Gmail down - oh stop whining

Remember the saying "you get what you pay for." Well, Gmail (and Google) have trashed that. I've been using the service for years, and can only remember 2 outages that lasted more than a couple minutes, which is one heck of a lot better than most providers, free or otherwise.

So all y'all (yeah, this transplanted Yankee called you "y'all" - you got a problem with that?) that are giving Google crap over this latest outage (which, btw, is over for me at 9:14 EST) maybe you just need to simmer down. Everyone loves to laugh when the giant stumbles, but any reasonable look at Google's service availability puts them at the top of the heap. AND it's free - so please callate.

Podcast with Syd Williams of Lyceum Associates

Just recorded this podcast with Syd Williams of Lyceum Associates

"Openness in Software"

Duration: 20 minutes (It takes a few moments to load)

Topics:

[1] With all the recent news on software openness, how are Microsoft and Google positioning themselves?
[2] To what extent is Microsoft playing catch-up?
[3] Does Microsoft suffer from brand deficiency, and is this affecting its bid for Yahoo!?
[4] How will worsening economic conditions affect IT spending? Which companies might benefit?

Yahoo, Google, MySpace form non-profit OpenSocial Foundation

Google, Yahoo, and MySpace forge a nonprofit foundation to ensure that OpenSocial stays a community-driven spec "in perpetuity".

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SearchMe Baby

interesting that Sequoia Capital, which backed Google along with Kleiner, is behind SearchMe, which I have to say is freaking HOT looking!! I'll admit to being pretty ignorant to the machinations of VC firms, so like on one hand, Sequoia knows the search space, but on the other, do they really want to eat Google's lunch? I guess they made their money (understatement) with Google's IPO, so why not get back in?

So, quick look at Google's BOD, Kleiner is on there, as is Sherpalo, but no Sequoia, so no conflict, perceived or otherwise. In fact, in a quick look at Sequoia's web site, I didn't see any Public companies that their partners serve on. I wonder if that's a fund policy...would seem to make sense, maybe I'll explore this more in another blog

Anyway, back to SearchMe - I read about it this morning on techcruch, and went to their site. All I could do there was register for the beta, so I did. Then I saw this option to add their promotional video to my blog - I was like "as if!" why would I do that? (said as if this blog actually gets meaningful traffic :-| Then I watched the video, and, unlike the vast majority of promo videos, it was really well done, and SearchMe looks oh so cool. So I decided, what they hey, I'll throw this puppy up on Jocs Florals.

Lyceum Roundtable: Podcast on Software Development & MSFT+YHOO

About 2 weeks ago I did this podcast with my friend and colleague Syd Williams, who is President of Lyceum Associates, on the topics of Microsoft/Yahoo!, the move to cloud computing and thin clients and overall market shifts in software and the Internet.

Duration: 19 minutes (It takes a few moments to load)

[1] While everyone seems to focus on advertising as the primary catalyst behind Microsoft's decision to bid for Yahoo, to what extent does software development play a role? Is there a Trojan horse strategy at work here? Could Microsoft, in fact, use Yahoo to defend its core proprietary model?

[2] In the past Greg has discussed and written about market shifts favoring thin clients? With all the talk now about cloud computing, does he see this accelerating?

[3] What could we expect of today's different players? How might positions shift?

MySpace Users Build Up Ad Immunity

While News Corp. is thrilled about its social network's ad-revenue growth, Google and many marketers are frustrated about click-through rates

read more | digg story

Facebook Ads- smart strategy, questionable execution

Zuckerman unveiled Facebook's anticipated ad strategy yesterday. I was pretty skeptical, I have to say, but upon reading about it, it looks like a really smart idea. In a nutshell, the strategy is to allow advertisers to leverage what Facebook is good at, and what makes it popular - namely, relationships and endorsements. So, if you and I are friends in Facebook, and I say I like some product, then this will be treated the same way as if I told my friends that I like some type of music.

My problem with this, though, is not about how smart the idea is, but rather with the execution. Let me explain. The New York Times describes the strategy this way:

"The ads expand what has been one of the most powerful features of Facebook, the news feed, where members see a list of what their friends are doing — photos from their parties, new friends, favorite bands and so on.

Facebook now will give advertisers the ability to create their own profile pages on its system that will let users identify themselves as fans of a product. Each user’s news feed will contain items like “Bobby Smith is now a fan of Toyota Prius.”

Sounds great - but here's my issue - I've been using Facebook for a few months now - granted, I'm no power user and I have a limited number of friends, but I'm a user nonetheless - and I've only once had someone say they're a fan of mine, and I've never seen this so-called news feed, which the Times calls one of Facebook's most powerful features.

So, in the interest of thoroughness, I did what any self-respecting pseudo-journalist would do - I logged into Facebook and looked for the news feed. I couldn't find it. I used the search feature and I looked for something called news feed in all the tabs - no luck.

While performing my search, I was reminded why I don't really like Facebook - the interface sucks! It is so cluttered and confused, it repels me. Compared to the social networking site that I think sets the benchmark - LinkedIn - Facebook is completely amateurish.

Now, you might be thinking that the difference is explained by the target audience and use - LinkedIn is for professionals and for business use, where Facebook is for friends and social use. Two problems with this explanation - businesspeople and friends are all people and we all have basic user interface needs and, two, business is a social activity, so basically I don't buy it.

Bold prediction: I think Facebook is going to get their lunch eaten by the company that knows how to design interfaces and organize information as well as anyone - Google. Wouldn't it be funny if Google just ran up the price tag on Facebook to stick it to Microsoft? Seems to me like Google's own social networking announcement came too quickly on the heels of their supposed loss to Microsoft in the Facebook deal for Facebook to have been anything other than a decoy. Oh, and btw, there's nothing about the good part of Facebook's ad plan that can't be copied. To borrow a term from P&G - I think Google is a PFE (proudly found elsewhere) kind of company...