I’ve been a little lax in updating my blog in the last few months and have decided to start again with renewed vigour, i hope.  The first post is a quick look at the Project Office.net application that is designed to target the PM community.

For the last few months I have been familiarizing myself with the Project Management Tool ProjectOffice.net and found that it is a very simple and easy to use product.

They have an exhaustive feature list ( that continues to grow )  that will take a few weeks to dissect and what really makes it impressive is the fact this is a product that undergoes revision constantly to provide better value.

So what does ProjectOffice.net Offer?

• Virtual office - The concept of ProjectOffice.net is based on spaces. Imagine that you work in your own office, however if you have to work with John you will go in his office and work there. Each space in ProjectOffice.net represents each office where you work at, except that you don’t have to actually go anywhere.
• Project management - Creating and managing projects has never been easier. With ProjectOffice.net all relevant project attributes are easily defined. Also, a visual representation of each project is presented with the Gantt chart.
• Task management - For each project unlimited number of tasks can be created, also subtasks, predecessors and milestones can be set. Additionally, every team member assigned to a task can update the time spent working on the task.
• Import projects from MS Excel - If you use MS Excel 2003/2007 to create your tasks or enter team members’ time, it is time you start to use a real project management solution that will make your team’s work easier and more productive. Thus, import your projects, tasks and already reported time as it is in Excel and get a better visual presentation of your project status.
• Add/import contacts - Keep all important contacts in a single location. With ProjectOffice.net you can add your contacts or import them from Yahoo, MS Outlook 2003/2007, Gmail, Hotmail, AOL as well as from the resource pool in your space.
• Resource management - In ProjectOffice.net the resource pool is defined at space level, so the project managers can assign them at various projects and tasks in a single step. Resources can also be activated or deactivated in a space depending on the company needs.
• Time management - Every team member updates task progress on a daily basis and submits the timesheet to the project owner for approval. Also, overtime and grand total are automatically calculated. Moreover, time-off requests for various reasons can be submitted for approval.
• Expense management -  ProjectOffice.net allows reporting expenses at a basic level. Besides the general expense, subexpenses can be added. After submission the project owner approves or rejects the expense request.
• Issue tracking - Important characteristic of successful project management is tracking the inevitable issues that always emerge along the way. With the issue tracking system that ProjectOffice.net has, issues can be associated with particular projects and tasks and can be assigned to the responsible team member.
• Wiki collaboration - Project collaboration is critical to successful project management. Creating and editing wikis in ProjectOffice.net provides each team member with the opportunity to become an active contributor in sharing knowledge with the rest of the project team.
• Reporting - General project reports requested from our users are now available in ProjectOffice.net: General overview, project summary and milestones list.Soon to come are more predefined as well as custom made reports.
• Search - If you can’t find certain information the search functionality searches all over the application as well is inside of every attached document.
• Project templates - Project managers do not have to waste time and create recurring projects every time since ProjectOffice.net offers predefined templates that can be used when needed. Also, project managers can save their own projects as templates for further use.
• Data privacy/Permissions - Data in ProjectOffice.net is secured and can be viewed only by project managers/team members/guests who are assigned to the particular project or task. Moreover, if you want to give your clients with the opportunity to supervise a project, you can invite them as guests in the project.
• Dashboard - The Dashboard in ProjectOffice.net is the central place where an overall summary from all tabs in all spaces is presented. What is most important is that every user can customize the Dashboard to his likes.
• SSL secured data - All information stored in ProjectOffice.net is secured with a SSL certificate which prevents any possibility of privacy invasion, data theft or data loss.

A complete overview of the features is available here. and I would recommend setting up a free account and experimenting with it.

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Yahoo needs to start looking for a new direction to grow and this new search tool seems to be just the opportunity to focus on an area that Google seems to have given up on.This new avenue comes after a realization that web surfers use search engines not just to find sites but to conduct research.

The product detects when a person appears to be doing research on a specific topic and offers to catalog the findings in a special window within the Yahoo search page.

Given Yahoo’s low investor confidence there has to be a lot of buy-in before they proceed on any investment, but given the fact there could be a high pay-off this new push might be worth it.

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Source : Cnet News 

Yahoo filed a three-year plan–a set of slides originally presented in December 2007–with the Securities and Exchange Commission outlining the ways in which the company is worth more than Microsoft is willing to pay at this point. Yahoo expects growth in revenue and operating cash flow of $1.9 billion over the next three years from display and video advertising and $1.4 billion in added search revenue. Caroline McCarthy has more on this topic in her blog post.

I doubt that this regulatory filing will do much to change Microsoft’s strategy, which has been to hold firm on its February 1 bid of $31 a share, or $44.6 billion. In the current economic climate, Yahoo’s promises of future growth, including doubling its operating cash flow from $1.9 billion to $3.7 in the three-year span, are future promises, not necessarily a reality.

Microsoft, and investors, are waiting to see how Yahoo made it through the first quarter, ending March 31. A nonstellar quarter will make Yahoo shareholders more willing to accept what Gates, Ballmer, and company have to offer, and hope that it doesn’t go down.

Following are some of the slides from the presentation:

(Credit: Yahoo)

(Credit: Yahoo)

(Credit: Yahoo)

(Credit: Yahoo)

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Source : Tech Crunch

Ever since Yahoo rejected Microsoft’s $31 a share offer to buy the company, the two sides have been gearing up for a prolonged fight over Yahoo’s fate. Microsoft is preparing to try to unseat Yahoo’s board members in a proxy battle that could cost as much as $30 million (which is still cheaper than raising its bid). Yahoo, for its part, amended its severance plan to cover all employees in case of a change in control of ownership. It includes accelerated vesting of options, continued severance pay of between four to 24 months of each employee’s base salary, plus $3,000 to $15,000 in outplacement services per laid-off employee. And there are going to be a lot of those after the merger. Henry Blodget estimates this severance plan alone will cost Microsoft an additional $1 and $3 billion, which pretty much wipes out the $1 billion in savings Microsoft thinks it can get from merging the two companies (i.e., by laying off redundant employees).

It is in Yahoo’s interest to keep fighting and adding poison pills to any takeover attempt. The longer this drags out, the more likely that Microsoft will raise its bid or lose heart. Could Microsoft already be rethinking its hostile-takeover strategy? It’s stock has taken a hit since it announced its bid and most of the press has been negative on the deal, pointing out the challenges of large mergers. The fact that this is a hostile attempt adds to the uncertainty. Hostile takeovers tend to work best when the targeted company has some hard assets that can be stripped and sold off or ripped apart and recombined in new ways.

That is not the case here. For this merger to work, Microsoft will need to retain the best employees (many of which are already fleeing Yahoo) and keep its customers happy. It can’t do that if it is preoccupied with merging two very different cultures and paying less attention to the Web properties that Yahoo’s business depends on. Of course, even if Microsoft loses its resolve, Yahoo would still need a strategy to compete.

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SAN FRANCISCO — A week after Yahoo learned that it would be the target of a $44.6 billion hostile bid by Microsoft, the company’s board met on Friday to consider its options, a person briefed on the meeting said.

The directors listened to a series of presentations from Yahoo’s management and its bankers, who argued that the company was worth more than what Microsoft has offered. The board was also presented with various options for maintaining Yahoo’s independence, this person said.

One possibility that has been discussed is a search-related joint venture with Google. Lawyers at the meeting discussed the antitrust implications of such a tie-up, which would extend Google’s dominance of the search advertising market, the person said. They also discussed how to press Microsoft to increase its bid.

Yahoo could give an immediate lift to its revenues and profits by outsourcing its search-related ad business to Google, because Google’s advertising technology generates far more cash for every search query, on average. This option had long been recommended by some Yahoo investors and analysts, but Yahoo executives had said that search ads were an integral part of the company’s business.

In recent years, Yahoo has invested millions in a new search advertising system, called Panama, in an effort to close the gap with Google.

The technology, which Yahoo began to roll out early last year, has helped increase search advertising revenue, but Google’s technology remains more efficient, according to analysts. For Yahoo executives, replacing Panama, or other parts of its search system, with Google’s technology would be an admission of defeat.

Nevertheless, the board has considered the idea, after a call last week by Google’s chief executive, Eric E. Schmidt, to his Yahoo counterpart, Jerry Yang, offering his company’s help in fending off the Microsoft bid.

A Microsoft spokesman declined to comment. Yahoo said this week that its board was evaluating Microsoft’s offer and other alternatives. A Yahoo spokesman declined to comment on Friday.

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Source : Tech News 2 U

Reiterates Full and Fair Proposal for Microsoft-Yahoo! Combination

REDMOND, Wash. — Feb. 11, 2008 — Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT) today issued the following statement in response to the announcement by Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) that its Board of Directors has rejected Microsoft’s previously announced proposal to acquire Yahoo!:

It is unfortunate that Yahoo! has not embraced our full and fair proposal to combine our companies. Based on conversations with stakeholders of both companies, we are confident that moving forward promptly to consummate a transaction is in the best interests of all parties.

We are offering shareholders superior value and the opportunity to participate in the upside of the combined company. The combination also offers an increasingly exciting set of solutions for consumers, publishers and advertisers while becoming better positioned to compete in the online services market.

A Microsoft-Yahoo! combination will create a more effective company that would provide greater value and service to our customers. Furthermore, the combination will create a more competitive marketplace by establishing a compelling number two competitor for Internet search and online advertising.

The Yahoo! response does not change our belief in the strategic and financial merits of our proposal. As we have said previously, Microsoft reserves the right to pursue all necessary steps to ensure that Yahoo!’s shareholders are provided with the opportunity to realize the value inherent in our proposal.

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Source : Top Tech News

Yahoo’s board of directors planned to meet Friday to discuss Microsoft ’s offer to purchase the multifaceted Web company for $44.6 billion.

CEO Jerry Yang clearly does not want to become part of Microsoft and has been scurrying to put together a deal to counter the offer. One possible white knight was the Japanese telecom company SoftBank, which owns a 41 percent share of Yahoo Japan and 3.9 percent of Yahoo. But Thursday night, SoftBank said it was not interested in making a bid.

The other offer on the table is a bit murkier. According to press reports, Google has offered to take over Yahoo’s search business for a sizable chunk of change. Such an arrangement in fraught with antitrust hazards but would give Yahoo more operating revenue.

Execs Pushing for Google

The TechCrunch blog reported that Yahoo’s outside consultants are recommending it take Microsoft’s offer, but “a contingent of senior executives at Yahoo, who are willing to do literally anything to thwart a Microsoft takeover, are pushing for the Google deal and will present their case at the meeting.”

Citigroup analyst Mark Mahaney earlier this week handicapped five possible outcomes for the situation. The most likely is that Yahoo rejects the $31-per-share offer, Microsoft increases the price, and the Yahoo board gives in. But the Google option is well within the realm of possibility.

“We believe the probability of [Google] is greater than financial markets realize,” Mahaney wrote. “If Yahoo’s board and management want to remain independent, shareholders will insist on a major value-creating strategy to balance the [Microsoft] bid. This may be the only viable strategy, as it could deliver 25 percent-plus accretion to [Yahoo]’s cash flow.”

Layoffs, Falling Revenues

Under the Google offer, Yahoo would more than double its revenue from today’s four cents per search to an estimated nine cents per search, TechCrunch’s Michael Arrington wrote. Yahoo would benefit in the short term from shedding its search operation, but that could be costly for Yahoo employees.

“Nearly a third of Yahoo employees would be shown the door,” Arrington wrote. He estimated that Yahoo employs 4,500 people in its search, search advertising, and advertising sales and operations departments.

It could be a deal with the devil, though, because once Yahoo gets into bed with Google it will have no bargaining power for future negotiations. “Down the road, when it’s time to renew, Yahoo will have lost all of their leverage since there will be no one other than Google to partner with. Renewal deals won’t be so sweet,” Arrington wrote.

And by lining up with Google, Yahoo drags both companies into a protracted antitrust review, which could ultimately fail. “In the meantime, however, all the best Yahoo search employees will have left the company to take more stable jobs,” Arrington wrote. And if the deal is rejected by regulators, “Yahoo would find itself in a nightmare, having lost scores or hundreds of its best employees and without the Google revenue.”

Empty threat

Yahoo will likely use the threat of a Google alliance to extract a higher offer from Microsoft, Arrington wrote, “but the threat isn’t (or at least, shouldn’t be) real, and both sides know it. Get ready for Microsoft/Yahoo. It’s happening.”

Greg Sterling, principal analyst with Sterling Market Analysis, agreed that Yahoo’s options are extremely limited. “I think Yahoo pretty desperately doesn’t want to do the deal with Microsoft. But I don’t think Yahoo outsourcing search to Google is viable,” he said in a telephone interview. “From a legal standpoint, it’s not just what do Jerry Yang and David Philo want to do; the board has a fiduciary obligation to do what’s best for shareholders.”

If Yahoo doesn’t have more than the Google arrangement up its sleeve, it will probably need to accept Microsoft’s current offer, Sterling said. “Microsoft is very shrewd, they know this game very well and they won’t be intimidated. They pounced at a precise moment,” Sterling said. “Unless someone comes through at the 11th hour that can convince shareholders it would be a better option, they’ll need to accept Microsoft’s bid.”

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Source : NewYork Times

Nearly a quarter-century ago, the mantra “information wants to be free” heralded an era in which news, entertainment and personal communications would flow at no charge over the Internet.

Now comes a new rallying cry: software wants to be free. Or, as the tech insiders say, it wants to be “zero dollar.”

A growing number of consumers are paying just that — nothing. This is the Internet’s latest phase: people using freely distributed applications, from e-mail and word processing programs to spreadsheets, games and financial management tools. They run on distant, massive and shared data centers, and users of the services pay with their attention to ads, not cash.

While such services have been emerging for years, their rapid adoption has been an important but largely overlooked driver of the $44.6 billion hostile bid that Microsoft made to take over Yahoo this week.

That proposed deal would give Microsoft access to Yahoo’s vast news, information, search and advertising network — and the ability to compete more squarely with Google.

But a merger would also allow Microsoft to adapt its empire to compete in a world of low-cost Internet-centered software.

Yahoo’s huge user base could provide the audience and the infrastructure for Microsoft to change how it distributes its products and charges for them.

“Microsoft makes its money selling licenses to millions and millions of people who install it on individual hard drives,” said Nicholas Carr, a former editor at The Harvard Business Review and author of “The Big Switch,” a book about the transition to what the technology industry calls cloud computing.

“Most of what you need is on the Internet — and it’s free,” he said. “There are early warning signs that the traditional Microsoft programs are losing their grip.”

Certainly, analysts said, Microsoft’s revenue — $51 billion last year, most of it from software — is not yet suffering in any meaningful way.

The company said, to the contrary, that business is booming, and that Microsoft Office, a flagship product, is having a record-breaking year.

“Last year was our best year, and this year is better,” said Chris Capossela, a Microsoft vice president with the Office division.

At the same time, though, the company has lowered prices. Last year it began selling its $120 student-teacher edition to mainstream consumers, who had been asked to pay more than $300 for a similar product.

The bulk of the company’s profit comes from selling to corporations, which unlike consumers may be slower to adapt to a system in which proprietary data is not stored in corporate-owned data centers.

Microsoft said that corporate customers prefer using software that they are familiar with and that provides more functions and better security.

But the corporate business, too, is coming under increasing assault from lower-cost Internet competitors, including Microsoft’s archnemesis, Google.

On Thursday, Google took its attack to a new level. It released Google Apps Team Edition — a version of its productivity software that includes word processing, spreadsheet and calendar programs. In a form of guerrilla marketing, the fans of Google Docs can take it into the office, bypassing or perhaps influencing decisions made by corporate executives, who until now have overwhelmingly bought Microsoft software.

Google, while it gives such software free to consumers, charges corporations for a premium edition, though the fee is less than what Microsoft charges for productivity software, analysts said.

The change is coming not from corporations but on the computers of a growing base of individuals who increasingly expect their software to be free — and for it to be processed and managed over the Internet.

Kevin Twohy, 20, a mathematics student at U.C.L.A., uses a free service on Facebook to store and share photos, a program called Picnik to edit the images, and Gmail.

For his English class last semester, he wrote a term paper about William Blake using Google’s free word processing software, even though Microsoft Office had come loaded on his personal computer.

The advantage of the Google program, he said, was that it allowed him to keep his information on Google’s servers so that it was accessible at any computer, whether he was working at his fraternity, a coffee shop, a campus computer bank or the library. The experience, he said, has persuaded him not to pay money for software.

“I don’t ever see myself buying a copy of Office,” he said.

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