We're a long way from the Bill Gates obituary...

Matthew Ingram has written a thoughtful analysis about what the Bill Gates announcement really means and comes to the conclusion: not very much! I can see his point; nothing is going to really change for the next two years, the announcement has had zero effect on the share price and the one really interesting signal was the strengthening of the positions of Ray Ozzie and Craig Mundie. The implication is that this lessens the grip of Steve Ballmer.

The story even made Newsnight here in the UK and you catch still catch the transmission over the weekend at the Newsnight website, click the "watch the latest programme" graphic. The BBC introduction took a few swipes at Gates (monopolist and Netscape murderer) and sums up the challenges that Microsoft faces today as; mobile computing, new devices that don't run Windows (i.e. Linux) and the free software movement.

In the discussion Microsoft were represented by my favourite geek blogger, Robert Scoble, which must have given the Microsft PR department heartburn, given that Robert recently announced he was moving on. Robert, in a comment on his own blog, suggests that he was chosen because 1) he was available, 2) the BBC don’t trust anyone that PR shoves in front of them and 3) they figured he'd tell the truth cause he's leaving anyway. Newsnight also fielded the economist Irwin Stelzer from the Hudson Institute to provide an "independant" viewpoint.

The discussion opened with the point that Gates used monopoly power to stifle innovation and competition. Robert countered that the rise of Google and Apple didn't suggest that Bill gets it all his own way. Stelzer made the point that Gates did stop some innovation and you can't escape the fact that the courts had upheld this view.

There was general agreement that Gates is a better man than some of the great capitalists of the past, that he did change the world, and that he is undoubtedly a very smart man.

Joel Spolsky remarks on meeting with Bill Gates some fourteen years ago:

Bill Gates was amazingly technical. He understood Variants, and COM objects, and IDispatch and why Automation is different than vtables and why this might lead to dual interfaces. He worried about date functions. He didn't meddle in software if he trusted the people who were working on it, but you couldn't bullshit him for a minute because he was a programmer. A real, actual, programmer.

Joel does go on to critique why he thinks things have gone wrong since those early days but he gives a sense of why Gates did succeed in the first place.


Tags: Bill Gates, Robert Scoble, Newsnight, Joel Spolsky

What a search engine spider sees...

My minor research project on internet search continues.

A search engine comprises three major components:

(1) A spider (also called a "crawler" or a "bot") that goes to sites and reads them. The crawler copies everything (text, pictures, documents, everything) back to the second part of the system…

(2) The database and index - the database stores all data sent back by the spider and indexes of all the data are constructed to make finding information easier using...

(3) The front end - a program that accepts your search request, looks in the index and returns results to you.

When you search at a search engine your are searching the engine’s copy of the internet, not the internet itself.

If you ever wondered what a spider actually sees when it visits your site have a look at this tool which will scan a page and show you the results, as well as provide useful page data such as word density, meta keywords, links, and other bits of page information.

I found out about the spider tool via A Welsh View.

Tags: Search, Google, Yahoo

Getting fired for blogging on the increase

WSJ columnist Jeremy Wagstaff quotes a survey of large US companies:

Nearly 1 in 5 companies (17.3%) has disciplined an employee for violating blog or message board policies in the last year. 7.1% of companies fired an employee for such infractions. Ouch. 10% of public companies investigated the exposure of material financial information via a blog or message board posting in the past year.

Truth be told I thought the principles of blogging were better understood than these statistics imply. A small investment in "Naked Conversations" sounds like a good idea for both the companies and the bloggers.

Tags: Blogging, Naked Conversations, Robert Scoble, Shel Israel

SnagIt users not immune to Flickr crackdown

Having recently posted about the new SnagIt to Flickr extension it was a blow to come across this article about a Flickr crackdown on screenshots.

Online worlds collide as Second Life fans and Flickr spar over how to handle screenshots on the popular photo-sharing site.

At stake is a little-known Flickr policy of flagging accounts that contain mostly non-photographic images and preventing images from those accounts from appearing in public areas of the site, including search.

As a result, many screenshots on Flickr are AWOL -- at least as far as the general public is concerned. That's angering and confusing some of the people who carefully stage scenes in the popular virtual world and religiously post the results online.

Whilst the crackdown arises as a result of the volume of Second Life screenshots being posted, it apparently applies to any account where more than half of the images in the Flickr account are screenshots or other types of non-photographic images, so it's worth knowing before anyone heads off filling their Flickr account with SnagIt screenshots.

Tags: Flickr, SnagIt

Google Me

The NY Times published an article on Sunday pointing out one of the downsides of social networking sites likes MySpace, FaceBook, and Bebo. A really quick overview of the article is that students should beware of what they are posting on these sites as recruiters are beginning to use these sites as an evidentiary source in hiring decisions as the students apply to join the world of work.

I found the article interesting in itself as a demonstration of the use of Web 2.0 by an industry in which I have more than a passing interest.

The importance of the message is magnified when you discover that MySpace is the 7th most popular website in the UK (3rd most popular in the US and 5th most popular in the world).

The same argument equally applies to any blogging platform. If you are identifiable from your blog profile or your blog content then your blog probably says something about who you are and what you stand for. It's worth a thought if you're thinking about applying for a new job what your trail of blog posts says about you.

Brings new meaning to the phrase "google me".

Tags: NY Times, MySpace, Facebook, bebo, social networking

Google not the only one with a China issue...

A report on Apple's iPod's factories suggests that Google aren't the only major player with a China issue.

Tags: Google, Apple, China

The secret of success...

I'm doing some background research on the development of search. I found an interesting page on Yahoo which describes "how it all started". I see that Jerry Yang and David Filo, the Yahoo co-founders, started their "guide to the internet" in a campus trailer.

Google famously began life in a garage.

The secret of success is clearly to be consigned to really bad accomodation.

Tags: Yahoo, Google

I come to praise Robert Scoble, not bury him

Top story in blog circles today is that Robert Scoble has apparently decided to move on from his job at Microsoft. The blogosphere is awash with ill-informed hogwash as to Robert's reasons for moving on, so much hogwash in fact that Robert felt moved to correct some of the more scurrilous gossip.

I claim no great insight into Robert's reasons for moving on, but give the guy a break. He's doing what's right for him, what he feels will be best for his career and his life.

There have been few people in my life that have genuinely inspired me. I'm not embarassed to say that Robert is one of them. I've never met him, although I hope to remedy that at some point in the future, but I feel I know him better than some of the people I come into contact with every day.

Robert has done a great job at Microsoft and he deserves praise for his accomplishments. I wish him well as he sets sail in a new direction.

Congratulations, Robert.

Tags: Robert Scoble

Creativity

From a post by Garr Reynolds over at Presentation Zen:

"Creative power" or "creative imagination" is not only for "The artists of the world," the painters, the sculptors, and so on. Teachers need the power of creativity too. So do programmers, engineers, scientists, etc. You can see the application of creative genius in many professional fields. Remember, for example, that it was a group of brilliant and geeky-to-the-core NASA engineers on the ground who in 1970 were able jury rig a solution to the life-threatening build up of carbon dioxide in the damaged Apollo 13 space craft. Their heroic fix, literally involving duct tape and spare parts, was ingenious improvisation, imaginative...and it was creative.

Back down here on earth, the seemingly mundane business or conference presentation, designed and delivered with the help of slideware, can be a very creative thing. A presentation is an opportunity to differentiate yourself, or your organization, or your cause. It's your chance to tell the story of why your content is important, why it matters. It can be an opportunity to make a difference. So why look, talk (bore?) like everyone else? Why strive to meet expectations? Why not surpass expectations and surprise people? Besides, audiences' expectations are quite low as far as presentations are concerned anyway (unless you're the "Steve Jobs" of your field).

Amen.

The struggle against mediocrity is an uphill battle. I found this to be a great insight into why it's worth it to strive to be different, and in particular why I have always sought to make my PowerPoint presentations out of the ordinary.

Tags: Presentation Zen, PowerPoint, Presentations, creativity

Win a copy of MindManager at jkontherun...

Having just tagged a post with MindManager, I was looking at the Technorati Tag for MindManager and see that jkontherun is running a competition with 6 full copies of MindManager 6 as prizes.

To enter the competition you need to leave a personal productivity tip in the comments on the blog post which announces the competition.

I plan to enter, so I'm going to give my entry some thought over the course of today. The competition closes at the end of this week (June 15th).

Tags: Mindjet, MindManager, Mind Mapping, Personal Productivity

Maven Mapping

Through my participation in the Yahoo group for users of Mindjet's MindManager software I have found (and subscribed to) Maven Mapper's Information, the blog of Brett Bumeter. I've been reading back through his blog over the last couple of days to find that Brett writes intelligently about MindManager, as well as the latest trends in Knowledge Management, software and gadgets; all topics which are close to my heart.

I noted that we share similar views on:

(a) Online Meeting Software - Webex is expensive and clunky and for me GoToMeeting provides a better experience, more cost effectively.

(b) Visual Project Maps - as a potentially interesting solution to implementing project management methodology. I have a copy and and will probably write more on this product once I've given it a more thorough evaluation.

(c) NASA. I'm a big fan, and have been since childhood. As my career moved into project management I always looked to NASA as one of the pinnacles of the project management professsion. After all, these were the people who project managed putting a man on the moon.

Maven: Malcolm Gladwell used the term is his book The Tipping Point to describe those who are intense gatherers of information and impressions, and so are often the first to pick up on new or nascent trends. Gladwell also suggests that mavens may act most effectively when in collaboration with connectors - i.e.: those charismatic people who have wide network of casual aquaintances by whom they are trusted, often a network that crosses many social boundaries and groups. Connectors can thus easy and widely distribute the advice or insight of a maven.

Tags: Mindjet, MindManager, Mind Mapping, Brett Bumeter

PubSub drops off the radar

I was pondering blog posts I might write this weekend as I was driving home tonight and I was thinking about a kind of "whatever happened to PubSub" article. I came up with the idea as I was thinking about the things going on in the blogosphere as I began to take part in it back in March 2005. PubSub was a big thing back then, Robert Scoble seemed to mention them in every third or fourth of his posts, and they had the potential to be huge. The space they could have occupied is today filled by Technorati, in particular the watchlists feature. Today Technorati is almost as big a part of my daily online experience as Google and I suspect the same might be true for a great number of bloggers.

Before settling down to write I was checking out my feeds only to find out that TDavid over at "Things that... make you go hmmm" links to a Techcrunch post reporting that:

Blog search engine PubSub had massive layoffs today after last minute merger discussions with knownow fell apart. It looks like a shutdown is imminent.

C'est la vie.

Tags: PubSub, Technorati, Robert Scoble, TDavid, TechCrunch

It looks like the paparazzi got there first...

Having read the novel and been to see the film of The Da Vinci Code, I enjoyed finding this page of interactive panoramic views of some of the main locations from Dan Brown's story. Quicktime is required to experience the panoramas.

I was particlarly struck by the panorama of The Mona Lisa. It's at least one of, if not the, most famous painting in the world and I guess I shouldn't have been suprised, but the crowd looks like an international gathering of the paparazzi. I guess I just had a mental picture that going to view the Leonardo's work would be a much more sedate and cultured experience.

Tags: Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown, Leonardo Da Vinci

Google Office Top Ten Talking Points

Google have dominated the technical news headlines since Tuesday with the launch of Google Spreadsheets, and everyone seems to have an opinion. Just to be different, here are my top ten "Google Office" talking points:

(1) What has happended to the Writely acquisition? In order to "kill" Office you have to launch products, not just acquire them.

(2) When Writely has been "integrated into Google's systems" will it have interoperability with Word document formats?

(3) Not everyone will have the $500 dollars or so purchase price for Office 12. It's unrealistic to say that a Google Mail / Word Processing / Spreadsheet package that's free and offers document interoperbility with the Microsoft Office Suite will not be attractive to large numbers of non-corporate users.

(4) If the 80:20 rule appplies to Word and Excel, and you're in the 80% of users who use only 20% of the functionality, why would you pay for something you don't want, when what you need is free?

(5) If Micrsoft can secure Office 12 against the levels of piracy that previous versions of Office have suffered, non-corporate users are going to need a cheap (free) alternative.

(6) Startups with no IT department will find a (free) Google Office Suite an attractive proposition.

(7) Where's the Google Search in Google Spreadsheets?

(8) Will Google have a PowerPoint killer anytime soon?

(9) Is this Google strategy about competition or is it about disruption? Is some competition with Microsoft such a bad thing anyway? Competetion has generally driven Microsoft to produce better products.

(10) Would you bet against Google?

Tags: Google, Microsoft, Google Spreadsheets, Google Office, Microsoft Office

Why does mind mapping work?

I'm a member of the mindmanager group on Yahoo for MindManager users, where I'm involved in a thread about Use Your Head and why mind mapping works, in particular why mind maps are better than linear notes for aiding retention and recall.

In the book Buzan asserts that:"In your brain there are 1,000,000,000,000 individual neurons or nerve cells. Each neuron can interact with from 1 to 100,000 other neurons in many ways. At the time of writing Use Your Head in 1974 the number of possible permutations had been been recently estimated as 1 followed by 800 noughts. The number of atoms in the known universe is 10 followed by 100 noughts. Thus, the number of possible thought-maps in one brain makes the number of atoms in the universe seem like a tiny number."

Whether the numbers would be considered accurate today or not, I think no one would question that there are a lot of possible connections in the brain. I also think the radiant nature of 1 to many connections in the brain means that mind maps are structurally a closer representation of how the brain makes links between ideas, thoughts, and words than linear notes. The concept that the human brain functions in a radiant, 1 to many connection fashion has some resonance with me as to why mind maps make information retention and recall easier than linear notes.

Does this make sense to you?

Tags: MindManager, Mindjet, Mind Mapping, information visualization, Tony Buzan, Use Your Head

Tips for Project Managers of all ages...

If Project Management is your thing I heartily recommend the NewGrange Mailing List. There's a thread on the list at the moment about "rules" for Project Managers. Blair Webster has responded to the thread with what he calls his "top 10 project management tips for young engineers"

Top 10 Project Management Tips

1. There is always a schedule. Corollary: The first date someone mentions has a tendency to become the due date.
2. Get it in writing. Corollary: The first one to write something down gets at least 80% of what they want.
3. Projects are a triangle of features, cost, and schedule. A change in one side of this triangle directly affects the others.
4. Understand the difference between "work" and "duration"; 40 hours doesn't necessarily mean one week.
5. Prepare for meetings; your engineering skills will be judged by your communication skills.
6. "Almost complete" is a schedule killer. Don't use that term, and don't let others use it on you. Corollary: "Done" is a binary term; something's either "done" and can be turned in, or it's "not done", and you need to know when it will be done.
7. Know who your customer is, and understand their criteria for the success of your project.
8. Manage change effectively; as soon as you recognize a delay, raise your hand and say so.
9. Plan for the unexpected.
10. The technical problems on a project are the easiest to resolve.

I'm sure I could make an argument that, at least in my world, number 10 isn't always true but I think, overall, it contains some sage advice for Project Managers, of all ages.

Tags: Project Management

I'll have some of what he's smoking...

Seth Godin appears to have sparked a minor storm with his post explaining why he doesn't have comments on his blog, a post published immediately after his "how to get traffic for your blog" post.

Looking at the rules for getting traffic the following two stand out when thinking about comments:

Rule 27: Include comments so your blog becomes a virtual water cooler that feeds itself.

Rule 34: Don't include comments, people will cross post their responses.

I suspect the "how to get traffic post" is supposed to be taken as satirical, and the "no comments" post is some variant on Rule 10 - manipulate Technorati (by writing something controversial) and with the help of your readers.

I was almost tempted not to link, but hey, that was last month's route to sparking a controversy.

Tags: Seth Godin

Use Your Head

Use Your Head is one of the many books about Mind Mapping writen by Tony Buzan.

I've gone back to that book many times, and eventually mapped the book using MindManager. The multiple maps I created can be downloaded in a zip file using this link: [Link]

The central map, and the one you should open first is, unsuprisingly, called 'Use Your Head'.

The maps can never be a substitute for the book; which I would encourage anyone with an interest in mind mapping, information visualisation, developing a better memory, or mental literacy to read. They are, in effect, my book notes. Once you have read the book the mind maps can help with review and retention.

Tags: Use Your Head, Tony Buzan, MindManager, Mindjet, Mind Mapping, information visualization

Time for television networks to go global?

I gave my predictions for American Idol several weeks ago. I think I did fairly well, I predicted Talylor Hicks would be in the final three, although I picked Chris Daughtrey out as the likely winner.

Having watched the build up for several weeks I was really ticked off to find out before the final show was broadcast in the UK that Taylor was the winner. The news landed in my aggregator from Halley Suitt, not that I blame Halley for posting on what was going on in her world.

I also keep falling over spoilers for The West Wing on Dave Winer's blog. Again, I don't blame Dave.

What I don't understand is why can't we have ABC, NBC and Fox broadcasting concurrently in the UK. I'm sure someone will fill me in with all the really clever reasons why this can't happen, but with the globalisation of information via the internet and blogs, the failure of television networks to go global is an anachronism.

I assume IPTV and ever faster broadband speeds will make my issue go away sooner rather than later, but right now sooner can't come quickly enough.

Tags: American Idol, Halley Suitt, Dave Winer

PowerPoint with a difference

This is a slide from my generic PowerPoint deck. I use it whilst I'm explaining why you won't see a bullet point during my presentations and why you will see lots of graphics. Bullet points are boring, images improve the transfer and retention of information. The panda is Tai Shan, resident of the National Zoo, Washington DC.



Tai Shan will be one year old on July 9th and you can often see him "live" on the PandaCam .

There is currently a campaign underway to make Tai Shan the official animal symbol of Washington DC. The details are over at the Pandafix Blog.

Tags: Tai Shan