Software Imagineering Blög

Cloud vs. On-Premise Software by Simple Example

noreply@blogger.com (Filip) — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 15:45:00 +0000

Here's a very simple example of how my cloud-based email provider beats my on-premise MSFT Outlook managed by the corporate IT. The scenario is unwanted emails clogging up your "producitivity stream" called Inbox. Perhaps you subscribed directly or indirectly for updates from vendors, or it's just spam. In my case, I did test an app and somehow probably checked in for their newsletter.

Well, it's time to get rid of these updates and guess what - you don't have to go to these websites and manually uncheck their subscription policy, rather the software does it all for you automagically in the background. Actually I've forgotten the last time that a software feature made me feel good (the design thinkers around would call it a delightful experience). And it has no UI (pun intended).

At the same time, in the parallel universe called enterprise - my Outlook 2006 continues to get spammed by "Hi Filip, I was wondering if you might be interested in..." Now, Microsoft might even develop this cool smart feature by their next release scheduled for 2015, and by 2020 the IT might provision it on the image of my laptop. No wonder why even Microsoft has realized the power of cloud and recently started pushing Outlook.com for people to get great updates like this and more.

The Story of my Dad and the World He Gave Us

noreply@blogger.com (Filip) — Sun, 20 Jan 2013 16:47:00 +0000

On a late Thursday night - July 19th 2012 - my dad picks me up from the Skopje airport as usual. This time it was the wedding of a good friend of mine that brought the occasion to see also my family over an extended weekend. Only six weeks ago, we celebrated a huge festival with all the family for my own wedding marathon which was celebrated over 3 cities and countries. So we saw each other a lot, but I didn't know that this was the last trip I would see and hug my Dad - Konstantin "Kočo" Misovski.

[[posterous-content:pid___0]]

As he picked me up from the airport, he looked great and in good spirit as always, but was worried about my mom who is going through rough times with a herniated disc. The household of three men in my close family was always run by my mother ever since I know, and this is a story on its own. However, this time she physically could not move due to her back and leg problem. And I saw my dad in a completely different role as my mom had to give up the command-and-control of the household. I was so proud of seeing him run all the house tasks and also take care of my mom.

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Even he took care of me that weekend, so I can get ready and look good at my friends wedding. He always made sure to look good as a gentleman when he dressed and wanted his sons to also have this trait. Small things like he shined my shoes that never get to see any shoeshine unless I come home. He was so full of purpose and energy that weekend. One of his last facebook comments were on a picture of the buddy of mine that got married and myself saying: "Two happy friends entered the waters of marriage - wishing you a happy and eternal marriage!"

Konstantin Misovski Dva srekni drugari zaplovija vo braknite vodi-srekno i dolgovecno.

July 23, 2012 at 7:10pm · Like

On Monday morning following the wedding weekend, my wife and I had the appointment in Frankfurt at the gynecologist for the regular baby ultrasound check. This time we were going to find out if it's a girl or boy. The lady doctor concluded very fast from the images that it will be a boy! My wife knew it (a women's intuition), and I was extremely happy. The first thing I wanted to do is share the great news with my family. I knew that this will make their day. They were so happy about the upcoming baby boy. My dad's words on the phone were: "Let us dance on his wedding when he grows up".

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My dad's hobby and passion was folklore dancing. He grew up with it, like we grow up today with the Internet. He also traveled the world with the folklore, as a way of exchanging cultures among countries back in those days. Kind of like what today we call exchange programs for students. Back then, the "program" was the folklore and it gave my dad the possibility to visit regions like Cyprus, Western and Eastern Europe and me as a kid to hear about these places.

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Even later as a family - he loved it when we could go and travel. I will never forget the trip to West Berlin and Munich / West Germany, where my parents bought my older brother and I a brand new, high-tech computer Atari 520 in the mid 80s. My dad's affinity to travel and to invest in us with technology is the reason why I grew up and studied abroad, work in the high-tech sector, and found my anchor far outside of the place I was born. So we owe him a big thank you for the openness to cultures, travel and technology!

Day later on Tuesday night, we skype together for a good two hours until midnight. He's in great spirit, but my mom is still not doing great with her back while laying mostly in bed. I will never forget the last live image of him on skype in my parent's bedroom as we are ending the call and he's waving good-bye at me and giving me his thumbs up. As if he wanted to tell me: "I'll be alright". At six o'clock in the morning on Wednesday - July 25, 2012 - his heart stops beating and leaves us from this World.

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My dad was 40 years together married with my mother. I've never seen someone so attached to one another. At some moments, they were also like the characters from the "Tom and Jerry" cartoon I used to watch daily as a little guy growing up. Different in characters, but always found their harmony and made sure family always comes first. My dad was a funny, calm and easy-going man, he had a joke for every life situation, he could speak a word or two in every language, he loved good food (especially soup and salads), and he was always the show-maker during any celebration or dinner with friends and family. My local friends and family tell me that they will always remember him with a joke in his pocket and a smile on his and everyone's face.

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My older brother reminded me that when we look back to our childhood, he never once yelled at us or was disappointed by us when growing up. It sounds almost like a legend, but it's so true and we both don't know how is that possible. Not once that we can recall that he fussed at us. Rather he was so proud of us at every step of our life. He always asked us if we feel good or do enough sport, if we talked to each other and help each other as brothers. On that Wednesday morning, my brother called me to tell me the sad news about the loss of our father.

Six months later, it is still a hard fact of life to cope with. The memories of him live forever and I like this humble post to preserve the image and positive energy he gave us all, as time goes on. I would've loved for him to see and hear my new baby-born that also carries his name - Konstantin "Tino" Misovski. But I also know that he is very proud and smiling away at us - wishing us "a happy and eternal parenthood".

Thank you Dad for everything // Fala ti Tato za se!

UI "Feature Parity" on the Web

noreply@blogger.com (Filip) — Sat, 17 Nov 2012 01:44:00 +0000

On the web / cloud, there’s a different attitude towards feature parity when comparing it to enterprise on-premise software. See below how Google communicates that I will be losing a “feature” in an elegant way that discontinues their functionless, background image capability.

Since more and more enterprise UIs have the mandate to become consumerish, then I guess we won’t have a problem dropping some bloat-ware UI features in the next version of our shells, portals, home pages, apps… it’s consumerization of IT J

Also, having a background image in an enterprise demo today is in big hype and immediately perceived as “modern”, “sexy”, and identified as HTML5 feature. Little that we know this image adds zero value to an enterprise user if he’s fighting with the limitations of his 80’s experience.

See the full gallery on Posterous

Back to the Future - Photography in 50 Years

noreply@blogger.com (Filip) — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 12:07:00 +0000

Aside for all the buzz lately in the photo-sharing apps world with Instagram and Facebook coming together in 1B ways, I had a unique moment last week realizing the value of memories captured by photography for the generation to come. In this case, I am that generation appreciating the value of rare photo enthusiasts from 50 years ago.

A long-distance relative sent me a pic made on his Polaroid (Instant camera) after a 1963 earthquake in Skopje, Macedonia. He was on his tour from the US to visit his relatives and the place where he grew up as a little boy during World War II. The frame captured has a timeless value for anyone appreciating that region and the art of photography in general. "Back to the Future" could've been staged (or at least inspired) at that very moment. Alas, Christopher Lloyd is missing in the picture...

Moving up 50 years into the present world and few (r)evolution cycles in the photo / software / high-tech industry:

Everyone can be a photo enthusiast ranging from good enough image capturing on their mobile device to a high-quality, digital SLR camera that lot of families can afford today
Everyone can access a good photo even if they are not related to a person through the multitude of social networks that bring people of interest together
In the way a photo could've been captured and presented instantly 50 years ago, today any photo can be socially acted on: shared, borrowed, reposted, followed, commented and appreciated instantly in the world (e.g. more than 100 "likes" in less than a day and mostly from folks out of my network)

Who knows what the next 50 years will bring to the photo capturing, acessing and social "actions", but I know my responsibiliy in capturing a piece of history for the generations to come.

40 Years SAP - Back to the Roots!

noreply@blogger.com (Filip) — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 14:54:00 +0000

http://www.sap-tv.com/m/video/7696

The greatest entrepreneur in enterprise software world addressing the 50K employees and the thousands of customers and partners of SAP at today's special anniversary.

What an honor, pleasure and delight to be working for such a founder that understood back then 40 years ago what it takes to build such a company, and still not forgetting what it takes to prosper in the next 40 years.

Happy Birthday SAP from San Francisco!

My 3 Picks from the Best Value Travel Destinations for 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Filip) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 14:41:00 +0000

Lonely Planet selects the best value destinations for 2012. More than half of the places are nothing you have ever heard of before, together with some usual suspects. But there are three in there that are close to my heart.

One is connected to my college & internship days - Washington DC, the other one is related to my professional career during the dot-com era - San Francisco, and the last but not the least is my summer home - Ohrid, Macedonia.

Not sure what Ohrid / Macedonia sounds to strangers like if it's compared to when I hear about Tajikistan and Vietnam as travel destinations. Maybe my perception would change if I know somebody from those places, or actually go there.

So here I am to say loud and proud that Ohrid and Macedonia located in the spicy heart of the Balkans are perfectly "normal" and beautfiul places for any strangers who want to visit and experience something different than Turkey, Croatia, or Mallorca :-)

The Church of St Clement - Ohrid, Macedonia
Jon Davison - Lonely Planet Photographer
© Copyright Lonely Planet Images 2008

What's an Entrepreneur - Exemplified Definition @EricSchurenberg @Gapingvoid

noreply@blogger.com (Filip) — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 06:29:00 +0000

Woke up this morning with a story in my head of an old college friend out of Denmark who decided to pursue an Evil Plan while running a local software company, and then decided to help produce a movie for Cannes Spring 2012. Last year end of March, he approached me with an investment proposal and teaser for the movie, and I thought: "wow, cool, is he nuts?"

Inc. magazine recently covered an article on what's an enterpreneur - the best answer ever. On a basic level, I cannot agree more with the core definition:

Entrepreneurship is the pursuit of opportunity without regard to resources currently controlled

Indeed, opportunity (a.k.a. "evil plan") is the only real resource entepreneurs have. They also have a clear goal and desire in mind - Cannes Spring 2012, or entering the IMDB, etc. A prototype not only in the Software industry even in the film industry known as a "pilot" is necessary to attract investment and get further traction of your evil plan.

And then one has to defy the odds while ignoring the nay-sayers, folks who think - what does he know about producing a film, can denmark be an international movie producing country, etc. An evil plan has to have a David and Goliath moment baked into the story. Sometimes the story borders a mission impossible, and in some cases the story told may be a myth. Hint: read the chapter in Hugh Macleod's book about filling the narrative gap with his NY bartender friend wanting to enter the film industry...

Year later, I'm delighted to see photos, pages, links of my old friend's film venture actually do materializing. He turly exemplified my definition of enterpeneur!

The potential of 3D -Printing technology, Product Design, and Advancing Humanity

noreply@blogger.com (Filip) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 09:43:00 +0000

Great podcast to listen to about amazing new technology developing new ways of how we design and manufacture products that touch human lives.

Vorarlberg adventures and winter recreation

noreply@blogger.com (Filip) — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 18:59:00 +0000

Great X-pollination by #Google on the Chromebook release to boost Productivity and lower $.

noreply@blogger.com (Filip) — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 11:05:00 +0000

In case this news went under the radar for most of us, well we won't miss it as one opens a new tab in Google Chrome and get greeted by the "Get a Chromebook for the Holidays" advertising message. People kept saying how Google doesn't get anything right beyond Ad-based search, but here's a new attempt to monetize on a gap in the PC/laptop market full of bloatware devices built on the 90's assumptions regarding user productivity and IT management. Probably the biggest competitor to the Chromebook will not be in the PC / Laptop category, rather the Tablets (read: iPad onslaught in the consumer and business markets).

Here comes the elevator pitch for the businesses why to use Chromebook:

Price tag for the consumption of Chromebook is set around 28-30$ / month for 3 year contract, after which they let you keep the device. That summs up to 1100$ over the full life, where as I wonder how much % the HW vendors get out of and what remains for Google. Certainly sounds like a very good margin goes to googleplex. And that's probably refreshingly new to see from the previous GTM approaches to flood the market with FREE apps, tools, mobile OS to as many users as possible, but rather take a page from Apple's market success with iPhone / iPad. Even the outer shell design of the Samsung Chromebook looks inspired a bit by the Macbook.

Regardless of how IT giants recycle and borrow ideas, what I find fascinating with this Chromebook release is the cross-pollination of lot of good, individual products and services into a new end-to-end experience for users and IT in all stages - from finding about Chromebook to starting to use and to continue to love it. It's just great to see a product that cuts across organizational silos, simplifies the architecture and layers inbetween, and applies design thinking principles across all phases while challenging assumptions of the past.

P.S. Oh, if you need that mission critical desktop app like SAPGUI 7.20 in your enterprise to run, HTML5 Citrix^®Receiver is also available from the Chrome Web Store.

Not Your Father's SAP NetWeaver - Perspectives from #SAPTechEd 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Filip) — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 19:23:00 +0000

The highlight of the event were the two keynotes given by Jim Snabe and Vishal Sikka. Both of them were at the top of their inspiration, giving great metaphors and proof-points on SAP’s 3-pronged strategy of innovation on top of our Core in various industries from Healthcare to Consumer Goods (and all done in the middle of major EU crisis). Simple and catchy message of E=mc(imc²) did certainly stick with customers, where the Enterprise value is to be measured by the cross pollination of investments in Mobility x Cloud x In-Memory Computing. Backed by two hip customer showcases of Skullcandy with presenter rolling on stage on a skateboard, and Red Bull with presenters dressed as Formula 1 crew – left lot of folks with impression that “this is not your father’s SAP” of the past.

Now where does SAP NetWeaver fit into this picture? Let’s start with Björn Goerke’s rundown of the NW highlights:

Portal as the UI hub is 10,000+ installations strong, and seen by Gartner as “Leader” in the Magic Quadrant
jPaaS BETA announced as Project “River” – showcasing Cloud adoption across our platform
NetWeaver 7.3 gets HANA support for the 16,000+ BW systems – showcased by Red Bull

The UI Strategy and HTML5@SAP were one of the well attended pods & sessions. Good summary in a post by an SAP mentor DJ Adams:

I learned that the library is built upon jQuery. So SAP are avoiding the NIH syndrome, that’s good. But there were other attendees that were questioning SAP’s decision to build Yet Another Javascript Ui Library. At the very least, the model implementation of the library’s MVC framework gives the wily Javascript hacker a head-start on using and consuming Gateway services. And in my opinion that’s the deal. Yes, we have a very nice UI library (and no, it’s not available until 2Q12, before you ask!) but we also have code that speaks the language of thousands of front-end developers on the one hand, and eases the connection to the proprietary back-end on the other.

Moving onto insights from various session on SAP NetWeaver Business Client, Page Builder, Side Panel, there's been lot of customer demand to make these user productivity capabilities available in lower releases.

Portal got also lot of attention this TechEd and one can feel the “renaissance” of topics and initiatives presented from Portal Mobile, Portal On Demand all the way to Portal 7.3 On Premise and Enterprise Workspaces. One interesting spotlight was on the Portal On Demand as a new product coming in the first half of 2012.

Customer session on the first reported experiences of using SAP NetWeaver Gateway and OData enablement at Adidas for an iPad mobile solution on top of SAP CRM showed:

Easy to set up, steep learning curve. Feed-based protocol easy to understand and to debug
Extensibility of standard services limited. Custom developed services (OData Channel) required for customer-specific data retrieval and high performance
Ramp Up means lots of new functionality and bug fixes through service packs (positive and negative). However, gives opportunity for being one step ahead.

All in all, SAP NetWeaver is back on track as a platform that has definitely improved its perception in the market since it’s revival at the last year’s TechEd and further confirming it this year. Through cross-pollination inside the NetWeaver capabilities (e.g. Gateway, Portal, NW UI) and with the SAP’s 3-pronged strategy for Cloud, Mobile and In-memory, SAP NetWeaver can break new records in 2012.

More in-depth coverage of the technology event hightlights brought by Matthias Steiner:

Voice-enabled Apps to shape the next practices of User Experience

noreply@blogger.com (Filip) — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 20:27:00 +0000

What's all the "noise" about Voice-enabled apps, when your GPS device is still annoying the heck out of you while driving?

First, let's take a look at study from KPCB on the Internet Trends in 2011 predicting Noise, I mean Voice... to be the next "Touch" experience for the masses!

Not convinced yet? Here's Siri in action, your new Personal Mobile Assistant. Unlike your GPS assistant, this one allegedly works, has a flare of personality, will keep improving based on all the collected data, and will be open to 3rd party developers.

OK, so your browser or touch-based apps go from thumb to voice, but why is this such a game changer?

The idea is that Siri can take a user straight to an application and bypass Google or Microsoft intermediaries on the way to delivering your answers for weather, food, maps, entertainment content, and a few other things. Sounds like what Gadgets / Widgets / Dashboards were / are promising to do for the Web (and out-task the browser or search engine), yet I still use both complementary worlds in my daily work (and Google continues to thrive).

How applicable is Voice in the enterprise context? There were attempts in the past at least at SAP to build Voice composite apps. Some partners here and there, so the big questions remain what those killer use cases and scenarios for the m As one of the top analyst puts it: “The big thing to watch is the Siri integration … If it works well and is well integrated (as you would expect from Apple), it could very well be a game-changer.”

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Ray Wang on Engagement, Experiential + Personal Fulfillment systems #HBR

noreply@blogger.com (Filip) — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 08:39:00 +0000

The evolution to engagement systems from transactional systems will usher in an era of experiential systems which apply context to deliver agility and flexibility. Early categories in this space include gamification platforms, context aware services, and decision support systems.

http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2011/10/moving_from_transaction_to_eng.html

SAP Innovations pre-announced without disruptions to ERP / Business Suite customers

noreply@blogger.com (Filip) — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 13:27:00 +0000

One of the boldest announcement in the enterprise software industry showing SAP's commitment to customers and innovation:

SAP will extend mainstream maintenance for the core SAP Business Suite 7 applications, including the enterprise resource planning (ERP) application SAP® ERP 6.0, by five years, from December 2015 through December 2020.
The longer maintenance also applies to the SAP NetWeaver® technology platform, as the basis of the core application releases
SAP plans to make evolutionary and breakthrough innovations available in a non-disruptive fashion on a quarterly schedule for the product and solution landscapes that customers have today.
These enhancements will include state-of-the-art user experiences such as side panels, landing pages or process extensions to mobile devices.

You want to know more about it?

Specific details regarding incremental enhancement capabilities will be provided at the upcoming SAPPHIRE® NOW + SAP® TechEd 2011 events in Madrid, being held November 8-10.

http://www.sap.com/index.epx#/news-reader/

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/SAP-to-Deliver-More-and-prnews-1005115543.html?x=0&.v=1

Teamwork rules in estimation workshop for product release backlog

noreply@blogger.com (Filip) — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 16:13:00 +0000

70+ participants, 6 workgroups,
30+ user stories, 200+ backlog items,
1173 estimated ideal days for execution,
1 mission - UI for HCM by Q1 2012.

In the spirit of Oktoberfest, recognizing all those that brought that brew in your beer maß

noreply@blogger.com (Filip) — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 10:29:00 +0000

The many areas of IT that improve people's lives...

Good to know how enterprise software moves the world behind the scenes of a landmark like the Oktoberfast. Prost / Zum Wohl!

All you need to know about current and next gen technology for enterprise apps - #SAPTechEd Keynote

noreply@blogger.com (Filip) — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 14:25:00 +0000

Great line up of Hasso Plattner, Vishal Sikka, Christoph Kollatz, Franz Faerber, Björn Goerke on stage about the HANA in-memory revolution, market impact, customer scenarios, technology update, renewal of products at SAP, and non-disruptive evolution of the NetWeaver platform - Gateway, OnDemand, BPM, River, MDM.

One single, coherent technology with dynamic, touch-optimized shell and UI for @salesforce mobile apps

noreply@blogger.com (Filip) — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 10:12:00 +0000

Preview of touch.salesforce.com technology that works seamlessly across all smartphones and tablets. Going away from device, native specific apps and into a single, coherent infrastructure for touch / mobile user experience using HTML5.

Usability-wise it has larger icons, stackable screens, and optimized touch-targets so you can quickly find the information you need for greater productivity while on the go. I wonder if such a touch / tablet UI does not become also the default desktop / laptop experience at some point.

The big picture of SAP solutions + Innovations in Big Data, Consumer-grade usability, and the Cloud

noreply@blogger.com (Filip) — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 12:28:00 +0000

Excellent overview of SAP's market offering by Sunjay Poonen, president of SAP global solutions.

Consumer-grade usability in HCM is the next one to watch. Hope we do a decent job on the technology side and deliver on the promise with the apps by mid 2012.

Super App of the Day - Gmail Offline. Amazing combo of Tablet-based UX, Chrome Shell, and HTML5 UI Tech

noreply@blogger.com (Filip) — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 14:20:00 +0000

Available in the Chrome App Store to download

"The HTML5 app looks and feels a lot like the Gmail app for tablets. That’s because Gmail Offline is based off the tablet version, which was designed to function with or without Internet access. It focuses on the key features users need to access while offline, including organizing, starring, labeling, archiving and responding to email. It won’t give you access to Gmail Labs features, but it will get the job done."

http://mashable.com/2011/08/31/gmail-offline-2/

Looking for better visualization plug-in for Epics, User Stories, and User Story Map

noreply@blogger.com (Filip) — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 21:09:00 +0000

A user story map arranges user stories into a useful model to help understand the functionality of the system, identify holes and omissions in your backlog, and effectively plan holistic releases that delivery value to users and business with each release.

But, when you use Excel, PPT or even Jira, then the whole thing looks just too darn complicated. Any good visualization plug-in out there to take content from excel or Jira and visualize it for anyone to navigate better a user story map?

Fun coverage of Tech Buzz - Steve Jobs, Leo / WebOS, Facebook catchup, the Dancing Dror

noreply@blogger.com (Filip) — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 21:01:00 +0000

Nice productivity app with page building and UI aggregation on iPhone/Pod/Pad - #Springpad

noreply@blogger.com (Filip) — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 12:21:00 +0000

Ian Kimbell breaks it down the why, what and how of In Memory technology with #SAP #HANA

noreply@blogger.com (Filip) — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 12:01:00 +0000

8 min. look into the future of SAP next-gen DMBS packaged with pre-defined scenarios, best practices and services for enterprise customers to be instantly productive with in-memory technology:

How can SAP take advantage of Google unleashing Native Client into Chrome?

noreply@blogger.com (Filip) — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 06:28:00 +0000

Intro: http://techcrunch.com/2011/08/11/chrome-native-client/

Questions:

How would SAP GUI integration into Chrome look like with the help of the Native Client SDK, where parts of the 600 MBs of C++ SAP GUI code gets executed in the browser?
Would that be appreciated by customers who seek portable, high-performance web apps from their Business Suite systems, or do they already have much of that in place?
What kind of cool enterprise things can be imagined with the Pepper Plug-in API, bridging HTML5 and desktop APIs and features?

Potential benefits according to Google's SDK documentation:

Native Client enables you to reuse current software modules in a web app—you don't need to spend time reinventing and debugging code that's already proven to work well.
You can port and recompile existing code for the computation engine of your application to Native Client and need repurpose only the user interface and event handling portions to the new browser platform.
To ensure protection of user data, Native Client enables you to build complex cryptographic algorithms directly into the browser so that unencrypted data never goes out over the wire.
Native Client modules are stored with the rest of your application on a web server. In the future, you will be able to use the Chrome Web Store to publish your app where Google Chrome users can easily find it.