Thought Stream

InsideGoogle is reporting that JotSpot may finally emerge from the Googleplex as a part of the Google Application Suite for enterprise customers.  It was just a few days ago that I expressed concern that JotSpot seemed to have fallen into some void at Google.  It’s good to hear that the wiki application may finally be ready for prime time.

Hopefully, this time the news is for real (not like the last time).

Thanks to Googlified for the update.

Although Google has acquired Grand Central, it looks like they are still allowing existing users to invite a few people into the beta site. So, if you are interested, please leave a comment, and I’ll send out an invitation. I’m not sure how many I have, so I’ll update this post when I run out.

Update: Comments seem to have broken on the blog. Please email me directly if you would like an invite.

Update2: I’m out of Grand Central invites now, thanks for stopping by.

Michael Arrington broke the news yesterday, Performancing - makers of the excellent blog posting add-in for FireFox - has been acquired by PayPerPost. PPP has been very controversial in the blogging world, as it operates a service whereby bloggers get paid by product companies to blog about their respective products. Hired guns, essentially. Many have argued that this amounts to blog spam…others are less kind. As for me, I’m sad that Performancing sold itself to PPP; I can’t imagine they were the only offer around for this toolset. I’ve been using Performancing to post for a while now, having switched from BlogJet (which is excellent too, but not as ‘in-line’ as Performancing is), but I may consider leaving it as my blogging tool of choice given these turn of events.

Techcrunch » Blog Archive » PayPerPost In The News Again

They will be announcing the acquisition of blogging tools and services company Performancing

UPDATE:  It looks like I, and others, may have come to the wrong conclusion on the PPP acquisition of Performancing.  As Matt states, PPP is buying some of the assets of Performancing.  This deal does not involve the Firefox add-in.  That’s great news.  I guess all’s well on the blogosphere this evening.

This is interesting, and encouraging, news.  NetSuite - a company that started off as an online personal accounting company - is preparing for an initial public offering.  Michael Arrington has the scoop over at TechCrunch:

Techcrunch » Blog Archive » NetSuite’s Going Public, Looking for $1 Billion Valuation

NetSuite, the fraternal twin of SalesForce (both companies CEOs came out of Oracle and have similar business models), is preparing to go public next year based on 2006 revenues of about $70 million.

I remember NetSuite when it was NetLedger, a tiny (and boring) startup from the web 1.0 era that was funded by Larry Ellison himself.  Back in the day when ubiquitous connectivity was not a given, I had a beta NetLedger account to manage my personal expenses.  It was an interesting concept, but a bit of a leap of faith to put personal information online - not to mention trying to access the application on flaky internet connections.  The company eventually evolved out of the personal accounting business to build a rock solid all-in-one ERP-CRM application for small and medium sized businesses.

What’s encouraging here is that NetSuite is an ‘old guard’ web company, one that survived a bursting bubble.  Of course, they could have ridden the growth wave coattails of SalesForce.com, but nonetheless, it is good to see that they’re still around and well enough to go public.

It’s hard to imagine a worse collapse of confidence in product delivery than the one that Airbus is experiencing lately. Not only has its white elephant A380 been delayed numerous times, forcing huge management restructuring, but now major aircraft buyers are canceling their orders and shifting their buying power to Boeing. FedEx is the 1st major that I’ve seen, but I’m sure there will be more:

The world’s largest express transportation company cited Airbus’ production delays and said in a statement that its FedEx Express unit has ordered 15 Boeing Co. 777 freighters with a list price of $3.5 billion and taken options on an additional 15.

Source: FedEx drops A380 order, buys Boeing 777s - Yahoo! News

Being a frequent traveler, I’ve been a big fan of the 777, from a passenger perspective. It seems to be the right size for a jumbo - not too many people crammed in, and the ability to travel great distances with reasonable luxury. Earlier this month Boeing announced a modified 777 that would be capable of traveling from any one point on earth to another point on earth non-stop. I suspect this makes it even more attractive for FedEx, reduced stops leads to greater efficiencies.

From a passenger perspective, last year I took an American Airlines 777 non-stop from Chicago O’Hare to New Delhi. Just a few years ago that would have been unimaginable, but the 777 (and some changes in overflight laws across the former Soviet Union) have made it a reality. While spending 15+ in flight is not something I look forward to, being able to ‘jump’ from the US to India in one shot is unbelievably convenient. I’m sure the FecEx pilots that move cargo all around the world will prefer this approach as well.

My pals over at Download Squad wrote about this yesterday:  Microsoft is offering Office Accounting Epxress 2007 for free.  It’s the first time I can recall Microsoft offering a business focused application for free.  I’ve been beta testing the new Accounting 2007 for the last 2-3 months, and it seems to have a nice flow and is certainly better than an underpowered Quicken for Home & Business - and nicer than the awkwardly designed Peachtree applications.  I’m going to download this free version and give it a test run.  The early comments on DSQ seem to indicate that it is definitely worth a try.

These days it seems airlines are trying just about anything to make an extra buck.  The latest quick buck approach that I’ve experienced is the added charge to fly in the emergency row on Northwest Airlines flights.  I did this yesterday, paying an additional $15 to fly in the emergency row of a flight from Minneapolis to San Francisco.  Since I don’t fly Northwest that often, I couldn’t have qualified for a Northwest Perks upgrade for the emergency row.  For those of you who don’t fly that often, the emergency row seat is considered a ‘better seat’ because there typically is more leg room.  It also means that you have the added burden of opening up the airplane hatch in case of a crash landing.  And that’s where I thought the Northwest policy took on some morbid undertones.  Aren’t the exit row passengers paying for both real legroom AND a quick exit off of the aircraft in case of emergency?  That doesn’t seem right, does it?

I know that this is a relatively new policy, so I bet Northwest hasn’t faced some of the tougher questions that will arise from this approach.  For example, what happens if an unqualified person [A child, someone who can’t lift the 35lb. door, etc.] buys the upgrade and then, upon arriving at their seat, the flight attendant has to inform them that they need to change their seat?  I can only imagine the lunacy that will follow.  Will that person then get a refund, and when?  I’ve been on more flights than I care to remember where someone become belligerant just because another person accidentally took their seat.  Can you imagine if these people are asked to move from a seat they paid a premium for?

It seems like air travel already has too many ‘whacko’ factors and this is one that the airline industry would be best served to stay away from.  As for me, I don’t think I’ll pay for that privilege again.

I signed up for the new gmail for your domain service that Google is beta testing (isn’t Google in permanent beta mode anyway?).  Well, I just received an invitation to turn on the service, along with the option to add up to 25 users to that domain.  At first glance everything looks just like gmail, with ability to make slight changes.  I’ll give this a real test in a few days, and log my impressions here.

Summarizing an idea is truly an art.  Guy Kawasaki posts a great executive summary primer written by a colleague here.

Late last night Microsoft announced that it would delay shipping the highly anticipated Vista operating systems for consumer use until after the holiday season.  That was pretty surprising, given that all indications were for Vista to be selling in time for Christmas ‘06.  Apparently this delay has also forced the hand of Steve Ballmer to do an internal re-org, and place a long time Office division veteran on top of the Vista hierarchy.  The WSJ is reporting the details here.