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June 30, 2005
SnapJot - what's in a name?
Boy, aren't they coming up with some snappy (ha) names. SnapJot is a blank site at the moment - but this just in:
SnapJot is a funded startup, founded by former Hotmail and Ofoto executives, building a consumer-oriented service that brings together digital media, blogging, and social networking to enable individuals, families, and groups to tell and share their stories.
Um - right then. Well, they're hiring anyway.
The "former Hotmail executive" is Steve Douty, former Vice President of Marketing , Sales and Business Development at Hotmail.
Posted by Matthew at 06:36 PM | Comments (5)
T-DSL gets faster
It looks as though my DSL line will soon be upgraded to 6 MBit/s (6016 kBit/s down and 576 kBit/s up). I currently have a 3 MBit/s offer from T-COM and they are introducing the higher speed for the same price (25 €/month). The switch is free if you're on the 3 MBit/s connection already and your line can handle the higher speed.
Posted by Matthew at 05:46 PM | Comments (3)
Mobile handsets and The Innovator's Dilemma
The mobile handset market is an interesting example of the Innovator's Dilemma. Most mobile phones today have more functions than their users can utilize and the market for new customers has pretty much dried up (just check how many mobiles your family has to see what I mean). So now, mobile phone vendors have started addressing the market of non-consumers. By introducing ultra low-cost handsets, they hope to find new customers in the emerging markets. The same approach will also lend itself to introducing even younger (pocket-money budget) people to mobile phones. Especially the kids that like to swap things or have a new phone every other week will like the idea of being able to buy one for 20$ or less.
Fast forward 5 years. Will we see mobile phones as freebies inside cereal packets? Just how will incumbent mobile vendors be able to sustain their growth and business? Will every vendor start introducing cheap phones and hope that they can sell the right number? Or will we see some traditional vendors flee up-market to provide higher-price "mobile devices with phone capabilities"?
Posted by Matthew at 02:06 PM | Comments (1)
The time is now
Joe Kraus on why it's a great time to be an entreprenuer. Joe reckons that you only need $100.000 nowadays to start something. I'm not so sure that's really enough to get off the ground (depends on what you're doing of course). However, I'll bite - so, who wants my bank account details?
Posted by Matthew at 10:52 AM | Comments (4)
An Open Source policy
Optaros have relased their "Free and Open Source Software Policy". The policy governs the activities of Optaros employees with regard to FOSS projects. (via Matt). I think it's a very smart move as it will reduce the number of discussions with both customers and the Open Source communities at large.
Posted by Matthew at 10:49 AM | Comments (1)
June 29, 2005
Google Maps API
Google releases an API to Google Maps.
Posted by Matthew at 08:40 PM | Comments (1)
June 27, 2005
Open Source business in Italy
To complement what I've been writing about lately, here is Gianugo's report on the state of Open Source business in Italy - as seen at the local Java conference.
Posted by Matthew at 11:19 PM | Comments (1)
Google goes streaming - video
John Battelle has news and analysis on Google's scheduled launch of an in-browser video playback feature today to complement the video search and upload functions they already have.
Posted by Matthew at 08:54 AM | Comments (0)
June 24, 2005
Nokia 770 - worth 350 $?
I saw the Nokia 770 (or several of them actually) at LinuxTag. The guys from Nokia and Maemo.org were there showing off the shiny gadget. According to one of the guys there, it's scheduled to be launched in Q3 for a street price of 350 $ - meaning probably 350 €.
What I like about the device: it looks cool, seems fast enough (the devices there were newer than the ones that have been criticized before as being too slow), runs Linux, is open to additional applications, WLAN (of course), coolness factor etc.
I'm just not quite convinced that WLAN is widespread enough yet for the device to get by without any way of connecting up via GSM/GPRS. I mean I know you can via bluetooth - but so many operators offer special data-sims and tariffs (for use in say the Blackberry). According to the guy on the booth, adding this would have meant a thicker device and less battery life. Like the Blackberry is so - um - thick - right.
Now Nokia, this is the right direction. But please, please make one the size of - oh - A4 that I can hang on the wall in the kitchen and use as the family messaging board and calendar. Please.
Posted by Matthew at 09:31 PM | Comments (2)
Cocoon in government
Interesting to see Berin's post on how Cocoon is being used in "some" US Federal Government projects. We've seen signs of Cocoon being used (albeit only sporadically to date) in German Government projects too. Any others out there?
Posted by Matthew at 09:03 PM | Comments (0)
Tag. It's your new home-page!
I took a look yesterday at the "home-page" Technorati have created for the Live 8 campaign. It immediately struck me that they could basically create a "home-page" for any topic by hiding the Tag-request behind a pretty page that aggregates Google ads, links from delicious, technorati blog links and photos from Flickr into a single page.
In fact it should be pretty easy to whip up a tool that - given a particular tag - creates just any "home-page" dynamically for you. And, as is perhaps the case with the Live 8 page, the "home-page" could then be configured to appear at a certain time and disappear again, once the event has moved out of public interest.
Posted by Matthew at 03:05 PM | Comments (2)
June 23, 2005
Open Source in the Public Sector? Do the paperwork!
Back from attending LinuxTag and it was interesting to see how the German public sector is (slowly) turning to Open Source. Currently the main problem seems to be that companies offering Open Source based solutions or services find it hard to do the paperwork properly. There are strict rules governing the procurement process and if you don't supply the correct paperwork - then your bid will be thrown out without evaluation.
One of the panel speakers citied various examples of Open Source based bids that were better - technically - but didn't meet the binding criteria when it came to supplied documents on the company and/or employee skills.
Posted by Matthew at 01:50 PM | Comments (0)
June 20, 2005
Going to LinuxTag
On Wednesday I'll be in Karlsruhe, attending the "Open Source in public sector" conference that is taking place as part of this year's LinuxTag.
Posted by Matthew at 11:58 AM | Comments (0)
June 16, 2005
Life, the universe and everything
Three things happened this week that I think will influence what comes next in one way or another. One of those is reading Steve Job's really amazing speech, that is now echoing around the blogosphere. The second one is witnessing my son having his first crush. And the third. The third I'll leave for another day.
Oh and then tomorrow I'll be traveling down to the town in Germany I grew up in. I went to school there and on Saturday around 30 of us (including Frank) will be meeting up to celebrate our "Abitur" - which is the graduation from German high-school. 20 years ago.
Posted by Matthew at 08:04 PM | Comments (0)
Ugo moves home
Ugo will be joining the pro-netics team and will have to get used to working from home. Nice. Congratulations on a smart move Ugo and I'm sure the future is bright for Open Source business.
Posted by Matthew at 02:37 PM | Comments (0)
June 15, 2005
ApacheCon Europe - register now!
Unfortunately I'll not be able to make ApacheCon Europe in Stuttgart in July (my wife thinks going on vacation with the family is more important :-)), however I do want to plug the conference and point out that Carsten will be talking about Maven and the Cocoon portal. I also regret not being able to meet up with Gianugo and his "better half". Ah well, there will be other opportunities. Early bird registration ends on June 17th - so register now!
Posted by Matthew at 10:59 PM | Comments (0)
Conversation with SpikeSource
This evening I had a longer phone-conversation with Scott Schwarzhoff, SpikeSource's Marketing Manager - and responsible for their partner program. I've often ranted (a bit) about SpikeSource in the past and how I don't quite understand how they aim to play nice with the Open Source communities of the components they "promote". Scott was very open in discussing this point and what he said made absolute sense and resonates with the experiences we had when trying to bridge the divide between the Open Source projects on the one side and the business interests of commercial customers on the other. They are (and have been) thinking a lot about this and indeed they must - since playing nice with the Open Source communities is core to their business.
So - just as a suggestion (not that anyone from SpikeSource reads this blog <cough>) but maybe it would be an idea to detail your approach more clearly somewhere on your website.
Posted by Matthew at 10:39 PM | Comments (1)
Geldorf smart mobs eBay
It looks as though Bob Geldorf was successful in getting eBay to ban the sale of Live 8 tickets won in an SMS lottery. Reports suggest that he was able to "convince" eBay by getting people to bid very high amounts on eBay. Some reports also suggest that in fact it was the Live 8 team itself doing part of that bidding.
Posted by Matthew at 09:09 PM | Comments (0)
Steve Jobs on death
The text of Steve Job's commencement address is up and it provides some very personal insight into his life and current thinking. Don't read it if you're looking for new product mentions.
Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that your are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.
Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.
Posted by Matthew at 09:18 AM | Comments (1)
June 14, 2005
What does your customer think of "productized" Open Source?
Whenever I read the term "productized Open Source" - I cringe. I realize what companies like SpikeSource are trying to express by using the term, but my experience has been that customers often expect the Open Source project to be a product without you even actually saying so.
What do I mean by that. Well, plenty of times we've been on-site with a customer and implementing a solution based on an Open Source project. The customer has requirements that sometimes don't match what the Open Source project can currently do. And more often than not we've been addressed as if we were the "product vendor" and asked why on earth the Open Source solution can't do XYZ and when do we think we'll (!) fix it.
Of course it is our business model to offer services around Open Source projects and one of those services is bridging the gap into the Open Source community and helping the customer get a bug fixed or patch applied. But only the community itself is capable of say adding additional functionality - to the project. We, as the company providing the serivices can't just magically roll out a new version for the customer containing the feature she happens to need.
The customer has to understand that Open Source solutions are not products in the same sense as say a boxed-solution from a traditional vendor is. Once they start using the Open Source solution they themselves become part of the community and in a sense are actually to some extent their own vendor.
So my feeling is that suggesting you offer "productized" Open Source may really conjur up the wrong impression - unless of course you actually can influence the project roadmap to that extent - as say companies like JBoss or MySQL can.
Posted by Matthew at 06:34 PM | Comments (2)
June 13, 2005
European Open Source VC economy?
I'm hearing interesting things about the expanding (and I think that's an understatement) Open Source focussed venture capital availability in the US. This seems pretty obvious given the number of US based Open Source business startups that we've been seeing over the past months.
And then I polish my non-existent glasses and try and poke around for something similar going on in good old Europe. Surely with the wide adoption of Open Source being utilized by European corporations there would be some sign of either the availability of VC for this type of startup or tremors from companies about to leap into the limelight. Or are we going to leave it all to our pals from the Valley?
If so - how do I convince my wife to move? :-). She's away at the moment so I'm looking after the kids again (some of you may remember). I could be gone before she gets back <insert manic laugh>. Anyway, I digress.
I'd love to be proved wrong.
Later: I've just found details of the study that Hasso Plattner (yes, the SAP guy) released today. In it he cites research that proves my point (for Germany at least):
In 2004, only 26 German companies were provided with a total of 22 million euros for their seed phase. In 2000, at the peak of the technology boom, there were 272 companies where 388 million euros were invested in their early growth.
No, that's not a printing mistake - 26 German companies received seed-funding in 2004. Hasso Plattner aims to change that by launching HassoPlattnerVentures.
Posted by Matthew at 07:31 PM | Comments (0)
June 11, 2005
Opportunity knocking: Open Source EAI
Matt Asay writes an article on how Open Source EAI may be the next Big Thing for venture capitalists to get involved in. A promising market - as he writes:
Outside the open source world, EAI (Enterprise Application Integration) is a massive market and, according to a Baseline Magazine survey/study, EAI is CIOs' top priority for 2005, with surveyed companies spending an average of $12.1 million on EAI this year.
Maybe we're further along in Europe but using projects like Apache Cocoon to integrate legacy systems, databases, ldap, web-services, existing Web based applications is like - well - our daily job. So, yes, I would agree that this is a growth-market and Open Source integration frameworks like Cocoon will play (are playing) an important role.
In fact I think the actual market may even be larger than just through "plain EAI". We are also seeing a growth in the deployment of portals built around the Cocoon portal framework. Again, the argument being that the framework allows me to combine EAI aspects with the portal paradigm. Moving even further "up", the next thing on the radar is using a framework like Cocoon to build what Gartner calls the "uberportal".
So in all I see plenty of opportunities for some interesting business plays in the coming months. Time to dust off the business plans.
Posted by Matthew at 10:35 AM | Comments (0)
June 10, 2005
Apple and Intel - Wedding bells?
An interesting take on the Apple/Intel news from Robert Cringely.
Posted by Matthew at 01:59 PM | Comments (0)
Focus on weblogs
The German news magazine "Focus" has started 7 different weblogs on their online site.
Posted by Matthew at 08:57 AM | Comments (0)
June 08, 2005
The sucking sound
If you put your ear close to the computer then you'll hear a distinct sucking sound. Hear it? It's the sound of the new Open Source business companies sucking in Open Source talent and visionaries. Bruce Perens has just been sucked in by SourceLabs.
Posted by Matthew at 10:56 PM | Comments (0)
June 07, 2005
The Iron Lady
My parents left England for Germany in the late 70's - partly due to the decline of England's economy at that time. Just after we left, Margaret Thatcher came to power and started her reign as the Iron Lady. There has been a lot of rustling lately about how Germany needs some kind of leadership that actually has the courage to change the things that need changing. Last night there was a news item actually comparing Germany's current situation with that of the UK back in the 70s. The same item also went so far as to quote several leading German economists saying that someone like Margaret Thatcher was in fact exactly what Germany now needs. Full circle.
Posted by Matthew at 10:24 PM | Comments (0)
June 04, 2005
Into the zone
If you've always wanted to find out more about Apache Cocoon and been looking for a good online tutorial to get yourself started, then your pleas have been heard. The new cocoon.zones on Apache.org contains a supersonic tour of Cocoon. Bertrand has more.
Posted by Matthew at 07:10 PM | Comments (0)
June 03, 2005
Best Practices in OS Working Group
Steve has got an interesting group of people on board for the Best Practices in OS Wiorking group. I agreed to participate while munching on a piece of toast during breakfast with Steve at OSBC. Hopefully we can a few more people interested and then get something started. What's next Steve?
Posted by Matthew at 03:35 PM | Comments (0)
HollandOpen session writeup
ZDNet UK gave the business session at HollandOpen a short writeup. I even get a mention. The article only focusses on one very small topic from the talks and combines the different statements under a somewhat provocative title. That's a pity.
Posted by Matthew at 08:38 AM | Comments (0)