I just read The New York Times article, As Web Traffic Grows, Crashes Take Bigger Toll. While it is true that there is more significant and monetary damage that occurs when a web page or cloud computing servers go down than there used to be, it is not unlike its desktop computing counterparts. When is [...]
Archive for category Article
Uptime: Cloud Computing vs. Desktop
Jul 5 2008
Apple’s Revenue Streams
Jun 11 2008
Apple has multiple revenue streams. The items that are most often noted are: Macs, iPods, and iPhones. However, there are other things that contribute to Apple’s bottom line. The diagram below gives an overview: [Blue = hardware; Orange = software/services]
Which Microsoft Monopoly Will Fall First?
May 29 2008
Microsoft has several products that are monopolies and hold dominant market share positions: Windows Office Internet Explorer As the Microsoft Empire continues to march on we are beginning to see the chinks in the armor. In the past we have written about The Downfall Of The Microsoft Empire. As we begin seeing increased competition, let [...]
Interview with Fusion-io
Apr 18 2008
The main bottleneck in computers today is not the CPU, but the mechanical hard disk drive (HDD). When an application mostly waits on the CPU to get things done, it’s called compute bound. On the other hand when it’s mostly waiting to get data in or out of storage, it’s called I/O bound. Because CPU [...]
RFID: through the eyes of Digital Angel
Mar 16 2008
If you search the web for companies leading the current Radio Frequency identification revolution you will quickly run into a company called Digital Angel. Their broad array of RFID products delivers functional value to markets as diverse as livestock to the U.S. coastguard. In recent years the company has expanded through acquiring other companies such [...]
Social Network Valuation
Mar 13 2008
With thousands upon thousands of social networks already launched, and more coming in the ongoing social network wars what are reasonable valuations? Is this irrational exuberance? Will the companies that buy them ever make their money back? MySpace was acquired by News Corp for $580m in July 2005. Facebook sold 1.6% of its shares to [...]
Microsoft Is Their Own Downfall
Feb 1 2008
I wrote a while back about the Downfall of the Microsoft Empire. In that article I wrote about all Microsoft’s competitors and how they were attacking Microsoft on all fronts. I digress, with today’s news that Microsoft made a $44.6B offer to buyout Yahoo, Microsoft may be the downfall of their own empire. That is [...]
5 Things on My Apple Wish List
Jan 30 2008
Apple has some of the best products in the world. They have world-class hardware: Macintosh computers, iPod, iPhone, AppleTV; and world-class software: Mac OS X, OS X, iTunes, iLife, Final Cut Studio, Safari, etc. However, there are improvements I would like to see to their product line.
The Impact of Bandwidth Costs
Jan 17 2008
Bandwidth costs greatly impact profit margins of organizations that deliver enormous amounts of data. Several products and services that are immediately impacted by bandwidth costs are: