EnjoyTech

Netflix similarity map Yesterday, I moderated a couple of panels at the Big Data Cloud event . I have been a keynote speaker, panelist, moderator, and participant for many conferences in the last few years. It has always been a pleasure to see the cloud and big data becoming more and more mainstream. Here are my quick observations and insights from the event: Private cloud getting momentum: As a public cloud proponent I thought I would never have to write this. But lately I have seen more and more interest in private cloud; new start-ups, established cloud vendors, and large legacy vendors are designing private or hybrid cloud solutions. Vendors have recognized that prospects and customers have started to take cloud very seriously but they still have the same concerns what they had few years back: security, moving data to public cloud, and giving up control. I am not interested in the private/public debate (though I do love to mess with fellow clouderati on Twitter on this topic). My ...

Today, Cloudera announced a new $40m funding round to scale their sales and marketing efforts and a partnership with NetApp where NetApp will resell Cloudera's Hadoop as part of their solution portfolio. These both announcements are critical to where the cloud and Big Data are headed. Big Data going mainstream: Hadoop and MapReduce are not only meant for Google, Yahoo, and fancy Silicon Valley start-ups. People have recognized that there's a wider market for Hadoop for consumer as well as enterprise software applications. As I have argued before Hadoop and Cloud is a match made in heaven. I blogged about Cloudera and the rising demand of data-centric massive parallel processing almost 2.5 years back, Obviously, we have come a long way. The latest Hadoop conference is completely sold out. It's good to see the early signs of Hadoop going mainstream. I am expecting to see similar success for companies such as Datastax (previously Riptano) which is a "Cloudera for Cass...

I spent a few days in Bangalore this month. This place amazes me every single time I visit it. Many people ask me whether I think Bangalore has potential to be the next Silicon Valley. I believe, it's a wrong question. There's some seriously awesome talent in India, especially in Bangalore. Don't copy the Silicon Valley. There are so many intangibles that Bangalore won't get it right. And there's no need to copy. Create a new Silicon Valley that is the best of both worlds. If you want some good reading on what makes silicon valley the Silicon Valley, read the essay " How to be Silicon Valley " by Paul Graham. Bangalore does have some of these elements - diversity, clusters, a large number of expats etc. It's quickly becoming a true cosmopolitan city in India. You don't need to know the local language (Kannada) to live there. It does have a few good colleges such as IIM and IISC, but no IIT. The real  estate boom in Bangalore is a clear indicator of...

I'm a passionate design thinker and I practice design thinking at any and all opportunities. Design thinking is part art and part science. John Maeda is one of my favorite thought leaders on design. He published a post talking about art as a form of asking "what do I want to know" rather than "what do I want to say." As a product manager, making a product goes from what do I want to know — the requirements — to what do I want to say — manifestation of the requirements into a working product. I call it "Make to think and think to make". I make prototypes — make to think — similar to a form of an art, to help me think and ask the right questions to fulfill my needs of "what I want to know". The human beings better respond to tangible artifacts as opposed to abstract questions. These conversations stimulate my thinking to execute on those requirements — "think to make" — similar to "what do I want to say." The design thinkin...

Recently, Netflix separated their streaming and DVD subscription plans. As per Netflix's forecast, they will lose about 1 million subscribers by the end of this quarter. The customers did not like what Netflix did. A few days back, Netflix's CEO, Reed Hastings, wrote a blog post explaining why Netflix separated their plans . He also announced their new brand, Qwikster, which will be a separate DVD service from Netflix's streaming website. These two services won't share the queues and movie recommendations even if you subscribe to both of them. A lot has been said and discussed about how poorly Netlflix communicated the overall situation and made wrong decisions. I have no insider information about these decisions. They might seem wrong in short term but I am on Netflix's side and agree with the co-founder Marc Randolph that Netflix didn't screw up . I believe it was the right thing to do, but they could have executed it a little better. Not only I am on their si...

It is estimated that approximately 41% of revenue, close to $53 billion, is "lost" in software piracy . This number is totally misleading since it assumes that all the people who knowingly or unknowingly pirated software would have bought the software at the published price had they not pirated it. RIAA also applies the same nonsense logic to blow the music piracy number way out of proportion. The most people who pirate software are similar to the people who pirate music. They may not necessarily buy software at all. If they can't pirate your software, they will pirate something else. If they can't do that, they will find some other alternative to get the job done. Fortunately, some software companies understand this very well and they have a two-pronged approach to deal with this situation: prevent large scale piracy and leverage piracy when you can't prevent it. If an individual has access to free (pirated) software, as a vendor, you're essentially encouragi...

Today, Steve Jobs resigned as a CEO of Apple . I think I will remember this day and so will others. “Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.” — Steve Jobs For me, Apple is not just a personal choice that is better than other alternatives, but it's also an ongoing proof of what's possible if you believe in what you think is the right thing to do. It's also about the elements of design and endless perseverance that I can thrive for. Thanks Steve for showing what's possible and wish you all the best with your health and a speedy recovery. I hope you can stay on and mentor...