Back in the 1990's, many of us encountered a fever much more virulent and quick spreading then the Bird Flu that is so worrisome today. It was, of course, Internet Fever. The symptoms were lightheadedness, delusions, and an unnaturally pale complextion.
I jest, of course. Bird Flu is s deadly serious threat to the health and well being of millions of people. However, there was kind of irrational sense of the importance of the Internet on world culture. A favorite saying at the time was that the "Internet will change everything". As we all know, that's not true. We still have mortgages, go to the bathroom, and have to get the car fixed. Life is not that different. Life has been speeding up constantly since the 1800's. Industrialization, electricifcation, and mass media had a much more profound effect on the pace of life.
What the Internet has allowed us to do is to store and retrieve information on a scale never before seen in human history. By combining the information store of everyone, together, we are unbound from the constraints of place and time. We do not have to go to the library or wait for a letter to arrive. We ask for information and it is there.
Despite all it's pretentions of newness, the Internet has become a great repository of historical information. Thousands of websites provide information about the smallest events and trends in human culture. Primary historical sources, that were previously available only to select scholars (such as immigration records from Ellis Island), are now available for all to use. Even better, historical and cultural information that would have taken years to accumulate and publish are available almost as fast as they happen. We no longer have to wait until someone publishes a book for the masses to learn about recent history.
No where is this more evident then in the sites devoted to recent cultural history . Want to know what the top song was on this day in 1984? It's on any of a dozen websites. Top grossing movie of 1975? That's there too. Interested in the fall television schedule of 1968? Try tvparty.com.
Not only is this information now readily available to scholars, amateur historians, and the simply curious, but much information that may have been discarded is preserved. Opinions, interviews, polls, and articles that may not have been preserved are saved for posterity. Even the history of the Internet itself is being saved for future generations. The wonderful site The Wayback Machine stores old copies of web sites going back to the mid 1990's. It is not only major sites like Yahoo that are archived (although looking at the Yahoo front page from 1996 is a hoot), but small ones like the company website of yours truly, starting from when I received my domain.
What will future generations think of this? It's hard to say since it will be as natural to them as reading a book is to us. But, if they think about it at all, they will be as glad of the Internet as modern historians are for Sumerian clay tablets.
Wednesday, February 15, 2006
Monday, January 30, 2006
Someone Give ILM a Quarter So It Can Call Someone Who Cares
When I started writing my book, Data Protection and Information Lifecycle Management, I was genuinely excited about ILM. ILM promised to bring us a new set of ways to manage information. By attending to the process of information and by recognizing that that value of information changes over the its lifespan, IT managers would be able to get a handle on what was really important abouth their data. Business Process Engineering made us think differently (sorry Apple, but I don't mean it that way) about how our companies went about our business. It seemed that the same would happen for information with ILM.
So, where are we today? ILM is quickly becoming a narrow technology, so closely tied to data storage that it's original meaning is all but lost. You can sum up the current state of ILM in one word: Compliance. It's no longer about deriving the most value from your informaition. It's not a process that keeps you from spending lots of money on worthless information. Now it's all about keep the regulators from nailing you with a fine or shareholders from sueing the CEO out of a job. In short, the lawyers have taken over.
Don't get me wrong. I have a lot of friends that are lawyers and good ones at that. It's that the concerns of lawyers represent a very narrow slice of the business world. For them it's all about protecting the company from liability. That's what they are paid to do. ILM, however, was also about saving money, keeping customers happy, and productivity. All of this has been lost in the race to find a magic pill to cure the compliance woes.
What ILM has been waiting for is products. The concepts and processes were understood but there was little product support. That's no longer true but all the products are geared toward a very narrow interpretaion of ILM. By and large, ILM products either move data (not information by the way) around in a tiered storage architecture, or monitor e-mails for compliance with regulations. Much of the software involved is concerned with making sure that no e-mail is around any longer than it needs to be and doesn't disappear before then. These tools do not begin to cover the range of functions that real ILM should cover.
I can't blame manufacturers, especially the big ones. They are only responding to what their customers tell them. What is sad is that the IT community still doesn't get that information has value and needs to be managed like an asset.
There is little chance for a change in attitude now. Technology operates like a feedback loop. Since customers asked for a narrow definition of ILM, the products fulfill that, industry groups glom on to what the companies are selling, the press reprots on it, and now that's what everyone thinks it is. And so on and so on...
Some of us are trying to reshape ILM into a broader category called Information Management. A couple of my more recent articles and presentations do this by outlining a full set of information processes and technologies and calling them something other then ILM. That's okay since ILM was always just a special case of Information Management. But that special case was based on the ILM attributes of time and value. Neither is particularly a trait of ILM anymore.
So we shift to the next thing. We accept the equation {ILM = Compliance} and focus the broader issues in the Information Management space. Just remember to recalibrate your head...
So, where are we today? ILM is quickly becoming a narrow technology, so closely tied to data storage that it's original meaning is all but lost. You can sum up the current state of ILM in one word: Compliance. It's no longer about deriving the most value from your informaition. It's not a process that keeps you from spending lots of money on worthless information. Now it's all about keep the regulators from nailing you with a fine or shareholders from sueing the CEO out of a job. In short, the lawyers have taken over.
Don't get me wrong. I have a lot of friends that are lawyers and good ones at that. It's that the concerns of lawyers represent a very narrow slice of the business world. For them it's all about protecting the company from liability. That's what they are paid to do. ILM, however, was also about saving money, keeping customers happy, and productivity. All of this has been lost in the race to find a magic pill to cure the compliance woes.
What ILM has been waiting for is products. The concepts and processes were understood but there was little product support. That's no longer true but all the products are geared toward a very narrow interpretaion of ILM. By and large, ILM products either move data (not information by the way) around in a tiered storage architecture, or monitor e-mails for compliance with regulations. Much of the software involved is concerned with making sure that no e-mail is around any longer than it needs to be and doesn't disappear before then. These tools do not begin to cover the range of functions that real ILM should cover.
I can't blame manufacturers, especially the big ones. They are only responding to what their customers tell them. What is sad is that the IT community still doesn't get that information has value and needs to be managed like an asset.
There is little chance for a change in attitude now. Technology operates like a feedback loop. Since customers asked for a narrow definition of ILM, the products fulfill that, industry groups glom on to what the companies are selling, the press reprots on it, and now that's what everyone thinks it is. And so on and so on...
Some of us are trying to reshape ILM into a broader category called Information Management. A couple of my more recent articles and presentations do this by outlining a full set of information processes and technologies and calling them something other then ILM. That's okay since ILM was always just a special case of Information Management. But that special case was based on the ILM attributes of time and value. Neither is particularly a trait of ILM anymore.
So we shift to the next thing. We accept the equation {ILM = Compliance} and focus the broader issues in the Information Management space. Just remember to recalibrate your head...
Wednesday, December 21, 2005
The Pain of Upgrades
We all like up-to-date software. Who can say "no" to new features or more stable code. The past few weeks have seen major new versions of the popular open source browser Firefox, and Konfabulator, now called Yahoo! Widgets. The other great Mozilla application, Thunderbird (which is to e-mail what firefox is to web browsing) is expected within weeks. What great holiday presents. Or, they would be if the actual updates weren't so difficult. This is the tale of three such upgrades.
Windows XP SP2
I will be the first to admit that I made things difficult on myself. I chose to finally upgrade to Windows XP SP2 and install every update that was pending. It was about time. The new features don't matter much - I don't need yet another firewall - but the patches and security features were due.
This one, I must say went relatively smooth. Okay, I had to reboot like a half dozen times. You would think that by now someone would have figured out how to stage these updates so that we don't have to restart after each one. In the grand scheme of things this is an annoyance.
What is not an annoyance is when applications stop working. My favorite graphics program no longer displayed anything loaded into it. The software thought that pictures were there but refused to display them. After another round of updates, it started working again. This leads me to believe that it was not the graphics applications. Instead, it was probably one of the updates. Updates are supposed to fix things not break them.
The second problem occured when I went to run Windows Media Player. It acted like this was the first time I had installed it. It made me run through the whole "first run" process. How stupid. This is an UPGRADE not a new installation. There is no good reason to make us go through the start up process again and again.
Firefox 1.5
The actual installation was a breeze (notice a pattern). It updated my installation in a snap. That's when the fun began. It turns out that a lot of extensions and themes that I had installed no longer worked and there were no updates to them available. This is the Achilles heal of open source. You can't expect that the free extras will work when things change in the main application. Given that Firefox 1.5 has been in Beta for months, you have to wonder why this is so. I have to assume it is because the folks that write these extensions have real lives and simply couldn't spend time on it. That doesn't explain why the AskJeeves toolbar wasn't ready. They're supposed to be a real company, right?
The oddest thing about this upgrade were the inconsistancies between my laptop installation and the desktop one. I had fewer problems on the laptop even though the software is mostly the same and the hardware pretty close. Go figure. A good example is the Greasemonkey script engine. It installed well on both machines but did not work on my desktop. On both it wiped out my existing scripts (a real pain in the neck) but on my desktop machine it wouldn't allow me to install and new scripts (a bigger pain in the neck). I was left scriptless and perhaps witless. That was not the case on my laptop where it worked fine. Hmmmm. As Alice would have said "Curiouser and curiouser". I finally found a resolution on a forum somewhere. Apparently, in some cases a file directory doesn't get created. Without this file (which can be empty), Greasemonkey can't install new scripts.
Again, I know that this is free and all but if things like this continue to happen, open source will eventually die. It will be too expensive and hard to maintain. Microsoft will win and it will be the end for the open source movement. Not that I'm a prophet of doom or anything
Now if they could only fix the memory leak that causes my browser to continue to east memory until it's all gone, I would be happier.
The Software Formerly Known as Konfabulator
First question: Why change the name? I know that Yahoo is all about brand but why not Yahoo! Konfabulator? That at least sounds cool. Yahoo! Widgets sounds so pedestrian. Are they trying to copyright the word "widget"? That can't be since "widget" has been used in this context since the dawn of computing.
By any measure, the upgrade is a mess. The fact that they released three versions of the program in less then a week is an indicator of some pretty poor testing. One look at the forums shows installation errors a-plenty, not to mention broken widgets all over the place. Lots of other problems have been reported including runaway memory usage and endlessly spawning process. Overall the mood is ugly.
My problems were with the installer. Yahoo! has you download a small bit of code which then installs the rest over the Internet. In my case, the installer just plain crashed. In the end, I scrounged around for a full install that worked fine. After that, I had no problems but others have not been as lucky.
Unlike the Mozilla people, Yahoo! has few excuses for this. They have the resources to properly test this code better. It is supposed to be a major step in their overall strategy to tie us to Yahoo services. It's a nice integration too. The Notes widget (which looks like a stick notepad) is integrated with Yahoo! Notepad and the Day Planner with Yahoo! Calender. It sure is a value-add to these services, though I'm not sure how Yahoo! will make money from it. There's no advertising on any of these widgets. Whatever the strategy, it won't work if the software is a bust. It's hard to make money by pissing off your customers.
Overall, consumer software upgrades are too sloppy. This type of behavior will drive people to hosted applications.Maybe that's the strategy. If the software on your PC is so hard to maintain, everyone will use the hosted applications instead. Then, companies will be able to shove advertising in front of our eyeballs... or wherever else they might want to shove it.
Okay. Now I get it...
Windows XP SP2
I will be the first to admit that I made things difficult on myself. I chose to finally upgrade to Windows XP SP2 and install every update that was pending. It was about time. The new features don't matter much - I don't need yet another firewall - but the patches and security features were due.
This one, I must say went relatively smooth. Okay, I had to reboot like a half dozen times. You would think that by now someone would have figured out how to stage these updates so that we don't have to restart after each one. In the grand scheme of things this is an annoyance.
What is not an annoyance is when applications stop working. My favorite graphics program no longer displayed anything loaded into it. The software thought that pictures were there but refused to display them. After another round of updates, it started working again. This leads me to believe that it was not the graphics applications. Instead, it was probably one of the updates. Updates are supposed to fix things not break them.
The second problem occured when I went to run Windows Media Player. It acted like this was the first time I had installed it. It made me run through the whole "first run" process. How stupid. This is an UPGRADE not a new installation. There is no good reason to make us go through the start up process again and again.
Firefox 1.5
The actual installation was a breeze (notice a pattern). It updated my installation in a snap. That's when the fun began. It turns out that a lot of extensions and themes that I had installed no longer worked and there were no updates to them available. This is the Achilles heal of open source. You can't expect that the free extras will work when things change in the main application. Given that Firefox 1.5 has been in Beta for months, you have to wonder why this is so. I have to assume it is because the folks that write these extensions have real lives and simply couldn't spend time on it. That doesn't explain why the AskJeeves toolbar wasn't ready. They're supposed to be a real company, right?
The oddest thing about this upgrade were the inconsistancies between my laptop installation and the desktop one. I had fewer problems on the laptop even though the software is mostly the same and the hardware pretty close. Go figure. A good example is the Greasemonkey script engine. It installed well on both machines but did not work on my desktop. On both it wiped out my existing scripts (a real pain in the neck) but on my desktop machine it wouldn't allow me to install and new scripts (a bigger pain in the neck). I was left scriptless and perhaps witless. That was not the case on my laptop where it worked fine. Hmmmm. As Alice would have said "Curiouser and curiouser". I finally found a resolution on a forum somewhere. Apparently, in some cases a file directory doesn't get created. Without this file (which can be empty), Greasemonkey can't install new scripts.
Again, I know that this is free and all but if things like this continue to happen, open source will eventually die. It will be too expensive and hard to maintain. Microsoft will win and it will be the end for the open source movement. Not that I'm a prophet of doom or anything
Now if they could only fix the memory leak that causes my browser to continue to east memory until it's all gone, I would be happier.
The Software Formerly Known as Konfabulator
First question: Why change the name? I know that Yahoo is all about brand but why not Yahoo! Konfabulator? That at least sounds cool. Yahoo! Widgets sounds so pedestrian. Are they trying to copyright the word "widget"? That can't be since "widget" has been used in this context since the dawn of computing.
By any measure, the upgrade is a mess. The fact that they released three versions of the program in less then a week is an indicator of some pretty poor testing. One look at the forums shows installation errors a-plenty, not to mention broken widgets all over the place. Lots of other problems have been reported including runaway memory usage and endlessly spawning process. Overall the mood is ugly.
My problems were with the installer. Yahoo! has you download a small bit of code which then installs the rest over the Internet. In my case, the installer just plain crashed. In the end, I scrounged around for a full install that worked fine. After that, I had no problems but others have not been as lucky.
Unlike the Mozilla people, Yahoo! has few excuses for this. They have the resources to properly test this code better. It is supposed to be a major step in their overall strategy to tie us to Yahoo services. It's a nice integration too. The Notes widget (which looks like a stick notepad) is integrated with Yahoo! Notepad and the Day Planner with Yahoo! Calender. It sure is a value-add to these services, though I'm not sure how Yahoo! will make money from it. There's no advertising on any of these widgets. Whatever the strategy, it won't work if the software is a bust. It's hard to make money by pissing off your customers.
Overall, consumer software upgrades are too sloppy. This type of behavior will drive people to hosted applications.Maybe that's the strategy. If the software on your PC is so hard to maintain, everyone will use the hosted applications instead. Then, companies will be able to shove advertising in front of our eyeballs... or wherever else they might want to shove it.
Okay. Now I get it...
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