CIO's fear consumer technologies

Every year CIO.com has a survey amongs CIO's about the usage and uptake of consumer technologies:

... Even if most CIOs and IT managers were to acknowledge that major technology innovations occur in the consumer space first before they carry over into the enterprise, that doesn’t mean they have to like it. It also doesn’t mean the explosion of devices, smart phones, Web-based applications and social networks doesn’t keep them up at night worrying about enterprise security. In the Nine Consumer Technologies CIOs Fear, we profiled which technologies IT executives find the most troublesome from a security perspective. ...

Source : cio.com So what's on the list ? .. Threat No. 9: VoIP Clients (1%) Threat No. 8: Web-Based Productivity Applications (2%) Threat No. 7: Digital Cameras (4%) Threat No. 6: Remote Storage (5%) Threat No. 5: Smartphones (7%) Threat No. 4: Social Networks (10%) Threat No. 3: Instant Messaging (11%) Threat No. 2: Consumer E-Mail (18%) Threat No. 1: Portable Storage Devices (43%) Source : CIO.com

Windows Live Quick Apps and Tafiti

Joel Olsen blogged about a new development in Windows Live ... Windows Live Quick Applications. The start of something new and exciting ...

Windows Live Quick Applications (beta)

Get free source code to build social networking sites
Our good friend Angus just released Tafiti (www.tafiti.com) as a Windows Live Quick App http://codeplex.com/wlquickapps and http://dev.live.com/quickapps

What's a Quick app? Windows Live Quick Applications provide customizable out-of-the box solutions for specific Web scenarios. Each Quick App is built on Windows Live services and is offered as a source code download for you to use today.

Let me know what you think. 

Source: Windows Live Quick Apps and Tafiti
joelo
Date Published: Thu, 20 Dec 2007 00:58:00 GMT

domains.live.com wordt admincenter.live.com

Als trouwe gebruiker van onze eigen spulen kreeg ik vandaag deze boodschap: domains.live.com wordt admincenter.live.com. De betekenis is generieker geworden; simpelweg omdat de functionaliteit toeneemt ...

Beste Custom Domains-gebruiker,
We willen jou als gewaardeerde Windows Live™ Custom Domains-gebruiker op de hoogte brengen van het nieuws dat de naam van de service is gewijzigd naar Windows Live Admin Center. De naam wordt gewijzigd om beter aan te sluiten bij de functies en mogelijkheden die we bieden, maar geen zorgen: Admin Center is nog steeds je beginpunt voor alle geweldige functies die je gewend bent van Custom Domains.
Daarnaast hebben we nu zelfs nóg een nieuwe functie toegevoegd waarmee je services als Windows Live Hotmail® kunt personaliseren met je eigen logo. Alle gebruikers van jouw domein krijgen dan iedere keer dat ze hun e-mail checken het logo van je groep te zien. Klik links op Co-branding om te beginnen.
De service is nog steeds beschikbaar via domains.live.com, maar uiteindelijk word je doorgeleid naar admincenter.live.com.
We zijn blij dat je voor ons gekozen hebt en blijven je in de toekomst graag van dienst met allerlei nieuwe functies.
Hartelijk dank voor je begrip tijdens de naamswijziging.
Het team van Windows Live Admin Center

Online office suites barely register with public, says study; that may change as they mature

ARS Technica published research by NPD Group. They surveyed 600 Americans about their knowledge and usage of Online Office suites. Not much yet is the conclusion ..

... A new study by the NPD Group doesn't paint a great picture for the current state of online productivity suites. If the numbers from a survey of 600 US residents are to be believed, most of us have never heard of, let alone tried, products such as Google Docs or Zoho. Considering various factors such as visibility and the industry's untested waters though, these numbers could be due for a significant shift in the coming years.

According to NPD Group numbers, 73 percent of the 600 Americans surveyed have never heard of online office suites, while another 20 percent have, but simply haven't tried any for one reason or another. The remaining six percent of respondents are split between those who have heard of the suites and either haven't used them again, use them infrequently, and use both online suites and desktop apps like Microsoft Office. Based on these numbers, some have already written a eulogy for Web 2.0 office suites, but that assessment might be a bit early.

There are various reasons for the perceived limited success of online office suites, starting with their lack of visibility. As they stand right now, online office suites have a hard time getting in front of users because they aren't offered as boxed software that can adorn retail shelves. Even Google's toolbar that sits above many of its services doesn't highlight the Docs product; users have to click the More button and find Docs among a sea of other Google offerings. To try and overcome this obstacle and snag more consumer attention, however, Zoho plans to mimic successful online offerings like Apple's .Mac package by getting actual retail boxes on store shelves in 2008. The box will be virtually empty, with not much more than some starter documentation that informs customers about the site, helping to get them started with using its various web apps. ...

More at Source

Source : ARS Technica.com

LiveSide: Our first look at Office Live Workspaces

I enrolled today for Windows Live Workspaces. LiveSide's Kip Kniskern posted a very good overview of the functionality last week. Follow the link for all the details:

... Well it took a few days, and I actually got an email saying it would be a few more, and hey watch this video while you're waiting, but then an invite was waiting for me in another account this evening.  I had already installed the Office Live Workspaces plug-in to Office 2007, so signing up was a simple matter of logging in via the plug-in and signing up for Office Live, which only took a few clicks.  After that, preparing the workspace only took less than a minute, and I was in:

(click on the pictures for larger views)

...

Source: Our first look at Office Live Workspaces
Kip Kniskern
Date Published: Fri, 14 Dec 2007 06:35:00 GMT

Facebook and Microsoft Expand Strategic Alliance

The intention was announced a few weeks ago, now its a fact. As the pressrelease highlights its a very strategic move to position both Faceboook and Microsoft better to take advantage of advertising opportunities.

... Two companies expand advertising deal to cover international markets, Microsoft to take equity stake in Facebook.

Facebook and Microsoft Corp. today announced that the two companies would expand their advertising partnership and that Microsoft will take a $240 million equity stake in Facebook’s next round of financing at a $15 billion valuation. Under the expanded strategic alliance, Microsoft will be the exclusive third-party advertising platform partner for Facebook, and will begin to sell advertising for Facebook internationally in addition to the United States.

“We are pleased to take our Microsoft partnership to the next level,” said Owen Van Natta, Chief Revenue Officer, Facebook. “We think this expanded relationship will allow Facebook to continue to innovate and grow as a technology leader and major player in social computing, as well as bring relevant advertising to nearly 50 million active users of Facebook.”

“Making this investment and expanding this partnership will position Microsoft and Facebook to better take advantage of advertising opportunities around the world, and is a great win for not only for our two companies, but also our collective users and advertisers,” said Kevin Johnson, president of the Platforms & Services Division at Microsoft. “We have partnered well over the past year and look forward to doing some exciting things together in the future. The opportunity to further collaborate as advertising partners is a big reason we have decided to take an equity stake, and is a strong statement of our confidence in the long-term economics of this partnership.”

Facebook continues to experience strong growth both in the U.S. and international markets; almost 60 percent of Facebook’s users are outside the U.S. With an average of 200,000 new users registering each day, Facebook continues to be one of the most-trafficked sites on the Internet. ...

Source: Facebook and Microsoft Expand Strategic Alliance
Date Published: Wed, 24 Oct 2007

Mary Jo Foley aparently was surprised that Microsoft beat Google to it with this deal. As she writes on her blog Robert Scoble gave his view on things: Brian McAndrews made it happen :

... Former Microsoft employee Robert Scoble says he hears Microsoft’s Facebook win is attributable the new guy on Microsoft’s ad team: Brian McAndrews, the former CEO of aQuantive, who is now the Senior VP in charge of Advertiser and Publisher Solutions. If Scoble is right, I wonder what other miracles McAndrews might be able to conjure, going forward. ...

Source: All About Microsoft