Week 13 Mostly Muddy-Social Media

This was a pretty tough week. I am not sure if it was the information actually, or trying to play catch up from last week (Easter) to get everything dine on time and just not feally focusing on the information. Nonetheless, it just didn't stick this week.

We read and watched a lot of lectures this week and a lot of information stuck, such as Network Effects, which is, the number of devices that are networked together that increases the value. We also learned about the three primary sources for Network Effects:

1. Exchange-the ability of users in a network to exchange information.
2. Staying Power-the long-term viability of a product or service.
3. Complementary Benefits-products or services that add value to a product.

Another term we learned is Metcalf's Law, which states: the value of a network is proportional to the square of the number of users (or # of connections that can be made).

Image Created by: Marco Paköeningrat http://www.flickr.com/photos/marcopako/2391747442/

Image Created by: Tiago Custódiohttp://www.flickr.com/photos/tiago_custodio/3329194516/

Image Created by: ipodfan1 http://www.flickr.com/photos/29158929@N03/2767975617/

I really do feel that Social Media is here to stay, at least in its current form, for at least a few more years. There is no doubt that it will still continue to evolve into something much more real soon. If you look at recent trends in technology, you don't need a crystal ball to predict that something big is on the way, and I feel it will really revolutionize and integrate social media and business into everybody's daily lives'.

*Permission granted for reuse by Standard YouTube License.



Database Project-Microsoft Access

The Database Project was a nice little project, I used Microsoft Access to do my project since I use a PC and not a Mac. I learned so much from the project being that I have never used Microsoft Access before the project. It was real intersting to see how you could import data from an Excel file and turn it to a nice readable table. The project gave me a sense of understanding on how to create a simple report or query, it also showed me how easy it can be to organize data once the database is created for the purpose desired. The only part that I think I will have some trouble with is remembering formulas and such to make validation rules and such.

"Images created by Christopher Ondrako, 2012. Permission granted to reuse with attribution."

 Thinking of ways to enhance the functionality of this database, I thought that we could then export the information back to Excel to create charts and graphs to see trends. These trends could range from Profit, length of membership, what part of year are people joining or cancelling. Another thing is that we could run the report, and those that cancelled, send surveys and offer promotions to return. The survey would give the company an idea on what is going right/wrong and we could adjust accordingly. It would also offer a sense to see if we would need to hire more employees for a certain time of the year or not.

*Permission granted for reuse by Standard YouTube License.

Week 7 Clear: Software in Flux

This week's material was so jam packed full of good stuff it is hard to contain and will probably be hard to retain! We began with Open Source Software (OSS) and learned about the many types, the benefits, and the essentials. It appears that there are so many benefits to using OSS such as: great quality, high reliability, great flexibility, low associated costs, and an end to predatory vendor lock in. Also the access to the source code gives it a great advantage over commercial software as there is the ability to fix bugs yourself, modify behavior of the program, and add features.

Here is a brief history of Open Source Software!

Image Created by: (Mark Fidelman)  http://www.flickr.com/photos/fidelman/4523518468/

The Economics of Open Source Software
Learning how companies can afford to distribute this type of software was very interesting. I have used open source software applications in the past where they were given to me for free. Though most of the applications I got my hands on were of lower quality and I have not really kept using. But they were free, I now know why, as the companies either take donations (smaller companies that have this type of software for use) or they charge for support, which can get very pricey.

The Cloud
Another topic that was pretty clear to me was somewhat new to me, at least most of it was. When the new iPhone 4s came out, it was all about the "Cloud" and I was like what is this cloud stuff they are talking about? Is this something new? But after reading this material and watching the lectures I just found out it was basically the Internet, in a way. Personal cloud based computing, such as, Gmail, YouTube, and Spider Oak are just a few examples of this type of computing. So many of the services we currently use are cloud based and most of us don't really know it, or pay attention to it. Enterprise cloud based computing now, is a little different, there are monthly subscriptions, they are highly scalable, and you can write your own.

Cloud computing options seem infinite and are the way of the future, as it frees up disk space on your physical machines and is ever evolving. It also frees up IT staff and costs to focus your resources.

Virtualization
I can't lie...this week wasn't all clear! When it came to virtualization, it was like I got hit in the head and was left dazed and confused. It actually started out very confusing, but as I went on in the lectures and reading, it started to become more clear, though I know I am not ready to jump in to try doing this on any of machines at this time and probably not in the near future either.

*Permission granted for reuse by Standard YouTube License.