Google filed to go public today, seeking to raise $2.7 billion in an unusual auction-style offering that will give the founders rare control over the company.
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Dan Farber is a vice president at CNET Networks and Editor in Chief of ZDNet. Year Archive
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Thursday, April 29
Who cares unless you have a stake, or want one
by
Dan
on Thu 29 Apr 2004 01:47 PM PDT
Virtual computing--less than meets the eye?
by
Dan
on Thu 29 Apr 2004 01:44 PM PDT
Rupert Goodwins has an interesting perspective on the virtualization craze: "If you've got one server running on a computer where every resource is maxed out -- processor gasping for breath, disk heads twitching like a Los Angeles seismograph, memory chocka and networks screaming -- then virtualisation will only make things worse."
You call that a standard???
by
Dan
on Thu 29 Apr 2004 01:40 PM PDT
XML pioneer Robert Glushko decries how powerful interests have distorted the standards process by derailing the work of well-established standards organizations. He also contends that the standards development in governmental organizations, such as the United Nations, is a very politicized process. Glushko offer his views on the state of technology standards following revelations that Microsoft paid travel expenses of U.N. technical committee members -- a move that critics claim gave the software giant unfair influence in pressing the case for Web services over ebXML standards within the U.N.
Spam Report Card 2004
by
Dan
on Thu 29 Apr 2004 01:36 PM PDT
The basics: more than 50 percent of all e-mail is spam and it costs U.S. companies at least $1 billion per year in security and human resources expenditures, as well as lost productivity. Increasingly, virus-infected machines are used to distribute spam and perpetuate additional fraud, such as phishing. Several antispam technology approaches have been proposed in recent months. I talk with Peter Christy of NetsEdge Research about various approachs from Yahoo, Microsoft and others for fighting the plague. Video
CIOs form shared source co-op
by
Dan
on Thu 29 Apr 2004 10:42 AM PDT
CIOs from companies including BestBuy, Cargill, Medtronic and Jostens figured out that they all end up writing similar code and interfaces to deal with making their IT systems work, so they formed a corporate buyer's co-op--Avalanche Corporate Technology Cooperative. Inspired by the open-source movement, the co-op members trade and improve upon one another's programs. This is an idea that will take off like wildfire, if the companies can get over their fear of losing some competitive edge. But as Nick Carr of "IT Doesn't Matter" fame points out, the IT advantage edge is rather thin.... Wednesday, April 28
IT doesn't matter, or does it?
by
Dan
on Wed 28 Apr 2004 09:11 AM PDT
In May last year, Nicholas Carr stirred up a hornet's nest with the publication of his essay entitled “IT Doesn’t Matter” in the Harvard Business Review. Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, for example, said the Carr’s notion that IT doesn’t matter was “dead wrong.” Carr argued that IT is necessary for business survival, but it doesn't provide any strategic advantages. IT, like electricity, has become a simple factor of production--a commodity input--and should be viewed and managed as such. Carr expands upon his original essay in a new book--Does IT Matter? Information Technology and the Corrosion of Competitive Advantage (Harvard Business School Press, 2004). While Carr appears to tone down this thesis by changing the title from the declarative “IT Doesn’t Matter’ to the question, “Does IT Matter?,” the 150-pages of text offers further support for his ideas, with more in-depth explanation of why he believes productivity gains and competitive advantage derived from IT are elusive. “IT threatens to become a kind of universal solvent of business strategy, speeding up the natural forces that over time push companies toward competitive parity,” Carr writes. He points to companies like Wal-Mart and Dell as successful business that have been built through “extraordinarily disciplined approaches to business planning” rather than the technology itself. Check out my video interview with the controversial Carr. Tuesday, April 27
Googlemania and the enterprise
by
Dan
on Tue 27 Apr 2004 05:44 AM PDT
My latest column on ZDNet on Google's future intersection with big business IT: Given how Google has evolved since it first opened its doors nearly six years ago, you can expect the company to become a major, global infrastructure player beyond monetizing and delivering Web search results. In fact, Google may become as relevant within enterprises in the future as Microsoft or Cisco are today. Friday, April 23
Reading list: Krakatoa
by
Dan
on Fri 23 Apr 2004 02:52 PM PDT
Krakatoa: January 1960
http://volcano.und.nodak.edu/vwdocs/volc_images/southeast_asia/indonesia/krakatau.html Simon Winchester has another compelling book in Krakatoa : The Day the World Exploded: August 27, 1883. The book weaves in the context and sidetracks that illuminate rather than describe.
Esther and I talk
by
Dan
on Fri 23 Apr 2004 12:31 PM PDT
 Esther Dyson joined the ranks of CNET Networks. It's good to have her on board. She is one of few and real deep thinkers focused on technology and business. We chatted about the offshore outsourcing, Google's new Gmail service, transformations in the small business market and the impact of social networking. Watch the video...
Computer Associates shuffle
by
Dan
on Fri 23 Apr 2004 12:25 PM PDT
In a board room shuffle, Sanjay Kumar has stepped down from his posts of chairman and CEO at Computer Associates to become the company's chief software architect. Apparently the taint of the investigations into CA's financial practices has gotten too close to Kumar. It's not clear whether he is waiting in the wings to take back his title if the investigation exonerates him or if he is simply on his way out, briefly holding one of the same titles as Bill Gates. CA has asked Ken Cron, a board member and former technology publishing executive, to take over as interim CEO. Mike Riccuiti provides some perspective on the latest CA troubles.
Security from the inside out
by
Dan
on Fri 23 Apr 2004 12:18 PM PDT
I just wrote a column about Fortify Software, which is building tools for eliminating vulnerabilities during the development process. It's a useful approach, but right now priced for the big companies. The technology, which includes a server that scans code for security problems based on a set of evolving rules, needs to be made broadly availalbe. It's far easier than just telling programmers to take a seminar or read a book on coding with security in mind.
More on SCO
by
Dan
on Fri 23 Apr 2004 12:12 PM PDT
It may be that BayStar is serious that it wants to get rid of the current SCO management team, rather than just bail. And, Rupert Goodwins has a good piece about the battle for SCO's soul, or whatever is left of it.
Sunday, April 18
Big trouble for SCO
by
Dan
on Sun 18 Apr 2004 08:54 PM PDT
BayStar Capital wants its $20 million back from SCO. The other investor in SCO's legal actions versus the open source community and IBM--the Royal Bank of Canada with $30 million in play--may want its investment back as well. That could mean game over the SCO. It won't have the cash or attractive stock to stay in business or pay its $600 per hour lawyers.
Bush and gas prices
by
Dan
on Sun 18 Apr 2004 08:45 PM PDT
Mike Wallace and Bob Woodward Bob Woodward discussed his new book with Mike Wallace (who will be 86 next month) on 60 Minutes. Some startling revelations, but the most outrageous and damning was that Prince Bandar, the Saudi ambassador and close friend of the Bush family, promised Bush that Saudi Arabia would lower oil prices in the months before the election to ensure the U.S economy is pumped up. Of course, the Bushies will deny this and the Prince will do the same...but we could hear about impeachment sooner than later for misleading the U.S. citizens and price fixing ...and the Kerry team will make sure this doesn't get swept under the rug. The Republicans will go after Woodward, saying he is being played by his sources--but it won't hide the fact that another Watergate is in the making...and thousands of lives lost this time. Thursday, April 15
The Schwartz era begins
by
Dan
on Thu 15 Apr 2004 02:24 PM PDT
Sun's # 2 Sun's new president Jonathan Schwartz is not wasting any time revamping the management team. He's very smart and talks a good game...he'll have about one year to prove that he can move Sun out of the doldrums...
No more surprises
by
Dan
on Thu 15 Apr 2004 12:44 PM PDT
The recent trials and tribulations of the U.S. intelligence community provide an extreme example of how culture can undermine competitiveness. The group of agencies that make up the U.S. intelligence community—the CIA, NSA, DIA, and FBI among others—have billions of dollars in technology capability. Some of the agencies, such as the NSA, employ some of the most advanced technologies, while others—the FBI—have been ineffective because of poorly designed and utilized IT systems. According to the GAO, the FBI has had five CIOs in the past 24 months and about the same number of chief IT architects.
Ashcroft blames Clinton administration
"Given the poor state of the FBI's information systems, field agents usually did not know what investigations in their own office, let alone in other field offices, were working on," said a report from the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States commission (also known as the 9-11 Commission), which was formed to investigate the circumstances surrounding the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. The FBI has been unable to fully deploy its new, $458 billion Trilogy network and applications that supposedly lay a foundation for improved information sharing and analysis. A 9-11 Commission staff statements also characterized the intelligence agencies as lacking in imagination and as having a bureaucratic culture more appropriate for the cold war. More importantly, the various three-letter agencies weren’t able to put the pieces of the puzzle together that might have the terrorist attacks. Among the other criticisms leveled at the intelligence agencies by the 9-11 Commission were:
These criticisms aimed at the intelligence community could be generalized and applied to almost any company. Often times the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing. Finger pointing, rather than accountability and clear roles and responsibilities, create a culture of mistrust. Employees from executives to factory floor workers aren’t able to obtain the right information at the right time to make effective decisions. The constant chatter among businesses and the intelligence community about insufficient budgets, technology complexity and regulatory compliance is valid, but it masks the underlying failure to inculcate a culture that can overcome those problems with a clear and strategic focus on identifying the key business levers and extracting the relevant data. Without that focus, companies--and the intelligence community--are doomed to live in the past and have a very uncertain future. |
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