Thursday, March 06, 2003

Depends on Who You Read Today: SAP rolls out five offerings for SMBs [InfoWorld: Top News] 6:22:01 PM    comment []

ERP Oxymoron: SAP for Small Business SAP delays small-business software. The German software maker plans to release a new set of business applications for small companies in the United States this spring, several months behind schedule. [CNET News.com] 6:20:34 PM    comment []

Comrade Bloa Zadong and Juche Blogging: Musical Axis of Evil Zen: Pyongyang subway tunes and photos. Ever wonder what kind of music they pipe into the subways in Pyongyang? Wonder no more! There is an unofficial website devoted to the North Korean metro system, complete with photos (like the patriotic underground mural shown at left) and downloadable music files. Don't miss North Korean leader Kim Jong Il's signature tune "No Motherland Without You," (the lyrics to which list his super-human powers), and "Reunification Rainbow," one of the songs performed by musicians with the Pyongyang Circus while visiting Seoul (with rare North Korean guitar solo). "[The piped-in subway music] consists of North Korean anthems and patriotic songs, although the speaker system is also used for, shall we say, public service announcements, reportedly including messages exhorting people to be on the lookout for traitors and spies." Link, Discuss, (Thanks, John!) [Boing Boing Blog] 6:19:00 PM    comment []

Vlogging, Mobloging, Biologing: Vlogging: Video Weblogs. Talk about convergence! Video is the latest technology bloggers are adding to their formidable arsenal. Andrew Beach gives new meaning to the phrase "Film at 11." 0306 [WebReference News] 6:16:58 PM    comment []

Great Games of the Foxes: Stalin killed to prevent nuclear war?. Was Stalin assassinated to prevent him from launching a nuclear attack on the United States? "'The circumstantial evidence is overwhelmingly in favour of non-fortuitous death,' said Jonathan Brent, a professor of Russian history at Yale University. 'And to support this further, we now have solid evidence, non-circumstantial evidence, of a cover-up at the highest level.'" [MetaFilter] 6:15:30 PM    comment []

Alan Reiter of Wireless Internet Reports: Alan Reiter, as usual, has exhaustive reporting on this, including Ericsson's announcement that they will be building out the infrastructure for Inspired. Watch for Guy Kewney's analysis as well (to come, I'm sure). [80211b News] 6:14:18 PM    comment []

Not at the Dickson County Public Library: LA Times: Library Software Filters Debated. Two years ago, Congress said if libraries receive federal funds, they must install software filters. Most of the justices sounded supportive of the law. "They say some of this is garbage, and we don't want it," Justice Antonin Scalia said. [Tomalak's Realm] 6:12:54 PM    comment []

Microsoft Office on Linux: Look for Visio, FrontPage, and Project NeXT http://www.computerworld.com/softwaretopics/os/linux/story/0,10801,75510,00.html New SuSE Linux OS to run Office 2000, other Windows apps By TODD R. WEISS OCTOBER 30, 2002 Content Type: Story Source: Computerworld A new business-targeted version of SuSE Linux AG's proven Linux operating system will incorporate software that allows users to run many of their favorite Microsoft Windows applications such as Office 2000 right on their Linux desktops. In an announcement yesterday, Nuremburg, Germany-based SuSE said the new SuSE Linux Office Desktop version of its maturing operating system will include an integrated version of CodeWeavers CrossOver Office 1.2, which includes Windows application program interfaces (API). The APIs allow SuSE Linux to communicate directly with applications such as Office 2000. CodeWeavers Inc. in St. Paul, Minn., has been offering products for several years that allow Windows applications to be used with Linux. http://www.codeweavers.com/home/ http://www.codeweavers.com/products/ CrossOver Office - Run popular office productivity software, such as Microsoft Office and Lotus Notes, in Linux.   6:11:40 PM    comment []

This is Important Because it will Influence More than Your Bottomline: The first of many wars?. The Pentagon's New Map is probably the frankest asssessment yet of why neo-cons want to go marching into Iraq - and, maybe, keep on marching. An instructor at the U.S. Naval Military College tells us why "military engagement with Saddam Hussein’s regime in Baghdad is not only necessary and inevitable, but good." [MetaFilter] 12:07:16 PM    comment []

Geek, Nerd, Genuis, Brainiac, Gifted: Just Pay me my Consulting Fee and I'll Keep my IQ to Myself GEEK!. Geek: Proud Label or Slanderous Epithet? On becoming comfortable in your own skin. via InstaPundit [MetaFilter] 10:47:14 AM    comment []

OpenOffice, Free Software, Open Source, and the SBA: Where's Pinky and the Brain When you Need Them? Mad antipiracy bot sics BSA on OpenOffice FTP site. University of Münster in conspiracy to distribute free software [The Register] 10:44:24 AM    comment []

Is there a New Anti-Google Blow-Back due to the Blogger Purchase? Weaning off Google. Pete Prodoehl: "What about a Google-Free Friday?" BTW, I am making an effort to wean myself off Google. It's hard to do. To be honest I wish it wasn't the prudent thing to do. I'm using AllTheWeb. Also going to check out AltaVista. But I still think of Google as authoritative. And when I look in my logs, I see it's delivering the traffic, not the others. There's an essay lurking in here, but I've been reluctant to write it. Here's what it would say. Up till now Google has done really well with the low-key, we-let-our-software-speak-for-us approach to public relations. But that method doesn't work now. People are confused about what Google is. Now the vast majority of people don't know enough to know that anything has changed. So it's not really a problem, unless you believe that word spreads. That's how Google became famous, because people who really understood the Web understood how good it was and told their friends, and they told their friends and so on. But I don't know what to say. I've seen Blogger as a respected competitor for almost four years. I've seen Google as a valuable utility, but never as a competitor. I have no words from Google to explain how they want me to understand that. And as a user I'm confused. I thought of Google as a search engine, not a portal. I thought that was the point. Search is important enough to make a company that just does search. But hosting? Site creation? Blogging? I don't see the connection. There's been so much speculation, but none of it makes sense to me. The Web doesn't require or even support this kind of integration. It could be that I'm missing something, but I don't think so. To think that Google would do something unweblike -- that's hard for my mind to believe. But there you have it. Confusion. And to think that when I have chosen in the past to link to a Google query that I was helping a competitor against search engines that don't compete with us in writing tools, well there you go -- that's my motivation to explore the other search engines, and that's why I feel my trust was betrayed by Google. Postscript #1: I've gotten a couple of accusatory emails from people inside Google. They insist I must have an axe to grind, that somehow what I've written here can't be what I really think. I hate to disappoint, but these are actually my thoughts, I haven't withheld anything important, there's no ulterior motive. I have had concerns about Google for quite some time, as I would about any Silicon Valley company that attains the kind of success they have. They were the last company I thought would turn into a competitor. I regret that I tilted the table to favor them over their competitors. I truly do. Postscript #2: Paul Nakada writes: "I added this to my c:\winnt\system32\drivers\etc\hosts file, 66.77.74.20 www.google.com, made the change, restart. Now my Google toolbar and Google searches go right to Alltheweb." [Scripting News] 10:39:58 AM    comment []

Try ALLTHE WEB or Kartoo This Friday Pete Prodoehl: "What about a Google-Free Friday?" [Scripting News] 10:37:46 AM    comment []

Conscientious Objector Status for Hackers? White House launches technological Peace Corps [IDG InfoWorld] 8:39:17 AM    comment []

More From Corel... Editors' Newswire for 5 March, 2003. Newswire stories, including: Corel XMetaL 4, and XML authoring platform; XML.com launches Web Services site; WSDL 1.2 Working Draft Published. [xmlhack] 8:35:18 AM    comment []

The Little Internet Meeting That Could: "I Think ICANN" Internet battle lines drawn at extraordinary Geneva meeting. ITU meeting sees Web great and good square up [The Register]   8:32:18 AM    comment []

Shrink Wrapped WIFI? Toshiba launches Wi-Fi 'hot spot in a box' project. Toshiba plans to deploy 10,000 public access Wi-Fi hot spots by year's end, while Intel is giving a boost to public Wi-Fi access in Asia through an agreement with the Singapore government. [Computerworld News] So far WIFI in a Box has been too expensive for small business owners. This needs to be offered at a reduced price so that WIFI becomes a free feature everywhere. 8:28:22 AM    comment []

It's Not Over Until the Fat Server Sings New WordPerfect Office 11 suite slated for April. Software maker Corel Corp. plans to debut new features and competitive pricing in its ongoing battle with Microsoft Office. [Computerworld News] There is a core group of Corel users that is not going away: US lawyers and government, and Canadian companies. They created all of those documents in WordPerfect 5.1 and they are not about to switch to Microsoft of Lotus of Star Office anytime soon. The demand from MOUStech.NET clients for Microsoft support is ten to one against Corel, but MOUStech.NET supports it's Corel customers. 8:20:20 AM    comment []