tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-252327302024-03-05T01:23:01.853-08:00WorldChanger's JournalWe all have the potential to be WorldChangers - through our words and our actions. This Journal is a forum through which worldchangers can share ideas, insights and comment on a variety of subjects. Disclaimer: Opinions expressed on this blog are those of the author alone.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger166125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25232730.post-58586158712994475432012-12-20T17:18:00.001-08:002012-12-20T17:18:07.192-08:00Great Talk by Ken Robinson - about creativity & education.<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="344" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/iG9CE55wbtY" width="459"></iframe><br />
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Sir Ken Robinson's speech about "killing creativity" is the most popular TED talk, ever recorded. It's a brilliant example of GREAT storytelling. Notice how he uses humor to deliver a very important message in a casual unassuming way. <br />
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He's a truly gifted communicator - and probably a very good teacher as well. Check out his talk and let me know what you think.........<br />
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World Changer....Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25232730.post-14078187464099630632012-09-12T02:25:00.002-07:002012-09-12T02:25:35.385-07:00Farewell my friend<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><strong><u>Don’t Waste Your Life</u></strong></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">If you were still with us, I bet that’s what you’d say. </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">You’d want each of us to push forward and make the most of
every single day.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We all know that life is full of challenges – problems,
setbacks and strife. </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">And yet, what choice do we have but to keep going, don’t
waste your life!</span>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">You always wanted the best for us. You sought to advice and counsel
us to enhance our chances of success in life. In this day and age when so many
people seek personal gratification, you remained selfless to the very end. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Thanks for being a great friend to students, a calm, caring,
steady presence, as we struggled through our daily grind. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">You fought so hard to live, I know you wanted to be around
for your family, your loved ones, your students. </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Sadly, it was not to be, you’ve been called home – much too
soon, too soon!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Your untimely passing serves as a stark reminder to all who
take life for granted, those of us who are so paralyzed by fear of failure that
we don’t step forward to truly pursue our goals. If you were still here, I’m
sure you’d smile and say – Don’t Waste Your Life. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">So, that’s my legacy to you Don – no matter what the future
holds, I promise you this. I will pursue my dreams aggressively and I’ll go on
encouraging everyone I know to do the same. Your spirit now soars with the
Eagles you loved so much. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Farewell my friend, farewell!</span><span lang="EN" style="color: #0070c0; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25232730.post-30323130082879031602012-08-26T21:20:00.000-07:002012-08-26T21:20:50.419-07:00A Life That Shows<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I know a Man whose been told that he has 3 - 4 months to live. He's been fighting cancer for many months now - and after a gruelling treatment regimen, he and his family have made the difficult decision to stop chemotherapy treatments. <br />
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Here's an excerpt from an email he recently sent out to friends and well wishers.<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: blue;">" I have decided to not do anymore chemotherapy treatments. The mix between a few weeks of chemo then blood infections, the hole in the duodenum which helps to feed the infections and can't be fixed, and the hospital, has taken a heavy toll".</span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: blue;">"One Doctor has given me 3-4 months to live. No one knows when my passage will occur. I have decided to live the best I can without chemo and to enjoy my family and friends as best I can over whatever time is left".</span> <br />
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I'm sure you've all heard a lot about "making the most of your time", managing your schedules so you can be more efficient, work-life balance. Some of you may have watched the Steve Jobs famous commencement speech at Stanford, during which he implored students to "stay hungry, stay foolish". You may also have heard motivational speakers talk about the importance of "living each day as it it's your last". It wasn't until I read my friends last email that those words really hit home for me. He talked about his love for his wife and child, the good times they've shared and how much he loves them.<br />
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He reminsced about his career goals - all of which were about helping others "enhance their chances of success". I'm one of thousands of people, whose lives he touched. As I read through the email, I started to reassess my priorities and rethink my career goals. I often tell people that life is short and I do try to make the most of my time - however I often find myself living day to day, week to week - facing the same core priorities, mostly work related stuff! <br />
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At the weekends, I catch my breadth and try to put work aside - knowing that Monday will bring fresh challenges and new short term priorities. Sometimes we take so many things for granted - our health, our family members, even our material posessions. <br />
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It took something like this to happen to someone I've come to know and admire - to make me stop and reassess my plans. <br />
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I want to believe that all of us want to live "a life that shows". We want to look back and feel like we accomplished something meaningful with our lives, that we looked after our loved ones, touched a few people. Deep down, I believe we all want to make a difference. <br />
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If any of you feel that way - allow me suggest 2 things you could do today, to help ensure that no matter what - you will live "a live that shows". <br />
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1.<strong>Set Selfless Career Goals</strong>: Yes, I said career goals and not life goals. The truth is, most of us will spend the majority of our lives working - so it's important that we set selfless career goals. By this I simply mean that we need to set out to do things that help make other people successful. I mean we need to look beyond our desire for personal fullfillment and set some selfless goals which help others. I'm not knocking personal goals - or saying you shouldn't have any. I am saying that we should all have at least one career goal which is simply about helping, enhancing, guiding or supporting others - something that we do without any expectation that well get something in return. <br />
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Here's are my friends career goals. <span style="color: blue;">"My goals were to: 1) advise and counsel students to enhance their chances of success for a college degree (BA, Master's, PhD); 2) to help change the structure of the university so it would be more responsive to the needs of students". </span><br />
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2.<strong>Maintain a Positive, Encouraging Attitude</strong>: Whenever I bring up the importance of maintaining a positive attitude, there's always one or two people saying I just don't understand the issues, the battles, the challenges. Actually - I do. Staying positive doesn't mean that one is naive or in denail. It simply means that you've chosen to stay upbeat, to encourage others, to look for the Silver Lining (there's always one). <br />
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If you strive to achieve some selfless goals, you'll likely learn to develop a positive attitude. If you're someone with a positive, encouraging attitude - you probably already know the joy of being selfless, of helping to enhance or improve the lives of others. <br />
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I don't know how much time my friend has left, I do know that he touched so many lives, that he's a true inspiration and he will be sorely missed. He's encouraged me to be more selfless as a Servant Leader and a person. He's also inspired me to keep a positive attitude, no matter what!<br />
Sometimes, we act like we have all the time in the world to do the things we want to do - the truth is, we don't! <br />
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Hope this post inspires you all to think about what you can do to ensure that you're leaving a life that shows........<br />
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World Changer..</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25232730.post-77502657832339855102012-07-25T08:10:00.003-07:002012-07-25T08:10:20.230-07:00I Can Only Improve..........<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
What will your legacy be, in life? Will people say that you were smart, hardworking, determined, confident, caring? Will they say that you made lots of money and enjoyed the finer things of life. <br />
We all grow up wanting to have an impact on the world. As we get older and our priorities change - we tend to become very risk averse and settle into predictable patterns, afraid to jump out and take on new, "scary" challenges. <br />
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I watched a trailer for an upcoming movie last night - about a young boy who seemed to have a great positive impact on everyone around him. One scene from the trailer, really caught my attention. the young man was trying out for a soccer team and clearly hadn't played much soccer. He wasn't doing very well on the pitch - but seemed to remain very good natured about it, laughing, playing and having fun. <br />
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at one point, the coach looked over at him and said "why are you laughing" - he's response was, "I can only improve".<br />
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That's the attitude we all need to embrace, in every aspect of our lives. <br />
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Instead of being scared to take on new challenges, scared of what others will think, scared of failure, scared of how we will be percieved - let's just take the plunge and try new things.<br />
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Even if you don't do very well at first, in that new job, that new sport, that subject in school, that new skill that you're trying to develop - if you stick with it, <strong>you can only improve</strong>. <br />
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World Changer.......<br />
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25232730.post-14792252076856102212012-06-11T08:11:00.000-07:002012-07-25T08:16:18.250-07:00What Pacquiao's loss really means for boxing?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
A few months ago, Manny Pacquiao lost to Tim Bradley in a <a href="http://m.espn.go.com/extra/boxing/story?storyId=8032206&i=TWT&w=1bud9" target="_blank">controversial split decision</a>. <br />
Judge Jerry Roth had it 115-113 for Pacquiao, but C.J. Ross and Duane Ford both scored it 115-113 for Bradley, a junior welterweight titlist who moved up to challenge Pacquiao in his fourth title defense.<br />
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ESPN.com had it 119-109 for Pacquiao. HBO's unofficial judge, Harold Lederman, also had it 119-109 for Pacquiao, meaning he gave Bradley only one round. Most ringside media also scored it clearly for Pacquiao.<br />
The CompuBox statistics favored Pacquiao, who landed more punches than Bradley in 10 of the 12 rounds. Pacquiao landed 253 of 751 punches (34 percent), while Bradley landed 159 of 839 (19 percent). Pacquiao also landed 82 more power shots (190-108).<br />
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Clearly, there's some controversy here - much of the <a href="http://www.bing.com/search?q=pacquiao+vs+bradley+was+the+fix+in&go=&qs=bs&form=QBRE" target="_blank">commentary</a> that I've read about the fight would seem to indicate that Manny won the fight. I'm sure Tim Bradley's fans may beg to defer. Either way, there's only one true winner here - Dana and the UFC.<br />
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Any keen observer of sporting events, will tell you that UFC is <a href="http://mmafrenzy.com/246/ufc-growth/" target="_blank">growing fast</a>, it's been heralded as the 6th most popular sport in the U.S. One would expect that UFC will likely continue to grow in popularity, especially as boxing declines......</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25232730.post-69781781730772249222011-12-08T19:20:00.000-08:002011-12-08T19:20:04.890-08:00The hopeful continent<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Just came across an <a href="http://www.economist.com/node/21541015">interesting article</a> on the rise of Africa - below is an excerpt......<br />
Over the past decade six of the world’s ten fastest-growing countries were African. In eight of the past ten years, Africa has grown faster than East Asia, including Japan. Even allowing for the knock-on effect of the northern hemisphere’s slowdown, the IMF expects Africa to grow by 6% this year and nearly 6% in 2012, about the same as Asia.<br />
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The commodities boom is partly responsible. In 2000-08 around a quarter of Africa’s growth came from higher revenues from natural resources. Favourable demography is another cause. With fertility rates crashing in Asia and Latin America, half of the increase in population over the next 40 years will be in Africa. But the growth also has a lot to do with the manufacturing and service economies that African countries are beginning to develop. The big question is whether Africa can keep that up if demand for commodities drops.<br />
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<strong>Copper, gold, oil—and a pinch of salt</strong><br />
Optimism about Africa needs to be taken in fairly small doses, for things are still exceedingly bleak in much of the continent. Most Africans live on less than two dollars a day. Food production per person has slumped since independence in the 1960s. The average lifespan in some countries is under 50. Drought and famine persist. The climate is worsening, with deforestation and desertification still on the march.<br />
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Some countries praised for their breakneck economic growth, such as Angola and Equatorial Guinea, are oil-sodden kleptocracies. Some that have begun to get economic development right, such as Rwanda and Ethiopia, have become politically noxious. Congo, now undergoing a shoddy election, still looks barely governable and hideously corrupt. Zimbabwe is a scar on the conscience of the rest of southern Africa. South Africa, which used to be a model for the continent, is tainted with corruption; and within the ruling African National Congress there is talk of nationalising land and mines (see <a href="http://www.economist.com/node/21541040"><span style="color: #08526d;">article</span></a>).<br />
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Yet against that depressingly familiar backdrop, some fundamental numbers are moving in the right direction (see <a href="http://www.economist.com/node/21541008" target="_self"><span style="color: #08526d;">article</span></a>). Africa now has a fast-growing middle class: according to Standard Bank, around 60m Africans have an income of $3,000 a year, and 100m will in 2015. The rate of foreign investment has soared around tenfold in the past decade.<br />
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China’s arrival has improved Africa’s infrastructure and boosted its manufacturing sector. Other non-Western countries, from Brazil and Turkey to Malaysia and India, are following its lead. Africa could break into the global market for light manufacturing and services such as call centres. Cross-border commerce, long suppressed by political rivalry, is growing, as tariffs fall and barriers to trade are dismantled.<br />
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Africa’s enthusiasm for technology is boosting growth. It has more than 600m mobile-phone users—more than America or Europe. Since roads are generally dreadful, advances in communications, with mobile banking and telephonic agro-info, have been a huge boon. Around a tenth of Africa’s land mass is covered by mobile-internet services—a higher proportion than in India. The health of many millions of Africans has also improved, thanks in part to the wider distribution of mosquito nets and the gradual easing of the ravages of HIV/AIDS. Skills are improving: productivity is growing by nearly 3% a year, compared with 2.3% in America.<br />
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All this is happening partly because Africa is at last getting a taste of peace and decent government. For three decades after African countries threw off their colonial shackles, not a single one (bar the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius) peacefully ousted a government or president at the ballot box. But since Benin set the mainland trend in 1991, it has happened more than 30 times—far more often than in the Arab world.<br />
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Population trends could enhance these promising developments. A bulge of better-educated young people of working age is entering the job market and birth rates are beginning to decline. As the proportion of working-age people to dependents rises, growth should get a boost. Asia enjoyed such a “demographic dividend”, which began three decades ago and is now tailing off. In Africa it is just starting.<br />
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Having a lot of young adults is good for any country if its economy is thriving, but if jobs are in short supply it can lead to frustration and violence. Whether Africa’s demography brings a dividend or disaster is largely up to its governments.<br />
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<strong>More trade than aid</strong><br />
Africa still needs deep reform. Governments should make it easier to start businesses and cut some taxes and collect honestly the ones they impose. Land needs to be taken out of communal ownership and title handed over to individual farmers so that they can get credit and expand. And, most of all, politicians need to keep their noses out of the trough and to leave power when their voters tell them to.<br />
Western governments should open up to trade rather than just dish out aid. America’s African Growth and Opportunity Act, which lowered tariff barriers for many goods, is a good start, but it needs to be widened and copied by other nations. Foreign investors should sign the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, which would let Africans see what foreign companies pay for licences to exploit natural resources. African governments should insist on total openness in the deals they strike with foreign companies and governments.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25232730.post-32804857027674619062011-10-30T22:17:00.000-07:002011-10-30T22:17:12.262-07:00Google's Halloween Home Page<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">I just checked out the <a href="http://www.google.com/webhp?hl=en">Google home page</a>, to see what they would come up with, for Halloween. I have to admit - I really like what they did with their home page - link here: http://www.google.com/webhp?hl=en <br />
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Really creative stuff....</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25232730.post-51424573500425519022011-10-22T19:31:00.000-07:002011-10-22T21:18:10.724-07:00Okay - Groupon's IPO is on, really......<div>So, looks like Groupon is finally going through with it's IPO offering afterall. According to the Wall Street Journal<br /><br />"Groupon will in fact be listed on the Nasdaq under the symbol “GRPN,” with shares starting between $16 to $18. The Chicago-based venture has also set a date for Friday, November 4th for its IPO with an updated plan to raise up to $621 billion, meaning the company will be valued at up to $11.4 billion"<br /><br /><br />Earlier this year, the company had planeed to raise less than $1B, so clearly it's valuation has gone up considerably.<br /><br />I'm still amazed by it's high valuation, given it's business model and balance sheet. The US Financial markets have been very unstable all year, so there's no telling how it's IPO will land. Should be interesting to see what happens, come early November.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25232730.post-69170703046238508632011-10-19T22:24:00.000-07:002011-10-22T21:18:10.729-07:00Even Great Leaders Sometimes Make Poor Decisions<div>I've heard that great leaders are often sound decision makers. Truth is anyone can make a poor decision in the heat of the moment, or with limited information. Perhaps, great leaders are very good at leveraging the outcomes of good decisions and dealing with the repercussions of bad ones. I came across a great article on ZDNet – called “all time worst tech industry exec decisions. I’ve selected a few of them for this piece – below.<br /><br /><strong>IBM, Digital & Microsoft<br /></strong>In the late 1970's, a small team within IBM began development of its legendary 5150 PC, which recently had its 30th anniversary. But to run this PC, IBM needed an operating system.<br />At the time, there was only one serious contender, Digital Research's CP/M, which ran on a number of early personal computers including the Apple ][, The Osborne and the Kaypro, all of which had substantial market share in a small but quickly growing industry.<br />In 1980, Under the direction of CEO John Opel, IBM attempted to contact Digital Research's founder and CEO, Gary Kildall, to license CP/M for use on the 5150 and other future PCs, but when negotiations failed, IBM went looking for another suitor.<br />Bill Gates, Steve Ballmer and Paul Allen at Microsoft, seeing an opportunity in the making, approached a tiny software company, Seattle Computer Products, which had an x86-compatible OS which used a similar command interpreter to CP/M called 86-DOS. Microsoft purchased the OS and perpetual usage rights, which they then re-christened as "DOS", for a mere $75,000.<br />After negotiating an almost unheard of non-exclusive licensing agreement with IBM, the company would be established as the leader in personal computer software for decades to come.<br />Microsoft's MS-DOS would go on to sell tens of millions of licenses, and the software business for Windows and related follow-on products that Microsoft would generate which would build upon it would turn the company into an industry giant.<br /><br />Digital Research could very well have had the same licensing deal and IBM could have imposed stricter licensing terms on MS-DOS, or could have purchased either of the two companies outright, giving the company an exclusive. But it was not to be.<br />Digital Research's CP/M became an also-ran and the company eventually attempted to produce it's own DOS clone, DR-DOS, which although having a number of technical improvements over Microsoft's OS, was a dud. It was eventually sold to Novell, then Caldera and then later on became the property of SCO.<br />Eventually, the highly competitive MS-DOS based PC clone business made Digital Research's CP/M irrelevant and also would eventually force IBM to exit their own PC business in the late 1990s and early 2000's.<br /><br /><br /><strong>Carly Fiorina, Hewlett-Packard: Compaq Merger</strong><br />While the Itanium partnership with Intel surely started HP down the road to hell, it was accelerated in 2001 when HP, under the guidance of CEO Carly Fiorina decided to merge with Compaq in a $25 billion dollar deal.<br /><br />Many large shareholders opposed the merger, including Walter Hewlett, the company's outspoken director and son of the company's co-founder, who engaged in a proxy battle in an attempt to prevent it. The prime objection was that Compaq had many overlapping product lines and would get the company involved in the low-margin PC business that its main competitor, IBM, was already in the process of exiting.<br />Under Carly Fiorina's reign, the merged "New" HP lost half of its market value and the company incurred heavy job losses. Fiorina stepped down in 2005.<br /><br />Since the Compaq merger, HP has endured numerous problems with failed initiatives, dubious acquisitions (3COM, EDS) and has been plagued with ineffective management, including two major ethics scandals that have forced Chairwoman Patricia Dunn and CEO Mark Hurd to resign. The PC business that HP gained from the Compaq merger is now in the process of being spun off, after losing money in the face of tremendous low-margin industry competition.<br /><br /><br /><strong>Jerry Yang Plays Hard To Get with Microsoft; Carol Bartz Gets Screwed</strong><br />Yahoo! grew rapidly during the early 1990's as one of the first search engine companies and went on a steady path of acquiring smaller Web companies and offering other Internet portal services such as financial news, web and image hosting (such as Flickr) but its failure to adapt to competitive forces, notably the rise of Google and FaceBook, caused the company's revenue to go into decline as it was unable to monetize these properties effectively.<br /><br />Looking to expand its online presence, Microsoft made an unsolicited offer to purchase Yahoo! Inc. In February 2008 for approximately $47 billion. CEO and co-founder Jerry Yang, playing hard-to-get, formally rejected the bid, stating that it "substantially undervalued" the company and was not in the interest of shareholders.<br /><br />Weeks of back-and-forth of highly publicized meetings between the two companies resulted in a standoff.<br /><br />Shareholder and Yahoo! investor Carl Icahn attempted to patch things up in a last ditch attempt to get the Redmond-based software giant to come back to the table and attempted to force Yang out via a board room coup, but Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer had enough and walked away completely exasperated, directing his company to create its own search engine and web properties under the Bing and Windows Live brands.<br /><br />The company entered a round of heavy layoffs in 2008 following the failed merger attempt with Microsoft, and the market value of the company went into steep decline. As of September 2011, the market capitalization of Yahoo! Inc. has plunged to a low of $17.66 Billion, a far cry from Microsoft's original offer of $47 Billion. Jerry Yang eventually found himself ousted and replaced with the very dynamic and outspoken CEO Carol Bartz in 2009, who ironically ended up entering a partnership agreement with Microsoft in a 10-year deal to use Bing as the search engine for Yahoo!.<br />Carol Bartz tried desperately to improve Yahoo's business, but was unable to turn the company around, whose initiatives had little support from her Board, and her tenure was marked by yet another round of heavy layoffs. On September 6, 2011, the Yahoo CEO picked up her iPad and sent a broadcast email her employees, notifying them that the Chairman of the Board of Directors had just fired her via prepared company statement during an impersonal, cowardly phone call.<br /><br />While Steve Ballmer and Microsoft's investors are probably quite happy in retrospect that they walked away, for Yahoo, it will always permanently scar the company for what might have been because Jerry Yang decided to play hard-to-get -- and it is questionable at this point the the company will ever recover.<br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25232730.post-3171574298835265042011-05-29T11:34:00.000-07:002011-10-22T21:18:10.734-07:00Study Trip To Ghana<div>I recently co-led study tour trip to Ghana with 24 other students from the University of Washington's Leadership MBA program. In planning this Global Study Tour, our primary goal was to provide aspiring leaders with first hand opportunities to learn how global business leaders approach key challenges and take advantage of new opportunities.<br /><br />We chose Ghana for several reasons including her rich culture and history, economic climate, access to industrial sectors and favorable public relations and political climate. We met and engaged with senior level executives of large, thriving indigenous and multinational organizations.<br /><br /><strong>Study Tour Initiative</strong><br />1. Company Visits: Meet with Senior Business Leaders – discuss challenges & opportunities<br />2. Visit Educational Institutions: Leadership Symposiums<br />3. Non-Government Organizations: Focus on Micro Finance<br />4. Cultural Activities: Visit key tourist sites such as Cape Coast, Ashanti King Palace, Kente Village and learn the Adowa dance.</div><div><br />By interacting with executives and observing company practices, UW Students learned firsthand knowledge of challenges and opportunities involved in driving business initiatives across international markets. Ultimately students from the UW MBA program returned to the USA with a better understanding how national and multi-national organizations operate in a global business environment. A second goal of the study tour was to provide students the opportunity to experience a foreign culture first-hand through music, customs, cuisine, and architectural sights. The tour provided us with opportunities to learn about new cultures with fellow peers, student leaders, and the faculty representative.<br /><br />The tour also yielded some key insights on that impact Microsoft in Ghana/WECA. Most notably :<br /> - Competitive Landscape – Google is the new “Cool”<br /> - Potential increase in revenue due to influx of foreign investments<br /> - Ghana is expected to have the fastest growing economy in 2011 – World Bank<br /> - Potential partnerships with Telecommunication providers to deploy cloud and hosted services<br /> - Emerging business opportunities with Mobile apps</div><div> </div><div>Clearly the West African region presents very compelling business opportunities for local and multi-national organizations. Ghana in particular, is poised for very strong economic growth, driven in large part by incremental revenue from it's key natural resources - Oil, Cocoa and Gold</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25232730.post-64644225375643486642011-04-24T17:37:00.000-07:002011-10-22T21:18:10.738-07:00So, How Did The 2011 Superbowl Ads really do?<div>Here's the <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/money/advertising/admeter/2011/super-bowl-ad-meter/43271432/1">ranking</a> of this year's <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/money/advertising/admeter/2011/super-bowl-ad-meter/43271432/1">Super Bowl ads </a>- according to USA Today.<br /><br />Bud light and Doritos tied for the top Super Bowl commercial as selected by consumer panelists rating the ads as they aired in the game for USA TODAY'S 23rd annual exclusive Ad Meter. Both starred dogs acting like, well, people.<br /><br />My personal favorite is the Audi ad, suprisingly it ranked 20th out of 61 ads.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25232730.post-35687054671224524092011-03-24T12:13:00.000-07:002011-10-22T21:18:10.743-07:00Visit to Vestergaard FrandsenYesterday, we met with Michael Steen Lunde, the regional director for Vestergaard <a href="http://www.vestergaard-frandsen.com/">Frandsen</a>, in West Africa.<br /><br />Vestergaard Frandsen is a Europe-based international company specialising in complex emergency response and disease control products. It is guided by a unique Humanitarian Entrepreneurship business model, whose "profit for a purpose" approach has turned humanitarian responsibility into its core business.<br /><br />Michael share some great insights on the work that Vestergaard is doing, in Africa. Two really great products which are saving lives all around the world. The <a href="http://www.vestergaard-frandsen.com/permanet/permanet-3">PermaNet</a> Mosquito net and the <a href="http://www.vestergaard-frandsen.com/lifestraw">Life Straw</a> water filter are two of the key products manufactured and sold exclusively by Vestergaard. The organization focusses on<br /><br />Vestergaard Frandsen is committed to saving lives from easily preventable diseases. The company focusses on a core set of <a href="http://www.vestergaard-frandsen.com/public-health/targeted-diseases">targeting key diseases</a> with products which help prevent the spread of such diseases. <br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25232730.post-52274194851849842942011-03-13T16:39:00.000-07:002011-03-13T16:40:49.604-07:00Day 2, In Ghana.......Our team toured the city of Accra today – we drove through old and new Accra and learnt about the history of this great nation.<br /><br />We visited the home of W.E.B Du Bois, in Accra and learnt about his role in helping Ghana achieve it’s independence. <br /> <br />Next – we visited the final resting place of Ghana’s first President. Finally – we visited Ghana national museum and learnt about the history of Ghana, it’s people, it’s culture.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25232730.post-5633209734187784772011-03-12T16:39:00.001-08:002011-10-22T19:53:29.127-07:00Just arrived in Accra, Ghana<div>Yesterday, I arrived in Accra, Ghana to start a two week study tour, with 26 other students from my MBA cohort. Great experience so far - I'm enjoying the climate and making the most of this opportunity......</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25232730.post-8607747221957523252011-01-02T14:47:00.000-08:002011-01-02T14:50:07.846-08:00What is the consumerization of IT?The term the “Consumerization of IT” is popping up all over the place. What do we actually mean by it? It refers to the increasing influence that our technology experiences as consumers—both hardware and applications—have on the technology that we expect to use at work. And it’s something I’d be willing to bet most of you are already experiencing to some degree in your organization. How many of you have employees accessing Facebook on a regular basis? Or maybe you have actually put in measures to block social networking sites? How often do your staff use their personal computers to do their work—perhaps as they are getting caught up in the evening or over the weekend? How many are using their personal thumb drives to take work home with them? <br /><br />The reality is that many of us have powerful computer systems at home, and social computing tools like MySpace, Twitter, blogs, etc. are a part of our everyday lives. As technology plays an increasingly important role in our personal lives and we become accustomed to the power, convenience, flexibility, and connectedness of consumer technology experiences, we want those same capabilities to help us at work. However, in most cases we aren’t being given the tools. Consider the comment there on the screen by Ars Technica. It wasn’t that long ago that we learned about and experienced cutting-edge technology in the workplace. How quickly that has changed—as consumers, we now have access to and take advantage of the latest technology to hit the shelves or even be streamed as a service through our high-speed broadband connections. The reality of corporate IT for the most part means a long wait before budgets and deployment cycles align to bring us the “latest” offerings for the enterprise, a few years late. <br /><br />Let’s add into this mix the influence of the “millennial” generation. These relative newcomers to the workforce are a technology-savvy generation that has never known a time without the Internet and constant connectivity, whether by mobile phone or instant messaging. They are avid users of social networking and other social computing tools, regularly expressing themselves with blogs and through online forums. They love their devices and stay at the forefront of what technology can do. And this generation expects to be able to use these same tools at work. In fact, Symantec conducted a survey and found marked differences in the attitudes and behaviors of millennials compared with other workers towards using Web 2.0 applications and personal devices. Notably, a full 69 percent said that they would “use whatever application/device/technology they want, regardless of source or corporate IT policies.” That’s compared with only 31 percent of employees of other generations. They were also much more frequent users of social networking and Web-based e-mail at work, and three times as many of the millennials reported that they had downloaded software at work for their personal use. They also regularly store their work data on their personal devices—whether PCs, USB drives, or smartphones.<br /><br />In discussing the increasing consumerization of IT trend, Forrester likewise picks up on the strong influence of the millennials, but notes that they aren’t alone. They observe that Gen Xers are “asking their IT departments to deliver at work the same consumer applications that they enjoy at home.” But millennials are “even bolder” and “completely eschew conventional productivity tools like email in favor of text messaging and Web 2.0 tools.” Ultimately, Forrester believes that “individual people, not IT organizations, are fueling the next wave of IT adoption.” <br /><br />So what does this mean for businesses? It means that the influence of consumer technologies on your organization and your workforce is largely unavoidable—and it has some real implications on a number of fronts, including security and employee satisfaction. Ultimately, as Gartner puts it, this will be “the single most influential trend affecting the technology sector in the coming decade, but the effects are more subtle and broad-reaching than most observers originally imagined, and we have reached a tipping point.” <br />If this trend is something that no organization can avoid, the next question is, what can you do to capitalize on it and make it work for your business? This is the topic that we want to focus on today—how you can take advantage of consumerization to realize tangible benefits for your business without compromising enterprise security. Let’s get started.<br /><br />So, how can consumer technology help your remote workers work more productively? Consider first the nature of remote work. We’re talking here about workers who spend some or all of their time away from the office—whether they are working from home or another office, constantly on the road visiting customers or prospects, taking advantage of a few hours stuck in a departure lounge at the airport, or even prepping for a meeting at a local café. The reality is that the “typical” workplace is no longer just the office but also increasingly people’s homes and public venues. Being away from the office and not connected to the corporate network can make it challenging to access the data and line-of-business applications that people need to get their work done. Plus, because of the confluence of more powerful consumer devices and a blurring of work vs. personal time, remote workers increasingly want to use their own devices to do their work, which might not even have the same standard productivity applications that they use every day and can mean they’ll spend more time transferring files around—all of which adds up to lost productivity.<br /><br />On the flip side, most employees actually believe that working at home has the potential to make them more productive. In fact, according to a Yankee Group survey, workers say that “working from home is the single most important improvement their organization can make to improve their productivity.” At the same time, though, Yankee Group found that 54 percent of employees believe they would be more productive at work if they had access to the technology they use in their personal life. <br /><br />The question is how to bring the two together—how to support workers’ preferred work styles without a loss in productivity? We believe the answer is through desktop, application, or user state virtualization as appropriate. There are a couple of options here:<br /><br /> For non-mobile remote workers—for example, those working from home or offsite contract workers—desktop virtualization enables you to separate and centralize user settings, data, applications, and even the operating system from the device they are using and then enable access through an unmanaged computer with network connectivity<br /><br /> For mobile workers, with user state virtualization you can store user settings and data in a centralized location and then synchronize that information with local copies of files for offline access. Plus, you can use application virtualization to “stream” applications to users rather than installing them locally. This enables you to support a more flexible work style while making it easy to replace PCs in the event that they are lost or stolen<br /><br /><br />The bottom line is that there are options here to give your workers the flexibility they need to work where, when, and with the tools they want to use—which will not only help them get more done, but make your business more agile too.<br /><br />Blogs are also great for sharing information, either internally or even extended out to customers or partners; with blogs they can easily publish information online in a conversational way and invite comments or feedback<br /><br />And finally, wikis can be an invaluable tool for recording the best practices and shared knowledge from across your organization, as everyone can contribute. Plus, they’re easily updated, and since there is a single, central copy, you don’t have to worry about confusion over multiple versions.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25232730.post-23278989464258609692011-01-01T19:18:00.000-08:002011-01-01T19:19:39.013-08:00How To Move Your Business To The CloudHow in the world does a chief information officer or information technology professional cope with the challenge of delivering solutions for the second decade of the 21st century when they are saddled with 1980s technology? <br /><br />Add the issues surrounding reduced budgets and the ongoing knock on IT workers--that they do not respond in a timely manner to changes in business--and you have the setting for change. Both in how IT delivers solutions and how IT needs to change itself. <br /><br />The good news is that for once in almost 30 years, software is changing. No longer are you stuck with simply new features using outdated technology. You now have an alternative technology solution. The historical technology providers are, of course, trying to maintain their hold on you and your budget dollars by marketing "internal clouds," alliances that merge hardware and software stacks that imply "infrastructure to application" environments but totally miss the point and the benefit of cloud computing. But of course you would do this, too, as part of the innovator's dilemma. <br /><br />As a CIO, how does your company take advantage of this changing technology and business model called the cloud? <br /><br />There are a few things to consider with cloud computing. First, a number of research firms suggest that cloud implementations can take up to 50% less time, and total cost of ownership can be up to 46% cheaper. Both of these are shown in numerous white papers provided by cloud solution providers, and for the most part are reflective of the power and benefits cloud computing can provide. <br /><br />However, one caution: Should you need or require multiple integrations, go cautiously. Integrating cloud solutions to on-premise solutions still takes time. Although somewhat less expensive, it still can add to project costs. Also, ERP cloud providers have some perverse view that makes integrating their solutions with other necessary cloud solutions very difficult. This is still the throwback to the "old software model" where your vendor "knows best." Key takeaway: As you get into cloud computing, make sure your vendors not only have robust application programming interfaces, but also that they have demonstrated those integrations with other vendors you may be considering.<br /><br />Another consideration in cloud computing is the vendor's openness regarding service-level agreements, disaster recovery and security. Even the larger providers have their outages, but they still deliver higher uptimes than your internal data centers. However, with newer vendors and providers, make sure they are invested in your SLA so it is not just a contract term.<br /><br />Final consideration for you in exploring cloud computing solutions: customization. One of the key benefits of cloud computing is the ability to customize the solution to some degree. So you have the advantage of changing the cloud solution to your process and behavior; with on-premise solutions, you need to change your behavior to their process. <br /><br />Cloud computing will change your internal business model. It allows you to significantly reduce your capital outlays for hardware and software.<br /><br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />It allows you to take your IT spending and direct it towards innovation and meeting the needs of the business in a timely manner, rather than deplete your resources on support and maintenance. This is key. Most IT budgets are really focused on supporting existing technology. Your move to cloud computing allows you to shift your focus back to providing solutions within your budget and to scale with the business rather than being one of the last departments sitting on very fixed costs. <br /><br />Also, cloud computing impacts your disaster recovery and redundancy spending. Good cloud solution providers have set up redundancy and disaster recovery processes that you can test without burdening your organization. As you use a wider selection of cloud providers, your risk is spread physically, as each provider likely uses different data centers in different geographies. All this allows you to focus on your most important resource, your employees. Using a complete cloud solution, if your firm has a disaster, you simply need to get your employees to an Internet access point and you are up and running. <br /><br />Don't be misled by the marketing hype of the old technology providers. Cloud computing will have huge benefits for your company. It will be the way businesses run their infrastructure, and it will evolve much faster than the 30-year software cycle we have just lived through. Start slowly, experiment, be critical of your suppliers, but start now to move your IT business model to cloud computing. <br /><br />Steve Cakebread was chief financial officer at Salesforce.com and Autodesk.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25232730.post-32583280656703833942011-01-01T19:04:00.000-08:002011-01-01T19:06:22.200-08:00Virtualization vs. Cloud ComputingIt used to be that something virtual wasn't real. And that clouds were just that--those puffy things in the sky. Today we have the tech industry terms "virtual computing" and "cloud computing," which often get mixed up. Fortunately, there's an easy way to tell them apart, and it involves hearkening back to the age-old distinction between hardware and software. When you're talking about virtual computing, you're invariably talking about hardware; specifically, making PC-style hardware available to users in a new way. A new layer of software, typically running in a far-off data center, tricks users into thinking they are using a desktop PC like before.<br /><br />Cloud computing, by contrast, usually refers to the sorts of software that run once a computer gets turned on. The "cloud" indicates that the software is hosted in a data center, not sitting on your desktop. If you use Google Docs instead of Microsoft Office for your word processing or spreadsheets, that's cloud computing. You can mix and match these two approaches, undertaking cloud computing on a nonvirtual, traditional PC. And the opposite: You can use traditional, Office-style programs on a virtual PCUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25232730.post-31656926200001371542010-11-15T06:37:00.000-08:002010-11-15T06:50:13.529-08:00The Microsoft Web Platform"With the <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/web/default.aspx">Microsoft Web Platform </a>you get more than just a powerful set of tools, servers and technologies. You get a complete eco-system of products, technologies and partners all looking to help you succeed on the web"<br /><br />The MSFT platform consists of the framework, the server, the database and the tools...<br /><strong><br />The Framework</strong><br />ASP.NET is a free, fully supported Web application framework that helps you create standards-based Web solutions. It provides a rich set of features and easy integration with databases, web services and rich internet applications. With features such as WebForms, MVC, dynamic data scaffolding, an AJAX framework, templates and themes, hundreds of built in controls and free developer tools, ASP.NET will enable you to build Web apps better and faster<br /><br />Get everything you need to start building web applications with ASP.NET using the Microsoft Web Platform Installer. This simple, streamlined installer will get your development machine ready to go. The installer includes the latest version of the .NET framework including ASP.NET. You’ll also get Visual Web Developer Express which is a full featured FREE web development editor for working with ASP.NET and other Web technologies.<br /><br />The MVC value prop: Use rich server-side controls and data binding with ASP.NET WebForms or take control of your HTML and easily incorporate Test Driven Development with ASP.NET MVC. Both approaches provide full support for core ASP.NET features such as membership-based authentication and authorization, URL routing, caching, master pages and localization.<br /><br /><strong>The Server</strong><br />Internet Information Services 7 (IIS 7.0) in Windows Server® 2008 provides a secure, easy-to-manage, modular and extensible platform for reliably hosting Web, sites, services and applications. With IIS 7.0, you get choice and control without giving up reliability or security. Customize and add new features, such as Intelligent Media Streaming through free IIS Extensions. Maximize web security through a reduced server foot print and automatic application isolation. Easily deploy and run both ASP.NET and PHP web applications on the same server. Get it all with IIS.<br /><br />Why you'll love IIS 7.0 - Easy to get. Free to use<br />Get everything you need to start running and hosting web applications with IIS using the Microsoft Web Platform Installer. This simple, streamlined installer will get your development or hosting machine ready to go. The installer includes the latest version of the IIS 7.0 and Extensions. In addition, you’ll get the latest components of the Microsoft Web Platform including frameworks, database and development tools. Best of all it’s all free!<br /><br />From ASP.NET to PHP, IIS 7.0 provides a powerful and flexible Web server for the world’s most popular Web applications such as Umbraco, WordPress and Drupal. ASP.NET hosting is even more simple and powerful, with deep integration directly in the request processing pipeline, configuration system, and management console. Learn more about PHP on Windows.<br /><br /><strong>The Database</strong><br />SQL Server Express is free database software that works great with any web application framework such as PHP, and your favorite applications such as Wordpress, and Drupal. Free SQL server comes with reporting options and other expansions you're simply not going to find anywhere else. It's everything you're looking for in a database.<br /><br /><strong>The Tools</strong><br />Visual Studio, Expression Web and Windows Internet Explorer 8 with its built-in developer tools, provide a complete environment for building and maintaining standards-based web sites, services and applications, across multiple devices. Whether your focus is design or development, HTML or ASP.NET, the Microsoft Web Platform includes the right tools for the right task.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25232730.post-9623470877120161692010-11-14T14:56:00.001-08:002010-11-14T16:05:51.446-08:00The Evolution of th LAMP StackLAMP is an acronym for a solution stack of free, open source software, originally coined from the first letters of Linux (operating system), Apache HTTP Server, MySQL (database software), and PHP, Python or Perl (scripting language), principal components to build a viable general purpose web server.<br /><br />The exact combination of software included in a LAMP package may vary, especially with respect to the web scripting software, as PHP may be replaced or supplemented by Perl and/or Python.[2] Similar terms exist for essentially the same software suite (AMP) running on other operating systems, such as Microsoft Windows (WAMP), Mac OS (MAMP), Solaris (SAMP), or OpenBSD (OAMP).<br /><br />Though the original authors of these programs did not design them all to work specifically with each other, the development philosophy and tool sets are shared and were developed in close conjunction. The software combination has become popular because it is free of cost, open-source, and therefore easily adaptable, and because of the ubiquity of its components which are bundled with most current Linux distributions.<br /><br />When used together, they form a solution stack of technologies that support application servers.<br /><br />The LAMP stack is widely used because it offers a great number of advantages for developers:<br /><br />Easy to code: Novices can build something and get it up and running very quickly with PHP and MySQL.<br />Easy to deploy: Since PHP is a standard Apache module, it is easy to deploy LAMP web applications by uploading .php files to an Apache server and connecting to a MySQL database.<br />Develop locally: LAMP can be set up so an app can be built locally, then deployed to the Web.<br />Cheap and ubiquitous hosting: Many inexpensive web hosts provide PHP and MySQL services.<br />Linux<br />Main article: Linux<br />Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system kernel. A major emphasis of Linux development is security[citation needed], which makes it an appealing choice for a web-server application. Like the other LAMP components, Linux is free open-source software which means the source code is provided with operating system, which can be edited according to specific needs. Also, because Linux-based operating systems are Unix-like, a Linux server is more natively-compatible with other server-oriented platforms, such as Solaris and BSD, than non-Unix-like systems like Microsoft Windows.<br /><br />Apache<br />Main article: Apache HTTP Server<br />Apache is a free software/open source web server, the most popular in use.[7]<br /><br />MySQL<br />Main article: MySQL<br />MySQL is a multithreaded, multi-user, SQL database management system (DBMS) now owned by Oracle Corporation with more than eleven million installations.[8]<br /><br />MySQL has been owned by Oracle Corporation since April 20, 2009 through the purchase of Sun Microsystems.[9][10] Sun had acquired MySQL originally on January 16, 2008.<br /><br />PHP, Perl, or Python<br />Main articles: PHP, Perl, and Python (programming language)<br />PHP is a reflective programming language originally designed for producing dynamic web pages. PHP is used mainly in server-side application software. Perl and Python can be used similarly.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25232730.post-49917414262941980152010-11-14T14:35:00.000-08:002010-11-14T14:53:00.446-08:00Windows Live Spaces - Transitioning To WordPressAt the end of September, Microsoft announced the migration of Windows Live Spaces sites to WordPress.com, which will happen over the next few months.<br /><br />The 30 million people that use Windows Live Spaces will have to migrate their blogs to the WordPress.com blogging platform and they have six months to do so, before Spaces is shut down.<br /><br />The old Spaces URLs will also be redirected to the new blogs, so that no visitor will get lost along the way.<br /><br />WordPress is powering more than 8.5% of the web, is used on over 26 million sites, and WordPress.com is visited monthly by over 250 million people. <br /><br />Wordpress.com uses load-balanced hosting at Layered Technologies and Peer1 and this month both companies saw modest increases in the number of sites using nginx (60k and 48k hostnames respectively). For the moment, Windows Live Spaces sites in the sites.live.com domain whose blogs have been moved to WordPress.com remain online redirecting users to their new location. <br /><br />For example, http://mikese.mobile.spaces.live.com still exists served by Microsoft but when accessed redirects to http://mikese.wordpress.com, which is running nginx. In contrast, blogs on their own domains will result in losses for Microsoft as the DNS can simply be updated with no need for redirection. An example of a site in this category is http://ozzie.net which switched over in the middle of October; at the time it was not clear if this change from IIS on Windows to nginx on Linux was a deliberate move by Ray Ozzie as he prepared to step down as Microsoft's Chief Software Architect, though it now appears to be part of the wider Windows Live Spaces to WordPress.com migration. Since WordPress.com is served by nginx, we expect to see a continued increase in sites using nginx as the migration takes place.<br /><br />Despite the changes described above, Microsoft gained 3.1M hostnames this month, mostly in the United States. The largest increases were 942k hostnames at GoDaddy and 717k hostnames at Demand Media Inc.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25232730.post-24233675963751789372010-11-14T14:33:00.001-08:002010-11-14T16:07:24.290-08:00Public Cloud vs. Private Cloud<div>The lure of cloud computing is that it offers organizations some choices. Companies can add capacity required to process and analyze data, as needed. There's no doubt that cloud computing offers great cost savings and increased efficiency for any organiztion.<br /><br />However, i'm often drawn into conversations with colleagues adn friends about the wisdom of deploying private vs. public clouds. First - a few definitions.<br /><br />Private Cloud (<a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&defl=en&q=define:private+cloud&sa=X&ei=5s5vTKOFEMKclgeKzZXtDQ&ved=0CB8QkAE">Web Definition</a>,<br />Web</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25232730.post-87450850525658068192010-11-14T14:32:00.001-08:002010-11-14T16:07:43.352-08:00PHP vs. ASP<div>If you were to make a search on the Internet on how loyalists of both PHP and ASP.net are doing almost everything by biting each other's heads off, you will realize how hot this debate actually is. The major contention is that Microsoft products are generally considered to be superior to other products, but then there are programmers that have been using PHP since ages and never once has it let them down. While there is acclaim for ASP.net being more robust and speedier, PHP fans maintain that PHP has much better support and a very easy to understand language.<br /><br />As the debate between PHP and ASP.net rages on, it is important to make a frank comparison between the two languages, so that other developers who are not so strong in their opinions are not caught in the argument between the two. Here are some of the important points that distinguish the two programming languages from each other:-<br />(For the uninitiated, PHP stands for Hypertext Preprocessor and ASP.net stand for Active Server Pages. It helps to put things into better perspective!)<br /><br />PHP is a relatively simpler language to use than ASP.net. Initially, PHP was written in the C programming language to replace a set of scripts in Perl. That is the reason why coding in PHP remains simple even today. Many developers find themselves to be more at ease with the user-friendly nature of PHP when it comes to coding. However, critics also count this advantage of PHP as a disadvantage. Some of them maintain that the language of PHP has not been updated much, and hence it is still quite archaic and even, somewhat cumbersome for coding. ASP.net, which is a relatively new development, has a lot of options when it comes to languages. Here, you can use languages such as C#, J#, C++ and VB.net. Hence, when it comes to sheer choice, ASP.net has better to offer. But PHP is no less, since it can do its task quite well, even with its minimum language tools.<br /><br />PHP is has much better support for the database management system, MySQL. In fact, the very popular blogging platform, <strong>WordPress</strong> uses the formidable combination of PHP coding on MySQL for its content management system, which includes about hundreds of thousands of blog posts every single day. <em>Another very popular and frequently updated service that uses the combination of PHP and MySQL is Wikipedia.</em> ASP.net can also support MySQL, but PHP is unanimously hailed, by the masses and classes alike, for its great support for this database management system.<br /><br />People who use both PHP and ASP.net also maintain their opinion that PHP is better for embedded support with another database management system, viz. SQLite. SQLite is described as a relational database management system and since it is contained in a C programming library, PHP can provide better support to it.<br /><br />PHP has also a very good support for object oriented programming, on which whole scripting languages are being built nowadays. ASP.net also provides very capable support to OOP.<br /></div><br /><div><br /><strong>When it comes to support, PHP wins over ASP.net. The main reason for this is that PHP is open source.</strong> Hence, the support can come freely from all over the world. In most cases, PHP fixes are made instantly. Being open source also ensures that there are very few snags in PHP. While, ASP.net could take a while to make fixes. That is because it is owned by Microsoft, and it is the development team of Microsoft that will need to respond to the support query. That could take more time than the worldwide open source support that PHP is able to get. Most PHP supports can be instantly found online by doing a simple search on the Internet. Some of the providers of support for PHP are Zend, NuSphere and ThinkPHP.<br /><br />» PHP can use the command line to perform many everyday activities. Some of the things that the PHP command line is useful for is for manipulating across many files and for putting files into multiple directories at once. These are just some of the important features that PHP's command line is used for.<br /></div><br /><div>PHP is an open source programming language, which means it is free for anyone to use. Programmers can develop PHP applications virtually at no cost, because PHP is free to use. ASP.net is not free too, but its extensions are available for free on Windows platforms, upwards of 98. Hence, ASP.net is available to Windows users when they buy it. That puts a bit of restriction in its use.<br /><br />ASP.net is compiled into memory in binary code. So, when ASP.net is used for coding, it is evident that it takes much longer time to process since the codes need to be retrieved from memory. However, PHP is not compiled into memory like ASP.net is. It is interpreted at runtime. That is the reason why PHP coding leads to better speed and even efficiency. However, it must be said that both PHP and ASP.net can run at supreme speeds and efficiency when they are coded expertly.<br /></div><br /><div>Talking about hosting charges, both PHP and ASP.net are quite cheap to host. If you do a good deal of shopping online, you will also be able to find hosting for as little as $4. While there are several pricier hosting services out there, their charges are higher for both PHP and ASP.net. Hence, it can be said that both PHP and ASP.net are at par with each other on the hosting charges.<br /><br />Since PHP is older, there are many people who claim that it is much more secure than ASP.net where coding is concerned. ASP.net is much new, and the security options may not be fully in place yet. However, many programmers will pooh-pooh at this point, because they maintain that security in coding does not depend on the language that is used, but in the way that the coding is done by the coder. Even so, there is a lot of talk on the Internet about PHP coded sites being more difficult to hack into than those done with ASP.net.<br /><br />Hence, there is a lot to debate on about the worthiness of PHP over ASP.net or vice-versa. There is probably no end to it, and there never shall be. The problem mainly is that both of them are good in their own place, but people who have been staunchly using PHP for several years now – some of them for more than a decade – would certainly not like to go in for the new ASP.net. The price to be paid is quite high, i.e. learning a whole new syntax and getting used to it. That is more the reason why PHP is still so popular.<br /><br />But, to ASP.net's credit it must be said that it is much more dynamic, even if the mere use of different languages are concerned. While PHP is still stuck to its scripting language days, ASP.net has broken new grounds by entering into new languages, and even developing some of its own. </div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25232730.post-35979342952009005292010-09-20T22:49:00.000-07:002011-10-22T21:18:10.755-07:00The Cloud - as a computing platform"the cloud" is a computing platform - it has to be managed on an ongoing basis.
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<br />Any comprehensive cloud strategy must involve a complext evauation of costs, benefits, busienss cultureal issues, risks adn coprorate and govet standards.
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<br />In future, as well-tested commercial cloud services becoem available, companies will increasingly be able to relay on these services not just for IT cost savings but also for delivering new vaue to the organization.
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<br />Companies which strive to provide cloud based services must provide customers with a simple process for monitor busienss process which live enitrely or partially in a cloud environment. An organizations computre dependent business processes need to be constalnly monitored by softward.
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<br />Cloud computing business models are essentially baesd on rental arrangements.
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<br />Compare two cost models.
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<br />Operating Expenses: Paying per month, per user for each service
<br />Capital Infestments: paying a purchase fee plus yearly maintenance for sofware that resides within your organization.
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<br />Application Platform Interfaces (APIs) - are an important phenomenon in cloud computing. Vendors develop proprietary APIs for their own cloud computing platforms, so customers are forced to support multiple APIs. For an organization to readily build connections between it's internal data centre and teh cloud, it must use stnadardized APIs and data trrsnasformation capabillities.
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<br />Provisioning - is a term whjich refers to immediate requests which cloud computing customers make for resources.
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<br />The cloud service provider is resonsible for aintaining anagreedon level of servicesand provisions resources accordingly.
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<br />In the case of PasaS or IaaS, customersnmay need to directy requeset additional resources, becuase tin both cases they're directly managing the cloud resources instead of haing them managed by the cloud provider.
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<br />Note: One of the immediate attractions of IaaS is that a data center could move its volatile workloads into teh cloud adn pay for addtional resources on demand.
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<br />So, hardware use inteh data centre is much more efficient, when a cloud computing option exists.
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<br />The cloud itself is a service managment ploatform.Therefore, well-designed cloud service protfolio's include a taight integration of the core service managmeent capabillities and well-defined interfaces.
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<br />Biggest Problem which Organizations face when considering moving applicaton systems to the cloud isthe issue of software dependencies. The cloud uses service oriented archietecture approach (based on loosely coupled services).
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25232730.post-82149459837047164442010-09-19T18:42:00.000-07:002011-10-22T21:18:10.759-07:00Cloud Service Delivery ModelsInfrastrucutre as a service: offers storage and compte resources that developers and IT organizations use to deliver custom business solutions.
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<br />Platform as a service: offers development envioronments ath atIT organzations can use to creatse cloud-rready business applications
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<br />Software as a service: offers purpose built business applications
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<br />Infrastructure - as a Service
<br />This refers to teh delivery of computer hardware - including Servers, networking technology, storage and data centre space), as a service. It may also include the delivery of operating systems and virtualization technlogy to manage the resources
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<br />Customers can rent computing resources instead of buying and installing them in their own data centres. (it's typically a pay as you use model). the service may incldue dynamic scaling - (bursting up or scaling down).
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<br />Key Example - <a href="http://aws.amazon.com/ec2/">Amazon's EC2</a> (Elastic Cloud - IaaS)
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<br />Organizations can "rent" computing resources - to boost their data centers by renting computer hardware adn appropriate allocations os sservers, networking technloogy, sotrate an data centre space - as a service, instead of laying out the capital expenditure for the maximum amount of resources to cover their highest level of demand, they purchase computing power if and when they ned it.
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<br />Platform as a Service
<br />teh platform provider delivers more than infrastructure. It delivers a solutions stack - integrated set of software that profides everthign a developerneeds to build an applicationf for both sofware deevelopment and runtime.
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<br />This is an evolution of Web hosting. PaaS - provies lifeecyle managment capabillitys to manage all software delovelopment stages from plannig and design to building and deployment to testinga nd maintenance.
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<br />Key benefit: customers can haev sofware development anddeployment capabillity based entirely int he cloud. No mgt or maintenance efforts are reeqired for teh infrastructure.
<br />all aspects of software develoment exist in the cloud. From design stage to build ing adn deployment - everything lives in the cloud.
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<br />Key Caveat: PaaS offerings have proprietary elements - so customers are tied to their PaaS providers adn may face high expenses if they choose to switch.
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<br />Software as a Service
<br />This phenomenon refers to business applicatons that are hosted by the provider and delivered as a service.
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<br />Application Service Providers and CRM applications are the most common categories of Software as a service. (key example - Salesforce.com).
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<br />Advantages: Price of the software is on a per-use baseis, adn invoves no upfront costs from teh service provdier.
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<br />initially SaaS offerngs were not implemented over the internet. For the same oof security adn reliability , these offerings woudl normally involve virtual private networks.
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<br />Management & Administration - as a factor of cloud computing models.
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<br />Cloud computing services are easy enough to explain conceptually - however in implementing cloud services, one has to integrate it into the IT operations of the organization.
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<br />Note: Becuaes cloud requires a sel=service capability, it must be edesigned to manage not just provisionoing customer reqeusts but also issues sucah as workload managment, security, meteriing, monitoring and billing services.
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<br />For cloud serivces to be safe adn effective, they must measure and monijtor performance.
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25232730.post-51026222637846395102010-09-19T16:36:00.000-07:002011-10-22T21:18:10.764-07:00What is Cloud Computing?Cloud computing is the next state in the evolution of the internet
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<br />The cloud in cloud computing provides the means throughw hich everything from computing power to coputing infrastructure applications, business proceess to personal collaboration, can be delivered to you as a serveice, wheereve adn whenever you need.
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<br />Clouds are fluida dn can easily expanda or contract.
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<br />This elasticity of the cloud means that users can request qdditional resources aon demand anad jus ast as easily depoirvisiton or release those resources when ytey're no longer needed,.
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<br />This elasticitiy is one of the main reasons indivuduals, businesses adn IT users are moving to the cloud.
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<br />Cloud computing infrastructures maie it easier for cmpanie sto treat their computing systems as a pool of resources rather than a set of independent environments that eadh has to be managed.
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<br />4 Basic Characteristics of the Cloud.
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<br />1. Elaasticity and abillity to scale up and down
<br />2. Self-service provisioning and automatic deprovisiioning
<br />3. Applicaton programing interfaces (APIs)
<br />4. Billing and metering of service usage in a pay-as-you-go model
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<br />Good cloud services must have a comprehensive approach to service management and a well-definied process for security management.
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<br />The evolution of data centre management
<br />over time, it became easier for IT Service Providers to add hardware to the data centre rather than to focus on making the dtata centre itself, more effective. By doing so, IT ensured that critical applications woldn't run out of resources. At the same time, these companies built or bought sofaware to meet their business needs - large cmmoplex applications were built to run in large data centres, and modified to meet changing business needs.
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<br />Technlogoy advancements such as virtualization, service oriented architecture and service managment have helped address some of th e needs of companies adn their IT service providers, as they strive to manage huge adn unqieldy business software adn data centre constraints. These technolgoy enablers have helped companies become more efficient adn cost effective - however teh cloud promises to improve their abillity to leveragte what they've bought and make use of external resources, designed to be used , on deamnd.
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<br />Note: Some applications wil simply not be successful when thron up on tht ecloud - virtualize adion also ads some performance implications. A database bound application will remain data base bound, regardless of the additional compute resources beneather it.
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<br />Important beneft if cloud computing: abillity to add new instratructure capacity quicly and at lower costs. (enables companies to gain IT resources whilst saving time and money. Typical cloud service providers have economies of scale - resulting int eh ability to spread fixed costs over more customers.
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<br />Organizations can try out new aplications without having to invest int eh hardware, sofaware or networking capacity.
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0