Strategic Foresight - Insights in Business and Technology

My wife and I are blessed with a baby girl. Little angel arrived on this planet on Dec 3, 2006. Both mum and baby are doing fine. Our family is delighted to have this little bundle of Joy. All of us are enjoying the arrival of new member in Sharma family.

Microsoft has announced its partnership with Novell to put Suse Linux (2nd no Linux distro) on a Windows desktop. As part of the deal, Microsoft will offer sales support for Suse Linux and also co-develop technologies with Novell to make it easier for users to run both Suse Linux and Microsoft Windows on their computers. Microsoft plans to distribute 70,000 coupons for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server maintenance and support to customers that want to run both Windows and Linux in their environments. In addition to this, Novell and Microsoft will work together to improve interoperability between Windows and Novell's SuSE Linux. Some insights from infoworld why this partnership has come along: Scenario one: Looking to the future and seeing the proverbial handwriting on the wall, stops the bleeding of Windows to Linux desktops. Scenario two: Did the desktop OEMs push Microsoft toward this deal? More of their customers want Linux and so the PC manufacturers want this technology ...

I recently wrote about upcoming Web 2.0 apps in Australia and it was received well. As a result of that i have now updated this list in collaboration with Richard Macmanus from Web 2.0 workgroup . More here , here and here .

Rumours are hot about News Corp planning to buy Digg . It’s a rumour right now, how much truth is there, is anybody's guess. This can be real news and might have been leaked to the press as a part of the strategy as suggested by Internet Analyst, Henry Blodget, Settle on basic deal terms and a provisional price, leak details so the market has a couple of days to chew on the idea, see how the stock reacts, and neutralize the market’s biggest concern (lawsuits) by announcing a distribution pact with the main guy who might sue you, fix the price, rubber-stamp the press release, and go. The coming days will tell us how much truth is there. If News Corp cannot buy this then these might be probable buyers for Digg. Microsoft - Microsoft will be the obvious choice because Microsoft is lagging in this Web 2.0 phenomenon. There hasn't been any decent/buzzing service offered by Microsoft in this space. If this comes on board, it will provide them with a kick-start, which they are hopin...