Rohit, there's lots of room for a smart nimble young startup like KnowNow.
Don't let your MBAs get you down. Easy zig to their zag. Dave
----- Original Message -----
From: "Rohit Khare" <Rohit@KnowNow.com>
To: <FoRK@xent.com>
Sent: Monday, March 19, 2001 10:47 AM
Subject: HailStorm -- nice business plan!
> [Gee, I wonder if anyone forwarded Bill the winners from last May's
> Garage.com National Student Business Plan competition? ;-) ... more
> to say for ourselves soon -- Rohit]
>
> Author: Robert Scoble
> Posted: 3/19/2001; 12:16:21 AM
> Topic: hailstorm
> Msg #: 171 (top msg in thread)
> Prev/Next: 170/172
> Reads: 450
>
> If you want to see what other people are saying (or doing) about
> Hailstorm, see the Hailstorm Directory I'm keeping up. (There are
> already quite a few articles to visit, with a bunch expected later
> today).
>
> Microsoft's Official HailStorm Whitepaper
> http://www.microsoft.com/net/hailstorm.asp
>
> So, what is Microsoft's HailStorm?
>
> This is how Microsoft defined HailStorm to the developers on March 15:
>
> HailStorm connects Internet services, applications and devices -- and
> transforms them into a user's personal network -- on their behalf,
> with their permission.
>
> There are several pieces to the HailStorm puzzle:
>
> 1. A new MSN Messenger. MSN Messenger is being recreated to
> serve as the hub through which information for a user flows.
>
> 2. A revamped set of Passport services. Web Service providers
> and individuals alike will be using a person (as identified by a
> Passport) as a destination for Notifications.
>
> 3. API's (er, services). These include "myInbox; myContacts;
> myLocation; myCalendar; myDocuments."
>
> 1. MyInbox -- Provides a nice abstraction of existing email
> systems. From the client programmer's side the folders, the email
> message metadata, and email messages themselves, are all represented
> as XML. Behind the myInbox service MS will have adaptors which take
> data from mail servers, such as Exchange, Hotmail, and POP3 --
> storing it in the myInBox as XML (note: apparently this data will be
> stored on the MS machines which provide the service -- a fact which
> will become significant in the big picture).
>
> 2. MyContacts -- Basically just a buddy list -- made accessible
> to any application.
>
> 3. MyLocation -- A location may contain two major pieces of
> information, an electronic location, and a physical location.
> Electronic locations are things like Desktop, Laptop, PDA, Cell
> Phone. Physical locations are like where you live, or where you are
> at the moment as determined by some device (such as your cell phone)
> which can provide your physical location.
>
> 4. MyCalendar -- A calendar you can share with contacts.
>
> 5. MyDocuments -- This is where things get really interesting.
> MS says that they're planning on providing mass storage on the Web
> for hundreds of millions of users. That's a pretty amazing idea.
> Microsoft talks a lot about this in Hailstorm previews: about how
> only the user would be able to access his data, no one else.
> Microsoft also claims that this service will be redundant and backed
> up. Data would be duplicated in multiple locations so that network
> outages wouldn't be such a problem. A person using MS's myDocuments
> may choose to share files with other users. These are files on the
> Internet. But, Peer-to-Peer sharing will be provided too.
>
> 4. Transport layers. Services will be exposed as SOAP methods
> and the data transfered will be XML -- without exception.
>
> 5. Data center servers on the Web that'll hold these services.
>
> 6. A business plan. Why is MS providing all these services? To
> make money, of course. Some things will be free, others will cost
> money to subscribe to.
>
> 7. A partnership with companies like Ebay, American Express, and
> FedEx, among others.
>
> 8. Notification and filtering system. You don't want to get tons
> of instant messages every few minutes, do you? But, you do want to be
> notified when things of interest to YOU happen.
>
> Over the next few days you'll hear and see all about each of these items.
>
> It'll be fun to discuss with you all what HailStorm means. I'm still
> wrapping my brain around it, and I'm sure with today's announcements
> there'll be lots more coming.
>
> Robert Scoble
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Apr 27 2001 - 23:14:25 PDT