MobilityBlogs.net

Posted on 11 May 2009 | 4:32 pm

As a mobile technology enthusiast, I like to see how it’s used in popular culture. Perhaps this obsession harkens back to my days playing Captain Kirk in the trees of my elementary school in the early 1970s, pretending to use that futuristic device known simply as the communicator. Sometimes the use of mobile technology in [...]

Posted on 8 March 2009 | 8:53 pm

Five months ago we introduced the MoPR 500, an “index” of mobility industry stocks. We selected companies across a broad swath of the mobility industry, and “buying” one share of each, we assembled a list of stocks we could purchase for $500; hence the MoPR 500. We were inspired to create this index [...]

Posted on 19 February 2009 | 2:07 pm

Recent research by In-Stat found the following: Users are sending more than 2 trillion mobile messages per day globally as of the end of 2008. In-Stat consumer surveys showed that consumers who use mobile messaging also use significantly more voice minutes than overall survey respondents. In addition to paying more for value-added services, US mobile messengers [...]

Posted on 12 February 2009 | 6:44 pm

IA Technology, a UK company known to develop ejector seats and other protection equipment for the military, invited a camera crew from the BBC in to its “top secret” facility where 40 employees were shown working away on likewise top secret technologies. The crew was there to get the scoop on what IA Technology is [...]

Posted on 29 January 2009 | 12:21 pm

Launched last year, New Jersey-based RENTOBILE brings the Netflix model to cell phones, joining a long list of companies that have already brought it to toys, books and snacks, among other goods. The company recognizes that in the fast-paced world of telecommunication technologies, mobile devices come and go like last week’s gossip. Mobile devices are [...]

Posted on 19 January 2009 | 4:23 pm

Will Twitter get down to business? Twitter is free for now but will the recent hiring of a Director of Mobile Business Development mean they might start charging or setting up a premium service? According to Twitter’s blog: “Twitter receives a crushing amount of partnership opportunities on a regular basis—it’s a good problem to have yet [...]

Posted on 12 January 2009 | 3:50 pm

Welcome back. We hope you enjoyed the holidays. We certainly did. We’d like to thank you for reading our posts from 2008 and look forward to bringing you more industry tidbits throughout 2009. Be sure to subscribe to our feed if you don’t want to miss any posts. Here’s the URL for your feed reader: [...]

Posted on 19 December 2008 | 5:41 pm

Is an $800 DVR worth it? It’s a pretty risky move during a rocky economy, but after 10 years of work Digeo is now offering its newest HD DVR to compete with Tivo - but it will cost you. Priced at a cool $800, the dual-tuner Moxi HD DVR can store 75 hours of HD [...]

Posted on 16 December 2008 | 10:22 pm

What a week in the world of IPTV … and it’s still only Tuesday. Monday saw satellite juggernaut SES AMERICOM pull the plug on its IP-PRIME service. A telco equivalent to the cable industry’s popular HITS (Headend In The Sky) service, IP-PRIME gave telcos everything they needed to deliver IP-based TV. A telco just had [...]

Posted on 10 December 2008 | 3:31 pm

Every year, CED Magazine compiles a list of the 50 most compelling and important technologies, people and trends influencing the industry.  For 2008, their writers again consulted the industry’s leading technical minds to craft their list.  Not surprisingly, we immediately noticed three trends on the list that strike close to home based on our clients [...]

Posted on 29 June 2009 | 1:02 am

Expanded language support, copy and paste text and other new features make the Beta3 version of BOLT the market’s fastest, most fully-featured browser for mobile phones of all types CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts – MobilityWire® - June 29, 2009 Bitstream Inc. (NASDAQ: BITS) today announced the availability of its much anticipated update to BOLTTM, the company’s web browser for [...]

Posted on 23 June 2009 | 3:14 am

Bitstream’s BOLT Mobile browser surpasses one-million phone install milestone five months after public debut CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts – MobilityWire® - June 23, 2009 Bitstream Inc. (NASDAQ: BITS) today announced that the BOLTTM mobile browser, the company’s web browser for mobile phones of all types, has passed a major milestone, achieving its one millionth install just 19 weeks – [...]

Posted on 22 June 2009 | 12:39 pm

How low can you go and still be unique?  Flycell offers thousands of dollars in prizes for game players with lowest unique bids NEW YORK – MobilityWire® - June 22, 2009 Flycell, Inc., the popular mobile and online media and entertainment company, today announced Bid Hunter, a new strategy game played both online and via mobile phones [...]

Posted on 2 June 2009 | 3:05 am

Q1 2009 Results Best Ever in Company’s Four Year History NEW YORK – MobilityWire® - June 2, 2009 Flycell, Inc., a leading mobile and online entertainment content company, today announced the company has achieved over 60 percent growth comparing Q1 2009 to Q1 2008 and over 25 percent comparing Q1 2009 to Q4 2008. Even as [...]

Posted on 27 May 2009 | 2:56 pm

BNP Now Supports MPEG-4/H.264 and Emergency Alerts with Enhanced Picture Quality Sunnyvale, Calif. – MobilityWire® - May 26, 2009 RGB Networks, the leader in network video processing, today announced that it has significantly upgraded its Broadcast Network Processor (BNP) to support several advanced capabilities that have become increasingly important to its growing worldwide customer base. Upgrades [...]

Posted on 27 May 2009 | 2:46 pm

European Cable Operators Can Deliver HDTV, VOD and Local Ads With RGB’s High-Density MPEG-2 and MPEG-4/H.264 Digital Video Solutions COLOGNE, Germany – MobilityWire® - May 26, 2009 Here at its stand B.50 at the ANGA Cable Show 2009, RGB Networks, the leader in network video processing, is demonstrating how European cable operators can use RGB’s products to build [...]

Posted on 27 May 2009 | 11:17 am

talki™ Mobile Application Honored for Innovation in Consumer Communications Services TORONTO, ONT – MobilityWire® - May 27, 2009 Alternative mobile communications company, Talkster (www.talki.me), today announced its mobile application, talki™, won Technology Marketing Corporation’s (TMC) 2008 Communications Solutions Product of the Year Award. Talkster’s talki™ mobile application gives consumers affordable alternatives to traditional long distance and international [...]

Posted on 27 May 2009 | 3:00 am

ANEDIS Represents Mixed Signals in Germany, Europe’s Largest Cable Television Market COLOGNE, GERMANY – MobilityWire® - May 26, 2009 Here at the ANGA Cable Show 2009, Mixed Signals, Inc., the leading provider of digital content monitoring solutions, has signed on ANEDIS, GmbH as its latest European reseller, giving Mixed Signals a partner focused on the significant [...]

Posted on 27 May 2009 | 12:03 am

Mixed Signals’ Sentry Content Monitoring Solution Enables Cable Operators to ensure a superior Quality of Experience for subscribers COLOGNE, GERMANY – MobilityWire® - May 26, 2009 Here at its booth at the ANGA Cable Show 2009, Mixed Signals, Inc., the leading provider of digital content monitoring solutions, is demonstrating the latest features of its award-winning Sentry® [...]

Posted on 26 May 2009 | 12:05 am

Viral spread drives usage and download figures, making India the second largest market for the new free mobile web browser DELHI, India – MobilityWire® - 26 May 2009 Two months after its public debut at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Bitstream Inc. (NASDAQ: BITS) today announced that BOLTTM the company’s web browser for mobile phones of all [...]

Posted on 16 January 2009 | 6:22 pm

We all know that a cell phone isn’t really just a phone anymore (c’mon, you’ve seen the Sprint commercial I’m sure). It takes our pictures, sends and receives our emails, plays our MP3s and it even keeps track of our hectic lives with advanced calendar functions. Yes, a cell phone isn’t just a phone.  But before [...]

Posted on 18 November 2008 | 7:40 pm

The Philco, a shortened version of The Philadelphia Storage Battery Company, was a pioneer in early radio and television and an early manufacturer of transistors, starting in 1953 with the famous Surface Barrier type (SBT). The Philco in our collection originally belonged to Nancy Foltz (her name is still visible on the leather case) and is [...]

Posted on 14 November 2008 | 7:58 pm

We’re culture junkies here at MuMoH. Not only do we live and breathe mobile and wireless but we also enjoy the history of a wide range of topics, including politics, local and national history, punk and new wave music and general pop culture. Sometimes these cross paths and make for an interesting mash-up of technology and [...]

Posted on 22 October 2008 | 8:02 pm

Museum of Mobility History - Mattel Football from Mobility Public Relations on Vimeo. Every once in a while we will grab an item from our collection and showcase it with video. This post features Mattel’s Football game - a product near to our heart. We fondly remember getting the game as a holiday gift, ripping it [...]

Posted on 21 October 2008 | 5:49 pm

Twenty-five years ago on October 13, 1983, the first commercial cellular call was placed to the grandson of Alexander Graham Bell in Germany from the president of Ameritech Mobile Communications at a ceremony held outside of Soldier Field in Chicago. Weighing nearly two pounds and 13 inches long, the Motorola DynaTAC 8000X used on that historic [...]

Posted on 19 June 2008 | 11:26 am

MobHappy’s Russell Buckley has a wonderful post that points to a presentation from 2000 that forecasts the future of mobility. Some of the technology: Wireless headset? Check. Pocket MP3 player? Check. Digital camera with built-in modem? Close. Glasses for watching DVD movies? Not quite yet – though on the way – we saw one at CTIA last April. Slides from [...]

Posted on 8 June 2008 | 1:18 am

The evolution of portable computing as told through advertising. 1983 1986 1988 1989 2006 2008

Posted on 8 June 2008 | 12:42 am

The XO-1, previously known as the $100 Laptop or Children’s Machine, is an inexpensive laptop computer intended to be distributed to children in developing countries around the world, to provide them with access to knowledge, and opportunities to “explore, experiment and express themselves” (constructionist learning). The laptop is developed by the One Laptop per Child [...]

Posted on 7 June 2008 | 11:11 pm

Ask people familiar with telecommunications history and they’ll tell you that the first text message sent from a mobile phone was sent in 1993. But MuMoH has a phone that sent text messages more than 75 years before that! The Kellogg Switchboard Supply Company field phone, model 1917 (and we’ve also seen model EE 3) [...]

Posted on 7 June 2008 | 3:32 pm

Introduced on April 3, 1986, the IBM PC Convertible was IBM’s first laptop computer and was also the first IBM computer to utilize the increasingly common 3.5 inch floppy disk drive. Like modern laptops, it featured power management and the ability to run from batteries. Weighing in at 13 pounds (5,8 kg), the PC Convertible was [...]

Posted on 22 June 2009 | 1:23 am

What do Cascada Mobile Breeze apps look like on a BlackBerry Bold? Watch the screencast to find out. See a Twitter client, a Dictionary, Mobile Learning... and more.

Posted on 18 June 2009 | 3:22 pm

Odds are, you won't make a fortune building apps for the iPhone, but if you could build an app for it, and get BlackBerry, Nokia, LG, SonyEricsson, Samsung and more automatically - the odds just might turn in your favor.

Posted on 2 June 2009 | 9:59 am

Getting a mobile app out the door requires just a little less work now - thanks to a better app signing process across the major players.

Posted on 11 May 2009 | 9:43 am

Mobile App revenue projections to be driven by data usage, and open policies.

Posted on 27 March 2009 | 3:10 pm

Who is helping create a full app ecosystem. Can a company just 'buy an app store'?

Posted on 26 March 2009 | 4:56 pm

Windows Marketplace for Mobile to charge developers for updates to their mobile apps - will it improve quality or drive developers away.

Posted on 9 March 2009 | 9:00 am

Cascada Mobile extends The Hockey News mobile to feature phones. Polar Mobile extends service to millions of potential customers.

Posted on 2 March 2009 | 6:01 pm

Mobile apps don't remain top of mind forever - build yours efficiently.

Posted on 30 January 2009 | 9:20 am

Excellent write up on various mobile platforms over at JavaWorld. Discusses the role of web technologies in mobile app development.

Posted on 14 January 2009 | 9:05 am

Palm Pre App development will be done using the Web technologies you already know and love - sound familiar?

Posted on 23 June 2009 | 2:46 pm

Flycell added a fun new game to its entertainment lineup this week – Bid Hunter. An upside-down auction strategy game from Flycell, Bid Hunter can be played online and from your mobile phone. In Bid Hunter players are challenged to come up with the lowest unique guess to win big ticket prizes such as plasma TVs [...]

Posted on 15 June 2009 | 6:01 pm

As infamous as he is famous, Eminem (a.k. Slim Shady, a.k.a Marshall Mathers) is one of the most influential MCs ever. Em put Detroit Rock City back on the map in 1999 with the release of the triple platinum The Slim Shady LP. Featuring heavy production by Dr. Dre and singles “Guilty Conscience”, “’97 Bonnie and [...]

Posted on 9 June 2009 | 9:37 am

Believe it or not, the Black Eyed Peas have been together since 1988 when Will.i.am and apl.de.ap first joined forces in a break dancing crew, where they regularly performed at parties. In 1995, the name Black Eyed Peas was first used and only a few years later their songs started to appear on movie soundtracks and the debut album Behind [...]

Posted on 27 May 2009 | 7:57 am

While they may be called The All-American Rejects, they’ve been accepted by most of America. Their first self-titled album is certified platinum, driven by the single, “Swing, Swing” which was heard all over the radio and in film in 2002. The Rejects doubled their success in ’05 with their second album, Move Along, which went double platinum. [...]

Posted on 22 May 2009 | 3:02 pm

Memorial Day commemorates U.S. men and women who died while in military service to their country.  Of course, Memorial Day, in addition to remembering those we’ve lost, is a time for picnics, barbeques and family gatherings so we can appreciate what we have. Make your way to Flycell to get ringtones and wallpapers to celebrate and [...]

Posted on 20 May 2009 | 8:12 pm

Burlesque? Check. Performance Art? Got it. 70s glam? Yup. 80s rock? Right here. Throw it all together, mix in some Gwen Stefani and Christina Aguilera inspired vocals in a New York’s Lower East Side blender, and what will you pour out? Lady GaGa, the dance pop diva who spent her teenage years playing Open Mics [...]

Posted on 15 May 2009 | 1:37 pm

Show your support for our troops and military veterans with patriotic ringtones and wallpapers. The first U.S. Armed Forces Day was back in 1950. Prior to the establishment of Armed Forces Day, there were separate days to celebrate the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and Coast Guard. Get to Flycell and get your patriotic ringtones like [...]

Posted on 12 May 2009 | 5:46 pm

Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails and Mariqueen Maandig of West Indian Girl announced their engagement on May 4th. The news was shared via a post on Maandig’s band’s web site. “In case you haven’t heard the news, Mariqueen got engaged. Everyone in the WEST INDIAN GIRL camp is super excited and happy for her. Q’s [...]

Posted on 12 May 2009 | 5:39 pm

It doesn’t matter whether you are a Red Sox fan or a Yankee fan, baseball season is upon us and it’s time to gear up. Baseball has been America’s favorite pastime since 1846. Fans are often the most die-hard of all sports fans, for example, every home game at Fenway has been sold out since [...]

Posted on 8 May 2009 | 6:48 pm

Top Artists: 1. Asher Roth - A white emcee with an interest in politics and a sense of humor? Must be Eminem right? Nope. It’s Asher Roth. While often compared, the two have little in common other than skin tone and a love rap/hip hop. Growing up in the Philadelphia suburbs, Roth was more influenced by [...]

Posted on 18 December 2008 | 2:25 am

I've blogged about Novell's decision to cancel BrainShare and the role GWAVACon will fill.

You can view it at my new blog site:


Novell Cancels BrainShare

Posted on 17 December 2008 | 1:47 am

I have moved my blog to http://richardbliss.typepad.com

Please visit there for the Macworld blog.

Posted on 13 November 2008 | 8:13 pm

This month marks the one year anniversary of the Amazon Kindle. According to Amazon, the adoption has been iPhone smashing numbers like they hoped, but it has done fairly well in a modest way.

What it has done is to bury the competition. Amazon doesn't need to worry about the modest numbers. They are all going up and they will keep going up. The Kindle is a winner. It is such a winner that the competition doesn't even know that race is over and Amazon won.

First, let's not talk about the product itself and its competition. If you want to do that kind of comparison you can visit Top 5 e-book readers compared

Here are the names of the top ebook readers currently on the market:

ECTACO-Jetbook
Amazon Kindle
Sony 505 Digital Reader
Sony 500 Digital Reader
Franklin EBookMan EBM 9-11

Now, how many of these had you ever heard of other than the Kindle?

Kindle hasn't sold a lot of devices. Even with massive marketing effort. But that is okay. Because they really have sold the device to most everyone who is going to buy an ebook reader. They have sold it to people who haven't bought it yet.

When a person reaches a point where they are comfortable with the idea of using an ebook, do you think they are going to go to their spouse and say...

"Honey, I'd love to have a Sony 505 Digital Reader"

I don't think so. You can't remember that. But I have had a lot of people tell me that they are thinking of a Kindle, and then when I show them mine, they are now convinced they need to buy one.

Disruptions take time

The Kindle is a massive disruption to the traditional book. People take time to adjust to such a radical shift from what they are used to. And ebook readers in the past have been poorly received, so the category as a whole is looked at with suspicion.

But as that suspicion fades over time, Amazon Kindle is already in the minds of the potential customers. They have already bought it in their mind without even realizing it.

Amazon got it right and now dominates the mindshare of this category. Only time is needed for them to dominate it with sales as well.

Posted on 12 November 2008 | 12:03 am

Someone anonymously posted a comment on my blog about some troubles they were having with GroupWise. If they want to email, I have an answer. But since I don't know who they are, I have to post this to my blog and hope they read the post.

Whoever you are, send me an email.

Posted on 7 November 2008 | 8:14 pm

Novell has been focused with their messaging lately. They have told me on numerous occasions that they want to own the word "Interoperability".

Okay, I can understand wanting to own that word. It makes me wonder if anyone is hearing Novell talk about Interoperability.

I know one company is - Microsoft.

This week in eWeek (www.eweek.com) they had a story on the main page.

Microsoft Pushes Interoperability

It was in the Linux and Open Source Section. Looks like Novell is getting through to someone and that someone has decided they want that word for themselves.

At this point Novell is either going to have to fight for the ownership of the word or find a new word.

First would be to get themselves listed in the top ten on Google ranking for the word Interoperability. That would certainly help. Right now Microsoft is listed as #3 and #4 by Google for the word Interoperability.

My recommendation is that they pick a new word that Microsoft can't own or doesn't own.

First choice - Business-Driven Linux
Second choice Teaming

Novell GroupWise wants to own the word collaboration as well.

Novell can win this battle and own a word but it will take some focused effort. Right now they have a big company, Microsoft that wants to take it away from them.

BTW, GWAVACon, The Novell Teaming and GroupWise conference is just around the corner. www.gwavacon.com to register and get the early bird special. It is in Las Vegas this year, January 2009.

Posted on 31 October 2008 | 7:06 pm

Okay, I'm sure the headline got you. But here is what happened.

I was watching the World Series game on my TV. I was watching it live on Tivo, meaning I had it delayed by about 10 minutes to skip the commercials.

I was fast forwarding through the commercials, hit the play button, and for the shortest fraction of an instant I saw something extremely disturbing, I saw a boy with a machete hitting a man.

At first it was so quick, so sudden, so fast, that I didn't react. The news was announcing it was on after the game and then I was back to the game. And then my consciousness caught up with my brain. What had I just seen?

I paused Tivo and flipped back and watched it again...sure enough, for about as long as it takes for you to blink, there was an image on the screen.

I rewound and put it into slow motion...Tivo is great for that...but even in slow motion, the image was only on the screen for a fraction of a second.

After about six attempts I was able to have the image up in slow motion and then I was able to hit pause, then pushing pause again moved the image forward one frame at a time. There were about 6 frames.

There was a boy, covered in blood, standing with a machete in his hands. He is standing behind a man who would seem to be his father. His father is sitting in a chair with blood over his head and clothes and his right arm hangs limp. There is a woman in the foreground watching with her back to the camera. The boy has the machete over his head and slashes down on the man's arm/shoulder...an inch before it enters the arm the image flashes to a jungle tower with a man standing guard looking off into the distance. That lasts only 1 frame and is almost impossible to catch.

All the people in the scenes are black.

I don't know if it was a Halloween joke, if it was a silent protest of Darfur, if it was an anti-Obama item. It appeared to be a family being forced to torture other members of the family.

It was grisly, it was shocking, and it was definitely not TV approved.

I'm wondering if anyone saw it or might have an idea of what it was.

I've looked on Google for any statement but haven't found anything.

Posted on 29 October 2008 | 5:31 pm

Have you ever been to an AutoMall?

This is where car dealerships, fighting for your money, line themselves up like wall flowers at a high school dance, hoping that they get picked to go home with the prom king.

Why on earth would such competitive companies subject themselves to scrutiny by a cautious public?

Because they sell more cars. In truth, by clumping themselves together, it makes it easier to be found, it qualifies the buyer quicker, and it increases their overall sales.

In this case, they all come together knowing that if you are in the car buying mood, they stand a better chance of being seen, if they are seen with their competitor than if they are isolated by themselves.

GroupWise Community

This is a great lesson for the GroupWise community. GroupWise customers tend to be isolated. There are fewer of them than Exchange customers, and they tend to not congregate.

Two places you can easily find GroupWise technology partners and GroupWise customers in the same place - BrainShare and GWAVACon

The new GroupWise Open Horizons magazine is the only GroupWise publication and Cool Solutions and NGWList are about the only place that you can find them talking to each other online.

This is the reason for the GroupWise treasure hunt at BrainShare and the creation of GWAVACon, the Novell GroupWise Technology conference. A place to bring buyers and sellers together.

But you would not believe how hard it is to convince competing companies that it is in their best interest to get ALL GroupWise 3rd party vendors in the same room. That a GroupWise Partner Mall is better than attempting to go it alone.

Both GWAVACon in Las Vegas in January and BrainShare in Salt Lake City in March will be a big party for the launch of GroupWise 8.

Here's hoping that everyone comes to the party.

Posted on 27 October 2008 | 12:47 am

Melissa - May 24th, 1999
I Love You - May 4th 2000
Code Red - July 13th, 2001

Maybe you recognize these names and dates. They were some of the most destructive computer viruses ever. Code Red alone is estimated to have done more than $2Bn USD in damages.

It isn't pleasant to say, but these viruses kept Novell GroupWise in business. As Microsoft systems were crashing and burning around the planet, including companies like Ford, Boeing, and entire cities, GroupWise systems kept on going.

These viruses helped GroupWise come to the own the word "Secure" in the face of virus and hack attacks.

The bad news for GroupWise is that Microsoft has improved on the security front. Security is still a reason to keep GroupWise but the reason has grown much smaller.

New Virus

There is a new virus stalking organizations around the world. This one is called Fear. You won't find it caught in your Virus quarantine. You won't see it listed on your AV threat monitor. This virus is not called Fear it IS Fear. The kind of fear that creeps into your mind and begins to disturb your sleep at night.

Every executive of every organization is being struck with it. They are asking themselves if the financial crisis will come at take them like it has taken so many. Are they immune? Are they safe?

Staying Safe through IT

When email viruses were crashing servers, executives would come to the IT department and ask if they were safe. And each time, the Novell GroupWise IT person was able to reassure the suits that everything was going to be okay.

Today, it is happening again. As the crisis strikes one sector of the economy after another, executives are wondering if their organization is going to survive, and one of the departments being asked is the IT staff.

The question: Will our organization be able to continue to function and meet our growing IT needs if we are affected by the crisis?

And for those IT managers running GroupWise and relying on Novell technology, they can reliably answer YES.

As IT budgets are tightened, IT staff are going to be asked to do more with less. Gone are the irrational decisions to rip and replace all hardware and software to put in the latest Microsoft monolith simply because someone wanted to do it. Now, companies are looking at hardware, software, training, support, and business continuity as driving factors. Suddenly, when one vendor like Microsoft is consuming the majority of your IT budget, it become important to ask if allowing Microsoft to dictate the cost and complexity of your IT needs is wise. No, it isn't.

Fiscal Irresponsibility

The City of San Diego is broke. Yet they got a new mayor and the first thing he did was rip out GroupWise and install a multi-million dollar Microsoft package. Who's needs were met? Certainly not his taxpayers who had to foot the bill. Not even his own staff that then had productivity cut because of training needs. No, a select group made a decision that cost was not important. Instead, the decision was made to lock the city into a extremely expensive long-term commitment that only benefited Microsoft.

This is Fiscal Irresponsibility. More and more cities and governments around the world and now saying No to this kind of planning. Governments should be lowering costs and decreasing complexity, while expanding options. Not doing the exact opposite.

Fear is the new virus

Today Fear is the new virus. And every IT manager who relies on Novell and Novell GroupWise, should be standing in the door of their executive leadership, reassuring that the decision to rely on stable, safe, and low cost solutions are a truly responsible decision that will keep the organization safe.

Posted on 26 October 2008 | 12:25 am

I returned this week from GWAVACon Berlin, the Novell Collaboration Conference. The event was a spectacular success. This GWAVACon was the 9th worldwide that my team has delivered, and each one just keeps getting better.

I've called GWAVACon the Novell Collaboration Conference because it has begun to grown and expand beyond the traditional GroupWise that are its roots.

There bulk of the conference is still focused on GroupWise, but now Teaming has become part of the conference and ZENworks has been there nearly from the beginning. This moves the conference from the focus of just GroupWise to a broader discussion of collaboration.

My keynote theme, like many I've delivered in the past, was the focus on owning a word. I have talked about owning a word in this blog many times and this was an opportunity for the Novell community in Europe to hear it first hand.

Novell needs to own a word and I believe that word is "Business-Driven Linux"

Not all in the audience agreed with me. Novell has been attempting to own the word "Interoperability", something the European crowd had a tough time even saying, let alone understanding what it meant.

Volker Smid, President of EMEA, delivered the keynote on day two and did a great job of emphasizing the ownership of the word Interoperability. He is an talented and enthusiastic presenter, and the audience responded well.

Feeling Good

The thing that most people feel coming away from GWAVACon is that they now belong to something bigger. They often feel that they are alone as a GroupWise IT administrator. When they attend GWAVACon they are surrounded by hundreds of other GroupWise enthusiasts and they are not alone.

In addition, the unprecedented support from Novell makes a difference to the attendees. I use the word unprecedented because in all my 15+ years involved with GroupWise I have never seen the support from all levels of the company like I'm seeing today.

Novell Marketing Makes a Difference

Wendy Steinle, as the person responsible for managing the marketing teams for GroupWise and Teaming, has been doing an outstanding job of increasing the overall involvement of Novell in the community. It has been very effective and it is very appreciated.

Thank you Wendy for hiring great people like Travis Grandpre over GroupWise marketing and Karen Rowell over Teaming marketing. They are both new in their roles, but came to GWAVACon and make an impact to the success of the conference.

Surprise visitor

We had a surprise visitor as well at GWAVACon. Mike Morgan from Novell manages the BrainShare event every year. Mike was in Berlin for another conference and was able to spend a day with us. GWAVACon is a very small event in comparison to the thousands that Mike takes care of for a week every year. But we were proud to be able to show off our little conference and the success we have had building it into a voice of influence in the GroupWise community.

BrainShare and GWAVACon

It has been asked if GWAVACon competes with BrainShare. My answer to that is that it complements BrainShare. When asked, GWAVACon attendees tell me that they, as GroupWise administrators get to come to GWAVACon while their boss, often the head of IT, gets to go to the much bigger event of BrainShare.

This has been GWAVACon's purpose. To focus on giving the GroupWise administrator a place to come and be king for a day. And in Berlin, we treated them like Royalty.

Posted on 24 October 2008 | 12:58 am

There is a fierce debate about how to reach the CxO level person within an organization. If you are a technology company like Novell, this can be a difficult task due to the tendency to talk tech and craft that message into business speak. A CxO level person seldom seems to be interested in the technology, but instead is interested in the business drivers.

Novell has been doing a much better job of this than in the past. Their discussion of Interoperability as a value proposition is still a little bit techie but is much better than before.

My continued insistence that Business-Driven Linux be their message might sound like tech talk, but truly focuses on the area of the mind where a CxO person has limited knowledge of the technical specifics of a Linux distribution but believes they understand the business value that Linux brings by lowering their costs.

Oil and Water don't mix

This brings us to the struggle that technology companies have with attempting to sell a technology but wanting to talk business. Where do you have this kind of discussion?

Novell attempted to have BusinessShare be a part of BrainShare. The first a business discussion to CxOs, the second a technical discussion with IT managers and directors.

It didn't work.

For whatever reason, it seems almost impossible to invite Executives to a technical conference and have them find it worth their time. The techies don't like their bosses hanging around, and the bosses don't want to look dumb at a technical conference.

Birds of a Feather

If you are planning on selling to both audiences, my advice is to keep them separate. Have two completely separate events unrelated to each other.

Posted on 14 October 2008 | 8:26 pm

My wife recently bought me a Kindle from Amazon.



If you haven’t heard about the Kindle, you can watch a video here:

Kindle Demo Video

I love my Kindle.

It helps that I love books but the Kindle has supercharged that love affair.

Here is a quick overview if you didn’t bother to watch the 2 minute video link I just gave you.

Kindle is an electronic book reader...but saying that is like saying the iPod is an electronic music player.

The Kindle has changed the way I interact with books.

First, the Kindle has amazing electronic Ink that looks like real ink. When you see the book, like the image up above, it appears to be real ink.

It has an intuitive interface that allows me to quickly read and even speed read through books. I got so lost in a story today, that I attempted to turn the page at one point, forgetting that I was reading an electronic book.

These features are nice, but it isn’t what has changed the way I interact with books.

I’m one of those people who has trouble throwing a book away. Any book, whether I like the book or not. This causes me to hesitate to buy books because I worry that if I don’t like it I will have to go through the angst of getting rid of it.

I also like to collect books and have a nice collection in my office.

What the Kindle has done, is to allow me to easily read books that I may not have read before. The price is usually 50-60% off what I would normally pay. The reason I can read these books is because it makes the purchasing of books dead simple.

I do a search on my Kindle on the Amazon Store (Free cell phone networking is built in), find the book, purchase it, all within a few seconds. And my purchase is downloaded within 60 seconds.

Now when I go through an airport bookstore, I have my Kindle in hand. I see a book that looks interesting, I read a quick review on my Kindle, then purchase it, and read at my leisure.

The Kindle device itself will hold 200 books, but that isn’t something you really need to worry about...remember I said I have trouble throwing books away, or even giving them away. With Kindle you never have to worry about that again. Once you purchase a book from Amazon with the Kindle, you get to keep the book forever. Even if you lose your Kindle or delete the book, Amazon will remember your purchase and make it available to you whenever you need to download it again.

Suddenly my anxiety for buying books doesn’t exist. I never have to get rid of another book again.

The Kindle must be seen to be appreciated. But once you have it, or if you get within 25 feet of my when I have mine, you’ll be convinced you need one as well.

Posted on 8 October 2008 | 11:34 pm

Posted on 8 October 2008 | 1:17 am

Posted on 7 October 2008 | 12:38 pm

I just came across a recent press release for a Dallas-based company, NetMass. The press release talks about their latest product, ServerSafe 8. A data backup solution. Here is the announcement:

http://www.webwire.com/ViewPressRel.asp?aId=76666

I spoke very briefly with Michael Reagan, their Director of Marketing, about their support of GroupWise. He said that GroupWise has been supported for quite some time and that they have GroupWise customers who have been using it.

I hoping to get more information from the company to see how GroupWise administrators could use it, since GroupWise does have some unique backup issues.

They also support Microsoft Exchange and Notes. It is nice to see that vendors are including GroupWise in their announcements and actually telling the world that they support the platform.

I will post more information when I get more details.

Posted on 30 September 2008 | 2:21 am

Years ago Novell established the precedent that add-ons and additional functionality with Novell GroupWise would be free. The clamor for out-of-the-box solutions that come free has been heard at every BrainShare for a decade.

The problem with free is that it hurts the enduser, the very person who screams for free products or product integration is the one who ends up hurt in the end.

Free is bad.

Today Nokia announced the discontinuance of the Intellisync division. The solution that Novell had decided on for their GroupWise Mobile Server.

Nokia Announcement

You are building your business, your organization, your reputation, on the solutions that you, as an IT Manager or consultant, recommend. Do you really want to stake your reputation and relationship with your customer, your boss, or your end-users on a piece of "free" software?

Now, I don' have the room or time to argue the whole Open-Source issue about free vs proprietary. That is not what this conversation is about. I'm here to argue that if you want some thing of high value then you will have to pay for it.

Novell customers have demanded that they get device syncronization for "free". Well, Novell obligded and provide the opportunity to have a syncronization experience out of the box.

They got a free solution but now they are faced with a non-solution because Nokia couldn't find any way of making money with the Intellisync product.

If you want something bad enough, then pay for it. Nokia pulled the plug on Intellisync today which has placed all of Novell's GroupWise Mobile Server users in a tight spot. Their free server doesn't seem to have a future.

I've never been a fan of Novell offering everything for free even though it supposibly causes them to lose business.

An ActiveSync process will make more sense for Novell in the future.

Posted on 24 September 2008 | 3:34 am

Why do smart people do dumb things? Especially when it comes to marketing. Haven't you seen a company that goes along doing really smart stuff suddenly seem like they got a major case of the stupids?

What causes individual people to not do the right thing when the time comes?

Fear holds us back. Fear prevents us from stepping out and doing the right thing.

When Bill Gates famously turned his company around and moved it full steam into the Internet age, he was able to do this because he didn't care and wasn't afraid of what other people would say. Those people included his staff, his employees, his partners, his stockholders, and most importantly, his customers.

He did the right thing and didn't let fear hold him back.

Novell found itself paralyzed with fear for years. The people there had grown fat and happy with the way things were. NetWare was generating nearly $1 Billion in annual revenue and things looked sweet.

Except the bottom of the boat had been ripped out and the ship was sinking. But no one seemed willing to stand up and do something. Fear paralyzed the company. Those making the decisions would say that it wasn't fear, that they were trying to save it. Yes, they may have been attempting to save it, but they were afraid to stand up and say "NetWare is Dead" and then work from that premise. Instead they kept rearranging the chairs on the deck while the ship sank.

I remember when Chris Stone stood up at BrainShare and said that maybe the future of Novell wasn't NetWare. What a commotion it created. Everyone was in a panic. Even when it was plainly stated, those inside the company continued to tell themselves that Chris wasn't serious. He was just talking. No, he was serious, and wasn't afraid to say it.

When Ron Hovsepian made the decision to embrace a partnership with Microsoft, he made a lot of enemies. But he wasn't afraid to make a very hard choice that was good for his company and good for his customers. He still has the enemies but he also has success which makes dealing with your enemies a little easier.

Good people and good companies make bad decisions when they are afraid to rock the boat. When internal Chicken Littles actual prevent action because they are crying about the sky falling in. Seldom does the sky actually fall when strong bold decisions are made. It is the lack of a decision, the inability to get past those that wring their hands and prophesy doom, that leads to disaster.

If you want to be successful, have the courage to make the tough decisions. You will make enemies but success makes it a little easier to deal with them.

Posted on 18 September 2008 | 4:05 pm

Novell GroupWise just had its 20 year anniversary. I have worked with and supported the product for nearly all of those 20 years.

Back in the early days, when the Internet was beginning to emerge, GroupWise sold its SMTP Gateway for $2,500 extra. You could run GroupWise normally but to connect to the Internet you had to pay for the SMTP Gateway seperately.

That didn't go over well with the user base and the decision was made to bundle the gateway with the product.

Since then, the sense of entitlement and the expectation that everything should be included for free has been the dominant philosophy.

A philosophy that has nearly killed the product.

GroupWise has document management built in for free. Only a fraction of the install base uses it but everyone has to pay for it. And because only a fraction use it, it is hard for Novell, during tough economic times, to justify putting resources into something that doesn't generate a hard return on the investment.

Oh, sure, some will argue that Novell should have invested more into Document Management and then people would have bought the product. That is what I mean by a hard return. It is nearly impossible for Novell to know who is buying the product for which features.

Free is still bad

Today we are seeing ain increasing pressure from the Novell install base to keep putting more things into the product for free.

GMS, the Novell GroupWise Mobile Server, has been added. But it doesn't support the iPhone because Nokia, which bought Intellisync, doesn't want to have their product support a competing mobile device.

Don't argue with me that Novell should have bought the technology rather than partner for it. We would be right back where we are with Document Management. Increasing costs without any hard returns.

I wish everything was free as well. Then I wouldn't have to pay my mortgage, but things aren't free, there is ALWAYS a cost.

The sooner the GroupWise market can focus on how much GroupWise is saving because things are not free but stronger GroupWise will be as a viable low cost alternative to the monolithic Exchange approach which is draining IT budgets with bloated features that are free but unwanted.

Posted on 17 September 2008 | 11:28 pm

First, I was wrong. A few blog posts ago I mentioned that I thought John McCain's campaign was slow to come up with a word to own, slow to find a central theme, and that their new theme, Original Maverick, while good, may have been too late.

I was wrong. McCain completely made up for lost time.

To own a word and keep owning it you have to tell a story that reinforces the word. Stories fill in the blanks and voids that surround a word.

With the word, Maverick, McCain was going to have to show that his actions matched his story. And with his selection of Sarah Palin, he totally reinforced the word and position. It doesn't matter whether you agree or disagree with McCain's decision. What you have to agree with is that his decision reinforced his position. It continued the story of maverick.

Depositioning - Changing the meaning of someone else's word

Remember Hillary's strategy? It was to own the word "Experience". She did a good job, but then along came Obama and he used the word Change to deposition the word "Experience" to mean something different than what Hillary was attempting to say it meant. Obama made Experience come to mean "Same Old Thing".

But then a funny thing happened on the way to the election. Obama lost the strength of his story.
When it came time for him to make his first executive decision and demonstrate what his version of "Change" meant, he chose Joe Biden, a long time Washington player and co-Senator. His choice was probably a smart move for the strength of his ticket, but it was a bad decision to reinforce his campaign and ownership word. His actions didn't match his word. Biden did not reinforce the word "Change"

Now McCain has done to the word "Change" what Obama did to the word "Experience". McCain, rather than attempting to steal the word Change which is still easily owned by Obama, picked the word Reform to augment his Maverick word, and now McCain's Reform story is getting better traction than Obama's Change.

Changing a word

I have been seeing the signs at the Obama events. They used to be the word "Change" without explanation. Now they are "Road to Change" or "Ready to Change". McCain has successfully redefined Obama's meaning of the word Change and now the Obama camp is attempting to explain what the word means, when before they didn't need to explain it at all.

Whoever can tell the better story is going to win this. Obama has a smart campaign team, they should be able to get back on story. McCain has a tendency to not understand how to stay on message, which means he could still squander this momentum.

It is all coming down to owning a word and telling a story

Posted on 17 September 2008 | 11:15 pm

Since 1986 I have been in the business of reading people's email.

I personally don't sit at a computer and read it, but I have built businesses and solutions around the concept of reading email for corporations. The reason has been to keep the bad stuff from getting in and to keep the good stuff from getting out.

But this latest issue with Sarah Palin's yahoo email account being hijacked and then published is something that completely crosses the line.

This is not free information for public consumption. This is left of someone's personal property, even if it is digital property. And that property is being used for financial gain.

That is like someone breaking into your house and stealing something that they then sell on ebay and everyone knows it was stolen.

I am not so naive to believe that the email information can be retracted. Once on the Internet always on the Internet.

Which brings up a funny incident the other day. I heard about an attorney who has a client in the email security business. He didn't quite know how the whole Google thing works, wanted someone to call Google and have them get rid of some content that was showing up in the search engines. He thought you can just call Google and they will take it off their 'website'. DOH! Welcome to the Internet age.

I created a saying for GWAVA's archiving product, Retain.

"Life is short, Email is forever."

The one lesson we learn from this is to never put something in email that you wouldn't want the entire world to know about. You might not care today but who knows what will happen in the future.

Posted on 29 August 2008 | 1:51 am

For a year and a half, the Novell GroupWise revenue stream has gone one direction...up! For the past six quarters, GroupWise has continued to defy expectations and has steadily increased their revenue.

There are a lot of pieces to the success, and it is amazing since Bonsai, the next generation of GroupWise has been delayed.

Novell is also growing. It's Linux business jumped 30%. Now, you find people suddenly saying nice things about Novell and its future. Over at the VarGuy, he isn't even shy about admitting that he hasn't been a Novell fan in the past but might be changing his tune.

With Novell's success, the question is asked. Does GroupWise have a future at Novell?

The future of collaboration is no longer focused on Microsoft. Collaboration innovation of the future is being deployed to Linux. Novell has a strong presence in the enterprise space, and especially with those companies looking to drastically reduce their costs and realize the gains from deploying Linux. The market leader in collaboration is all about vendor lock-in and spiraling costs of deployment and maintenance.

Companies are looking for Linux to help drive down costs and then they are looking for applications to run on Linux to continue to drive down costs. Collaboration, namely the email application is the primary target for major cost savings.

If Novell can focus GroupWise on this emerging opportunity then GroupWise has a chance to relaunch itself as the collaboration product of the new linux platform.

The answer is Yes, GroupWise has a strong future with Novell. GroupWise is good for Novell and Novell is good for GroupWise. The future looks brighter for the both of them.

Posted on 21 August 2008 | 11:58 am

This blog isn't about politics. I don't discuss which party or candidate will do a better job. I do discuss marketing and the successful application of its principals in business and politics.

This past week McCain has begun to use a new theme in his campaign.

The theme is Washington is Broken. If you are a McCain supporter this is good news. Finally a message that got McCain here in the first place. The Washington is broken theme will work well with his 'Original Maverick' brand that he is attempting to create.

One year ago the Mitt Romney campaign asked for volunteers to create a political ad. I participated. Alas, my ad wasn't chosen. They went with a wrap the flag around you feel good ad. Something that I felt was not what Americans wanted to hear.

Things are broken, our country has some issues to straighten out, and we are going to need someone to lead in a very tough time. The Washington is Broken theme will help McCain get the attention of a lot of people.

BTW, here is the ad I created a year ago. It is what I felt the marketing message should have been back then and I believe it is still the message. Washington is Broken

Posted on 21 August 2008 | 10:21 am

It isn't perfect but it is a vast improvement for the McCain campaign. Their new message, "Original Maverick" is starting to hit the right tone and message.

This, after a disastrous attempt by the McCain campaign to convince the American public that Obama is extremely popular and that is a bad thing. Running ads with Obama's face all over the screen, with massive crowds chanting, "Obama, Obama" and then attempting to slip in a little dig that McCain is better because he is not popular.

One viewer of the Olympics mentioned to me that as they used Tivo to scim the ads, they thought they just kept seeming Obama ads, not evening getting to see McCain in his own ad.

Owning a word

In marketing, to capture the attention of your intended audience you must own a word in the minds of those people who you wish to hear and remember your message.

Obama owns the word Change. All the candidates have attempted to take this word away from Obama, either by using it themselves or by dismissing it as unimportant. They have all failed. Obama owns this word outright.

McCain, up until this point has owned the word Old. He hasn't wanted to own the word, but that isn't the way it works. He has continued to reinforce his ownership of this word and the examples are too extensive to mention here.

A new word for McCain

But now the McCain campaign has hit upon a new word combination. Original Maverick. The word Original has a similar meaning to the world old. Afterall, the Coke brand is old but it successfully uses Original or Real as a replacement for old.

McCain, by claiming to be the original, can use his experience and age as an advantage. Maverick can be a good word as well. It speaks of someone who leads with strength of inner conviction and not swayed by peer pressure. There are dangers in this word as well. A maverick is also seen as a contrarian. Somewho who isn't a team player, someone who doesn't work well with others.

Telling a story

In order for The Original Maverick to work for McCain, he has to step up and tell us a story that convinces us that he deserves to own this word. I have heard so many times McCain state that the American public knows him and knows his position. Sorry Mr McCain, but most Americans pay very little attention to most senators and their perceived accomplishments while sitting around with the other 99 senators. Americans don't know you and that is part of the problem.

So tell us a story. Tell us how you are a maverick. We understand the 'original' part, we want to know about the maverick part. Other than the Iraq war, which Americans do know your views, where else have you stepped up, stood out, and been right. Where have you bucked the conventional wisdom, gone out a limb, and then been proven right.

You are a republican, so being opposed to their ideas won't give you street cred as a maverick. We want to know where you were when controversial republican items were being passed and we especially want to know why you failed to prevent them from passing if you are such a maverick and a great leader. There is a great chance for McCain to show how he has failed to influence and sway his fellow legislators.

Too little, too late

I'm still predicting that the republicans took too long to figure this out. And their delay has provided Obama with a lead that isn't showing up in the polls yet. Once the Olympics are over and people turn in earnest to politics, the runway is just to short for the big heavy McCain campaign plane to finally get off the ground.

Posted on 10 August 2008 | 11:57 pm

I've been watching the Olympics. It has been amazing sports competition. I've also been watching the Olympic ads. Some have been great, some have been average and one has been downright STUPID.

The Good

Visa - This has been one of my favorites. Morgan Freeman narrates about Michael Phelps not being a dolphin.

Visa has done such a good job with the Olympics. I got my first Visa card for one reason, to be able to get tickets to the Winter Olympics. They are the leader and they know it and you don't doubt it.

Budweiser - One of their first ads was a rerun of their Superbowl ad, the horse that doesn't make the team and then works out for a year to get on the team. Great ad, great message.

Budweiser is struggling with an image issue at the moment due to their sale to a Belgian beer maker, so this was a good angle, reinforcing their role as a world leader in beer.

Coke - They have several ads, but their overall message has been consistent with their market position. Coke as been around a very long time and is the leader in this category. No doubt about it.

The Stupid

Then there is the category winner for the stupidest ad of all.

McCain - This year the candidates are spending more than $5 million each on ads. McCain didn't just waste his money, he spent it for the other guy.

The ad starts out with the chanting of a OBAMA, OBAMA with a scene of Obama walking in front of a massive crowd chanting his name.

The narrator asks, "Is the world's greatest celebrity in the world able to help your family?"

A unflattering picture of Obama appears on the screen about how Obama is going to raise taxes, how he is going to increase government.

Then the ad turns to John McCain and talks about energy and something else that I don't remember.

This ad is STUPID. I'm a republican, but I'm appalled by the lack of fundamental understanding of how to market a candidate.

Obama's ad isn't anything spectacular. Stuff about all of us working together to solve the future's problems, and then a short about Obama. An average ad.

But how can McCain's camp keep doing this? They just spent $5 million USD to campaign for their opponent.

Comparison

Let's do a quick comparison

Visa's ad - A picture of American Express with Morgan Freeman saying, American Express is used by a lot of people, but Visa is better because American Express doesn't do as much as Visa.

Budweiser ad - Picture of Miller Beer, with a bunch of people laughing and drinking the beer, then cutting to Budweiser and saying, yes lots of people like Miller but more people like Bud.

Coke - Picture of a bunch of kids drinking a cola, then Pepsi appearing on the screen, Narrator saying, "Yes, Pepsi is really liked by lots of kids, but we are the best because people who drink Coke know better"

If you are the leader, rule #1 is you don't compare yourself to those in second place. And you certainly don't give your competition more air time, face time, logo time, than your own product.

Also rule #1, you don't concede that your competition is better than you at something. Running an ad admiting that Obama is well liked around the world isn't a good idea, especially when you aren't a very likeable person yourself.

People do business with people they like. And the same is for politics.

This strategy by the McCain camp is idiotic and it is causing me to shake my head. How can anyone believe this kind of self-destructive campaigning will get McCain elected.

Okay, that is my advertising lesson for the day. Now, back to watching the Olympics.

Posted on 8 August 2008 | 10:09 am

Several people have commented on the 20th anniversary of GroupWise. I thought I would post a few of their comments here:

laurenceobrien said...

You know Richard I have been working with this product its whole life and my entire business career.

Now I am still selling products that work with and around GroupWise, I think we should get Long Service medals at the next Brainshare.

Here's to 20 more...

Greg Arnette said,

My friend Richard Bliss reminded me GroupWise is 20 years old today - launched 8/8/88.

Although not originally known as GroupWise, the product WordPerfect Corporation launched as PerfectOffice on August 8. 1988 was a revolutionary piece of software for the time. An integrated email, calendar, task system with server components that could run on the popular operating systems of the day: DOS, 3COM, Banyan, Netware, etc. My first experience with Office was an installation at Greater Boston Legal Services. The legal professionals there quickly became big fans of electronic mail.

WordPerfect reinvented PerfectOffice a few years later as WordPerfect Office 4.0. More features were integrated, gateways for SMTP and dial-up were added, and a truly modern complete collaboration system debuted. It was no small feat to create a multi-platform email system when DOS, OS/2, Windows, Netware, Vines, and other operating systems were all being used in many different configurations. WordPerfect Office quickly became the standard platform for most law firms, and it was an amazing experience to see the effect simple electronic communication had on the work force. Fax, FedEx, Telex and paper memo usage gradually dropped, and email slowly became a trusted communication tool. Today email is a given and used world-wide for all contacts.

Novell inherited WordPerfect Office and renamed it to GroupWise and has continuously been innovating the platform with the latest release "Bonsai" v8 due to launch soon.


--
--- Greg

Greg Arnette
Sonian Inc.
617-694-8787 - Mobile
617-418-1964 - Direct
800-275-8794 - Main
617-275-8705 - Fax
gregarnette - Skype

http://www.sonian.net
http://blog.soniannetworks.com


James Higley, with MailWise says,

My first memories of GroupWise was when I was worked for The Allegro Group, at the time, GroupWise connected to another MTA via the async gateway. GroupWise was at version 4.0. Most people could not afford a high speed internet connection, so we provided the link of the clients MTA to our SMTP Gateway (now called GWIA). Fun times! GroupWise you provided me many years of productivity, it's been a blast to watch you grow up! Happy Birthday!

Posted on 8 August 2008 | 1:54 am

My brother called me to remind me that it was GroupWise's birthday. He is the one who talked me into doing email. Said it was going to be big, this was in 1989. He was right. I want to thank him for reminding me of the date and for putting me on the path that has sustained me the past 20 years.

20 years ago on 8/8/88 WordPerfect shipped their very first version of email. It was called WordPerfect Office 2.0 for DOS.

This Friday, 8/8/08 marks the 20th anniversary of Novell GroupWise, formerly known as WordPerfect Office.

The product was called WordPerfect 2.0 because it was a bundle of applications that were originally called WordPerfect Library. When WP Library 2.0 came out they added email, splitting the product into a Library version and an Office version.

WP Office product then expanded to other platforms, including WP Office for the Data General in 1989, then WP Office for Unix.

The original version only worked with a single post office. You couldn't send email to other organizations.

I remember the first email I ever received. I had just joined WordPerfect in May of 1989. I was sent an email from a friend, didn't understand what it was, so I deleted it. My mind couldn't grasp that someone had sent me a message, just to me, and that it had just showed up on my computer without me doing anything.

My friend came over to my desk and wanted to know why I had deleted his email. Even back then, the ability to track status was built in. He had sent me an invitation to his party and I had simply deleted the message. (Sorry Todd)

In Version 3, communication was possible between multiple post offices.

I worked at WordPerfect as a technical support operator. A few individuals were there who helped train me, including Brandon Black, CTO for Messaging Architects, and Trevor Harrison, owner and sysops for NGWList.

With the introduction of Post Office to Post Office communication, it became imperative to teach all of us how message flow worked, so we could troubleshoot a problem over the phone. In those days it was almost always rights issues in the wpcsin and wpcsout directories.

I developed a training course to help new GroupWise support technicians learn how to troubleshoot message flow. The course was called Squirrel 101 and every GroupWise/WP Office Tech support person had to sit through the course.

It pretended that a small squirrel was running around inside the GroupWise system dropping off and picking up files to be delivered. I believe Sean Neumann is still teaching it, or a variation of it.

I know that the certification test that many of helped write contained aspects of the concept. Squirrle 101 lives on, nearly 20 years later and taught many a GroupWise person how to figure out just where the message was and where it wanted to go.

In 1994, Novell purchased WordPerfect, then sold off most of the company but kept WP Office and renamed it to GroupWise, not before it was named Symmetry for about 3 months. But a company in the UK had the name already and threatened to take legal action, so the name was chosen as GroupWise.

Again, thanks to my brother Rodney Bliss who reminded me of the date, and for being a part of the success of GroupWise.

GroupWise has helped me pay my mortgage for nearly 20 years. Happy Birthday GroupWise, and may we see you live for another 20 years.

Posted on 31 December 2008 | 2:20 am

Each year, GWAVA works at meeting its customers needs, especially the GroupWise community.

This year I invite you to participate in a short GWAVA customer satisfaction survey to help us become better as a company and to become better at meeting the Novell GroupWise community needs.

Here is the link to the survey:

GWAVA Customer Survey

Thank you for your support in 2008 and we look forward to a successful 2009.

Posted on 12 November 2008 | 1:28 pm

The following comments are from a stubbing discussion on the NGWList, a Novell GroupWise user email listserv. Charles goes into details about the issues of stubbing.

++++++++++++++++++

Simon,

It's true that the current conventional wisdom around stubbing in the
Exchange world is shifting towards only stubbing attachments (even
Microsoft is recommending it). This is not only critical from a
performance point of view, it also makes a lot sense since it's really
the attachment that consumes the space.

BTW... The initial stubbing API Novell is delivering in GroupWise 8

read more

Posted on 11 November 2008 | 6:20 pm

This is our 5th year in the US for GWAVACon and our 10th GWAVACon worldwide. The conference is still focused on Novell GroupWise but has also become a gathering place for other Novell Collaboration Solutions, including ZENworks, Novell Teaming, and now OES.

Each year the event has grown in numbers and influence. Last year, Ron Hovsepian, Novell CEO was the keynote speaker to a packed room. This year in Berlin, Volker Schmid, President of Novell EMEA was the keynote speaker.

read more

Posted on 27 October 2008 | 1:12 am

First, what is stubbing?

The removal of a GroupWise item from the GroupWise message store that is then placed into a third party database, leaving a "stub" that appears to be the message in the GroupWise Windows Client.

The concept was developed for Microsoft because their databases were growing too large in Exchange and they need to get them smaller. Stubbing was created to move content out of the Exchange message store into something else.

The problem is now that stubbing has been out there for awhile, problems are appearing. And Microsoft is now recommending AGAINST Stubbing.

read more

Posted on 30 June 2008 | 1:25 am

Vertigo from GWAVA was developed by Roel Van Bueren and Ronald De Zwart.

The product isn't technically a replacement for Console One, but right now, in its current version it is doing a lot of the things that GroupWise administrators wish Console One would do for them.

The good news is that Vertigo added a Console One Snapin a few months back and can work seamlessly with Console One.

read more

Posted on 27 June 2008 | 2:38 pm

Radicati, a Messaging and Collaboration analyst firm, is doing a survey on the Collaboration Space.

Be sure to participate to show your support for GroupWise.

http://www.radicati.com/survey.asp

Posted on 20 June 2008 | 2:56 am

I'm conducting, through my corporation BlissPoint, a GroupWise Market Research Survey. Click here to participate and be entered to win 3G iPhone from Apple.

GroupWise Market Research Survey

Posted on 16 April 2008 | 3:53 am

I recently chatted with a GWAVA customer outside the United States about their hardware failing on a GroupWise Post Office that was nearly 200GB in size and how Reload saved the day. I'm being slightly vague on the details because we are working on getting the story published and I don't want to steal my own thunder...BUT...the story is too good to not say something.

Reload from GWAVA has been referred to as the Holy Grail of GroupWise. The reason it is called the Holy Grail is due to the unique architecture of GroupWise. Due to its method of storing and retrieving email messages, it makes it hard for GroupWise to recover a single message or an entire post office in an easy, quick way. Also, due to the vast number of files involved, traditional backup software struggles to handle the constant usage of GroupWise to secure a clean back up of the post office.

read more

Posted on 17 March 2008 | 11:37 am

The Novell BrainShare keynotes are being broadcast live from Salt Lake City on GWAVA TV at www.gwava.com/gwavatv

Watch it now.

Richard

Posted on 2 March 2008 | 1:38 pm

Latest reports, both public and private, coming out of Novell and GroupWise is that the product is seeing double digit revenue growth this past quarter. That is great news.

Also, Ferris Research is doing an online survey for email collaboration use. We are organizing a response to influence the report in a positive way for GroupWise.

Visit http://www.ferris.com/2008/02/20/survey-of-support-staff-size-for-exchange-and-notesdomino/ to participate in the 3 minute survey.

It will make a difference.

Richard Bliss
http://gwbliss.blogspot.com

Posted on 12 June 2008 | 3:13 pm

A recent study by Nielsen  caught our eye the other day. The study (based on a sampling of 6,000 gamers ages 16-49 from over 15 countries) found the European Union to be the second largest video game market worldwide, generating billions in 2007. The UK took the lead spot with 7.3 billion (11.4 billion in [...]

Posted on 21 May 2008 | 7:09 pm

With mobile content slated to create billions in revenue by 2012, it’s no wonder that people in the tech industry are keeping their eyes peeled for interesting developments in the mobile games space. Hovr has been there from the beginning, offering ad-supported free mobile games internationally. Backed by decades of mobile industry experience, the Hovr team [...]

Posted on 19 May 2008 | 3:18 am

As you surf through the hundreds of free games at Hovr, you may come across this “PLAY NOW” button. Clicking this button launches a new page that will simulate the game on your phone, much like what you see in the window below (go ahead and play the game, it really works!). It’s a lot [...]

Posted on 1 July 2009 | 9:57 am

Learn how operators can use real-time processing and digital overlays to target ads and keep subscriber attention—view and listen to this video clip of RGB’s Ramin Farassat at ANGA Cable, courtesy of Videonet. Share and Enjoy:

Posted on 23 June 2009 | 11:01 pm

As the television advertising model evolves, cable operators must keep up with the technology and subscriber habits. Through integration with OpenTV’s campaign management solution, RGB has recently demonstrated several advanced advertising options that operators now have as we move away from the traditional 30-second spot. With our joint solution, operators can: Localize national ads by adding locally-relevant [...]

Posted on 20 April 2009 | 6:36 pm

RGB Networks just hit a major milestone in our company growth—we’ve surpassed $100 million in lifetime shipments. That’s a major accomplishment—one that that is especially notable in these tough economic times. I’ve been with RGB for over four years and I’m very proud of our achievement—one that has taken a lot of hard work from [...]

Posted on 16 April 2009 | 9:06 pm

Broadcasters are facing many new challenges. The proliferation of HD content is placing high demand on network capacity, while emerging applications, such as digital ad insertion and dynamic content modification, only up the requirements placed on the broadcast environment. These challenges are not readily met with the video processing equipment currently deployed. Existing solutions, typically [...]

Posted on 18 March 2009 | 2:16 pm

No matter which corner of the world you live in, RGB Networks will have a presence at a trade show near you very soon. If you’re attending any of these shows, please stop by for a demonstration of RGB’s latest video processing innovations: Convergence India - March 18-20 - New Delhi, India Speaker: Sanjay Dhar, Director, [...]

Posted on 10 March 2009 | 5:15 am

With Congress pushing off the DTV transition date until June 12, US cable operators have a little extra time to make sure their networks are really ready. North American broadcasters are migrating to SCTE-21 Closed Caption services. An immediate issue that operators may not be aware of is that several legacy set-top boxes are not [...]

Posted on 6 March 2009 | 12:13 pm

As I promised in my previous post, RGB is taking a strong stance towards a proactive integration of our platforms with partner devices, with the initial goal of easing the headaches of deployment for all involved and the eventual goal of providing “the whole is greater than the sum of the parts” equation for our [...]

Posted on 5 March 2009 | 11:45 am

I just read the results of Telephony’s recent Executive Insider Report survey , which lists video/IPTV as one of the top three most promising service areas for operators during the current downturn. It is encouraging to see that rather than pulling back during these tough times, service providers recognize the opportunity to implement advanced IPTV [...]

Posted on 26 February 2009 | 4:41 pm

RGB continues to expand our offering for video service providers around the globe. Today we announced bitmap-based subtitling capabilities for our Simulcast Edge Processor (SEP), which is especially relevant for our growing Latin American customer base. SCTE-27-based subtitles use a bitmap technique that enables support for subtitling in any language. The subtitle author is given [...]

Posted on 23 February 2009 | 10:58 am

As RGB prepares for next month’s IPTV World Forum in London, we’re very excited to announce that our Broadcast Network Processor (BNP) has been shortlisted for one of their prestigious IPTV World Series awards in the category of Best Cable IPTV Technology. Make sure to stop by stand #40 and see what all the fuss [...]

Posted on 29 May 2009 | 5:47 pm

USA Today featured Talkster this week as a way consumers can save money using technology. In the article, “Here are 7 great freebies you’ll actually use,” USA Today CyberSpeak columnist Kim Komando recommends Talkster as a “legitimate freebie you may want to use again and again.” Other free services that Kim profiles in her article [...]

Posted on 26 May 2009 | 9:45 am

By James Wanless President & COO of Talkster With all the news around operator support or non-support of voice over Wi-Fi, Talkster has had quite a few questions about what Voice over Wi-Fi means to our customers. Market research firm Gartner issued a prediction this month that by 2019 more than 50 percent of mobile voice traffic [...]

Posted on 20 May 2009 | 9:45 am

Vodafone announced this week its “Passport Summer Roaming Promotion” which will run from June 1st through the end of August. With this promotion, Vodafone callers can take their home price plan on holiday with them to 35 European countries – plus Australia and New Zealand. While there’s normally a 75p connection charge to make and [...]

Posted on 19 May 2009 | 4:53 pm

Cool enough to get us named as her Cool Site of the Day FreeRinger, a free calling service built on the Talkster platform, was honored this week by none other than “America’s Digital Goddess,” Kim Komando herself! Kim named FreeRinger her Cool Site of the Day. Thanks Kim, for the plug, and for sending all your [...]

Posted on 20 February 2009 | 3:29 pm

By James Wanless President & COO of Talkster Skype just announced that they would be pre-installing their mobile application onto some Nokia devices, beginning with the N97, some time in Q3 2009 to be followed by other (high end) devices from the N Series. TechCrunch has more details here. I think that Skype has already broken ground with [...]

Posted on 15 December 2008 | 5:10 pm

By James Wanless President & COO of Talkster Today we are proud to announce that here at Talkster we have taken the next step in our quest to offer the best in ad-supported communications. Introducing talki, our new mobile application! Since the launch of Free World Dialing we have had hundreds of thousands of requests for [...]

Posted on 7 November 2008 | 6:39 pm

By James Wanless President & COO of Talkster I continue to be surprised by the number of companies that emerge offering “free” calls. Most of these, including one that I saw today — “FreeBuzzer” — initiate calls from a web browser. Basically, enter your number and the number that you want to call and they initiate 2 [...]

Posted on 11 August 2008 | 9:32 am

By James Wanless President & COO of Talkster There are some MVNOs based in the Isle of Man who are in the market in the UK offering their numbers as an alternative to standard premium rate numbers. So for example, if someone calls the number, they will share revenue with you. Now, I don’t think that there [...]

Posted on 1 May 2008 | 6:49 pm

By James Wanless President & COO of Talkster A lot is being written on the implications for advertising and marketing within the context of social media. I read an article written by Joe Marchese of socialvibe. We both share the view that social media can be leveraged for targeted advertising, but there is a difference between knowing [...]

Posted on 22 April 2008 | 5:37 am

By James Wanless President & COO of Talkster There is a paradigm shift happening in communications. The silos of old are crumbling and the way we communicate is forever going to be changed. The changes in communication that are coming is nothing short of revolutionary. It was roughly a decade ago that people started using email, but now [...]