Some meetings are just fun (I can't always say that… sometimes I just want to run away and hide under my desk). But my meeting today with WaveMaker reminded me of the type of meetings I had in the .com days. I admit I was excited about...

Last week I wrote about WaveMaker and its new Web 2.0 development environment, comparing it to PowerBuilder. One of the big problems that someone pointed out to me is that PowerBuilder was proprietary. Because old software never dies, IT...

I am attending SAP's Industry Influencer conference this week. It is clearly an interesting time for SAP. The company's platform is evolving both in scope, architecture and markets. SAP is a company that likes control and likes to control its...

I had a long talk the other day with a customer who had just decided to implement SAP's Business by Design hosted solution. The company (it wouldn't be fair to him to name the company) is about $150 million in revenue and made the decision to...

I am back from SAP's annual industry influencer conference. When I attend one of these meetings I typically take lots of notes on my laptop so that after the fact I can go back and make sense of what the executives actually said. It is a...

I had an interesting meeting with a company called TopCoder the other day. The premise is actually quite simple: conduct contests with monetary prizes given to the software developer who writes the best programs. What started out as an academic...

I have just gotten back from the Object Management Group's SOA Consortium meeting. This is a very good advocacy group consisting of primarily corporate customers with a few collections of assorted vendors and integrators. It is a very...

I love the end of the year. I get to sneak out of the office for a few days and stay off of airplanes. I also have a chance to look ahead to the new year. I like making predictions. Sometimes, I am years ahead of the market; other times I am able...