Google and Its Desired Repositories
November 21, 2009
I find “desired repositories” quite enticing. I was going to call this write up “A Repository Named Desire” but I was fearful that some lawyer responsible for the Tennessee Williams’ play would object. Most of the Sergey-and-Larry-eat-pizza Google pundits follow the red herrings dragged by the Googlers toward the end of each week. Not me. I pretty much ignore the Google public statements because those have a surreal quality for me. The messages seem oddly disconnected from what Google’s deep thinkers are * actually doing *. When Google does a webinar, it is too late for the competitors to do much more than go to their health club and work off their frustrations.
That looks simple. From US20090287664. Notice that the types of repositories are extensible.
If you want to see some of the fine tuning underway with the Google plumbing, take a peek at 20090287664, Determination of a Desired Repository. This is a continuation of a 2005(!) invention in case you thought the method looked familiar. You can find the write up at your favorite US government Web site, the USPTO. (Don’t you just love that search interface. Someone told me that the search engine was from OpenText, and I am trying to verify that statement.)
Here’s what caught my attention:
A system receives a search query from a user and searches a group of repositories, based on the search query, to identify, for each of the repositories, a set of search results. The system also identifies one of the repositories based on a likelihood that the user desires information from the identified repository and presents the set of search results associated with the identified repository.
Seems obvious, right? Now think of this at Google scale. Different problem? It is in my book. What has the Google accomplished? Just one claim. Desired repositories at Google scale.
Stephen Arnold, November 21, 2009
Again, I want to report to the USPTO that I was not paid to write yet another cryptic comment about a Google plumbing invention.
Microsoft and the Cloud Burger: Have It Your Way
November 19, 2009
I am in lovely and organized Washington, DC, courtesy of MarKLogic. The MarkLogic events pull hundreds of people, so I go where the action is. Some of the search experts are at a search centric show, but search is a bit yesterday in my opinion. There’s a different content processing future and I want to be prowling that busy boulevard, not sitting alone on a bench in the autumn of a market sector.
The MarkLogic folks wanted me to poke my nose into its user meeting. That was a good experience. And now I am cooling my heels for a Beltway Bandit client. I have my watch and my wallet. With peace of mind, I thought I would catch up on my newsreader goodies.
I read with some surprise “Windows Server’s Plan to Move Customers Back Off the Cloud” in beta news. As I understand the news story, Microsoft wants its customers to use the cloud, the Azure service. Then when fancy strikes, the customer can license on premises software and populate big, hot, expensive to maintain servers in the licensee’s own data center. I find the “have it your own way” appealing. I was under the impression that the future was the cloud. If I understand this write up, the cloud is not really the future. The “future” is the approach to computing that has been here since I took my first computer programming class in 1963 or so.
I found this passage in the article interesting:
If you write your code for Windows Server AppFabric, it should run on Windows Azure,” said Ottaway, referring to the new mix-and-match composite applications system for the IIS platform. “What we are delivering in 2010 is a CTP [community technology preview] of AppFabric, called Windows Azure AppFabric, where you should be able to take the exact same code that you wrote for Windows Server AppFabric, and with zero or minimal refactoring, be able to put it up on Windows Azure and run it.” AppFabric for now appears to include a methodology for customers to rapidly deploy applications and services based on common components. But for many of these components, there will be analogs between the on-Earth and off-Earth versions, if you will, such that all or part of these apps may be translated between locales as necessary.
Note the “shoulds”. Also, there’s a “may be”. Great. What does this “have it your own way” mean for enterprise search?
First, I don’t think that the Fast ESP system is going to be as adept as either Blossom, Exalead, or Google at indexing and serving results from the cloud for enterprise customers. The leader in this segment is not Google. I would give the nod to Blossom and Exalead. There’s no “should” with these systems. Both deliver.
Second, the latency for a hybrid application when processing content is going to be an interesting challenge for those brave enough to tackle the job. I recall some issues with other vendors’ hybrid systems. In fact, these performance problems were among the reasons that these vendors are not exactly thriving today. Sorry, I cannot mention names. Use your imagination or sift through the articles I have written about long gone vendors.
Third, Microsoft is working from established code bases and added layers—wrappers, in my opinion—to these chunks of code that exist. That’s an issue for me because weird stuff can happen. Yesterday one Internet service provider told me that his shop was sticking with SQL Server 2000. “We have it under control”, he said. With new layers of code, I am not convinced that those building a cloud and on premises solution using SharePoint 2010 and the “new” Fast ESP search system are going to have stress free days.
In short, more Microsoft marketing messages sound like IBM’s marketing messages. Come to think of it hamburger chains have a similar problem. I think this play is jargon for finding ways to maximize revenues, not efficiencies for customers. When I go to a fast food chain, no matter what I order, the stuff tastes the same and delivers the same health benefits. And there’s a “solution accelerator.” I will have pickles with that. Just my opinion.
Stephen Arnold, November 19, 2009
I hereby disclose to the Internal Revenue Service and the Food and Drug Administration that this missive was written whilst waiting for a client to summon me to talk about topics unrelated to this post. This means that the write up is a gift. Report it as such on your tax report and watch your diet.
Google and Speed, Which Kills
November 16, 2009
Google’s focus on speed is one of those isolated Google dots that invite connection with other Google dots. Connecting the dots is easy when you are in grade school. The dots are big and the images used in grade school have parts filled in to help the easily bored student. Check out the image from Natural Environment Club for Kids. Looks like a flower and a bee, doesn’t it?
Connecting Google dots is a bit more complicated. The Google dots look more like this type of puzzle:
So where does speed fit into the Google dots? You will want to read “Google: Page Speed May Become a Ranking Factor in 2010: Algorithm Change Would Make Slow Sites Rank Lower”. Chris Crum wrote:
Google has generally been pretty good at providing webmasters with tools they can use to help optimize their sites and potentially boost rankings and conversions. Google recently announced a Site Speed site, which provides webmasters with even more resources specifically aimed at speeding up their pages. Some of these, such as Page Speed and Closure tools come from Google itself. But there are a number of tools Google points you to from other developers as well. If you’re serious about wanting your site to perform better in search engines, and you haven’t given much thought to load times and such, it’s time to readjust your way of thinking. Caffeine increases the speed at which Google can index content. Wouldn’t it make sense if your site helped the process along?
No push back on this from me. Let me shift the discussion from a dot connected to PageRank to a dot that has a sharper angle.
Speed is a big deal. Google itself wants stuff to run quickly. However, in my research speed is * the * Achilles’ heel for its principal competitors in Web search and in the enterprise. In fact, speed and scale are the Scylla and Charybdis through which most companies have to navigate. If you have had to figure out how much it costs to scale a system like SharePoint or make Oracle response times improve, you know exactly what the challenges are.
Speed will be a competitive wedge that Google uses to put significant pressure on its competitors’ Atlas major in late 2009 and throughout 2010. When the dots are connected, here’s the image that the competitors Google targets will see when the picture is complete:
Speed is a killer for IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, and Yahoo. Speed makes systems fluid. Users may not know an n-space from a horse race, but speed is addictive. Cheap speed is competitive angle that could spell trouble for companies that mock Google’s spending for lots of its dots.
Stephen Arnold, November 15, 2009
I wish to report to the Superfund Basic Research Program that the research upon which these comments rest was funded by some big outfits who have gone out of business in the financial meltdown. This short article is based on recycled material of minimal commercial value. I wonder if I can apply for superfund support?
SAP and Its Pricing: A Sign of Deeper Challenges?
November 15, 2009
SAP is an outfit that provides me with some clues about what will happen to over-large enterprise software vendors. The company grew via acquisition. The company followed IBM’s approach to generating revenue from services. The company made shifts in its services pricing. The company has done just about every trick in the MBA handbook, yet revenues continued to soften. The most recent MBA play at SAP is disclosed in a news report from Reuters called “SAP Plans to Raise Licensing Fees”. The notion of releasing interesting news when most people are eating donuts and thinking about their dwindling retirement accounts is catching on among big companies. Fortunately for us in Harrod’s Creek, Reuters never sleeps. The story revealed:
Germany’s largest software company, SAP AG (SAPG.DE), plans to raise licensing fees for thousands of clients who use older versions of its software, German weekly Wirtschaftswoche reported on Saturday. “SAP’s older customers will be especially affected — that means the most loyal,” Andreas Oczko, deputy head of the German SAP client advocacy group DSAG told the magazine. The magazine said older clients who do not switch to newer versions of software applications or have not switched to a new incremental price structure will see the largest cost changes.
There you go. Upgrade or pay more. Upgrade and pay more for engineering support. That’s the MBA play of the week in my opinion.
What about customers who do nothing? Maybe some of these people will take a close look at their options. In a year, Google will have most of the SAP functionalities latent within the expanding Apps’s ecosystem. Then what? In my opinion, SAP may find that its business challenges have been made more problematic by the Google.
I am eagerly awaiting the unfolding of events in 2010.
Stephen Arnold, November 15, 2009
The Veterans Day Committee has to be aware that this opinion is uncompensated. I might add that canny veterans may want to check out their holdings in SAP to avoid the Wal*Mart greeter syndrome.
Clop Cloppity Clop Clop: The Sound of Google in Education
November 14, 2009
I don’t want to belabor the obvious, but educational publishers may want to keep a close eye on the Google. The firm has been gaining traction in education at an increasingly rapid pace since 2006, the pivotal year in case you have been following my analyses of Google. If you are unaware of the Google as a one stop shop for education, you may want to read “Gone Google at Educause 2009”. A key passage in this write up was in my opinion:
Lots has happened over the past year especially: more than 100 new features have rolled out in Google Apps, we’ve engaged well over six million students and faculty (a 400% increase since this time last year), launched free Google Message Security for K-12 schools and have integrated with other learning services such as Blackboard and Moodle. These developments are just the beginning. According to the newly-released 2009 Campus Computing survey statistics, 44% of colleges and universities have converted to a hosted student email solution, while another 37% are currently evaluating the move. Of those that have migrated, over half — 56% precisely — are going Google.
Course materials? Coming in saddle bags strapped to Googzilla. Clop Cloppity Clop Clop—One of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse heading your way?
Stephen Arnold, November 14, 2009
I wish to report to the Defense Commissary Agency that I was fed one donut at my father’s assisted living facility. However, writing this article and the payment of a small donut are in no way related. The donut was better than the one at got at McDill too.
Hosted Search and Data Center Basics
November 13, 2009
Hosted search is tough enough to sell without dragging the vendor’s data center into the deal. The best hosted services are picky about their data center tie ups. More casual vendors of hosted search are somewhat more casual. If you don’t know about the wild and exciting world of data centers, you will want to read and save “Questions Data Center Operators Don’t Want You to Ask”. The article provides a wealth of useful information. For me, the most interesting segment in the five meaty segments was:
“The SAS70 audit should include all the following sections:
• Security
• Security Company profile
• Key inventories
• Access management
• Badges
• Biometrics
• Staff selection criteria
• Materials control
• Confirmation each security guard has completed a background check
• Security equipment is routinely inspected/tested
• Security “rounds” are recorded and confirmed
• Security camera images and access logs are kept for a minimum 60 days, longer is preferred
• Maintenance/CMMS
• Comprehensive preventive maintenance/testing schedule for ALL mechanical and electrical equipment
• UPS
• Emergency generators
• Rectifiers/DC Plant
• ATS
• Switchgear
• Complete semi-annual (or more frequent) infrared scan
• Breaker audit for NEC compliance (or automated view via current transformers)
• Service level agreements
• Emergency call out for all critical M&E equipment
• Diesel refueling during emergencies or extended operation
• Human Resources
• Staffing process
• Background checks
• Certifications
• Termination management
• Operations
• Recurring training
• Recurring staff meetings
• Business continuity and disaster recovery plans
• Daily site verifications
• Escalation process.”
Useful indeed. Lots more information in the original article.
Stephen Arnold, November 13, 2009
I wish that the author of this nice article would pay men. He did not. I suppose will have to disclose to the Dunlop, Illinois, sheriff that I am working without any money. Maybe I should go back to raising Poland Chinas.
Deflation or Price War? You Decide
November 12, 2009
Stan Schroder’s “Google Cuts Prices of Cloud Storage, Increases Cap to 16 Terabyte” summarizes a Google pricing action. Mr. Schroeder writes:
We’re talking about extra storage; for example if free storage that comes with Picasa Web Albums or Gmail isn’t enough for you, you can purchase extra storage space for a price. Today, Google is dramatically slashing that price.
Interesting but not as interesting as thinking about the implications of a price cut. The economy remains uncertain. Competition in the buzzy cloud world is increasing. Google chops prices as Amazon did recently and boosts capacity. Are there implications? Sure there are, but the write ups steer clear of the core of this action. My hunch is that it is neither deflation or a price war. I keep thinking about the behavior of the hungry big cats when the herd of gazelles galloped along. Snack time?
Stephen Arnold, November 11, 2009
No one paid me for this observation about nature red in tooth and claw. The goose is a gentle creature, but he will alert the Department of Transportation that this was an uncompensated endeavor. Yikes, I smell hot tar on the information highway.
Darknet Left Unexplained
November 11, 2009
For content mavens, nothing is acts like digital catnip than the idea of access to information most people do not have. I found the Techradar article “Off the Grid: The Darknet Exposed. Explore the Uses and Abuses of the Net’s Darkest Corners” interesting. The story explains how a darknet works with particular emphasis on hacking. The article explains honeypots; that is, computers set up to attack bad folks and their scripts. The third page of the article dips into the information world I find less frequently described. Techradar said:
BitTorrent has become the most widely used darknet protocol on the internet, and it accounts for around 40 per cent of all traffic.
The write up is a bit misleading. Hopefully someone will tackle the subject in a way that interests me. I watched the article redirect three times, so you may want to make sure you are working from a protected system.
Stephen Arnold, November 10, 2009
A freebie I fear.
Google Developer Video Now Available
November 9, 2009
The third video of the six-video series called “How to Make Money with Google” premiered today at http://www.arnoldit.com/video. This video, released by Arnold Information Technology, http://www.arnoldit.com, focuses on developing program interfaces using Google resources and leveraging those applications for business use.
The purpose of this short video series–watching all six videos takes about 30 minutes–is to give clear, factual information on four specific ways an enterprising individual, a services company, or a diversified company can use the Google platform to produce revenue while meeting the needs of their customers and prospects. The videos are available for personal and educational use with no fee.
This newest video highlights how using and developing Google APIs–application programming interfaces–can be a big money-maker for your online business. It also describes Google’s certification program which is beginning to take shape. Arnold characterizes how a third party developer can put technical skills to use to build a large business around Google.
Keep in mind that Google is a moving target. The company is evolving and changing policies and procedures very rapidly,” Stephen E. Arnold, president of Arnold Information Technology, said. Arnold has published three Google monographs and these videos are based on the information compiled for The Google Legacy, Google Version 2.0, and Google: The Digital Gutenberg. The monographs are available from Infonortics Ltd., in Tetbury, Glos., at http://www.infonortics.com.
Other videos include an overview of money-making opportunities, including why the Google opportunity is similar to the opportunity Microsoft created with its MS DOS software in the early 1980s; using Google’s AdSense advertising module; search engine optimization consulting and services; the Google partner and reseller program; and a video titled “Google Creates Opportunity,” which emphasizes the opportunity to grow with Google as the company strives for $100 billion in revenue.
“I wanted to provide some basic, factual information about what I see as the Google revenue opportunity. Information about Google is everywhere, but the upside of Google as an opportunity is not widely known,” Arnold said. “The increase in ‘get rich quick’ with Google e-mails I was receiving convinced me that a more measured discussion of the opportunities was needed. I will make these videos available without charge in the hopes that the Google revenue opportunities get broader dissemination.”
The series will be posted at http://www.arnoldit.com/video. Videos will be released on a seven- to 10-day cycle from today to Nov. 20. ArnoldIT.com has no relationship with Google. The information presented in the video represents the views and findings of ArnoldIT.com’s analyses of Google. The videos were directed by Chris Forrester, Perceality Productions, at http://twitter.com/perceality. The samba music is courtesy Sounddogs.com. For information about other uses of the videos, contact ArnoldIT.com at seaky2000 [at] yahoo dot com
The company’s Web site is http://arnoldit.com, and the Beyond Search blog is at http://arnoldit.com/wordpress/.
Jessica Bratcher, November 9, 2009
Jessica was paid to write this marketing write up. Yep, filthy lucre.
ZyLAB Integrates Google Maps
November 8, 2009
According to Documanager.de, ZyLAB has integrated Google Maps with its ZyIMAGE Information Access Platform. Users now have the ability to identify the location of documents in a hit list. ZyLAB says that coordinates detail of the contents of a document can also be displayed on a Google Maps. The function requires no additional work on the part of the user.
Uses of the functionality range from law enforcement to eDiscovery. A user runs a query and each pin represents a document or a set of documents that are displayed on the additional metadata when you hover the mouse over it.
ZyLAB’s Rijnbeek Vincent, said:
This new functionality provides additional options to our use of visualization tools and ensuring more transparency in the information jungle. If, for example included in the context of criminal investigations coordinates of a crime scene in a document, it shows a pin exactly in these Google Maps to. But even in the building and construction sector is the new integration useful, by example, location information from complex construction plans quickly and clearly represents.
The use of visualization tools solves a major problem of the usual file structures: These traditional structures typically do not allow users to view an item that is not currently displayed on the screen. Large document sets pose a particular challenge. A collapsible folder structure is unwieldy, especially if users have to follow several nested folders. The constant scrolling, as is required in table structures, is cumbersome and not conducive to efficient and accurate data investigations.
More information is available from ZyLAB at http://www.zylab.com.
Stephen Arnold, November 8, 2009
No joy, no payment. Report this charitable act to the Red Cross.
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