TIBCO's Bulging PortalPotty Release–Wait Your Turn
December 14th, 2005 by Adam Cuothe
Coming fast from a romp in TIBCO‘s web world a moment ago (I know, I know, they assert they’re the power of now but now is such a fleeting moment, and who actually wants to dwell chez TIBCO?) and I found a recently polished PR gem. Salient points of the release?
- TIBCO “enables real-time business”
- “…Portals are being seen as the linchpin or face of SOA, helping customers become more nimble and responsive through the timely personalized delivery of relevant information assets.”
1) Is now “real-time?” What about time aside from now? It could be a bit of dinger had I found any “forward-looking” statements in the press release. Anyway, there may be another software company or two enabling real time business–I wouldn’t rush into this one right away, at least not until TIBCO answers some fundamental philosophical questions about time. I hope they’re not substantivalists or we might hit upon their “intellectual property” issues.
2) With now in real-time, why does one need to become more nimble? If I implement a PortalBuilder system, I too want the power of now I don’t want nimble, which would imply something not quite now but able to respond pretty fast (I guess, relative to your frame of reference). That is, if it happens now at least one moment (and who’s counting) will pass before I get nimble and respond. Maybe before I was nimble it took more than a moment, but in any case it’s not the identical now anymore is it? If it’s a different now is it still real-time? And can TIBCO still claim the power?
This coming from a company who at the top of its press release states “Portal Solution Provides Cost-Effective Means for Unlocking Potential of Trapped “Siloed” Assets; Fuels Adoption of SOA” Hold on! Let’s review. In business, isn’t time an asset? Time always costs money, the more time required to do something the more dough lost. However, TIBCO provides the power of now. TIBCO makes you more nimble. But in TIBCO making you more nimble, it implies another now (and another and another). So which now is it, TIBCO? Damn these siloes of nows! In paying to get a real-time business, which unlocks my trapped asset siloes, the power of now just keeps making new ones.
3. Lastly, portals as the face of SOA? Now that is some good rebranding of the 90s portal story. Old marketing reinvented by new buzz. Mark this moment.
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