I'm getting myself back in the industry-watching saddle after my sabbatical. No doubt for the next few days I'll have the mental equivalent of aching thighs and a sore tochas. (Stop sniggering at the back there.)

I had during the year kept an eye on products and trends in enterprise-wide search and, less closely, in collaboration software. Otherwise, I didn't take much notice of what was going on in computing. That seemed to me the point of a sabbatical.

To catch up, I've been looking through back issues of the main magazines and scanning RSS feeds. So far I've seen nothing new in the landscape or, indeed, much that's changed a great deal.

There has been the normal regime of takeovers, deals and failures, with new products being announced almost daily, but no revolutions took place while my back was turned. Everyone looks to have been as busy at being busy as before. The so-called recession seems not to have made much of a mark so far.

Those topics that do stand out after a year away are continuations of pre-existing themes. They include, in no particular order:

1. The seemingly unstoppable rise of Google. There are more mutterings than before over whether the company is, in its own phrase, doing no evil. Also, its reputation has been dented by failings of security and business continuity.

2. An increasing emphasis on business intelligence software (BI). This is surprising, as it is a class of enterprise software that neither produces nor controls anything saleable. The main thing to be said in its favour is it gives managers the illusion of being in charge. They're always grateful for that.

3. Possibly linked to the above, people seem to be losing interest in business process management (BPM), which can exercise control. That's a shame, especially after I had written a book on the subject. I hope the two things aren't connected.

4. Cloud computing is a hot topic. In different guises and under varied names, the idea has been around for decades. Faster communications and more open systems make it practicable these days. It also is vulnerable to security lapses and network failures.

5. Facebook, Twitter and other manifestations of social computing have a grip on the popular fancy. Questions of censorship and identity theft are current concerns with this.

6. Interest in virtual worlds is high, at least among journalists and consultants. Whether this will translate into widespread use is the question. It's not as if the organization as portrayed on a manager's screen weren't unreal enough.

7. Reducing the impact of computing on the natural environment looks to be a concern that is real. Motives are mixed, as you would expect, and include regulatory demands, pressure from trading partners and concerns about public image.

If you think I've left out anything, or overstated it, do please let me know. Commenting is enabled (you'll need to register first time) or you can email me. My contact details are here.

.

What's it all for?

Broadly speaking, computer software does one of four jobs:

1. It enables the computer system to run. This includes operating systems and software for database management, system management and networking.

2. It helps human beings operate the system. Examples include programming languages, graphical user interfaces and Web browsers.

3. It solves the problems that computers themselves create, such as exchanging data among dissimilar systems, converting among different protocols and managing security.

4. It does actual work. Among this honourable and useful band are accounts packages, spreadsheets and programs for graphics, word processing, production control and supply chain management.

There is an astonishing amount of time, effort, money and press attention devoted to stuff in the first three categories. These are all either overhead or infrastructure for the user organization. It sometimes hard to tell them apart.

The last category - software that makes a positive contribution - is also the kind that people usually engage with in their work (excepting computer staff, of course). This is mainly the kind that interests me. The rest is plumbing.

As with my consulting work, this blog will therefore concentrate on software that interfaces with human beings. I'm not saying the other three categories are unimportant, just that they do not grab my attention. I shall also, as always, look at the social, organizational, legal, linguistic and commercial aspects of computing.

I hope to see you along the way.