Outside Innovation

Microsoft Mesh--File Sharing; Not Cloud Computing

Synchronizing Your Life in Microsoft's Cloud

Another theme at Web 2.0 Expo this week is that the Internet IS the computer. The “computers” that you THINK are computers, e.g., the various devices we use to interact and do our jobs, are simply that—devices—that are connected (on and off) to the REAL computer in the sky—the CLOUD. The concept of cloud computing isn’t new, but it’s been getting a lot of attention recently as Google announced its App Engine and Amazon dramatically increased the storage and utility of its Elastic Cloud. I listened in anticipation as Microsoft’s Amit Mittal unveiled Microsoft Mesh at Web 2.0 Expo.

This first instantiation of Microsoft Mesh is a fairly simple concept. It’s a utility that lets you synchronize all your contacts, calendar entries, music libraries, and file folders across all of your devices. Right now, these are Windows devices, and soon they’ll be Mac devices. Next, add your set-top box, mobile phone, PDA, and your car’s music library.

It’s not too surprising that Ray Ozzie, who brought us the best offline/online synchronization services as instantiated in Lotus Notes, would out-Lotus IBM with this “replication/synchronization in the Microsoft cloud” utility.

It’s also interesting to note that Microsoft’s first mesh application is about “my stuff”—synchronizing my stuff and sharing my stuff with trusted colleagues. Eric Schonfeld’s post at Tech Crunch offers the best current description of the Microsoft offering and strategy:

“A hundred of Ozzie’s engineers have been working on Mesh for the past two years. At launch, it may not seem like much more than a combination of Windows Live SkyDrive and FolderShare, but under the hood it is an ambitious platform play. Mesh is really aimed at developers. Not only does it provide a framework for syncing files between devices, it can also sync applications. The way it does this is by using a two-way RSS or Atom feed developed by Ozzie called FeedSync, formerly called Simple Sharing Extensions.”

“The basic foundation of Mesh is this feed-centric programming model. A Web developer can build an app using any programming language or tools he likes (Python, Ruby on Rails, Flex) and then sync it across devices and other applications using two-way feeds as the basic data and communication channel. The promise for developers, says product unit manager Abhay Parasnis: “If you Mesh-enable your application, we will let you extend it to other devices.”

“Microsoft is offering a set of Mesh APIs that include storage services, membership, sync, peer-to-peer communication, and a Newsfeed feature that tells users the status of different folders and who’s accessed them. The same programming model works whether a developer is building an app for an offline device or for the Web.”

“In many ways this effort is a counterweight to what we are seeing with Adobe Air or Google Gears, which are efforts to take browser-based apps offline. With Mesh, Microsoft is in effect reasserting the primacy of client-based applications. They need not be Windows-based, but I’m sure that won’t hurt. Developers can customize their apps for whatever device they originally reside on—whether it is a PC, a smartphone, or a set-top box—and then Webify them by syncing them to other applications across the Web. These apps could be more powerful than apps confined to a browser-like sandbox without giving up the connectivity of the Web.”

 

Schonfeld goes on to compare the LiveMesh replication feature to Geni—a non-Microsoft synchronization service. He also quotes from Ray Ozzie’s internal positioning of LiveMesh to Microsoft’s employees and describes Microsoft’s developer strategy. Take a look at his analysis and description as well as the flood of comments that are already pouring in.        

Web 2.0: Time to Tackle BIG CHALLENGES

The theme of the Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco (April 22-24, 2008) is “let’s harness our global brainpower to change the world.” I find this even more exhilarating than last year’s focus on the Programmable Web. During the opening keynotes, Clay Shirky and Tim O’Reilly laid down the challenge: it’s time to step up to the plate, harness our collective intelligence, and use it to change the world. Scott Berkun put the punctuation mark on this discourse by reminding us, amid a backdrop of social networking gadgets and icons, to “think about what PROBLEMS you’re trying to solve.”

Clay Shirky’s keynote was the most profound. Clay said: It all started with gin. At the outset of the industrial revolution, when everyone came off the farm and started working together in factories and living in cities, humankind dealt with the enormity of this change by drinking gin. That’s right. The only way to cope with the enormity of the change in culture was to numb ourselves through alcohol for almost a generation. Then, humans figured out how to create new ways of coordinating and interacting that made us more productive and prosperous. The changes in media and global communication had the same effect on humankind. We couldn’t deal with the enormity of the societal changes, so we numbed ourselves down with television. Gilligan’s Island and other Sitcoms became the anesthesia that Baby Boomers grew up with. Now, we’re waking out of that stupor, and we’re ready and able to participate with the interactive media environment that we’ve created. We also have a huge collective cognitive surplus to devote to working on really important things. Where does this cognitive surplus come from? We are reclaiming a few of the hours we used to spend numbed out watching TV.

Roles and Responsibilities for Managing Your Customer Communities

Communities are hot! Everyone is talking about them. Every company says it wants one—or to grow the one (or more) already in place. But, as Matthew Lees points out in his report this week, creating, deploying, and managing online customer communities is a nascent science. To help you truly prepare for launching or running successful online communities, he provides advice on the responsibilities, skill sets, and roles needed to make your communities a valuable part of your overall business. After reading Matthew’s report, think about whether your organization has the right people in place to launch itself into the community world!

Adopt a Mac over a Weekend

This past weekend, I decided that I could afford a few leisurely hours to migrate my work life—no, actually my entire online life—from my Dell Latitude 610 running Windows XP to my new MacPro Notebook running OS X (Leopard). I was really looking forward to it.
       
       
I had already enjoyed the “Mac out of the box experience”—unpacking my new laptop, plugging it in and marveling at Steve Jobs’ signature power supply (with “ears” to loop the cord around, as well as the sliding hook on the cord that makes it easy to create a quick and tidy loop to get excess cord out of the way, and the magnetic connector that lets the plug click satisfyingly into the MacBook). I even marveled at Steve Jobs’ packaging. Who knew that styrofoam could be so elegant! I’m convinced that Steve J personally approved the styrofoam design. My husband and I joked about making a wall hanging out of it.

What Are PC Users Doing? Stampeding to Mac!

OK I admit it. I’m really late to the party. Everyone who IS anyone uses a Mac. When Lawrence Lessig gave one of his mind-blowing presentations at the Harvard Law School last week (CC now stands for both “Creative Commons AND “Change Congress”), he used a Mac. In fact, just about everyone I admire uses a Mac. I’m beginning to feel like the odd woman out at any geek gathering or any customer experience confab. What am I still doing with a PC in 2008? It’s past time to get out of the PC/Windows stranglehold and into the sexier and more satisfying world of Mac and Linux. My catalyst: a Dell notebook that’s on its last legs, an expired support contract, and absolutely no desire to move to Vista. Of course, I’m not alone. Everyone who has a reason to trade in their current computer is going thru a similar thought process. The majority of people whose computers need to be replaced or upgraded in 2008 are stampeding to Apple. Walt Mossberg’s recent PC Buyers’ Guide was the final imprimatur that people like my stingy neighbor needed. “It’s not really more expensive,” he opined, after reading Walt’s column, last week, “and I already have an iPod.” Watch out Microsoft, Dell and HP—the trickle is about to turn into a flood!

“Anticipate” Customers’ Questions; Answer Them Completely

No matter how good a job you do in Web site design and navigation, and in trying to anticipate customers’ questions by proactively offering the right Q&A and links in the right places on your Web pages, customers either don’t see those links or they still have questions. Those questions may be specific to that customer’s account (What’s the balance on my credit card? What’s the schedule for my courses for next semester?). The customers’ questions may be semi-generic (How is a credit rating calculated and how can I improve mine?). Or the questions may be very generic. For example, customers ask “What kinds of credit cards do you offer?” over 13,000 different ways in different places on the TD Canada Trust site. TD Canada Trust knows this because they use a SaaS offering from IntelliResponse Systems, a Toronto-based software supplier. IntelliResponse provides tools that let you instrument your Web site to capture all the searches people are doing in context and to help you tailor answers to these questions with a single, comprehensive, and satisfying response, rather than to provide a list of search results or to dump you into an FAQ. I’ve heard FAQs referred to as “Find a Question”—pretty apt! People don’t want to go to a list of questions; they want a single, relevant answer!

Search Marketing Survey

Most of you—our clients—are “best practitioners” in the art of online merchandising and search marketing. You invest in search engine optimization. You constantly refine your Web site search and navigation. We’d like to calibrate how far along you are in integrating your search marketing efforts to provide the optimal findability, navigation, and results for prospects and customers. So please take our Search-Driven Marketing Strategy Survey. And forward this link to your colleagues to take as well. You’ll find Sue Aldrich’s questions provocative. As you respond to her queries, I’m sure you’ll begin to realize that there may be things you should be doing that you hadn’t really thought about yet. We’ll publish the survey results shortly and offer our analysis and recommendations about what you can do to make it easier for customers to find your products and services in order to meet their needs.

How Easy Is It for YOUR Customers to Contribute to Your Web Site? To Promote YOUR Brand?

Rate yourselves! We’ve compiled a set of best practices that we’ve found among the companies that excel in “peer production”—having customers contribute their content and creations, usually via the Web. Customers who like to “strut their stuff” also like to promote your stuff (and their ideas). So this survey also includes a set of best practices for “peer promotion”—having customers promote your products and services and your brand to others. You can download and fill in the questionnaire at your leisure and compare notes with your colleagues. Most people use this as a tool to start strategic conversations. It’s a good activity to do at the start of a relevant meeting as people are getting settled in.

Soon, we’ll provide all of these core competencies in the form of online surveys so you can see how your answers stack up against those of your peers.