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Topic: Business Intelligence Vendors
Francis Carden
says:
Bruce, LOL - even the debates and arguments are the same. I think the pendulum is swinging so much faster these days, I think it's going to fly off and smash something! To extend your 4 bullets;
1. A bunch a VM's running the O/S and fat clients (rich), serving up services and new UI's and mash-ups is also a "mainframe". Do VM's make fat clients OK again?
2. The Web browser is actually a VERY dumb terminal. We make it smarter by loading THICK priority client side software. Why don't we just load the thick clients outside the browser (on-demand) where it becomes even smarter. Don't believe me? Silverlight? Flash? Flex? ActiveX? Java Apps?
3. Service Bureau - yep and see 2 above.. on-demand-anything - the browser is a shell only
4. Are you being cynical? LOL.
Rob Eamon
says:
I'm not sure how the comments from Arnold are on topic. He posted exactly the same text to a Dvorak article, a Chappell blog post and a few other places. Generally he's commenting on cloud computing articles but the comment here seems misplaced. Methinks he's trying to drive traffic somewhere? Good comments, but weird that they are exactly the same in so many places.
Vincent McBurney
says:
The main benefit customers are getting out of the long battle between Informatica and IBM-Ascential is that both suites are expanding and adding better support for the events that happen before and after ETL build. If you look at recent large database project failures you will usually find metadata and data quality were missing from the strategy.
There is no slow down in the market and in fact some of the biggest spenders on data integration software includes the banks hit by subprime.
Topic: Data Integration
Via data integration, users can manipulate and report on data from different systems
Blog: Is Integration Key to Microsoft's Success in the Cloud?
Article: The Flawed Vision of Customer Data Integration – How to Get It Right the First Time
White Paper: The Migration ROI Handbook
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Kudos to the Cloud Crowd for Re-Inventing the Wheel!
One thing 30 years in the IT industry has taught me is that the more things change, the more they stay the same. Another is that the only memory we seem to access is short-term. Yet another is that techno-marketeers rely on that, so they can put labels like "revolutionary" and "innovative" on platforms, products and services that are mere re-inventions of the wheel ... and often poor copies at that.
A good example is all the buzz about "Cloud Computing" in general and "SaaS" (software as a service) in particular:
http://tinyurl.com/6let8x
Both terms are bogus. The only true cloud computing takes place in aircraft. What they're actually referring to by "the cloud" is a large-scale and often remotely located and managed computing platform. We have had those since the dawn of electronic IT. IBM calls them "mainframes":
http://tinyurl.com/5kdhcb
The only innovation offered by today's cloud crowd is actually more of a speculation, i.e. that server farms can deliver the same solid performance as Big Iron. And even that's not original. Anyone remember Datapoint's ARCnet, or DEC's VAXclusters? Whatever happened to those guys, anyway...?
And as for SaaS, selling the sizzle while keeping the steak is a marketing ploy most rightfully accredited to society's oldest profession. Its first application in IT was (and for many still is) known as the "service bureau". And I don't mean the contemporary service bureau (mis)conception labelled "Service 2.0" by a Wikipedia contributor whose historical perspective is apparently constrained to four years:
http://tinyurl.com/5fpb8e
Instead, I mean the computer service bureau industry that spawned ADAPSO (the Association of Data Processing Service Organizations) in 1960, and whose chronology comprises a notable portion of the IEEE's "Annals of the History of Computing":
http://tinyurl.com/5lvjdl
So ... for any of you slide rule-toting, pocket-protected keypunch-card cowboys who may be just coming out of a 40-year coma, let me give you a quick IT update:
1. "Mainframe" is now "Cloud" (with concomitant ethereal substance).
2. "Terminal" is now "Web Browser" (with much cooler games, and infinitely more distractions).
3. "Service Bureau" is now "SaaS" (but app upgrades are just as painful, and custom mods equally elusive).
4. Most IT buzzwords boil down to techno-hyped BS (just as they always have).
Bruce Arnold, Web Design Miami Florida
http://www.PervasivePersuasion.com