Cloud platform supports product development activities

OneDesk collects feedback and ideas from internal sources and social media; a new API allows it to integrate with apps from NetSuite, Oracle, SAP and Salesforce.com.

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When you talk about the sorts of internal collaboration activities that companies of any size need to support, those related to product development should be right up near the top of the list.

That’s why your organization might want to take a peek at a platform called OneDesk, a cloud-based application that is explicitly intended too coordinate product managers, engineers, marketing teams and even customer support professionals.

I spoke a few weeks back with Catherine Constantinides, one of the OneDesk team members, a few weeks back about how the platform might be used and the sorts of features that are included.

She describes it as a place for companies to declare and manage all the “needs requirements” associated with a given product or product development project.

Internally speaking, there are places to share ideas for the next releases, which can bubble up from anywhere. As some of these ideas are embraced for future features, the team can track the progress as well as any challenges or objections that might occurs along the way.

From an external perspective, OneDesk can be used to monitor and gather feedback about a product that is emerging in social media or social networks.

Ultimately, the main benefit is that all feedback — whether it is internal or external — can be gathered and searched from one location. “You can see all of the requirements, feedback and tasks associated with a particular product release,” Constantinides said. Then again, you can turn off any particular module that isn’t relevant to your organization.

There are two flavors of OneDesk, one that is free, which supports up to 30 people within a company (which is great if you are small small business) and that comes with up to 100 megabytes of data storage. OneDesk Pro will cost your organization $30 per user, per month. That essentially pays for the much larger storage capacity each users gets, up to 1 gigabyte per person.

For midsize businesses that need to worry about such things, OneDesk just released an application programming interface (API) that enables its application to be integrated with enterprise resource planning and CRM applications including Oracle, SAP, Salesforce.com and NetSuite (they aren’t the only applications supported, but are among the most relevant, of course).

The Internet Makes It Possible To Earn A Health Care Degree Online

Many people enjoy working in the health care field, the career being an attractive one for many reasons. After all, you're helping others, the job opportunities abound and the field of medicine is an exciting one that's developing constantly. A career in health care is an exciting one, with hands-on experience and being personally satisfying. However, individuals wanting to break into the medical world need strong credentials and up-to-date training to have good employment opportunities with hospitals, private practices and ambulatory care centers. Finding that training can be difficult, but there are options available, thanks to technology and a widening recognition of virtual instruction. Obtaining a health care degree online is a smart choice for landing satisfying employment.

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Online education is transforming the way individuals receive instruction for top careers. The fields of opportunities are expanding and being able to earn your health care degree online is a perfect example of just how far education has come. Accredited universities and colleges provide high-quality instruction, leading to Bachelors and Masters Degrees that are recognized by employers. The training has a leading reputation amongst hospitals and health care facilities of all kinds, making individuals valuable assets to the medical field.


Obtaining your health care degree online can help with upward mobility on the ladder of success and increase job opportunities in the medical field. Expanding your education can improve communication skills and promote individual value to the mid-level management section, allowing students to respond to ever-widening community diversity. Interpreting and analyzing data as well as identifying human values, moral choices and fundamental beliefs are just part of what a health care degree online can provide to individuals. Courses within this field of online education touch on varied subjects, such as anatomy, legal issues, the aging process and research methods.

There are other reasons why pursuing a health care degree online is advantageous. Education in the virtual world allows students to easily balance studies with employment, meaning that individuals can continue to work and earn income while earning credits towards a degree in their own time. Home life, education and employment blend very easily, allowing students to combine all three areas of their lives without needing to take time off work to study or put off raising children to obtain an education. Also, pursuing an online degree allows individuals to save money on costs of transportation and commuting to educational facilities or having to pay for lodgings on or near a campus.


Employment opportunities in the health care field are continually broadening as the world's population ages. Research and technology allow people to live longer, providing ample careers to those who pursue a profession in the medical field. As our population of senior citizens continues to expand, the needs for skilled professionals able to tend to individuals increases and finding employment is usually easy, for those who have the qualifications and credentials of accredited educational facilities. Top schools and universities have responded to the demands and offer excellent, recognized training to students in a manner that matches the technological revolution of today's computer-based world.

Government offices continually demand high-quality workers and their predictions claim that having solid training is a must for those entering the health care world. Consumers and clients of hospitals, private practices, ambulatory care centers and home health agencies are also asking for better-quality care from those who tend to their needs. The advantages to earning a health care degree from a reputable educational facility are many and the long-term results will provide individuals with solid, satisfying and exciting careers.

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Microsoft's SQL Server 2012 to launch on March 7

Microsoft’s SQL Server 2012 database will launch on March 7.

The launch date for SQL Server 2012 is out of the bag: It’s March 7.

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On the SQL Server 2012 Launch site, Microsoft is featuring the agenda of the Webcast timed to coincide with launch.

(Launch, as Microsoft historians know, may or may not equate to general availability. RTM, or release to manufacturing, also may precede or follow product launches at Microsoft these days. In the case of SQL Server 2008 R2, Microsoft’s release to manufacturing (RTM) of the product preceded by about a month the date on which most customers could actually get the bits.)

Microsoft Server and Tools chief Satya Nadella revealed last fall that SQL Server 2012 (codenamed “Denali”) would launch in the early part of 2012. Microsoft delivered the final public test build of SQL Server 2012 in November 2011.

The March 7 launch event topic list includes everything from big data, to StreamInsight complex event processing, to the new data-visualization and analysis tools that are part of the SQL Server 2012 release.

Microsoft already has revealed much of its SQL Server 2012 pricing and licensing plans, including availability of a new business-intelligence (BI) SKU.

RIM's new CEO wants to focus more on consumers

RIM's new CEO, Thorsten Heins, wants the company to improve its product development while also becoming better at marketing, he said during a conference call on Monday.

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Heins is taking over from Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie, who had co-CEO roles and will remain with the company.

"I pledge to do everything possible to exceed the expectations of all of the company's shareholders," said Heins.

RIM's decision to pick its new CEO from within the company makes it clear that it won't budge from current strategy, which is based on its acquisition of the QNX operating system, according to Geoff Blaber, analyst at CCS Insight. QNX is already used on its PlayBook tablet, and will also be used on its smartphones with the arrival of BlackBerry 10, Blaber said.

"Eighteen months ago Mike and Jim took a bold step when we had to make a major decision around our future platform, and they purchased QNX to shepherd the transformation of the BlackBerry platform for the next decade," Heins said. "Right now, with PlayBook 2.0 coming out in February, we are more confidant than ever that this was the right path to go."

At first, Heins will focus on improving the company's marketing efforts, which include hiring a new chief marketing officer as soon as possible, and the way it develops products.

"We need to be more marketing driven, and we need to be more consumer-oriented because that is where a lot of our growth is coming from," said Heins.

RIM will also change how it develops products. The company has been innovating while developing the products, and that needs to stop, Heins said.

Innovation will take place with much more emphasis on prototyping, and RIM has great teams that can try new ideas out, he said.

"But when we say a product is defined ... execution has to be really, really precise, with no churn in existing development programs," said Heins.

Heins didn't address rumors about RIM being acquired, but emphasized that its current model is the way forward.

"I will not in any way split this up or separate it into different businesses," said Heins, adding that while he will listen to anyone who wants to license BlackBerry 10, it is not his main focus.

Picking a new CEO from within was the right decision, according to analysts.

"Heins has been the COO for some time. He has been at RIM for over four years now, and he has been leading the current product transition," said Blaber. "It will be about delivering on the strategy they have already embarked on."

Pete Cunningham, analyst at market research company Canalys agreed: "RIM has been stagnating and needed an injection of fresh leadership."

Bringing someone in from the outside would have been riskier, according to Cunningham.

The big challenge now is to get BlackBerry 10 smartphones to market as soon as possible. In December, RIM said it would not start selling phones with the software platform until the "later part" of 2012, because it wanted to wait for the arrival of more advanced chipsets.

"It is hard to see that a change of leadership at the company can accelerate that schedule terribly much," said Cunningham.

Products based on the BlackBerry 10 platform were expected to arrive earlier, and the delay has hurt RIM, according to Blaber.

"The reality is that creating a new platform, albeit be it on a pre-existing operating system in QNX, was always going to take some time," said Blaber, who thinks that the development of the PlayBook distracted RIM's engineering department to the detriment of new smartphones.

Another of Heins' main challenges will also be to help RIM regain some of former glory in the U.S. The company watched its market share drop from 24 percent in the third quarter of 2010 to just 9 percent in the same period last year, according to Canalys.

However, the picture for RIM in other parts of the world is more positive. The Middle East and Africa and Southeast Asia were particular bright spots during the third quarter, Canalys said.

"There are a number of markets where BlackBerries are still selling really well, but the problem RIM has that everyone is focused on the U.S. market, and that is where is has taken a real beating," said Cunningham.

It is likely to get worse before its gets better for RIM. Just like vendors such as Sony Ericsson, Motorola Mobility and HTC RIM struggled during the fourth quarter.

RIM has its BlackBerry World conference coming up at the beginning of May. That will be one of the first opportunities for Heins to present his vision for the company, and bring back some excitement.

"But that will not be an easy job," said Cunningham.

Microsoft gives details on mobile broadband improvements in Windows 8

Microsoft has given details on a variety of ways in which the upcoming Windows 8 operating system does a better job than its predecessors at letting users manage their connections to Wi-Fi and mobile broadband networks.

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"We looked at the fundamentals of wireless connectivity and re-engineered Windows 8 for a mobile and wireless future, going beyond incremental improvements," reads a blog post published on Friday.

Windows 8 has been designed to simplify the process of connecting to mobile broadband networks and of managing those connections, including monitoring data usage and controlling costs.

"We knew that if we were to give you true mobility, that Wi-Fi alone would not be enough. Therefore, for Windows 8, we fully developed and integrated mobile broadband (MB) as a first-class connectivity experience within Windows -- right alongside Wi-Fi," wrote Billy Anders, a Microsoft group program manager and the blog post's author.

Windows 7 allows users to connect to mobile broadband networks, but it's up to users to find and install required drivers and software, including searching for them online at times.

Windows 8 comes with a common mobile-broadband class driver that works with devices from a variety of mobile operators and vendors, eliminating the need for users to install device driver software. "You just plug in the device and connect. The driver stays up to date via Windows Update," Anders wrote.

Another enhancement in Windows 8 is that it provides native management within a single console of mobile broadband device functions, such as turning on and off their radios and configuring their connection settings. Previously, users had to perform these tasks in the individual management application for each device.

"Prior to Windows 8, you needed these applications to compensate for functionality not provided natively in Windows. This additional software confused and frustrated users by conflicting with the Windows connection manager, showing different networks, network status, and a separate user interface," he wrote. "Windows 8 eliminates this confusion by providing simple, intuitive, and fully integrated radio and connection management."

Wi-Fi and Bluetooth device functions can also be managed centrally from within Windows 8. The operating system's network settings console also lets users establish connection priorities, so that their machine will automatically opt to, say, connect to a Wi-Fi network as the first option if available, and, if it's not, then seek a mobile broadband connection.

Windows 8 also "learns" about the user's connection priorities based on their actions. As a result, when returning from "standby" mode, a Windows 8 machine is able to reconnect faster than Windows 7 -- in about a second.

"You do not have to do anything special for this -- Windows just learns which networks you prefer and manages everything for you. This work was a major part of the architectural work we did in the networking stack and with our hardware partners," Anders wrote.

Windows 8 has also been designed to help users be aware of mobile broadband data limits and costs. "Prior to Windows 8, we maintained consistent behavior on all types of networks relative to bandwidth usage. With Windows 8, we now take the cost of the network into consideration: we assume that mobile broadband networks have restrictive data caps with higher overage costs -- vs. Wi-Fi --, and adjust networking behavior with these metered networks accordingly," the post reads.

To help with managing mobile broadband data usage and costs, the Windows 8 task manager lists how much data specific applications have used up, so users are aware of which applications consume more data.

Oracle calls school's revised lawsuit over software project a 'transparent ploy'

Oracle is asking a judge to throw out some of the claims made in a lawsuit filed against the vendor by Montclair State University over an allegedly failed ERP (enterprise-resource-planning) software project, according to a filing made this week in U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.

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MSU sued Oracle in May 2011, blaming the vendor for a series of problems and delays on the PeopleSoft project, which was supposed to replace 25-year-old legacy applications. The parties had signed a US$15.75 million contract for software and implementation services in 2009.

The New Jersey school ended up firing Oracle and has said completing the project will cost up to $20 million more than the original budget. Oracle has countersued, seeking money it says MSU owes it and blaming school officials for the project's woes.

In December, the school filed an amended complaint that added new allegations, including that Oracle had conducted a "rigged" demonstration of the software package at issue.

Oracle's motion this week responds to that filing, asking that its allegations of fraudulent inducement, gross negligent misrepresentation, grossly negligent performance of contractual obligations and willful anticipatory repudiation of contract be dismissed.

The school's initial complaint "was premised on the alleged breach of the Consulting Agreement between Oracle and MSU," Oracle wrote in its filing this week. "Now, recognizing that there was no breach by Oracle and that the contract contains valid and enforceable limitations of liability, MSU has conjured up claims which completely contradict the allegations it filed initially."

This amounts to a "transparent ploy" that "fails as a matter of law because, try as it may, MSU cannot avoid the fully integrated, extensively negotiated contract which covers the exact terms that form the basis of MSU's new tort claims," Oracle added.

MSU's amended complaint includes claims of wrongdoing by Oracle that are "directly contradicted by a number of contractual provisions," according to the filing.

For example, the school had alleged that Oracle said its base PeopleSoft system for higher education institutions would satisfy 95 percent of MSU's more than 3,000 business requirements.

But "the Consulting Agreement makes clear, however, that 596 of the 3,071 requirements laid out in Attachment C-1 of the Fixed Price Exhibit were 'Not in Scope,' that 60 of the requirements were designated as 'Undefined,' and 52 of the requirements were to be met by customization of the base product," Oracle said. "Thus, the Consulting Agreement provides that roughly 23% of MSU's requirements were not to be met by the Oracle base product."

Oracle's motion also denies MSU's allegation that the software vendor misrepresented how much MSU staff and resources would be required to finish the project on Oracle's proposed schedule.

Once again, the parties' consulting agreement contradicts the allegation since its wording "put the onus on MSU, not Oracle, to assure that MSU had the required personnel and resources," the filing states.

If the school can provide documentation for all of its allegations in the 60-plus-page amended complaint, "they're going to be in a real strong position," but it's not yet clear how the case will play out, said one IT consultant and expert witness who has testified in several cases involving Oracle software.

For example, the amended complaint included a long list of original project requirements. "Many of them are stated in general enough terms that it's entirely possible there was a legitimate misunderstanding on the part of Oracle as to what those requirements involved," said the consultant, who requested anonymity because of current involvement in another case regarding Oracle.

To that end, Oracle's motion to dismiss cites an "assumption" in the consulting agreement regarding the project requirements.

If the base PeopleSoft product could do "what" a particular requirement called for, but not "how" MSU wanted it addressed, "it is MSU's responsibility to change MSU's business process to accommodate how the base product's business process addresses the requirement," the motion states.

"It's entirely possible when you look at what was delivered it will be a judgment call, rather than a clear-cut determination, as to whether what Oracle delivered met those requirements or not," the consultant said.

MSU plans to oppose Oracle's motion, according to a spokeswoman, who declined further comment.

Overall, the case presents a cautionary tale for vendors and software customers.

"This is why both sides should document the process," said analyst Ray Wang, CEO of Constellation Research. "When a project goes down, fingers point everywhere."

Microsoft is rated third most-valuable brand in the world, but there are dangers signs ahead

Microsoft was just rated the third most-valuable brand in the world by Interbrand, but there are trouble signs ahead. The company's brand value dipped 3%, the only top-tend brand to lose value in 2011. And both Apple and Google's value surged during the year, with Apple's value jumping 58% and Google's 27%. At this rate, Google will soon surpass Microsoft and Apple won't be far behind.

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Interbrand rates the value of the top 100 global brands, and publishes that list every year. The value of Microsoft's brand, Interbrand found, was nearly $59.1 billion in 2011, down 3% from the year previous. It ranked behind Coca Cola, which was at number 1, and IBM at number 2.

Google came in at number 4, with a value of $55.3 billion. Its value surged 27% over last year. Its relative ranking is unchanged from last year.

Apple's value, meanwhile, skyrocketed 58% in the past year, to nearly $33.5 billion, jumping to number 8, up from 17 a year ago.

Microsoft has been the number 3 most valuable brand since 2008. From 2000 to 2007, it had been ranked number 2, so its value relative to IBM has dipped slightly in the past decade, which supplanted Microsoft at the number 2 spot in 2008.

If Google and Apple keep growing at the same rate in 2011, and Microsoft slips 3% again, next year Google will beat out Microsoft at the number 2 spot, and Apple won't be far behind.

Interbrand includes notes about each brand, and what it says about Microsoft accurately captures the company's dilemma. After noting that Microsoft dominates operating systems, server software, and office suites, Interbrand notes:

This is both a blessing and a curse as the future of computing moves to the mobile space. Competitors continue to lure customers with mobile applications that turn individual devices into ecosystems. Google's no-cost model will continue to put pressure on Microsoft's profit margins, and Google Apps could threaten the Microsoft Office business with its competing cloud integration and collaborative tools.

I don't agree that Google Apps will threaten Microsoft Office any time soon, but otherwise, I think Interbrand is on target. Interbrand also correctly rightly out that the Nokia deal, Windows 8, Kinect, and Xbox may help Microsoft in 2012.