‘Kindle Fiasco’ – The Story Continues July 31, 2009
Posted by Shikhar Agarwal in Cloud Computing, Moosings, SaaS, Software Plus Services.add a comment
The ripple effect of Kindle Fiasco seems to continue unabated – a class action lawsuit was filed against Amazon.com. It was expected so probably not surprising but rather unfortunate.
One of the affected Kindle reader is quoted – “I thought that once purchased, the books were mine”. Kindle did something terribly wrong but the digital content ownership is a tricky issue and hopefully is not trivialized nor minimized. The rapid explosion of cloud computing is creating the same or even more complex problems within the corporate world. So, while the consumer world gets lot of media attention, the solution has to be universal and applicable to all cloud computing models.
What do you think of this ‘Kindle Fiasco’ and what will be the remifications of this event on broader cloud computing?
Cloud under the Microsope July 26, 2009
Posted by Shikhar Agarwal in Cloud Computing, SaaS, Software Plus Services.add a comment
I had just completed writing a blog a few days ago that I came across a timely Op-Ed article in the NYT. The article goes beyond the ‘Kindle fiasco’ at Amazon. It touched upon the ‘Twitter Hack’ and even the monitoring of the Chinese version of Skype by the Chinese government. Quoting the article, “The cloud, however, comes with real dangers.” So, a few incidents was all it took to put cloud computing under the microscope?
This sudden questioning of cloud computing by the media is rather interesting. If you are using “free” services to store data (specially by upcoming or unknown service providers), should you not have been worried all along? If usability and accessibility were the only two considerations ever while deciding an application to store data, of course it makes sense to store data on-line and then access it anywhere and at anytime. However, other considerations like data protection and data ownership/privacy of a service are equally if not more important. Information in the cloud deserves and demands overhaul of the current information laws.
- Data Protection: Think it this way – you save money in the bank knowing that the federal government (FDIC) insures the savings and even if a bank goes down (which by now we all know they easily can), your money is protected and recoverable. If the cloud computing has to have a viable and sustainable future (beyond the IT poster child status of today), we need something similar – a guarantee that your data is protected – no matter what. If data is information and information is power, certainly it should be worth protecting. Using financially sound vendors like Microsoft or Google contains the risk to an extent but certainly not eliminate it.
- Data Ownership/Privacy: Enough has been written about this, but never again, a service like Amazon should be able to go overnight and delete books (even those that were owned by you). I see it no different than Barnes & Noble walking into my house and taking away a purchased copy from my library. If you sell something by mistake, you have a right to recall but not snatch. The deletion of content is rather frightening when you imagine the form of censorship it could bring in the future.
These issues are complex but a solution is possible with some political will and industry support. If done timely, it will ensure long term viability of cloud computing solutions. The argument to do nothing will simply result in unhappy consumers and lost data, of course.
Can xRM PaaS as LEGO? July 24, 2009
Posted by Shikhar Agarwal in Cloud Computing, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Moosings, SaaS, Software Plus Services, Uncategorized, xRM.add a comment
Looking at the emerging CRM landscape, one trend is gathering a lot of ‘force’ – using CRM as an application platform. Salesforce.com calls Force.com as a service that lets you build any application, any database, any logic—and run it all on demand on salesforce.com’s trusted, secure infrastructure. A tall order one must add but a model of promise. Microsoft has a less ambitious but probably more realistic approach. Known in the community as xRM, in the recent Worldwide Partner Conference, there was a lot buzz around it.
Personally, I see xRM or Platform as a Service more of a strategy – why build everything from scratch when you have so many resuseable pieces. Think LEGO – by using same building blocks, you can build different objects.
On a funnier note, watch out this cool xRM video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yru5CkANOKA). Yes, ‘Clown Management’ might sound funny to most of us but if you can manage a clown, you can manage anyone. The question remains… what good is a managed clown?
Who Owns My Cloud? July 18, 2009
Posted by Shikhar Agarwal in Cloud Computing, SaaS, Software Plus Services.2 comments
A lot is being made of Amazon’s move on Friday to delete from customers Kindle devices certain titles. An article on Yahoo Tech! declares “It’s easy to see their (customer’s) side of the argument. Once paid for, no book should ever be deleted. Period”. So, basically, if you purchase a book even on Kindle, the ownership should be just like a physical book purchase – so goes the argument. The problem however is Kindle is a service and just like any service has certain terms of service. It seems like, Amazon’s right to delete content is outlined in the Kindle terms of service! You can argue it is unethical but certainly not illegal. The devil, as always, lies in the details.
It reminds me of a conversation I had with CIO (back in 2003) about certain cloud application the CIO was looking at. This CIO was very interested in moving the company into cloud applications and willing to take typical risks associated with an early mover. In the end, the CIO stayed away from the cloud application for one main reason – the lack of ownership of content created in the cloud.
This was back in 2003 and one could argue – there are better service terms in place today. However, as the Amazon story reminds us, the cloud is still an evolving landscape that is not yet standardized. In all the buzz about cloud computing, it is very easy to get carried away and lose sight of the fact that when all said and done, cloud computing is a service based on certain ‘terms of service’. After all these years, it is still important for a CIO to be able to answer the question – Who Owns My Cloud?
