An interesting article about industrialization of Software development in 01net (in French).

My friend and colleague Laurent (Microsoft MVP), who is working in my Business Unit, participated to this article. Let’s have a look at his interview (also in French).

The whole article is also available in PDF form (still in French).

Bravo Laurent :-)

Great, the first information concerning the Montreux Jazz Festival 2005 is coming out . I’ve seen the Pat Metheny Trio in July this year.It will take place from July 1st to July 16th, 2005. This time, the poster is from Zep.

[via BetaNews]

Rumors are confirmed…

IBM has officially confirmed it will sell its PC business to Chinese computer maker Lenovo for a total of $1.75 billion. […]

Lenovo will pay IBM $650 million in cash, another $600 million in common stock, and assume $500 million in debt from Big Blue. IBM will become Lenovo’s second largest shareholder with a stake of 18.9 percent in the company, and over 10,000 IBM employees will migrate to Lenovo.

The deal creates the third-largest PC company in the world behind Dell and Hewlett-Packard. Lenovo will receive a 5-year license to use the internationally recognized IBM brand name and “Think” trademarks on its desktop and notebook PCs.

Lenovo’s new PC business will be located in the United States, with headquarters in New York and principal operations in Raleigh, North Carolina, where IBM currently handles PC development. Stephen Ward, current IBM senior vice president and general manager of IBM’s Personal Systems Group, will become CEO of Lenovo. Current Lenovo CEO Yuanqing Yang will become Chairman of the company.

[via entrepreneur.com]

Mistake 1: Failing to spend enough time researching the business idea to see if it’s viable.

Mistake 2: Miscalculating market size, timing, ease of entry and potential market share.

Mistake 3: Underestimating financial requirements and timing.

Mistake 4: Overprojecting sales volume and timing.

Mistake 5: Making cost projections that are too low

Mistake 6: Hiring too many people and spending too much on offices and facilities.

Mistake 7: Lacking a contingency plan for a shortfall in expectations.

Mistake 8: Bringing in unnecessary partners.

Mistake 9: Hiring for convenience rather than skill requirements.

Mistake 10: Neglecting to manage the entire company as a whole.

Mistake 11: Accepting that it’s “not possible” too easily rather than finding a way.

Mistake 12: Focusing too much on sales volume and company size rather than profit.

Mistake 13: Seeking confirmation of your actions rather than seeking the truth.

Mistake 14: Lacking simplicity in your vision.

Mistake 15: Lacking clarity of your long-term aim and business purpose.

Mistake 16: Lacking focus and identity.

Mistake 17: Lacking an exit strategy.

Is there any difference between doing nothing wrong and doing everything right? Peter Russo, director of Boston University’s Entrepreneurial Management Institute, says that while you’re avoiding John Osher’s 17 mistakes, you should also try to do five key things right. “If you do those five things, you’re probably not going to make those other mistakes,” he says. Here are Russo’s five things start-ups should do:

1. Know your goals for the venture. “A lot of people see an opportunity without ever asking themselves what they’re doing it for,” says Russo. “Are they trying to make a quick buck? Create a legacy? Have a lifestyle? There are a lot of reasons. It’s critical that you know from the beginning what your goals are, because everything else is going to revolve around that.”

2. Recruit and hire the best people. “It sounds almost cliché now to say I’d rather have an A team with a B idea than a B team with an A idea. The right team can fix a lot of problems. If you don’t have the right team, you don’t have much of a chance,” Russo says. “Get the best people available at the time.”

3. Develop a forgiving strategy. “Things are going to go wrong,” he says. “They’re going to be harder, take longer and cost more money than you think. You have to have a strategy to survive. A lot of people put together a plan that will work only if everything goes right. It’s not going to.”

4. Be honest with yourself. “Recognize shortcomings, weaknesses and problems immediately. Do not ignore them or try to talk yourself out of them,” Russo says. “Address them head-on.”

5. Commit to the business. “You can’t really do anything significant without fully committing yourself to it. A lot of people try to dabble,” he explains. “They think they’ll do it part time [and] see how it works out. If you plan to be successful, you have to commit.”

[via BetaNews]

New era?

IBM has put its consumer PC unit up on the auction block, refocusing its efforts on the more profitable corporate server and computer service markets, according to a report in the The New York Times. The sale would likely include all of Big Blue’s desktop workstations and ThinkPad portables, for an estimated price range of $1 billion to $2 billion. Sources tell the Times that Chinese computer maker Lenovo — formerly Legend — is the current top bidder for the business unit that represents 12 percent of IBM’s $92 billion annual revenue.

Oups, we were wake up this night by an earthquake at 2:53 AM (1:53 GMT). The epicenter was in Germany, at about 30 km from where we are living. The magnitude quake was 4.9 (Richter). No reports of damage or injuries, also by us, but quite impressive.

Novell financial results for 2004 / 4Q.

2004:

– revenues: $1.16 billion

– net income: $31 million

4Q 2004:

– revenues: $301 million

– SuSe $12 million thereof $7 million from sales of SuSe Linux Enterprise Server (SLES)

I always thought that a Firefox is a kind of … fox, which is not true. It is a kind of Panda.

The Red Panda or lesser panda, is a mostly vegetarian cat-sized (60 cm long) mammal. Its classification is uncertain. It was formerly classified in the raccoon family (Procyonidae), but now many experts, including Wilson and Reeder, classify it as a member of the bear family (Ursidae) or in its own family the Ailuridae. It is native to the Himalayas and southern China. Fossil evidence suggests that it once also existed in North America.

Its Western name is taken from a Himalayan language, possibly Nepalese, but its meaning is uncertain. One theory is that “panda” is an anglicization of “poonya”, which means “eater of bamboo”. Its Chinese name means “little panda,” named after the Giant Panda. It is also commonly known as the Firefox and, because of its distinctive cry, the Wah.

Have a look in Wikipedia.

Nice mascot for a nice product :-)

[via Jeremy]

The interesting thing about weblogs is how they are able to enable both of those while lowering the barriers to them at the same time. By starting a weblog and sticking with it, you find yourself knowing more people who you’d have otherwise never met. But more importantly more people will come to know you. And at the same time, you’re writing and writing frequently. If what you say is interesting to enough people, that reputation builds quickly.

Blogs make it easy to establish connections, a reputation, and do both with nearly infinite reach compared to the traditional approaches.

I was of from Monday till Wednesday for a strategic workshop in the “middle of nowhere”. So, after having tested a Benedictine monastery (“Kloster Fischingen“) in July for a session about Change Management, we will stay at a Carthusian monastery (“Karthause Ittingen“).

Really a nice place, somewhat outside the world.

At this rate, I will be able to write a kind of “Michelin guide” of the religious locations in Switzerland ;-)

From Wikipedia:

The Carthusians are a Christian religious order founded by St Bruno in 1084. There exist both Carthusian monks and nuns. They follow their own Rule, called the Statutes, rather than the Rule of St Benedict (as is often erroneously reported) and combine eremitical (hermit-like) and cenobitic monastic life. Carthusians are sometimes considered the highest order of the Catholic Church, in terms of strictness (this refers to the idea that one is only allowed to switch your religious order if you are going to one that is more strict, and the top being the Carthusians).