Showing posts with label Google. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Google. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 06, 2021

Google v. Oracle Supreme Court Decision

 The Supreme Court of the United States ruled yesterday in the case Google LLC v. Oracle America Inc. that Google would prevail in Oracle’s 2010 lawsuit regarding Google’s use of Java in the Android operating system. Citing that it was “fair use” for Google to have copied the API (Application Programming Interface) of the Java Programming Language. I don’t think that the Justices were fully aware of the consequences of their decision and stated categorically that their assumption was that Oracle’s copyright of Java was valid. And therefore their ruling only applied to the API and did not violate their understanding of copyright. I believe that this separation of copyright and API is valid and will hold copyright holders to the same rights and privileges they’ve always had. The consequences of this decision will have significant implications towards software developers, developments in general, software in general and the software user overall. An important consideration in this discussion is that most object oriented software code is freely accessible, subject to the license requirements upon download. Signing the license and downloading it are your agreement to uphold these requirements which state that the Java Programming Language is free to use, however, any revenues generated from those derivative works would be subject to a royalty payable to Oracle. Oracle has received payments from every other developer on this basis but not Google. 

It came down to what the definition of an API is and what is it for. In the past programming code was procedural and all aspects of the software application including menu items, features and variables were all included in the one holistic software code base. Think of the computer just processing through a loop of code from beginning to end and then starting over and over. The issue was when software became more capable and usable bugs creeped in and caused the application itself to become unusable. Limiting the upside in terms of software developments capabilities. Java built upon the concept of object oriented programming that was introduced a few decades earlier. It was conceptually that each of the components of a program were broken down to the individual features and implemented within one object. Think of building a program with Lego bricks. Therefore isolating the bugs and issues to the objects that were unable to function as desired. Each object is unaware of any other object's existence however can access other objects capabilities through methods and other features of the programming language. Packaging of a comprehensive feature set of objects into a framework for others is one of the desired capabilities of object oriented programming. The calling of Java is write once, run anywhere. The redundancy of having to rewrite the same code over and over again in procedural programming was a major hindrance to the development, quality and speed of the deliverability of software applications. 

Object reusability became the focus of all developers. If you could access a framework that conducted the necessary work you needed, all you needed to do was access that framework’s API. The API provided the doorway to the published code of the framework that someone spent a significant amount of time and money developing. The code had become tried and tested, was generally what was needed and because it was object oriented, was extendable by any object based developers, and here’s the necessary requirement, through the license of the frameworks copyright holder. The API they were providing was a doorway to facilitate ease of use and understanding in how to use the framework. What the Supreme Court did yesterday was to effectively eliminate the copyright protection on the API. Saying Google’s use of the API was fair use is ridiculous when the Justices also indicate that Android had provided over $42 billion in revenue to Google. This is wholly inconsistent with the concept of fair use. Fair use doesn’t permit the generation of revenues off others' works. The API doorway will now be effectively closed. It will be replaced with a drawbridge, and a moat will be built around the framework for any developer to enter. Partial compensation will probably be necessary as a down payment to sign the license and access the framework. Licensing will be far stricter. 

One of the consequences of this is the object oriented programming languages will cease to be as effective in developing software efficiently, effectively and affordably. Royalties will be higher to access the frameworks and content of those who own valuable copyrighted material. Think Microsoft, IBM, Google and all of the other software companies that were proponents of Google in this action. Content will be king and everyone will have to pay dearly for it. Developers work will be more constrained as access to the necessary frameworks will be a legal process that precedes their access and possibly have to pick through the copyrighted materials themselves to find what it is they’re looking for and how to use it. Ease of use through the API isn’t available. 

Oracle is our technological provider. We use the entire Oracle product suite as the technology base of the Preliminary Specification. This includes Java, as well as many other products written in Java. It is reasonable to assume that much of this code may also be licensed from other software providers who are allowing licensed access to Oracle for its use through their API. I anticipate this will affect our development of the Preliminary Specification in detrimental ways. As the copyright holder of the Preliminary Specification we own that content and it is unaffected by this decision. We will not be publishing any API’s at any point. We also have expectations that our costs will escalate due to the superfluous legal necessities this unnecessarily causes. Our ability to access API’s for our convenience will be a doorway that is no longer open to us. And as object based developers this will have a time and monetary impact on our development. 

It is therefore at this time. A time in which we are asserting maximum pressure on the producers for them to act and fund the Preliminary Specification. That an amendment to our budget is necessary. We are therefore adding an additional $1 billion cost to the development costs as a result of the Supreme Court's decision. Based on the allocation of our margins this will require an incremental $3 billion be added to our budget for a total of $15 billion U.S. I am also cautioning, as the effects of this decision become more clear, our budget may be further clarified and amended. 

The Preliminary Specification, our user community and service providers provide for a dynamic, innovative, accountable and profitable oil and gas industry with the most profitable means of oil and gas operations, everywhere and always. Setting the foundation for profitable North American energy independence. People, Ideas & Objects have published a white paper “Profitable, North American Energy Independence -- Through the Commercialization of Shale.” that captures the vision of the Preliminary Specification and our actions. Users are welcome to join me here. Together we can begin to meet the future demands for energy. Anyone can contact me at 713-965-6720 in Houston or 587-735-2302 in Calgary, or email me here

Saturday, August 06, 2011

McKinsey, Google's Eric Schmidt

Its the weekend and that means McKinsey. This Saturday’s post provides a video of Google’s Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt talking on business culture, technology and social issues. I find that Eric Schmidt’s video presentations are as informative and valuable as those of Apple’s Steve Jobs. As such when either make presentations on any topic they are in the must view category. This McKinsey video doesn’t disappoint, enjoy.

For the industry to successfully provide for the consumers energy demands, it’s necessary to build the systems that identify and support the Joint Operating Committee. Building the Preliminary Specification is the focus of People, Ideas & Objects. Producers are encouraged to contact me in order to support our Revenue Model and begin their participation in these communities. Those individuals that are interested in joining People, Ideas & Objects can join me here and begin building the software necessary for the successful and innovative oil and gas industry.

Please note what Google+ provides us is the opportunity to prove that People, Ideas & Objects are committed to developing this community. That this is user developed software, not change that is driven from the top down. Join me on the People, Ideas & Objects Google+ Circle and begin building the community for the development of the Preliminary Specification. Email me here if you need an invite.

Sunday, July 17, 2011

We're on Google+


In what has to be considered perfect timing. The public debut of Google+ has just been announced. Google+ is Google’s new social network tool that is available to anyone that has a Google Account. (If you need an invitation to Google+ please email me here.) This is perfect timing in the sense that we are returning from our sabbatical to begin the development of the community, and Google+ is the tool to help us make that happen.

What’s different about Google+ in comparison to Facebook and Twitter is that it provides both services in one. That is to say you can broadcast a simple message to everyone that follows you, just like Twitter and Facebook does. Or your able to control the messages you send to just the Circle of people that you want. Two additional features are that you can set up “hangouts” which provides video chat with up to ten people at the same time, and Sparks which can search and deliver content on different topics.

What Google+ provides us with is the opportunity to prove that People, Ideas & Objects are committed to developing this community. That this is user developed software, not change that is driven from the top down. Join me on the People, Ideas & Objects Google+ Circle and begin building the community for the development of the Preliminary Specification. Please email me here if you need an invite to Google+ and lets get started.

For the industry to successfully provide for the consumers energy demands, it’s necessary to build the systems that identify and support the Joint Operating Committee. Building the Preliminary Specification is the focus of People, Ideas & Objects. Producers are encouraged to contact me in order to support our Revenue Model and begin their participation in these communities. Those individuals that are interested in joining People, Ideas & Objects can join me here and begin building the software necessary for the successful and innovative oil and gas industry.

Monday, August 16, 2010

Oracle vs. Google

Oracle has taken steps to litigate Google’s use of Java on the Android operating system; claiming Google’s use of Java requires payment for the technology. Oracle’s lawsuit seeks to establish that Google’s use violates its patent and copyright. One thing that can be stated about Oracle’s acquisition of Sun Microsystems, is that the adults are now running the show.

Working with Sun Microsystems was frustrating on many different levels. One of the frustrations is there never seemed to be any follow through from the business point of view. They may have built the most advanced technologies, but left the major issues of the business and marketing to chance. Letting the altruistic “community” or “open source” world develop the business.

This statement may appear in contrast to the dedication and commitment of People, Ideas & Objects to its communities. To that I would make the following points. When it comes to open systems, “free” does not mean for nothing. Free or open source systems leave the overall leadership or guidance of the product in the hands of the community. That the community is free to discover the correct direction for the product. People, Ideas & Objects has put the product direction in the hands of the user, producer and Community of Independent Service Providers. The business of how our communities will survive in the long term follows a similar strategy to what Oracle is employing.

In Sun’s “altruistic” management of their communities they left the business aspects of their technologies to find their own way. The community needs to be supported financially. Without the financial resources, there is no sustainable viable long-term community that will survive. Leaving the communities financial resources to the whims of whether Google would pay or not is foolhardy. Now that Oracle is monetizing these Intellectual Property assets, the Java community will prosper.

With that stated, it is important to note that People, Ideas & Objects have budgeted for all of Oracle licenses, including Java. These are being paid on behalf of our users, producers and Community of Independent Service Providers. At no time will users or producers be expected to pay Oracle directly, or be subject to any Oracle litigation with respect to their use of the underlying Java or Oracle technologies used in People, Ideas & Objects software applications.

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Friday, March 05, 2010

Google App Script and App Engine

Each user of People, Ideas & Objects is provided with a "Google Apps account for your domain". This includes Gmail, Calendar, Documents [Document, Presentation and Spreadsheet] and Sites applications. If necessary users will also be provided with access to SalesForce.com applications. All of these applications are included and accessed as part of the Security & Access Control Module of the Draft Specification. There are many other Google applications like Contacts, Start-Page, Groups and Chat but two of the most useful to the users might be Google App Script and Google App Engine.

Recall the purpose of the Security & Access Control Module is two-fold. First providing the data security and integrity of the producers information, and access control based on the Military Command & Control Metaphor. It is this module that enables and limits the users domain to that which they are authorized by their client producers and Joint Operating Committee's.

What People, Ideas & Objects provides is the software development capability that users need. Transaction processing, transaction design and marketplace application modules to name a few types of functions. This development capability is to build the software tools users need to exercise their tacit knowledge of the oil and gas industry. There is also a small area of functionality where it may be necessary to have ad-hoc queries and reports generated. Having the People, Ideas & Objects developers involved in these application types becomes expensive.

I'm assuming that the line between the two forms of processing, heavy industrial vs. lightweight, is understood by most users. This post is about the ad-hoc lightweight tools that users will have available to them within the Google Apps applications that are embedded within the Security & Access Control Module of the Draft Specification.

Google App Script is very similar to the advanced features in Excel. The ability to access data however, I think, is much more advanced then Excel. These Java Script scripts are not limited in any fashion. The user therefore inherits the web interface for these programs that they might write. Google has recently published a tutorial on the use of Google App Script that shows the power of this technology. If you have a Google account you can access these from within the Spreadsheet application included in Google Docs. The tutorial and API are available to get you started.

Google App Engine is substantially more capable. Particularly from the point of view of the Java based service. There are only two areas where the user is limited from accessing. The file system and threads. Best of all the SDK is able to be run in an IDE like NetBeans or Eclipse (both of which are free) which allows you to leverage the entire Java community. Powerful stuff, where the initial costs of running applications is next to nothing. Members of the Community of Independent Service Providers could also use Google App Engine to run applications for their own businesses.

I see a very large role for the user based applications described in this post, the Google tutorials and elsewhere. Having a "Swiss Army Knife" type of application is very valuable. The key difference between these services and the Draft Specification Modules is the ability to write data back to People, Ideas & Objects databases. That has to be handled in a fashion that can't be accommodated with the two tools we are talking about here today. However, Google App Engine provides you with access to Google's Big Table to store your own data.

If your an enlightened producer, an oil and gas director, investor or shareholder, who would be interested in funding these software developments and communities, please follow our Funding Policies & Procedures, and our Hardware Policies & Procedures. If your a government that collects royalties from oil and gas producers, and are concerned about the accuracy of your royalty income, please review our Royalty Policies & Procedures and email me. And if your a potential user of this software, and possibly as a member of the Community of Independent Service Providers, please join us here.

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Sunday, November 22, 2009

Eric Schmidt's Google IO Keynote

Dr. Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google presented the keynote at the Google IO conference. Many of the things that he says are consistent and applicable to work being done by this community. What I want to highlight in this post is the maturation of the underlying Information technologies. We entered this decade with the misguided belief that IT systems would collapse due to some storage related issues with the date. The final nail in the coffin of tech careers came with the 2001 dot com meltdown. The one constant throughout these issues was the focus on technology. Technology fails when its presented as the reason for change. In many ways as a result of the fallout of these technical failures, the belief that technologies day had ended became the standard thinking of people outside of technology companies.

This software development project focuses on the business issues inherent in the oil and gas industry as the justification for change. In addition, are the structural economic changes in play during this time of renewal. Schmidt agrees;
And let me tell you that it's time, it's time for us to take advantage of the amazing opportunity that is before us.
Yes now is the time when all the planet's line up. The technology, the business environment and society demand a greater efficiency. Schmidt notes in terms of the maturity of technology.
Why is it time? Because people are frustrated. They're tired of the complexity of all the systems that have been built up over the last 20 years. They do not work.
Schmidt then talks about an interesting characteristic of innovation. That innovation always happens elsewhere. Great ideas come from everywhere. That confirms what we have learned about innovation in the Preliminary Research Reports findings. Professor Giovanni Dosi notes the endogenous and exogenous forces of a firms innovativeness. The role of science and its development need to be the focus of the oil and gas producer. In an iterative loop scientific capability enables the innovations, and in turn those innovations advance the science. Major impacts to the science, as Dr Schmidt notes, usually happen elsewhere. The need for the scientific capability of the producer firm has to be mirrored through the industry and the service suppliers.

In a fast moving and innovation driven oil and gas industry the necessary resources need to work together. With the escalating demand of the sciences in each barrel of oil equivalent, and the retirement of much of the industry brain-trust. Building separate and mutually exclusive capabilities in each oil and gas company has to cease. The Resource Marketplace Module deals with these and other issues, such as who owns the Intellectual Property (IP) of the science and innovation.
Scalability and Power is just at the beginning of getting this right. The message is that this is the real beginning of the real win of cloud computing. Of the real win of applications. Of the real win of the Internet. Which is changing the computing paradigm - the one we have all grown up with - so it just works. It works no matter what device you are using, whatever operating system your using, as long as your connected - even if you are not connected - your online and have everything you need.
I'm not one to highlight the technological aspects of this software development project. The focus of People, Ideas & Objects is on the business attributes of changing to the Joint Operating Committee as the key organizational construct. However, Users need to know that the time and technologies maturity is now. Voices like Eric Schmidt, who has also been the CEO of Novell Networks and Sun Microsystems, is able to provide the necessary credibility for the users to join me here.

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Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Changing deck chairs on the Titanic

I should thank SAP for this post. They have published a YouTube video of their use of Google Wave, and its all that I thought that Google Wave could be used for. Here's the Video.



What the video doesn't show is the level of security being used and the location of the individuals. It is more then reasonable to assume these individuals are located at various different places and could theoretically be anywhere, and through a standard browser. It is also possible to provide the highest levels of security that are technically possible to those users, wherever they may be. And these attributes are well reflected in the video, but I have to argue the damage that a tool such as this would bring to any oil and gas company.

What is it that SAP is missing in terms of providing this solution? What we learned in the Preliminary Research Report was that change needed to be introduced in the proper fashion. Specifically the cognitive and motivational paradox are key issues that are not being addressed in SAP's use of Google Wave. The cognitive paradox identifies that people perceive the new with an understanding from the old. Taking the old and superimposing their understanding on the new is a danger in SAP's use of Google Wave. The motivational paradox recognizes that people are concerned more with production, or getting their job done, then learning the new methods or tools. These two paradox have been critical in the need to understand how change is introduced in the Draft Specification. Simply there has to be a clearly defined break from the old. A significant break in which the new can be approached in the manner that is somewhat a blank slate.

Change for the sake of change, is wrong. Particularly with SAP's use of a new technical tool. Technically driven change is a disaster in the making. That is why People, Ideas & Objects is basing these changes in the strong economic forces in today's depression. Orchestrating this level of change is not possible unless there is the type of economic reforms that people like Professor Carlota Perez speak of. The old dinosaur bureaucracies are failing, actively destroying shareholder value, and are leading to the renewal for new and innovative ideas and organizations. This opportunity is ours to take.

I see serious problems in allowing this type of powerful technology (The Google Wave application, not the SAP application) introduced without any support for the changes made. And more importantly without the full consent of the management or ownership of the firm. In this video they introduce a number of people who collaborate on a new process that does not have the requisite authority or responsibility to make any changes. Designing things because they can collaborate does not make it a valid process. In oil and gas I could take Google Wave and quickly write a new process that would involve the collaborations of any number of producers involved in a Joint Operating Committee. This would be dangerous and irresponsible, that SAP misses this point is of concern to me. This is also why the Draft Specification developed the Military Command & Control Metaphor.

Particularly for a publicly traded company, decisions and actions have to have a document-able audit trail, compliance and governance implemented and operational. When we think of a JOC we have multiple organizations legal, financial, operational decision making, cultural and communication frameworks. It is my opinion that allowing this type of application, of which many examples have been written about here, is irresponsible for the management to allow. I also have an opinion that management are not that interested in working that hard to stop this type of activity. Just as they do not go out of their way to be more proactive with respect to compliance or governance. As I said it is just irresponsible of management to "allow" this to happen, but chaos may be the better choice for them to make.

In oil and gas management's sole concern is the compliance and governance of the company. It is People, Ideas & Objects "design" to have the compliance and governance moved from the bureaucracy to align them with the legal, financial, operational decision making, communication and cultural frameworks of the Joint Operating Committee. As one learns in most MBA programs the separation of operational decision making and compliance leads to no accountability. This is managements to exploit in the current market. There motivation is to ensure they are not eliminated by having compliance and governance more accurately managed within the software.

We have also learned that the division of labor is the primary means of enabling economic growth. The video shows the influence of many different people involved in the process, however, it is more a matter of convenience that these people are motivated and the scope is based on expedience. When we consider the interactions of people through a JOC we have interactions that, if left to an ad-hoc development, would not provide the value that the appropriate analysis would bring. As I have frequently mentioned, the current oil and gas industry is populated with potentially thousands of different jobs as a result of the growth of the industry. Allowing poorly implemented technologies such as SAP is doing in the video can lead to a destruction of that division of labor for something that is not efficient. Leading to the chaos mentioned and presenting to all the kings horses and all the kings men, the never ending story of Humpty Dumpty.

We are entering a world where the tools are very sophisticated and capable of significant benefit to society, if used properly. We are also viewing the world from a high level of sophistication in terms of its economic order or division of labor. These are being altered without an appreciation or understanding of how fatal even a small decline might cause the company. Management should be concerned at what might happen when falling from these lofty heights. Making undocumented changes and not implementing the appropriate levels of compliance and governance is irresponsible, bordering on criminal. Managements have been able to disassociate themselves from the shareholders and investors by entrenching themselves in a rigid compliance framework. This is also why no one has ever been fired for recommending SAP.

Ah the things you can say when you've been ostracized for your ideas, truly liberating.

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Tuesday, November 03, 2009

Some uses of Google Wave

I am one of those that became enchanted with Google Wave after I saw its initial demonstration. Few technologies have the potential to be game changers. Applications like email and the browser were in the same class of announcement as Google Wave. That we can implement the application in the People, Ideas & Objects - Draft Specification modules. And use it as a means of collaboration during development, make the application a critical part of our developments. I highly recommend that you view this video.



Several groups have been granted early access to Google Wave. It has been received particularly well by the people who have had access to the application. In a Forbes article, author Dan Woods notes the recent response to the application and the implications to ERP software vendors.

But the flexible collaboration of Google Wave is out of reach for the current generation of enterprise software. In addition, the flexibility and configuration of the data structures offered by Google Wave would make modern SaaS software seem restrictive. This freedom will require governance and a new way of thinking, but that is a topic for another day.
If we look at the Draft Specification, it has the "freedom will require governance" problem. The Joint Operating Committee by definition is represented by many different producers. All of the modules have this fact as a critical aspect of how this application will be able to deal with the unique aspects of the oil and gas industry. The JOC is the cultural means of the industry. The Draft Specification is the only application capable of recognizing and building on these attributes.

The combination of the Security & Access Control Module, Governance & Compliance Module and the Military Command & Control Metaphor are how People, Ideas & Objects provide this "freedom will require governance" model. This is a key point. Unless these attributes are built into the application at the start, then the ability to retrofit a ground breaking application with these attributes doesn't exist, in my opinion. I noted this essential attribute and noted the risk that the industry would face as a result of technologies advancement, without explicit management support, would lead to the leakage of control over the firm. Leakage over the day-to-day and strategic attributes of the firm. As technologies become easier and simpler to introduce, the role of management can be circumvented AND hence their responsibility to make sure this does not happen. As I mentioned in Technologies Darker Side in the Preliminary Research Report, companies were advised of this risk, and I reiterate the risk here and now. If the management of firms remain negligent to this risk, there will be consequences to the investors of the firm.

Please join me here.

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Monday, September 21, 2009

More comments on Google Wave

I have a real passion for Information Technology. Applying IT to my understanding of the business of the oil and gas industry is more fun then work. The recent maturation in the Information Technologies bring together an opportunity to increase productivity and make life more interesting. One of the technologies that I saw over the summer had me thinking that when we incorporate the framework in the People, Ideas & Objects applications, we could make a big difference. That technology is Google Wave which I report about here and to a lesser extent here.

I also think Google Wave is one of the frameworks that will be a game changer. A game changer that is being overlooked as to its importance and impact, particularly from what I would call the classic ERP vendor. If we look at the People, Ideas & Objects technical vision we see the elimination of client server computing. Asynchronous Process Management and IPv6 are two of the four cornerstones of the technical vision. These intimate the power, particularly in oil and gas, in which these technologies can be deployed. Add to this the User focus of this project and the potential environment for innovation, to me, is intoxicating.

Today I ran into this blog post that sees this same opportunity. As I indicated in my previous post, pooling the resources of the producers to the various Joint Operating Committee's (JOC) is done through the Military Command & Control Metaphor which is an underlying theme throughout the Draft Specification. The blog posts author Jason Kolb notes;

Take CRM and ERP systems for example.  Instead of customers emailing you about a sale and then sending purchase orders, it will be part of the "sale wave".  The entire sale, from start to finish, will be encapsulated in a single wave, bringing individuals in and out of the conversation as need.  The ERP and CRM platforms themselves will be participants in this conversation, recognizing the purchase order, executing the work-flow, processing the order, making the order details available to manufacturing or delivery in a sub-wave, and then making the receipt available to the customer and the sales team.  Your CRM Whether you approve the purchase order from your desktop, your phone, or a point of sale device, makes no difference--they can all be directly addressed and participate in the conversation natively.
The conversation that is mapped by the Google Wave product, embedded in the People, Ideas & Objects application modules will document transactions. Recall transactions are key to modules like the Accounting Voucher. As not only the definition of the boundary between market and firm. But most importantly, is that designing transactions is the higher value added work that is done in the oil and gas industry. It is how the work gets done and these Wave conversations will be inherent in the Accounting Voucher as part of these transactions. The thing I see that makes this technology important to me is; the natural means of documenting and processing User designed transactions. Please join me here.

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Thursday, July 16, 2009

99.9986% uptime.

Yesterday I lost the final two hours of work on a post I was writing. Frustrating yes, but that is the first "loss" of work in 2 full years. I'm talking about the use of Google Apps for our domain (www.people-ideas-objects.com). I was writing when suddenly my browser failed and I had to restart it. And as a result, when I logged back in the file did not reflect the last two hours of work. It was the same as I had left it the day before. For whatever reason during that two hours the browser would register my edits, but not write them to the file on Google's servers. Either one of these two technologies, the browser or Google Docs failed for that period of time. 

I am also partially at fault for not doing a hard save on the file during that two hour period. I rely almost exclusively on Google Docs picking up all of my saves and have become overly reliant on these automatic saves. 

Now Google Docs is just one product of the suite of applications that are available. These other applications are used extensively and maybe should be factored in when I determine Google's up-time percentage. Then there is that price. At $50.00 per user per year, this is the deal of the century.
I also have to mention the costs and risks of maintaining our own environment. I don't think in the past two years we would have had the same up-time. Probably not even close. And that doesn't factor in any of the heavy costs of servers, bandwidth and applications. Therefore mark me down as a very satisfied Google Apps user. 

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Sunday, July 12, 2009

Google O/S and NeatX

This announcement almost went under the radar. Sometimes the complexity of the technologies make it difficult to see the whole picture. Information about Google's recently announced Operating System (Google Chrome) received significant attention, not so for Neatx. Which is interesting because the two applications combine to introduce a new product architecture. I'll leave it to the MSM to provide the information on the O/S. Neatx is the real jewel in this new product / architectural offering. To me this product offering shows Google is serious about both the consumer and enterprise marketplace in terms of offerings.


We need to go back to the last two Google related posts I've written about. Google Wave is a revolutionary communication related product. The second technology I recently wrote about was Google Chrome (The Browser), their open source browser. Recall I thought that the technology would enable the user to have a constant browser experience available from any public or private terminal. 

In a networked world the users needs are unquantifiable. They can and will include every possible permutation and combination. The other known attribute of the users demands is that the volume of data and information will continue to grow exponentially. Having this environment available all the time and anywhere becomes a challenge for the technology. As I wrote about in the Google Chrome (Browser) post; the constant, consistent web browser interface, complete with all the users unique and authenticated access available by simply logging into the users account through a Google Chrome browser. 

This feature may not seem to be a strong feature to the average web consumer. However, in my opinion, from an enterprise point of view it is a necessity. The problem with this implementation is that it is relegated to the browser. If Cloud Computing does take off it will need a more robust operating environment in which to ensure its users and companies are able to rely upon. That is where Google Chrome the O/S and Google Neatx come in to play. 

Neatx is an open source product that Google has in development and will be offering. Based on the "old" X Windows architectural model of computing, Neatx leverages Google Chrome the O/S in ways noted in my Google Chrome (Browser) post. The difference is the level of security and control, unlimited application access, file systems, any and all compiler access, and the single sign on environment available anywhere on any machine. In other words the entire network capability, unlimited and unconstrained by any hardware, software or network related issue. The fact that Google is calling both the browser and the O/S "Chrome" is probably indicative of the disappearance of the "Browser" metaphor. And, this environment becoming systemic or embedded within the O/S with the classic Google / Apple ease of use. 

People, Ideas & Objects is founded on a Technical Vision that includes four cornerstone technologies. I see these technologies Java, Asynchronous Process Management, Wireless and IPv6 changing the technical landscape in the next few years. The scenario I see developing for Users of People, Ideas & Objects. (And yes this imputes that Google Chrome (the O/S) and Neatx will be added to the Draft Specification.) Is a User has at their disposal all manner of computing resources necessary to complete their work supporting the innovative oil and gas producer. Users making their clients the most profitable in terms of their commercial operations. 

Logging into their systems the User will have at their disposal the complete People, Ideas & Objects applications. Applications that they have influenced in terms of what they need and want from an ERP system. In addition, the software development capability that is a core competitive advantage of People, Ideas & Objects offerings. A software development capability where the applications will evolve based on User input. 

Once the user is logged in, they will be able to see their session presented just as it was when they last logged out. No matter what machine they have logged in from. From there they may be logged into a variety of network resources that provide the full scope of functionality needed to do their job. If they need a monthly report they like to run for their clients they can run it from any machine they may be on. The fact that it takes 15 hours of processing time is irrelevant to the Netbook they are using. Access to People, Ideas & Objects provides the processing power that will complete the 15 hour job in the next 15 seconds, and the User can continue to provide their producer client with the innovative and valuable report that they developed. This architecture is designed to provide a better understanding of the opportunities and issues the producers have at each Joint Operating Committee. 

Physical location will become irrelevant in this virtual environment. And due to the Asynchronous Process Management that is a cornerstone of the Technical Vision, time will be of less significance then it is today. Gone will be the pressures of deadlines and 9 to 5. In its place will be an active and innovative member of the Joint Operating Committee providing the commercial transaction processing, analysis and evaluation of the issues of that JOC. An individual who is trained in their craft of Geology, Engineering, Accounting or Administration and is proactive and innovative. 

In this scenario People, Ideas & Objects becomes more then just an application. And more the cornerstone of a loose grouping of modules that create the Users commercial environment. A commercial environment that provides the User with access to the People they need to do their job. An environment in which they apply their skills and earn their income. 
Please join us here in making this vision real. 

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Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Interesting comments on Open Source

Open source software development provides solutions to the majority of the issues the business brings. Open source is the method of software development for People, Ideas & Objects. The value is attained through different groups seeing advantages from different perspectives. From a developer point of view, I found this series of quotes from a developer on the Google Chromium blog
With the release of Mac Chrome to the dev-channel, I wanted to talk about open source and expectations. What was the point of releasing at this stage, you might ask? It's clearly not finished. Clearly. It's missing a large number of features, some half implemented, others not at all. Why even bother? Doesn't it just make us look bad? 
Open source projects aren't simply about a runnable binary, they're about the community of users, testers, and developers who devote their time and skills to working on a product they believe in. They go hand in hand: there's no binary without the community and there's no community without the binary. At some point in the life-cycle of a project, you have to stop thinking solely about your small band of developers and start growing the larger supporting community that will become your users, testers, localizers, documentation writers, and possibly even new coders.
In "The Cathedral and the Bazaar", Eric Raymond writes:
"When you start community-building, what you need to be able to present is a plausible promise. Your program doesn't have to work particularly well. It can be crude, buggy, incomplete, and poorly documented. What it must not fail to do is (a) run, and (b) convince potential co-developers that it can be evolved into something really neat in the foreseeable future."
Eric Raymond is also the originator of the saying "given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow". Writing software doesn't start off with the perfect piece of code. It develops over time and iterates through many people reviewing, contributing, testing and correcting throughout the lifetime of the code. Everyone can contribute changes, individuals who have changes test their code to make sure it doesn't "break the build" and then submits the change file to a committer to review it and commit it to the code that makes up the application. These iterations continue on through various phases of the development. The phases include alpha, beta and everything in between. I raise these points now as these quotes from the Google developer accurately reflect the development perspective. 
We're not done yet, nor is it ready for the average user. It is, however, ready for those who want to live on the bleeding edge and help lend their talents towards completing it.
Another pillar of open source, along with releasing early, is releasing often. To that end, the dev channel will automatically receive weekly updates as development continues. You will be able to see the product improving from week to week and help immediately identify when things break. Getting feedback on new features as soon as they are completed helps the developers know if they hit the mark and helps close the feedback loop with the community. The community benefits by being more involved and connected and promoting further transparency in the development process. This wouldn't be possible if we only teased users with releases at widely-spaced intervals when most decisions had been set in stone (end-users who want that can use the beta or release channels).
Please join us here.
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Monday, May 18, 2009

Google's Schmidt

Eric Schmidt is the CEO of Google and is making the keynote presentation at Carnegie Mellon Universities Commencement Ceremony .

Contained within this address is a summary of how an individual can compete in the future. I think Schmidt accurately details what it is that will provide an individual with the necessary tools to build value for themselves. Just as buying a house was a good investment in the past, these tools may be the key to your future. This summary includes:
  • The culture of Carnegie Mellon is one of getting things done. And how the importance of getting things done is in today's marketplace. 
  • You think friend is a verb.
  • George Bernard Shaw "all progress is made by unreasonable men".
  • It's all about opportunity and you make your own luck. 
  • You can not plan innovation, you can not plan invention, all you can do is try to be in the right place and be ready. 
  • If you live your life and forgo your plan, you can also forgo fear. In some sense you have been penalized for making mistakes. Now you have to go out and make them, because mistakes enable you to learn and to innovate and try new things. And that is a culture of innovation that is going to create all the great opportunities. 
  • Do things in a group, don't do things by yourself, groups are smarter, groups are faster, groups are stronger, none of us is smarter then all of us. 
  • Some truths endure. Leadership and personality matter. Intelligence, education and analytical skills matter. 
  • In a world when everything is remembered and kept forever, you should live for the future and the things that you really care about. Curiosity, compassion 
  • Resilience in the human spirit is amazing. It is what got us through WWI and WW ll.
  • You'll find today to be the best chance that you have to be unreasonable. To demand excellence, to drive change to make everything happen. 
Schmidt's comments about being unreasonableness resonate with me. I wrote the following on this blog back in April 2006.
"There is a saying by George Bernard Shaw...
"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man."
I am an unreasonable man".

And I would invite those interested in this software development project to take these points from Dr Schmidt, and join us here in this most unreasonable of tasks.
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Monday, April 13, 2009

Google Insights for Search

Google recently released a new service called Google Insights for Search. (Click on the title of this blog post to be taken to the announcement on the Google Research blog). Once you go to the site (http://www.google.com/insights/search/#) it will subsequently show up as an application in your Google Account. There is a related .pdf written by Hal Varian and Hyunyong Choi that details how to use this new and interesting tool.

In the Draft Specification we have two modules that are somewhat related to this product. Both the Analytics & Statistics Module and the Performance Evaluation Module are user defined tools that allow detailed analysis of the data in People, Ideas & Objects. The data is the key attribute to these modules. With the People, Ideas & Objects Technical Vision expecting the data volumes to explode through IPv6, Java and Wireless access to the data in a known format. Data analysis tools like Analytics & Statistics and Performance Evaluation Modules will be the key to obtaining value from it. That is essentially what Google has done with the Google Trends data, published it through a known API and interface.

The purpose in allowing users to access formatted data is the key to the value in using the tools and understanding the data. How many firms have data scattered across many departments and on individuals machine? How much of this data is available through known and trusted access mechanisms? What tools are available for people to interpret and analyze the data. We have the opportunity to embed the R application into the Modules and other opportunities.

I highly recommend downloading the R application, the .pdf from Google on how to use Google Insight for Search and Google Trends data. Experimentation with this opportunity will provide you with the beginning of understanding the opportunities we will make available to our users. And please, join me here .

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Monday, February 02, 2009

McKinsey Video of Professor Hal Varian

McKinsey continue to impress with this latest video of Professor Hal Varian. He holds the dual role of Google Chief Economist and University of California at Berkeley Professor; and general all around thinker in Silicon Valley. I noticed that McKinsey are at the World Economic Forum in Davos Switzerland. I think it is reasonable to assume they will be heavily stimulated at this key conference and we should expect many more quality ideas to come from them.

This video is entitled "Hal Varian on how the Web challenges managers: Google’s chief economist says executives in wired organizations need a sharper understanding of how technology empowers innovation." Suggesting we are at a point in time where the component parts are now available, or as he suggests "Combinatorial Innovation". The difference between previous periods where component parts became available, today's "bits" of IT based ideas and information are shared without costs and are available to most of the people on the planet. We truly live in interesting times when something so simple is a fact of life, amazing.

Professor Varian quotes Alfred Chandler's seminal work in the 1930's and how the telegraph and railroad had a defining capability in the formation of our modern corporation. I have frequently commented on my frustration with the 2 hour / day ritual of driving to the office and back. Stating this drive was a waste of resources and asking if these same people drove home to make a personal phone call? Professor Varian makes the following comment and its impact on the way in which work will be conducted in the very near future.

Instead of people going to work, the work goes to you. And you can deal with the work at anytime and anyplace with the infrastructure that is in place.
Varian goes on to suggest that the ubiquity and affordability of the Internet will provide for a significant boost in productivity. That knowledge and intellectual property (IP) will be the basis of value. This is wholly consistent with my sense that the future earning power of individuals will be based on the ownership of IP, or more importantly for this community, that People have access to IP.

Noting that IP has been revolutionized by the Internet. Today ideas are published as soon as they are conceived. (At least that is what I am doing here.) This is wholly consistent with the ideas that were used to establish copyright. The act of publication is how the copyrights are earned. Allowing the world to find these ideas and build on them is the net benefit to society. Varian says this revolution is over, with the people willingly publishing and promoting the sharing of ideas.

This video is short, around 10 minutes, but the comments that are made are dramatic in their matter of fact-ness and importance to the work being done in People, Ideas & Objects. Professor Varian looks at the seemingly unimportant transaction. How today we can and do so many more transactions through automation. Also how in the future many things can and will be contracted for, and how the ability to confirm a transaction is carried out appropriately.

Much of the work that went in to defining the Draft Specification was based on my understanding of the oil and gas industry, and the academic research in the area of transactions. This work includes most importantly Professors Richard N. Langlois and Carliss Baldwin. What the Draft Specification is designed to accomplish is what Professor Hal Varian suggests. I think as a result of Langlois' work, we have been able to move from a software system that processes transactions, to include the ability to design transactions with the objective of building value. Processing transactions in a software system is necessary functionality of any system today. The real value will be in the ability to design the transaction in a manner that ensures the value that is possible is attained. And that is one of the many things that makes People, Ideas & Objects different.

Professor Varian suggests that he thinks an area where there is going to be another revolution is in the area of services. The community that forms here is how the energy industry will conduct its operations. Instead of the producers employing people directly, service based organizations will provide the resources for the producers to profitably explore and produce energy. These services will have the software development capability and software tools that are being built here in People, Ideas & Objects. And this "Community of Independent Service Providers" as I have been calling them; will apply those tools in value added services to the producers. None of these services have yet been defined, let alone built. These services are a critical aspect of this software development. Those people that wish to join this community and begin to build this software, and their own associated services should follow this process.

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Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Apple's App Store and others.

What this post is about is the type of environment or community I see People, Ideas & Objects becoming. There are many types of communities that exist today that I can point to, and detail the attributes that appeal to me, and what I think should be emulated in "our" application modules. (Click on the title of this entry to be taken to a New York Times article on Apple's App Store.)

Google 

I am a prolific user of Google applications. Including Google Apps for People, Ideas & Objects where the Wiki, blog and many other productivity and collaboration applications are available. A regular Google Account also provides the ability to monitor and control the various data types that an individual is interested in. Consisting of more then 33 distinct applications, each is capable of managing a certain element of your world, and connect you with members of your community, whatever that may consist of. 

The attribute that I find Google Applications provide is a very good example of what the alleged "cloud" provides. Up to date applications that are available everywhere. This is the next element of the always-on Internet, and represents a huge leap in software value. When applications can be upgraded once, the speed benefits more then just the developers. The iterative development of software is possible, and users are put in the driver seat and in control of the applications features and functionality. 


Apple iTunes

iTunes, the application that just keeps getting better. Music, podcasts, radio, movies and TV. All of your entertainment in one easy to use, search-able database. And if you want to purchase a song or movie, the iTunes Store is just a click away. All the sophistication that is the iTunes application is available in the easiest interface. You have the opportunity to organize and manage your entertainment in unique and innovative ways like SmartPlaylists, and the new Genius functionality. 

The attribute that I find iTunes brings is the complete management of one element of your life. Your entertainment. What I would like to see is the user, who is in control of the developments for the oil and gas producer, use the People, Ideas & Objects application as their commercial environment. The place where they earn a living. 


Apple's App Store

We've all heard about the iPhone and its applications. Independent developers and firms that are selling "cloud" based services can develop an application very easily for the iPhone. With a huge Software Development Kit provided by Apple. A developer can make an application that could be a complete home run on the iPhone for as little as $50,000.00. With a readily available market, and distribution to consumers, developers are finding access to revenue streams of up to $500,000.00 / year. 

It should be made clear that this is the first time that a developer has been able to independently invest, market and earn based on their entrepreneurial skills. There have been markets such as SourceForge and Collabnet. But those are not necessarily ways to make money. They only provide for the ability, in the open source ideal, to being involved in making much better software. 

I am doing what is possible to make People, Ideas & Objects the second market for these developers. But theirs more, much more. This is also the marketplace where users will be able to actively participate in making the software they want and need, and also earn money for the time spent on working with developers and also their producer clients. 

The services associated with People, Ideas & Objects software are licensed to the users under contract. Developers and Users are able to look to the work being done here as part of their career and for monetary gain. As I have mentioned here many times before; the total cost of a global application with the full scope of a producer firm, is estimated to be in excess of one billion dollars. The majority of those revenues are distributed to the individuals who make the software what it is. The users and developers, please join me here

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Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Google Health, and it's user interface.

I seem to be spending a lot of time writing about Google and the technologies that they're releasing. I have to say that what they are putting out is very impressive and reflects the massive development that has been ongoing there for the last few years. Click on the title of this entry to watch a video of how Google Health was built. Of particular interest is the amount of time and discussion that is dedicated to the users experience.

Other discussions talk about the many issues around access to the confidential data. Of course health related information is highly confidential, but there are many people that you would want to have access to it, like an emergency room doctor. I think in the People, Ideas & Objects application we face many of the same data integrity and security issues. Proving that this information can reside on the web and that their are solutions to these issues.

The centralization of data comes up as a big advantage in this video. I recently talked about the Google G:Drive or Google Docs and Spreadsheets. Having one certifiable copy of the data with access control privileges; answers so many of the related security risks and is able to get the right information in the right hands at the right time.

Finally the Question & Answer session of the video shows the level of detailed thinking that has to be put into something like this type of secure application. The questions and answers are some of the best I have ever seen being raised in an open forum such as this video.

Again I want to impress upon you the urgency that I feel we proceed with this software development project. Nothing more can be done with out the financial resources necessary to commence and continue development. If you know of an investor in oil and gas, please send them the URL to this web log and encourage them to sponsor this worthwhile project.

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Friday, October 10, 2008

Evaluating SalesForce

For the past few months I have been seriously thinking about the manner in which all the people that may be involved in this project will communicate. And of particular concern how they will communicate to the oil and gas investor / producer that will be using the software and community of independent service providers.

As I may have mentioned, the collaborative environment provided by "Google Apps for our Domain" is the best solution in the marketplace today. It hasn't all the features that other applications have, but Google has been able to prove that everything is always in development. And therefore it will eventually get much better then the competitions. I have been using their service for this project for about a year. And the interface elements of Google's design are such that they are intuitive and clear. Much like the Apple interface.

A few months ago Google announced their "Apps" product was available and integrated into SalesForce.com a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) program. I thought I would try the product on the free trial basis.

When it comes to management of customers and marketing, the oil and gas industry has no idea what these terms mean. After 30 years in oil and gas I can say, that as a producer, I have never seen a customer. So when we take a state of the art application such as SalesForce.com is in the CRM marketplace. I did a bit of scratching to figure it out.

It recently came to me how the application is integrated into People, Ideas & Objects. We need to create full time "Account Manager" positions that service the client producer with their needs. These individuals will need to be very familiar with how oil and gas operates and can see the substantial differences in the application being mirrored within the client producers firm. Attaining that mirroring should be the Account Manager's key objective. They will have the SalesForce.com application as their key resource in determining the needs, and marshaling the resources of the community of independent service providers. Providing the services and our software to the producer. That way the community can be coordinated in their approach to the producer firm. I don't want producers being inundated by the same query more then once. That is inefficient and costs the producer unnecessarily.

How this gets achieved is through the application and the Account Managers organizing the resources for the firm. SalesForce.com provides a comprehensive solution that is well built and capable of approaching the demands that we will eventually be expecting of it.

Naturally this imputes that the Users, Developers, Investor Sponsors and Project Managers that are active in the development of this software will also need a license to SalesForce.com. Or, alternatively can access the system through a Partner and other Portals. Their they can deal with the Account Manager, the development team, other users and producers as needed and be fully up to date as to the status of the software application and its integration within the producer firm.

A couple of things that I thought were interesting and of value was a way in which the producer (Through the Account Manager.) and users could post a suggestion and the rest of the community votes on the feature. If we had the ability to prioritize our developments in such a simple manner, it would help to maintain that our focus remains in the marketplace. The second interesting feature was the idea and solution features.

Therefore the need to have the services of Google Apps for our Domain ($50.00 / user) to deal with the "Office" type of applications, email, calendar, and most importantly the wiki. And have SalesForce.com ($1,500.00 / user) provide the glue that holds this community together throughout the regions we may find ourselves operating in.

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Thursday, October 09, 2008

Google Chrome and Single Sign On (SSO)

One area that Google may be working on is having their new Chrome browser able to remember it's state during your last session. Imagine for a moment that you were able to move from machine to machine and have the same environment displayed just as you had left it. A working environment that remains constant through-out your day-to-day travels and changing work stations.

In People, Ideas & Objects I think this is a worthwhile type of feature for our users. The current specification states that we are using Java Web Start as the windowing agent of the application. Java Web Start provides a similar level of state recall for the application. The difference to the two products, assuming both products are built with these features, is that the Chrome browser provides a web application interface and People, Ideas & Objects being a stand alone ERP application.

The Chrome browser is open-source and uses WebKit as its core. This allows us to embed the browser within Java Web Start and as a result, have Chrome embedded into the People, Ideas & Objects desktop. Providing access to applications such as Google Apps and Salesforce.com as one application.  I will therefore add this feature into the Draft Specification.

This software development project is at somewhat of a standstill due to the lack of financial resources. We have identified the oil and gas investor as gaining substantial value as a result of this application being built. Value in the form that their oil and gas assets are managed in the most profitable manner. If you know of an investor who fits this description, please send them the URL to this website and have them consider filling this role.

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Friday, September 19, 2008

Google Search Appliance

Google recently did a presentation about their current version of the Google Search Appliance. As with my recent post of how documents work in Google Docs and how I see similar behavior in the proposed People, Ideas & Objects Draft Specification. I will be adding the key points of Google Search Appliance into the Draft Specification.

Some of the key technologies in Google Search Appliance put it in the must have category of any firm. For this project that would include project managers, users, developers, producers and Joint Operating Committees (JOC's). It solves the key concern that I have about enterprise search, that being the right access to the right data.

I recommend that all readers view the entire presentation. It highlights far too many things that are of significant value to this software development project. A few of those highlights are listed here;

  • Kerboras based User queries - makes queries recognize the scope of the users authority.
  • Single Sign On (SSO) - enables the user to maintain high level security without having to constantly log in.
  • Customized authority and authentication - able to build off the Security & Access control module of the People, Ideas & Objects application.
  • Domain Specific Queries - enables the user to request data from People, Ideas & Objects and only the information within their domain will show in the search results.
    • Document level security.
    • Key match search provides authority attributes.
  • Databases (MySQL) - can include data elements from the database as well.
  • Related Web Search - search results can include web based results.
  • Collections are indexes from Google and are unlimited technically, but overuse has a performance hit. Provides the ability to focus search in specific areas of interest.
  • Customizable "front-end" or search page.

With this search capability users will be able to access their data from anywhere and at anytime. Yet provide the JOC and producer companies the user works for with a trusted source of search technologies.

Keeping on the topic of Google and their technologies. The addition of multiple languages to this application presents a very difficult technological issue. I have set up two projects in the private wiki; the first project will address the scope of the language related technical issue. The other project is to determine if Google's Language API can provide the translation from English to the other languages that may be used by users in the People, Ideas & Objects application.

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