Analyst types that are not focusing on the vendor landscape only, regularly want to talk to end user organizations to verify some of the vendor claims, learn from real implementers the good, the bad, and the ugly about someone’s product, service, support, etc. Those reference calls are an integral piece of evaluating vendor offerings, as [...]

Very cool add-ons are available for Flickr friends at Flagrantdisregard.com. From building collages (like the one here from my recent Kyoto trip), badges, billboards, to magazine covers, motivator posters, and mosaics, all kinds of free imaging gimmicks are made for public consumption. No Adobe Photoshop necessary, simply point the PHP-based application at a picture URL [...]

Interesting reactions from self-proclaimed analyst relations professionals at Armageddon and Gartner Watch about the new 30-minute (default!) briefing length at Gartner. Those fellas don’t seem to be participating in a lot of briefings. Otherwise they would know that many of those are incredibly boring for the fact that the vendor folks don’t brief, but preach. [...]