Google Provides Blog Converters

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As part of it’s open source initiatives, Google has released Google Blog Converters 1.0.

Kudos to Google for helping users move from as well as to Google’s Blogger service.

Google Leaks Sneak Peak at Offline Tasks

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An avid Google-watcher, Google Blogoscoped caught a glimpse of offline Tasks when Google temporarily allowed access beyond their Trusted Tester network.

Cloud Computing May Be Better Than Teenage Sex

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In a blog from the Cloud Computing Expo, Walter Pinson asks, “Is Cloud Computing Like Teenage Sex?“. His premise is that while everybody is talking about Cloud Computing, few corporations are actually doing it. Here is what he is not seeing.

Cloud Computing covers a variety of types of services, which I generally divide into three categories: Software as a Service (SaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS).

Systems like Salesforce.com, eBid, and FirePond demonstrate that corporations are more than willing to put critical business processes in the cloud and that these applications can and will integrate with other corporate systems.

37Signals, the developer of award-winning Web 2.0 solutions such as Basecamp replaced their internal data center with the Amazon cloud. Similarly, our friends at ten24web have built a platform for integrated email/web marketing in the cloud.

When innovative companies are forsaking infrastructure for cloud-resident platforms and infrastructure, and companies of all sizes rely on cloud-resident applications and systems for revenue-critical services, Cloud Computing is real and in use.

Granted, cloud computing vendors may not be publicizing their users. Then again, corporate customers may not want their competitors knowing their technology strategy

Cisco Steps into Cloud — sort of — With Email Security Product

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Cisco, leveraging its Ironport appliances, has announce email security capabilities that can sit in-house, in a Cisco-managed environment, or both.

As reported by NetworkWorld, Cisco will provision dedicated or virtualized systems for each customer.

In other words, this is not a cloud-based service. Cisco offering a traditional, managed hosted service.

Maybe Microsoft Does See Google as a Threat in the Cloud

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While Steve Ballmer failed to mention Google Apps as a threat to Microsoft’s email and collaboration products and services during a recent strategy meeting, the corporate VP of Microsoft Online Services sounds like he is fighting a street brawl.

Phil Wainewright provides the blow-by-blow in is blog, Microsoft pumps cloud, trumps Google with GSK.

What are your thoughts?

ITworld: SaaS: The Better Way to Buy

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David Coursey at ITworld is on the mark!

Chicken & Egg: Netbooks and Cloud Computing

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In his blog, Stop Buying Servers, David Schrag agrees with TechRepublic’s Jason Hiner’s view that NetBooks are driving users to cloud computing.

I have a slightly different take

Netbooks are not driving users to Cloud Computing. Rather, the growth in Cloud Computing options makes netbooks more feasible.

Low and mid-range netbooks, those under the $600, are not for the power users. Screens and keyboards are too small and the processors lack “umph”. They do, however, meet the needs of many users, and not just road warriors. High-end netbooks, with larger (up to 15″) screen sizes and more local storage, overcome some of these limitations and still provide savings of 30% to 60% over traditional notebooks.

Netbooks would fail in the market unless users can lighten their application load. Cloud Computing, and the growth of Software-as-a-Services solutions, lets users move some of the heavy processing and storage load off the local system.

The range of applications and services available in the cloud gives users access to capabilities without the hundreds or even tens of gigabytes often used by locally installed applications. Similarly, cloud computing puts the processing burden on the service, leveraging local resources for the user interface and communications.

Yes, cost is a factor. We see the true driver towards netbooks being their ability to let organizations match the true needs of the users to the most cost-effective solution.

You Can Export Data from Google Apps

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The unofficial Google Operating System blog tells us how here: Export Data From Google Services

NetGEAR Rolls out ReadyNAS with Online Storage: We Have Questions

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As reported on bMighty.com, NetGear has introduced a new ReadyNAS storage device aimed at the SMB Market. The device includes the capability to use an integrated online backup service with packages as low as $1/GB per month.

As always, we have our questions:

  • Is the fee based on native or compressed space?
  • Is the online storage a vault or just a copy of the onsite backup?
  • What are the retention options and limitations?
  • Is the online storage a full backup service? Or, just a ‘most recent copy’?
  • What is the method for offline restoration?

Backup is easy; Recovery is hard.

NetGEAR is positioning the box as a bridge between online and in-house backups — trying to satisfy customers at all points on the comfort scale. Time will tell which parts of the market they can satisfy.

10 Things Steve Ballmer (and Microsoft) is Thinking About

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As reported by ChannelWeb, Steve Ballmer touched on many issues at Microsoft’s Strategic Update Meeting in New York last week. Here is my take after reading the quotes:

  1. SEARCH: Microsoft is not making money from Search and may be slowing its rate of investment
  2. Microsoft is threatened by netbooks and is considering how to adjust its Windows 7 strategy to avoid loosing market share to Linux and other OS’s
  3. Google, with Android, and Linux threaten Microsoft’s client operating system dominance
  4. Microsoft denies they are creating a smartphone, but have they really accepted the “market mojo” of the iPhone and Blackberry?
  5. Microsoft knows they need a lower cost server operating system — watch for Foundation Server
  6. Microsoft still sees pirated versions of Windows as the biggest threat to their OS business
  7. Microsoft IE is losing market share: Ballmer admitted that “Browsers are key features of operating systems”, in contrast to their answer to anti-trust concerns that IE is not part of the OS
  8. Microsoft wants to R&D itself through the current economic times
  9. Microsoft has not figured out how to make money with Office Live, yet; Windows Azure (server in the cloud) may be ready by November 2009
  10. OpenOffice is a growing threat, starting with the educational market

In all of his comments, Ballmer seems to be missing the gap between the features Microsoft deliver and the subset of those features most customers actually use. If the threats he acknowledges offer simpler feature sets, but meet most customers’ needs, Microsoft could be in big trouble.