind of market power they both influence, and are controlled by, the market.

But as we all know, this is not always the case. IBM missed the PC opportunity. Microsoft missed Search. Why? Because they were "out innovated" and because their existing monopolies got in the way. This will happen to Google as well, but not in Search. MS did not steal IBM's mainframe market, they invented an entirely new industry. Ditto Google.

What about Big Law? They are not likely to be unseated from their respective areas of market dominance. But if history is a good teacher, they are likely to be out innovated and likely as well to miss the transformation that is occurring in the practice of law. Their existing "monopolies" will get in the way.

Will Google Own the Cloud?

Link: Rough Type: Nicholas Carr's Blog: The cloud's not-so-silver lining. One of the reasons that Google might eventually own the cloud is that it doesn't need the money. Huh?

Google can monetize its investments in ways not available to its competitors. It can afford to give away the entry level Google Apps edition, and offer "dirt cheap" pricing on the more "upscale" version(s), because its search business is so profitable.

Search is also still a "sleeper app." Huh? You heard it right. The power of search has not fully been tapped and appreciated from an applications perspective. I wrote about that here in Search, KM & the Practice of Law.

I recently placed a tech support call with one of the giants of the tech industry and the "help desk" person chose to use Google instead of their own systems to find product information. Why? It was faster. I often use Google for case law research before using my paid options. Why? It is faster to get a quick overview this way.

Law firms have barely begun to tap the power of search. From a purely selfish perspective I hope that they don't!

Katy Bar the Door?

Link: Strategic Legal Technology :: The Client View of Legal Outsourcing - Sun Microsytems Speaks. Legal outsourcing, like technology outsourcing, is here to stay. It should come as no surprise that the global economy is in fact, well, global. Law firms are not going to be spared from the competitive pressures that outsourcing in general represents. Look for more layoffs at Big Law as the legal industry continues to struggle with the changing economic landscape.

Innovate or die--no longer just a mantra for technology companies.

Is the A-List Dead?

Link: The Death Of The A-list. It is not clear to me whether the A-List is dead, but if not dead then clearly dying.

Why? for many of the reasons cited in the link and for others that are not. The "A-List" thing is like an artist that has a "great run" but inevitably fades. Fans move on. New fans are born. People begin to roll their own A-List. Whatever.

I mean who really gives a crap about the Yahoo/Microsoft deal besides the tech echo chamber? They have turned this piece of news into a kind of "Internet Tabloid" rant. It's like the constant rants about KM within the legal tech community. The cool thing is not talking about it but rather using it as a competitive advantage.

There is a perceptible shift taking placed between interest in people talking about technology and interest in applying it. I much prefer the latter. As far as I can tell most business owners do as well.

The "times they are a changing" and it is time to get busy doing.

The Empire Strikes Back!

Link: Microsoft on Vista: ‘The time of worry is over.’ | All about Microsoft | ZDNet.com. Look for MS to come out swinging over the next few months on all fronts. Like a wounded lion MS is once again poised to become very, very dangerous to the health and welfare of its competitors.

The lion may be bloodied but it is not dead. MS' response on Vista, Sharepoint & Search, and a host of other initiatives will be fierce. I say "bring it on!" Ultimately this kind of competition ends up benefiting the consumer.

I have made a commitment to "compute on the cloud" and remain happy with this decision. There is no going back to the PC as my primary "platform of record." But, while there are switching costs on the cloud, they are not as steep as in days gone by. I await with some level of interest MS' response.

I do not expect to be switching vendors anytime soon, but you never know. Watch out Google/Apple, the boys from Redmond are tired of being kicked around! The wounded lion has awoken from his slumber is looking for something to kill.

Internet Uptime Is Serious Business!

Link: As Web Traffic Grows, Crashes Take Bigger Toll - NYTimes.com. I have posted about this before here but this is an important topic and it is not clear to me that many Web 2.0 companies get it. When a customer relies on your service for their business then ANY downtime is serious. Just ask CIO's how much pain they experience when email goes down within their organizations.

This is not kid's stuff. The companies that will win going forward are those that understand that information technology for a business is not mostly about "cool" but rather mostly about functionality, availability, scalability, reliability, etc. It is the "ebilities" that matter most.

And when something does goes wrong, and something inevitably goes wrong, you better have a plan for getting it fixed ASAP and otherwise being as responsive as humanly possible. Think you can get by with email only support? Think again.

Customers now have a weapon to vent their frustration. It's the Internet stupid. Bad news can be just a viral as good, perhaps more so. This is NOT your daddy's Internet anymore. The Internet is indeed, serious business.

Warren E. Buffett, Webmaster

Many people look to Mr. Buffett for financial guidance - but web design? Check out his site: www.berkshirehathaway.com

The background is white. The type is blue. The links are purple. The font is Times Roman.

There are no graphics. No Flash. Nothing on the web site moves at all.

And yet there is genius in it.  A simple genius just like the kind that has led him to his success as an investor.  Everything on the site - from SEC filings - to subsidiaries' links - to letters to the stockholders - everything is one click away! At the end of the day, no matter what you do to attract people to your site or offerings, they have to get to your content. And clicks do matter. Less is more.

Sure you can argue that the site is for investors and is purely informational. And that the subsidiary companies have their own sites that are much more eye appealing. All of this notwithstanding, at the end of the day, technology is utility. And it has to work. And it has to work for everyone. No matter what the dashboard looks like, when you own a car, you want to be able to turn the key and drive.

Warren's simple philosophy on life and business once again speaks volume to us.