Comments for chafic.net http://www.chafic.net The Virtual Home of Chafic Chahine Fri, 05 Sep 2008 17:40:39 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3 Comment on New Google Analytics interface - in beta by Chafic http://www.chafic.net/new-google-analytics-interface-in-beta/#comment-1430 Chafic Tue, 22 May 2007 05:08:39 +0000 http://www.chafic.net/new-google-analytics-interface-in-beta/#comment-1430 Hi Chafic. I was checking out if my blog came up in google by searching for my name "Chafic" and saw chafic.net and thought...hey .... another Chafic stole my domain! haha. I have been reading your site and thought how weird it was that you're into web start ups...if you have a min ping me and i'd love to pitch an online community website to you which i'm helping develop for small businees and artists in my town. It's awful to see what is happening in Tripoli over the weekend :( kind of upset me since i have family living there. Cheers! Hi Chafic.

I was checking out if my blog came up in google by searching for my name “Chafic” and saw chafic.net and thought…hey …. another Chafic stole my domain! haha. I have been reading your site and thought how weird it was that you’re into web start ups…if you have a min ping me and i’d love to pitch an online community website to you which i’m helping develop for small businees and artists in my town.

It’s awful to see what is happening in Tripoli over the weekend :( kind of upset me since i have family living there.

Cheers!

]]> Comment on New Google Analytics interface - in beta by JetteroHeller http://www.chafic.net/new-google-analytics-interface-in-beta/#comment-1395 JetteroHeller Tue, 08 May 2007 23:33:16 +0000 http://www.chafic.net/new-google-analytics-interface-in-beta/#comment-1395 A bundle more screenshots & explanations are here: http://jetteroheller.wordpress.com/2007/05/08/google-analytics-changing-their-format/ Definitely some improvements. A bundle more screenshots & explanations are here:
http://jetteroheller.wordpress.com/2007/05/08/google-analytics-changing-their-format/

Definitely some improvements.

]]> Comment on Discount / Variety Stores vs. Oil Fund by Anonymous http://www.chafic.net/discount-variety-stores-vs-oil-fund/#comment-588 Anonymous Sun, 31 Dec 2006 06:05:14 +0000 http://www.chafic.net/discount-variety-stores-vs-oil-fund/#comment-588 <strong>Google...</strong> Google is the best search engine... Google…

Google is the best search engine…

]]> Comment on The Right Way to Acquire: Google Acquires YouTube for $1.65bn by David Penz http://www.chafic.net/the-right-way-to-acquire-google-acquires-youtube-for-165-billion/#comment-66 David Penz Tue, 10 Oct 2006 15:40:48 +0000 http://www.chafic.net/the-right-way-to-acquire-google-acquires-youtube-for-165-billion/#comment-66 In my opinion, Yahoo!s problem isn't that they don't have diversity in their products and services. They have a decent range of products from a music service to web hosting to job search tools to maps with traffic reporting to games. Also, Google may seem to have a lot of product diversity, but most of their projects are still in beta phase and not officially released (while yahoo seems to bring their projects to the public in late phase). The problem they do have is that what they do create or acquire does not capture the same amount of attention as a new Google product. While decent products, they do not leave a big enough impression on users/advertisers/businesses. I also agree that a Facebook acquisition wouldn't create enough benefit for Yahoo! to be worth over a billion. The most Yahoo! can do with Facebook is a little advertising (too much ads would drive away Facebook users) and possibly add features that link to other products (Yahoo! music users could share songs and playlists through Facebook). I don't think that Facebook could convert enough people to Yahoo! to be worth over a billion. In my opinion, Yahoo!s problem isn’t that they don’t have diversity in their products and services. They have a decent range of products from a music service to web hosting to job search tools to maps with traffic reporting to games. Also, Google may seem to have a lot of product diversity, but most of their projects are still in beta phase and not officially released (while yahoo seems to bring their projects to the public in late phase). The problem they do have is that what they do create or acquire does not capture the same amount of attention as a new Google product. While decent products, they do not leave a big enough impression on users/advertisers/businesses.

I also agree that a Facebook acquisition wouldn’t create enough benefit for Yahoo! to be worth over a billion. The most Yahoo! can do with Facebook is a little advertising (too much ads would drive away Facebook users) and possibly add features that link to other products (Yahoo! music users could share songs and playlists through Facebook). I don’t think that Facebook could convert enough people to Yahoo! to be worth over a billion.

]]> Comment on Customer Service: It Does Differ by Bob McCook http://www.chafic.net/customer-service-it-does-differ/#comment-48 Bob McCook Tue, 27 Jun 2006 00:35:48 +0000 http://www.chafic.net/customer-service-it-does-differ/#comment-48 I am interested to see how it compares to Lebanon and Dubai... I am interested to see how it compares to Lebanon and Dubai…

]]> Comment on Microsoft to Offer Prepaid Computers by David Penz http://www.chafic.net/microsoft-to-offer-prepaid-computers/#comment-36 David Penz Tue, 23 May 2006 07:50:31 +0000 http://www.chafic.net/microsoft-to-offer-prepaid-computers/#comment-36 I honestly don't know what Microsoft hopes to achieve with this stunt. In my eyes this only proves that Microsoft isn't as innovative as the $100 laptop team. I doubt this service will get enough attention and sales to justify the cost they are going to pump into this thing. Microsoft should know by now that they aren't good at hardware. They tried before and failed with products like MSN TV. I also doubt whether or not this service will actually help people. The service will only last a year or two before the amount spent on the service exceeds the cost of buying a computer outright. A $600 computer bought outright will last much longer than this. While the initial cost is lower, I still think it is rather high. Also, it sounds like the customer will have to be using the internet to even turn on their computer, which means the money spent on internet (still dial-up in some places) will increase as people do things offline with these computers. All in all I think Microsoft is becoming a dumb company. Instead of using their cash and competencies in software development to create new cutting edge software and operating systems (yeah vista is coming but it doesn't look all that cutting edge), Microsoft spreads a little cash on projects they have no idea how to run. I honestly don’t know what Microsoft hopes to achieve with this stunt. In my eyes this only proves that Microsoft isn’t as innovative as the $100 laptop team. I doubt this service will get enough attention and sales to justify the cost they are going to pump into this thing. Microsoft should know by now that they aren’t good at hardware. They tried before and failed with products like MSN TV.

I also doubt whether or not this service will actually help people. The service will only last a year or two before the amount spent on the service exceeds the cost of buying a computer outright. A $600 computer bought outright will last much longer than this. While the initial cost is lower, I still think it is rather high. Also, it sounds like the customer will have to be using the internet to even turn on their computer, which means the money spent on internet (still dial-up in some places) will increase as people do things offline with these computers.

All in all I think Microsoft is becoming a dumb company. Instead of using their cash and competencies in software development to create new cutting edge software and operating systems (yeah vista is coming but it doesn’t look all that cutting edge), Microsoft spreads a little cash on projects they have no idea how to run.

]]> Comment on Google to Target Corporations in addition to Consumers? by David Penz http://www.chafic.net/google-to-target-corporations-as-well-as-consumers/#comment-35 David Penz Sat, 20 May 2006 03:23:05 +0000 http://www.chafic.net/google-to-target-corporations-as-well-as-consumers/#comment-35 I don't think that Google's strategy has really been consumer centric, but is user centric. This distinction isn't very evident since Google's main services have been consumer centric (Google Search Engine, GMail). However, consumers as well as business employees are both users. Google's user focus (that is not limited to consumer users) is evident in the company's mission statement (<a href="http://www.google.com/corporate/index.html">http://www.google.com/corporate/index.html</a>). Google states that: "Google's mission is to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful." Furthermore, the number one point in their philosophy statement is "focus on the user and all else will follow." These both make no mention of consumers, but instead mentions individual users that can be consumers or individual members of corporations. Google has in fact offered services tailored to corporate users. Products such as Google Earth Pro, Google Analytics, and Google Mini all provide interfaces in which corporate users can gain access to information such as demographics, web traffic, and company documents. To look at whether Google would have any interest in SAP, and why SAP expressed interest in Google, lets first look at what both are doing. Google, as mentioned above, currently provides products to connect users to a vast amount of information quickly. SAP offers integrated software packages that provide include CRM, an ERP, and Supply Chain Management. Google's goal as mentioned before is to make information accessible and useful. SAP's goal (<a href="http://www.sapdesignguild.org/editions/philosophy_articles/brandingdoc.asp">http://www.sapdesignguild.org/editions/philosophy_articles/brandingdoc.asp</a>) is to  "make work become a more personally enjoyable and rewarding experience". A merger would actually help both companies to fulfill their mutual goals. Google would be able to tap into the data in SAP to provide a useful tool to search company data. SAP would benefit from a Google front end to make using SAP ‘more enjoyable and rewarding.’ While a merger between the two would make sense, I’m not sure what will actually happen. Microsoft will probably have a strong interest as they have a big load of money to throw around, and is already integrating SAP into office and would be able to integrate SAP's capabilities into its own ERP, CRM, and SCM systems. While I believe an acquisition by Google would result in an extremely innovative and highly valuable product, an aquisition by Microsoft seems to make the most sense. I don’t think that Google’s strategy has really been consumer centric, but is user centric. This distinction isn’t very evident since Google’s main services have been consumer centric (Google Search Engine, GMail). However, consumers as well as business employees are both users. Google’s user focus (that is not limited to consumer users) is evident in the company’s mission statement (http://www.google.com/corporate/index.html). Google states that: “Google’s mission is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.” Furthermore, the number one point in their philosophy statement is “focus on the user and all else will follow.” These both make no mention of consumers, but instead mentions individual users that can be consumers or individual members of corporations.

Google has in fact offered services tailored to corporate users. Products such as Google Earth Pro, Google Analytics, and Google Mini all provide interfaces in which corporate users can gain access to information such as demographics, web traffic, and company documents.

To look at whether Google would have any interest in SAP, and why SAP expressed interest in Google, lets first look at what both are doing. Google, as mentioned above, currently provides products to connect users to a vast amount of information quickly. SAP offers integrated software packages that provide include CRM, an ERP, and Supply Chain Management. Google’s goal as mentioned before is to make information accessible and useful. SAP’s goal (http://www.sapdesignguild.org/editions/philosophy_articles/brandingdoc.asp) is to  “make work become a more personally enjoyable and rewarding experience”. A merger would actually help both companies to fulfill their mutual goals. Google would be able to tap into the data in SAP to provide a useful tool to search company data. SAP would benefit from a Google front end to make using SAP ‘more enjoyable and rewarding.’

While a merger between the two would make sense, I’m not sure what will actually happen. Microsoft will probably have a strong interest as they have a big load of money to throw around, and is already integrating SAP into office and would be able to integrate SAP’s capabilities into its own ERP, CRM, and SCM systems. While I believe an acquisition by Google would result in an extremely innovative and highly valuable product, an aquisition by Microsoft seems to make the most sense.

]]> Comment on Google to Target Corporations in addition to Consumers? by Dan Orth http://www.chafic.net/google-to-target-corporations-as-well-as-consumers/#comment-34 Dan Orth Sat, 20 May 2006 02:54:23 +0000 http://www.chafic.net/google-to-target-corporations-as-well-as-consumers/#comment-34 I am not sure how I feel about Google being named as one of the potential suitors. While I feel that it would give them a solid product that would allow them to diversify (bringing them away from being solely dependent on ad revenue), I really am worried about them pursuing something SAP. It seems far from their core competencies and could only invite trouble I feel for them. The time, money, and energy could be better spent pursuing other interests. There is no need for Google to get into this market at this point and leave it to others who have more experience in this area and with business consulting in general. I believe Google has more potential looking elsewhere. I am not sure how I feel about Google being named as one of the potential suitors. While I feel that it would give them a solid product that would allow them to diversify (bringing them away from being solely dependent on ad revenue), I really am worried about them pursuing something SAP. It seems far from their core competencies and could only invite trouble I feel for them. The time, money, and energy could be better spent pursuing other interests. There is no need for Google to get into this market at this point and leave it to others who have more experience in this area and with business consulting in general. I believe Google has more potential looking elsewhere.

]]> Comment on Welcome to the new chafic.net by Chafic Chahine http://www.chafic.net/welcome-to-the-new-chaficnet/#comment-33 Chafic Chahine Thu, 18 May 2006 09:29:49 +0000 http://www.chafic.net/welcome-to-the-new-chaficnet/#comment-33 A list of links has now been posted. The list can be found <a href="http://www.chafic.net/about/links">here</a>. A list of links has now been posted. The list can be found here.

]]> Comment on Welcome to the new chafic.net by Chafic Chahine http://www.chafic.net/welcome-to-the-new-chaficnet/#comment-32 Chafic Chahine Tue, 16 May 2006 01:53:53 +0000 http://www.chafic.net/welcome-to-the-new-chaficnet/#comment-32 That was my original intention, but I was clueless on how to make certain blog posts sticky so that they would remain at the top of the page (this issue has been solved now). I guess I will move over my blog so that it is the first page. As for the links, I will do that as soon as I have some free time on my hands to figure out where I would like to locate the list of links, I am considering the sidebar, but I do not want to make it too cluttered. As usual, thanks for your recommendations. That was my original intention, but I was clueless on how to make certain blog posts sticky so that they would remain at the top of the page (this issue has been solved now). I guess I will move over my blog so that it is the first page.

As for the links, I will do that as soon as I have some free time on my hands to figure out where I would like to locate the list of links, I am considering the sidebar, but I do not want to make it too cluttered.

As usual, thanks for your recommendations.

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