Mr. Aggarwal

HTTP

• Web-based email
• Not made for access other than the web
• Some HTTP accounts can be checked given the right client tool (like Outlook can check Hotmail)

POP

• Not made for keeping multiple computers/devices and web in sync
• Generally, mail is downloaded from the server upon checking it (unless you use a tool like Outlook which has the ability to leave it on the server)
• Even if you leave messages on the server, if you delete on remote device, it will not delete on the server (unless you have a client tool like Outlook which will give you some options)
• If you send from remote device, it is not pushed to a sent items folders on the server
• Only brings messages down in the Inbox (not sub-folders)
• No good push capability for mobile devices (as of this writing)
• POP is low cost
• Most personal email accounts use POP (i.e. Gmail)

IMAP

• Keeps multiple computers/devices and web in sync
• Mail is left on the server when checked
• Inbox and sub-folders are brought down to client machine/device
• Push mail available on mobile devices, but many complain of poor support
• Newer than POP
• Catching on among personal users who do not have Exchange

Exchange

• The most robust email platform
• Mail is kept on the server
• Allows calendar, tasks, notes, etc. in addition to email
• Allows group collaboration of calendars, etc. when used in a group environment
• Excellent about keeping everything (PCs/mobile devices/web) in sync
• Push email for mobile devices (Blackberry and non-Blackberry with Exchange ActiveSync)
• Pretty much the standard for medium size and enterprise email/collaboration
• Expensive 
• Gaining popularity among small businesses and personal users as it becomes more affordable

…maybe, one day, I’ll turn this into a more complete chart of features to allow for generic comparison.  But I will note, that there is a different connotation, a different aura that doesn’t fit into a particular feature list about each of these.  For now, I will suggest that you should use Exchange since you are a blog reader of mine and are therefore technically-savvy, business-savvy, and/or someone who copies what I do since I know what I’m doing.

EV-DO aside, more and more people use their phones for data services like email, web-browsing, and more.  You’ve seen my Crackberry article – yes, this goes way beyond Blackberry devices.

I personally use a Treo 700p and use it for data many times per day.  I have become efficient enough with it that it is easier to find a phone number and check my email than it is to open Outlook.

However, I find an amazing number of tech-savvy and business users who do not understand the technology, capabilities, or ease of use.  They don’t understand how it can be an extra tool in their toolbelt to help them become more productive and effective.

So, if you haven’t jumped on the mobile data jet-powered-bandwagon, get on because this thing is moving fast and will not wait for you.

The secret of staying young is to live honestly, eat slowly, and lie about your age. – Lucille Ball

A sense of duty is useful in work, but offensive in personal relations. People wish to be liked, not be endured with patient resignation. – Bertrand Russell

Oracle WebCenter Suite is now released!  JDeveloper 10.1.3.2 and WebCenter 10.1.3.2 are available for download and it is time you started playing.  This is awesome technology built with Oracle’s leading SOA methodologies in mind.  I have to say that Oracle is really taking SOA to the next level in the enterprise and their throwing a lot of their weight at it.  I’m pleased.

Now, we have to brace our businesses, our channels, our shareholders, and our competitors for what is going to be an incredible change in the way the mature enterprise operates.  Technology is only becoming more and more critical, and rather than serving a support role in today’s organization it is going to quickly become a strategic driver that separates the failures, the successes, and the leaders.

The the naive both forgive and forget; the stupid neither forgive nor forget; the angered forget but to not forgive; the wise forgive but do not forget. – Ashok Aggarwal (offshoot of Thomas Szasz)

You will really enjoy the content and quality of this video.

I hope Microsoft is not trying to do with Office 2007 what many software companies have done with so many other products: confuse the purchasing community.  Well, here is a little insight with some quick info for those of you who are trying to figure it all out:

Compare features included within Office 2007 Standard, Small Business, and Professional:

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/suites/FX101757681033.aspx 

Compare products included within the various Office 2007 Suites:

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/suites/FX101635841033.aspx

Compare the prices for the various Office 2007 offerings:

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/suites/FX101754511033.aspx

Good luck…you might need it.  But hopefully, the above will get you there faster.

So, what is a Portal, again?  And what is a content management system?  And while we’re at it, what is a web site?

It seems the simplest of terms get very easily confused.  In fact, it might be true that the simpler the term, the more easily confused it becomes.

Everyone used to know what a Portal was.  Or so they thought.  And content management system (CMS), a word still widely used today, was also a tool that could be used in a specific manner.  And somehow, these were at one point, different from just a “web site”.

Well, I am here to contend that they aren’t very different at all.  Like many semantic discussions, you can argue that they mean just about anything.

Here are my definitions:

Portal - a web site that allows a user to log-in and experience something specific to them.

Content Management System (CMS) - a web site that has an administrative interface which allows the content of the site to be managed

Web Site – any set of pages accessed from a sigle domain

Yes, these are generic, as I believe they should be.  The reality is that different people use these words for different things.  I’m sure you know people who call MyYahoo a Portal in the same way they call their corporate Intranet (which consists of static HTML with links to Weather.com) a “Portal”.  Now, even I think that is  a stretch, but I believe my above definitions have legs because they are generic: not specific enough to get a huge amount of hate mail, yet not so broad that anything fits.

The commonality I find interesting is that none of these terms actually “made it” from a marketing perspective in my opinion.  Especially “Portals”…

(more to come soon)…