Comments on: Google Enterprise Mashups to Suck in Data From Cognos, Oracle, and Salesforce.com http://jeffnolan.com/wp/2006/04/19/google-enterprise-mashups-to-suck-in-data-from-cognos-oracle-and-salesforcecom/ Jeff Nolan's take on innovation, entrepreneurship, tech and stuff that interests me Thu, 17 May 2012 21:05:23 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Jason Kolb http://jeffnolan.com/wp/2006/04/19/google-enterprise-mashups-to-suck-in-data-from-cognos-oracle-and-salesforcecom/comment-page-1/#comment-1263 Jason Kolb Thu, 20 Apr 2006 19:54:40 +0000 http://jeffnolan.com/wp/2006/04/19/google-enterprise-mashups-to-suck-in-data-from-cognos-oracle-and-salesforcecom/#comment-1263 I agree, microformats need a killer app before they'll be widely adopted. They're pretty much in their infancy right now and the formats that are out there frankly suck. The thing that really excites me about them is the fact that they serve as a way to normalize both structured and unstructured content. A customer looks the same whether his info's coming out of SAP, Oracle, Siebel, or Outlook for that matter. Granted it's starting small, with just contacts and calendar entries so far, but both of those have built enough momentum where I think they'll gain pretty wide acceptance. I think the first killer app, or at least the beginning of it, is Ray Ozzie's Live Clipboard idea. (demo: http://spaces.msn.com/editorial/rayozzie/demo/liveclip/liveclipsample/clipboardexample.html). It's just so intuitive and natural--I haven't seen a single person who didn't love it, even the most diehard "M$ sucks" linux-head. I think the first application that integrates this properly is going to deliver enough value in ease of use alone to make users figure it out and demand more--similar to AJAX. I don't know if there's any chance of the hooks for this making their way into Vista, but I'm hoping :) I agree, microformats need a killer app before they’ll be widely adopted. They’re pretty much in their infancy right now and the formats that are out there frankly suck.

The thing that really excites me about them is the fact that they serve as a way to normalize both structured and unstructured content. A customer looks the same whether his info’s coming out of SAP, Oracle, Siebel, or Outlook for that matter. Granted it’s starting small, with just contacts and calendar entries so far, but both of those have built enough momentum where I think they’ll gain pretty wide acceptance.

I think the first killer app, or at least the beginning of it, is Ray Ozzie’s Live Clipboard idea. (demo: http://spaces.msn.com/editorial/rayozzie/demo/liveclip/liveclipsample/clipboardexample.html). It’s just so intuitive and natural–I haven’t seen a single person who didn’t love it, even the most diehard “M$ sucks” linux-head. I think the first application that integrates this properly is going to deliver enough value in ease of use alone to make users figure it out and demand more–similar to AJAX.

I don’t know if there’s any chance of the hooks for this making their way into Vista, but I’m hoping :)

]]> By: Jeff http://jeffnolan.com/wp/2006/04/19/google-enterprise-mashups-to-suck-in-data-from-cognos-oracle-and-salesforcecom/comment-page-1/#comment-1259 Jeff Thu, 20 Apr 2006 15:42:35 +0000 http://jeffnolan.com/wp/2006/04/19/google-enterprise-mashups-to-suck-in-data-from-cognos-oracle-and-salesforcecom/#comment-1259 I'm a little skeptical on microformats for the reason that Dennis stated, they are little more than XML. Microformats also only work when a critical mass of people support them. Insofar as proprietary data being opened up, we've been doing that for years. Grabbing data out of an SAP, Oracle, Siebel system is no big deal and because it's all transactional or master data it is highly structured. Where you run into problems is associating that with unstructured text and aggregating/normalizing it across systems... something Google is going to have to face. I’m a little skeptical on microformats for the reason that Dennis stated, they are little more than XML. Microformats also only work when a critical mass of people support them.

Insofar as proprietary data being opened up, we’ve been doing that for years. Grabbing data out of an SAP, Oracle, Siebel system is no big deal and because it’s all transactional or master data it is highly structured. Where you run into problems is associating that with unstructured text and aggregating/normalizing it across systems… something Google is going to have to face.

]]> By: Procurement Central » Blog Archive » OneBox - Good Idea, Tough Problem http://jeffnolan.com/wp/2006/04/19/google-enterprise-mashups-to-suck-in-data-from-cognos-oracle-and-salesforcecom/comment-page-1/#comment-1258 Procurement Central » Blog Archive » OneBox - Good Idea, Tough Problem Thu, 20 Apr 2006 15:41:05 +0000 http://jeffnolan.com/wp/2006/04/19/google-enterprise-mashups-to-suck-in-data-from-cognos-oracle-and-salesforcecom/#comment-1258 [...] Now how to do this & enforce the data- and role-based security so present in today's enterprise software is a tough challenge. So, for the moment I'll profess some skepticism on how well this concept might work. Not as much as this SAP guy, mind you, but some at least.  [...] [...] Now how to do this & enforce the data- and role-based security so present in today's enterprise software is a tough challenge. So, for the moment I'll profess some skepticism on how well this concept might work. Not as much as this SAP guy, mind you, but some at least.  [...]

]]> By: Jason Kolb http://jeffnolan.com/wp/2006/04/19/google-enterprise-mashups-to-suck-in-data-from-cognos-oracle-and-salesforcecom/comment-page-1/#comment-1255 Jason Kolb Thu, 20 Apr 2006 13:48:39 +0000 http://jeffnolan.com/wp/2006/04/19/google-enterprise-mashups-to-suck-in-data-from-cognos-oracle-and-salesforcecom/#comment-1255 Google has two things going for it here. One is that all of these partners with proprietary data are starting to open up APIs for accessing their data in a meaningful way. The other is that as Microformats develop they're going to allow text searches to recognize what they're returning, not just blindly return text with the keywords highlighted. Google has two things going for it here. One is that all of these partners with proprietary data are starting to open up APIs for accessing their data in a meaningful way. The other is that as Microformats develop they’re going to allow text searches to recognize what they’re returning, not just blindly return text with the keywords highlighted.

]]> By: Dennis Howlett http://jeffnolan.com/wp/2006/04/19/google-enterprise-mashups-to-suck-in-data-from-cognos-oracle-and-salesforcecom/comment-page-1/#comment-1242 Dennis Howlett Thu, 20 Apr 2006 06:58:06 +0000 http://jeffnolan.com/wp/2006/04/19/google-enterprise-mashups-to-suck-in-data-from-cognos-oracle-and-salesforcecom/#comment-1242 This is where some sort of structured tagging comes into play but as everyone develops their own taxonomies, then presumably there needs to be some sort of heirarchy for everything to make sense. I see this as no better than trying to develop XML schemas. (Think XBRL?) This is where some sort of structured tagging comes into play but as everyone develops their own taxonomies, then presumably there needs to be some sort of heirarchy for everything to make sense. I see this as no better than trying to develop XML schemas. (Think XBRL?)

]]> By: Jeff http://jeffnolan.com/wp/2006/04/19/google-enterprise-mashups-to-suck-in-data-from-cognos-oracle-and-salesforcecom/comment-page-1/#comment-1191 Jeff Wed, 19 Apr 2006 18:23:33 +0000 http://jeffnolan.com/wp/2006/04/19/google-enterprise-mashups-to-suck-in-data-from-cognos-oracle-and-salesforcecom/#comment-1191 the open approach to search add-ons, whether they are mashups or whatever, is interesting. I'm a big fan of what salesforce is doing with appexchange for this reason alone. I am rushing to judgement in discounting Google's ability to sell successfully into our markets, but the one thing to really watch is how markets change as a reflection of the ubiquity of consumer internet technology. the open approach to search add-ons, whether they are mashups or whatever, is interesting. I’m a big fan of what salesforce is doing with appexchange for this reason alone.

I am rushing to judgement in discounting Google’s ability to sell successfully into our markets, but the one thing to really watch is how markets change as a reflection of the ubiquity of consumer internet technology.

]]> By: Kingsley Joseph http://jeffnolan.com/wp/2006/04/19/google-enterprise-mashups-to-suck-in-data-from-cognos-oracle-and-salesforcecom/comment-page-1/#comment-1186 Kingsley Joseph Wed, 19 Apr 2006 18:13:46 +0000 http://jeffnolan.com/wp/2006/04/19/google-enterprise-mashups-to-suck-in-data-from-cognos-oracle-and-salesforcecom/#comment-1186 Take a look at the demo at salesforce.com/onebox. It's not exactly natural language search. For example, if you search for "SocialText", the Salesforce.com result will include links to contacts at SocialText as well as open and closed sales opportunities. The more interesting thing is that anyone can write a module to the open API - expect to see mashups showing up in search results directly. Like you mention, I think the more pertinent point is Google's ability to sell to the enterprise. I personally think their strategy is great, but they haven't put the execution muscle behind it yet. Take a look at the demo at salesforce.com/onebox. It’s not exactly natural language search. For example, if you search for “SocialText”, the Salesforce.com result will include links to contacts at SocialText as well as open and closed sales opportunities. The more interesting thing is that anyone can write a module to the open API – expect to see mashups showing up in search results directly.

Like you mention, I think the more pertinent point is Google’s ability to sell to the enterprise. I personally think their strategy is great, but they haven’t put the execution muscle behind it yet.

]]>