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Thursday, December 30, 2004
Oracle takes control of PeopleSoft
Oracle announced yesterday that PeopleSoft shareholders have tendered about 75% of outstanding shares and that Oracle has designated four new PeopleSoft board members to replace four that have resigned.
This gives Oracle effective control of PeopleSoft.
Oracle has issued a press release with more details. But I think the visual impact of the tweaked PeopleSoft web site says it all.
Update, Dec. 31. Looks like Oracle can't wait to get started. According to an SEC filing by Oracle, four PeopleSoft executives are out the door: co-president and CFO Kevin Parker, co-president Phillip Wilmington, chief marketing officer Nanci Caldwell, and general counsel James Shaughnessy. Taking their places are four executives from Oracle: Safra Catz and Charles Phillips as co-presidents, Harry You as CFO, and Daniel Cooperman as general counsel.
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PeopleSoft CEO Duffield resignsby Frank Scavo, 12/30/2004 07:28:00 AM | permalink | e-mail this!
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Wednesday, December 29, 2004
Hugh Hewitt's new book on blogs
Hugh Hewitt has written a new book, Blog, and I ordered a copy earlier this week. Hugh lately has been promoting the concept of "open source journalism," by which he refers to informal networks of weblogs that provide an independent alternative and counterweight to the mainstream media.
Although many people think of blogs mainly as forums for political commentary, blogs also have significant implications for the business world. I wrote earlier this month that, just as open source journalism is becoming an alternative to the mainstream media, so also "open source research" is becoming an alternative to the paid research firms such as Gartner Group and Forrester. Of course, the research firms have a different view: see the related posts below.
I may have more to say on the subject after I read the book. In the meantime, you can order a copy direct from Amazon. Or, read Glenn Reynold's (Instapundit) review of the book.
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Research firms face threat of "open source research"
Death of IT research firms greatly exaggeratedby Frank Scavo, 12/29/2004 09:49:00 AM | permalink | e-mail this!
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Tuesday, December 28, 2004
PeopleSoft CEO Duffield resigns
PeopleSoft today made known, via an SEC filing, that founder and CEO David Duffield resigned his position last Tuesday, Dec. 21. The move was expected, since Oracle had already indicated that none of PeopleSoft's board members would have a role in the company once the Oracle's acquisition of PeopleSoft was complete in early January.
There does not appear to be a press release on Duffield's resignation, but here's a short Reuters report.
Related posts
Oracle, IBM, Microsoft battle for technology infrastructure of PeopleSoft customers
IBM is a loser in Oracle/PeopleSoft deal
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PeopleSoft's final gift to customers
Oracle/PeopleSoft: deal is doneby Frank Scavo, 12/28/2004 06:07:00 PM | permalink | e-mail this!
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Monday, December 27, 2004
Gartner buying Meta Group
As further evidence of a consolidation trend in the IT research industry, Gartner today announced that it is buying competitor Meta Group. The offer price of $10 per share values Meta at about $162M and is more than 54% above Meta's closing stock price last Thursday. In 2003, Meta had $122M while Gartner had $858M.
In my opinion, part of the reason for the consolidation trend is the increasing quantity and quality of analysis available through what I call "open source research." Read the related posts below for more details.
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Research firms face threat of "open source research"
Death of IT research firms greatly exaggeratedby Frank Scavo, 12/27/2004 01:03:00 PM | permalink | e-mail this!
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Friday, December 24, 2004
Sterling Commerce moving into supply chain apps by acquiring Yantra
Sterling Commerce, one of the biggest names in e-commerce and EDI infrastructure, is acquiring Yantra Corp., a move that expands Sterling's reach into the supply chain execution space.
So, who is Yantra? It's a supplier of distributed order management and supply chain fulfillment applications involving multiple trading partners. In other words, Yantra is a good solution for companies that take orders in one location and then fulfill them dynamically from a choice of multiple fulfillment centers, channel partners, and carriers, either within the same organization or from outside trading partners. Yantra has some big name customers in the retail, wholesale distribution, logistics and manufacturing verticals, such as Best Buy, Circuit City, DHL, Dixons, FedEx, Motorola, SYSCO, Target, and Texas Instruments.
Sterling's acquisition of Yantra gives it a big jump on its strategy to move into the applications space. Sterling will incorporate Yantra as a component in its recently announced Multi-Enterprise Services Architecture (MESA), a service-oriented architecture (SOA) that allows composite applicators to be built from various solutions. According to Sterling, Yantra's products work well as components of MESA. Sterling plans to sell the combined solution under both a traditional software license and as a hosted service.
ARC Advisory Group, as usual, has good insight:While Yantra is an applications company, Sterling Commerce has been an Infrastructure supplier offering integration, EDI, and Data Synchronization solutions. One risk to Sterling is that if traditional supply chain application suppliers see them as a competitor in the Supply Chain Application space, then the partnerships with existing Supply Chain application partners could wither. That is a risk worth taking. The larger infrastructure suppliers have built out their offerings into complete technology platforms with EAI, B2B, Portals, Data management, etc. capabilities over the last few years leaving little room for the specialists in those areas. This has forced companies like Sterling Commerce, SeeBeyond and Vitria to either expand their technology footprint (a risky strategy), or move into some form of applications area. One of the difficulties of the application strategy is in acquiring enough domain specific knowledge to compete (create product, market, sell, and support) with the application suppliers who have supply chain processes embedded within their products. Sterling Commerce has taken a wiser approach and moved strongly into the application space.The fact that the Yantra acquisition is key to Sterling's strategy is seen in the price it was willing to pay: $170M in an all cash deal, about four times Yantra's annual revenue, a pretty fat price tag. Furthermore, Sterling may not be finished yet. ARC Advisory thinks that Sterling will be soon doing other acquisitions to fill out its composite applications more fully.
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With hype gone, spending on supply chain connectivity is trending back up
Wal-mart still pushing its suppliers to Internet EDIby Frank Scavo, 12/24/2004 04:32:00 PM | permalink | e-mail this!
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Wednesday, December 22, 2004
Oracle, IBM, Microsoft battle for technology infrastructure of PeopleSoft customers
Now that Oracle has won the battle for PeopleSoft, the battlefield is shifting toward who will own the technology infrastructure that underlies PeopleSoft software applications.
In one corner is IBM, which has a significant number of PeopleSoft customers, most of which are the former J.D. Edwards customers. These are all of the customers running World (JDE's older iSeries host-based product) and some of the customers running EnterpriseOne (formerly OneWorld, JDE's network-based product). Although EnterpriseOne runs on a variety of operating systems and databases, many of them are former World customers and therefore still prefer IBM's technology. IBM would like to keep these as customers, of course.
In the second corner is Microsoft, which has a significant number of PeopleSoft users of its operating systems (Windows 2000/NT) and database (MS SQL Server). Microsoft would like to keep these customers, and it also wants PeopleSoft customers running other operating systems and databases to migrate to Microsoft's own applications or those of its partners that use Microsoft technology. Microsoft VP Bill Veghte last week wrote a letter to PeopleSoft customers making exactly these points.
"Migration to another ERP solution, including Microsoft Business Solutions, SAP and other partner ERP solutions on the Microsoft platform, are additional options available to PeopleSoft customers seeking greater clarity around technology direction and platform alignment," Veghte said. "The Microsoft platform continues to gain momentum as the platform of choice for industry-leading ERP vendors."And in the third corner is Oracle, which has the advantage of course, because they just bought the entire PeopleSoft customer base. Not that Oracle is taking these customers for granted. For the short term, Oracle has promised to continue support for those PeopleSoft customers on IBM and Microsoft platforms. But it is also making it clear that it intends to offer lots of incentives for those same customers to move to Oracle's database. Last week Oracle sent a letter to PeopleSoft customer groups making these points. Note especially the tepid language employed regarding support for non-Oracle technology, as reported in this article from CNET.
A good part of Veghte's letter Wednesday focused on getting PeopleSoft customers to consider migrating from IBM AS/400 and mainframe systems to Windows-based servers. Earlier this week, Microsoft launched a marketing initiative with several partners that aims to win over business from customers using AS/400 and IBM iSeries servers.
In particular, Microsoft also talked about the benefits of switching to Windows for customers that use Oracle's database software on Unix systems.
Oracle will ensure that customers experience very little disruption as a result of the merger; Oracle will work with database rivals IBM and Microsoft to provide support to PeopleSoft customers "as long as working relationships can be maintained"; and Oracle will make upgrades to next-generation products "as straightforward as possible."Historically, PeopleSoft and JDE products have been more platform independent than Oracle's. PeopleSoft and JDE let you choose different hardware, operating systems, and databases. But if you are currently considering purchase of PeopleSoft or JDE products and believe that this platform independence is going to continue, you are mistaken. Oracle will continue to support the various platforms that PeopleSoft customers are currently running--for the time being. But over the long term, it is going to standardize all its products on Oracle's database. I have no doubt about this. That's why it fought so hard to acquire PeopleSoft. In fact, it would not surprise me if, soon after the PeopleSoft acquisition is complete, Oracle refuses to sell any new PeopleSoft deals on anything but Oracle's database.
In the memo, Oracle also said PeopleSoft customers that wish to migrate to Oracle's applications and database products can do so free of licensing charges. "This will also include the equivalent underlying database licenses that are required to run the product, if the customer was using an alternative database for the PeopleSoft applications," Oracle said in the memo.
That offer is making IBM and Microsoft, who sell databases and other technical infrastructure to many PeopleSoft customers, more than a little nervous.
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Oracle/PeopleSoft: deal is doneby Frank Scavo, 12/22/2004 10:15:00 PM | permalink | e-mail this!
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Tuesday, December 21, 2004
2005 looks good for IT spending
Forrester's 2005 IT spending survey is out, and the signs are good for corporate IT spending. Specifically, Forrester finds that application software will be the big winner, with 59% of decision-makers surveyed identifying deployment or upgrade of major packaged applications as a priority, replacing security as the top priority from the past year. Some key priorities for decision makers surveyed include:
It's not a return to the go-go years of the late 1990s, but it's a positive trend for software and services providers nevertheless.
- Regulatory compliance. 38% percent consider support for governance, such as Sarbanes-Oxley, a critical priority, while 65 percent said it was a priority.
- Business intelligence and financial apps. Demand for BI applications is projected to increase 9%. Regulatory concerns and an increasing quantity of data caused BI to retain the top spot in planned purchases. Demand for financial applications also stayed on top in 2005 with 4% growth.
- Content management could be the next "killer app." Purchase plans for content management increased 15 percentage points from last year, as firms adopt enterprise-wide strategies for managing Web content, documents, records, and digital assets.
- IT consulting. 69% of companies that identified application upgrade as a priority will purchase consulting help for those projects. Overall, the demand for systems integration services increased 10 percentage points this year, from 34% planning to purchase in 2004 to 44% for 2005.
- IT outsourcing. Application outsourcing is fueling Forrester's forecasted growth of 9% for the category, with outsourcing for applications maintenance growing 27% in 2005.
Additional details are in Forrester's press release.
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Yet more light at the end of the tunnelby Frank Scavo, 12/21/2004 06:01:00 AM | permalink | e-mail this!
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Monday, December 20, 2004
PeopleSoft's final gift to customers
It just occurred to me that PeopleSoft may have given one last gift to its customers by throwing in the towel to Oracle before the Delaware court could rule on the legality of its Customer Assurance Program.
Christine Hurt, law professor at Marquette, notes that Oracle and PeopleSoft came to an agreement just days before a judge in Delaware was to rule on PeopleSoft's poison pill defense. Hurt puts together some hints that the judge may have been inclined to rule against PeopleSoft's poison pill. She's disappointed that we won't have a chance to find out if poison pills might be in trouble more generally.
But from a customer perspective, the more interesting angle is, how was the judge going to rule concerning PeopleSoft's Customer Assurance Program? Customers aren't so much interested in the poison pill per se; but they would have been very interested in preserving the Customer Assurance Program, which promised huge rebates to recent customers if Oracle reduced support for PeopleSoft products.
I'm speculating here that perhaps PeopleSoft felt that the judge was going to rule against PeopleSoft's Customer Assurance program. It's pretty clear now that PeopleSoft realized that an Oracle takeover was inevitable and that the only question was price. If so, PeopleSoft would naturally have been motivated to throw in the towel before the judge ruled rather than after, thereby increasing its negotiating leverage and also ensuring that its Customer Assurance Program remained intact.
Whether it was intended or not, the Customer Assurance program remaining in place is a gift to all PeopleSoft customers. The reason is that it raises the cost to Oracle of reducing support for PeopleSoft products. Oracle has already announced that it is going to develop one or two more versions of PeopleSoft and JDE products, after which it will migrate all of its products to a new unified product line. The presence of the Customer Assurance Program, however, just ensures that down the road Oracle won't short change PeopleSoft customers in the process.
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IBM is a loser in Oracle/PeopleSoft deal
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PeopleSoft trying to shout above Oracle takeover "noise"by Frank Scavo, 12/20/2004 08:18:00 AM | permalink | e-mail this!
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Thursday, December 16, 2004
IBM is a loser in Oracle/PeopleSoft deal
One aspect of the Oracle/PeopleSoft acquisition that is not getting enough press is the effect this deal will have on IBM. On one level, the acquisition was about competition in the enterprise applications space: Oracle gaining ground on market leader SAP and growing contender Microsoft.
But on another, and perhaps more significant level, the acquisition is about pulling through Oracle's database, middleware, and tools, which are a greater part of Oracle's revenue than its applications business. Oracle and IBM are fierce competitors in that segment. And, in September, PeopleSoft aligned itself more strongly with IBM, signing a five year billion dollar deal to incorporate Websphere, IBM's middleware and tools offerings, in sales of its applications, and treating IBM's DB2 as its preferred database.
Now, with Oracle's takeover of PeopleSoft, the IBM relationship appears to be a dead letter. According to Computerworld, Oracle co-President Charles Phillips said as much in a conference call with reporters yesterday,"We don't have a lot of details on the IBM contract," said Phillips. "We're not that interested in adding more IBM to the stack. It's unclear what's been done. We have to take a look at that. Obviously, we have a strong application server we think is better. If [customers] need [J2EE-enabled technology], they can use the Oracle Application Server. With the database, it's hard to say. I would surmise at some point there would be customers who perhaps are using PeopleSoft on DB2, and they'll end up with the Oracle product and database as well."According to an article in Internet News, Phillips also said that "he was not privy to the details of the agreement but added he is skeptical that a contract was ever actually signed [with IBM]."
Phillips' comments yesterday are further indication that over the long run, a key Oracle objective in the PeopleSoft deal is to move both the PeopleSoft and JDE product lines to Oracle technology. It won't happen in the next few years, inasmuch as Oracle has committed to enhance those product lines in the near term. But expect Oracle to begin laying the groundwork to transition them all to Oracle technology by the time the successor product to the lines (Oracle, PeopleSoft, and JDE) is developed, starting in the next three to five years.
This deal is largely about who will win the war of the technology stack. IBM just lost an important battle.
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PeopleSoft trying to shout above Oracle takeover "noise"by Frank Scavo, 12/16/2004 09:16:00 AM | permalink | e-mail this!
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Tuesday, December 14, 2004
Oracle reaches out to JDE user group
Here's an interesting twist. Oracle appears to be making welcoming noises toward Quest, the JDE user group that was shuttled aside by PeopleSoft when PeopleSoft acquired JDE.
According to an e-mail passed on to me by a reader, Fredrick Pond, Quest President, yesterday wrote in a message to JDE users,Early this morning, Oracle contacted the Quest Board of Directors and indicated an eagerness to work with Quest as the unified voice of EnterpriseOne and World users. In a conference call that followed, the Quest board pledged to work with Oracle to ensure that your voice is heard as product and support decisions are made. We will share information about Oracle's direction as specifics are provided, as openly and quickly as possible.Reaching out to the Quest group, which PeopleSoft slighted, is a smart move by Oracle. Suddenly Oracle looks like the good guys.
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Oracle/PeopleSoft: deal is doneby Frank Scavo, 12/14/2004 09:32:00 AM | permalink | e-mail this!
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Lawson shows the door to another 75 employees
Lawson Software announced the second half of a two part cost reduction effort last week, with 75 employees following the 100 that were terminated in September. The latest cuts add another 4% to the 6% laid off earlier. Most of the cuts are in Lawson's implementation services group.
The St. Paul Pioneer Press, Lawson's hometown paper, has the details.
Separately, Lawson says that business should pick up now that the Oracle/PeopleSoft drama has ended. Quoted in the Minneapolis Star Tribune,"The news [of the Oracle-PeopleSoft deal] does remove the uncertainty we feel has been hampering overall purchasing behavior in the market," Lawson spokesman Terry Blake said. "And we also believe it is good news for Lawson, because it essentially knocks out our No. 1 competitor."I never quite understood the connection between Lawson's performance and the Oracle/PeopleSoft battle. Neither do most industry analysts. Either way, Lawson now has one less excuse for its poor performance.
Interestingly, however, Lawson is refusing to say whether Lawson itself could be the target of an acquisition."We're not commenting on whether we want to remain independent," Blake said. "And I can't comment on whether Lawson is actively negotiating a merger."The full story is on the Star Tribune's web site.
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Lawson joins earnings disappointment clubby Frank Scavo, 12/14/2004 09:16:00 AM | permalink | e-mail this!
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Monday, December 13, 2004
Oracle: no plan to spin off JDE product lines
An alert reader pointed me to comments made last week by Oracle President Safra Catz regarding the JDE product line in particular. An article on CRN quotes her comments from a news conference at Oracle OpenWorld in San Francisco last week."We have no intention of spinning off Enterprise One or any of the products," Catz said. "We will bring them in, evaluate the state of the code and bring it, ultimately into a converged product line. We have no intention of spinning them off."Catz also emphasized the need to retain the JDE development staff. She said,"One reason we've been in a hurry is we've been concerned about the state of the J.D. Edwards intellectual properties," Catz told a packed room of journalists, partners and customers. "We are hearing about a lot of J.D. Edwards resumes on the street -- people being let go by PeopleSoft. And we want to maintain as many folks as we can. Our big worry is the intellectual property and development organization at JDEC, and our hope is it is still in a position where we can maintain it."Based on these comments, along with consistent remarks from Larry Ellison in the conference call this morning, I withdraw my speculation about Oracle wanting to spin off the JDE product lines.
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Possible outcomes of Oracle's takeover bid for PeopleSoftby Frank Scavo, 12/13/2004 02:56:00 PM | permalink | e-mail this!
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Ellison outlines direction for PeopleSoft and JDE product lines
The transcript of Oracle CEO Larry Ellison's analyst call is now available, and there's more definition around the direction that Ellison intends for the PeopleSoft (Enterprise) and JDE (Enterprise One and World) product lines. Because this is a major source of concern for customers and prospects of PeopleSoft/JDE, so I'm going to quote extensively from the transcript.
First, Ellison indicated that Oracle will develop a "new" version of PeopleSoft and a "new" version of JDE. It appears that these new versions will be an intermediate step toward creation of a future product that merges the three product lines into one. Here's what he said,We intend to enhance PeopleSoft 8 and development [sic] a all new version of the PeopleSoft product, PeopleSoft 9. We intend to enhance J. D. Edwards five and develop an all new version of the J. D. Edwards product line, J. D. Edwards 6. We also intend to design and merge PeopleSoft/J. D. Edwards/Oracle application suite with the features necessary to enable easy migration from whatever product you are currently running.In his opening comments, Oracle President Charles Phillips indicated that Oracle will continue to support PeopleSoft and JDE customers, whatever technologies they are using. "We will continue to develop the PeopleSoft products," said Phillips. "We will support their existing environments including other database products."
During the Q&A period, Ellison went into more detail about where expense and headcount cuts would occur and directions for the PeopleSoft and JDE product lines.Harry mentioned...approximately $150 million reduction in R&D. Keep in mind that will be split between Oracle and PeopleSoft. So that's not coming out of the PeopleSoft exclusively by any means. That's split, not quite equally but close enough to equally between Oracle and PeopleSoft. On the sales and marketing side, our marketing budgets won't go up very much but however our applications sales force will increase the capacity of our dedicated applications sales force worldwide by approximately 50% and you can conclude what you will about our expectations in our models in terms of how much additional applications we expect to sell. But those things -- those two numbers are rather important. Again, marketing flattish, G&A flattish, sales -- sales force increasing capacity by 50%. And in terms of development we are going to keep the PeopleSoft and J.D. Edwards development teams separate from the Oracle development team for some time to come. They will be working on enhancements, product enhancements to PeopleSoft eight and J.D. Edwards five and they will be developing an all new version of the PeopleSoft product, PeopleSoft nine, and an all new version of the J.D. Edwards products, J.D. Edwards 6. Simultaneously with that we will take some of the very senior designers from J.D. Edwards, PeopleSoft and Oracle and we will be designing a moderate -- a next generation version that merges the features of all three of those suites of products, J.D. Edwards, PeopleSoft and Oracle. But again that product is some ways away and PeopleSoft customers should expect an upgrade from eight to nine before they entertain the idea of moving to the merged products.Ellison also gave more details on the timeframe for the new PeopleSoft and JDE versions:I think PeopleSoft nine will be coming out -- again, keep in mind we are still at the guessing stages here but it would come out approximately the same time PeopleSoft was going to release PeopleSoft nine. There should be no impact on schedules as to the availability to PeopleSoft nine to PeopleSoft customers or J.D. Edwards six. I'm not even sure there was going [to be] a J.D. Edwards 6 planned by PeopleSoft. So those products will come out, let's say, 18 months from now, approximately -- you know, 12 to 24 months is a safer range. I don't know exactly. And then the subsequent release, if you will, PeopleSoft ten, will likely be the merged product. But we will evaluate if we do -- you know, we are going to be talking to customers, we are going to evaluate doing a PeopleSoft 10 as well. But we are committing to improving PeopleSoft eight, delivering a PeopleSoft nine, and then going through the design process of that merged product. As of right now we would think if the PeopleSoft nine product is in the 12-24 month time frame, the merged product would be, let's say, no earlier than, let's say, 30-36 months out.After reading the entire transcript, one point is clear: Oracle is giving no indication at all that it wants to shed the JDE product line, as I speculated earlier. This does remove some uncertainty for the JDE installed base and is enough reason to keep JDE on the short list for companies that are currently shopping for software.
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Oracle/PeopleSoft: deal is done
Possible outcomes of Oracle's takeover bid for PeopleSoftby Frank Scavo, 12/13/2004 09:52:00 AM | permalink | e-mail this!
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Oracle/PeopleSoft: deal is done
The drama is over. This morning Oracle announced that PeopleSoft has agreed to the take-over. Oracle had to sweeten the deal, however, to get PeopleSoft to throw in the towel, raising its offer price to $26.40 per share from the $24 that PeopleSoft had rejected as inadequate.
Today was a good day for Oracle, not only in winning its bid for PeopleSoft, but also in announcing improved quarterly earnings of $815M, which is 32% above the same quarter last year and two cents above Wall Street estimates for the current quarter. Revenue is $2.76B, up 10% from the same quarter last year.
As a result, Oracle shares are up 9.5% as of this writing.
Oracle CEO Larry Ellison was on CNBC just now, obviously happy, talking about the boost that the deal will give to Oracle's ability to compete with SAP. He indicated that, yes, there will be layoffs, because there is no need for two CEOs, two CFOs, etc., but that there would be layoffs among Oracle employees as well as PeopleSoft's. At the same time, however, he emphasized that Oracle will be increasing support for PeopleSoft customers.
Oracle has said that it intends to continue its acquisition program, regardless of whether it was successful in acquiring PeopleSoft. In a conference call earlier today, Ellison indicated that further acquisitions would not be undertaken until PeopleSoft is fully digested.
What does all this mean for customers and prospects of PeopleSoft? Over the short term, not much. As I have written previously, Oracle is aggressive but it's not stupid. It won't do anything to risk loss of PeopleSoft customers at this point, who are the whole reason that Oracle wanted PeopleSoft in the first place. And, as far as I can tell, there is still the matter of PeopleSoft's Customer Assurance Program, which promises recent clients a massive rebate if Oracle cuts support for PeopleSoft products.
However, for the long run, Oracle has got to be looking at making changes to PeopleSoft products to align them more firmly toward Oracle's database and tools. Oracle has always viewed the applications business as pulling through its database and middleware products. If I were a PeopleSoft customer and not running Oracle underneath it, I would keep a close eye on Oracle's actions. Again, I don't think there will be any issues short term, but I would factor this concern into my long term plans.
I would also watch Oracle's actions relative to the former J.D. Edwards product lines (Enterprise One, and World). These products have less of an alignment to Oracle's technology platforms than the main PeopleSoft products (Enterprise) do. I think there is a good chance that Oracle will look to sell the JDE products off in the near future. This would simplify the digestion of PeopleSoft and would offset some of the cost of the acquisition, freeing cash for other deals. But as I have written previously, there are not many parties that would be viable owners for the JDE product lines, except perhaps SSA Global.
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Possible outcomes of Oracle's takeover bid for PeopleSoftby Frank Scavo, 12/13/2004 08:26:00 AM | permalink | e-mail this!
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Saturday, December 11, 2004
Death of IT research firms greatly exaggerated
Last month I wrote about the threat that IT research firms face from what I called "open source research." But Mark McManus, VP at Computer Economics, an IT research firm, wrote to me with a different view.
Frank, I have to comment on your post regarding paid research versus "free" Internet research.The value of aggregating and filtering information
I agree with some of your points, but there is a whole research world regarding IT that cannot be easily found on the Internet. For instance, take our annual Information System Spending study. This is a four-month project and involves interviewing hundreds of senior IT and business executives. It is very expensive to produce and involves a significant amount of analysis. How could that be duplicated for free? I've seen statistics that claim to represent this data, but much of the time this is a self-serving process by the individual or organization that has produced the data. The buyer should beware.
While there are many good sources of free research data (such as The Enterprise System Spectator), I do not expect that senior IT and business executives will ever consider information retrieved via an Internet search as an alternative to paid, targeted research performed by a reputable (and independent) IT research firm-- especially when major competitive and financial decisions are on the line.
Another issue your commentary does not clearly address is the analysis capability of major research organizations. More often than not the main reason that end user organizations will go to Gartner or Forrester is not to get statistics, but rather to get their analysis and recommendations. IT managers performing their own research will find many sources to choose from--and many varying points of view. Do you think these extremely busy individuals will really have the time to wade through the page after page of information and do the required analysis they need to make hard technical and business decisions? Maybe in some cases, but I think that is unlikely in most.
Additionally, our own experience is that companies are using our research capabilities more in the past several months than in the past two to three years. So, even though the Globe article may be correct that "major" research firms are having a difficult time, I think that there other business issues that may be creating their hardship, such as over-extending their research capabilities and areas of expertise. In fact, our research on spending trends indicates that in 2004 more IT organizations increased their research budgets than in 2003 or 2002. The "Googlization of America" may be a minor contributing factor to IT research firm woes, but it is probably not the leading factor.
I've known Mark for several years and appreciate his feedback. In follow up correspondence, I pointed out that in my original post I indicated that in-depth research, such as Computer Economics IT spending studies, or IDC's market share studies, that require significant resources and expense, are impossible to reproduce by individual experts contributing to message boards or writing technology blogs. I also recognize the value that paid research firms provide in filtering and aggregating information so that business and IT executives don't have to wade through it themselves. I pointed out, however, that technology blogs and group blogs (blogs authored by multiple experts) might be able to provide this aggregation/filtering service in a richer way, much like blogs such as Instapundit or Command Post do for news and current events.
The question of bias
In follow up correspondence, Mark replied,I agree that tech and group blogs can do some filtering, but there is still an issue with bias. How can you (as the recipient) trust the underlying motives of someone who is posting free research and advice? There are certainly unbiased blogs out there, but many are built as a sounding board to support a particular position. Not that research firms haven't shown bias, but generally speaking you can usually get recommendations from an independent research firm that are not heavily tilted to a particular bias.Again, Mark brings up a good point, which is the issue of bias. Individual technology experts do have their biases, based on what they've experienced or what technologies and vendors they are familiar with. But I would point out that the paid research firms have their own problems with bias as well. An obvious example is research firms that accept money from technology vendors to produce specific research. I wrote about one such example two years ago: IDC's report on Windows 2000, which was sponsored by Microsoft, which concluded that Windows 2000 had a lower cost of ownership than Linux. Although the report was not totally one-sided, the conclusions of the report, and Microsoft's press release on it, were clearly slanted in Microsoft's favor.
But a more subtle form of bias is seen in the fact that many of the research firms have technology vendors as major subscribers. This limits how directly critical the research firms can be in their assessment of those vendors. It also influences how effusive the praise is for certain vendors. A blatant example is an Aberdeen report in 2001 that concluded that Linux is less secure than Microsoft Windows. I tore apart Aberdeen's report in a post two years ago, called, Aberdeen: new poster child for sloppy research. Unfortunately, Aberdeen' original report is no longer online, but follow the link in the preceding sentence and see if you agree with me.
Now, on the whole, I have a great deal of respect for individual research analysts at the major research firms. I've met some of them and find them to be smart, insightful, and hard working. I do not mean to imply that they would deliberately slant their findings in favor of those vendors that are subscribers. But as a whole, because vendors are their clients, you are more likely to find positive or neutral assessments of vendors rather than hard-hitting criticism.
I heard one vendor refer to the subscription fees that he was paying to the major research firms as "protection." Think about that for a minute. If that's true, it's hard to avoid the conclusion that the coverage of the IT research firms is influenced by which vendors are subscribers to their research services.
It's similar to the situation with the Wall Street analyst firms. Because many of the investment analyst firms derive revenue from the companies that they research, it's rare to see a sell recommendation from them. In the same way, it's easier for IT research firms to write positive reviews of technology vendors, and to soften critical research to the point that it doesn't offend anyone.
The gravy train is over
But back to the big picture. I think that the research firms have to face the fact that there is a great deal of free information available on the Web today that was not as readily available 3-5 years ago. Furthermore, it's a lot easier for business executives today to locate individual technology experts when they need them. Yes, it is still more convenient to call up Gartner or Forrester as a one-stop-shop for all your IT research questions. But it's also expensive. Few companies, except the largest, will continue to shell out tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars every year just to have access to research and analysts.
The trend to open source research is just beginning, but I think it will develop. Technology blogs and Web-based message forums are not going to put IT research firms out of business. There will always be a need for firms like IDC, Gartner, and Forrester that have the resources and the scale to do difficult original research. But the gravy train is over.
Related posts
Research firms face threat of "open source research"
Microsoft-sponsored study on Win2K vs Linux is NOT all good news for Microsoft
Aberdeen: new poster child for sloppy research
Memo to Forresterby Frank Scavo, 12/11/2004 05:07:00 PM | permalink | e-mail this!
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Friday, December 10, 2004
JDA employees sent packing
JDA Software group is laying off 167 employees, or 13% of its workforce. Although the cutback might be interpreted as a sign of trouble, it appears that JDA is simply taking the next logical step in consolidating its multiple product lines into its integrated offering (its PortfolioEnabled suite). The cutback hits the development group and consulting services.
JDA is one of the leading application software vendors focused on retail applications. It's been around since the 1970s, and has been acquiring a number of smaller firms in the retail space over the past six years, including Timera (workforce management), Engage and Zapotec(advertising, marketing, and promotions), Vista (collaborative commerce), J-Commerce (point-of-sale), E3 (inventory optimization), Neovista (data mining), Intactix (retail space management), and Arthur Retail (advanced planning and allocation). With so many disparate products, the company no doubt needs to continue to harmonize its offerings.
JDA partners with PeopleSoft to fill out its retail offerings with a complete set of ERP applications, such as financials and HR. The company is expected to finish the year at about $210M in revenue, and 0.22 per share earnings. JDA trades on Nasdaq under the ticker JDAS.by Frank Scavo, 12/10/2004 07:44:00 PM | permalink | e-mail this!
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Friday, December 03, 2004
Welcome 2004 Weblog Award visitors
If you're new to this site, be sure to check out the post, About the Enterprise System Spectator, for a summary of what this blog is all about, including links to some of the best posts from the past.by Frank Scavo, 12/03/2004 08:57:00 AM | permalink | e-mail this!
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Thursday, December 02, 2004
I need your vote, again
The Spectator has been nominated for another award, the 2004 Weblog Awards: Best Tech Blog. (Okay, I'll admit it, I nominated myself).
If you would like to vote for me for this new award, just hop over to the Best Tech Blog voting site, and vote for The Enterprise System Spectator.
The rules actually allow you to vote multiple times, as long as it is only once a day. So, if you'd really like to help out, go back every day from now until December 12, when the poll closes.
Thanks in advance.by Frank Scavo, 12/02/2004 10:56:00 AM | permalink | e-mail this!
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Jodrell Bank Discovery Centre
The Discovery Centre website at www.jodrellbank.net explains in detail how you can visit Jodrell Bank Observatory and find out about our research. This includes a full educational programme for schools.
The Discovery Centre is open to the public from 10am to 5pm every day, last admission at 4pm. The Centre is occasionally closed for special events or public holidays. Please visit the website to find out more or telephone on 01477 571 766.

subset: commoncrawl


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Education Advocates Say School Plan Laced With "Poison Pill"
AUSTIN, Texas – Public-education advocates are crying foul over a tax-credit provision in a Texas school-reform package proposed this week by the incoming head of the Senate Education Committee. They say it's a backdoor attempt to introduce school vouchers to the state.
Past voucher plans have proven too unpopular to win legislative approval. This one is tied to other initiatives designed to make it easier to swallow, claims to Louis Malfaro, secretary-treasurer of the Texas branch of the American Federation of Teachers. He says aspects of the package embraced by the education community – such as reducing the importance of standardized testing – should be considered on their own.
"Separating those out from the 'poison pills' that are so objectionable that we will do everything we can to see that they do not become law. I think a more honest approach would be to put the voucher ideas up by themselves for a simple up-or-down vote."
An actual bill has not yet been written, but, in his proposal, Republican Senator Dan Patrick does not use the word voucher. The plan would give tax credits to businesses that donate to a scholarship fund dedicated to help families pay for private-school tuition. Malfaro says, no matter what it's called, it would divert tax dollars from needy public schools.
Malfaro adds that any form of a voucher plan will be subject to legal challenges if tax dollars are used to fund religious education. The Texas Constitution, he says, requires the state to provide a public education system – not farm it out to others who wouldn't be subject to state rules.
"This is a fundamental charge to the state government. And there is an effort to abdicate that responsibility. And it's taking the form of un-funding the public school system."
The tax-credit scholarship would likely start as a pilot program, to be expanded only after it can be shown that it does not drain money from public schools. Malfaro says schools automatically lose funds whenever students switch out of the public system. And he thinks lawmakers will simply cut overall education spending if the tax credits reduce revenues. He notes that, last session, legislators slashed education spending by more than $5 billion.
Senator Patrick says his tax-credit-scholarship proposal would give low-income families alternatives to low-performing schools. Private-school advocates support the plan, saying increased competition would benefit all schools, but Malfaro says voucher experiments in other states have only weakened public systems.
"Storefront schools spring up, pretending to offer a quality education, and then we have unaccountable fly-by-night operators that are interested in making money off of school children."
Tax-credit scholarships, he adds, would not cover the entire tuition for legitimate private schools, so he thinks the plan would mainly benefit upper-middle-class families that could afford to make the move.


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NASHVILLE (Feb. 14, 2009) - The ETSU men's basketball team relinquished an 11-point lead in the final eight minutes and senior guard Courtney Pigram (Memphis) missed a potential game winning shot for the second straight game as the Belmont Bruins upended the Buccaneers 76-73 Saturday evening inside the Curb Event Center.
The Bruins (15-9 overall, 11-4 A-Sun) provided the Bucs' with a Valentine's Day heartbreak, avenging an earlier 87-57 loss to ETSU (17-8, 11-4) this season and moving back into a tie with the Bucs for second place in the league race. Both teams now trail first place Jacksonville by one game in the standings.
"This is the second game in a row now that we had a clean look, and it just didn't go in," said ETSU head coach Murry Bartow. "We've been in 14 games like this so far this year and we've won eight of them. This is another that just didn't go our way."
In a game that was 45-45 with 14:09 left, the Bucs went on an 11-2 run to build a nine-point edge and eventually pushed that advantage to 62-51 with 8:10 remaining in regulation. However, from there Belmont slowly picked away at ETSU's lead and actually gained a 3-point advantage at 69-66 with 3:43 left. The two teams subsequently traded the lead three times, before a 3-pointer by Belmont's Matthew Dotson with 1:28 left made it 74-73 in favor of the Bruins.
The Bucs later made a defensive stop on Belmont and had the ball with 16 seconds on the clock. ETSU ran a play designed for senior forward Kevin Tiggs (Flint, Mich.), who had a game high 25 points, but he was quickly double teamed by Belmont. Tiggs passed the ball to Pigram who then fired an off target 3-pointer from the left wing. The Bruins rebounded the ball and Mike Hedgepeth's two free throws iced the game.
At this point, the Bucs have lost four conference games, with three of those by a combined seven points. The other loss was a 10-point overtime defeat to Jacksonville in a game the Dolphins tied with a long range 3-pointer as time expired in regulation.
The Bucs got off to a slow start for the fourth time in their last six games, as the Bruins 3-point attack hit early and built a lead of as many as five points. Belmont kept the advantage for the first eight minutes before the Bucs tied the contest 12 and ETSU later led by as many as eight at 26-18 when a rainbow 3-pointer from Pigram found the bottom of the net with 7:32 left in the half.
Belmont answered though and outscored the Bucs 17-7 the rest of the way to make it 35-33 at the break. Belmont shot 47 percent from the floor in the first half, while the Bucs hit on 41.7 percent from the floor. ETSU did match the Bruins five 3-pointers, but guard Alex Renfroe split through the Bucs' defense on his way to a first half best 14 points to make the difference for Belmont.
While Tiggs led the way with 25 points, junior guard Mike Smith (Vandalia, Mo.) went 8-of-8 from the foul line and finished with 20 points. Pigram posted 14. For Belmont, Renfroe had a team high 16, guard Henry Harris finished with 15, and forward Shane Dansby pitched in 11.
The Bucs must now regroup and find a way to stay in the conference race as they face Lipscomb in the second game of this two-game road swing in Nashville. The Bucs and Bisons will tip at 8 p.m. (EST) Monday night at Allen Arena.


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Elling Bra is the right choice for you.
The Right Bra = Healthy Breast


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JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (Aug. 23, 2012) – Off to a 2-0 start, the ETSU women's soccer team plays its home openers this weekend when it welcomes Presbyterian and Radford to Summers-Taylor Stadium.
ETSU (2-0-0) takes on Presbyterian (0-1-0) Friday at 7 p.m., and hosts Radford (1-1-0) to close out the weekend on Sunday at 1 p.m.
Last weekend, the Lady Bucs opened the season with road wins against Tennessee Tech and UNC Asheville. Against Tech, freshman Sarah Zadrazil (St. Gilgen, Austria) opened the scoring with a goal two seconds before halftime, while sophomore Kristi Davis (Edmond, Okla.) sealed the win with a second-half score as ETSU walked away with a, 2-0, win. Two days later, the Lady Bucs went to UNC Asheville and overcame a late Bulldog equalizer to win in double overtime, 2-1. Junior Ramey Kerns (Kings Mountain, N.C.) scored 14 seconds into the second half, and senior Morgan Thomas (Maryville, Tenn.) shot in the golden goal to close out a 2-0 weekend.
Presbyterian returns eight of its starters from 2011, and began the 2012 season with a heartbreaking, 4-3, double overtime loss against Francis Marion. With 7.5 seconds left in the final period, Francis Marion's Elizabeth Asare scored to drop the Blue Hose in their season opener. Brian Purcell is in his 23rd season as head coach of the Presbyterian women's soccer program, holding a 225-150-17 record since the program's inception in 1989.
Radford also returns eight of its 11 starters from a year ago, and began the 2012 season last Friday by defeating Howard, 1-0, in double overtime. In that game, Rachel Conway put in the game's only goal 24 seconds into the second overtime period, lifting the Highlanders to a 1-0 start. The following Sunday, Radford took on then-No. 7 Virginia and fell, 5-0, to the nationally ranked Cavaliers.
Friday's game against Presbyterian will be the first all-time meeting between the Lady Bucs and Blue Hose, while Sunday's contest against Radford will be 14th between the two squads. ETSU leads Radford 6-5-2 in that series, and has won the last three meetings dating back to Sept. 19, 2007. Last year, the Lady Bucs traveled to Radford and earned their first win of the season, 1-0, over the Highlanders.
Live stats for both games will be provided courtesy of StatBroadcast.com. Free live streaming video will also be available on Friday and Sunday, courtesy of ASun.TV. New for the 2012-13 season, all games broadcast on ASun.TV will be provided free of charge.
For more information on ETSU women's soccer please visit ETSUBucs.com and click on the women's soccer links.


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The following commentary does not necessarily reflect the views of AgWeb or Farm Journal Media. The opinions expressed below are the author's own.
Marc Schober is the editor of Farmland Forecast an educational blog devoted to investments in agriculture and farmland.
Record grain prices and farmer income drove farmland prices to double digit gains in the last twelve months, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. The farmland market displayed the strongest year-over-year gains since 2007-08, as high farm income attracted farmer and investors to the market.
The Fed expects the momentum to continue into 2011 with farmland values and farmer income to rise in the coming months, although land values may not continue their rapid pace. Kansas and Nebraska had the strongest gains in 2010, with non-irrigated farmland appreciating 19.5% and 17.6% respectively. Ranchland also benefited across the district, with an average gain of 9.2%.
Brian Briggeman, Kansas City Fed economist, commented, "Rising farm income, especially for crop producers, drove nearly 20% annual value gains for Kansas and Nebraska farmland. In Oklahoma and the Mountain states, annual farmland value gains were not as sharp due to extremely dry conditions threatening crop yields and limiting cattle grazing."
The Fed did note a concern as cash rental rates only rose 6.0% over the last twelve months. Briggeman noted, "With farmland value gains outpacing the increase in cash rents, some District bankers were concerned that land values may not maintain their torrent pace."
Farmland was primarily purchased by farmers looking to reinvest their profits, but 2011 saw a larger number of nonfarm investors looking to capitalize on rising values and cash rents. The amount of sales in 2010 was higher than the previous year, but land buyers did not have a problem consuming the high volume.
Farm credit conditions continued to improve in 2011 with farmers paying down debt and pushing the loan repayment index to its highest level in three years. Strong farm income led to fewer requests from farmers for new loans and extensions.
2010 was one of the most exciting years for agriculture in recent memory, which is reflected in the higher farmland values and farm income. The Fed did note that cash rents are not keeping pace with farmland values, but there is typically a lag and this should adjust over the next 12 months.
Supplies will continue to remain tight over the next few months and we expect farmers and investors to continue to capitalize on the momentum.
Remember to visit Farmland Forecast (http://farmlandforecast.colvin-co.com) for your daily update on news and research about agriculture and farmland.
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(NewsUSA) – Chances are, you're hurting right now.
No, we're not talking finances. (That's a whole other story.) We're talking the kind of long-lasting physical pain — arthritis, backaches, strains and the like — which the Institute of Medicine says at least 116 million U.S. adults experience at a cost to the nation of upwards of $558 billion annually in medical bills, sick days and lost productivity.
And while the natural inclination of many sufferers may be to pop an over-the-counter pain pill for relief, doing so can be dicey. "For some patients, taking an over-the-counter pain pill isn't possible due to the risks associated with stomach irritation and interactions with other medications they're on," says Dr. Sylvia Hesse, an orthopedic medicine specialist at New York's Manhattan Spine & Sports Medicine Center.
So, how better to deal with pain? Read on.
* Look East. While noted sports therapist Dave Endres is a big proponent of exercise as "one of the best pain-management options for mild, moderate and even chronic pain," he makes clear that doesn't mean you have to become some kind of gym fiend. Yoga, he says, which Asians have long practiced, is a less intense way to improve flexibility, build lean muscle and improve circulation.
* Physical Therapy. Typically lasting six to 12 weeks, the focus here is on creating a personalized treatment plan meant to improve muscle strength and joint mobility. Yes, there's exercise involved, but you'll learn how to move — safely — so that your chances of future injuries are lessened.
* The Transdermal Bandwagon. Long popular in Europe, these patches, creams and gels are considered by many experts to be a safe, effective alternative to pills like acetaminophen, ibuprofen and naproxen sodium. That's because the medication contained in products like Salonpas (www.salonpas.us) delivers medicine right where it's needed — at the site of pain — unlike pills that pass through the stomach and liver.
Among the line's fans is tennis legend and sports broadcaster Pam Shriver, who uses New Salonpas Deep Relieving Gel to relieve both her lower back pain from playing sports and her sore shoulders from "hauling supplies around" for her kids' school fundraisers. "It absorbs fast into my skin and muscles for powerful, long-lasting relief," she says.
According to Dr. Hesse, Salonpas is a safe and convenient solution for tough pain, but always consult your doctor if your symptoms are severe or persist despite basic treatment measures.
This article is copyright free. You are free to use it on a blog, website, in a newspaper, or newsletter.
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Alturo Shelton was, in some ways, a throwback to other eras. As increasingly raunchy comedy became more popular, due to the "Def Jam Comedy" TV show, a changing society and many other factors, Shelton kept it clean. He had made a commitment.
During his latter years he didn't always work as consistently as he had previously, but he was determined to honor that commitment. He still, however, performed on BET's "Comic View" and other television shows.
The impressionist- comedian, who was well known throughout metro Detroit and beyond, made his transition on Saturday, Sept. 19. At the time of his passing he had been working on cruise lines around the world, getting big laughs with his impressions of Redd Foxx (as Fred Sanford), Stevie Wonder and Sammy Davis Jr. and others, even Aretha Franklin.
Shelton was a blessing in that he maintained such high professional standards. Like Sinbad, he knew it was possible to be funny without being dirty.
Services took place Monday, Sept. 28, at O.H. Pye Funeral Home. He is survived by his wife, Lavoris, two daughters and one granddaughter.


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Westport weather: Cloudy, showery day
Cloudy skies and scattered showers are in the southwestern Connecticut forecast for most of today.
The National Weather Service says the odds of daytime precipitation are 50 percent as the temperature rises to the upper-40s. There will be a southwest wind 5 to 8 mph.
Tonight, scattered showers -- perhaps mixed with light snow -- are expected as the temperature dips to a low of about 30 degrees. There will be a northwest wind 5 to 7 mph; chance of precipitation is 40 percent.
Tomorrow should be partly sunny, with a high temperature near 45 degrees, with a northwest wind 7 to 11 mph. Nighttime will be cloudy with a low temperature in the upper-20s.
Saturday will be sunny, with a high temperature in the low-40s, the NWS says. Clouds move in at night as the temperature registers a low in the mid-20s.
Sunday is expected to be mostly cloudy, with a high temperature in the upper-30s. Nighttime will also be cloudy, with a low temperature in the mid-20s.
The outlook for Monday, according to the weather service, is partly sunny and temperatures in the 30s.


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June 2012:
On Saturday June 14th the Capay Valley will host the Annual Tomato Festival near Sacramento, California and nearr the casmpus of the University of California at Davis.
Capay Tomato is an heirloom tomato presented by Farm Fresh To You which provides home delivered farm fresh fruits and vegetables direct from their Capay Valley farm and other nearby farms.
It's not just a treat to get vegetables and fruits just off the farm, it's gotten to be almost a necessity. Who doesn't want organic fresh produce picked that day? Who doesn't visit their local farmers markets for that reason?
The Capay Tomato Festival "starts at 5pm, but camping guests can check in at 4pm. Activities, such as farm tours, trailer rides and art activities will be going from 5pm-6pm. At 6pm, the tomato tasting will take place. Live bands will play from 7pm-11pm. Guests can bring picnics. Farm-fresh tacos and popsicles will be available"
Want to know more about farm fresh organic produce delivered right to your doorstep?
Check out Farm Fresh to You, their website is HERE
Their products are excellent and prices are reasonable.
As far as the Tomato Festival here are particulars fast and down dirty:
Where: Farm Fresh To You / Capay Organic 23800 Hwy 16 , CA 95607
When: Saturday, June 14th 3pm to 11pm
Tickets & stuff: Order tickets here Children are free, Adults are $20 and Camping is
$35 for an overnight spot in the orchard
What: Heirloom & Cherry Tomato Tasting
Tractor Trailer Rides
Harvest Activity & Make Your Own Herb Salt
Live Music and Dancing from:
9:00 p.m. Old Man Markley
6:30 p.m. Miss Lonely Hearts
4:00 p.m The Pleasant Valley Boys
Contest for Best Guest Picnic – Grand Prize is 3 FFTY Deliveries!
Self-Guided Farm Walking Tour
Kids' Activities and Arts & Crafts
Petting Zoo
Olive Oil & Grapeseed Oil Tasting
Additional Event Activities Available for Purchase*
– Delicious Local Food*
Farm Fresh Tacos & Burritos
Elote Corn
Sandwiches & Salads
The Pop Nation Popsicles
– Margaritas, Local Beer & Wine*
– Non-Alcoholic Beverages*
– Face Painting*
– Henna Art*
Camping in the Fruit Orchard
Sleep under the stars and among the fruit trees. Reserve a camp site in their peach, fig and mandarin orchards. Interested?? Go here for details.
Have fun!!!!!
August 2012:
In August the Farm plays host to the great Sacramento area Seond Saturday Art Festival.
If you read this blog you have seen many entrie about Second Saturday one of our absolute favorite ways to learn about new art (and non-Art) endeavors in the Sacramento area.
When: Saturday, August 11, 2012
Time: 11 am to 2 pm
What: Second Saturday Capay Valley Farm Tour
Where: Farm Fresh to You—23808 State Highway 16
Capay, California 95607
Phone: 800 796 6009
Fax: 916 375 1470
Map: Here
Email: Here
What is the farm about? Well, you can subscribe to the Farm News, that's a better way to learn than having me tell you, that's for sure! Subscribe Here
Taking a Farm Tour on the Second Saturday Art Festival is just a GREAT way to learn all about the farm.
Note: Although I talk about the Capay Valley farm in Northern California, there is also a Southern California farm in Anaheim, California.
Where is Anaheim? Well, think Mickey Mouse Ears!!
Check them out here:
Farm Fresh to You (Southern California)
PO Box 391
Anaheim, Ca 92815
Phone: 800 796 6009
Fax: 916 375 1470
Email: Click here to email us


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My brother gifted my husband a leather guitar pick from Corter Leather today and I couldn't help but look further into where it came from. Leather has been on my mind lately...
posted on: January 25, 2012
My brother gifted my husband a leather guitar pick from Corter Leather today and I couldn't help but look further into where it came from. Leather has been on my mind lately...
14 comments:
Super clean. Love it.ReplyDelete
Wow, these products are amazing. I kinda want that leather notepad...with the scrumptious little pencil holder.ReplyDelete
- AnonymousJanuary 25, 2012 at 5:49 PM
that's adorable.ReplyDelete
by the way, thank you so much for the comment you left on my blog. I checked her blog out and I'm going to contact her - I could definitely use someone to talk to about what I'm going through :)
Wow! That's pretty amazing that there is no template involved and each piece is made from memory! I sew so I can definitely appreciate this. It's a bit of inspiration for me!ReplyDelete
That's such a nice gift to receive! I love that everything is handmade!ReplyDelete
I hope your doing well Jenn! :)
<3 Kelly
- AnonymousJanuary 25, 2012 at 11:02 PM
I just found these guys last week too + was swooning over all their product. Nothin' like that natural colored leather...ReplyDelete
Oh I'm wishing I didn't buy Keith a new wallet for Christmas now! haha. That wallet is lovely. & those guitar picks... he would love those.ReplyDelete
Leather guitar pick?! So awesome.ReplyDelete
nice gift. :) and i like this creamy white color...ReplyDelete
i love all of there products!!!ReplyDelete
How cool! Loving that little notebook and the spot it has for the pencil :)ReplyDelete
Loving the color of that leather!ReplyDelete
♡ Lexi
FASHION: Glitter & Pearls
WEDDINGS: Glitter Weddings
This is amazing. Thanks for sharing!ReplyDelete
Ah i love these! Those leather guitar picks would make such a great gift for a handfull of my friends. Thanks for sharing!ReplyDelete
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Are Investors Right to Be Optimistic?
Global equity markets are soaring and investor appetite for risk appears to have fiinaly recovered. But, says WSJ's Simon Nixon, this might have more to do with an excess of market liquidity rather than any real return of positive sentiment.
This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.
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News tagged with docetaxel
Docetaxel (as generic or with trade name Taxotere) is a clinically well established anti-mitotic chemotherapy medication (that is, it interferes with cell division). It is used mainly for the treatment of breast, ovarian, prostate, and non-small cell lung cancer. Docetaxel has an FDA approved claim for treatment of patients who have locally advanced, or metastatic breast or non small-cell lung cancer who have undergone anthracycline-based chemotherapy and failed to stop cancer progression or relapsed. and a European approval for use in hormone-refractory prostate cancer.
According to a 2005 article in the journal Drugs, docetaxel administered as a one-hour infusion every three weeks generally over a ten cycle course, docetaxel is considered as or more effective than doxorubicin, paclitaxel and fluorouracil as a cytotoxic antimicrotubule agent.[dubious – discuss] However the effectiveness of Docetaxel vs. Paclitaxel and other taxenes is still controversial. Several more recent articles have found "no evidence that regimens containing docetaxel yield greater benefits than those including paclitaxel." Additionally, the optimal scheduling of docetaxel and other taxenes remains unconfirmed. A three-week administration schedule used to be and is still considered effected but new studies are indicating a weekly schedule might be better. A 2010 article in Current Clinical Pharmacology states, "weekly administration has emerged as the optimal schedule." Docetaxel is marketed worldwide under the name Taxotere by Sanofi-Aventis. Annual sales in 2010 were Euro 2.122 billion ($US 3.1 billion). Patent expired in 2010.[citation needed]
This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA


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Science Friday® is produced by the Science Friday Initiative, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
Science Friday® and SciFri® are registered service marks of Science Friday, Inc. Site design by Pentagram; engineering by Mediapolis.
Whole wheat, stone-ground, multi-grain. Have food labels got you confused? Joanne Slavin, a nutrition professor at the University of Minnesota, and David Ludwig, a pediatrician and obesity doctor at Boston Children's Hospital, discuss the meaning of "whole grain," and whether intact grains like wheat berries pack more nutritional punch than their ground-up counterparts, such as whole wheat flour.


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Convert and import Sony Cyber-shot AVCHD to FCP for editing on Mac
Some cameras of Sony Cyber-shot series like Sony Cyber-shot DSC-TX7, DSC-HX5V, DSC-HX9V etc are AVHCD cameras which capture Full 1080 HD movies. The cameras store videos in MTS file extension. If you are a Sony Cyber-shot user, you shot many funny or important vdieos with the camera. Want to edit the Sony Cyber-shot videos with Final Cut Pro on Mac? You should transfer the AVCHD files into FCP, but how to import Sony Cyber-shot MTS files into FCP on Mac?
There is an easy way to solve the problem. You can convert Sony Cyber-shot MTS to FCP on Mac. Fortunately, Mac Sony Cyber-shot AVCHD to FCP Converter is such a software which enables users to convert Sony Cyber-shot video to FCP compatible MOV, MP4, DV, etc for editing on Mac. This program provides you wonderful conversion experience just within several clicks.
What's more, you can do some editings before converting Sony Cyber-shot video to FCP. You can merge several videos into one file to save conversion time, crop MTS videos, trim videos, and so on. After converting Sony Cyber-shot AVCHD to FCP, you can import Sony Cyber-shot videos to FCP and edit the files to make your video for sharing on Mac OS X.
Here is step-by-step tutorial for you to convert Sony Cyber-shot videos to FCP on Mac
Step 1. Add Sony Cyber-shot videos to the converter
Click "Add" button to add the Sony Cyber-shot AVCHD files into Sony Cyber-shot Video to FCP Converter Mac from your Mac.
Step 2. Select output format
Click "Format" bar to choose to the format which you want to convert, you can select "Final Cut Pro" > "Apple Prores 422(.mov)" as output format.
Step 3. Start converting Sony Cyber-shot videos to FCP on Mac
In this step, when all settings are ready, click "Convert" button to convert Sony Cyber-shot MTS to FCP so that you can open and play the videos on Mac. After conversion, you also can edit the converted videos with FCP on Mac.
By HypnoArt from Pixabay


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Nicole Kidman at 2011 Academy Awards
Get this Flirty Ponytail
Celebrity hairstylist David Babaii, who has worked with Angelina Jolie, Kate Hudson and Sarah Jessica Parker just to name a few, was Nicole Kidman's stylist for the 2011 Oscars today. For this year's Academy Awards he wanted to achieve a "Playful Ponytail" with a hint of Bridget Bardot for Nicole Kidman's 2011 Oscar look.
To Achieve Nicole Kidman's Oscar Hair
David always begins every red carpet look with clean hair followed by applying Couture Colour Pequi Oil Treatment (available at Sephoa) to her entire head. Pequi Oil is derived from the Pequi fruit, known for centuries as the beauty secret of the Amazon Rainforest. Once applied, David is amazed at how Nicole's beautiful red hair color looks so fresh and vibrant. The Pequi Oil Treatment also instantly absorbs into hair, leaving it smooth and shiny. David then sectioned off a bang and cut a French fringe to frame the face. Next, he blow dried Nicole's hair with the IT&LY HAIRFASHION Ionic Dryer that supplies super-fast drying power along with a large round brush. At the bang area, he gently bumped the ends under. After the hair was dried, he applied an additional amount of Pequi Oil to create a smooth and shiny surface. To begin the "Playful Ponytail" updo, he used his hands to sweep the hair into a ponytail creating a slight bump at the crown and securing with a band. To finish the French fringe, David added additional Pequi Oil to his fingers to define.


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By Daisy Whitney
In addition to cool duds, kids also want the latest gadgets and school supplies. Good organization is critical to school success, says Stacy DeBroff, the Office Depot back-to-school parenting advisor and founder of MomCentral.com.
According to the National Retail Federation, parents spent an average of $443.77 last year on back-to-school supplies.
Here's how to make the most of that money:


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Donald Trump withdrew Tuesday as the moderator of a debate planned for later this month in Iowa, citing his interest in possibly still running for president as an independent.
Trump pulled out of a debate he had planned to host along with the conservative magazine Newsmax, scheduled for Dec. 27, just days before the Iowa caucuses. All the GOP presidential candidates save for Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum said they would not participate.
"The Republican Party candidates are very concerned that sometime after the final episode of The Apprentice, on May 20th, when the equal time provisions are no longer applicable to me, I will announce my candidacy for President of the United States as an Independent and that, unless I conclusively agree not to run as an Independent, they will not agree to attend or be a part of the Newsmax debate scheduled for December 27, 2011," Trump said in a statement. "It is very important to me that the right Republican candidate be chosen to defeat the failed and very destructive Obama Administration, but if that Republican, in my opinion, is not the right candidate, I am not willing to give up my right to run as an Independent candidate. Therefore, so that there is no conflict of interest within the Republican Party, I have decided not to be the moderator of the Newsmax debate. The American people are embarrassed by the gridlock currently taking place in Washington. I must leave all of my options open because, above all else, we must make America great again!"
It's not clear whether any debate with Newsmax will go forward at all. Trump thanked Gingrich and Santorum for their willingness to participate nonetheless.
"I would like to thank Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum for having the courage, conviction, and confidence to immediately accept being a part of the Newsmax debate. I believe this would not only have been the most watched debate, but also the most substantive and interesting debate!" he said.


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A Bridgewater man could face vehicular homicide charges if the Taunton man he allegedly ran over last Thursday night dies.
A Bridgewater man could face vehicular homicide charges if the Taunton man he allegedly ran over last Thursday night dies.
Jason Peter, 39, last known address 155 Wall St., for now is charged with leaving the scene of an accident with personal injury resulting and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon (motor vehicle), according to district court, arraignment records.
The 34-year-old victim, however, is not out of the woods: A spokesperson for Boston-based Tufts Medical Center on Monday said he remains in critical condition.
Statements made by Peter and a man identified as a passenger that night suggest that a drug dispute played a role in events leading up to the hit-and-run incident.
Peter turned himself in to Taunton police early Friday night, one day after the incident, and later posted $1,000 bail. The district attorney's office requested bail be set at $10,000 but was rebuffed by Judge Kevan Cunningham, according to Bristol DA spokesman Gregg Miliote.
Peter did show up Monday for his arraignment, according to court records.
Taunton Police Chief Edward Walsh reports that when he showed up at the intersection of Harrison Street and Harrison Avenue at 7:45 p.m. Thursday he saw the victim lying near a storm drain with tire tread marks across his chest.
Walsh also noted a pill bottle cap and "several" pills scattered around the pavement.
Police interviewed five witnesses who gave slightly differing accounts, but who all described an altercation between the driver, later identified as Peter, and the victim, who apparently goes by the street name "Red."
Witnesses, all of whom heard a commotion and looked outside their apartments, told cops they at first saw a grey Jeep Cherokee that was parked facing the wrong way.
The driver and the victim, who had been pushed out of the vehicle, were tussling with each other, witnesses said. One witness told police the victim was injured after a tug of war with the driver over a T-shirt that had been pulled off and over his head.
At one point the victim slipped, fell and was partially run over, that witness told police.
Peter asked the victim if he was "all right" but hit the accelerator and sped off when a woman screamed out, the witness allegedly told cops.
Another witness, a woman, said the victim was obviously badly hurt, with a tire mark on his arm, a hole on the left side of his head and blood running from his nose and ears.
Yet another woman told police the Jeep at first came down the block at high rate of speed and that a white object — maybe a grocery-store plastic bag or perhaps even a kitten — was tossed out.
Peter later told police he had picked up a friend and headed from Bridgewater to Taunton to hang out and purchase some marijuana. He claimed that Red, the victim, had agreed to meet them in front of B&E Variety on Weir Street.
Peter claims the victim tried snatching a wad of bills out of his hand, punched him twice in the face and managed to get inside the Jeep — at which point, Peter says, he panicked and hit the accelerator, police said.
The victim, according to Peter and his friend/passenger, managed to grab Peter's pill bottle, resulting in its contents being spilled onto the pavement.
Peter's passenger told cops he managed to push the victim out after he had grabbed his friend's prescription bottle. The police report does not specify whether Peter had a legitimate prescription for the unidentified medication.
The victim, according to local published reports, previously had been arrested for domestic assault and battery and violation of a protective order. He also, according to one criminal-background-check website, has been charged with trafficking heroin and at one time resided in Attleboro.
TPD Chief Walsh said he's not familiar with the victim's alleged criminal history and could not confirm or provide an updated status of the published reports.
Peter is due back in court Nov. 16 for a pretrial hearing.
Despite the fact Peter allegedly turned himself in within 24 hours, the DA's Miliote said he's grateful to news outlets for publishing images of the Jeep caught on surveillance camera.
Police say they were able to identify Peter after witnesses provided them with the vehicle's license plate number.
Contact Charles Winokoor at firstname.lastname@example.com


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Danny Werfel, the Obama administration's controller who spent the past half year as acting chief of the troubled Internal Revenue Service, has left government service, the Office of Management and Budget confirmed on Monday.
Having spent more than 15 years at OMB, the last four as head of its Office of Financial Management, Werfel leaves amid from praise from former colleagues, while his next steps have yet to be determined.
"With John Koskinen's confirmation as the IRS commissioner late last month, it was a good opportunity for me to take some brief time off to spend with my family and also to explore new opportunities for the next phase of my career," Werfel told Government Executive. "My tenure with both OMB and the IRS left me energized for new challenges. Both organizations employ tremendously talented and dedicated public servants striving to make the government work better. I was honored to serve alongside them and am personally proud of the contributions I was able to make to improved management and results at both agencies."
One colleague, Shelley Metzenbaum, the former associate director for performance management at OMB who now directs the government reform nonprofit Volcker Alliance, said, "Danny always brought great energy, compassion, and a sense of humor to the task at hand. Combined with his deep experience in the federal work space, it was a great package."
Robert Shea, a George W. Bush administration OMB official now a principal with Grant Thornton LLP, said, "Danny was relied on by successive administrations to fix government's greatest challenges. The American people got a great deal with him, and I suspect his days of public service are not all behind him."
Since joining OMB in the 1990s, the politically neutral Werfel testified multiple times on Capitol Hill as controller and as temporary IRS commissioner. In that final job, he had the tough task of replacing executives and cutting bonuses, travel and conferences while devoting much staff time to redacting documents to be handed over to congressional investigators.
In the highly politicized atmosphere of the controversy over IRS mishandling of tax-exempt status applications from largely conservative nonprofits, Werfel spoke frequently to Congress and private groups. But his earnest manner, tact and detailed answers often contrasted starkly with Congress members' calls for dramatic steps to shake up the IRS.
Werfel's work at OMB left him concerned about recruiting the next generation of federal workers and a need to counter some "myths," he told an academic group in October. One myth is that federal employees go home at 5 p.m. "That's when the work is just getting started," he said, recalling driving by agency buildings and seeing lights on at 9 p.m. The second myth has to do with competence, Werfel said, comparing the awe he felt on arrival with moving up from high school to college. "The level of talent is unbelievable," he said. "By 10 a.m. on any day, most Americans are touched by some government program that improves American life, but [they] don't think about it."


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THE SQL Server Blog Spot on the Web
Back in late May, my pal Buck Woody (blog | twitter) and I presented SQL Server for the Oracle DBA. Buck played Jerry Lewis' role, while I played the straight man a la Dean Martin. You can see the recording and slide deck here. Since both Buck and I spent a considerable number of years working on Oracle, we felt like we had pretty good legs to stand on doing this presentation. Here's the abstract:
enterprise IT, database professionals face a mixed-bag of platforms
within their environments -- and the overlapping duties that go along
with them. Whether you like it or not, you get asked to support Microsoft SQL Server operations even though you're an Oracle DBA.
In this instructive webcast, experts from Microsoft and Quest with years of experience in both platforms will discuss the biggest issues and areas of interest for Oracle DBAs who need to work on Microsoft
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a deeper understanding of SQL Server to help you add more value than
ever to your organization.
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In this hands-on activity, students learn about the different realms of the Universe and explore their sizes and relative scales. They will be guided through a process that uncovers the immense sizes of the Sun, Solar System, Solar Neighborhood,... (View More) Milky Way, Local Group, Supercluster, and the observable Universe. The full version of this activity involves students doing simple math computations, however it can also be done without the math. There are some inexpensive materials involved, as well as a powerpoint presentation. It is intended for grades 8-12, but can be adapted down for lower grade levels. (View Less)
Materials Cost: $1 - $5 per group of students
This is an activity about the size and scale of the Sun-Earth system. Learners will take an imaginary trip to the Sun by comparing images of the Sun and Earth at different points in altitude above the Earth. This is to ultimately conceptualize the... (View More) spherical shape of the Earth, which is key to understanding the cause of the seasons. They will then produce a scale model of the Sun and Earth to reinforce the idea that the distance to the Sun is enormous compared with the size of the Earth. Finally, learners reflect on Question 3 of the Sun-Earth Survey, which is the prior activity in this set. This is Activity 3 in the Great Explorations in Math and Science (GEMS) guide titled Real Reasons for Seasons: Sun-Earth Connections. An additional related activity, entitled Scale Models of the Earth-Moon System and the Solar System, is included in the CD-ROM enclosed with the resource guide. The resource guide is available for purchase from the Lawrence Hall of Science. This activity recommends use of an overhead projector, and requires use of a small scale model toy, such as a car or any other toy made to scale, and a rigid globe or large ball like a soccer ball or basketball. (View Less)
Materials Cost: 1 cent - $1 per group of students


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"Fuel costs have almost tripled since 2004 and will most likely continue to rise. It's no surprise [that] fuel is the number one operating expense in the trucking industry today." - Curtis Whalen, executive director of the Intermodal Motor Carriers Conference, speaking at the Evans Network of Companies' 4th annual agents meeting held in Washington D.C. July 2.
I talked to Bruce Stockton, vice president of maintenance and asset management for Con-way Truckload, about some of the changes occurring in over-the-road trucking due to high fuel prices. One of the more interesting things we discussed is how high fuel prices combined with stricter emission and engine idling regulations are forcing fleets to consider some radical new options for the future - options that aren't limited to equipment specs, either.
(Bruce Stockton)
"We don't just have the operating needs of the highway tractor to think about - we've got that 10 hour off-duty driver time we need to address as well," he told me. "Right now, we're all looking at different auxiliary heating, cooling, and power system options for the sleeper berth that don't require us to idle the diesel engine. Question is, at what point does the technology and fuel get so expensive that it becomes much more economical to put a driver up in a hotel room?"
It's not a random thought where Stockton is concerned. This is a guy that's been thinking outside the box for a long time now - so long that it's safe to say he lives outside the box. During his career with Contractor Freighters Inc. (CFI) - later bought by Con-way in August 2007 for $750 million and renamed Con-way Truckload this year - Stockton focused on developing the most fuel-efficient and cost- effective tractor specs for his carrier's fleet.
He blends driver needs, fuel economy and cost of operation into a careful mix every year, searching for even small things that could be changed or deleted to give the tractors under his care a better efficiency footprint.
"We literally build a new truck every year, changing those specs that make sense in terms of fuel savings, driver comfort and acceptance, and operating costs," Stockton explains. "Drivers are in many cases our best source of feedback and ideas because they are out there in the trucks every day, while we're behind a desk."
Prior to its acquisition by Con-way, CFI's 2,100 company-owned fleet of trucks were a mix of Kenworth T-600, T-800 and T-2000 tractors that averaged between 6.5 to 7 mpg, with some drivers able to log 8 mpg. The carrier spec'd Michelin X-One wide base tires on its tractors, gaining a fuel economy improvement of 2/10th of a mile per gallon. Over the last several years, the carrier cut 675 pounds out of the vehicle, deleting items like corner fenders in front of the drive-axle tires (a savings of 75 pounds) and moving to horizontal instead of vertical exhaust stacks (a further 80 to 100 pound savings).
"Reducing idle time is a huge piece of our spec'ing challenge long term," Stockton told me. "We don't have impressive idle time numbers right now. We're about 40% idle time without an APU [auxiliary power unit]. But we want a system that doesn't produce emissions -- which is why we're looking at battery power [Kenworth's battery-based 'Clean-Power' system to be specific] that is factory-installed."
Yet there's a flip side to his thinking here, too - why make all of these high-dollar truck technology investments in the first place? Why not instead put a driver in a hotel for a night - or even several nights - where they can shower, do laundry, watch cable television, access the Internet, etc. Maybe that is a cheaper option long term.
"That would really change our equipment specs," he noted. You're looking at going to day cab models, Stockton said, which would eliminate the weight of the sleeper compartment, could result in a smaller more fuel efficient engine, and lower both purchase price and operating cost per tractor unit as well.
One problem with the hotel room theory, Stockton quickly points out, is that there just aren't enough hotels and motels near truck stops. "Maybe we build facilities with 'pods' for drivers, rented out for 10 hours that provide heat, cooling, a bed and a shower," he says. "Structure a network of places like that, you'll approach near-zero idling industry wide."
He readily admits that the "pod hotel" concept might not be popular with drivers, much less fleets. Then again, with diesel over $5 a gallon throughout much of the U.S., coupled to nearly 30 states with strict five minute or less engine idling rules, it's an option that might not fall on as many deaf ears as he thinks.
One thing is for sure, though - a range of new options, no matter how radical, needs to be considered. With the industry's fuel bill predicted to top $135 billion this year - up from $52 billion in 2003, just five scant years ago - trucking needs to put as many options on the table as it can.