Meet Zac Sunderland at www.zacsunderland.com. He wants "to circumnavigate the world alone by yacht."
He will be blogging all this time. Catch him at http://www.zacsunderland.com/blog/
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Web 2.0: How has it changed our lives. Part I
1. Just wonder how many times you go to wikipedia.com to know more on some topic rather than do a search in google.com.
2. When we want to know more about that prospective fiancee (at least in India with arranged marriages dominating the scene), we go to orkut/facebook or some other social networking site.
3. When we want to know about some recent event, we like to read about it in a newspaper (online or off line). But then we have our own opinion about these happenings. Did we have a chance to comment about these a few years back. Well, we can now do so with all the online newspaper sites having a "post" or "comments" link.
2. When we want to know more about that prospective fiancee (at least in India with arranged marriages dominating the scene), we go to orkut/facebook or some other social networking site.
3. When we want to know about some recent event, we like to read about it in a newspaper (online or off line). But then we have our own opinion about these happenings. Did we have a chance to comment about these a few years back. Well, we can now do so with all the online newspaper sites having a "post" or "comments" link.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
HP set to acquire EDS
So what does this mean? Before we talk about the deal. The facts are as follows:-
According to Hoovers,
Hewlett Packard
HP provides enterprise and consumer customers a full range of high-tech equipment, including personal computers, servers, storage devices, printers, and networking equipment. Its software portfolio includes operating systems, print management tools, and OpenView, a suite that encompasses application, business, network infrastructure, and product lifecycle management. HP also boasts an IT service organization that is among the world's largest.
EDS
....it is the largest independent systems management and services provider in the US (rival IBM is #1 worldwide). EDS delivers such services as systems integration, network and systems operations, data center management, application development, and outsourcing.
The other fact and rather a startling one at is that HP shares are going down. I am no big industry analyst but I believe it is a cause for celebration. The reasons become clear when we look at the offerings provided by the two companies.
HP makes hardware like servers, storage devices, printers and networking equipment. On these pieces of hardware runs its flagship operating system HP-UX along with OpenVMS, Tru64, etc. The software stack is made up of the humongous HP OpenView suite of products
EDS, on the other hand is the leading IT services provider after IBM Global Services and the leading IT services provider in the US. HP could not have acquired IBM Global Services so the next best bet was EDS. Critics would say that EDS has not been doing well in recent times. It has a meager growth rate of 1-2%.
If HP were to take note of this, then they could have possibly gone for Accenture. Lets take a look at Accenture now. According to Hoovers again,
Accenture
The world's largest consulting firm, Accenture offers management consulting, information technology and systems integration, and business process outsourcing (BPO) services to customers around the globe. The company divides its practices into five main operating groups -- communications and high technology, financial services, public service, products, and resources -- that encompass more than 15 industries.
Lets compare the two companies EDS and Accenture. I would say there is little overlap. So, if HP were to think about acquiring either of these companies, there will be two schools of thought and one school of thought would definitely win and i.e. EDS.
To elaborate, EDS services and HP technology/products complement each other so well. Systems integration, network and systems operations, data center management, all these would need HP servers, HP networking and storage infrastructure and above all HP Openview.
Another point to note is that according to HP CEO, Mark Hurd, "There is very little customer overlap with our two companies, so the opportunity as a combined force is significant". And that would mean, HP will have fresh opportunity and customers to sell and after the acquisition is done, CROSS-SELL it products. Again, EDS being the largest largest IT services provider in US, it helps HP to consolidate the one continent where its server, networking and storage and software products have not done well in recent times.
All said and done, EDS is a $22 billion giant and acquisition of such a beast will never be an easy task. We have seen too many instances of big mergers/acquisitions going terribly wrong. Having said that, HP management is not new to this game. They have accomplished some mighty big acquisitions/mergers like Compaq and Mercury so I would believe that this will not be a easy task but HP would be up to it.
Notwithstanding, I am an HP employee (at the moment:-)), I believe this has been a very bold and strategic decision and HP will definitely pull it off. As they say, "fortune always favors the brave".
According to Hoovers,
Hewlett Packard
HP provides enterprise and consumer customers a full range of high-tech equipment, including personal computers, servers, storage devices, printers, and networking equipment. Its software portfolio includes operating systems, print management tools, and OpenView, a suite that encompasses application, business, network infrastructure, and product lifecycle management. HP also boasts an IT service organization that is among the world's largest.
EDS
....it is the largest independent systems management and services provider in the US (rival IBM is #1 worldwide). EDS delivers such services as systems integration, network and systems operations, data center management, application development, and outsourcing.
The other fact and rather a startling one at is that HP shares are going down. I am no big industry analyst but I believe it is a cause for celebration. The reasons become clear when we look at the offerings provided by the two companies.
HP makes hardware like servers, storage devices, printers and networking equipment. On these pieces of hardware runs its flagship operating system HP-UX along with OpenVMS, Tru64, etc. The software stack is made up of the humongous HP OpenView suite of products
EDS, on the other hand is the leading IT services provider after IBM Global Services and the leading IT services provider in the US. HP could not have acquired IBM Global Services so the next best bet was EDS. Critics would say that EDS has not been doing well in recent times. It has a meager growth rate of 1-2%.
If HP were to take note of this, then they could have possibly gone for Accenture. Lets take a look at Accenture now. According to Hoovers again,
Accenture
The world's largest consulting firm, Accenture offers management consulting, information technology and systems integration, and business process outsourcing (BPO) services to customers around the globe. The company divides its practices into five main operating groups -- communications and high technology, financial services, public service, products, and resources -- that encompass more than 15 industries.
Lets compare the two companies EDS and Accenture. I would say there is little overlap. So, if HP were to think about acquiring either of these companies, there will be two schools of thought and one school of thought would definitely win and i.e. EDS.
To elaborate, EDS services and HP technology/products complement each other so well. Systems integration, network and systems operations, data center management, all these would need HP servers, HP networking and storage infrastructure and above all HP Openview.
Another point to note is that according to HP CEO, Mark Hurd, "There is very little customer overlap with our two companies, so the opportunity as a combined force is significant". And that would mean, HP will have fresh opportunity and customers to sell and after the acquisition is done, CROSS-SELL it products. Again, EDS being the largest largest IT services provider in US, it helps HP to consolidate the one continent where its server, networking and storage and software products have not done well in recent times.
All said and done, EDS is a $22 billion giant and acquisition of such a beast will never be an easy task. We have seen too many instances of big mergers/acquisitions going terribly wrong. Having said that, HP management is not new to this game. They have accomplished some mighty big acquisitions/mergers like Compaq and Mercury so I would believe that this will not be a easy task but HP would be up to it.
Notwithstanding, I am an HP employee (at the moment:-)), I believe this has been a very bold and strategic decision and HP will definitely pull it off. As they say, "fortune always favors the brave".
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Powerset: the next Google?
Read about this great new startup www.powerset.com. This site is being touted as the next Google!! Well, that definitely sounds pretty exciting. Sadly, it seems like I am one of the last persons to know:-(
Well, I would end my blog here and encourage you guys to have a look yourself. Go to http://www.powerset.com/about.
Well, I would end my blog here and encourage you guys to have a look yourself. Go to http://www.powerset.com/about.
JavaScript, Cookies and the Internet
Did some research on this over the last couple of days. Quite simple experiments to start with. Actually, I wanted to know the degree to which websites use JavaScript and cookies in their sites. For starters, I am not a professional website designer or a web developer but definitely an experienced user of the internet.
Well to begin with I started with the most popular sites in the internet today namely; www.google.com, www.yahoo.com and then some popular Indian sites. In this list, I included the big matrimonial sites www.keralamatrimony.com and www.shaadi.com.
Cookies:-
I disabled cookies in the browser preferences.(I use Firefox and so should you:-))
1. www.google.com
Opened the link images.google.com, tried to set my preferences. Immediately, I get the messages.
Your cookies seem to be disabled.
Setting preferences will not work until you enable cookies in your browser.
2. images.yahoo.com
Again, tried to set my preferences and I get the message
We were unable to save your preferences at this time. Please try again later.
Well, it was sad. A site like yahoo.com and I would have expected a better error message than that one. Seems like the site has no clue at all.
3. blogger.com
While, I writing this post and experimenting in another session, I almost lost my draft because the cookies were disabled and blogger.com also does not seem to have a backup mechanism.
Guess, I will stop here. We know how the rest of the sites will fare. Am a bit surprised though. Doesn't JSP HttpSession class use URL re-writing as a contingency measure. Or probably, this is the way the internet is in the modern era.
Javascript:-
Again, I turned off JavaScript in my browser preferences.
1. www.google.com
Since, I was signed in in my gmail account, I could see the "My Notebooks" link in the google.com home page. I click it and guess what happens. Nothing!!!
I check the link properties and yes, it needs JavaScript to open. Sorry mate, atleast I would have thought a billion dollar company would not have these bugs in their homepage.
2. www.yahoo.com
Atleast, the images.yahoo.com redirects me to a new page every time, I click a link that would have actually opened a tab in case javascript was enabled. Umm not so bad.
3. www.keralamatrimony.com
This was a sad case. The site became useless as soon as I disabled JavaScript and I was never given a hint as to what went wrong. The navigation bar went missing!!!
4. www.shaadi.com
This was good. There was no noticeable problem and soon enough when I tried to search for profiles, I got the error:-
It appears that your browser does not support JavaScript, or you have it disabled.
This site is best viewed with JavaScript enabled.
If JavaScript is disabled in your browser, please turn it on and refresh this page.
Well, the purpose is not to find fault with anyone. As an experienced internet user, I realize that JavaScript and cookies and meant to enhance my web experience but at the same time, when big guys do the simple mistakes, I would say it takes away some of the shine from their big shining medals!
Well to begin with I started with the most popular sites in the internet today namely; www.google.com, www.yahoo.com and then some popular Indian sites. In this list, I included the big matrimonial sites www.keralamatrimony.com and www.shaadi.com.
Cookies:-
I disabled cookies in the browser preferences.(I use Firefox and so should you:-))
1. www.google.com
Opened the link images.google.com, tried to set my preferences. Immediately, I get the messages.
Your cookies seem to be disabled.
Setting preferences will not work until you enable cookies in your browser.
2. images.yahoo.com
Again, tried to set my preferences and I get the message
We were unable to save your preferences at this time. Please try again later.
Well, it was sad. A site like yahoo.com and I would have expected a better error message than that one. Seems like the site has no clue at all.
3. blogger.com
While, I writing this post and experimenting in another session, I almost lost my draft because the cookies were disabled and blogger.com also does not seem to have a backup mechanism.
Guess, I will stop here. We know how the rest of the sites will fare. Am a bit surprised though. Doesn't JSP HttpSession class use URL re-writing as a contingency measure. Or probably, this is the way the internet is in the modern era.
Javascript:-
Again, I turned off JavaScript in my browser preferences.
1. www.google.com
Since, I was signed in in my gmail account, I could see the "My Notebooks" link in the google.com home page. I click it and guess what happens. Nothing!!!
I check the link properties and yes, it needs JavaScript to open. Sorry mate, atleast I would have thought a billion dollar company would not have these bugs in their homepage.
2. www.yahoo.com
Atleast, the images.yahoo.com redirects me to a new page every time, I click a link that would have actually opened a tab in case javascript was enabled. Umm not so bad.
3. www.keralamatrimony.com
This was a sad case. The site became useless as soon as I disabled JavaScript and I was never given a hint as to what went wrong. The navigation bar went missing!!!
4. www.shaadi.com
This was good. There was no noticeable problem and soon enough when I tried to search for profiles, I got the error:-
It appears that your browser does not support JavaScript, or you have it disabled.
This site is best viewed with JavaScript enabled.
If JavaScript is disabled in your browser, please turn it on and refresh this page.
Well, the purpose is not to find fault with anyone. As an experienced internet user, I realize that JavaScript and cookies and meant to enhance my web experience but at the same time, when big guys do the simple mistakes, I would say it takes away some of the shine from their big shining medals!
Friday, November 09, 2007
touchgraph.com
According to the site www.touchgraph.com, touchgraph is:-
"TouchGraph's powerful visualization solutions reveal relationships between people, organizations, and ideas.
Imagine you want to change jobs. Are you sure you know all companies that work in your domain. The major companies are always easy to find. But then there are so many startups coming up everyday. It is difficult to know all of them. Well, touch graph is the tool for you.
"TouchGraph's powerful visualization solutions reveal relationships between people, organizations, and ideas.
Explore the wealth of information in today's growing data collections with our intuitive visual interfaces."
I have yet to try the "people" and "ideas" part of it but the "organizations" part was definitely promising.Imagine you want to change jobs. Are you sure you know all companies that work in your domain. The major companies are always easy to find. But then there are so many startups coming up everyday. It is difficult to know all of them. Well, touch graph is the tool for you.
Again, you may be interested in a specific product/solution and you want to know all the companies that can provide the same. Once again, touchgraph is quite a helpful tool. Just the other day, I was looking for all software companies that provide hosted CRM solutions. I knew one company that provides such a solution; www.parature.com. I just typed www.parature.com in the touchgraph GUI and voila!! I had the complete list of companies listed.
Some may argue that it is essentially using google's "similar pages" functionality. So essentially, the idea does not have its own "teeth" and does look pretty dumb. All the same the touchgraph GUI is certainly a better option than google.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)