In the mean time SalesForce.com is preparing to release Summer ’09 (API 16) soon. Personally, I can’t wait. Looks like some very exciting new features are coming our way. The 100 page Release Notes document gives you an idea of the scope of the release. Lots of work in the API and the DaaS (Development as a Service) support. There are still some missing pieces in the Metadata API needed for true migration support, but they’re getting closer. Hopefully they’ll add in Metadata types for areas such as Lead Settings, Opportunity Settings, Big Deal Alerts, Assignment Rules, etc.

On the plus side, I just got my Zune back yesterday. It was out for warranty repair for a couple of weeks. Definitely missed it.

Hopefully I’ll have a chance to write up something good on the new Summer ’09 release soon.

Certainly, these are not technically the same. Volunteer Computing as it’s called refers to distributed processing power over many disparate systems globally using the willingness of others to donate their computers CPU cycles to a larger project. I suppose you could also call it Collaborative Computing. The Cloud, on the other hand, euphemistically refers to the Internet; more specifically to the concept of running an application somewhere out there in the Internet where you as the user are utilizing an industry standard Web-browser to access the application. The application in the cloud may be hosted on a single server or more likely, as with SalesForce.com, Google Applications, Amazon S3 and others, the application is distributed over multiple data centers providing redundancy and improved performance.

In my opinion, though, where the two meet is in the idea of distributing computing. Both technologies utilize the power of multiple systems, geographically distributed, and yet connected through the power of the Internet. In Volunteer computing there is a single goal – to collaboratively help out an important scientific project by donating your computers processing capability. I’ll call this many-to-one. In Cloud Computing there is a single goal too – to build a distributed application to provide a service to their clients. I’ll call this one-to-many.

If my father were here he’d say that Cloud and Volunteer Computing are the same things he ran on an old IBM System 36 back in the day; with 4kb of RAM and tape drives, up hill, in the snow. And, he’s somewhat right. The computer world has gone from single huge systems providing CPU processing power to multiple users, to millions of standalone systems, to globally networked systems providing collaborative CPU processing to multiple users or towards a single cause.

I suspect we’ll see more and more of the new Netbooks that are becoming popular. These are designed to use Cloud Computing. No Microsoft Office, just Google Documents and GMail.

The big question: As the Cloud grows and our local machines run less local software what happens when the Internet is down? Google Gears are Adobe AIR are a step towards dealing with this potential problem.

On my friend’s blog at Pay4Rides.com, Mat is building a case to harness the power of existing traffic flow to reduce carbon output and reliance on foreign fuels. To me, this sounds a bit similar to Volunteer Computing . In computing, it’s harnessing the existing computers and Internet to power a project. For Pay4Rides, it’s using the existing traffic (as in “I’m driving to work already”) to give rides to others going the same way or the same place. Now, whether Volunteer Computing actually uses more energy because CPU’s that were otherwise idle are now pounding away on complex calculations is a totally different discussion.

Let me know what you think.

View the video here: http://www.bassets.net/edepre/demovideo/

I used Camtasia for the entire process – screen recording, editing, and final flash production. Camtasia is a great tool. I’ve been using it for years and for the $300 price tag it’s really quite a good deal. By defining the portion of the screen I wanted to record and connecting a USB headset to use as the microphone, we were able to start recording the demo pretty quickly.

The overall demo was to be under 5 minutes total. Unless you’re a professional voice-over artist, it’s nearly impossible to speak for 5 straight minutes without making a mistake of any kind. Camtasia makes this easy for us. We started by recording audio over a two slide PowerPoint. Then, we recorded each page of the script (you need to have a script) separately and, using Camtasia, pieced all of this together along with a closing PowerPoint.

The next step was to add the highlights and other enhancements. Using Camtasia’s tools, I highlighted areas of the screen, added text-callouts, and closed out with links to download the demo version, get a price quote, and request a detailed demo. The final output was generated as Flash and uploaded to their website. The entire process took less than two days, with most of the time spent doing multiple audio takes as we tweaked the script and mouse movements.

Below I’ve outlined some of the lessons learned and my recommendations for anyone creating a similar on-line video. These tips will likely apply whether this is for a software demo, training video, or any other type of short recorded multimedia presentation.

Preparing to create the demo or training video:

• Write the script ahead of time
• Keep the video short – 5 to 10 minutes maximum
• Focus on features that will capture your potential clients attention
• Avoid acronyms, application specific, or technical terms that may be confusing to some viewers
• Prepare your data carefully ahead of time. Good demo data should not distract from the application and must be accurate and consistent
• Run through the script and data before starting the recording process. Make modifications as needed.
• Get a good headset microphone
• Close all other un-needed applications and programs on your computer before starting

Key tips for creating a good product demo video:

• Use two people – one to run the mouse/keyboard (aka “driver”) and one to record the audio (“speaker”)
• Coordinate the speaker and the driver so that the application is showing exactly what the speaker is discussing at that moment. This will help avoid areas of silence and will allow the viewer to more easily connect what they are hearing to what they are seeing.
• Speak slowly and clearly
• Avoid blocks of silence in the video. Use editing to remove these where possible
• Be prepared to record multiple versions before getting it perfect
• Split the recording into multiple short segments. This makes it much easier for the audio person to get each segment correct. Nothing worse than recording four minutes of perfection audio only to make a mistake at the very end!
• Listen and watch each segment carefully to look for mistakes
• Use highlights and zooms to direct the viewer to areas being discussed in the audio
• Use highlights and other call-outs to point out important application features even if these are not being specifically mentioned in the audio.
• At the end of the video, include links to take further action. These can be part of the flash or links on the surrounding HTML page.
• Produce the video in an appropriate size based on on your expected users. If needed, produce multiple versions (800 x 600, 640 x 480, 320 x 240) to support various computer and bandwidth possibilities.

When I met my wife she was a Mac-head. I didn’t as much convert her as I did make the buying decisions for our home computers. Most of her friends have Macs. Even some of my friends have purchased Macs for home.  Let’s face – Macs are slick, fun, they work well, easy to use, look good, and don’t tend to crash as often as PC’s. So, why would anyone want to buy a PC?

Well, the battle between the two is not as black and white as the commercials make it seem. Don’t get me wrong, I like Macs. I used my first Mac SE way back in the 80′s. I was impressed, but you couldn’t find one of these things in a business running Lotus 123 (though VisiCalc  was originally released on Apple II platform). Had I been a graphic designer or an audio/video person doing anything with multimedia, I might have ended up a full Mac-head myself. However, I went the direction of databases, business applications, and development. And, for these things – at least in the 80′s and 90′s – you needed to be on the PC platform.

These days the difference between the two is not as well defined as it used to be. When it comes to locally running applications (ones you physically install onto the computer), the Mac’s library is not as large as the PC’s, but the apps that are available – especially the ones that Apple makes – tend to be extremely well written and powerful. The important business apps, such as Microsoft Office, are available on the Mac as well. In the twenty-first century, many business applications have moved away from the “client” and into the “cloud”. Saas (Software as a Service) applications, such as Google’s Suite of Apps, SalesForce.com, and many others are accessed via a Web Browser. So, as long as your browser supports JavaScript you can pretty  much run these apps from any computer – Mac, PC, even the various Linux flavors. As “Cloud” software expands, I would not be surprised if the physical computer used in businesses becomes less important. Eventually, as long as the machine connects to the Internet and has a Java-compliant browser it just won’t matter any longer. Businesses will buy based on the TCO of the unit.  Of course, mobile computers are more complicated because they need to work in an offline manner. Between offline browsing technologies such as Google Gears and Adobe AIR, I suspect this will change eventually as well.

So, why do I still not use a Mac at home?

The simple answer is because I’m very comfortable on my PC. I can get a huge amount of Open Source and Freeware apps for my computers; Networking is easy (for me); they’re less expensive than Macs; and I don’t ever expect to use a Mac for work. We have iPods at home (though I have a Zune) and I can easily sit in front of either. In the end, it comes down to this:

• Macs are great for home use and a must for graphic arts and multimedia
• PC’s /w Windows are the de facto business platform.

Since switching to the Intel Platform, Apple has gone to great lengths to bring PC users over to the “Dark Side”. It started with Bootcamp, allowing Mac users to boot between the two platforms. Then came Parallels which allows Mac users to run most Windows apps on their Mac along side their Mac apps. Honestly it’s extremely cool. If it weren’t for the cost, I could consider a Mac /w Parallels for home use.  Woo, did I just say that? Yikes!

If you’re looking for a new home computer, don’t need it for business applications, don’t have an investment in Windows apps already, and don’t need to network it with PC’s than go ahead and buy a Mac. You won’t regret it.

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I added #3, but it’s true. Google Applications means collaboration. And the best part is it’s free. There is the full suite of Google Applications where they link your domain to their apps and you can have multiple users sharing documents, calendars, etc. Then there is just the indivual tools: Google Documents and Google Calendar. These are what my wife and I use and love.

It started with Google Docs. I wanted to way to setup a collaborative packing list for our LBI vacation where we could both update it at any time from anywhere – home or work. Google Docs was the perfect way to do this. Since then, I’ve expanded it to include all sorts of files from Resume building notes to our son’s Soccer Team roster. It really is a great way to share documents, spreadsheets, or presentations. Technically you don’t have to share them with anyone to find Google Docs useful. I just like having the files available to me online at any time from any computer.

From Google Docs, we moved onto Google Calendar. Here is where Google has really helped us. We needed a better way to keep a family calendar where everyone could see all events, games, practices, etc. Google Calendar was perfect for this. It allows us to create multiple calendars and by color coding each calendar, we can easily see everything and who it belongs to. This has made our life so much easier when it comes to knowing what we have scheduled on any given day.

From a small business perspective, Google Docs and Google Calendar is a simple and inexpensive way to share your calendar or documents with your partners, clients, or vendors. Google Documents offers offline support using their Google Gears technology. This works particularly well in Google Chrome and Firefox. For your calendar, a company called GooSync offers software to synchronize Google Calendar(s) with Outlook and/or pretty much any mobile device. I’ve been experiment with GooSync on my Treo, but until I decide how to handle my calendar and eMail sync’ing long-term I haven’t fully enabled this.

Finally, SalesForce.com has a partnership with Google Applications. I personally haven’t use this, but from what I’ve read it looks very interesting. http://wiki.apexdevnet.com/index.php/Force.com_AppExchange_for_Google_Apps

What was really weird was coming to the realization that I will never see or touch those application again.  For a couple that I did way way way back, it just didn’t seem right that I wouldn’t be able to look back on that app another 20 years from now and actually see it running first hand. I could say to my son “hey, you’re Dad created this 30+ years ago”, not that he’d probably care anyway. Oh well. Maybe I can get someone at KT to send me a framed picture of AIMS or DeliveryForce. In fact, I could autograph the picture and send it back to them to hang in MIS. Ok, just getting silly now.

So,  my point here is to talk about backing things up.  Everyone knows backup is critical. Whether you’re talking about backing up your personal files, such as family pictures, music, your kids homework; or backing up your critical small business files.  Making copies of your files to another location isn’t good enough when it comes to important data. For my money, there are two critical factors to consider when implementing a small business backup solution:

1. Offsite Protection. Backing up files to an external HD, a Flash Card, or to another computer is a good start and it can protect against a system failure. However, what happens if your computer is stolen or if your home/office suffers a major catastrophe (e.g., fire or flood)?
2. Version Control. Having a backup from last night of a file you accidentally corrupted last week doesn’t help one bit. You need to be able to go back in time to before you accidentally changed the content.

To address the two above concerns, look at one of the many online backup solutions such as Mozy or Carbonite. Both systems have an agent that backs up your files to a remote server. I personally use Mozy.com and have over 115GB of data backed up from my home computer(s). This includes all of my Family Pictures, Movie Files, MP3’s, Office Documents, eMail, Browser Favorites, etc. Pretty much anything that I would want to save if my computer disappeared tomorrow I have backed up via Mozy. Though I pay $60/year for unlimited backup space, Mozy.com also offers a free version up to 2GB of data. If all you are worried about is a handful of documents which are probably well under 2GB in size, then the free version is all you need. Either way, at $60/year for unlimited backup it’s well worth the price to save your family pictures now that everyone has a digital camera. 

• Mozy.com
• Online Backup Final Round, Mozy vs. Carbonite
• Five Best Windows Backup Tools
• Ask Lifehacker Readers: Best online backup service?

My next task: somehow scan the thousands of pictures I have from before 1998.