Connect The Dots

After some time away from my blog I think the best way to report on progress with the common frames of reference project is to basically summarize results and plans and to invite comment from those interested in the project. The common frames of reference project including a recommended approach to improving IT processes, is explained in more detail in the file here that you can download. Draft Report - The Value of Common Framework Thinking in IT A bunch of interviews have been done, taped and reviewed. A key challenge is how to move the project forward and the next step is very likely going to be a survey ...

There has been a lot of noise recently about the deal that Apple has cut with EMI - so I decided to dig into this story. Apple - DRM free? maybe finally Apple gets the picture. Given Apple's proprietory history though this seemed like a strange twist indeed. Further investigation shows that users may in fact, quite to the contrary of the DRM free promise, be very careful about buying anything from Apple. But before getting into the risks lurking in this new value proposition - its worth revisiting the Apple on-line model. The Apple proprietary interface First of all to actually do anything with Apple you have to download their I Tunes player. So although they are in the business of ...

Should Facebook have taken the $1.5B from Yahoo! Maybe! There is an interesting article in the Canadian Globe and Mail - which essentially poses the question why didn't they take the money? Most pundits are saying they should have and that they won't get another offer - but not so fast - lets take a look at the numbers! The following data is from Comscore Media Metrix (www.comscore.com). Clink the links to open the file - Facebook Summary Quick Summary - Facebook is a big property which has had a "patchy" growth story [23M unique visitors last month] . For supernova growth (ie Google/Myspace etc) – you need a true "network effect" – ie unconstrained vertical growth. ...

Last November there was a very interesting article about new tools and technologies that will drive Web 3.0 by John Markoff of the New York Times. Apart from being of general interest, this matters because there are claims that within these new technologies there is a “Google Killing" application. Initial reaction across blogs was fairly negative with an eclectic but interesting set of observations. So, rather than resort to a quick and merciless blog entry, I thought it more interesting to dig deeper and get past the “label veneer.” This ended up being an odyssey of link- following, and generally learning more about some obscure and complicated new technologies ranging from OWL to ONTOLOGY to SPARQL. In ...