Thinking Tech

Brian at the Pajama Market Blog commented on a previous post about blogging. He mentioned my list of reasons that clients might want to think about creating blogs, and commented as follows:

Boost search engine ranking. [Although Bob is right about blogs scoring high on search engine results, he's wrong on the reasoning. In his post he says Google and Yahoo! are given better standing when they are frequently updated. This used to be an SEO axiom, but doesn't hold water any longer. For example, I have a website that hasn't been updated in two years that still ranks #1 for my optimum keyword search 'Americas Army Strategy' (I created the StrAAtegy newsletter). What really drives the search engine rankings is the number of relevant websites that link to your site. The more posts you write, the more likely someone will link to a post, and the more links you get, the better your search engine results.]

Brian is correct that it is not just the activity on a blog that produces rankings on Yahoo and Google. Most SEO (search engine optimization) today concentrates in the areas of (a) keywords, (b) domain names (e.g. if you have a blog on Pajamas, having Pajamas in your domain name seems to elevate the ranking), (c) incoming links to your site (how many other sites link to you), etc. The list is ever changing.

Most important, however, is the choice of keywords. If you try to optimize your site for the word "computer," it's pure luck (or a whale of a lot of work) to get to the top of the listing. Interestingly enough, when I ran the search today, the IEEE Computer Society came up first, followed by Dell, Apple, and an entry from Wikipedia. While it might be possible to get into this list through organic SEO (as opposed to paid search), my guess is that it would take more work than most businesses want to put into SEO. Of course, if you decide to do this, you could just get lucky.

Brian's Americas Army Strategy does come up at the top of the list, and from looking at the page, I can see why. He has multiple references to the search term (Americas Army Strategy), the search term matches precisely several terms on the page, he has links with the term in them, etc.

As another example, Data Guidance Group has produced a link to the dgginc.com site as #1 in Google for several years...even before I put the blog feed on the home page. After all, who else would want to bring people who searched for "Data Guidance Group" to their web page?

So, while I'll agree that there are additional factors in the effect of Blogs on Search Engine Positioning, I still think frequency of update is one factor.

Thanks again for the trackback Brian.

Ciao

Small Business Blog of the Day: Bob Palmer on why your business should have a blog

Hmmm...not sure what Microsoft is thinking. FREE is not a word I would usually associated with Microsoft and software. But there it is right on the ideawins.com site:

License: FREE. No strings attached.

No strings attached? Really?

This is a product designed for the very small business. Microsoft's press release states that it will come with pre-built integration to some of the online services like eBay and equifax. This will allow users to connect transactions online directly into their accounting software. And...of course...when and if you outgrow this software, Microsoft has other offerings you might want to look at.

We're reviewing this software now, and will let you know what we think. Thanks to Rick in our office for bringing this to everyone's attention.

Easy to use free accounting software from Microsoft

A few posts ago, I wrote that I'd purchased a "Vista Ready" computer and installed Vista RC1 (Build 5600) and installed it. I've banged on it some; my kids have tested it some; I've installed Antivirus software and turned on Windows Update. And it mostly worked...until last week, when I realized that it had stopped coming back from "Sleep." Now while I'll admit that there are days when sleep has its attractions over and above being awake, I prefer for my computers (and my kids) to answer when I call.

But it's stopped doing that. I've reset it when it locks up, but now just browsing the internet is a problem. So I'm writing this on another computer while I download RC2 to install. Fortunately, there's nothing on the system that I'm worried about losing.

Here we go...chapter 2...

After the last post, I was trying to browse the internet with IE 7. Lockup. Then I was trying to type a pretty simple paper in Office 2007 (no problems from this Beta on my trusty XP machine). Lockups. Lost work.

Good thing the real release of Vista isn't until November. Oh, wait, look...it is November. Realistically, the problem could be my hardware. It could also be Windows Vista. So I downloaded RC 2 (Build 5744, according to my desktop). And reinstalled. Hope there wasn't anything on the system I needed. If there was, it's gone now...

Chapter 3 begins...

Think I said before that I liked the new interface. It is mostly eye candy, but I'm good for a little eye candy occasionally.

I found some more things on installation that I like.

First of all, I didn't have my activation code handy when I installed, and RC 2 let me move forward. It warned me several times to make sure I picked the version of Vista that I had purchased (Home vs. Business vs. Ultimate -- there are 5 in all). I had the Ultimate key, so I picked that option. The install completed, and I used the newly installed version of Vista to look up my key on MSDN. I found Control Panel > System and Maintenance > System Information > More Information, scrolled down, entered (actually cut and pasted the new key). The system took the key, activated my copy of Vista. And all is well for now.

I'm writing this to you on my newly installed copy of Vista.

Now for more testing...

Windows Vista and IE 7 arrive with security updates already touted in the press. One of these benefits is a centralized management console which points out on new installation that no antivirus software is installed. There was a button that provided a list of available products to download and install.

For Release Candidate 1 (RC1), only PCcillin from Trend Micro showed up on the list. Now the list has lengthened. CA (Computer Associates) shows up. Trend Micro is still there. Microsoft has an entry into the race. And there are three or four other options.

I installed the Trend Micro product. The installation went well. Virus updates seem to be coming down. All is good.

If you find yourself with the newest version of PCcillin from TrendMicro, don't be satisfied with the default settings. There are a few optional things like web site checking, virus scanning for webmail (did you realize that if you read work emails through your web browser, your virus software might not be scanning them?), and firewall protection.

Though I generally don't trust firewall software, if it's in the base product, might as well use it.

The full list of features is available from TrendMicro.

I have trouble calling it Dynamics NAV. To me, it's still Navision. And version 3.6 was new when I first learned Dynamics NAV a few years ago. It's time for the 3.x versions to be retired, and Microsoft is doing just that with version 3.7 on November 12, 2006.

I know software companies have to discontinue support for old versions. I understand that it's just not practical to continue to support versions that are even a few years old. And--practically speaking--it really doesn't mean anything for clients. They can continue to use the old version. But eventually it catches up with them. Eventually, they have to update because the technology gets so old that it's not compatible with current technology, or won't work with the current version of something.

The bad thing from my perspective is that it leaves us in the middle. Clients want support for software the vendor doesn't provide backup for. Like trying to repair washing machines when there aren't any spare parts. Well, it's not quite that bad...software generally doesn't wear out...but eventually, it won't work with current operating systems, hardware, etc.

Unfortunately, when the day comes that the software has to be retired, the software vendor is isolated from the situation, and our client feels like they are being forced to upgrade. And Data Guidance Group catches the angst. It's OK, though. It's just part of the business. I wish all software for our clients could be low cost or no cost.

Of course, most software vendors would argue that software already is...

I've been listening to marketing podcasts (if you don't know what a podcast is, stay tuned for later posts) lately, particularly casts like Across The Sound (below) from Joseph Jaffe. A few others like Managing the Gray by C. C. Chapman (also a partner of Joseph Jaffe in the new company crayon) and For Immediate Release (also a partner). These guys are big into the "New Marketing" or "social media." Social media is a coming thing. May be here already. Connecting via the internet in ways that were not possible even two or three years ago.

But SecondLife is a different thing. It's a 3-D virtual world. Not a game. No objective. No winning. There is a possiblity to trade real money. But note..that's trade. There's a market. A market requires sellers (of virtual Linden Dollars or L$), and buyers (with real $ in some currency). There is also an exchange which allows residents (that's what a person is called in SecondLife, almost always abbreviated SL) to buy L$ for US$.

My first reaction to all of this was, "This is neat, but I don't get it." I thought it was just age (I'm kind of a old codger in the PC world since I remember when there wasn't a PC and my first PC was a Trash-80 [Radio Shack's TRS-80] with cassette storage and 64K RAM [woohoo!]). I was also trained as a CPA (though I've always worked in IT).

Anyway, if you Google "SecondLife I don't get it," you find out that I'm not the only one. I could take comfort from that.

But there's this nagging at the back of my mind (what's left of it)...Toyota just opened a virutal showroom in SL...GM has a virtual showroom...Honda, I hear. And Jaffe, Chapman, and the FIR guys just opened Crayon in the virutal world. They may be a lot of things, but a quick read of their blogs and a careful read of the various published books from the group will tell you pretty quickly that stupid they're not.

So...

I will get it. Just give me time. And if you find Baacus Celt wandering around in SL, tell him where to go...

...wait...

I didn't mean that like it sounded.

Across the Sound: ATS #61 - The New Marketing Podcast from crayonville Island

At year end, there are a few things you might want to think about. You'll be closing out your books. You need to evaluate the operations you'll need to do in order to get your software and hardware ready for the new year. Here are a few things (not an inclusive list, by any means):

• Review closing procedures or contact your support provider to make sure they will be available
• Review updates like tax tables, Accounts Payable 1099s, W-2s, etc., that may need to be done by year end or shortly after.
• Contact your CPA or accountant to find out if they can review your financial records before year end to make any corrections
• Make sure bank accounts are reconciled and up to date
• Review physical inventory procedures and begin to make plans for taking a physical inventory
• Review backups to make sure they are working
• Consider archiving backups at year end
• Review your hardware to make sure it is adequate for the year ahead.
• Think about any reports that need to be printed at year end

I'll look over this later and think of 10 more items...but they'll have to go in another post.

Years ago, we talked a lot about vapor-ware. It was software that had been announced. It would be out "real soon now," as the PC-Magazine inside joke went. "Real soon now" came to refer to a host of products beginning with dBase IV, which appeared nearly four years after the initially announced release date. If PC-Mag said, "It'll be available Real Soon Now," you knew that you might see it in your lifetime.

Today it seems that vaporware should be extended to include hardware as well as software. Microsoft announces a version of software years before its planned release date, then releases it late and with fewer features. Yes, I know, we'd rather have the software now with some features than later with all the features, but the features promised for version 2.0 have a tendancy to appear (finally!) in version 3.0.

I for one am tired of one company announcing a new product just to get people to wait for their product rather than a competitor's. And I've seen plenty of clients buy software based on slick pitches about what was coming in the next version. Some of them are still waiting.

The rule is: don't buy software on the basis of features promised. Buy software (and hardware, spouses, couches, etc.) based on features available today.

It'll keep you out of trouble.

This is the time of year when businesses seem to think, "I meant to do this all year, better hurry up to get it done by year end." I know this because businesses we've been working with since January make a decision to move forward.

If you're thinking about an implementation, you'll need to move forward in the next few days for a 1/1/07 go live date.

Been in second life again. Walked around. Said "hiya" to a few folk. Teleported. Flew.

No biggie.

Still don't get it.

I will....

With an unofficial target of 11/30/06 as the release date, Vista has "gone to manufacturing." This, of course, doesn't mean no bugs and no future updates. It does, however, mean that Vista is coming soon to a computer near you.

My Vista RC2 machine (see earlier vista post) is still acting pretty well. I'm looking forward to the actual release of the product. I also don't save anything on the machine that has Vista that I can't afford to lose.

Microsoft Releases Windows Vista To Manufacturing - News by InformationWeek

Here's an easy to use tool that might be just the solution you need for your quote and order tracking. Originally designed for the IT industry, QuoteWorks is a way to store product lists and quickly produce documents that you need. Quotes. Invoices. Purchase Orders.

So if you're still typing quotes, you might check into QuoteWerks. It's pretty inexpensive, and ties in with a number of popular contact management products.

You can also download a demo if you're into getting your hands dirty. There's a video demo on the same page if you're softwareGermaPhobic.

Take a look. Might be the solution you're looking for.

QuoteWerks sales quoting software tool that integrates with ACT, GoldMine, Outlook, salesforce.com, MS CRM, TeleMagic, SalesLogix, Maximizer, QuickBooks, Peachtree, Ingram Micro, SYNNEX, and Tech Data

All the articles are arguing about it. Microsoft says, "No, you really don't need a new PC to run Windows Vista." And I agree--you really don't NEED a new PC.

But really, folks, you're going to want one, aren't you? After all, the eye-candy of the Aero interface and some of the new features that chew memory and spit it out are really cool. And what would a PC be without a few cool toys?

But if, on the other hand, you're really trying to run a business with your PC, you can get by without new hardware. And if you do that, you'll probably choose to do without Vista for a while...

So, it's up to you. But remember that I said it first: you're going to WANT a new PC.

Most of the emphasis in the scramble to adjust to these new hardware needs has centered on memory. For example, a major reason that Vista will be a pain in the bus (thank you, Microsoft, for deciding that an operating system should be an operating environment) is, of course, Aero, its hoity-toity graphical interface. As you might expect, that's going to put quite a strain on your computer's graphics subsystem. Although Vista will scale back on Aero effects if your system is too poorly equipped to use them all, are you really ready to admit that you're running a hobbled computer to anyone? It's doubtful. That means at least a new graphics card.

But wait, there's more. If your graphics memory starts to run low, Vista is designed to borrow from your system memory to fill its needs. We have all said for years how terribly wrong that is because it robs overall potential system performance -- you might also want to get yourself a bit more memory.

However, if your PC is strictly for business, or if you're more interested in grunt than glitter, you may need to start thinking about your CPU. In fact, once you've assured yourself that the rest of the components are up to the new OS, but your PC is still dragging its feet, the only place to turn is your processor.

To continue our tour of SecondLife (not that I'm obsessed with getting this, or anything)...here's an image of the Toyota showroom. There is a Scion behind me that is $L 300. Pretty cheap with signup, you get $L 1000, and $L 400 a month as an allowance. This costs you a few US$, but if you're serious about SL, you might as well invest real $$.

The problem with $L is that the exchange is like a stock exchange. As long as someone wants to pay real $$ (or pounds, or euros) for your Linden $$ ($L), you're in luck. When the market goes south, your SL wealth goes down the toilet.

Anyway, it's interesting that Toyota is spending the real $$ to have a virutal showroom.

Still don't get it...

Microsoft reps announced a number of forthcoming features at the Directions 2006 conference. I've been back for a couple of weeks and am finally hunting up my notebook to relay a few tidbits of information. None of this, of course, is officially in any shipping product, but some of it will probably make it into the next version.

Interesting Feature 1. Sales and Purchase order approval. That is, you'll have the ability to direct purchase orders and sales orders to employees for approval. Approval can be delegated and employees can make comments.

Microsoft is not calling this workflow, but if it's not, it certainly sets the stage for it. That would also be consistent with the overall direction of leveraging the strengths of all the products in the Microsoft "stack." The Microsoft stack refers to the Windows Operating System, SQL, Exchange, SharePoint, and the other products generally referred to as "traditional" Microsoft products.

See the entry on VaporWare (posted on purpose before this one.) Another way of saying, "Don't count your chickens before they're hatched."

In the early days of the PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), Palm made a splash by releasing a device that was easy to use, contained the most commonly needed features, and worked right out of the box. My Treo 650 (Palm OS) has become a requirement for business. But PalmSource hasn't released a new version of the OS in 2+ years. And now people want to use phones as portable-everything. Camera, video-recorder, MP3 player, web browser, email, etc. The Blackberry device has cut into Palm's market with the same type of easy-to-use reliability that made a name for Palm.

Now Symbol is pulling all the versions of its products that contain the Palm OS in favor of Windows. I can't blame them. Every software developer that has Visual Studio on their desk has a development tool that they're familiar with for the Windows Portable operating system.

Meanwhile, Palm may not be dead yet...they are promising to release a new palm OS based on Linux...

We'll see...

Symbol Bids Adieu To Palm, Start-up Seeks To Fill Void - VARBusiness

Coming to a store near you in January, Windows Vista. Ok. Here we go again.

Be sure to check compatibility of all your drivers, software, and devices before installing Vista. Also, many tech writers that have tested the upgrade vs. clean install suggest a clean install. This means that you'll have to reinstall everything, but you may get a better result in the long run.

Microsoft To Start Selling Vista At Retail Jan. 30 - VARBusiness

NAV 5.0 rumors...rumors only, mind you.

The jobs function of NAV will finally get some reworking. Better support for budgets. Support for fixed price jobs. Some other new stuff.

More later...

I've been in SecondLife again. This time I found the Nissan car vending machine. Put in the code (which you get for free by sending an Instant Message [IM] to the right person), and select your color from the vending machine. Out pops your virtual car. Wonder if I can exchange it with the same code for a real Sentra? Probably not.

Must be honest with you. I'm not really finding this SL stuff addicting like some people do. But I do see some attractions to a virtual world, and I'm beginning to think that I understand the business implications of it.

Take a look at this picture (that's my avitar hovering in the flame shirt which I wouldn't be caught dead in First Life [the one where I'm typing this] wearing). It shows Nissan island, the loop-the-loop, and the Sentra vending machine.

You might want to check out this SL stuff. If you "get it," then leave me a comment.

Oh, and add Reuters to the list of companies with outposts in SecondLife.

Ciao

I embarrassed myself (again) today.

I loaded the first block of information from the DGG web site (www.dgginc.com) into Word, turned on the readability statistics and pushed F7 (check spelling and grammar).

Grade Level: 15.9 (ouch!)

And I pride myself on being able to write a sentence...and one that someone else besides me can understand.

The best writing level for the web is between 6th and 8th grade. It's not because people only have that reading level, it's just easier to browse and read quickly at that level.

As an example: I'm reading a book by a PhD named John McClure now. He's a philosopher. The book has to do with deconstruction and texts and literary criticism. (Don't ask why any of those things make any difference to me; you don't want to know.) Anyway, McClure uses words like deontology, deconstructionalism, and ontological in the book. I had to get my American Heritage. Geez, get a Thesaurus and write in English.

Maybe I should follow my own advice.

I loaded THAT into Word.

Grade level: 6.7

That's more like it!

A few posts agon, I suggested that Vista might not be adopted as soon as Microsoft would wish. The newest survey from InformationWeek suggests that only 26% of respondants have plans to migrate to vista. 86% expect to implement at one time or another (and the other 14% are fooling themselves unless they go with Linux or Mac OS). Eventually, everyone that runs Windows now will be on either Vista or what follows it. If for no other reason, then because it's the only thing available.

The 52% that are worried about first version bugs are relying on history. And they may be right to wait. I've always said that the time between release of a new version and the first service pack will tell you how solid the release was. Short time, not solid. Long time, good things to come.

Survey: 86% Expect To Implement Vista Sooner Or Later - News by InformationWeek

Will 5.x be .NET or C/SIDE? It's hard to tell exactly what Microsoft is going to do with 5.0/5.1. Version 5.0 will definitely be a C/SIDE interface.

Last year (2005) at Directions, they announced that the development tool would be exclusively .NET, with extensions to handle the accounting-specific stuff. This year they announced that they have moved away from that.

The description they provided for the 5.1 release basically indicated that there would be a 3 tier structure. Tier 1 would be SQL (required for version 5.1, the NAV native database will go away in that release). Tier 2 would be the business logic, which would still primarily be in C/SIDE. There would be translators to move things like forms to C#, where they would be compiled. There were a good number of questions from VARs about what the ratio of .Net to C/SIDE development would be. Many were concerned that C/SIDE seems to require different skills from .NET. Also, questions were concerned with ease of modification, particularly for simple mods like adding fields.

In 5.1, the whole thing will sit inside SharePoint Services.

Overall, the strategy for 5.1 seems to be to preserve much of the core logic in C/SIDE, while allowing a migration of the UI to C# and .NET. I think that's an excellent plan, from the technical side. Likely to produce a product that looks good and is stable quickly after release.

The issue (which came to mind several times) was what this would do to migration for clients that have extensive customization. To the questions above, the most common Microsoft answer was, "Too early to know for sure."

It says something that exactly ONE technical (programmer) person was allow to leave Denmark for the conference. All the rest had their little (maybe big. What do I know?) noses to the grindstone working out the final bugs in 5.x for March 2007 release.

Demos of 5.0 looked basically like 4.0 in UI. 5.1 is "role based," and the only "role" they showed was "salesperson" or "order entry person." The 5.1 demos were clunky and looked cobbled together to show us the look and feel. We are supposed to see pre-release 5.1 stuff with the 5.0 release in March, and I think we'll know more then about how close MS is to having something. I don't expect to see the migration toolkit or any hint of what's really coming in that before the actual launch, and think there will need to be significant planning before any migrations to 5.1 occur. To my eye, there are still some rough spots in 4.0 (for example, the report margin problem in SP2, quickly fixed by the .EXE in SP3.)

All in all, however, 5.1 looks good from a user experience standpoint. It clusters the most common tools for a task on a single pane, and allows for development in .NET, C#, etc. I'm actually looking forward to it, but we have significant .NET development experience, not just C/SIDE. I can see how it would frighten a shop that had only C/SIDE experience.

If you type on one of these little gadgets (I have a Treo), you'll feel it in the fleshy part of your hand just under your thumb. It's been dubbed "blackberry thumb." And now, Hyatt has a massage therapy for it. Makes you want to schedule a few days in the local Hyatt...not.

This is, of course, important news. But I just saw a WSJ alert about a decline in the Producer Price Index. Better focus on what that means for the economy. Maybe I can read it on my Treo while I get my hand massage...

New massage for "BlackBerry Thumb"? - More Health News - MSNBC.com

A friend called over the weekend. She had just purchased a new PC. I'll leave the brand unnamed, since it doesn't matter in this case.

She was installing the 6 month AOL trial that came with the PC. It asked for a credit card number. Free for 6 months...then we start charging you. And, of course, you could sign up on line, but you had to write down the number to call and cancel the service when the free trial was up.

Also, it came with an Office TRIAL. My friend said, "I bought a PC with Windows XP. Doesn't that include word processing?" Well...unless you count the built-in WordPad program, no. And you'd be surprised how many people don't know this. Bundling PC programs with the PC has produced confusion for many people.

I know, you're not one of those people. You're reading this blog.

But it's enough to make someone Google "free office software." You might find StarOffice from Sun ($70), or Open Office (free).

eWeek provides some practical advice for companies that are evaluating Windows Vista and Office 2007. I'd add one thing: there are enough new features in Office 2007 that I think it's reasonable to expect that some users will want Office 2007. I don't think this is a bad thing. They will get Office 2007 bundled with computers they buy by mail order. They'll get Vista with new PCs soon. I don't think it's ever good business to dig in your heels and refuse to upgrade.

I still don't have any Microsoft stock. No axe to grind. Just evaluate the new products based on the potential business benefit to your business. If there isn't any, don't upgrade. If there is, don't stonewall.

Dos and Don'ts for Vista and Office 2007

I rarely just quote someone else, but Ziff Davis says it better than I could.

Ok, this has got to be one of the wackiest ideas I've heard in a long time. Dell now plans on selling PCs inside the oh-so-hot virtual community Second Life. So how will this work? You spend virtual dollars on a virtual Dell PC that you put into your virtual house on your virtual island, inside a virtual world? Or do you buy a real computer with real dollars in a virtual world that, presumably, shows up in your real house? Either way, it's way out there. Read our story for the details.

Wacky? Good word.

I still don't get it....but I'm workin' on it.

News from PC Magazine: Dell to Sell PCs on Second Life

There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so. William Shakespeare. Hamlet. Act ii. Scene 2.

Sometimes my blog posts are generated by things that happened. Today is not one of those days. I'm thinking--frankly--about how businesses go about hiring employees successfully. And, specifically, that I think I've been unsuccessful as many times as I've been successful.

Don't get me wrong, when I've hired good people, they turn out to be really, really good. But the question is how to do this with every hire.

What I'm looking for I can capture in a sentence: Give me employees who can think! If they can think, everything else seems to work out.

I think and think for months and years. Ninety-nine times, the conclusion is false. The hundredth time I am right. Albert Einstein

Think with me about this. What do you think is effective in hiring? Should we ask Microsoft questions: Why are manhole covers round? How many gas stations are in the continental US?

Or should we give tests? Personality? Aptitude? Technology?

And, yes, we were interviewing today, but that's not what generated this post. At least, I don't think it did.

SecondLife publishes some statistics for you to review. I note that 283,000 people have logged in during the last 14 days, and 601,000 during the last 60 days. Here's the table:

This is an international site. For all the buzz, it still looks like just a few people. Maybe I'm wrong.

Second Life | Economic Statistics

A client emailed me earlier and mentioned an article on embezzlement that I published first on the blog, then later in some of the DGG newsletters. He got the newsletter, and used the article, with an appropriate highlight, as evidence for the District Attorney. Turned out that the employee confessed and made restitution.

Someone really does read the stuff I write...

Anyone else out there?

I'm sure most people have heard about the backdated stock options scandle by now. Seems that several really large companies (Apple, United Health, etc.) issued stock options, and chose dates for the stock options that corresponded with annual low prices of their stocks.

This had two effects:

(a) Employees who received the options whose value had increased got an instant increase in pay, and

(b) The corporation got to value the stocks at the lower price rather than the current price when the stock option was actually granted.

Lest you think this is unusual, since then over 150 companies seem to have gotten embroiled in the same scandle.

My parents taught me better: They called it "lying." And it was wrong.

What were they thinking?

Suppose I miss a day blogging. Like yesterday.

Should I post today what I would have written if I had written the post that I didn't write yesterday? Or should I just back date it and pretend like I remembered to post?

But that would be dishonest...

A Wiki is a webpage that can be edited by the users. Usually, the software that supports this editing has workflow, approval, undo, and redo capability.

You can see a table of different Wiki software, some free, some not at one of the most famous Wikis, Wikipedia. Many of these Wiki software packages are free.

What might you use a wiki for?

• Internal communication


• Project Management


• Client communication


• Training manuals


• Technical manuals


• Program development

I'm sure I missed a bunch, but this will give you an idea.

Let's get this straight up front: this post is not about sex.

About 30 years ago, when I sat down at the keyboard of the Radio Shack TRS-80 (affectionately known by those of us who used it as the TRASH-80), someone showed me how typing

>10 PRINT "BOB PALMER"
>RUN [ENTER]

Would print my name on the screen. And

10 FOR I = 1 to 100
20 PRINT "BOB PALMER "
30 NEXT I

Would print my name 100 times. Likewise, adding a simple semi-colon (;) to the end of line 20 would print my name across the 80 character screen until the space ran out, then wrap the line to the next line, and so on.

I was hooked. I didn't have to wait for the test results, or the cookies to bake. I got to see right then, right now the effect of my creation.

SecondLife is like that. You can create stuff and see the effect right now. Make a cylinder, apply a bark texture to it, you have a log (or a tree trunk). Upload graphics. Cut out things on Photoshop. Play around. Upload music.

Part of the attraction in SL is that you can see the result now without having to cut the wood or wait for manufacturing.

Still has its attraction.

Monetize. Merriam-Webster defines it. It DOES NOT mean to "make a profit on." You cannot monetize a web site. You cannot monetize a blog. You cannot monetize a podcast. In the first place, there's nothing there to make a coin out of and you're not redeeming any corporate debt.

You can make a profit on the things above.

Geeeezzzzz. Has profit become a four-letter word? We're now using an euphemism for profitability?

Ok, perhaps I'm being a little reactive here. Perhaps you can stretch the first definition below ("to coin into money") to mean to convert into money. But that's a reach. Coin means to make a PHYSICAL coin.

We're butchering the language. Kinda reminds me of the transition of the word "impact" (which, by the way, was ONLY a noun for many years...you could say "make an impact on something," but it made no sense to "impact something."). I resisted (and resist) that to this day. This one seems like more of a reach.

Make a profit...do not monetize. Profit good...monetize bad.

Oh, and while you're at it, laugh a little.

Definition of monetize - Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary

Jeff Kugler makes a great point in the article below. He says you shouln't modify ERP software. I agree. Since you can read the article for free after you register, I won't repeat the entire argument. Since you have to register, I'll repeat the key points.

Here is the key thread of the argument:

• ERP software is developed according to best practice standards derived from groups like APICS (manufacturing trade group), and large businesses


• Other features are added because businesses request them, and are selected based on the number of businesses that request them


• You spend less money implementing if you don't modify


• You implement faster if you don't modify


• Therefore, never modify

Problem: Jeff isn't living in the real world where businesses (and people) are resistant to change. He doesn't account for the ERP systems that would never be implemented AT ALL if they were not modified because the users would reject them.

Problem: Jeff is about two years late. We've been telling clients this in our kick-off meeting for at least that long. Some clients listen. Some do not.

Problem: Sometimes modifying software is a competitive advantage. It increases efficiency, productivity, and throughput.

Solution: Minimize the changes in implementing ERP. Delay as many as possible until you've used the software the way it is designed to work for at least 3 months. After that, you'll be in a better position to decide what you need to modify.

My $0.02.

Impartial Enterprise Software Evaluation, Comparison, Selection Research and Tools for IT Executives. ERP, CRM, SCM, PLM, BI, BPM, HR, Financial, Open Source, Outsourcing. etc.

Happy Thanksgiving!

With so much to be thankful for, may we remember that not all have what we have come to take for granted.

I don't think I've mentioned SANS on this blog. I should. SANS stands for SysAdmin, Audit, Network, Security Institute. The publish a variety of newsletters on security threats and protecting a business from them.

In addition, they provide a variety of educational opportunities for system administrators and security officers.

Another great security resource is CERT (Computer Emergency Response Team) at Carnegie Mellon University.

It's hard to keep up-to-date on all the risks, but if you have sensitive data or a connection to the Internet, you need to be informed of the risks.

I visited with a client that was thinking about buying new software last week. They had a pretty good idea of what they wanted, and I was there to ask more questions to make sure I understood all the detailed needs.

In selecting new software, it's important to define all the needs. Businesses tend to focus only on the things that are immediate problems. That is, on the statements that begin, "It won't do..." or "We need to be able to..." It's important to gather this information, of course, but there are also a large number of things that fall in the category of statements that begin "We like the way we're..." For more on this, check out the post on The Gladys Principle.

Anyway...

As we were leaving, the client introduced us to the "IT guy" who started with the statement, "I have a few questions I'll need answered."

"For example?" I asked sweetly.

"What database does it run on? Is it web ennabled? What administrative rights are required on the server? Blah. Blah. Blah." In other words: Cost doesn't matter. What the software does doesn't matter. All that matters are the technical parts.

Reminded me of the guy that wanted software written in a language he knew. Also wanted the source code so he could modify it. He found some. Last time I heard from him, he had sued the software vendor to get his $75K back.

Doing it this way is like the carpenter that only had a hammer, so every problem looked like a nail!

Rule #1: Don't worry about the technical stuff until after you've found the software that does what your business needs it to do.

The technical stuff should only matter when you're comparing products that you know have the features you want and are trying to make a decision between them.

I'll learn new technical stuff every time if you give me the business features I need.

Hopefully, if you're looking for new software, you started with a thorough needs analysis. Not just what was wrong with your existing software, but what your total needs were.

I used to teach consultants how to do consulting. One of my points was, "Have a checklist." I had an illustration of this point. I had one of the class members choose a card from a deck of 30 index cards. On the card was an animal, vegetable, or mineral (you remember the old game of 20 questions, right?). The idea was for the class to ask one yes or no question at a time (with the question, "Is it an animal, vegetable, or mineral?" specifically allowed), and to figure out the answer.

After about 3 questions, the game degenerates to trying to guess the thing. "Is it a zebra?" "A willow tree?" "A rock?"

The 20 questions are soon up, and the game ends.

Then we played the game again. This time I gave the class a decision tree. It had about 8 or 10 questions on it. Each question said, "If the answer to this question is Yes, go to question x. If the answer is No, go to question Y."

It never failed that they would get the right answer, usually with about 4 or 5 questions.

"But that's not fair," they would complain. "You knew the answers when you made up the question."

Right. And what kind of consultant would I be if I didn't have a pretty good idea of what the range of answers was for solving a given business problem? Sure, I'll run up against problems that can't be solved with my questions (just like you could find a card that wasn't included in my 8 or 10 questions), but at least I'll know when the answer is outside what I'm used to...and I can respond accordingly.

So...the point is...you need a checklist, a list of questions, something to start with in order to do a needs analysis. My list of questions is about 30 pages long. I don't ask all of them for every needs analysis...some companies don't need inventory or job cost or service. But my questions cover the field on which I play, and I add to them on a regular basis to account for new management techniques, or new players in the game.

Rule #2: Start with a needs analysis based on a plan of attack, which most of the time will be an outline or a list of questions.

Document the answers. The result will guide the rest of the process of implementation.

Don't know if you caught the NBC report on retail thieves. There's a new breed that is using hand signals, cell phones, and--most interesting of all--fake bar code. The "Lego bandit" stole $600,000 worth of Legos over 3 years. The method? He faked bar-codes and applied them over the real bar-code. This made $100 sets of Legos ring up for $19.99 or so.

Tricky...

NBC report on combating expert thieves

Yesterday a client called. Another vendor had called him to say that he needed to make a decision quickly because if he made the purchase before the end of the year, he could use Section 179 to save enough tax money to make the payments for 2007. He wanted to know if he should hurry up and buy the software we were talking to him about to take advantage of this. And was it available for our software, too?

Right. I hear this one every year. In fact, our suppliers call and encourage us to use this one. And it makes me want to puke!

And, yeah, Congress and the IRS makes rules that only work for one product. That's what they made bribery for... [just kidding here...sortof]

Before I say [ok, write] anything, let me say [write] that I was a CPA in a former lifetime, but I haven't practiced for years. I keep up with these things in general...so for anything you decide to do, check with a CPA or tax advisor that knows your specific situation.

In the first place, assuming that you can save taxes from Section 179 is a bad assumption without knowing a good bit about the company. For example, there is an absolute limit on the amount of deduction you can take per year. If the company just bought two 18-wheelers, they are probably using the entire deduction.

Of course, by the time they figure out that they can't deduct the extra assets purchased, they are in the next year, and it's the CPAs fault. After all, the salesperson TOLD them to check with their CPA before making a decision. Nope, no liability there.

There's also a limit on the deduction equal to profit. That is, you can't deduct more than your profit. If you're a typical small business, the owner may be taking the profit as a salary and getting a W-2. Unless the owner can buy the assets (and take the liability) personally [CONSULT YOUR CPA], there's no profit to take the Section 179 deduction against.

And finally, the Section 179 deduction has been available EVERY YEAR since I entered public accounting practice 20+ years ago. The limits have changed (gone up). In some years there has been investment tax credit (that goes directly against tax owed). But there has been a Section 179 available EVERY YEAR for the last 20 years. YOU PROBABLY WON'T LOSE IT BY WAITING A YEAR [CONSULT YOUR TAX ADVISOR].

Sleazy...says me.

So, here's my advice...if someone uses this on you as a closing technique, ask them if you can just take it next year. While they're thinking that over...RUN...

After all, the Democrats are in control and the tax rates may go up. You could save more by NOT buying the asset this year.

My $0.02.

There are sites on the internet (like FindAccountingSoftware) that collect information from people looking for new software and feed it to people that provide software.

If you looked through the list of "projects," you'd see a lot of them that want General Ledger, Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Payroll, Inventory, Order Entry, Purchase Orders, Manufacturing, Service, and CRM. They want complete training and support. And the budget is $5000 for 5 users.

Or they're looking for a new real estate management system with a budget of $2500 for the entire project.

Or a new inventory system for $500.

And these projects sit and sit and sit. No consultant or software provider volunteers to contact them. Why? Because it's not possible to provide for their needs for the price they have set.

I've talked to the FindAccountingSoftware people about this. "We try to get them to set a realistic budget, but some are just convinced that they can get something for nothing."

Several years ago, I got a call (for the second time) from a local business. The first time around, his budget had been $10,000. He was looking for hardware and software and implementation and data conversion. Ultimately he bought a system for twice this from a company that (from the looks of it) my have sold 25 copies of the software.

He got a deal.

Problem was, the software didn't work. Inventory was wrong. You could run the same report twice and get different answers with the same questions. I know what you're thinking...you must have put in the wrong dates or something the second time...nope...been around long enough to look for that. The same report gave different results.

So we did a needs analysis (see #2). Good step.

Then we talked about budget. This time, the business fellow figured he could go as high as $20,000 for 13 users.

"Sorry, I can't help you," I told him.

"We'll find something," said he.

"You did last time!" I reminded him.

Realistically, there are three basic ranges of software. Low, Middle, Tier 1. Some people put in another one, but I'll stick with the three: S, M, L.

Tier 1 (L) packages are going to cost in the range of $500,000 to a heck of a lot more than that for businesses the size that need them. And the implementation will probably cost at least twice that.

(Ok, the Tier 1 vendors can point to some exceptions on the low end, deals where the software cost $100,000 or $150,000, and where the implementation was $50,000. But for the average business, you wouldn't be looking in this range of software if you didn't need about 50 or so users on the low side, and that's going to cost you).

Figure $5,000 per user in this range, at least. And twice that to four times that for implementation.

Next I'll take the low end (L). That's where QuickBooks lives. And Peachtree. Figure about $700 on the high side per user. And the software's so simple that you probably won't need much help figuring the software out. You may need some help with the accounting concepts, though. That's where an accountant or CPA comes in.

And now for where most people live. Usually around 5-10 users, companies figure out that QuickBooks or Peachtree or custom software or Excel or ACCESS aren't working any more. They start looking for software for their businesses. And they have two basic choices: off-the-shelf, general market software (what I call the "Top 10 Mid-Market Packages." Even though at any given time there may be 8 or 25 of these packages, I still call them the top 10) and vertical software.

And since discussing the differences will take a while, and this entry's long already, I'll stop here with the note that these packages are going to run in the range of $3000 (basic model Chevrolet) to $10,000 (limo) per user. The difference is the features you need and how many users you need. The fewer features, the less the investment. The more users, the less the investment per user.

And--lest you start thinking this--you can't often just "give up features" to lower the cost per user. Most businesses that need inventory or a web store find that the cost per user is rising and they can't find much of a way to push it down.

More later.

I got an email from Steve Ballmer today. Know who that is? Sure you do...he's with Microsoft.

Microsoft rolled out Vista with much hoopla today. According to InformationWeek, IDC predicts that 90% of machines shipped next year will have Vista Home pre-loaded. Only 35% (per IDC) of business machines will be so equipped.

Thus begins the saga of what will run...and what won't...

It will be interesting to see what happens with this new release from Microsoft.

IDC Pegs Vista Sales At 90 Million In 2007 - News by InformationWeek

Another estimate, similar to IDCs of the acceptance of Windows Vista. The Gartner Group, according to eWeek, predicts that just 10% of PCs will be loaded with Vista in 2007.

I think the long-run issue is whether Vista solves some of the security problems that have plagued other releases of windows, and how many products have to be upgraded in order to work with this new version of Windows.

No Enterprise Rush to Newest Microsoft Products