Archives for September 2006

President Musharraf appears on The Daily Show

admin · September 27, 2006 · Leave a Comment

(This is post is off-topic.)

President Musharraf of Pakistan appeared tonight on The Daily Show to promote his autobiographical book In the Line of Fire. He displayed his intellectual capability and ability to communicate. The interview started with Jon Stewart serving tea to the General/President. The interview was soft relative to the usual Jon Stewart fare but it still was a very risky move for the President to appear on this show. Last night, he appeared on Charlie Rose for a serious look at the topics such as nuclear proliferation. In both his interviews, he was able to explain his perspective on Taleban, Islamic terrorism and other issues, reaching out to millions of viewers who may have negative pre-conceived notions of Pakistan and its role in terrorism and nuclear proliferation. He appeared at ease, was comfortable with the humor and appeared to answer questions honestly without resorting to canned statements that we are used to hearing from politicians here in the US and elsewhere.

Ever heard of UFIDA, KingDee, Tally?

admin · September 18, 2006 · 1 Comment

Well, you may never have heard of these enterprise software vendors but they are the giants from China and India. KingDee and UFIDA are #1 and #3 vendors in China and Tally is the top local vendor in India. Gartner recently predicted that a large vendor will emerge from China and India over the next 5 years. These 3 could well be the favorites for that spot. Tally is the QuickBooks of India with ambitions in mid-market ERP.

These homegrown wonders have the advantage of deep knowledge of the local markets, ability to develop software that fits the unique infrastructure of these countries. For example, connectivity to the Internet is far from ubiquitous in India. These limitations box these vendors allowing them to innovate in a space that is unique and disconnected from the global enterprise software world. And believe it or not, this is actually an advantage (see The Innovation Sandbox by C.K. Prahlad) as it prevents easy co-option by global vendors. We have already seen this play out in the consumer internet world with the success of Baidu.

Race to the top?
(by Bruno Girin)

So while we all look to climb the ladder of features and architecture and race to take advantage of Web2.0 and SOA in the enterprise software universe, we are also increasingly distancing ourselves from a market that cares about simple software that meets the most basic needs, can run in a sometimes connected world and on previous generation computers. And this market at the bottom of the pyramid is probably many times larger than the top we are all running towards. What do you think?

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Venture Chronicles’ Jeff moves on from SAP

admin · September 13, 2006 · Leave a Comment

Jeff Nolan just announced on his blog Venture Chronicles that he has resigned from SAP and will be doing something new- which makes me curious. I learned a few things about the art of blogging while working for a large enterprise sofware company from simply following his blog. I also learned a lot more about SAP both good and bad than I would have otherwise. His insights on enterprise software and business in general always put a fresh and realistic perspective while cutting through the hype. In particular, he was honest in his approach to analysing issues and generous to the other side. The good news is whatever he does next, his blog will continue to inform and teach.

Moving time….

Also, we no longer work for enemies. I wish him good luck on his next venture!

Attribution: Picture by scoobyfoo

Friday Special: End of disease could lead to fallout in airline industry

admin · September 9, 2006 · 1 Comment

I was listening to someone on NPR forecasting a distant future where we would no longer age due to advances in genetics and disease would be mostly stamped out. It led me to ask the question what would that do to the airline industry?

Yes, the airline industry. My logic goes as follows. We make trade-offs everytime we decide to drive a car, cross a street or jump on an airplane. The trade-off is that there is a very small but non-zero chance that we may die. Since we know that we are going to die one day anyways – we are only trading off 20, 30 or 50 years. However, the equation changes drastically when I am asked to trade off a possible eternal life for a trip to the other coast- it may not be worth it.

People would stop flying, drive much safer cars (if at all), engage in extremely protected sex, ski slopes would be empty and para-anything (jumping, gliding) would be considered an act of heroism.

What do you think?

Credits: Image by KnivesOut