Open Source

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Preserving knowledge for generations is no easy task. Key components of this massive undertaking include decisions in technology, architecture, data storage, and data accessibility. What are steps to architect a solution to keep your own data safeguarded and accessible long-term?[read more]

Hadoop toolbox

Hadoop and Big Data have almost become synonymous. But Hadoop is not just Hadoop now. Over time it has evolved into a big herd of various tools, each meant to serve a different purpose. But glued together they give you a powerpacked combo. Here's my short intro to some very useful tools.[read more]

Hadoop, meet Ubuntu

Now, here is a treat for all you Hadoop and Ubuntu lovers. Last month, Canonical, the organization behind the Ubuntu operating system, partnered with MapR, one of the Hadoop heavyweights, in an effort to make Hadoop available as an integrated part of Ubuntu through its repositories.[read more]

From a software perspective the verdict has some interesting ramifications. Fast following, a business model that is pretty common in the software industry, gets quite a bit more risky and difficult. It's long been the practice for companies to find successful software and then add a business model twist to producing a similar product.[read more]

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Every time a new version comes in the market the usability to the users takes a toll....If a user is never confident and never can master the tool simply because by the time she gets a hand on it the tool changes, then the user suffers under an inferiority complex – the quality of work takes a massive toll and the objective of using the tool to solve business problems falls flat - the entire investment goes for a loss.[read more]

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What is the data visualization ||-coord method? Who does it, and how? A detailed explanation.[read more]

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Project managers across all industries can greatly benefit from a business intelligence tool to make their jobs easier and to make smarter, data-driven business decisions. Find out what results Bob the construction manager encountered when using a BI tool.[read more]

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When Amazon started making their infrastructure and IT processes available outside the company firewall in 2006 it was a tipping point of sorts for business consumerization of the cloud.  Companies of all sizes leveraged a variety of Amazon Web Services to store data, stream video, run online stores and a ton of other things. And...[read more]

Mike points out that in the old days if you had a data problem you would write a big check for a massive piece of hardware and with any money left over you would by some very expensive but powerful software from Oracle. That box with software and data became your data temple and your analysis and conclusions were done there.[read more]

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Taking a practical approach to developing a well-formed enterprise data warehouse – and by that, I mean one that is accurate, efficient and productive – involves basing it on sound design principles.[read more]

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Countersuing gives Facebook the best chance of fending off Yahoo’s lawsuit – and therefore not rewarding patent lawsuits. And signaling they are only doing so in response to Yahoo (hence might drop the suit if Yahoo does) keeps them on the right side of innovation.[read more]

The Apache Software Foundation is a non-profit organization hosting about 100 different projects. It tries to promote the development of healthy communities around projects. Quality and usage, Doug maintains, are present in healthy communities.[read more]

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For web-based businesses, and of course, those with a web presence (which is just about everyone) there’s a goldmine of behavioral data accessible with the right tools. The trick is getting past static web analytic reporting (bounce rates, page views, session times etc.) and going further into unlocking the rich treasure trove of machine data, text and weblogs that create “big data” insight.[read more]

"The next generation business intelligence professional is not one who has experienced complex deployments, lengthy project time frames and unpredictable results dealing with a big tack of software with more bells and whistles than they really cared about. Nope, the next generation business intelligence is going to be very different in many ways. Let’s explore."[read more]

"Organisations are spending very large amounts of money on their Master Management programmes and they want to ensure their investment is sound. However, in most large organisations, managing master data is a very complex problem that technology alone will not solve."[read more]