Strategic IT Alignment in 2012: Leverage Semantics and Avoid the Caretaker

A very interesting development occurred on the way to the neural network economy: The interests of the software vendor and the customer diverged, circled back and then collided, leaving many executives stunned and confused.

The business model in the early years of software was relatively simple. Whether an individual or enterprise, if the customer didn’t adopt the proprietary standard that provided interoperability, the customer was left behind and couldn’t compete. This was a no brainer—we all adopted. By winning the proprietary standard in any given software segment, market leaders were able to deliver amazing improvements in productivity at relatively low cost while maintaining some of the highest profit margins in the history of business. This model worked remarkably well for a generation, but as is often the case technology evolved more rapidly than business models and incumbent cultures could adapt, so incumbents relied on lock-in tactics to protect the corporation, profit, jobs, and in some cases perhaps national trade……. Read More

From the trenches: on tech analysts and software patents

On analyzing technology and software patents…..One of the most destructive messages our culture broadcasts is that anything that cannot be reduced to 140 characters shouldn’t move forward. If that were true, most important technology companies wouldn’t exist……. Many large software companies, software developers, venture capitalists, and academics have publicly denounced intellectual property rights for software and processes. While each of the common arguments have valid points, and I do believe we need foundational reform in IP, part of which is reflected in Kyield, I see a much higher probability of technical innovation providing solutions to these challenges than our current political system. Read More

Unacceptably High Costs of Data Silos

Above is a screen capture of an internal Kyield document that displays a graphic and text illustration of the high costs of data silos to individual organizations, regions, and society based on actual cases we have studied; in some case based on public information and in others private, confidential information. This is intended for a slide-show type of presentation so does not go into great detail. Suffice to say that human suffering, lives lost, and wars that could have been prevented that were not are inseparably intertwined with economics and ecology, which is why I have viewed this issue as one ultimately of sustainability, particularly when considering the obstacles of silos to scientific discovery, innovation, and learning as well as crisis prevention.
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Diabetes and the American Healthcare System

George Strasburg is a 64 year old retired scientist living with his wife Cynthia in the southern United States. The couple recently celebrated their 40th anniversary at home, which was attended by several dozen friends and family members from all over the world.
Five years ago George was diagnosed with diabetes mellitus (type 2), with a fasting bloodglucose level at 153 mg/dL. The diagnosis was
not a surprise; members on both sides of his family had died from complications from diabetes, including his father. In addition,
George not only consumed unhealthy food for most of his adult life, he rarely engaged in aerobic exercise, and only then due to Cynthia’s urging. Read More

Systemic Failures in Cyber Security

I’d like to offer a very important point that most are missing in this and other similar issues.

You correctly describe the problem as systemic, which is a term we’ve been using for well over a decade to describe a myriad of problems, including security in computer networks.

If the problem is truly systemic, and I think it is, then it can only be addressed successfully with a systemic cure. Central to the core of this challenge is the anonymity of the Internet, which identifies computers, networks, and web sites, but not the humans that abuse them.

Despite populism, comfort zones, and conflicting business models, human identity is a corner stone of the Internet that was never built into the system design, and so ever since all manner of temporary brace has been employed to shore up the fragile architecture. Read More

Web 3.0 Leaders Look to the Year Ahead

Jenny Zaino at SemanticWeb.com asked a group of us to provide predictions for 2010. An interesting mix and worth a close look, particularly for those seeking input from the front lines of Web innovation.

Alternatives to the CKO

My response to Dave Snowden’s blog post on alternatives to the CKO:

Thought provoking and refreshing; rarely have found fresh thinking on this topic– we could have benefited greatly from your view over the past few years David as we struggled through our design work, which forced us to deal with these issues.

I came to some similar conclusions after years of R&D and thousands of discussions with organizations at the top, bottom, and in-between– might be of interest. Read More