deal architect

Making progress each day

So I am trying to post this on a dial-up line in India. And missing the broadband speed back home – and thinking about progress. The long flights make you acutely aware of slow anything. I should have high-speed at my next destination in India.

I landed at Mumbai airport to find a spanking new Immigration area (in preparation for an Asian Development Bank meeting in the city later this week). Clear it in 5 minutes - Progress! I find a park with a jogging track where a few months ago was swamp. Complete with uniformed guards (with ties) whose job is to blow whistles at kids of all ages who cut across the well manicured lawns and bushes. It costs 5 Indian rupees (about US 11c) to get in – another sign of huge change in a country with a lot of socialized recreation. Progress.

So on this slow line I see a post by Phil Wainewright and see 2 commenters blow the whistle. One questions his grammar; the other his facts. I think about the typos I make on my blog (for some reason I keep wanting to call Sam Palmisano at IBM Sal - I used to know a Sal at IBM. And Don Valentine at Seqouia, Doug. He does have a partner Doug Leone) and how readers are kind enough to point them out. And why blogs in general have to make progress when it comes to proof reading.

Working now with 2 editors – Mary Ann Thompson at TechSpend and Richard Young for the monthly series I am doing for Real Finance, you realize the huge value of editors. I have worked with Mary Ann for several years and she can and does finish my incomplete sentences. Richard has a wicked sense of humor and spices up my stuff.  Us bloggers do not have the luxury of having someone edit our stuff  (other than our beloved readers)– but that is no excuse. We have to keep making progress.

That’s my 11c for the day, oops 5 Indian Rupees. I am jet lagged...enough progress!

Country Cousins of the Men

I have written before about the "Men" of Telecom. Here's something on their rural colleagues.

USA Today reports they are gearing up to fight competition from cable companies -  "They probably thought no one would ever come into their bailiwick"

In the cities, we are starting to see Municipal WI-FI. Another item to add the the blue/red political divide? Or is it the green/yellow/orange/red gas price divide?

Update: Brad King writes about his hopes of bringing broadband to the "Hillbilly Highway"

Thank you, Microsoft

I complain that the software industry spends way more in SG&A, dividends, acquisitions than it does R&D, so how can I not compliment Microsoft's plans to significantly increase R&D spend.  Rick Sherlund at Goldman  thinks  another $ 2.4  billion just in 2007.  Microsoft recently announced it was  going to buy $ 3.5 billion worth of hardware  from China over the next 5 years.  Ray Ozzie recently told Fortune the company was going to spend  "staggering amounts".

Wall Street hates it - or at least hates this surprise when they were counting on R&D from the last few years to show up in product revenue. The stock dropped 11% yesterday. But buyers should celebrate - this means Microsoft is investing in a huge grid, and that will allow it to offer all kinds of SaaS - not just to compete against Google and Yahoo. Also, it will potentially be positioned to offer hardware as a service (HaaS). More than Google, if I was an apps or infrastructure outsourcer I would be worried.

There is a big IF in all this. Microsoft's R&D payback has been slow and tortured around so many initiatives recently. Who's to say this new burst is going to be used efficiently?

But from the buyer community, here's a thank you for Microsoft.

Update: Dennis Howlett adds his perspective.

Update: May 31. Ballmer tells investors Microsoft was making "big, bold bets" by spending on projects including the MSN Internet unit. He said Microsoft planned to hold onto its cash, which is now about $34.8 billion

Technology Innovation and Netflix mailers

The humble envelope as competitive advantage? Impressive in this Business 2.0 article to see how Netflix has tweaked its DVD mailer over the last 7 years. Go to bottom of article and click through a gallery of the 13 iterations.

Green alligators and long-necked geese

...some humpty backed camels and some chimpanzees"....but no Unicorns

I was reading the speaker list at this Stanford start up event tomorrow that Om Malik posted - entrepreneurs, VCs, attorneys, industry influencers - all the right folks. Except CIOs.

So is it the Valley smoking its own exhaust once again, or the silly enterprise just playing hooky and about to get left behind?

Update - see this report from the event - Noah's Ark!

My HRO Today Magazine Interview

Joe and Kerry Ann Vales interviewed me for HRO (Outsourcing) Today magazine about trends in technology prcourement and innovation. Here is the link. Part 2 of the interview appears next month.

Joe is extremely well respected in BPO circles as  I wrote here. Read about his views on the market in this interview here.

Horse Trading with The Men

More on the Men of Telecom

NY Times writes about another move towards convergence of cell and land lines

Vonage is offering free mobile web calls in the UK

MIT Technology Review talks about Fon's "open source" vision of Hotspots

On the other hand, Dan Farber reports telecom companies are winning the Net Neutrality battle. They clearly understand workings of Congress better and have the patience of Job to wage long battles.  If you are concerned (as a blogger I am concerned I pay for access on my nickel and then may have to also absorb new surcharges for content and delivery), lobby your Congressman. We need to balance the lobbyists the Men have in place. Of course, as I have written before with telecom taxes at 15 to 25%, Congress itself has little incentive to change the status quo and go finding other revenue sources.

Update: Tom Foremski makes a good point. Telecom companies are big customers of several tech companies. He thinks those revenue interests are also causing them to be muted about speaking more loudly about this issue.

Update: this site promises to forward to Congress petitions around network neutrality.

Should Microsoft split itself?

Paul Kedrosky asks a question I have asked before - is Microsoft funneling too much enterprise revenues - and worse, management attention - from Office, SQL Server, Dynamics into games, search etc. He is upset as an investor. CIOs should be asking why like with business airline fares they are over-subsidizing tourist fares..

I am ok with JDA-Manugistics

JDA is acquiring Manugistics. Both have been struggling. Jason Wood does not like it financially. Jason Busch is lukewarm about it.

I like it from a CPG/Retail/Distribution customer perspective. I like vertical depth. I like extension acquisitions rather than duplicative functionality. From a customer's perspective I like Oracle acquiring Retek or Portal more than PeopleSoft or Siebel. Does not mean JDA/Manugistics is in the clear. M&A is hard work.

I am Spartacus! I am SME!

One of Hollywood's most powerful scenes was in the movie Spartacus when his forces are defeated and Crassus demands he identify himself so he can spare the rest of his rebel army. Before Spartacus can rise, another rebel stands up and shouts, "I am Spartacus", followed by another, then many more.

Less altruistic, but it is amazing how many different vendors raise their hands when it comes to the SME market

Dennis Howlett talks about SAP and Gartner here
Microsoft's many Dynamics  "communities" around its acquired and developed products
Sage's even wider range of SME products and acquisitions
Dennis Holwett on Systems Union being sold to Extensity (ex GEAC, D&B Software, M&D/MSA)
Tom Foydel is starting a series of posts around NetSuites for "Geniuses". Many other SaaS vendors are going after this market
QuickBooks from Intuit which has been blogging since summer of 2004 - good for them

and many, many more

Darn, they do fight hard for that can of Pepsi.