It’s been a good day here at the IBM show, apart from the fact that I had to get up at 3:40 AM to catch my flight out here (the Denver airport is approximately seventeen thousand miles from downtown). I’m just about done with a post on IBM’s new Information Server offering – which actually isn’t the database news I was referring to last week – and in the meantime you can get a sense for what I think of it from the comments I gave to eWeek’s Lisa Vaas here.
Otherwise, the show has been pretty good. For a first time event, the IBMers have done a solid job putting this one together. Like the guy at the end of this article, I still think the pomp and circumstance around the celebrity guests and rock bands is really out of place, but then I’m the guy who hates going to Vegas, so I’m probably not the target market. The host today, Wayne Brady, was entertaining early in the show but tailed off quickly, IMO. Surprisingly enough, I don’t have much of an appetite for seeing IBM execs do improv as play act as random objects as dictated by Brady (long story).
From a content perspective, the customer presentations and reactions have been particularly interesting. After the 2:15 session I planned to attend was moved on me, I ended up hitting a talk given by the Mayo Clinic’s Bruce Johnson – fascinating stuff. Using textual analytics to assist in patient diagnosis is quite a feat, and I give him credit for thriving in what sounds like a very challenging IT culture. Also talked a lot – capital L – Web 2.0 data styles today.
Good stuff, all around. But I’m beat, and won’t be finishing the Information Server piece until the morning. I’ll also try and write up other news as it breaks.
Oh, and for those of you asking, no I do not know where or not Oracle plans to certify to Ubuntu, or create its own stack. As I told one executive last week when asked about the rumors, with Oracle I’m at the “I’ll believe when I see it” stage. Obviously I think the possibility is interesting – potentially game changing, even – and I may write that up if I get the opportunity. But I don’t have the answers you’re looking for, regrettably.
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