by Ron Miller

Your social business project just tanked. Here's why

2013-06-14T15:44:23-04:00

When it comes to social business tools, they aren't your typical IT project because they involve human communication, but in spite of many benefits, these projects often fail.

Here's why. Read my full article on CITEworld.

Photo Credit: CanStockPhoto

Android versus iOS Argument Persists, but Developers Should Follow Money

2013-06-13T16:52:50-04:00

Mobile app developers can't afford the luxury of having the passion of the average Android or iOS fanboy. They follow the money. For now, Apple's App store is far ahead of Google Play in terms of developer revenue, but the trend is in Android's favor, and developers should be paying attention.

Read my fully commentary on the Ness Software Engineering Servces blog.

Photo credit: CanStockPhoto

Schneider Electric sees Box take off, hit 25,000 users virally

2013-06-13T14:05:00-04:00

Schneider Electric is a worldwide organization with over 140,000 employees, and it very likely faced many of the problems you do in terms of trying to control use of unauthorized consumer file sharing and collaboration apps, while implementing a BYOD program and trying to encourage employees to go mobile. Here's how it attacked the problem.

Read my full post on CITEworld.

Photo Credit: CanStockPhoto

To buy Glass or let it pass

2013-06-12T08:49:51-04:00

A Tech Journalist's Dilemma: To Buy Glass or let the opportunity pass. Feeling manipulated and more than put out by the terms and conditions Google has imposed, not to mention the price, I have a decision to make.

Read my full commentary and learn my decistion on Internet Evolution.

Photo Credit: giuseppe.costantino on Flickr. Used under CC 2.0 license.

Metadata is powerful content

2013-06-12T08:13:44-04:00

Politicians try to write off the NSA phone surveillance as "just metadata," but don't kid yourself, metadata is powerful content.

Read my full commentary on FierceContentManagement.

Photo Credit: Ron Miller

Standing with Edward Snowden

2013-06-09T19:18:08-04:00

We live in a country that takes great pride in our freedom. Our constitution is held up as a shining beacon to the world, but we learned this week, that when you scratch beneath the surface, we really aren't that free at all. In fact, thanks to a former government employee named Edward Snowden, we now know that there is shocking level of surveillance of ordinary citizens.

Edward Snowden didn't just blow the lid off what one friend called the "surveillance state freaks," he came forward and revealed who he was at great danger to himself.

That's why I wanted to write this blog post today to let him know that at least one American stands with him, and I'll tell you how bad things have gotten. I was a little afraid to write and publish this post and that tells you that just knowing about this level of surveillance can have a chilling effect on freedom of speech and freedom of the press.

Certainly, we know this much: Our government is collecting data about all of us at a level none of us probably ever imagined, and as computers become more powerful and hard drive space grows ever cheaper, and the software more sophisticated, the amount of information the government can collect, store and process about us in our electronic data-driven world is dizzying.

Some may argue, as Google's Eric Schmidt once did in 2009, that if you have nothing to hide you have nothing to worry about, but I would argue that if we have a right against unreaonsable search and siezure, however you define that in the electronic age, then we absolutely must question this level of surveillance of ordinary citizens.

We undoubtedly will soon begin to see a full frontal attack against Snowden. I wouldn't be surprised if it has begun already. As with Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks, people will question his motives. Dirt will be dug up whether true or not. They will try to undermine his credibility any way possible.

But if you truly believe in freedom and justice and the power of the US constitution, you have to applaud what this man did and stand with him because he is a true American hero. He stood up for all of us at great personal peril and we need to stand with him now.

I plan to write my congressman and senators this week and urge them to do everything in their power to dig deeply into these allegations and to put limits on this type of surveillance right now, before it's too late. I hope you'll do the same.

Regardless of whether you're Republican or Democrat, or you stand on the right or the left, let's use the power of Democracy and stand together this time, and exercise our right to free speech and let our government know this is not acceptable.

How Microsoft got its own employees to use Yammer more -- and email less

2013-06-07T15:07:17-04:00

Microsoft paid a hefty price for Yammer, so it's only right that it's using the tool internally as its enterprise social network and reaping the benefits through reduced email.

Read my full story on CITEworld.

Photo Credit: CanStockPhoto

5 Links for Developers and IT Pros 6-7-13

2013-06-07T10:20:34-04:00

This week, we look at why developers are cheap bastards, why Windows 8 is failing and how smart developers generate lousy code.

See my all the links and commentary on the Ness Software Engineering Services blog.

Photo Credit: Tomma Henckel under Creative Commons 2.0 share alike/attribution license.

Boxer solves inbox management across email services

2013-06-06T12:32:27-04:00

Have you been trying to find a way to manage your email across email services including Exchange, GMail, Yahoo, AOL, iCloud and Outlook/Hotmail? Boxer a new iOS app helps you do just that and manage your email quickly and simply.

Read my full post on CITEworld.

Photo Credit: iStock Photo

Face it, ECM has always been a false promise

2013-06-06T12:29:13-04:00

Having a single monolithic system to manage all the content in the enterprise has always sounded like a great idea, but it's simply too complex to implement consistently and projects fail more often than not. It's time to face facts that enterprise content management is not the answer.

Read my full commentary on FierceContentManagement.

Photo: CanStockPhoto