NetBSD, for When Portability and Stability Matter
October 27th, 2004
NetBSD, for When Portability and Stability Matter. If portability tops your list of critical OS requirements, NetBSD may be for you. The Unix OS is aimed at organizations looking for a slim and stable platform that makes it possible to run the latest server apps on modest or specialized hardware. [Datamation Product News]
Malcolm Gladwell on the instability of preference
October 26th, 2004
Malcolm Gladwell on the instability of preference. A conflict prevented me from attending PopTech this year, but fortunately Doug Kaye was there with his microphone. The talk I most wanted to hear — Malcolm Gladwell's — was posted over the weekend. In this two-minute clip, Gladwell sums up the dilemma of the Aeron chair, a [...]
Under Gmail's hood
October 26th, 2004
Under Gmail's hood. I'd been experimenting for a few months with Gmail, Google's Web mail system, without really taking it seriously. But this week I decided to take the plunge and try using Gmail not only as a mail search engine, but as a replacement for Outlook (on Windows) and Mail (on OS X). Now [...]
Home PCs Plagued With Problems
October 26th, 2004
Home PCs Plagued With Problems. Researchers find that net users are not as secure as they think. Among surveyed adults who believed they were safe from online threats, most had spyware running on their home computers and few had firewall protection. [Wired News]
Tinderbox: Simple Project Manager
October 26th, 2004
Tinderbox: Simple Project Manager. New in the Tinderbox Public File Exchange: Jennings Aske contributes a sleek, simple project manager framework that combines a smart todo list and a daybook. [Mark Bernstein]
Software Pricing
October 26th, 2004
Software Pricing. Ipswitch's IMail customers seem to be in open revolt over a new pricing scheme. IMail is a popular email server for Windows-based servers. Ipswitch is a normally smart company in Massachusetts. This story will be interesting to follow for anyone making pricing decisions about software and trying to move upmarket. Disclosure: We use [...]
Google & Clustering
October 26th, 2004
Google & Clustering. eWeek has an article on Google's ideas for expanding into translation and clustering (it's about durn time!) While it might make sense for startups to deploy clustering technology today, Norvig said, Google still views the technology as too immature. It is most useful only for a small percentage of search results, he [...]
planned acquisition of Orbitz">Oligopoly brief: Cendant
Cendant
is becoming a dominant force in the travel industry in the US and in
Europe. Cendant is a name made up in 1998, a modish name with the
“-ant” or “-ent” ending typical of that era (Viant, Scient, Versient).
It was originally named HFS Inc. Curiously HFS once owned, spun the
company off, then Cendant brought it back in 2002.
During the
1990s Cendant grew rapidly through acquisitions in key travel and
property areas. It skirmishes its risk by being a major franchisor.
The
Cendant empire is a major player in a number of areas. It is the
largest hotel/motel franchisor in the world. It has 6,400 locations
under such names as Days Inn, Super 8, Ramada, Travelodge, and others.
In addition, the company owns Avis and Budget auto rental companies
(together 3,800 locations across the world) It has a major online
travel presence (to be expanded greatly by the planned acquisition of Orbitz
Cendant is becoming a dominant force in the travel industry in the US and in Europe. Cendant is a name made up in 1998, a modish name with the “-ant” or “-ent” ending typical of that era (Viant, Scient, Versient). It was originally named HFS Inc. Curiously HFS once owned, spun the company off, then Cendant brought it back in 2002.
During the 1990s Cendant grew rapidly through acquisitions in key travel and property areas. It skirmishes its risk by being a major franchisor.
The Cendant empire is a major player in a number of areas. It is the largest hotel/motel franchisor in the world. It has 6,400 locations under such names as Days Inn, Super 8, Ramada, Travelodge, and others. In addition, the company owns Avis and Budget auto rental companies (together 3,800 locations across the world) It has a major online travel presence (to be expanded greatly by the planned acquisition of Orbitz
October 24th, 2004
Oligopoly brief: Cendant Cendant is becoming a dominant force in the travel industry in the US and in Europe. Cendant is a name made up in 1998, a modish name with the “-ant” or “-ent” ending typical of that era (Viant, Scient, Versient). It was originally named HFS Inc. Curiously HFS once owned, spun the [...]
Petty Thugs
October 24th, 2004
Petty Thugs. In all the election chaos (and I do mean chaos) we shouldn't lose sight of what the fundamental issues are. For me, the core issue is that the Bush administration continues to act like a gang of petty thugs, accountable to no one. We're supposed to be the beacon of freedom to the [...]
Under Gmail's hood
October 24th, 2004
InfoWorld: Under Gmail's hood. Jon Udell. But this week I decided to take the plunge and try using Gmail not only as a mail search engine, but as a replacement for Outlook (on Windows) and Mail (on OS X). Now I'm ready to join the chorus singing the praises of GMail's user-interface technology. Its combination [...]