Really Strategies Blog

SharePoint: When did free begin to cost so much?

I ran across an interesting blog post by Stephen Arnold who is a longtime industry analyst and consultant that spells out the hidden costs of a SharePoint implementation.  The post is here.  While free always looks better than paying for software, I think Stephen hits the spot with his assessment.  A free software framework such as SharePoint is great if you plan to keep requirements very simplistic.  As we all know from our own experiences with implementing content management, that is easier said than done.  If you have more complex requirements, maybe a packaged solution such as RSuite makes sense.  Your company's approach to projects, culture to build versus buy, and several other factors need to be considered before selecting a technology and embarking on a content management project.  Whatever approach you take, just be cognizant of hidden costs as Arnold pointed out.  Free software does not always mean it will be cheap to implement and maintain in the long run.

2009 RSuite User Conference: In the books

By all accounts the 2009 RSuite User Conference held last week in Philly was a success. We were fortunate to have over 125 guests attend this year which included three tracks (business, technical, and DocZone).

Opening Keynote (After You Implement a CMS). Howard Ratner, CTO Nature Publishing Group is a great keynote speaker. Not only does he provoke thought around content management, but he definitely challenges the status quo. Many thanks to Howard for starting the day with a stimulating presentation.

Technically Speaking. The RSuite technical track highlighted the open architecture, workflow, transformation utilities, user interface extensions, reports, and custom searches. I’m sure by the end of the day the folks in the technical track were raising their hands saying “can I leave now, my brain if full!” The engineering team mixed up the presentations with live demonstrations which I think helped solidify the concepts being presented.

Honest Client Presentations. Presentations that puff up vendors drive me crazy. I am happy to report that the client presentations in the business track were straight forward and did not beat around the bush. Some of our RSuite projects were hard, very hard, but we successfully completed them and our clients would not be in front of the audience if they did not believe in the product or our company. Many thanks to Cengage Learning, Kaplan Eduneering, MIT Press, CQ Press, and The American Society for Training & Development for sharing their success stories.

So much to see, so little time. I was pleasantly surprised to see a number of people jump between different client case studies, technical sessions and DocZone sessions.

DocZone’s First Meeting. Our DocZone team pulled off a great first user conference meeting. The client case studies from Unica Corporation, Kyocera, and Epson were very well received, and the roundtable discussion on DocZone DITA provided a look under the hood of how DocZone manages content.

Closing Keynote (The New Speed of Publishing). Jason Monberg, VP of Product Management for Mark Logic provided the audience with one large dilemma: The gap between content contributor and content consumer is shrinking very fast – so what are you going to do as a publisher? Talk about feeling the pressure? Jason was spot on with his presentation and I think provided some good topics for the cocktail hour. A big thank you to Jason.

Thanks to all of those who attended and we’ll see everyone in 2010!

For those of us with indigestion

Check out Daniel Gross' (from Slate) commentary about the closing of Gourmet [link]:

The media investment bank Veronis Suhler forecasts that magazine ad revenues will stabilize in 2013 at $9.8 billion. That's about 25 percent below the 2008 level, but it should be enough to sustain lots of magazines. If I'm wrong, I may have to eat my words. And I'll be doubly sad because I won't have Gourmet to tell me what wine goes best with them.

Also, Gawker created a collage of dead magazines. I'm still unsettled that Gourmet is among them (and just before the Thanksgiving issue too!).

Content management is not a project

Although many good and insightful comments were made yesterday at the RSuite User Conference, one comment really stood out for me.  Lisa Bos made the statement that content management is not a project.  It is how you do business.

The point here is that it is a mistake to approach installing a content management system as another project with a beginning and end date on your project plan. Although obviously there is an effort to get a system installed and up and running, it really shouldn’t “end.”  Your business grows.  Your business changes.  And since your business is content, the systems that support it need to change and adapt.

Birthing Books

Even when I was in the thick of it as a production, developmental, and managing editor, I always thought that 9 months (or longer) to produce a book was simply too long. Yes, I do understand the work involved but when one considers that human gestation and book production are about the same, it seems like an outrageously long time for a book. Don't you agree?

Thus, it will be interesting to watch Tina Brown's latest venture: Beast Books.

"In a joint venture with Perseus Books Group, The Daily Beast is forming a new imprint, Beast Books, that will focus on publishing timely titles by Daily Beast writers — first as e-books, and then as paperbacks on a much shorter schedule than traditional books."

Read the whole story here.

Jason Monberg, VP, Product Management from Mark Logic to give closing keynote at RSuite User Conference

Jason Monberg, Vice President of Product Management, from Mark Logic will be the closing keynote speaker at our upcoming RSuite User Conference on Tuesday, October 6^th in Philadelphia.  Jason is well known in the software industry as an innovator and strategic thinker.  The title of his presentation is The New Speed of Publishing - description here.  I think Jason’s topic is timely in our current climate and he will definitely stimulate conversation going into the cocktail reception.  I hope you can join us and enjoy Jason's presentation.  To register, go here.

3 Million active users of eBook apps

Flurry, a mobile application analytics company, has compiled some interesting facts about the soaring growth in eBook applications. Interestingly, it appears that the iPhone has become more significant for reading than eReaders.

Check out this consolidation/review of the latest stats.

DocZone Named Trend-Setting Product of 2009

KMWorld just published its list of Trend-Setting Products for 2009 and we are happy to report that DocZone is on the list.

Howard Ratner, CTO, Nature Publishing Group will Keynote RSuite User Conference

We are pleased to announce that Howard Ratner, Chief Technology Officer from Nature Publishing Group will be the keynote speaker at our RSuite User Conference on Tuesday, October 6th in Philadelphia.  Press release here.  If last year is any sign (over 100 publishing executives from 32 different publishers), we expect this user conference to be equally as dynamic with a technical track to dive into RSuite capabilities and client case studies from MIT Press, Cengage Learning, American Society for Training & Development (ASTD), and IGI Global.  To register, go here.  We look forward to seeing you there!

CNN Reports on web revolt against IE6

My colleague Matt Pileggi, Senior User Interface Developer for RSuite, shared some recent news with me:

"CNN posted an article about a movement to get rid of IE6, I found it pretty interesting if not just amusing. I think Eliot can agree with Dan Oliver when he says, 'But with regards to IE 6 ... [it] is an awful browser and no one should be using it.'  The site itself is here."