News & Views

January 25, 2010 from Info-Tech Research Group –“Industry analyst firm Info-Tech Research Group has launched a nationwide contest to recognize and reward both Canada’s smartest and greenest mid-market IT departments. Nominate yourself or a friend to ‘Smart People’ today, or stay tuned to the contest and nominees via Twitter.”

180 View – We just found out about this site from Joel Martin formerly Product Manager for Microsoft’s Dynamics ERP products in Canada. I have a lot of respect for Joel who I once asked to speak at a CICA technology conference when he worked for IDC as a research analyst before Microsoft. The fact that Joel is involved leads me to believe in the Quest. If you know of a great IT project, I suggest you nominate the person responsible.

December 22, 2009 from Forbes – “…Over the past year, cloud computing has captured significant attention of CEOs, CIOs and IT personnel alike, as businesses began to investigate the value of moving certain workloads to a cloud model. Facing mounting pressures to provide better services quickly, while reducing costs, many IT decision makers found the economics and capabilities of cloud compelling. Now with analyst firm Gartner’s recent proclamation that cloud computing is the number one technology in its annual “Top 10 Strategic Technologies” list, clear that 2009 marked the maturation of this emerging form of computing…”

180 View – When you read the article, you may have some doubts about the “maturity” of the cloud which is still changing shape with the recent introduction of private vs public clouds and open source vs proprietary interfaces.

January 1, 2010 from the New York Times – “It’s hard to believe that a decade ago, there was no Facebook, iPhone, Wikipedia or YouTube. Almost shocking, considering how those entities have shaped a culture around the Internet, disrupted business models and affected how and what information was shared through the Web.

So what big Web themes might we see emerging into the next few years? Based on reporting and informal chats with venture capitalists, here’s a quick guess at what might be big in 2010…”

180 View – The author’s list looks lame to me such as the 1st one which is “The third wave of mobile applications”. I thought one reader’s comment was right on – “It would have been impossible to predict on Jan 1, 2000 that Facebook, the iPod / iPhone, Wikipedia, and Youtube would be just around the corner and have such a huge impact. In fact whatever pundits were predicting in 2000 as having a huge impact in the coming decade was likely trivial compared to the unanticipated things just listed.”

November 17, 2009 from Forbes – “With the Windows 7 launch now behind it, Microsoft is on to the next big thing. At the company’s Professional Developers Conference Tuesday, chief software architect Raymond Ozzie announced that Microsoft will launch its highly-anticipated cloud platform on Jan. 1.

Called “Windows Azure,” Microsoft’s latest operating system is designed for developers to write applications in Microsoft’s .NET programming language. Unlike programs that require a Windows desktop machine to run, the idea behind Azure is to allow developers to write applications that will run in a browser and communicate with servers in one of Microsoft’s massive data centers via the Internet…

The big news here was support for more tools,” says PC Magazine’s Michael Miller. He notes that Azure will not just support .NET programming language, but also PHP, MySQL and a host of other popular open-source tools…”

180 View – It won’t be that long before Windows applications will be replaced by web based applications much like Windows applications replaced DOS applications for those old enough to remember. However, we don’t think that most large companies will be prepared to store their data in the clouds.

August 24, 2009 from CFO magazine – “After more than a decade of hype about the benefits of coding financial data with XBRL, the good news for companies now required to do so is that it seems relatively easy and inexpensive. While in the final analysis XBRL may not add much value, preparers say, at worst it is a minor inconvenience…”

180 View – About 5 years ago, the buzz was about XML (would allow organizations to share their electronic data) and XBRL (same as XML but designed specifically to share financial reports). XML was going to make B2B eCommerce a reality for every company. For example, you would be easily able to send your purchase orders to your supplier who in turn would be able to easily read the data. Both XBRL and XML have lost some of their shine, but I would not count them out yet. The advantages of these technologies are too compelling and it’s just a matter of time.

November 03, 2009 from InfoWorld – “…Windows 7 runs circles around both Windows Vista and Windows XP. In fact, the results aren’t even close… It means that, as customers invest in new PC hardware, they’ll be better positioned to reap the improvements in CPU, memory, and chip set performance by deploying Windows 7. It also means that sticking with Windows XP — ostensibly because it is less bloated and performs better — is a fool’s errand…”

180 View – I (Michael Burns) was one of the first to install Vista and it was not easy. In the end, I was glad I did it. I am taking a more cautious approach to Windows 7 and was looking for a “killer feature” but the one in the article is not good enough for me. I already get good performance with Vista on my Dell that I purchased this year.

August 6, 2009 from eWeek – “IDC analyst Carolyn Dangson told eWEEK that of this 51 percent, 34 percent were doing it on their own, without the blessing of the corporation. In other words, users are taking it upon themselves to start using such tools at the grassroots level, echoing what Nielsen found in its study.

“It’s absolutely bottom-up,” Dangson said. “These tools (Facebook and MySpace…) are brought in to plug in holes and make certain businesses processes more efficient and provide services the tools the companies themselves have invested in don’t provide.”

180 View – There are social networks such as LinkedIn that have a business value. Facebook is a great personal tool to be connected with friends. But Facebook is not a business tool unless you want to surreptitiously find out about a business contact. Facebook users refer to this as “creeping”.

My perception is that Facebook is mostly used by the younger generation. The older generation may use it to see what’s happening with their kids. Hopefully this is not considered creeping.

June 10, 2009 from InfoWorld – “Well before the current world financial crisis struck, organizations have sought inventive ways to engage in face-to-face meetings without the need to travel. Companies have turned to services such as Adobe Acrobat Connect Pro, Cisco WebEx, Citrix GoToMeeting, and Microsoft Live Meeting as a means for workers in multiple locations to share presentations and otherwise collaborate.

No question, these tools greatly reduce costly, productivity-sapping travel, with the added benefit of lowering a company’s carbon footprint. Yet scratchy audio quality, out-of-sync slides, and tiny, Webcam-quality video often diminish these solutions’ usefulness. Similarly, more traditional videoconferencing systems (which have been around for decades) suffer from low utilization rates — partially because of complicated, unreliable technology.

The door has now opened for telepresence solutions: a conferencing environment that seeks to mimic the in-person experience as much as possible. Several technologies make telepresence possible. High-definition video cameras and large, flat-panel monitors clearly display participants in life size. Optimized networks — making use of QoS and even application-aware protocol acceleration — help eliminate audio and video delay over long-distance and high-latency WANs. As such, participants can make eye contact with colleagues and immediately pick up on all-important visual cues — such as how someone reacts to an offer. Moreover, operating the systems can be as simple as using a television remote control or telephone…”

180 View – Telepresence is going to get better and cheaper until it’s the best way to travel – at least for business purposes.

April 20, 2009 from Redmonk – “As you must have heard, Oracle is buying Sun. A deal this big has a lot going on. Really, the only thing you can do is wait and see what Oracle will do with the massive portfolio they’re buying. If you don’t like waiting, here’s some scenario-speculation…”

180 View – You may soon be able to buy all your technology from 1 company. The advantage is you have 1 throat to choke, but you may lose bargaining power and flexibility. But we think Oracle will sell Sun’s hardware business and will just expand their software business.

April 23, 2009 from InfoWorld – “If anyone has the right to be excited about cloud computing, it’s John Chambers. But on Wednesday Cisco Systems’ Chairman and CEO conceded that the computing industry’s move to sell pay-as-you-go computing cycles available as a service on the Internet was also a security nightmare…”

180 View – Cloud Computing sounds interesting in that all you need is an internet connection and you’ve got applications and data at your fingertips. But cloud computing is not ready for prime time. Take a look at Forbe’s article on Cloud Computing published on April 15 at http://www.forbes.com/2009/04/15/cloud-computing-enterprise-technology-cio-network-cloud-computing.html which starts with “”The cloud” has come to represent the bright future of computing, a world where processing and storage become as ubiquitous, cheap and accessible as electricity. But for big business, one researcher argues that “cloud” metaphor may be economically apt: The closer you look at the much-hyped technology’s price advantages, the fuzzier they seem.”

March 9, 2009 from itBusiness.ca – “…Here are 10 top cost-cutting, productivity-boosting strategies:

1. Cut output costs – You can achieve a quick 20 to 30 per cent savings by reducing printer, scanner, fax machine and copier expenses, he says. Determine how much your company is spending on these operations. Work with business users to figure out which printing, scanning, faxing and copying tasks are unnecessary. Map out a strategy to reduce output without negatively affecting business, and identify vendors who can offer the best deals on machines and tools that help your company save….

180 View – I (Michael Burns) recently had lunch with a friend who is now working for a company called 4 Office Automation Ltd that provides Managed Print Services (MPS) solutions. MPS is the migration of printing from high cost stand alone devices to low cost multifunctinoal devices. MPS can offer significant savings to organizations that have a mixed unmanaged fleet of imaging devices and lack the expertise to optimize printing services.

January 27, 2009 from the Government of Canada – “Budget 2009 proposes a temporary 100-per-cent CCA rate for computer hardware and systems software acquired after January 27, 2009 and before February 1, 2011. In addition, the rule that restricts CCA deductions to one-half of the CCA write-off otherwise available in the first year will not apply to these computers.
This temporary measure will allow taxpayers to fully expense their investment in computers in one year. The measure will provide stimulus by assisting businesses to increase or accelerate investment in computers. It will also contribute to boosting Canada’s productivity through the faster adoption of newer technology. Businesses in all sectors of the economy, including the service sector, will benefit from this incentive…”

180 View – Great idea but it has limited value as it refers just to computer hardware and systems software. Computer hardware is typically a small portion of any new system implementation. Systems software, according to Canada Revenue Agency “refers to the general operating system that enables application programs to be run and directs and coordinates the different operations of the computer, including all of the input and output between the keyboard, the CRT screen, the printer, the disk drives and other peripheral equipment.” In other words, it does not include ERP or accounting software.

March 2009 from CAmagazine and written by Fred Blauer – “…The traditional software model involves developing source code (program instructions) that is protected by a legal patent (intellectual property) so that no one can use, copy or modify it without purchasing or licensing it from the author. Now there is a shift from proprietary software to open software (which allows you to freely use, copy and modify) and standardized software (which runs on any platform)…”

180 View – There are many open source success stories such as Linux and MySQL, but is it appropriate to run a business? There are a few ERP open source solutions such as xTuple. There are also a number of vertical (industry specific solutions) such as OSCAR-McMaster: An Electronic Medical Record (EMR) system. Although we have concerns about open source to run a business, it’s clearly gaining traction. As Fred says in his article, “As new systems mature, this (open source) will become a viable alternative to proprietary software solutions for the business mainstream.”

180 View – You may find a number of good products that you have not heard of before. Please let us know whether you think the awards are justified.