Mike Maney

Category: AI & Technology

  • The 2008 Cloud Computing All-Stars


    One of the most talked about technologies of 2008 was unquestionably cloud computing (okay, maybe not unquestionably…this is the tech industry, afterall). Cloud computing — from consumer-level apps such as Facebook to big company entries such as Microsoft’s Azure — dominated a good part of the tech conversation over the past year.

    And, like most hot technologies, a number of key players emerged. While my role in cloud computing flirts primarily around the periphery (i.e., I don’t write code), I am close enough to the conversation to notice which players seem to sit at the epicenter of the discussion.

    Among the creme of the crop are five who I believe make up The 2008 Cloud Computing All-Star Team:

    1. Jeff Barr (Amazon’s web services god)
    2. Michael Sheehan (GoGrid evangelist extraordinaire)
    3. Reuven Cohen (Enomaly founder and Cloud Camp instigator using open source to make the cloud elastic)
    4. Sam Charrington (Appistry VP using cloud application platform to put a hurt on the legacy app server market)
    5. Chris Gladwin (CEO of Cleversafe and the guy behind one of the hottest cloud storage technologies of ’08)

    Which cloud computing players would you recruit for your all-star team? Let me know in the comments.

    [Disclosure: Appistry is a client.]

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  • Convergence and High Performance Computing

    It seems for most of my career I’ve been attracted to technology that, for many, would seem more like science than technology. I’ve been privileged to work with some of the founding father’s of UNIX as they developed the Plan 9 distributed operating system. I’ve worked with smart people like John Patrick and Mike Nelson to promote the next generation Internet and Internet2. I’ve promoted high performance servers at what may rightly be called one of the original server makers, Unisys. And I’ve had the opportunity to be part of the Linux/open source movement through work with OSDL (now The Linux Foundation) and Sourceforge.

    It is these complex, advanced technologies that drive the foundation of the services we use today — things like TiVo, portable GPS systems, cell phones, and the powerful backbone that enables us to watch broadcast TV on our laptops. One emerging area to keep an eye on is high performance computing (quote below from a fine article by reporter Jim Romeo in LinuxWorld):

    “Today, many more organizations are able to take advantage of High Performance Computing, due to the ready availability of inexpensive compute clusters powered by Linux running on off-the-shelf x86 hardware, as opposed to the proprietary hardware and software of yesterday’s supercomputers,’ says Sam Charrington, Vice President of Product Management and Marketing for Appistry, Inc.”

    For many, convergence is the collision of telephone, television and Internet. For me, convergence is the collision of open source, server farms and F1-level networking.

  • Don’t Cry for Them Argentina

    According to this post by CNET’s Matt Asay, Argentina’s government is considering moving its entire information technology infrastructure to open source. There’s nothing earth-shattering in Argentina’s cost-savings rationale for considering open source. In fact, governments (and corporations, for that matter) adopting open source is rather ho-hum at this point.

    Matt also points out that an underlying driver behind this is software piracy. Open source helps Argentina comply with proprietary software license compliance by…gasp!…doing away with the issue altogether. Read Matt’s post for more on the cultural issues surrounding this.

    What’s happening in Argentina is an example of the problem Microsoft and other proprietary companies have gotten into. Their businesses are based on selling restrictive software and enforcing licenses through organizations like the BSA. It’s a model that open source sent to the dustbin long ago. In fact, there is little doubt that their core license policing/anti-customer business model is driving sales for open source. Rather than locking customers in, it’s driving them away.

  • The Problem with Verizon’s $100 Unlimited Wireless Plan

    Interested in Verizon Wireless’s new $100 all-you-can-eat voice plan? May want to check out this post by Silicon Alley Insider’s Dan Frommer first.

  • Open Source Rogue’s Gallery

    LinuxWorld.com’s Mark Hinkle pulls together a who’s who of the open source movement in this list of the publication’s top leaders for 2008.

  • The Problem with Verizon’s $100 Unlimited Wireless Plan

    Interested in Verizon Wireless’s new $100 all-you-can-eat voice plan?  May want to check out this post by Silicon Alley Insider’s Dan Frommer first.

  • Who’s Who, Open Source Style

    Italy’s Roberto Galoppini posts his thoughts from the recent Open Source Think Tank.  It’s great seeing the long list of open source leaders Page One PR does business with.

  • Open Source Rogue’s Gallery

    LinuxWorld.com’s Mark Hinkle pulls together a who’s who of the open source movement in this list of the publication’s top leaders for 2008.

  • Luddites Be Damned!

    There are those who think the pervasiveness of technology in our lives is a bad thing. There are others — a camp which I freely admit to falling into — who believe that being always-on, always-connected is a good thing.

    This really hit home for me today while I was walking through the Moscone Center in San Francisco where the JavaOne conference is being held. The organizers had set up a quasi lounge area, complete with a big screen to watch the conference keynotes, as well as the requisite multi-colored bean bag chairs. Nearly 90% of those sitting and watching the keynotes had their laptops open (Note: a *vast* majority of the laptops at the show were Powerbooks.). Some were catching up on work, some were blogging what they heard in the keynotes, others were surfing Web sites or catching up on personal e-mail.

    And since when is producing, learning or communicating such a bad thing?

  • Things That Make You Go Hmmm…

    It looks like one of the culprits behind the recent JetBlue fiasco was a faulty computer system (one built on a mix of Microsoft and SAP proprietary technologies). I’m not saying open source software would have been glitch-free either, but I do wonder whether the open source community could’ve assembled — like an IT S.W.A.T. team — to get the airline back up-and-running quicker.