The Ashimmy Blog

The Death of Product Reviews

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My friend Bill Brenner has a post up on his Salted Hash blog today about a recent browser security study done by Accuvant LABS. The study shows that Google Chrome was the safest browser tested. Like Bill, I use Chrome too and agree with the Accuvant study.

The problem for Bill is that the study was sponsored by Google, the makers of Chrome. The fact that they paid for this study in Bill’s mind and in many other people’s minds calls the legitimacy of the entire study into question. Even if it is correct, it just doesn’t sit well with Bill.

Frankly I have the same problems with most product reviews, bake offs, analysis reports, etc. I have written about this before as well. In my mind it is a big reason why no one seems to pay attention to product reviews anymore.

It doesn’t make a difference if it is an “independent lab” doing the testing, a magazine’s testing department, industry awards or an analyst firm analyzing the market, the first thing I look at is who is paying for it. Sometimes finding out who is paying for it is not so easy or transparent either.

To be fair, some firms like Securosis for instance will say upfront that some research they are doing is being financed by a paying customer. Such was the case when Mike, Rich and Adrian did a dive on “fact based security security metrics”. The boys said upfront and at the bottom of the page that they thanked Red Seal for sponsoring the research.

Now does that mean that everything they wrote was for the benefit of Red Seal? I know Rich, Mike and Adrian too well to believe that. But it does give me pause when I read the report to remember that fact.

But I will say that over time I have come to soften my attitude on this issue (I must be getting old). For me it is a case of forewarned is forearmed and I take that disclosure in terms of evaluating how much weight to give the research. The same way a juror has to weigh the testimony of a witness depending on their believability.

In the case of Bill’s browser study, same thing. The chances that Google had a heavy hand in the study by Accuvant is pretty low, but it is something to consider. That is just the way it is.

But for Bill and the other doubting Thomas’s out there, what is the alternative?

One alternative is what Rick Moy and the guys at NSS Labs are doing. They have turned this equation on its head. They make their money from the end user, so the vendors being tested have little to no influence.

As Bill says just because Google paid for it doesn’t mean the study is wrong, but it does give you something else to consider. But since no one wants to do these tests or studies for free, someone has to pay and that is the truth of it.

Related articles

• What's the Most Secure Web Browser? [Security] (lifehacker.com)
• Accuvant Labs: "Chrome is the most secured browser" (miguelalmeida.net)
• Chrome sandboxing makes it the most secure browser, vendor study claims (arstechnica.com)
• Which Browser Is Most Secure? A New Study Reports A Surprise (ostatic.com)
• Google-Funded Study Knocks Firefox Security (news.slashdot.org)
• Chrome Is Most Secure of the Top Three Browsers, Study Finds (pcworld.com)
• New study claims that Chrome is the most secure browser (zdnet.com)

Hey Steve Jobs Keep Your Case, I Want A Phone That Works!

The unmitigated arrogance and gall of Steve Jobs and Apple never ceases to amaze me.  Instead of taking the opportunity to be humble, fess up to the issue and really fix the problem, Steve Jobs got up there today and still insisted that the problems with iPhone 4 are being blown out of proportion. He says all phones have these problems.

Hey Steve get your head out of your iHole! The problem with the iPhone is not the antenna and the Vulcan death grip. Its not how many bars the damn phone is showing. The problem is when you are on the phone the screen does not stay blank like it should. Instead depending where on your face is touching the screen, things happen.

If you have the number pad showing you dial random numbers and hear the beeps on the call. If you have the regular screen showing, it could go on speaker, it could put you on mute. Or it could do what happened to me today. I was on a conference call with business, my wife beeped in. I put the conference call on hold. While talking to my wife I must have leaned on the merge button with my cheek. Now every one on my business call had the pleasure of listening to my wife and I talk.

Luckily it was nothing that I minded anyone hearing, but still very embarrassing. The problem is the proximity sensor or whatever it is called is not blacking out the screen. It is supposed to be fixed in the next update. When is that?  How long do I have to put up with this? You were so busy suing blogs who had sneak peeks at the phone that you didn’t have enough time to pick this up in QA?

So Steve says I can return my phone. That sounds like a plan. Will AT&T let me out of my contract too? These two companies are thick as thieves. I highly doubt that they will let you out of the contract. Does anyone know for sure?

In the meantime, lets see Apple for once own up and take their lumps for putting out a lemon. 

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• Jobs: iPhone 4 Proximity Sensor Fix In Next iOS4 Update [Apple] (gizmodo.com)

I guess with NAC, someone is sneaking it in?

So now Bradford Networks has joined Forescout in putting out the pre-RSA what a great year press release. Again without giving specific numbers, Bradford claims 30% revenue growth year over year. They also claim to have added “more than 150” new customers.

Do you think that has anything to do with the fact that Forescout said they added 150 new customers exactly last year? Is it a case of mine is bigger than yours in the NAC space.

What I find really puzzling is that when you speak to the analysts it was a rather flat year for NAC, especially the stand alone appliances that Bradford and Forescout sell.  So with both of them claiming record numbers, without giving out actual numbers, what should we believe?

Is someone sneaking NAC into the network and not telling us? Are we seeing NAC hype? Unheard of I know. But what the hay, it gives me a chance to write about NAC a little bit, so what is a few record years among friends.

Did I ever tell you the joke about the 12 pound gorilla dressed as a missionary?

So this little 12 pound gorilla dressed in a missionary outfit walks into a bar . . . , eh it doesn’t really matter. What is important is that for a 12 pound gorilla to grow up into an 800 pound gorilla takes more than just wishful thinking. In fact it takes more than just careful planning, a decent amount of luck (it is as true now as it ever was, that it is sometimes better to be lucky then good) and a bunch of bananas. So what got me on this King Kong kick? Well I do like gorillas, so much so that I have sponsored a few at friend-a-gorilla and you should too (it’s only a buck a Gorilla)! But I write today because my friend Brad Feld, has a post up today called the 800 pound Gorilla problem.

Brad was at a board meeting recently and the comment was made that the company was the 800 pound Gorilla in its market.  Brad said it was just a 12 pound Gorilla because the market it played in while growing quickly was still small. Too small to support an 800 pound gorilla.  Brad says this turned the conversation at the board meeting from a back slapping orgy of self-congratulations (I call it smoking your own socks) into a thoughtful discussion on how to grow the gorilla. That got me to thinking.  King Kong grew so big because his habitat allowed him access to food, room and everything he needed to grow.  The same is true for the 12 pound gorilla.  Without enough bananas (read cash) to fuel growth they can never get that big.  But as important the gorilla needs the room to grow. In Brad’s example, the market has to be big enough to support the 800 pounder. 

So how does the 12 pound gorilla make their market big enough to support an 800 pound gorilla?  Well that is dependent on a few things.  Missionary work is never easy, but if you are the leader in your nascent market you have to do missionary.  Also just plain dumb luck of being in the right place at the right time (an entrepreneurs best friend) doesn’t suck.  Finally, your vision that made you pick a market that you believed could grow into a big enough market in the first place comes into play.  The problem with playing the missionary though is that as often as not someone else can come in behind you, benefit from all of your hard missionary work and surpass you with a cheaper, better, faster solution.  You see the 2nd mover didn’t have to waste the time and resources on the missionary thing.  He just got right down to business. 

So as Brad says, realizing you are only a 12 pound gorilla helps focus you to the task at hand. But not all 12 pound gorillas grow up to be King Kong. Eat your bananas, hope today is your lucky day and never think for a second that your gorilla status today entitles you to anything tomorrow but more hard work.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Ignoring Red Flags in Investing (2-speed.com)
• The 800 Pound Gorilla Problem (myventurepad.com)
• The 800 Pound Gorilla Problem (feld.com)

Knights in White Satin

Are you old enough to remember that song?  I saw the Moody Blues perform it live probably around 1978 or so and it was an old song then.  I was reminded of it today reading a press release from Alert Logic. Here are some of the lyrics from the song:

Nights in white satin, never reaching the end,
Letters I've written, never meaning to send.
Beauty I'd always missed with these eyes before.
Just what the truth is, I can't say anymore.

Cold hearted orb
That rules the night
Removes the colours
From our sight
Red is gray and
Yellow white
But we decide
Which is right
And
Which is an Illusion

The truth and illusion part is what got me thinking. Just as George W. Bush thought he was on a mission from God, I am too. My mission is to call out marketing BS by those companies that put it out there expecting everyone to swallow it. Like the old saying goes you can fool some of the people some of the time,. . .  but this is ridiculous. Alert Logic I am afraid joins the used car salesman list of marketing.

Here is what got me going. They put out a press release titled, “Alert Logic Earns Top Accolades in SC Magazine Review”.  Now I don’t know about you, but when I hear about top accolades in a magazine review I think you received the highest rating maybe?  Maybe you won a best buy or recommended award? Like StillSecure did in the same issue BTW.  But no. Alert Logic received 5 out 5 stars in only one sub-group of the what magazine tested for. Overall the fact is out of 9 companies in their group they were tied for the lowest over all score!! Where I grew up they call that Chutzpah!  Guys you don’t get a good review, lick your wounds and go home. But to have the audacity to call it out as you winning top accolades is some kind of wonderful.  Who do you think you are fooling. 

Now I used to have some friends at Alert Logic but I know they have a new CEO and my guess is a new marketing guy too.  What could be next, a press release about a record breaking quarter with no numbers given? Let this be a lesson to them.  Stop the marketing double speak and don’t think you are fooling anyone.  There just may be someone watching to call you out on it.

So in honor of this low point in security marketing here is the Moody Blues, circa 1967 in Knights in White Satin

They fired the Juniper cartoon guy

Now you know things really are tight.  Saw this report today that Juniper has not renewed the contract of Kevin Pope, the guy who makes those edgy cartoons that usually make fun of Cisco.  He has been doing it for 5 years now. Somewhere I have a couple of decks of playing cards with each one another cartoon.  Two of my favorite ones are here:

If you want to see more click here. In many ways this is the end of an era. I wonder what Juniper will do next and wonder what cartoons Pope will work on next.