The battle for your email in 2009 | Software as Services | ZDNet.com

Nice post on e-mail in the cloud and 2009 trends.

Looking back, it’s obvious that one titanic struggle has loomed large over the SaaS and cloud landscape: the battle for your email.

I give Google kudos for getting its name into the top 3 e-mail vendors. Consistently in 2009 when I asked enterprises and SMBs about their e-mail vendor choices - without going into delivery models, costs, operations, and risks - the top three systems were listed as Microsoft, IBM, and Google. Since GMail's beta release in April 2004 and general availability in early 2007, Google has become a leading e-mail consideration. That's powerful stuff.

I agree that collaboration is the stuff the web was made for. Should be an interesting 2010.

The battle for your email in 2009 | Software as Services | ZDNet.com

How Google became Microsoft: A decade of hits, misses and gaffes • The Register

Fun article from The Register on the decade of IT.

During the first decade of the millennium, it goes without saying that computing has changed in a big way, becoming cheaper, easier to use, more mobile, and - in the words of the Mountain View Chocolate Factory - more 'webby.' But it should also go without saying that the decade included its fair share of spectacular snafus.

How Google became Microsoft: A decade of hits, misses and gaffes

Philip K. Dick's kid howls over Googlephone handle • The Register

Yea, it's a nice nod to a favorite SciFi hero...

On Saturday, Google confirmed that it has developed a new phone around the semi-open-source mobile operating system it calls Android, and according to press reports, the company intends to sell the device under the name 'Nexus One.'

The Philip K. Dick novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? concerns a bounty hunter charged with tracking down a group of escaped robots tagged with the name Nexus-6. These are said to be the sixth generation in a line of, yes, androids, and, well, you get the picture.

"In my mind, there is a very obvious connection to my father’s novel," said Isa Dick Hackett, president of the Dick estate outfit that handles licensing of his work. "We were never consulted, no requests were made, and we didn’t grant any sort of permissions."

...but you still gotta get permission - at very least. It gets harder when you get big to do fun things like name your products after a favorite character or creative work; even if it's a cool "in-joke." Being ironically hip will get you in hot water when you're making big bucks and don't offer royalties or get permission from the artist, owner, or estate.

In this digital age artists need to be - and are - more vigilant on how their creative works are used or exploited. Breaking down barriers to accessibility tends to water down the notion that a work is the creation of the artist and has ownership. The result is the impression that everything is public source.

Call it arrogance, the naivete of a boundary-pushing company, or idiocracy, one thing is for sure, Google knows enough about the value of a name to file a trademark. There's still time for Google to do the right thing or got to "Plan B."


Philip K. Dick's kid howls over Googlephone handle

Yahoo's How-To Guide For Big Brother Leaks (YHOO, NWS)

If you're wondering what service providers do when the police ask for your personal information, check out these documents.

Given all the controversy over copyright infringement, Internet child predators, and even simple cyber security, its obvious these companies had to create these documents. We suppose Yahoo and MySpace rivals Facebook, Google, AOL and all the rest hand out documents just like these to law enforcement.

Go to the linked page to see samples from the Yahoo! and MySpace policy documents.


Yahoo's How-To Guide For Big Brother Leaks (YHOO, NWS)