NevOn

Moving towards Google's EPIC

Still thinking that the Google Grid and the Evolving Personalized Information Construct are pure fantasy, just a history lesson from 2015? From The Times yesterday:

Google is working on a project to create its own global internet protocol (IP) network, a private alternative to the internet controlled by the search giant, according to sources who are in commercial negotiation with the company.

[...] A leading content provider, who did not wish to be named, told Times Online: "We are in discussions with Google to provide content for their alternative internet service, to be distributed through their Google Cube product. As far as I'm aware they have been conducting negotiations with a number of other players in our marketplace to provide quality content to their users."

[...] Contacted by Times Online today, a spokesperson for Google denied that it had any such plans, before adding its customary rider: "It's Google's policy not to comment on speculation concerning products before they are launched."

[Technorati: Google Grid, EPIC]

The rigmarole of Norton Internet Security

Notwithstanding the Dell Hell saga of last year, I love my Dell Dimension XPS Gen 5 which I bought in August. From a hardware point of view, it works perfectly. No issues whatsoever, so I'm a more than satisfied Dell customer.

I wish I could say the same about some of the software running on it, especially Norton Internet Security 2006 (NIS) for Windows.

I've been a user of Symantec's Norton product line for at least six years (and from long before that, when Peter Norton first rolled out Norton Utilities for DOS in the early 80s). So Norton is a brand I like, respect and am willing to lay out hard cash for.

Yet NIS drives me nuts.

Organizing for the New Year

Housekeeping's on my mind today.

After enjoying Christmas in the UK with family, and being almost wholly switched off from the blogosphere for the best part of a week, I'm finding it quite refreshing to sit in front of my desktop PC today and think not about blogging but about hardware, software and sorting out a few things.

So with clients on holiday and little work pressure for another week or so, I'm focused on spending some quality time on re-organizing my computing environment as well as playing around with some cool toys I picked up while in the UK.

First up, putting in place a better file backup system than I currently have. I bought a new external hard drive, a Western Digital Essential External USB2 Hard Drive, 160 gigs capacity (but will that really be enough?). My first purchase of a WD hard drive: I've always bought Maxtor until now. Mind you, I'm still keeping it in the family.

Already installed - literally, just plug it in - and the first full system backup done with Norton Ghost.

Ghost isn't the software I'll use for regular file backups, though. A great review in PC World magazine took me to SimpleTech and their StorageSync product which fits the bill nicely for easily backing up documents, images, podcasts, video, etc. I'll also be able to access the WD drive from other PCs on my network.

Which takes me to my next housekeeping task - sorting out my home network.

Understanding Web 2.0

This afternoon, I was in a Skype discussion with an old friend in the UK and part of our conversation strayed into a discussion about Web 2.0.

My friend thinks it's just meaningless marketing hype and similar to all the talk that we heard in the late 90s dot-com era (or Web 1.0, as I pointed out to him) and early 00s on how everyone would make a fortune and change the world with things like web services, e-commerce, and sticky websites.

You could even go back a bit further into the mid 90s when we heard about the Information Highway (remember that?), ubiquitous video on demand and the networked computer. If you were around in those days, you may remember Larry Ellison of Oracle proclaiming that this was the age of the networked computer and the end of the PC as we knew it. A great concept but quite some years ahead of its time.

In trying to explain to my cynical friend why I don't agree with him, I was actually a little stumped at one point in recalling some simple ways to illustrate why Web 2.0 is different to Web 1.0.

Yes, we have blogging and other social media. And I've seen lots of posts and other online content talking about Tim O'Reilly's Web 2.0 Meme Map. This type of illustrative description isn't really helpful to cynics like my friend who say they've seen it all before (and who said, incidentally, that the image helped confirm his negative opinion about Web 2.0). I don't like it much either, as it is very similar to such diagrams in the 90s - they weren't called "meme maps" in those days - that hyped how e-commerce (for instance) was what you just had to be in.

So is Web 2.0 just a load of old cobblers as my friend would say?

That meme map was part of "What Is Web 2.0," a lengthy article in September by Tim O'Reilly in which he goes into some length to explain how he sees Web 2.0. I think it's a very good article which should be a starting point for gaining a better understanding of how the technologies and tools we're using today (which I'd call Web 1.5, perhaps even 1.7) are evolving into what, I believe, will be Web 2.0.

Yet stuff like this can seem a pretty dense read when what you want to see more easily is the wood amongst all those trees. Tim O'Reilly's article actually does contain a way to do that which was probably over-shadowed by the snazzy meme map.

Here's how to get a sense of Web 2.0:

This is perfect for a right brain individual like me. This I can explain. How about you?

And by the way, here's a neat quiz that will help you determine whether you're left brain or right brain (although if you're left brain, you probably already know that).

Anti-piracy measures now include Windows Update

BBC News: Microsoft has stepped up its fight against software piracy by requiring users to verify their copies of the Windows operating system. Anyone downloading updates for Windows XP will be required to check that their operating system is genuine.

This validation process is in place right now as I discovered when I visited the Windows Update site today to install an optional update.

Upon landing on the site, I was presented with a screen saying that I needed to upgrade some components. Clicking OK resulted in a dialog with progress on installing those upgrades, which included software to validate my copy of Windows to show it was not an illegal or pirated copy.

The result was a success as the screenshot shows.

If it had not been a success, the consequence would be no access to any Windows updates except for security fixes.

Thirty-five percent of the software installed on personal computers worldwide was pirated in 2004, according to a recent study by IDC for the Business Software Alliance. The study said that worldwide losses to software publishers due to piracy increased from $29 billion the year before to $33 billion in 2004.

And with Windows accounting for 90% of operating systems sold worldwide, cracking down on the pirates is one of the few ways for Microsoft to expand its business, the BBC report said.

More info on Microsoft's validation system at Genuine Microsoft Software. Also, see the guide on how to tell if your software is genuine or not.

Virtual Earth first looks

Wow! Virtual Earth is impressive. I just went to the website, clicked on the 'Locate Me' button, told it to find me using my computer's IP address, and it did just that in less than three seconds.

What is Virtual Earth? From the FAQ:

Virtual Earth is a new map and search system soon to be released by Microsoft. Virtual Earth brings together a number of components that allow the user to find out "What is here?" and "Where are the nearest things to here?" The components consist of maps, aerial imagery, photos, business directories, ratings and reviews.

Unlike yesterday, when news about Virtual Earth started trickling out, you can actually access the site (well, it's early morning here in Amsterdam and most of the US is still asleep) and the site itself is speedy.

I also tried out the Location Finder application which uses the wireless access points visible to your computer to determine your location (so you need wi-fi for this to work). Equally impressive, although on installing it my PC rang all the alarm bells - Norton Internet Security halted the install to request authorization to run a 'malicious script,' (yes, go ahead) and Zone Alarm wanted authorization to allow it to access the net (yes, let it).

This app looks rather neat. It sits in your system tray so you can use it at any time. I can see value in that when you're travelling as once your location is pinpointed, you can then search for businesses, etc, close to where you are. It works as well in Firefox as in Internet Explorer. And, most importantly, it appears to work fine in locations in Europe - not a typical US-centric application, therefore.

(Heh! Also a great tool if you get lost somewhere - fire up this service and you'll find out where you are. Assuming there's a wi-fi network nearby, of course. I wonder if it would work with a portable hot spot?)

Some people might be a bit uncomfortable with this wording from the license agreement:

In online mode, information about the access points will be sent to Microsoft and the online Location Finder service will determine your location. This information includes the signal strengths and basic service set identifiers (BSSID) of these access points. In offline mode, the Microsoft Location Finder product installed on your system will determine your location. Your location information will not be sent to Microsoft.

A clear choice, really - if you want to use this aspect of the service, agree to this. If not, don't, and let the system pinpoint your location by your IP address (which limits your location options substantially when you travel).

Some people say Virtual Earth is the equivalent of Google Maps. I can't say as I've tried Google Maps just the once. One difference I noted from that experience - Google Maps works only in the US. But you can read what others say.

Detailed info about Virtual Earth (still in beta) at Via Virtual Earth.

On first looks, I'd say very nice work, Microsoft.

Does Europe need an EFF?

If we don't let the politicians know what we're worried about, we'll inevitably end up stripped of the rights we presently have, says Nicole Simon.

Prompted by a call for support for a UK-based tech/civil liberties organization by Cory Doctorow, Nicole has just launched a pledge to garner support for establishing such an organization at a European level.

So Nicole's idea is to try and set up an equivalent of the US Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) in Europe.

Although I agree with Nicole - better to try and do this for Europe as a whole than just for one European country - I have some small concerns about the whole EFF model. And while I would support an effective initiative that seeks to safeguard an individual's rights to free expression, It seems to me that the EFF has some odd ideas on the differences between such rights and the responsibilities of individuals.

I'm referring in particular to the EFF's support for the international bloggers’ bill of rights which includes a list of organizations "...that have fired, threatened, disciplined, fined or not hired people because of their blogs." If only it were that black and white!

I suppose a basic question arises - Do we need a European EFF? Well, if you read any European newspaper at either political extreme, you'd probably say yes. Personally, I don't subscribe to some views that life is just a big conspiracy with all the politicians and Big Business out to screw the Average Joe. Yet I do subscribe to the view that each of us does have the right of freedom of expression. With that right comes some clear responsibilities, too, especially relating to respecting the rights of others. But this isn't a political blog, and I don't do politics here.

Still, I support Nicole's idea which is why I've signed the pledge even though the idea is nothing more than that right now - an idea. You have to start somewhere and if more people are willing to sign on for a concept that has little substance yet, and then be part of shaping it, then maybe this might grow and actually have some influence.

Little acorns, etc.

Technorati: DigitalRightsEU, EFF

So much innovation

> A British startup wants to give more consumers more chances to hear about what's in the paper. Otodio bills itself as the "universal, eyes-free document delivery standard." Just as companies like Audible.com enable radio listeners to hear audio versions of best sellers and any number of other books in their car, Otodio plans to offer a variety of daily newspapers and magazines in audio format to satellite radio subscribers and others. The initial target market of car-bound commuters totals tens of millions in the U.S. By one estimate, an average American spends 9% of their "awake time" in a vehicle. Otodio holds patents on its device-independent service, which uses industry standard text-to-speech technology. CEO Peter Bond says Otodio can transmit the text of a typical edition of the New York Times in a few seconds to a satellite radio receiver, MP3 player, or even a cell phone. (Internetnews.com)

> Developers and designers are being encouraged to come up with innovative ways of using TV and radio schedules by taking part in a BBC competition. The competition, announced at the Open Tech conference in London, has been organised by the BBC's backstage.bbc.co.uk developer network. (BBC News)

> The deluge of spam that pours into email inboxes each day could by curtailed using software that learns to identify the routes taken by unwanted messages, researchers say. A team from IBM and Cornell University in New York state, US, developed the anti-spam technique, which they call "SMTP Path Analysis" (PDF). It involves examining information embedded in email messages about the route it has taken across the internet. This allows it to make a good guess as to whether or not a new message is electronic junk mail. (New Scientist)

> Wi-Fi on airplanes just got a lot more entertaining. Boeing this week launched a streaming television delivered straight to your laptop as part of its Connexion by Boeing high-speed Internet service. The video service will debut on Singapore Airlines, and lets passengers watch CNBC, BBC, Eurosport News, and either MSNBC (if you're flying in the United States) or Euronews (if you're elsewhere). (PC World)

> If you have several blogs or other sites that have their own feeds, we'll bet a few bottom dollars you've been looking for a way to easily cross-promote them. Or, perhaps you're a podcaster who would like to list your latest podcast postings in a blog sidebar or other handy garden spot somewhere on the web. The bottom line? You've got feeds you want to get out there where people can see 'em, and you'd like to allow people to see the feed headlines (or content itself) in some compact, convenient format. Enter BuzzBoost. It's the latest publicity and awareness offering for FeedBurner publishers, and it's free. (FeedBurner Burning Questions)

Explaining it simply: Microsoft and RSS

Nearly all the reporting I've seen in blogs and mainstream media during the past 24 hours about Microsoft's support for RSS has tended to be rather techie in its focus, including my own post.

Here's all most people really need to know about it, from a BBC News report last night:

Microsoft's next version of its browser, Internet Explorer 7, will make it easier for people to keep automatically aware of website updates.

IE7 will have an orange button on the toolbar which will light up when it detects a Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feed on a site. Users can click on a "plus" button to subscribe to the site's feed, as they would with a bookmark.

The new browser is due to be released this summer. It had its public debut at the Gnomedex technology conference in the US city of Seattle on Friday.

Who wouldn't understand that!

Microsoft really embraces RSS

Lots of buzz in the blogosphere and in mainstream media about the news today that Microsoft will be building support for RSS into Longhorn, the next release of the Windows operating system due in late 2006, and not only in the next version of Internet Explorer.

Business Week Online has a good summary of today's news which was released at Gnomedex. Some key points:

[...] The fact that Microsoft is putting so much effort behind RSS suggests that the technology's time has come. Michael Gartenberg, vice-president and research director at Jupiter Research, estimates that about 10% of U.S. Web surfers use RSS readers, software designed to view feeds from Web sites. "This is the type of thing that will bring it into the mainstream," Gartenberg says. "It's going to change behavior, and it's going to do it very quickly."

What's more, Microsoft is going after the RSS market in a very un-Microsoft-like way -– it's making its RSS technology available for free using the so-called Creative Commons license.

[...] Before Microsoft brings out the new technology with Longhorn, it'll make RSS feeds readable from inside its widely used Internet Explorer browser. Right now, users typically have to cut-and-paste Web addresses into RSS readers to subscribe to services. RSS subscribers will be able to read those feeds in a test version of the new browser, available later this summer.

But Microsoft plans to dive much deeper when Longhorn ships. Including the RSS technology in the new operating system will allow thousands of software developers to create programs that take advantage of RSS feeds.

Not everyone see Microsoft's news as good - Nick Fink writing in Digital Web Magazine, thinks Microsoft is taking RSS five steps backwards.

If you want to get opinions directly from members of the RSS Team at Microsoft, stop by Channel 9 and take a look at Robert Scoble's video interviews. Also see the tech details about RSS in Longhorn in the Longhorn developers blog.

Undoubtedly more information - and more discussion - will emerge in the coming days.

The consequences of email blacklisting

During last weekend, Shel and I learned that the domain of For Immediate Release, our podcast blog, was included in a couple of email blacklists. These are databases that include the addresses of domains known to be the source for spam email. And on Monday, I learned that my domain, the domain of this blog, was also on a couple of such lists.

As you can imagine, we were flabbergasted. Thankfully, both these issues were speedily resolved.

Yesterday Shel documented the story in some detail. We devoted a major part of yesterday's edition of our bi-weekly show to talking about our experiences and questioning how such things happen and how to resolve them.

The reason I'm posting about this is to draw your attention to Shel's post and the very interesting conversation that's now developing there - as I write this post, there are 26 comments in 24 hours. That's quite a conversation going on.

If you have a comment or opinion on the thorny issue of email spam, blacklisting and whitelisting, email policies and related topics, head on over to Shel's blog and join the conversation.

More Skype and more MSN

Internet phone service provider Skype has released a new update to version 1.2 of its desktop application for Windows.

The new version offers enhanced user benefits including a centralized contacts list (meaning you can access your list of contacts from any computer you use to connect to Skype, not just the one you usually use), and a new 'Getting Started Wizard,' which makes finding friends, importing contacts and making test calls even easier.

The latest 1.2.0.41 version, released on 6 April, includes some further bug fixes (notably re when using Skype and you connect to someone who has an older version) plus a welcome fix - if a SkypeIn call goes to your voicemail (if you have that), your custom greeting is now played. See the full change history.

By the way, if you use Norton AntiVirus, 2004 or later, you'll encounter a security alert every time you run Skype, even if you have Skype listed as an allowed program. This will definitely happen each time you upgrade the Skype software. I don't know whether this is a Skype or Norton issue, or both. Luckily, there is a simple fix.

Yesterday, Microsoft released MSN Messenger 7.0, the latest incarnation of its multi-platform instant messaging software. In a press release (which also announced a new version of MSN Spaces), Microsoft said the application is available worldwide in 26 languages and introduces improved video, voice and personalization features that allow people to communicate in more meaningful ways than ever.

Three features in particular look most interesting:

Free PC-to-PC video conversation. The new, free MSN Video Conversation service, powered by Logitech technology, connects people with one-click synchronized audio and video, and offers full-screen video viewing.
Ability to talk over the Internet for free. MSN Messenger 7.0 includes higher-quality audio functionality so customers can enjoy free, real-time PC-to-PC voice conversations with friends and family around the world.
PC-to-mobile communications. Customers will soon be able to stay in touch by sending IMs to friends and family who aren't on their PC. Customers in selected countries will be able to send SMS text messages from MSN Messenger to mobile phones - even if the person they are sending to doesn't have an MSN Messenger account - and the mobile user can reply to the MSN Messenger user. This feature will be available in multiple markets this spring.

See the Messenger website for detailed info.

MSN Messenger now offers some of the features that have made Skype such a success, plus one (video) that Skype doesn't yet offer.

Which is better? There's the big question. I use Skype but I don't use Messenger (although I will give version 7 a spin). There are plenty of opinions out there on both.

With so much choice, it's a great time to be a customer, whichever one you use!

Hardly a gap between Windows and Linux

Most US businesses say there is very little difference between the cost of maintaining a Windows versus a Linux-based corporate computing environment, according to a new study from IT industry analysts, the Yankee Group.

A Reuters report via eWeek quotes Yankee Group analyst Laura DiDio saying that the main cost difference is determined by the amount of time it takes to develop applications or ensure the security of servers. "What we found is that costs are not really dependent on the underlying functionality in the core operating system," DiDio said.

The report in eWeek said that 88 percent of respondents to the study said that the quality, performance and reliability of Windows was equal to or better than Linux. Linux has been locked in competition for the last several years against Microsoft's Windows Server software for a share of the corporate market, according to the eWeek report.

In most cases, both Linux and Windows are growing at the expense of Sun Microsystems' Unix-based servers, which were instrumental in the growth of the internet during the 1990s.

eWeek Enterprise News | Study Shows Microsoft, Linux Neck-and-Neck

Related NevOn post:

• Linux: A very different business model

PDAs will become irrelevant

InternetWeek: PDAs are moving toward irrelevance, a new study by In-Stat released this week says. [...] The devices are entering a stage of serious decline. In-Stat reported that PDA shipments in 2004 were only 8.7 million, compared to 10 million in 2003. The study predicted a negative annual growth rate of 21.5 percent through 2009. After that time, PDAs will be sold only for specific vertical markets, according to the study. As a result, In-Stat said, the PDA will soon stop being considered a major product segment. The report attributed the decline of PDAs to increased sales of devices such as smartphones and portable media players, which it described as a "natural evolution" of the PDA.

That last sentence in bold is my emphasis. More evidence of the market shift that's taking place as more feature-rich mobile devices start to emerge, combining cellular telephony, digital media and PDA capability. Fuel for podcasting growth, for instance, as I mentioned recently.

Maybe my mobile device wish list could be closer to reality than I first expected - take a look at the Nokia 7710 smartphone that Guillaume is trying out.

A mobile device wish list

Reuters via eWeek: Sony Corp. said on Wednesday it would stop making personal digital assistants for Japan in July, completing its withdrawal from a market hit by multi-functional cellphones and casting a shadow over the tools' growth potential. The move was widely expected after the electronics and entertainment conglomerate said last year it would stop selling new handheld digital assistants outside Japan. [...] "The PDA market is being encroached by cellphones and other mobile devices that can offer similar functions, making it difficult for PDAs to maintain their position in the market," a Sony spokeswoman said.

To close observers of the market, this news won't be any surprise. The report says it all - the PDA market is being encroached by cellphones and other mobile devices that can offer similar functions.

I've still got a first-generation Compaq iPAQ 3630 which has now been sitting in a desk drawer for at least a year (maybe I should re-purpose it as a search engine belt buckle). I've even got an old Palm Pilot in another desk drawer. I just don't use a PDA any more, even with the feature-rich newer devices on the market.

Why? Because I've got PCs. I've got a mobile phone. And it's such a pain having to synchronize your diary, email, contacts, files, etc, between many different devices. Currently I have a primary laptop plus a secondary one I use when I'm in outside meetings or away on the road. Keeping those two sync'd is plenty. It's actually no big deal to turn on the laptop to quickly find an email, get a contact name or look up a phone number. The one I use for traveling is usually in standby or hibernate mode, so bringing it back up is pretty quick.

Yet I really would like to have a convenient mobile device. The thing is, the one I'd like to have isn't made yet.

What I'd like is a mobile device that, at minimum, has all these attributes:

• lets me make and receive phone calls wherever in the world I am, automatically finding the correct network type
• has hands-free capability
• no-hassle connecting with my service provider wherever I am (the closest to that in my experience is Vodafone - everywhere I go, I can find a Vodafone network)
• sends and receives multimedia SMS messages
• takes photos and lets me record video
• enables me to send and receive email, files, video, etc,
• lets me easily synchronize whatever stuff I want to and from my PCs wirelessly - no cables, cradles or anything like that, nor Bluetooth, just wi-fi
• be Windows Mobile based
• has loads of memory (storage) capacity
• lets me listen to podcasts and music with nice comfortable headphones
• maybe play a game or two
• it must look really cool
• be truly affordable

And, all in a package no bigger than an iPod Mini. It can be a clamshell or a slide-cover design, I don't mind.

Oh wait, I think something close to such a device may be coming soon...

Switching to a Mac isn't for everyone

Ever think about dumping your Windows-based PC and buying a Mac? Perhaps one of those gorgeous-looking G4 PowerBooks?

I know I have, usually at times when some inexplicable problem happens with some app on my primary Windows PC, a customized Toshiba Satellite laptop. While that machine's getting a bit long in the tooth now, it will still do until something completely irresistible turns up. Something a bit like a Voodoo Envy m:790, perhaps...

But I've always resisted the urge and I'm happy to stay with my Tosh (and IBM Thinkpad T30 laptop), no matter how tempting the grass on the other side of the hill looks.

I did succumb to Apple's charms last month, though, and bought an iPod Mini, my first Apple purchase. Delightful machine, superb design and functionality. Great for listening to podcasts. Not bad for music, either ;) But I digress!

In the Wall Street Journal, Walt Mossberg writes with some keen advice that is worth reading if you're thinking about switching:

[...] As I have noted in the past, switching to the Mac has downsides, and it isn't the best course for some groups of Windows users.

For instance:

Even if you aren't happy with Windows, don't consider switching to the Mac if you are resistant to learning new ways of doing things. The Mac and Windows are close cousins, but there is a learning curve that comes with switching.

And:

Don't consider switching if your budget covers only the cost of the Mac itself. There will usually be extra costs. To maintain compatibility with the Windows world, you will probably want a copy of the Mac version of Microsoft Office, which isn't included by Apple. And you may want a standard two-button, Windows-style mouse, which works fine on the Mac but isn't included.

Instead of buying Office, you could try Open Office, the open source-developed (and free) application suite that is broadly compatible with Office. There is a Mac version. I've been trying out the Windows version for the past few months and have yet to encounter any issues in opening Office docs with it or saving files in it that open fine in Office applications.

Walt continues:

People who depend on their company's IT department to manage and support their home computers may find themselves locked into Windows. Most corporate computer staffs support only Windows and know little or nothing about Macs.

Similarly, if the principal use of your home computer is to remotely link up to your company's Windows network, stay with Windows. The Mac has gotten much better at doing these remote linkups, but they are still easier on Windows.

The conclusion:

The bottom line is that the Mac is a great alternative for mainstream consumers doing mainstream tasks who are sick and tired of the Windows security crisis. But it isn't for everybody.

Wall Street Journal | Personal Technology | While Switching to Mac Will Improve Security, It Isn't for Everybody

If you just want your Windows desktop to look like a Mac's, then get hold of WindowBlinds 4.5 from Stardock. Then, go to Wincustomize and download Mac OS X Tiger, an excellent new skin by Steve Grenier.

This may be the closest you'll get to a Mac!

Shel's offline but still doing business

Having a RAID hard disk setup on your server would usually be good insurance in case of some kind of system failure, hardware or otherwise, where if one drive goes down the other one has a mirror of everything.

Unfortunately, not in Shel Holtz' case last night.

Shel has experienced the worse-case situation where both drives failed. Whether it's the drives themselves or the RAID controller, or something else, he doesn't know yet. Shel told me on a Skype call that the failure means that his blog, his business website and his email system are all currently offline. Luckily, he has a Gmail account so he can still keep in touch by email.

So as a public service for a colleague and fellow buisness blogger, this post is to let you know that while Shel's offline for the next day or two, he's alive and well (with a bit of a cold) and still doing business from Concord, California.

Update 5 Feb: After much sweat and tears, Shel's now back up and running: email, blog and website.

Maybe this is the future of search

Yesterday Microsoft announced the release version of its new MSN Search tool, and, as reported by CNet News, gears up for a marketing and advertising blitz to imprint its offering in consumers' minds:

As expected, MSN, a unit of the software giant, has taken its Web search technology out of the laboratory, and placed it on MSN's newly redesigned home page in 25 countries. [...] It is the subject of Microsoft's newest ad campaign, which includes television, print, Internet and outdoor promotions.

MSN Search Vice President Christopher Payne would not disclose ad spending, but he estimated that 90 percent of Americans, as well as U.K. and Japanese residents, will encounter the campaign. Television ads, for example, will run during the Super Bowl, the Oscars and the Grammys. "Oh, you're going to notice it," he said.

There's an insightful article in yesterday's Financial Times that discusses in some depth what the future of computer-based searching might look like, and makes this key point:

[In the future,] finding information would not involve going to a separate place - a search engine - to ask a question. Instead, the answer would present itself wherever you happened to be, and in the most appropriate form. "Search will become more and more important and less and less visible," says [Craig] Silverstein at Google. "It will be ubiquitous and invisible." At that stage, depending on your point of view, Google and its rivals would either be one of the most powerful forces shaping everyday life or just another invisible cog in the great Information Age machine that is being created out of the internet.

The FT article includes these notional news flashes from the future:

May 2008. Google launches G-Life, a substitute for the fallible human memory. By searching your e-mail, instant messages and telephone calls, and with the help of voice recorders set up around the home, you can now recall everything you said or wrote.

November 2008. Yahoo!'s new MobileBuddy, a voice-activated search engine, gives you real answers wherever you are. No more long lists of websites to pick through: just ask it what you want to know. MobileBuddy will also vibrate if the groceries you are about to buy are available more cheaply elsewhere.

October 2009. Regulators uncover e-mails that hint at the scope of Microsoft's search engine ambitions. According to its critics, by building its search engine into Windows, Office and other software, Microsoft is on the way to controlling access to the world wide web.

January 2010. 10 years after America Online bought Time Warner, Google acquires Walt Disney. The mania for internet distribution again has the upper hand over entertainment "content".

Fanciful? Perhaps. But the FT says that the search-engine business is at the beginning of a wave of innovation that could change many aspects of everyday life and reshape parts of the information industry. Google has demonstrated the power of search, Microsoft and Yahoo are in hot pursuit and a crowd of other search companies are seeking a gap.

Financial Times | 'Friendly' engines that manage the data of daily life (paid subscription required)

Such crystal-ball-gazing isn't unlike the reverse look envisioned by EPIC which was demonstrated to participants at the New Communications Forum 2005 last week by keynote speaker Andy Lark.

Last word from the FT's article:

Ultimately, all the random, unstructured information contained on web pages and other data-repositories could be subjected to a form of structuring that made it more intelligible to machines. This is the idea behind the Semantic Web, a vision of the future internet promoted by Tim Berners-Lee, creator of the World Wide Web.

Linux: A very different business model

For its 31 January edition, Business Week has an intriguing story online about Linus Torvalds, the Finnish creator of the Linux Unix-like operating system.

The story has insight commentary on how the Linux open-source developer community works in conjunction with big-name 'establishment' companies, and the real threat Linux presents to Microsoft and its Windows family.

What's clear from its interviews, Business Week says, is that the organization supporting Linux has matured more dramatically than most outsiders realize.

Some choice extracts from the story:

Organization

Not that this Inc. operates like a traditional corporation. Hardly. There's no headquarters, no CEO, and no annual report. And it's not a single company. Rather, it's a cooperative venture in which employees at about two dozen companies, along with thousands of individuals, work together to improve Linux software.

The tech companies contribute sweat equity to the project, largely by paying programmers' salaries, and then make money by selling products and services around the Linux operating system. They don't charge for Linux itself, since under the cooperative's rules the software is available to all comers for free.

The Big Companies' Involvement

Tech giants such as IBM, Hewlett-Packard, and Intel are clustered around the Finn, contributing technology, marketing muscle, and thousands of professional programmers. IBM alone has 600 programmers dedicated to Linux, up from two in 1999. There's even a board of directors that helps set the priorities for Linux development.

Community Culture

Dick Porter, a T-shirted coder who often works under an apple tree in his garden in Wales, is on the same team with Jim Stallings, a hard-charging ex-Marine who travels the world making deals for IBM. What they have in common is a keen interest in making Linux ever more capable. The result is a culture that's cooperative, meritocratic -- and Darwinian at the same time. Any company or person is free to participate in Linux Inc., and those with the most to offer win recognition and prominent roles.

"Linux is the first natural business ecosystem," says James F. Moore, a senior fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School.

The Challenge

Put it all together, and Linux has become the strongest rival that Microsoft has ever faced. In servers, researcher IDC predicts Linux' market share based on unit sales will rise from 24% today to 33% in 2007, compared with 59% for Windows -- essentially keeping Microsoft at its current market share for the next three years and squeezing its profit margins. That's because, for the first time, Linux is taking a bite out of Windows, not just the other alternatives, and is forcing Microsoft to offer discounts to avoid losing sales.

In a survey of business users by Forrester Research Inc., 52% said they are now replacing Windows servers with Linux. On the desktop side, IDC sees Linux' share more than doubling, from 3% today to 6% in 2007, while Windows loses a bit of ground. IDC expects the total market for Linux devices and software to jump from $11 billion last year to $35.7 billion by 2008.

If you want a business-focused look at this important segment of the technology industry, and undertand a little about a wholly different business model than you might be used to seeing, this story makes excellent reading.

Business Week | Linux Inc.

When you've read this article, you might want to take a look at what Microsoft said about 'the Linux threat' in Steve Ballmer on Customer Focus: Comparing Windows with Linux and UNIX last October.

Skype to introduce voicemail

Skype, the company behind the flourishing internet telephony network, has begun to experiment with a voicemail service, hoping to introduce new paid offerings to capitalize on its success, eWeek reports.

The company confirmed on Tuesday that it was testing voicemail, which a spokeswoman said was scheduled to be rolled out in the first half of the year. She declined to provide further details.

"We are testing voicemail as you know. But I can't say anymore than that. We don't have launch date—should be sometime this spring. It's just in development phase," spokeswoman Kat James said in a Skype messaging chat.

eWeek | Skype Experimenting with Voice-Mail Service

Related NevOn posts:

• Interesting developments with Skype
• Engadget interviews Skype

Clarification 6 Jan: Reuters have pointed out to me that the story in eWeek originated out of Reuters' Amsterdam bureau and is copyright Reuters. I'm happy to make this clarification point here. As further clarification, I'd add that the eWeek article does clearly attribute authorship/ownership of the full story to Reuters.

New computer magazine publishes only online

Could this could be the new model of what the technology press should be doing - publishing only online, not in print?

In November, UK publisher Cranberry Publishing Ltd launched Home Computer Magazine as a free magazine designed specifically for online publishing:

Unlike some other emagazines you might have seen, this one is not a printed magazine published electronically. It is a magazine designed for electronic distribution, which means it takes advantage of the positive points this offers. For example, the magazine is designed in landscape format so that it fits your monitor screen, we have included live URL links and embedded animated pictures instead of the static ones you get on the printed page.

And from the launch press release:

Cranberry Publishing Ltd, a specialist magazine publisher set up by experienced consumer magazine publisher, David Taylor, has launched the first free, interactive computer magazine. Home Computer Magazine is written by professionals, designed to the exacting standards of print magazines, but has all the additional features offered by electronic delivery. Published in PDF (Adobe Acrobat) format, the magazine requires no additional reader software and features interactive content that is beyond anything seen before in an emagazine.

According to the magazine FAQ, it's supported wholly by advertising: "The advertising is restricted to a single left hand column on the pages and the typical file size for a page’s advertising is under 20Kb, so it’s not much. Clearly, we exist through advertising revenue, so we’d prefer it if you didn’t ignore the advertising, but that’s your choice."

Earlier this month, I asked how long will it be before traditional print magazines die off because of the internet, suggesting that technology magazines must take into account the demographic changes that influence how people prefer to read magazines, and adapt accordingly. I said that if I had to choose between paying for a magazine's print or online version, I'd choose online.

In that post, though, I was talking about magazines with web versions of their printed publications. Here we have a magazine designed for online consumption only, not a printed magazine adapted for online delivery. And it's free to the reader.

Is this a viable publishing model? Well, they're on their second edition so far. They have embraced BitTorrent as part of making the magazine easily downloadable and distributable. There's an RSS feed on topics. Email subscription. So perhaps that's a question to ask once they've hit their sixth edition.

I wish them all success. Take a look - Home Computing Magazine.

Interesting developments with Skype

I'm a big fan of the Skype internet phone service, as I've written about many times previously (here and here, for instance). I use it a great deal, both for business and personal use. The free service is obviously good from a cost point of view.

But it's the paid service (SkypeOut) that is most impressive in that regard - I've seen my normal phone bill drop by over 60% per month since I started using SkypeOut three months ago for all phone calls I make to normal phones outside The Netherlands.

The regular phone companies should be exceedingly nervous about services like Skype.

One person who's consistently skeptical about Skype, though, and whose blog posts about it I tend to pay attention to, is Om Malik.

So I was pretty interested to read Om's post yesterday on why he's currently re-thinking his views about Skype. From that post:

[...] What really rocks my world is the third party apps for Skype. Qzoxy which is one of the “presence’ apps that leverages Skype as a communication channel. However, it is Jyve which has impressed me the most.

A Jyve Tag is a snippet of HTML code that you can copy-paste into any web page. This snippet of code produces a live Skype Button which shows your current Skype status. This enables you to show your presence on any web page. If this button is clicked, it launches your Q-Card. Q-Card is a Internet Call centre. It allows you to collect call back info from people visiting your site.

I think you should try it out, and very soon I am going to be implementing it on my site as well. I think if we see more of these applications, then I think Skype would become really more useful than just a replacement for the telephone as we have known it.

More in Om's full post.

No real alternatives to Microsoft Office

Reuters: Office, Microsoft Corp.'s collection of programs for business documents and tasks, is fast becoming a software platform unto itself. A growing number of software developers are creating programs that run on top of Office, in the same way that Office and thousands of other applications run on Microsoft Windows. [...] It was the vast number of third-party Windows programs that led to that platform's dominance of the personal computer market and made Microsoft the world's largest software maker. [...] Office generates $10.6 billion in annual revenue, making it Microsoft's second-largest business, behind Windows.

Reuters | Is Microsoft's Office Becoming More Like Windows?

The Reuters report is a good article and includes commentary by Jeff Raikes, Group VP at Microsoft's Information Worker Business, on the company's broad strategy for Office.

The story also comments on alternatives to Office, in particular Corel's WordPerfect Office suite.

I remember WordPerfect from the MS-DOS days, the word processor (doesn't that description sound a bit quaint now?). I became a committed WordPerfect 5.0 (and  later, and 5.1) user, moving up from WordStar. I didn't even consider using Microsoft Word for DOS.

Well, those days are long gone and Office (Word in particular) is king of the hill without any doubt. I use Office 2003 Professional and regard the suite as just about perfect (no pun intended) for my needs.

More than anything, though, I use it because every company I know also uses it. If I want to edit a document that someone else has written, it will be a Word document. If I create a presentation that someone else needs to view and comment on, it will be a PowerPoint. And so on.

If you want to try something else, what options do you have?

Engadget interviews Skype

Engadget has a lengthy interview with Skype co-founder and CEO Niklas Zennström about the future of voice communication, using Skype through wi-fi handhelds, and the coming death of the telecom dinosaurs.

(A reminder of what Skype is - free software that lets you make free phone calls from your computer to other Skype users anywhere in the world, and paid-for calls to any normal or mobile telephone anywhere in the world. I've been using it for the past three months and it is good indeed. The paid-for call rate is astonishingly low, making it a highly-attractive proposition.)

Choice interview Q&A:

How many Skype users are there, and how fast is it growing?
We have 2 million users in the US and about 13 million worldwide in more than 200 countries. We’re getting 80,000 new users each day. And more than half a million people are connected via Skype at any given moment. In fact, we just surpassed our first 1 million simultaneous users online. The average call time is over 6 minutes - longer than traditional phone calls.

You recently unveiled Skype WiFi. How does that take your company in new directions?
We decided to make Skype available on multiple platforms and independent of the PC. People need to access Skype wirelessly, no matter where they are, and what happens is that we’ll be taking advantage of the rollout of Internet everywhere - WiFi and WiMax in particular. We started with Pocket PC, and now we’re looking at other mobile platforms like Windows SmartPhone, Symbian and Palm. We don’t have any launch dates yet for any of those platforms. It’s going to be wonderful to be able to make a Skype call from cell phones or PDAs.

So the idea is that anyone in a WiFi cloud can make a free Internet voice call to other Skype users using their Pocket PC?
Right. At no charge, if they both have the software installed. Or by using SkypeOut if they need to call a land line or mobile at low rates.

Have you considered incorporating Skype into other applications? For example, wouldn’t it be cool to integrate it with your Outlook contacts?
Exactly. We’re talking with third-party developers to integrate their applications with Skype.

The Engadget Interview: Niklas Zennstrom

A lot of history about Microsoft Windows

A news item today on Bink reported about the history of Microsoft Windows as an entry in Wikipedia. It makes good reading if this is a subject that interests you. Covers Windows from 1.0 right up to today.

My first thought was that this is a new presentation of the information. But it's not - the Wikipedi page has been underway for over a year. Then I did a quick Google search on the term "History of Microsoft Windows," which turned up over 2,200 results.

There's an awful lot of material out there about the history of Windows, so take your pick on which one you want.

Green light for Oracle

The European Commission has given Oracle an unconditional green light to go ahead with its takeover of Peoplesoft, BBC News reports.

The move clears one of the last hurdles for Oracle in the $7.7 billion hostile acquisition attempt of its competitor in the enterprise software market. Earlier this month, regulators in the US had reached a similar decision.

BBC News | EU | EU go-ahead for Oracle takeover

At over 12 months, this was the longest merger review by EU antitrust regulators. If Oracle succeeds in its bid, PeopleSoft's more than 12,400 customers would move Oracle up a notch to number 2 in the $22 billion enterprise software market, second only to SAP of Germany. Last week, Oracle extended its offer to buy PeopleSoft, having secured 5% of its shares.

The focus must now be on PeopleSoft's board of directors to make some decisions soon re Oracle's offer.

PeopleSoft CEO: We're not for sale

Dave Duffield, the founder and new CEO of PeopleSoft, issued a memo to employees this week dispelling any rumors that he has returned to broker a deal with Oracle CEO Larry Ellison in one of the more memorable hostile takeover bids in recent history, Internetnews.com reports.

"I didn't come back here to sell to Oracle," Duffield said in a memo Internetnews.com obtained. "Rather, I'm here to beat Oracle in the marketplace, increase our revenues, re-energize our employees, and deliver greater long-term value to our shareholders."

Duffield continued that the key to preventing a sale to Oracle from happening is to show some good sales numbers of its own as the company ramps up its year-end accounts. The task, Duffield said, can be done with improved products, new offerings, and "outrageous" customer service. Duffield also pointed to a soon-to-be announced, five-year vision he believes will keep the company separate from Oracle.

Internetnews.com | PeopleSoft: "We're not for sale"

To see what some people who sell, implement and support PeopleSoft products think, see comments in PeopleSoftPros Blogs.

For some different but related perspectives, also see my previous posts about PeopleSoft and Oracle:

• Microsoft rules out PeopleSoft bid; SAP not currently on radar screen
• Flexible corporate ethics and diminished trust
• Oracle getting closer to winning PeopleSoft
• Their perception is your reality

Google Desktop looks a winner

Since the new Google Desktop search tool was announced last week (see post), I've been using it exclusively when I need to search for a particular file or email on my PC.

No question - this beats Windows XP's search function hands down, as I mentioned in my post last week.

It's pretty intuitive and very straightforward. You want to search for a particular file, so you just type in the keyword(s) in the search field, hit the button and off it goes. No having to think about where to search, when the doc was created, in hidden folders, whatever. And no animated dog.

In my experience, the types of file I use a search function for tend to be all the file types that Google Desktop will search for: Word, Excel and PowerPoint files; Outlook emails; plain text files; and instant messenger chat sessions. A big plus is its ability to search your emails - great when you're looking for that attachment someone sent you. It also looks through your browser cache. Bear in mind, though, that it doesn't search for every single type of file on your PC. No image files, for example.

Overall, Google Desktop search lets you focus on what you want to find rather than where it is. In fact, you don't really care where it is as long as you find it. It's parallel with Google web search is great - when you invoke the search function (it pops up in your browser) you get a very similar screen that you see when you get Google on the web. Below the text box in which you type your search keywords are two clear choices: Search Desktop or Search the Web.

The only* negative I can see is that if you have multiple users on a single PC, it will work only for the user who installed it. If some one else logs in, he or she can't use it unless the original installer is also logged in.

That aside, for me it's a winner.

* Now take a look at this article in The Register which discusses some potential issues re individual privacy through using Google Desktop:

The Register | Google Desktop privacy branded 'unacceptable'

Google launches desktop search

Get it now - the Google desktop, a means to search through files, emails, instant messenger conversations and your browser cache.

My quick run through with it last night shows that it knocks the socks off the search feature in Windows XP. In combination with Google's web search capabilities, this desktop app could be a challenger to new tools like blinkx (although see what Om Malik has to say about that).

For Windows only. Pretty good detailed review and installation guide by O'Reilly Network.

Commentary on some media sites says this is aimed squarely at Microsoft and its ambitions in the desktop/web search market.

Business 2.0 experiments

Business 2.0 has placed the complete content of its October issue online, for free access.

The magazine says this open access is an experiment as they try out a new technology. So, don't assume the magazine will be freely online after October.

I assume their tech experiment is to do with a new online delivery method (but should one ever assume?). I like this web-based method where you just use your browser to read on your screen: far better and simpler than the concept used by Zinio, say, which requires a proprietary reader program and gives you in effect a facsimile (original meaning of this word) of the print publication, complete with animated page-turning, etc.

I subscribe to PC World print edition and, last year, also tried out the Zinio-based version. I just didn't like it. But if it had been available in something like Business 2.0's format with access by a web browser, I would have had a different view (and probably continued my paid subscription to an e-edition).

Whatever Business 2.0's experiment is, I'm enjoying reading (and crash-testing) the October edition. Thanks, Business 2.0!

(Via Om Malik.)

33% of IT jobs are Microsoft-related

An IDC study commissioned by Microsoft reveals the impact of the software industry on European economies, The Register reports.

In 19 countries surveyed (Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Turkey and the UK) nine million people are employed in the IT industry, generating $200 billion in tax revenue. Of these jobs, just over one third are Microsoft-related.

Software makes up only 19.6 per cent of total spending, but represents more than half of all jobs and tax revenue created. IDC estimates total spending in the region is $275 billion. By 2008 there will be 5.2 million software-related jobs in Western Europe.

In both Hungary and Turkey about 36,000 people are employed in Microsoft-related jobs. In the UK 535,000 people are employed in Microsoft-related jobs or 34 per cent of total IT jobs. In Germany 654,000 people have a Microsoft-related job.

France has the lowest percentage of Microsoft-related jobs with 31 per cent while Estonia and Russia top the league with 54 per cent and 55 per cent respectively.

IDC believes that over the next four years a further two million new jobs will be created and an extra $160 billion in tax revenues will be collected.

The Register | One in three IT workers are Bill's

Sun's true computing utility

This is the first time I've read an article on a (for me) relatively complex technology concept that enabled me to achieve all four of my 'knowledge from communication' goals:

1. Understand it.
2. Enjoy reading it.
3. Warmly congratulate the writer for his ability to explain the concept in a way someone like me can understand it.
4. Make me feel like telling someone else about it.

The article was written by Jonathan Schwartz, Sun's Chief Operating Officer, and published in his blog.

This man is an effective communicator!

Jonathan Schwartz | The N1 Grid Service - A True Computing Utility

Net security threats growing fast

More than 30,000 PCs per day are being recruited into secret networks that spread spam and viruses, a study shows.

According to a BBC News report today, it's too early to say whether the Service Pack 2 update for Windows XP will make a positive difference to the numbers of PCs being compromised.

The report said that the key challenge is not XP users but the Windows 98 and 95 machines still out there.

BBC News | Technology | Net security threats growing fast

Whatever version of Windows you're running, here are my quick tips for better PC protection and more peace of mind:

• If you have the decision on your own computing environment, upgrade to Windows XP. Ditch any previous version. And install from scratch, not just an upgrade.
• Install a firewall. The improved one