John J. Xenakis Xenakis on Technology

John J. Xenakis
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Phone: 617-864-0010
E-mail: john@jxenakis.com

Xenakis on Technology

How XML Brings Old Content Back to Life

    How document management software from Documentum and other vendors allows you to put all your paper documents onto the internet for access by authorized users. (May 16, 2001)

Budget Software that Turns on a Dime

    How enterprise budgeting software from ClosedLoop Solutions is targeting a niche -- "high-velocity companies" -- in order to differentiate it from competitors like Hyperion, Adaytum and OutlookSoft. (Apr 18, 2001)

Oracle Plays Catch up with PeopleSoft

    For years, PeopleSoft has been the acknowledged industry leader in enterprise HRMS (Human Resource Management Software). With the release of Oracle 11i, Oracle is claiming to have caught up or surpassed PeopleSoft in the human resources, but have they? (Apr 11, 2001)

Budget Planning Software Moves to the Web

    Until recently, a handful of companies -- Hyperion, Adaytum, Cognos and Comshare -- have dominated the market for enterprise budgeting packages. Now, OutlookSoft Corp. claims to have stolen a march on its competitors by marrying budgeting with the Web, an OLAP (on line analytical processing) database for analysis and decision support, and a user interface based on the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. (Apr 04, 2001)

How to Pay on a B2B Exchange

    E-commerce is taking hold, but electronic payments are still in the dark ages, with a scarcity of ways to pay for online purchases, especially on B2B (business to business) sites. Now, Virtual Purchase Connection (VPC) is working to provide a new, low-cost online payment method. (Mar 28, 2001)

Bill-Paying Services Follow the Money

    Online bill-paying services like Paytrust, CheckFree and CheckSpace allow both individuals and businesses to pay their bills online, instead of dealing with paper bills and paper checks. (Mar 21, 2001)

Expense Management Software Grows Up

    Both Extensity Inc. and Concur Technologies are attempting to integrate three major financial areas -- travel expenses, procurement expenses, and timesheet tracking -- into a single set of software modules that can be accessed from the web. (Feb 28, 2001)

Web Analytics Can Improve Your Marketing

    How many people are accessing your web site? And when they do, which options do they click on, and how do they sequence through the various web site pages? To find out, you need to use a web analytics program, like the ones from WebSideStory, Coremetrics, WebTrends and Accrue. However, web analytics also has some dirty little secrets. More females than males are playing online games now. What this might mean for e-commerce, and how e-commerce need to be designed to be more female-oriented than they are now. (Feb 21, 2001)

Online Games for Girls: E-commerce's Next Frontier?

    More females than males are playing online games now. What this might mean for e-commerce, and how e-commerce need to be designed to be more female-oriented than they are now. (Feb 14, 2001)

Softline Has Big Plans for AccountMate

    Is a little-known South African company ready to join the accounting software big leagues? (Feb 07, 2001)

Why You Need an Optical Mouse

    You should buy yourself an optical mouse even if your employer is too cheap to get one for you. How keyboard and mouse devices are helping overcome repetitive stress injuries. (Jan 31, 2001)

Electronic Billing and Payments Save Money

    It's a killer app, but so far, no one's been able to tame it. (Jan 24, 2001)

Enhanced 9-1-1 Can Save Employees' Lives, for a Price

    Enhanced 911 is a service offered by local phone companies so that when an employee dials 911, the exact location of the employee -- address, floor, cubicle location -- comes up on the screen of the person who answers the calls and sends out the paramedics. Phone companies are charging outrageous prices for Enhanced 911, but software from RedSky can help. (Jan 17, 2001)

Microsoft Acquires Great Plains Software

    Microsoft's acquisition of this company should make the use of software from all midrange accounting software companies more credible. However, Microsoft may run into channel conflict when it tries to sell it. (Jan 10, 2001)

Technology Sidebar: The Midrange Accounting Software Shakeout

    Microsoft's acqusition of Great Plains Software is just one part of a general consolidation in the midrange accounting software marketplace. (Jan 10, 2001)

If Only Bill Gates Would Just Apologize

    Contrary to the claims of Ralph Nader and other Microsoft critics, Microsoft has consisted produced technology superior products, some of the best products in the world. But Microsoft also used marketing techniques that resembled extortion and racketeering. It's almost as if the company were behaving like an admired uncle who's done wonderful things for your family and many others, but who is embezzling money from his employer. Do you continue to admire his accomplishments, or do you condemn his dark side? (Jan 03, 2001)

Squandered Opportunities

    While an explosion in computer games provides many marketing tie-in opportunities, most are not exploited. (Dec 27, 2000)

Productivity Improvement

    New manufacturing methodology promises substantial improvement in productivity and profits; however, the software from Maxager Technology Inc. has not yet proven itself for everyone (Dec 20, 2000)

How to Slash Inventory Costs

    How DaimlerChrysler and Western Digital are slashing inventory costs: A new class of software from SeeCommerce and other vendors monitors products and parts for manufacturers. (Dec 13, 2000)

Say 'Please' Before You Market Via E-Mail

    If you want to use e-mail as a marketing tool, don't just spam millions of people. Instead, do what The Museum Company and CNNSI.com do: Use opt-in e-mail marketing services from companies like Responsys.com and E2 Communications. (Dec 06, 2000)

Time and Billing Software For Small Firms

    How one firm uses a new service from Timeslips Corp. to keep track of its billable hours. Also this week: Computer Associates announces software leasing, and tells us why dealing with CA in the past was so acrimonious. (Nov 29, 2000)

Beyond Voice Mail

    Services from two companies -- Orchestrate and Wildfire -- go beyond telephone voicemail by providing an automated service that acts as a personal assistant that takes messages, places calls, and automatically finds you when someone wants to reach you. (Nov 22, 2000)

Are Accounting ASPs your Friend or Foe?

    With an Application Software Provider (ASP), you can have another company manage your accounting software for you. We looked at three ASPs. (Nov 15, 2000)

Don't Let Your Data Die!

    EMC Corp. and IBM Corp. are in a battle to provide to high capacity, high performance extremely reliable disk storage for massive web sites. (Nov 08, 2000)

Expiration of RSA Encryption Patent Should End Sticker Shock

    RSA's long-standing patent on its dual-key encryption algorithm is expiring, and this should bring down the cost of encryption software. (Oct 31, 2000)


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