MC+A

The Weather OneBox allows the Google Search Appliance and the Google Mini to retrieve real-time weather data from Google.com. This ASP.NET web application was developed as a result of MC+A’s participating in the Google Enterprise Professional Program and is now freely available and includes the Apache 2.0 Open Source License.

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I’m happy to annouce that MC+A will be bundling in the GSS with any purchase of a Google mini with us(A $650 value!!!). That will include support for the GSS while the mini is supported.

If you are interested, complete the contact us form and we’ll get in touch with you.

The following features have been added:

• Multiple Start Ulrs (so it can support more then one sharepoint instance)
• All configuration settings accessible from the administrative interface

More to come shortly!!!!

There has been many requests for a .NET library that accesses the Google Search Appliance. We are happy to release to the community a open source C# version based on the work Inxight did previously.

Check out the project at:
http://www.codeplex.com/GSALib

Will love to hear any feedback!

MC + A’s CEO, Michael Cizmar, has been interviewed by the IT website SearchITChannel.com about his opionions and for his expertise on Google and other technologies. Check out the interview here:

http://searchitchannel.techtarget.com/originalContent/0,289142,sid96_gci1276994,00.html

As always, if you have any questions about Google, SharePoint or how we can help you more efficiently integrate those or other technologies for your business, contact us at sales@mcplusa.com.

Sometimes when creating a new application that will be deployed in multiple locations, it’s necessary to have some globally configurable variables in the web.config file. It’s important to give the users as easy of an experience in installing the application as possible.

We aim to make all of our applications easy to install, configure and use. This following code is the event when the user clicks on the button to change the appSettings in the web.config file.

using System.Web.Configuration;

protected void SettingButton_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
Configuration config;

config = WebConfigurationManager.OpenWebConfiguration(“~”);

AppSettingsSection settingChange;

settingChange = config.GetSection(“appSettings”) as AppSettingsSection;

if (settingChange != null)
{

settingChange.Settings["setting"].Value = setting.Text;

config.Save();

}

}

As you can see, you first need to define what configuration file that you wish to change. In the above example, the first 2 lines of code open the web.config file for the local application. If you wish to configure a different file, change “~” to “folder\config.config” (depending on the location of the file).

The next 2 lines define the AppSettingsSection and in the above example, we are changing values of keys located in the appSettings section. To conclude the event, check if the value entered is null and if it is not, write the new value to the web.config file.

Once IIS realizes that the web.config file has been changed, it should then reset the application and begin to use the new values during runtime.

That’s it! If the web.config file is not updating, check to see if it is read-only or that the username your application is running under has the proper permissions to write to the web.config file.

Software As A Service(Saas) has become a mainstream discussion in the Information Technology world in the past 12 months. Year over year, many companies with a SaaS delivery model are seeing tremendous growth. While SaaS offerings such as SalesForce.com and NetSuite has been around for many years, Salesforce.com is successful among its rivals for its ability to take a general business requirement and provide a solution for it that is individual in nature. Every company needs automation and analytics into its sales process. Each company’s unique approach and process is of strategic value.

Traditional software delivery and implementations have been complex and costly. Procurement organizations are responsible for buying light bulbs and enterprise resource planning. To implement an intranet solution can involve multiple hardware vendors, multiple software vendors a team of systems integrators, consultants and internal resources.

As much of 80% of Information Technologies budget is spent maintaining the company’s environment. Since a majority of the money is being spent maintaining applications, this should be largest area to focus on. Why to companies spend so much, just to keep the lights on? There are many causes for this, but fundamentally, internal resources are organized in functional operational support not into innovation. Often project teams are often drafted out of a pool. That pool is committed general to maintain existing applications. Team members are versed in typical project management.

Because of these challenges, there has been much interest in SaaS as a solution to these. SaaS outsources the application development and maintenance to a company that focuses on that particular piece. A SaaS solution can be created and deploy to the customer on simply signing the agreement. Rollouts take a fraction of the time. However, SaaS solutions have disadvantages.

First when acquiring a SaaS solution, you’re locking into the current feature set (and cost). There is no guarantee of what the features will be implemented in the future nor if they will be implemented at an additional cost. Second, you’re limited to a WAN outside of your control. A denial of service or a tree falling can cripple your enterprise for the day (as I type this…I’ve lost my Internet connection twice). Thirdly, you have little control over how often the data is backed up. Fourthly, SaaS offerings typically do not scale. While they require little upfront capital, SaaS’s are priced as a lose leader and the fees are upgrade prohibitive.

A different approach is to combine the deployment of SaaS, to the operationally focused infrastructure with a traditional pricing model. Enter in Appliance Based Software Delivery (AbSD). AbSD combines the promised with the ability of sustained execution. It reduces the complexity of implementation by encapsulation of the software into a service. It eases procurement since it fits within the standard acquisition methods. Appliances can be purchased, leased and owned. They do not require a continual cash drain. Once it’s paid for you can choose when to upgraded.

The evolution of AbSD will be to solutions from integrators. Integration of systems can no longer be a black art. Companies change faster then the integrations takes. There are many advantages for integrators to adopt a physical delivery model. First it “gels” the solution. Secondly it limits the solutions reuse. Thirdly, it reduces the risk and implementation time for all parties.

As services become comoditized both on and off shore, services based firms will look for increased profit through new means. The AbSD model works both with traditional software companies and with services firms. Watch with me this evolution.

There are two quietly release open source projects for the Google Appliances. The first allows for some javascript parameteric filter (aka facetted navigation) and the second implements search as you type (i.e. Google suggest).

Take a look at them here:

Parametric
http://code.google.com/p/parametric/

Search as you type
http://code.google.com/p/search-as-you-type/

Both these will be now included in our JumpStart services to be implemented during the jumpstart.