IBM launched two EU anti-trust investigation

The European Commission announced on the 26th, the U.S. International  Business Machines Corporation (IBM) suspected abuse in a large computer (mainframe) market dominance, the European Commission will launch two of its antitrust investigation.

The European Commission said in a statement the same day, the first survey may be related to IBM mainframe hardware and its market-dominant in the mainframe operating system software bundled. This approach led to accusations IBM competitors are unable to provide simulation technology, allows users to non-IBM hardware, the application of critical procedures, so the European Commission filed complaints.

The second initiative launched by the European Commission survey.  The European Commission noted that, IBM mainframe maintenance provider on the existence of discriminatory practices, including restricting or refusing to provide proprietary parts. 

The European Commission said the two cases will start "key" investigation, the initiation of the investigation itself is not that IBM has already mastered the illegal evidence.

Mainframe because of its powerful, safe, being more used in large corporations and government agencies, used to store and handle sensitive information.  It is estimated that the global annual purchase of mainframe equipment and software cost about 8.5 billion euros, of which only the European market was 30 billion euros. 

IBM launched two EU anti-trust investigation

The European Commission announced on the 26th, the U.S. International  Business Machines Corporation (IBM) suspected abuse in a large computer (mainframe) market dominance, the European Commission will launch two of its antitrust investigation.

The European Commission said in a statement the same day, the first survey may be related to IBM mainframe hardware and its market-dominant in the mainframe operating system software bundled. This approach led to accusations IBM competitors are unable to provide simulation technology, allows users to non-IBM hardware, the application of critical procedures, so the European Commission filed complaints.

The second initiative launched by the European Commission survey.  The European Commission noted that, IBM mainframe maintenance provider on the existence of discriminatory practices, including restricting or refusing to provide proprietary parts. 

The European Commission said the two cases will start "key" investigation, the initiation of the investigation itself is not that IBM has already mastered the illegal evidence.

Mainframe because of its powerful, safe, being more used in large corporations and government agencies, used to store and handle sensitive information.  It is estimated that the global annual purchase of mainframe equipment and software cost about 8.5 billion euros, of which only the European market was 30 billion euros. 

Google cuts ties with 2 Chinese advertisers

BEJIING - Google Inc said on Monday it has cut commercial ties with two of its Chinese advertising agents, raising concerns that the Internet giant's recent standoff with the government may scare away more domestic advertisers. The US-based search engine has ended partnerships with Universal Internet Media and Xi'an Weihua Network, which are the major advertising agents for Google in East and Northwest China, Marsha Wang, spokesperson for Google China, told China Daily.

Universal Internet Media is based in Suzhou, Jiangsu province and Xi'an Weihua Network is based in Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi province. The two are among 25 of Google's authorized adverting agents in the country. "The partnerships ended a couple of weeks ago because both sides felt there were no longer any mutual benefits," Wang said. She declined to comment on how the breakup would affect Google's Chinese business.

Since Google announced earlier this year that it would stop providing filtered results in its search service and redirect all mainland traffic to its Hong Kong site, a number of its advertisers have expressed concerns and reduced their advertising spending on the US search engine. Google's market share in China dropped to 24 percent in the second quarter of this year, from 31 percent in the first quarter, figures from research firm Analysys International showed. Market share is measured by advertising revenue.

The market share of Baidu, Google's rival in the Chinese market, hit a record high of above 70 percent during the past three months. It is unclear whether Google's departure from Universal Internet Media and Xi'an Weihua Network will impact its partnership with other advertising agents.

Cheng Yu, general manager of Zoom Interactive, a Google authorized advertising agent in Beijing, said on Monday his company will continue its partnership with Google. "Many advertisers still trust Google's advertising network so we will continue to do business with them," he said.

But he also said that his company does not have many alternatives to Google, as Baidu has already built up its own advertising system and other domestic search engines such as Tencent and Sohu are still too small to partner with. The response from Google's advertising agents is "quite normal" because many advertisers have reduced their spending on Google, Analysys president Edward Yu said.

He warned that Google's market share in China may further decline if the company does not take measures to sooth advertisers' concerns.  Google will still commit to China's online advertising market and will not give up its Chinese website, Wang said on Monday. The company currently provides advertising at music and shopping services on Google.cn, she said.

Google cuts ties with 2 Chinese advertisers

BEJIING - Google Inc said on Monday it has cut commercial ties with two of its Chinese advertising agents, raising concerns that the Internet giant's recent standoff with the government may scare away more domestic advertisers. The US-based search engine has ended partnerships with Universal Internet Media and Xi'an Weihua Network, which are the major advertising agents for Google in East and Northwest China, Marsha Wang, spokesperson for Google China, told China Daily.

Universal Internet Media is based in Suzhou, Jiangsu province and Xi'an Weihua Network is based in Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi province. The two are among 25 of Google's authorized adverting agents in the country. "The partnerships ended a couple of weeks ago because both sides felt there were no longer any mutual benefits," Wang said. She declined to comment on how the breakup would affect Google's Chinese business.

Since Google announced earlier this year that it would stop providing filtered results in its search service and redirect all mainland traffic to its Hong Kong site, a number of its advertisers have expressed concerns and reduced their advertising spending on the US search engine. Google's market share in China dropped to 24 percent in the second quarter of this year, from 31 percent in the first quarter, figures from research firm Analysys International showed. Market share is measured by advertising revenue.

The market share of Baidu, Google's rival in the Chinese market, hit a record high of above 70 percent during the past three months. It is unclear whether Google's departure from Universal Internet Media and Xi'an Weihua Network will impact its partnership with other advertising agents.

Cheng Yu, general manager of Zoom Interactive, a Google authorized advertising agent in Beijing, said on Monday his company will continue its partnership with Google. "Many advertisers still trust Google's advertising network so we will continue to do business with them," he said.

But he also said that his company does not have many alternatives to Google, as Baidu has already built up its own advertising system and other domestic search engines such as Tencent and Sohu are still too small to partner with. The response from Google's advertising agents is "quite normal" because many advertisers have reduced their spending on Google, Analysys president Edward Yu said.

He warned that Google's market share in China may further decline if the company does not take measures to sooth advertisers' concerns.  Google will still commit to China's online advertising market and will not give up its Chinese website, Wang said on Monday. The company currently provides advertising at music and shopping services on Google.cn, she said.

How FORUMS WORK

Internet forums are the longest established form of onlinesocial media. They most commonly exist around specific topics and interests, for example cars or music. Each discussion in a forum is known as a thread, and many different threads can be active simultaneously.This makes forums good places to find and engage in a variety of detailed discussions. They are often built into websites as an added feature, but some exist as stand-alone entities. Forums can be places for lively, vociferous debate, for seeking advice on a subject, for sharing news, for flirting, or simply for whiling away time with idle chat. In other words, their huge variety reflects that of face-to-face conversations.

The sites are moderated by an administrator, whose role it is to remove unsuitable posts or spam. However, a moderator will not lead or guide the discussion. This is a major difference between forums and blogs. Blogs have a clear owner, whereas a forum’s threads are started by its members. Forums have a strong sense of community. Some are very enclosed, existing as ‘islands’ of online social activity with little or no connection to other forms of social media. This may be because forums were around long before the term ‘social media’ was coined, and in advance of any of the other types of community we associate with the term. In any event, they remain hugely popular, often with membership in the hundreds of thousands. Forum search engine BoardTracker monitors over 61 million conversation threads across almost 40,000 forums8, and it is by no means a comprehensive index.

How FORUMS WORK

Internet forums are the longest established form of onlinesocial media. They most commonly exist around specific topics and interests, for example cars or music. Each discussion in a forum is known as a thread, and many different threads can be active simultaneously.This makes forums good places to find and engage in a variety of detailed discussions. They are often built into websites as an added feature, but some exist as stand-alone entities. Forums can be places for lively, vociferous debate, for seeking advice on a subject, for sharing news, for flirting, or simply for whiling away time with idle chat. In other words, their huge variety reflects that of face-to-face conversations.

The sites are moderated by an administrator, whose role it is to remove unsuitable posts or spam. However, a moderator will not lead or guide the discussion. This is a major difference between forums and blogs. Blogs have a clear owner, whereas a forum’s threads are started by its members. Forums have a strong sense of community. Some are very enclosed, existing as ‘islands’ of online social activity with little or no connection to other forms of social media. This may be because forums were around long before the term ‘social media’ was coined, and in advance of any of the other types of community we associate with the term. In any event, they remain hugely popular, often with membership in the hundreds of thousands. Forum search engine BoardTracker monitors over 61 million conversation threads across almost 40,000 forums8, and it is by no means a comprehensive index.

How WIKIS WORK

Wikis are websites that allow people to contribute or edit content on them. They are great for collaborative working, for instance creating a large document or project plan with a team in several offices. A wiki can be as private or as open as the people who create it want it to be.

The most famous wiki is of course Wikipedia, an online encyclopaedia that was started in 2001. It now has over 2.5 million articles in English alone6 and over a million members. In 2005 the respected scientific journal Nature conducted a study7 into the reliability of the scientific entries in Wikipedia and Encyclopaedia Britannica. No one was surprised that Encyclopaedia Britannica was the more reliable of the two – what was remarkable was that it was only marginally more accurate. The Encyclopedia Britannica team issued a 20-page rebuttal of the study a few months later. 

Others observed that while Encyclopaedia Britannica had no entries for wiki, Wikipedia has a 2,500 word article on Encyclopaedia Britannica, its history and methodology. But Wikipedia is more than a reference source. During a major breaking news story, especially one which affects large numbers of people directly, such a natural disaster or political crisis, Wikipedia acts as a collective reporting function.

Trying out wikis…

Everyone knows Wikipedia, here are some other examples of large wiki projects that you can take a look at and even participate in:

Wikia

A community of wikis on different subjects

wikiHow

A practical ‘how to’ manual for everything from making coffee to writing business plans

Wikinews

Wikipedia’s news project

You can start your own public wiki in the Wikia community, or look at the technology’s possibilities for team working by trying out the services from companies like JotSpot and Socialtext.