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Cloud Apps & SaaS

Explosive Growth in Salesforce.com’s Dreamforce Conference

August 9, 2011
Cloud Apps & SaaS, News & Admin, Social Media
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Need evidence that the world of technology is moving to the cloud?  Look no further than the explosive growth that has occurred for Salesforce.com‘s annual conference, called Dreamforce. Salesforce.com is one of the pioneer’s of the cloud computing industry. They have been hosting the Dreamforce conference, which brings together leaders in the industry, since 2003 and it has become the premier cloud computing conference in the world.

The amazing growth of the conference is displayed beautifully in the infographic below developed by the creative companys Jess3 and Eloqua.   I was really surprised to see that in just 9 years the number of attendees has increased nearly 20 fold – from 1,100 in 2003 to over 23,000 in 2010!  I think that the growth of the Dreamforce conference just reinforces how explosive the cloud computing industry is and will continue to be.

Thanks to Jess3 and Eloqua for allowing the great infographic below to be reprinted.

Want to Learn More About the Cloud? Visit Cloud U by SugarSync

August 5, 2011
Cloud Apps & SaaS
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The cloud storage company SugarSync has recently launched a great site for learning the basics about personal cloud computing, called Cloud U.  Cloud U is a great place to start for people just starting to learn about cloud computing and personal clouds.    They offer both videos and documents to help customers learn more and become engaged in the industry.

Topics covered at Cloud U include; An Overview of the Cloud, the Personal Cloud, Cloud applications for business and consumers, and videos on how to use SugarSync software.  These provide a nice introduction, and along with SugarSync’s blog, provide a great resource for cloud computing.

As expected, Cloud U is geared towards the SugarSync platform, but also gives information on some of the other larger players like Google, Amazon, and Apple.   Not surprisingly I don’t see any mention of Dropbox, Box.net, or ZumoDrive which I consider to be more direct competitors of SugarSync.

I would encourage everyone to check out Cloud U – its a nice resource.

-TW

Google Chrome Web Store – Is it Worth the time?

August 2, 2011
Cloud Apps & SaaS, Miscellaneous
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The Google Chrome Web Store has been active for several months (it launched in December, 2010) so I thought it would be worth discussing a little about it for the readers.    For anyone that is not familiar with it, the Chrome Web Store is basically and online portal for downloading free and paid applications that run native applications on the Google Chrome web browser.

First Impressions:

My first impressions of the Chrome Web Store are mixed.  It obviously  is trying to capitalize on the explosion of mobile app stores like the Android Market and Apple’s App Store.  The problem is that, unlike the mobile app stores, the Chrome Web Store distributes apps for a web browser which is a much different experience than a mobile device.   For many of the Chrome Apps, the “app” is really nothing more than a shortcut to the standard html website – it’s really just being masked as an “app”.  I’m not really sure if it is worth all of the effort to develop an app which offers no real benefit over just creating my own browser bookmarks or shortcuts.

With that said, I still think there are several nice aspects of the Chrome Web Store that make it a worthwhile effort.   Some of those reasons include:

Several apps are designed specifically for the Chrome browser and the Chrome Operating System (OS).  In many ways it appears that Google developed the Chrome store specifically for Chrome OS.   Three of my favorite native Chrome apps are the New York Times app, the Angry Birds app, and the TweetDeck app.

The Chrome Web Store also is a great medium to search for some of the very cool apps and web tools that are in the market (often times for free) today.   There are literally thousands of apps in the web store that are grouped by common categories such as productivity, games, utilities, news, and entertainment.  It would be very difficult to find all of these apps on your own

I also think it also offers developers another medium to get their products to the market.  With the nice way that Google has integrated the Chrome Web Store into the browser, it makes for a nice experience.    This is yet another way that the Chrome Browser is leaving Internet Explorer and Firefox in the dust in my opinion.

In Conclusion:

I think Google has done a nice job with their Chrome Web Store.  It offers users a chance to explore thousands of new apps with ease and speed and integrates with the Chrome Browser nicely.   I guess only time will tell if the “Browser App”  catches on with users or if something else will come along.

-TW

Google Docs now Integrated within Box.net

July 26, 2011
Cloud Apps & SaaS, Office Suites
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One of my favorite cloud file storage systems, Box.net, recently added the ability to edit files through Google Docs.  This is a great feature that sets Box.net apart from several of its competitors.   Of the online file systems that I have uses (Dropbox, SugarSync, ZumoDrive, Box.net), Box.net offers the best overall features for editing files.   In addition to having the ability to use Google Docs for editing, Box.net also offers the option to edit files using Zoho Office.  The editing capabilities were fast and efficient when I used Google Docs.

I really like how Box.net continues to expand its platform and continues to make it more user friendly.    Google Docs is part of the Box Apps ecosystem, which is continuing to expand its offerings.  In addition to Google Docs and Zoho, they offer apps that integrate with several popular cloud and social services, such as LinkedIn, Salesforce.com, and eFax.

Overall I continue to be impressed with Box.net’s expanding functionality.   I would recommend that people try out Box.net if they have not already.   The user experience is nice and the apps ecosystem is a nice feature that most other online file storage systems do not offer.

For a better understanding of how it works, check out the video below from Box.net’s YouTube page.

Salesforce.com CEO Speaking on Cloud Computing

July 20, 2011
Cloud Apps & SaaS
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I stumbled upon this YouTube video of Salesforce.com CEO, Marc Benioff, speaking on Cloud Computing and Saleforce.com’s view of the future.   Salesforce.com is one of the pioneers in the field of cloud computing.    Benioff does a great job providing an overview of cloud computing and how Salesforce.com is pushing forward the market.

The particular video below is about 40 minutes long and takes place at the 2011 Saleforce.com Dreamforce conference.  It you can look beyond the Salesforce.com sales pitch, it’s a great presentation to watch if you are wanting to learn more about cloud computing and how rapid technology is changing our personal and working lives.

4 Low-Cost Web Conferencing Services

July 14, 2011
Cloud Apps & SaaS
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Recently I had spent some time researching free or low-cost web conferencing services.   There are several stripped down web conferencing services that are nice alternatives to the large players, like Citrix, GoToMeeting, Cisco WebEx, and Microsoft Live Meeting.

Yugma
Yugma is a nice program that offers lower costs than the big players.    It also offers a free one-on-one web conferencing feature.   Depending up on which option you select, it may have small ads associated with the web-conferencing (in particular the free versions).    They also offer some other features, like whiteboards and other collaboration tools.   Costs are around $100/year for 20 participants and around $350/year for 50 participants.

One thing that I don’t like about Yugma is that it requires a download on each of the participant’s computer.   I prefer to have a 100% web-based system for ease of use.

Mikogo
Mikogo is another nice program that offers completely free web conferencing for multiple participants.   I like this better than Yugma because of the free nature of it. The biggest limitation is that it only supports up to 10 participants.

Like Yugma, it also requires a download on each of the participant’s computer.   If you are looking for a no frills web-conferencing program that is low-cost, look no further than Mikogo.

AnyMeeting
AnyMeeting used to be known as Freebinar.   It works well and supports multiple participants (up to a whopping 200!).   When I used it when it was known as Freebinar, it worked extremely well for me and was easy to use. I cannot verify if it is still the same now that it has been changed to AnyMeeting.

One thing you need to be aware of is that AnyMeeting is ad-supported, which may not be desirable  if you are trying to portray a professional image.   The ads are frequent and big.    One thing I do like about it though is that it is fully web-based, so no downloads are required on either end (host or participant.)  This is a nice option if you don’t care about the large ads.

Vyew
I’ve added Vyew to this list, even though I don’t have much experience with it.   From what little experience I do have with it, it seems like it may have the most potential out of any of the services listed in this post.  It appears to offer more options.    I belive it is free of ads also, but that should be verified.

Like AnyMeeting, this is also fully web-based (no downloads) which is very attractive.    If anyone is in the market for a web conferencing service, I would definitely add this to the list to try out.

In Conclusion
As you can see, there are several web conferencing options available to those that are looking to keep their costs.  Yugma is nice, low-cost option that offers functionality that is similar to big players.  Mikogo is a good option if you are conducting web conferencing sessions with less than 10 participants.   Anymeeting is nice and easy to use, but has some big ads associated with it and doesn’t look as professional.   Vyew.com might have the best potential, but I haven’t used it so it will require more testing.

-TW

Cloud Storage – 3 Free Options for Web-Based File Hosting

May 30, 2011
Cloud Apps & SaaS
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Conducting a quick Google search on “Cloud-based file hosting” provides several results.   For anyone that has been watching the world of computing shift to the “cloud”, one obvious question is which hosting service is best and what do they offer?   I’ve recently compiled some notes on 3 popular cloud-based hosting services, DropBox, Box.net, and SugarSync.

Dropbox
Dropbox is one of the more popular web file hosting services out there today.  It is a really nice product that has some great features.   The first 2GB of storage are free, which is pretty standard for web-based file hosting services.  Dropbox requires that you download a program that is installed on each computer that you plan on using.   Once installed, it is quite easy to use – just place your files and folders in your “Dropbox” folder on your local computer and it is automatically synced to your web account as well as synced across all of your computers.

This is a great system that is easy to use and has a large user base.   My only gripe about it is that you cannot define your own local folders to sync using the free version (at the time of this writing.)   It may have this functionality with the paid version, which I did not try out.

Pros:  Ease of use, Syncing of Files across web and multiple computers, Supports several platforms
Cons:  Only 2 GB of free storage, Inability to specify custom folders on local drive for syncing in free version

Box.net
Like Dropbox, Box.net is also very popular and has garnered much press for its features and interface.  A very nice feature of Box.net is the 5GB of storage available with the free version.   One major downfall of the free version of Box.net is the lack of support for syncing across multiple computers – this is only available with the “Pro” paid version.

Some other nice features included with Box.net include the ability to share and link files on the web to anyone, as well as the ability to edit spreadsheet and word processing files using their embedded web-based software.  Currently they partner with Zoho to allow the editing of spreadsheets and word processing.  Box.net has a very nice interface and the ability to shares and edit files across an organization.  I mainly use my box.net to post files that I wish to shares with others.

Pros:  Ability to edit files using Zoho, File sharing capabilities, 5GB free storage, no download required to use
Cons:  File syncing across computers and the web only allowed in “Pro” version

SugarSync
SugarSync has been my cloud storage platform of choice.  I currently use it back up all of my person data.   It currently includes 5GB of free storage.   It does require a download to all computers that you wish to be synced, but after setting it up, it has worked perfectly.   Whenever I update a file on one computer, it is automatically updated online and on all other synced computers.

Unlike Box.net, it does not have the ability to edit files easily across the web.  They do have something call “websync” that allows a user to download from the web, edit it offline, and then sync back up to the web.  It is a little clunky though.  My thought is that if you are desire to store and edit online, use a web-based office application like Google Docs or Zoho Office. They also have this funny thing called “The Magic Briefcase” – its basically just a stock folder that is created on your local computer where you can sync files easily without having to set up custom folders.

If you are looking for a no frills cloud storage platform that works well and is easy to set up, I would recommend SugarSync.

Pros: Ability to sync user specified files across multiple computers, 5GB of free storage
Cons:  Does not have web-based editing tools, smaller user base than Box.net or Dropbox

In conclusion
This post just scratches the surface of cloud storage.  There are several types and levels of storage available depending upon one’s needs and budget.   The 3 platforms discussed here represent ones that I have had success with.

Free eBook Primer: “Shedding Light on the Cloud”

March 30, 2011
"Book Brief" Series, Cloud Apps & SaaS
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I recently stumbled across Shedding Light on the Cloud, a short, free e-book/primer by Gregor Petri, Advisor Lean IT at CA Technologies, that provides a very good overview of cloud computing in its current state and how it will affect future business applications.  It is a quick and easy read, yet very informative for people who are interested in learning more about how the cloud functions.

The book describes the three “flavors” of cloud computing; Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS) and provides good examples of how these applications are being used in the business world today.  Petri also provides his thoughts on how the IT industry, and IT managers, will have to change to accommodate the new cloud computing paradigm.

I would recommend this primer to anyone interested in gaining a quick overview of the current state of cloud computing.

The e-book can be downloaded in multiple format at Petri’s website found here.

Additional Review of Sheetster Online Spreadsheet

July 7, 2010
Cloud Apps & SaaS, Office Suites, Spreadsheets
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Sheetster Online SpreadsheetRecently, I conducted a review of several online spreadsheets here at TechJotter.  One of the online spreadsheets that I reviewed was Sheetster.   I had stated that Sheetster did not have as many features as some of the other “mainstream” online spreadsheets like Google Docs, Zoho, and ThinkFree.

I have since then traded a few emails with Sheetster staff and have gained a bit more information about the program.  I still believe it is a niche product, but it does offer some nice features over the mainstream products.

Some of the main advantages of Sheetster include:

  • It is an open source alternative to SharePoint and Google docs.
  • It can be run offline or online
  • It can be hosted on your own servers, instead of large remote data centers
  • You have more control of your data and the security of your data
  • It is highly customizable through the use of java (and other programming languages)

Extentech, the developers of Sheetster, have provided good information on their website.  A comparison of Sheetster to Google Docs and Microsoft can also be found here.

After doing additional research on the product, Sheetster fills a need that none of the other online programs meet – a highly customizable product that offers greater control over your data and security.  Extentech also seems to have a good community built around the product and the staff was very helpful and provided me with a lot of good information over email.

I still feel that Sheetster is a niche product.  It is not as easy to use or as recognizable as Google Docs, Microsoft Web Apps, or Zoho and requires additional knowledge to be able to unlock all of its features.  It also does not offer as many built-in advanced spreadsheet features (like PivotTables or Macros).

If anyone is looking for a customizable spreadsheet application where security and/or control of your data are important, I would recommend doing some research into Sheetster.

Related Posts:
Comparing Zoho, Google, Adobe, & ThinkFree Online Word Processors
A Brief Comparison of Online Spreadsheets
Online Alternatives to Microsoft Office

An Intro to Microsoft Office Web Apps: Nice Interface, Needs Functionality

June 30, 2010
Cloud Apps & SaaS, Office Suites, Spreadsheets, Word Processers
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Introduction:
In the past few weeks, I’ve posted a few articles comparing several web-base word processing and spreadsheet applications.  For the word processors, I focused on Google Docs, Zoho Writer, ThinkFree, and Adobe Buzzword and for the spreadsheets; Google Docs, Zoho Sheet, ThinkFree, and Sheetster.   Based on my review, Zoho and ThinkFree were the best online word processors, and Zoho Sheet was the runaway winner for spreadsheets.

The one major provider that provides web-based productivity suites that I was not able to review was Microsoft.  At the time of my original postings, Microsoft had not fully released their versions of Microsoft Office Web Apps. Office Web Apps is Microsoft’s answer to the Google Docs, ThinkFree, and Zoho web-based office suites.   This post will provide a brief review of both the Word and Excel web-based applications.

Microsoft Office Web Apps - Excel

Microsoft Office Web Apps - Excel

The ‘Excel Web Apps’ Review:
The first tool I tried with Office Web Apps was Excel.  I uploaded the same test file that I used in the original web-based spreadsheet test I did a few weeks ago to  Microsoft’s data storage site (dubbed Skydrive) that doubles as the  access point to their web-based office suite.

To my surprise, the file would not even open!  This was definitely a significant negative to me.   All of the other programs (Google, ThinkFree, and Zoho) were able to at least load the file, even if all the functionality associated with the VBA macros and PivotTables that were included in the test file were not available.    I then went back and opened the file in my desktop version of Excel and removed both the macros and the PivotTables and tried again.  I was able to open the file.

After opening the file, I was pleasantly surprised out how nice the user’s interface was.  Microsoft did an excellent job at maintaining a consistent feel between their Office 2010 desktop and online versions.    For the most part, all of the basic functions worked well and were included within the program.   Most advanced features did not work in the online version of Excel.  The VLOOKUP tables did work well.

Pros: Great user interface consistent with desktop version, speed, drag-and-drop uploading through SkyDrive
Cons: Not able to import Excel files with advanced features, lack of advanced functionality, folder structure in SkyDrive

Microsoft Office Web Apps - Word

Microsoft Office Web Apps - Word

The ‘Word Web Apps’ Review:
When I tried the web-based Word application, I had similar feelings to those I had when reviewing the web-based Excel.  I uploaded the same test file that I used in the original web-based word processing test and started to review the document.

The test file imported well.  There were a couple of areas where the graphics were not justified correctly, but it was easy to fix that.  I liked how user interface had the same feel as the Office 2010 desktop version and was easy use.   Like the web-based Excel version, only basic functions were included within the web-based version.

Overall, I thought the web-based version of Word performed about the same as the other programs previously reviewed (Google Docs, Zoho, ThinkFree, Adobe), even though  it did not have all of the advanced functionality of some of the other programs.

Pros: Nice interface, easy upload, consistent import
Cons: Lack of advanced functionality, some graphical import problems.

In Summary:
I was pleasantly surprised with Microsoft Office Web Apps.  With a few tweaks and with the addition of some advanced features, I think it could easily outperform all of the other competitors.  One thing that I am not aware of is how the licensing works. I own versions of Office XP, 2003, and 2007 and did not have any problems accessing and creating files on SkyDrive.

I believe that web-based office suites are still in their infancy. If Microsoft is able to respond to customer’s demands, work out licensing issues that can compete with companies like Google and Zoho, and invest in more advanced features, I think they can still hold a large portion of the market for the foreseeable future.

Related Articles:
Get Ready for Microsoft Office 2010
Comparing Zoho, Google, Adobe, and ThinkFree Online Word Processors
A Brief Comparison of Online Spreadsheets

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