In this blog I look beyond the obvious and try to find out why people and companies do what they do - and what it means for the rest of us. 
Summer is a good time to re-evaluate things. I’m spending a lot of time on the beach this summer. Waves crashing in all around you has a way of clearing the mind, I find. Mother nature is simply awesome. When you watch the relentless force of the ocean, it makes you realize that you are [...]
I get to say I told you so twice in a month! I recently blogged about battles yet begun about the industry vs. Goliath (Oracle) and how if folks don’t wake up to what Oracle is doing with Exadata, a whole lot of people who love to sell infrastructure are going to be s*&t out [...]
Yesterday a bunch of smart people from industry got together with some others from the good, old U.S. Government to try to explain this here “Cloud” thing. The list of presenters included: Mr. Scott Charney Corporate Vice President, Trustworthy Computing Microsoft Corporation Mr. Daniel Burton Senior Vice President, Global Public Policy Salesforce.com Mr. Mike Bradshaw [...]
18 months ago I told you that the two stocks to buy were Quantum and Isilon. You mocked me. Now it is I who mocks back. Quantum is up about 500% or so. Isilon around 300% I think. No, I didn’t buy. It’s not because I can’t by law, but by decree (my own). Our [...]
Some random thoughts on some coming wars. IBM–has been too quiet during the downturn economically but now seems intent on changing that. They are diligently working to develop messaging that works–to tell the world what they are and what they want to be. They do great at high-end esoteric junk like “Smart Planet” but have [...]
The clouds are just that, cloudy. Hard to figure out what anyone is talking about, or why. I’m here to help. There are big guys like EMC using “Journey to the private cloud….” as their moniker. They can say nothing, because they are big. The problem, as I explained it to Mr. Tucci (at which [...]
Most so-called “experts” are theoretical in nature; they tell you what to do, but they haven’t done it themselves. I consider myself a legitimate expert–at least when it comes to failing. I’ve made most of the mistakes I talk about in this blog (soon to be a book), some of them multiple times. That doesn’t [...]
This topic is a bit iffy, in the sense that faulty launches in startups are the norm versus the exception–but they don’t always directly lead to ultimate failure. They are, however, a consistently misunderstood and poorly executed element that will often highlight the philosophical incorrectness of those who provide direction–normally the Board of Directors–which can [...]
First, let me credit my friend Peter Levine with this failure thread. There are two monumental pitfalls that can kill a perfectly good company like no others: hiring the wrong person… and taking too long to do something about it. As I’ve discussed in the past, hiring (not just the CEO) is probably the most [...]
Over the last twenty odd years, the Systems Administrator position has moved from “supreme exalted one” to “bastard IT puke in the basement,” and back, or so it seems. I’m old enough to remember when the SysAdmin was king of the hill–the ultimate decision maker on all things IT. I’m not yet senile enough to [...]
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