Well…what about the master of a metaverse; a virtual world?

Anyone out there been following Second Life? Basically, it’s a virtual universe where one lives, does business, own real estate, exchange information, etc. etc. It probably started out as a game but it’s so much more than that. Real businesses are getting in on it by buying virtual real estate and holding meetings on their virtual properties. Real people are being recruited from there. Products are being bought and sold there.

Do you think avatars and virtual worlds are here to stay?

Mazie Ng
Human Resources
Xerox

Posted by Big I, little t at 08:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

When I interviewed Harold Esche, the CIO of the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada, I knew right away he wasn't your average CIO. He wears cowboy boots. The interview was part of a story we were doing on the university’s engagement with Xerox in a multi-year contract—called Project Imagine.

Esche said that a university is in the knowledge business; creating, accessing, sharing, archiving information is at the heart of its mission to serve faculties and students. That mission, and the anticipation of significant growth (student enrollment is expected to increase from 28,000 to 35,000 by 2010), led Esche and his team to create Project Imagine. Accepting the reality of today’s digital information environment, this joint project is changing the way the university’s information infrastructure…people, workflow, and technology…is managed, built and extended. Naturally the goals include business efficiency and cost savings. But, according to Esche, it will also enable the university to create a better customer experience for the students and faculty. In turn, the university’s leadership expect the project will further their goals for attracting the brightest students and top faculty.

I was fascinated to hear a CIO talking about being responsible for developing and implementing more than technology strategies like computer networks and associated hardware. It struck me as real business leadership thinking. According to CIO Magazine’s “State of the CIO 2007” report, the usual CIO emphasis is on technology/systems planning versus the kind of strategic business planning that Esche seems to be doing.

So, I wonder if CIOs in other businesses are developing that kind of comprehensive strategic thinking and planning because I don’t think universities are the only organizations in the “knowledge business,” especially in today’s networked, global environment.

Bob Shea
Manager, Lean Six Sigma
Xerox

Posted by Big I, little t at 02:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I want to take a short break from the thread of my first post regarding the use of MFP technology as an asset in the widget-making process. The reason is that during my Christmas shopping I had to make a decision about a purchase that reminded me of the frustrations of information sharing when that information is in different formats. This year, I purchased four technology-related items for my family. My wife picked up a laptop and an iPod, my youngest son a Game Boy Advance, and my oldest son a PSP. Unknowingly I walked into a technology battle raging on at least two fronts: iPod vs. Zune, and Game Boy vs. PSP. The Game Boy/PSP battle was a no-brainer. The PSP won simply because it’s cool! I mean come on. WiFi, a large LCD screen, and movie, photo, music, and internet capabilities as well, how could I resist?

The iPod vs. Zune battle was a little more difficult. I pondered for days which one to go with! Both have the same basic capabilities in the class I was looking at: 30 gig hard drive, a nice LCD screen, very portable, and both have music, movie, and photo capabilities. The real question in my mind came down to which one would give me less grief about downloading music and integrating it into my Media Center at home? I run a box with MC 2005, two TV tuners, and a Linksys Media Center Extender. Our TV (live and recorded), digital photos, and music are accessed from the TV with everything stored on the computer. I had to decide how to handle the differing digital rights implementations as well as the potential for incompatible music formats between devices.

This is not unlike the battle that goes on within the enterprise. As Vista is rolled out, will you go with the XPS format? For printing, you probably have solid support for PS and/or PCL, but will you be willing to change every client driver in your environment? Not to mention your mainframe applications that use PJL commands within PCL. What about file image formats? Most clients in your enterprise probably support Adobe PDF and your users have become comfortable with it. Will you migrate this existing implementation to XPS? The magnitude of change can be quite large if existing formats are embedded in your processes. I’m interested in knowing what you think.

Well, I decided on the iPod, and though I’m happy with it, I still experience the frustration of differing information formats. For instance, if I want the ability to play a song on my Media Center, iPod, and SanDisk MP3 player, I can’t just download it and go. I have to either burn a CD then RIP to an MP3 or convert it directly using a conversion tool. This is incredibly frustrating! I’m sure Microsoft has a case for why WMA is better than MP3 and Apple has a case for why AAC is better than WMA etc. etc., but look, I don’t have a PhD in music and I’m not an audiophile, so in general, as long as it sounds better than an AM radio station, I’m good with it! Unfortunately, I don’t see the light at the end of the tunnel on this one. I’m afraid there will always be differing, incompatible formats from different companies. We’ll just have to figure out the least disruptive way to deal with it.

I never used to have this trouble with CDs you know….

Bruce Talbert
Architecture & Systems Engineer
Xerox

Posted by Big I, little t at 11:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)