Oracle Buying into Open Source?

Business week has a great article, Oracle's Open-Source Shopping Spree. In the article it talks about Oracle buying three different open source software companies, the biggest of which may be JBoss

8 Golden Rules for the Indian Market

Rule 1: Start Early. The mistake most companies make while entering the Indian market is that they delay their market entry until they feel that the Indian market can give them substantial returns

Rule 2: Have a Long-Term Vision. Companies must take the long view in India. The typical time horizon for success must be between 3-5 years.

Rule 3: Establish a Direct Presence. Having an Indian distributor does not count as entering the Indian market.

Continued…

Top 10 Innovation Myths

10. We don't innovate around here any more.

9. Product life cycles are getting shorter and shorter. "And whose fault is that? If you do not differentiate in hard-to-copy ways, you cannot expect what differentiation you do create to be long-lived… Sustainable differentiation requires barriers to entry and barriers to exit."

8. We need a chief innovation officer. "Like a hole in the head. Think about what your true goal is: you want innovation that creates differentiation that leads to customer preference during buying decisions."

7. We need to be more like Google.

6. R&D investment is a good indicator of innovation commitment.

5. Great innovators are usually egotistical mavericks.

4. Great innovation is inherently disruptive.

Keep on reading here

How to sharpen Mind

The January 16th issue of TIME magazine has a major section on "How to Sharpen Your Mind."

One of the key articles explores the best times of day for both "Morning People" and "Night Owls" to create, problem solve, rejuvinate and rest. I've re-worked the graphics presented in TIME for this post.

For the Morning Person

TIME says, for the early riser, "creativity generally peaks early in the wake cycle before distractions can impede the brain's imaginative focus."

Check out For the Night Owls

How to sharpen Mind

The January 16th issue of TIME magazine has a major section on “How to Sharpen Your Mind.”

One of the key articles explores the best times of day for both “Morning People” and “Night Owls” to create, problem solve, rejuvinate and rest. I’ve re-worked the graphics presented in TIME for this post.

For the Morning Person

TIME says, for the early riser, “creativity generally peaks early in the wake cycle before distractions can impede the brain’s imaginative focus.”

Check out For the Night Owls

Here are the few Questions that Open Source Firms face

How do firms compete with open source?
What resources become critical in managing their growth?
What strategies do they adopt to co-exist with dominant proprietary software firms?
How do they interface with communities of practice to exploit network externalities? What strategies do they adopt to lock-in developers?

Find out more here
Do you have more questions to add?

Java Users at Risk

There are a number of really good reasons to update to the latest version of Java. Not the least of which is the fact that older versions of the Java Runtime Environment have now been reported to be at risk from seven highly critical vulnerabilities. More here

GNU General Public License (GPL)

The GNU General Public License (GPL) is based on the idea of copyleft—the philosophical opposite of copyright, built using existing copyright laws. This aspect of the GPL is sometimes referred to as "viral," since any derived work of a GPL’d product is covered under the GPL, including the parts not originally licensed under the GPL.

Solve this challenge, win Rs 25,000

Get Ahead presents the TCS Smart Business Case Study Contest for young managers, along with The Smart Manager, the management magazine!

We give you a profile and history of a company. All you have to do is study it and post your solution here, in upto 500 words. The winning solution stands to win Rs 25,000!

The Smart Manager will also publish your photograph and solution in its next issue! Hurry! The last date to post your solution is February 10

Solve this challenge, win Rs 25,000

Get Ahead presents the TCS Smart Business Case Study Contest for young managers, along with The Smart Manager, the management magazine!

We give you a profile and history of a company. All you have to do is study it and post your solution here, in upto 500 words. The winning solution stands to win Rs 25,000!

The Smart Manager will also publish your photograph and solution in its next issue! Hurry! The last date to post your solution is February 10