Please visit the LinkedIn Detroit Salesforce Group.
This provides a great opportunity for networking with other Salesforce experts as well as relevant discussions.
August 18, 2009
April 20, 2009
The Dangers of cloud computing
In a follow-up article to What is PAAS, Chris Keane highlights the dangers of vendor lock-in and how Open PAAS can help mitigate these issues. This is especially relevant after reading about Coghead being acquired by SAP. This is not just an issue for businesses – users of any web service risk downtimes as well as the company discontinuing service.
The advantage of going with big players (Amazon, Google, Salesforce) is that the chance of them going-under is very unlikely. Does this mean we will see mergers of smaller PAAS providers? Only time will tell.
McKinsey has recently made their paper ‘Clearing the Air on Cloud Computing’ available that highlights cloud computing being more expensive than in-house infrastructure. This has led to many follow-up articles.
Cloud Computing is a fasinating environment and it really levels the playing field for developer-shops of any size. As a sole developer, I can create an application using Salesforce, Amazon Web Services or any other PAAS provider and make this available to the whole world. As the application becomes more popular, scalability requirements can be increased seamlessly at the provider level.
However the hype that Cloud computing is generating sets the environment up for unrealistic expectations. Articles like the McKinsey report and judicial research by companies can mitigate this.
March 29, 2009
What is PAAS – Article by CEO of Wavemaker
Christopher Keene (CEO of WaveMaker) has a very succinct article on what PAAS (Platform as a service) actual is with several solutions.
I have worked with Salesforce and am currently reviewing Wavemaker and Google Apps. All have pros and cons but the important thing is the power that these platforms give the individual developer or small startup company.
Now without having to worry about hardware and infrastructure, you can concentrate on the business solution. You can let the PAAS provider worry about scalability.
Of course the whole ‘cloud computing’ is becoming the latest tech buzzword – but hey, it keeps this path interesting.
Stay tuned for more developments….
February 1, 2009
Best Free software
In keeping with the focus on Cloud Computing, here are some apps that anyone (consumer or businesses) can make use of -
Evernote – this desktop and web app, allows you to keep track of notes and anything else you may come across.
From their website “Evernote allows you to easily capture information in any environment using whatever device or platform you find most convenient, and makes this information accessible and searchable at any time, from anywhere.”
DropBox – a desktop app that allows you to sync, store and share your files securely online.
Instapaper – a fantastic website that allows you to mark weblinks to read later. It is more simplier in functionality than Delicious but that is what makes it many more times useful. You don’t even have to register – just supply a username. iPhone and iTouch apps are provided as well.
Aptana Studio – a free IDE that is based on Eclipse that provides excellent development environment for Php, Ruby and Ajax. It also is integrated with Aptana’s Cloud Studio and Jaxer (an AJAX server).
SlideRocket – the best web app for making presentations online.
MindMeister – online mind mapping.
Please feel free to add your favourite web-based applications.
Cloud Computing – interesting links and articles
Here are some links and articles that focus on cloud computing -
A to Z of Cloud computing – an article highlighting issues and topics in cloud computing by contributors of Sys-Con’s Cloud Computing e-zine.
Cloud Computing – The ultimate recession technology – an great article by Benjimin Tomkins highlighting how the current economic conditions are making it a perfect time for companies to start considering Cloud computing platforms.
Pinpointing Products in the hype cycle – an interesting article on how Clod Computing, Mashups and SOA relate to the Gartner Hype Cycle.
TrustSaas – web service that allows one to monitor and be alerted of downtime in web services.
10 common mistakes architects make – highlights mistakes that can be made when planning Force.com applications.
Top programming languages – a popular website that lists programming languages in order of their usage and popularity.
January 27, 2009
Cloud Clout – Computing in the cloud
I have decided since it is a new year with lots of potential to refocus what this blog is about.
Welcome then to Cloud Clout – Computing in the cloud.
The aim will be to focus on news, links and articles that can dispell the hype and confusion around the latest buzzword to hit the computing field.
Although there is a lot of hype surrounding Cloud Computing, it is an important direction due to the global recession that is causing IT departments to rethink how they develop, deploy and support applications. It also levels the playing field for development shops – you now can be a sole developer and create and deploy an application to the world without having to worry about infrastructure costs.
Consumer applications are also making their way onto the web and some of these will also be highlighted.
December 27, 2008
Best wishes and looking ahead
As 2008 draws to a close and we celebrate the Christmas season and look forward to 2009, we can look back and review all the happenings in the cloud computing world…..
DreamForce 2009 introduced Salesforce Sites – opening up the CRM platform to hosting custom applications. Also integration with Amazon Web Services and Facebook was announced.
Oracle partnered with Amazon to provide backup storage using Amazon’s S3 service
Adobe AIR becomes widely available on Windows, Mac and Linux. Thus allowing developers to develop applications outside of the browser and take full advantage of desktop capabilities (drag and drop, access to local filesystem). This coupled with the Flex/AIR toolkit for Salesforce provides even more integration possibilities.
November 16, 2008
Dreamforce 09
If you weren’t able to attend DreamForce this year (as I wasn’t), all the presentation have been made available at the Salesforce Community site.
The developer network also provides technical details and examples on integrating with Amazon, Facebook and Force.com Sites.
I think Sites is definitely going to be great selling point for Salesforce. Now from within Salesforce, you can develop applications and pages based on Apex and VisualForce and allow non-Salesforce users to access them. The pricing model still has to be determined and Sites is only in developer preview but it is definitely worth looking into.
You can sign up for a free developer account and attend one of the free webinars at the developer site.
Salesforce and Google Visualization
Salesforce developer network has an excellent tutorial on how you can integrate Google Visualization API with Salesforce data to provide users with a new more visual way to look at their data.
It uses the new Force.com Visualization toolkit that is hosted on Google’s Code Share site.
This really shows the power and flexability of cloud computing.
Visual Map of Cloud Computing
Peter Laird at Laird OnDemand has an excellent article where he explains the different markets in cloud computing as well as mapping how they all are related.
Visit it here.
Some interesting environments that highlight what an interesting time it is to be a developer… (more…)
