Detailed description from one of the executives at on how you can enjoy the benefits of their service with an easy option on how to change back to a different feed address in the future without losing subscribers - Dancing About Architecture: FeedBurner on Your Terms.

This new tone from a vendor being open on how easily you can switch from their service to others emphasizes a change in the level of respect internet users enjoy. Openness that has not been adopted back then when email was invented where vendor “lock-in” was and still is the main customer preservation strategy for email service providers. Still, FeedBurner is unique with their responsiveness and listening capabilities to their audience.

On a personal note, FeedBurner is one of the main services I use as a blogger and it saves me a lot of administrative “headache” as a publisher. Giving your feed identity to a third party was frightening to me at first (availability, future existence? and other important questions), especially considering the fact that a vendor is quite new. Still, with FeedBurner I had an excellent experience as a free service user and their early dedication (even to their non-paying users) will serve them well for a long time as a vendor.



Interview with Sun’s CEO

Posted on: June 27th, 2005

See Infectious Greed: on , s, etc..



Utility vs. Innovation IT spending

Posted on: June 27th, 2005

Wide industry perspective on IT spending levels and state of mind - deal architect : The Giant Crunching Sound.



Another good advice from Allen’s Blog on how to become a better - allensblog.typepad.

I especially liked this part - “A perfect is when 10% of the talking is done by the CEO, 60% by the team, and 30% by the directors.”




Executive Moves


, an Acton, MA based developer of solutions in enterprises and digital homes, named as President & CEO. Janszen was formerly an entrepreneur-in-residence at .

, a New Brunswick, NJ based provider of and Web Interaction solutions, promoted Director of Operations to VP of Operations.

, a Herzelia, Israel based provider of mobile data optimization solutions for mobile carriers worldwide, named as President & CEO. Was formerly President & CEO of .

, a Scottsdale, AZ based provider of and solutions, named as VP of Professional Services, eBanking and as VP of Sales. Katz was formerly Director of the Active Risk Monitoring practice at . Frank was formerly VP of Telesales at .

, a Menlo Park based firm, named Executive-in-Residence as Venture Partner.

, a Menlo Park based expansion-stage venture firm, named as Venture Partner, Jenny Lee as Director of China Operations and as CFO. Kheng Nam was formerly President of . Lee was formerly VP at . Hyndman was formerly CFO at Prospero Ventures.

, a Bellevue, WA based a provider of solutions, named as CEO. Moscicki was formerly President & CEO of .

a Dulles, VA based manufacturer of wide bandgap materials, named as VP of Sales & Marketing. Weisbecker was formerly a co-founder and VP of Sales & Marketing of .

, a Sterling, VA based provider of software solutions for businesses bidding on federal, state and local government contracts, named as President & CEO. Schrader was formerly Founder & CEO of .

, a Vancouver, WA based provider of private multi-location for business and carrier customers, promoted Director of People to VP of People.

, a stealth-mode developer of network storage products, named Co-Founder and VP of Sales & Marketing as President &CEO.

, a Seattle based provider of solutions , named as SVP of Worldwide Sales and promoted former SVP of Worldwide Sales to SVP of Corporate Strategy and Development. Matsuo was formerly CEO of .

, a San Francisco based developer of wide area data services (WDS), named as VP of Business Development. Zubchevich was formerly Director of Operations, Storage & Optical Solutions at .

, a San Mateo, CA based provider of anti-spyware and privacy solutions, named SVP of Enterprise Sales & Business Development. Thompson was formerly CEO of .

, a San Jose based provider of front-end design planning technologies for use by designers of complex System-on-Chip (SoC) semiconductors, named as CEO. Beck was formerly Founder, President and CEO of .

Mergers & Acquisitions


, a Waltham, MA based provider of integrated strategic (HCM) solutions, acquired , an Austin, TX based provider of Recruiting Management solutions, for an undisclosed amount.

, an Atlanta based provider of professional multi-screen graphics solutions, acquired , a Redmond, WA provider of 2D multi-display products, for an undisclosed amount.

, a Redwood City, CA based provider of for visibility and control of globally distributed supply networks, completed the acquisition of , a Santa Clara, CA based provider of visibility and control solutions for the semiconductor manufacturing industry, for an undisclosed amount.

, a Toronto based provider of integrated solutions, acquired , a New York based provider of content management software, for $53 million.

acquired , a Palo Alto, CA based provider of software technologies that enable applications to be moved from one server or set of servers to others without disruption, for an undisclosed amount.

acquired , a supplier of enterprise manufacturing intelligence and software, for an undisclosed amount.

, a Maidenhead, UK based provider of translation services and technology solutions, acquired , a Sunnyvale, CA based developer of open platforms for multilingual content management, for $60 million.

, a Los Gatos, CA based provider of software, acquired , a Fremont, CA based provider of a non-invasive integration technology that refactors existing applications into re-usable components that can be used to create composite applications for the enterprise, for an undisclosed amount.

, a Denver, CO based provider of intelligent and solutions, acquired , a Colorado Springs based provider in delivering control and management of end-point devices, for an undisclosed amount.


Funding

– Newton, PA; a provider of solutions; $2 million; round not specified; Zon Capital Partners.

– San Diego, CA; a provider of enterprise-class solutions for ensuring , compliance and control of IM use within the enterprise; $12 million; Series C; , , , , .

– New York, NY; provider of high-precision, realtime solutions; $9 million; Series B; , , , .

- a provider of knowledge-based systems intended to identify and improve unsafe driving behavior for commercial fleets; $18 million; Series B; , .

– San Mateo, CA; a developer of management software; $11 million; Series C; (Lead), , , .

– Seattle, WA; a provider of software; $8 million; recap round; , .

– San Jose, CA; supplier of signal processing technology and SDR solutions for , , , and converged markets; $16 million; Series B; , , , , , .

– Sunnyvale, CA; a developer of high-speed server interconnect solutions; $30 million; Series B; , , , .

– East Lothian, Scotland; a developer of an open source system; $548K; round not specified; .

– Columbia, MD; a provider of information security consulting and software; $2 million; Series A; .

– San Bruno, CA; a provider of profit optimization software for ; $8 million; Series B; , , .

– Cupertino, CA; designs and manufactures High Productivity Computing and Visualization solutions for scientific and commercial applications; $15 million; Series A; , .

– Bath, UK; a supplier of wireless silicon solutions; $20.5 million; Series C; , , , , .

– Denver, CO; a provider of software solutions; undisclosed amount; Series B; .

– Mesa, AZ; a developer of hybrid RFID data management software and enabling technologies; $20 million; Series A; , .

– Bensalem, PA; a provider of solutions for managed care pharmacy; $5 million; Series A;, .

– Boston, MA; a provider of an platform; $15 million; round not specified; , , , , , .

– Tewksbury, MA; a provider of mobile business automation solutions; $15 million; Series E; , , , , , .

– Redwood City, CA; a provider of an solutions; $10 million; Series B; Individuals; , .

– Dublin, OH; a developer of technology that enables information sharing across multiple data sources; $3.5 million; Series A; , .

– Louisville, KY; provides voice, data, and video communication services to small and medium sized businesses through a converged IP delivery platform; $15 million; round not specified; , .

Contributor: Venator Partners - Venator Partners is a Boston-based executive search firm that specializes in recruiting senior-level executives in the software and communications industries.
Copyright: Copyright © 2004. Venator Partners, LLC.
Covered Categories: M&A, Start-ups, Personnel Changes


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No 1 Vendor in - indiainfoline

Announces Network, Servers and Client-side Technology to Intelligently Deliver More Relevant, Timely Information on Any Device - businesswire

plans aggressive foray into - earthtimes

sets sights on $1bn technologies - vnunet

Week - Lot’s of and acquisition news this week! - gilbane

recognized 40 distinctive women in technology - redherring

New Extensions - oreilly

Sales Model Sabotages ’s Plan - thechannelinsider

Industry Faces - crmbuyer

launches new services for professional sellers - infoworld

Why Does Want Back Into the Content Game? - microsoft-watch

Hires Former Microsoft In His Quest For Microsoft Domination - techdirt



won’t protect until it gets its own IT theregister

Acquires line56

Gets Hard Core About globelogger

Wants ’s Unit redherring

s to Stay at Home redherring

- A Perspective VC_Adventure

Pushes Development betanews

adopts news

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to Integrate s with s cmpnetasia

Options in emergic

blogger responds to comparison to and radio.weblogs

wins converged project - The company won the $50 million project against from and . - globes.co.il

How to hire a heynorton.

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Can Microsoft afford to ignore Linux?

Posted on: June 22nd, 2005

completed the of , their new and line of business - The Windows Observer–Antivirus, Anti-Spyware Strategy Moves Forward for Microsoft.

One line from the news caught my eye as something that makes immediate common sense but may not be right strategically after all “Not surprisingly, Microsoft will discontinue new sales of Sybari’s products for the ( and ) and operating systems. It will, however, continue to sell and support Sybari software running on ’s platform; the Notes installed base is predominantly -based.“.

The reporter’s common sense as well as Microsoft’s led to the almost automatic decision for Microsoft to discontinue the Linux product line and just keep Windows-based products alive. The common sense tells us why should a company like Microsoft support the endorsement of Linux, a direct rival on their core product - the operating system.

Still, following the same line of thought a question arises, If Microsoft stops supporting this Linux-based product line, will that affect in any way world-wide Linux adoption and endorsement by other vendors and users? The only thing a move like that does is a statement of PR and market positioning that they don’t believe in the existence or viable future of the Linux platform.

Let’s imagine the crazy scenario where Microsoft does keep this product line alive and even invests in it some more resources. What would be their benefits and downsides on a move like that.
Benefits:
1) Gain domain expertise and intimate acquaintance with Linux developers and most important users. Linux does and will exist regardless of the decision to discontinue this product line and while years ago a move like that could have killed the “unborn child” today it is more of acknowledging and getting to know your growing “illegal son”.
2) It can help them understand better the economics of Linux enterprise and consumer users as well as keep a close eye on its adoption patterns.
3) Provide a much more friendly positioning to enterprise buyers and consumers that already know that MS-Windows is no more the only alternative for running applications; an example alternative is the application environment.
4) Yesterday I read a post How Microsoft Lost the API War on “” blog that discusses thoroughly how the longstanding fortress of Microsoft operating system and its API lock-in strategy erode. It might be just an expert opinion that will not hold true by Microsoft executives but still it has a lot of common sense in it. This can be an opportunity for Microsoft to fit in the new computing landscape that is evidently mixed by nature.

Downsides:
1) The stock may suffer temporarily by Microsoft’s move that admits openly Linux is here to stay.
2) The internal pride and enterprise-wide goal of keeping the title of the ubiquitous operating system will vanish. This is a matter of a cultural change.

I personally think it is time for Microsoft to acknowledge the Linux paradigm shit, wisely, and stop pretending it does not exist.

Update: See complete coverage on the move internetnews.



When Free is the Right Strategy

Posted on: June 21st, 2005

See : Nerd CEO - When Free is the Right .