Readers weigh in on Ray Ozzie, Cisco's AON and "The Thing" - or Google
First things first. If you're an Angels fan, you took it on the chin last night. A.J. whatever-his-name-is was out and no explanation from the ump about his strike-calling motion can negate the fact that the ball never touched the ground. That's the kind of thing that, up until 2004, used to happen to the Red Sox quite regularly on their way to being bumped out of the playoffs. Sure, the Sox got bounced this year, but it was because they were genuinely outplayed by a club deeper in talent, particularly on the mound. I'm okay with it. Really. No, I am.
As I prepare for Vortex 05, which is less than 2 weeks away, I have been ably aided in my pursuit of knowledge and insight by readers like you who are virtuous and generous in sharing your thoughts. I want to share some of those with the wider audience and encourage you to reach by to me here.
Regarding my most recent piece on Google and its creeping tendrils of influence, Vortician Bill Baker wrote: "Firstly, let me thank you for mentioning one of my all-time favorite sci-fi flicks, you are truly a rare celluloid connoisseur. [My reference was to John Carpenter's "The Thing," and since my original note I've found this great, unofficial Thing site.] I still get the chills when I think of the dog trying to chew through the chicken-wire fence to get away. Film making at its best.
"Secondly, I cannot believe that VOUS; a sophisticated, Hollywood-hip and hype-savvy guy would fall for all this great googlie-mooglie stuff [about Google]. We see
this in Hollywood everyday; a megastar strolls on Rodeo Drive and all the paparazzi and papers are abuzz about what the star visited. In most cases, it is just more free PR, that's it!!!! I am convinced of this: when Google decides to do something no one will have a clue. So let's get back to work and stop acting like a bunch of autograph seekers. Just let them be! They will let us know when they are ready."
Regarding my story that touched on Microsoft's recent restructuring and CTO Ray Ozzie's new role in the company, Vortician Jeff Engel had this to say:
"Microsoft's latest, greatest invention? Ozzie's job title! He might as well have the title of Software Messiah. It's tedious to wait years or decades for something innovative from the slothful giant. We are all paying dearly for the lost opportunity cost of Microsoft's monopolistic inertia. Ray Ozzie has joined the ranks of sell-out, co-opted geniuses. Another casualty under the wheels of the big garbage truck of software, Microsoft. Open source software might be 20 years late, but 20 years from now, it probably will be dominant."
On my entry about Cisco's application-oriented networking strategy, Vortician Peter Relan wrote: "John, your AON blog caught my attention: every major new initiative meets with skepticism and confusion initially, and the good ones usually clear up the fog within a year with real products, customers and value propositions. I think it's too early to tell about AON, but I would say one thing: its high time that the application and the network worlds converged. One thing no one seems to talk about is the huge separation in the corporate enterprise between the network and the applications.
"Large corporations are increasingly rationalizing the network and the data center into a horizontal corporate function, while the applications are still stovepipes in lines of business. Network and data center folks have little if any knowledge of applications, and application folks have little knowledge and interest in the network. To them it's dial tone.
"To me the big question is not how AON will be pulled off technologically, but organizationally. We at Business Signatures run into this often, and our approach has been to package half of our application into a software appliance in the network so the network folks can treat it like a router or switch, and the rest of our application as a LOB-specific configurable system so the application folks can get their hands on it. It works remarkably well in keeping both sides of the organization happy.
"A critical success factor for AON will be not how to engage the network organization: if Cisco can't do that we should all go home. The key challenge will be how to get the LOB application folks engaged with a compelling AON value proposition they actually can get their hands on. I suspect middleware partnerships will be key, because it's middleware that sits in the "middle" of the network and the app. If that is the case, IBM and Websphere will become the control point for AON. And that's an interesting possibility: How will Cisco ensure it doesn't lose the leverage point in its own play? Remember Oracle and the Network Computer initiative. I believe it was Dell who leveraged that initiative to its advantage, not Oracle."
Finally, in response to a newsletter piece about possible future scenarios for the technology industry, Vortician Geoff Seabrook voiced these thoughts: "You invited comments on your four scenarios for the future and also talked about key trends CIO should be focused on. Here are my views.
"The Asian countries have already left the Americans behind in key several areas, both in building and using next-generation technology, so the real question is can the American companies and infrastructure get their act together and fight back? This will need business visionaries and politicians focused on the issues of the 21st century rather than the legacy of the 20th century. I write this as someone who has worked in Silicon Valley for 25 years, now lives in Europe and is bringing Asian technology to market (so, yes, I’m biased but perhaps also see things from a different perspective than the majority of Vorticians).
"Terrorism must be high on anyone’s agenda (I live close to London now) and I’m afraid it is something we must learn to live with. This is one of a number of fundamental events occurring that will change the way we work. The carbon fuels crisis and the preference from the less privileged or aggrieved people for terrorism rather than traditional warfare mean that travel is set to become prohibitively expensive and traditional city center offices will be an even less attractive option. For the past 50 years the jet airliner and motor car have dominated our business life. In my career I have flown over 3 million miles as an executive in multinational corporations to attend meetings.
"Today I use and also promote online desktop video, voice and data meetings. We were working with one European Institution recently which spends €100 million a year on meetings. Their issue should be productivity and providing value for the money to the taxpayers. However, what has finally got them interested in online meetings is that people won’t travel to meetings because of the threat of terrorism disrupting their travel or office. Their interest in online meetings is the right answer but I’m afraid it’s for the wrong reason.
"In the future we will not commute to offices every day nor travel around the world for meetings. We will use available technology, as I and my colleagues in Asia already do every day, to have face-to-face meetings with colleagues around the world when we want to, as often as we need to and without waste of time or the frustration of travel. This trend will have huge implications for CIOs and corporate networks. My experience is that they are thinking about this in Asia, in South America, Russia and about half of Europe. The companies that use this type of technology will gain an immense competitive advantage. It’s not surprising to me that Japan, South Korea and China lead the world in deploying these online meeting systems.
"I do worry about terrorism stopping the Internet but suspect they need it as much as we do.
"Your other two issues don’t interest me much, probably because I no longer live in America and have no equity in any of the companies. I remember that these things used to seem really important to me, but simply don’t any more. There will be a standard desktop, but I don’t care who it comes from, as to become a standard they will take care of the legacy issues. [I had asked whether, some years hence, Google would 'own' the desktop.] Open source versus proprietary – eventually commodity or free solutions will be available for all legacy applications. The issue surely is what’s next, not protecting the past.
"My view is that Asia is leading the charge into the 21st Century. It will be interesting to my children who [will surpass] Asia as the economic powerhouses of their generation. My money is not being bet on anyone else yet, but I’ve got a sneaky feeling we should all be watching south of the Panama Canal."
Wow. I told you these readers were smart. Thanks Bill, Peter, Jeff and Geoff. I surely appreciate it. And let's hear from the rest of you! Get me here.
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