E-Communications & Community

September 25th, 2007

Zimbra plays matchmaker for Comcast and Yahoo!

Posted by Maurene Caplan Grey @ 7:18 am

Categories: Digital media, E-communications, Messaging, Web 2.0

Tags: Comcast Corp., Yahoo! Inc., Zimbra, TiVo Inc., Tv & Home Theater, TVs, Internet, Personal Technology, Home Entertainment, Maurene Caplan Grey

Earlier this year, Comcast announced their planned launch of SmartZone Communications Center — targeted for late 2007. Jay Fortner in Read/Write Web offers an excellent description of Smart Zone, components of which will result from Comcast’s technology partnerships with Zimbra (messaging) and Plaxo (contact management).

SmartZone Home Page

Last week, Yahoo! announced that they are acquiring Zimbra. Zimbra is a start-up that “has made a name for itself” through aggressive product development. From Between the Lines:

Zimbra has a browser-based client and supports Windows, Apple, and Linux desktops, as well as Microsoft Outlook a variety of mobile devices. On the server side, Zimbra supports Red Hat, Mac, Ubuntu, SUSE and Fedora. Version 5.0 is due later this year, and adds numerous features, such as multiple mail identities, personal distribution lists, advanced search in the administration console, instant messaging, external directory support and delegated mailbox and mail folders.

Yahoo!’s acquisition of Zimbra offsets Google’s evolving application arsenal. However, I believe that the Zimbra acquisition will be a significant part of a framework leading to a powerful alliance between Yahoo! and Comcast. Read the rest of this entry »

September 19th, 2007

Symphony plays on in Notes 8

Posted by Maurene Caplan Grey @ 12:53 pm

Categories: Collaboration, Email, IBM, Messaging, Microsoft, Productivity suites

Tags: Microsoft Office, IBM Lotus Notes, Microsoft Corp., IBM Corp., Media Coverage, E-mail Servers, Groupware, Enterprise Software, Software, Maurene Caplan Grey

It’s the morning after IBM’s Lotus Collaboration Summit, at which IBM announced that the reincarnation of an ODF-compliant Lotus Symphony is integrated into Notes 8 — as well as being offered as a free download. The media coverage conveys that IBM is trying to win over the Microsoft Office market, and the half-page IBM ad in yesterday’s New York Times about the free Symphony download appears to support the “IBM takes on Microsoft Office” mindset. But, I don’t believe that — not for a moment. Read the rest of this entry »

August 20th, 2007

Microsoft and Open Source: Kissing cousins

Posted by Maurene Caplan Grey @ 1:28 pm

Categories: Microsoft, Open Source

Tags: Open Source, Microsoft Corp., Xandros, Maurene Caplan Grey

In early 1994, the World Wide Web opened the gates of Internet travel for the average person — the same year that the Netscape Navigator browser was released. By mid-1994, millions of PC users were riding the “information highway.”

On December 7, 1995, Microsoft announced its plans for the quantum leap to Internet time.

“The thing that really motivates us is paranoia and competition,” says [Paul A.] Maritz [Microsoft group vice-president for platforms]. The day after Microsoft’s Dec. 7 splash, Netscape CEO James L. Barksdale was asked about the threat Microsoft posed. His joking response: “God is on our side.” That was like putting a match to dry kindling. “It’s the kind of stuff that gets people up in a locker room,” says [Brad] Silverberg, who now heads Microsoft’s Internet division. “I want to thank Netscape. All this trash talk helped get us motivated.”

Today, Microsoft’s Internet Explorer dominates the Web browser market. Read the rest of this entry »

August 10th, 2007

BlogHer07: A 2.0 human community

Posted by Maurene Caplan Grey @ 8:27 am

Categories: BlogHer07, Blogs, Social communities, Social media, Web 2.0

Tags: Web, Women, Blog, Maurene Caplan Grey

About a year ago, I was a neophyte blogger. My first few posts were force-fed into my blog. They were a “should” chore — I should be blogging. I approached “the blog” as unfamiliar technology. I didn’t yet realize that blog posts are born from passion, and that ”should blog” is an oxymoron.

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In late July, I attended BlogHer07. I was sipping my morning coffee, waiting for the keynote, when I experienced an epiphany: My “should blog” baggage was long gone. A collective passion and energy permeated the room. It wasn’t just me; others said that they felt it as well. BlogHer was an educational and networking event focused on the human effect of blogging — a viral revival meeting.

The conference included sessions on self-branding, storytelling, advocacy, politics, fundraising and the momosphere. At the same time, BlogHer was being held in Second Life. (A panelist shares her BlogHer Second Life experience.)

Many of the trade floor vendors left their tchotchkes at home. I got a laptop bag from AOL and an Essentials Renew kit from General Motors. Why such nice take-aways? Women generate revenue.

Women are the primary decision makers for the majority of household spend. According to BlogHer research:

• Women spend $5 trillion a year (U.S.) and control 83% of household spending.

• Women who blog are 30% more likely than average female Internet users to shop online–and spend more when they buy.  

Bloggers are influencers. Read the rest of this entry »

August 2nd, 2007

Xandros and Scalix: A marriage of convenience

Posted by Maurene Caplan Grey @ 1:08 pm

Categories: Collaboration, Messaging, Open Source

Tags: Scalix Corp., Xandros, Maurene Caplan Grey

Today’s trivia-by-association question: I say, “Linux.” Quick, what’s your first thought? …  

Xandros is gambling that their transition from a desktop Linux player to an end-to-end Linux platform player will drive Xandros mindshare, so as to position them with the Linux “big boys.” Given the voluminous number of Linux distributions, Xandros’s ambition is lofty — but not insurmountable.

In 2004, Xandros stepped into the server market, and progressively built out their infrastructure platform.

Meanwhile in the Scalix camp, founder Julie Hanna Farris had been skillfully, and aggressively, marketing Scalix as the ”Exchange Killer.“ As ZDNet’s David Berlind wrote back in 2005:

For Scalix’s first trick, it offered an Exchange-compatible e-mail and calendaring server for a fraction of the cost of what it takes to run Exchange.

Though certainly one of the more prevalent voices in the messaging/collaboration world, Scalix hardly has been alone Read the rest of this entry »

July 9th, 2007

Can Postini legitimize Google's enterprise ambitions?

Posted by Maurene Caplan Grey @ 3:51 pm

Categories: Email, Messaging, Productivity suites, Security

Tags: Google Inc., Postini Corp., Maurene Caplan Grey

Google has been thundering into the SaaS space with their broadening ”application-of-the-day” suite. Google has portrayed themselves as a productivity suite contender in the enterprise space, which supports today’s announced plan to acquire messaging security provider Postini. However, they face a Mount Everest-like uphill climb. Google needs to shed their pure-play consumer image, in favor of a provider for consumer and enterprise services. As my ZDNet colleagues, Dan Farber and Larry Dignan, point out in their post today:

With Postini, as well as its recent partnership with Salesforce, it’s clear that Google sees itself as an on-demand enterprise applications provider. The big question is whether enterprises will see Google that way.

Google’s venture into the enterprise space is further burdened by highly publicized privacy issues.  Read the rest of this entry »

July 5th, 2007

Confessions of a social community subscribe-aholic

Posted by Maurene Caplan Grey @ 1:50 pm

Categories: PIM, Social communities, Social media, Web 2.0

Tags: Plaxo Inc., Community, Maurene Caplan Grey

I have subscribed to more social communities than I can keep up with … and yet I keep clicking subscribe links. Some I bookmark, and some I don’t. Most are clutter in my cyber-closet. My name is Maurene, and I’m a social community subscribe-aholic.  

In my reality, each one is important — with bits and bytes of information to be discovered. I’ve lost count of how many I’ve subscribed to. I play with each for a while, then get bored and subscribe to a new community. However, there are a few that I use regularly: LinkedIn and del.icio.us (for business) and Flickr (for fun). I have a folder of mainly unread RSS feeds. The blogs that I really want to read are subscribed to through Feedblitz, which delivers an RSS-generated aggregation of new posts contained within an email message. I use Feed Crier to alert me via IM for posts “hot off the cyber-press.”

My old buddy Plaxo 2.0 has been ousted by Plaxo 3.0 (PIM extraordinaire). The Plaxo 3.0 sync-platform is built on SyncML, a platform-independent, sync open standard. As my ZDNet Between the Lines colleagues point out: 

It’s an opportunity for Plaxo to become a kind [of] data synching hub of contact and calendar data between all the services a person uses.

I consider Plaxo to be socially aware, because Read the rest of this entry »

June 27th, 2007

Web 2.0: Where "low-fi is the next high-fi"

Posted by Maurene Caplan Grey @ 7:57 am

Categories: Blogs, Digital media, E-communications, Social media, Web 2.0, Wiki

Tags: Web, Web 2.0, IP, Maurene Caplan Grey

My audience [will] live a happier, easier life here on the web!

Well, you’re gonna be a rock star with this!

Simple, entertaining, funny, and informative!

… and my personal favorite

You made it so simple, even my parents could understand it.

These are a sampling of comments received by the folk at CommonCraft.

CommonCraft has mastered the art of simplifying the complicated. They call it paperworks, and “believe lo-fi is the new hi-fi.”

Let’s say that tomorrow you need to give a presentation to your non-technical boss on the value of wikis. You could start with the Wikipedia definition of “wiki” — or you could start your presentation with this video.

Human communication fails when people speak different languages and do not have a translator or a common goal — for example, when the IT system engineer talks about IP (Internet Protocol) with the marketing design team responsible for IP (intellectual property).

I rarely gush over vendor products or services… but gosh darn it, this type of “2.0″ tutorial was just so easy to understand.

June 25th, 2007

Reality television leads to "unreality" communications

Posted by Maurene Caplan Grey @ 10:54 am

Categories: Digital media, E-communications, Social media

Tags: Internet, TV, Reality Television, Maurene Caplan Grey

I’m not a fan of today’s reality television.  I don’t really want to know that Sharon Osbourne likes to flash her son’s friends. However, there is a certain amount of voyeurism in all of us, which today’s reality television exploits and numbs us to the reality of unreality.

We now have the e-communicative tools to expose much of our private lives to anyone with access to the Internet, including Grandma Frieda. In fact, it’s common practice for future employers and college admission officers to check YouTube and MySpace for your possible transgressions - à la Paris Hilton.  

Discussing privacy and Twitter, eWeek.com writer, Jim Rapoza, says, “Obviously there are different levels of privacy, and the point at which it becomes an issue is different for everyone,” to which a reader commented:

But it still comes down to a matter of choice and control, and privacy advocates would be well to emphasize these aspects and insist that laws, regulations, and systems be constructed to allow the power to decide to stay in the hands of the individual.

Let’s say that I choose to post a photo of myself as a Las Vegas showgirl on the Internet. That’s my constitutional right. A month from now, I say to myself “What was I thinking!” Has the boldness of today’s reality television numbed our sensibilities in how we communicate on the Internet? Has the virtual reality of Internet communications (video, audio, Twitter, blogs and so on) dumbed down our thinking to the potential ”unreality” exposed on the Internet for perpetuity?

June 22nd, 2007

Good email can take the ISP fast lane

Posted by Maurene Caplan Grey @ 10:45 am

Categories: Email, Messaging, Security, Spam, email marketing

Tags: Internet Service Provider, E-mail, Maurene Caplan Grey

Comcast, Cox Communications, Time Warner Cable’s Road Runner and Verizon have joined Yahoo and AOL in adopting the CertifiedMail reputation program from Goodmail Systems.

Courtesy of Slashdot’s “something-to-think-about dept,” CmdrTaco asks What Happens If You Don’t Pay for Goodmail?  (Read CmdrTaco’s blog for an objective analysis of both sides of the debate.) 

[Here's] the Catch 22: If an ISP gives the same deliverability to non-Goodmail-certified messages, then who’s going to use it? On the other hand, if an ISP gives better deliverability to Goodmail-certified messages than to other messages (much more likely), then they are to some extent misrepresenting the services they sell to their users, since users expect an ISP to make the best effort to deliver all legitimate e-mails, not just the ones from paying senders.

A Moyers on America article provides an analogy in describing Net Neutrality. The analogy is equally applicable to reputation-based email:

For those companies that pay the fee, their content would breeze through the fast-pass lane at the toll bridge, reaching users more quickly; those who don’t pay will be stuck in the crowded, slow-moving line, and users will have to wait longer for their content to load.

An email message travels many Internet roads to reach its destination. During its journey, it “stops” at way stations — many of which are ISPs. Within the inner sanctum of Sender Reputation stakeholders, Goodmail has earned a marketing coup. It is a long way to the finish line (of protocol acceptance); however, Goodmail’s marketing coup was picked up by the trade press and perception (positive or negative) can appear to be reality.