INSY 440: E-Business, My Experience

Over the past 14 weeks, I have had the privilege to learn about the E-Business at McGill University. We went through a variety of different material that touched upon the actual definitions of E-Business, Performance indicators, Data, Cloud Computing, and the list goes on.

But I feel that along with the technical knowledge I have gained, I've been able to gain a much broader knowledge of the overall world of E-Business, and how it will affect me as a consumer. We learned that more and more businesses have been moving their operations online because of the economic benefits associated with that. Especially since as consumers, we seem to value convenience over privacy, which gives the perfect environment for these new E-Business shops to thrive.


However, this prosperity is not without its risks. I learned that online security and privacy are definitely major concerns for E-Businesses. Although not electronic, Target serves as a prime example of what would happen when a company does not properly secure its information. As I were to start an E-Business, I would for sure be weary of these sort of things.


Overall, it has been an interesting and rewarding experience learning about E-Business. I began my journey 13 weeks ago as the Aspiring Technologists. Although there is still a long way to go, I feel that I’ve had quite a good start.

Along with my learnings of E-Business, I also had the opportunity to apply my knowledge in an actual business case. Looking at the online community Patients Like Me, our team was able to work together to apply our E-Business knowledge to help the company improve its operations.

The End of Windows XP

So there has been speculation that Microsoft will be ending all support to its Windows XP operating system users. The final date has finally been announced for April 8, 2014.

Although users still have the rights to use it, there are scary implications to not having support. One of the main advantages of COTS (Commercial off the shelf) software is that there is a strong support network. With that gone, users will soon to be more exposed to the potential of new bugs and eager hackers waiting to take advantage of new security flaws.

In a report by Bell Media, roughly 30% of Canadians still use the Windows XP operating system. With that figure, it's not surprising to imagine hackers getting ready to reap the opportunities with this soon to be weakened operating system. This of course will lead to many upgrades to Windows 7 and Windows 8, which well undoubtedly benefit Microsoft.

One final mystery we need to realize now is the impact this decision will have on banks. Banks in Canada all run on Windows XP software. With no signs of transitioning out of it, it can be imagined that Microsoft will continue to offer support for those systems. But the question really is when Microsoft will also end support there, and thus forcing all banks to switch over as well. Microsoft is the clear winner in any of these outcomes.

With Windows XP almost at the end of its life, below is a video paying homage to some of Microsoft's other fallen operating systems. Enjoy!

Facebook on an Acquisition Spree!

So it's common knowledge among us aspiring technologists that Facebook has been sitting on a ton of cash since its initial public offering (IPO) in 2012. Since then, Facebook opted to obtain growth through M&A decisions, along with its organic growth, through acquisition of Instagram, WhatsApp, and now Oculus VR.

So what is Oculus VR? Oculus VR is a maker of Oculus Rift virtual reality gaming hardware, originally funded through Kickstarter. Reportedly, Facebook will pay around $2 Billion USD for the company. Just like Whatsapp, Facebook is planning to let this start-up continue to operate as is.

This is just another attempt it seems for Facebook to acquire companies relatively related to their industry, which helps create a stronger, more integrated ecosystem. As Facebook's primary source of revenue is still through ads, it will be interesting to see how Facebook is planning to actually monetize it's new acquisitions. More to come...

Here is a clip of the Oculus Rift Development Kit 

Will Amazon move away from E-Commerce?

E-Commerce giant, Amazon.com announced that it will increase the price of its premium subscription service, Amazon Prime, from $79 per year to $99 per year as of April 17, 2014. According to Catherine Clifford of Entrepreneur.com, Amazon's CFO stated that the company's hand was forced due to the increasing cost of transportation and increases in orders.

With Amazon posting negative earnings in 2 out of 3 of the previous quarters, this increase in price is appealing to shareholders. As the leader in E-Commerce, it seems that even Amazon.com has its own challenges.

Although bold, I predict with Amazon's increased focused in cloud services, Amazon will probably move out of E-Commerce all together. Currently, Amazon's cloud services is its most profitable division. In addition, with Wal-Mart planning to expand into E-Commerce, there might be a legitimate threat to Amazon.

Given an increased trend in consolidation in the North American market, it would not be surprising to see an acquisition by Wal-Mart for Amazon's E-Commerce division. In 25 years, I believe Amazon.com will fully be on the cloud.

How Google`s Freeware has potential to erode Microsoft`s Office 365

On March 11th, 2014, Google introduced the concept of add-ons for Google Docs and Google Sheets. With Google Docs and Google sheets already acting as free, comparable substitutes for COTS software, having these add-ons adds a unique value proposition.

Prior to this introduction, the main benefits of COTS software, like Office 365, included both security and functionality. However, with these add-ons, more and more functionalities are being added to the existing freeware. Examples include:

HelloFax - which allows for users to send their documents easily VIA fax (for those who still do that)

Easy Bib - which allows for users to easily create bibliographies for their cited work as an integrated part of the overall document 

UberConference - which allows for users to add conference calls to all Google Docs, making it very attractive for team exercises 

Similar to the App Store and Android Market, Google has implemented the Chrome Web Store, which allows for developers to create any applications under their platform at their own discretion. Because of this, it opens up a variety of different possibilities that could affect the user experience for Google Docs and Google Sheets in the near future. This poses a huge threat to the market leader, Microsoft, with its costly and now perhaps, less customizable software.

It will be interesting to see how Microsoft will react in the comings months to this strategic move by Google. Will Google's take on customization change the way in which we word process and make spreadsheets? We'll just have to see.

Video for Add-Ons

Apple, not as safe as we may have thought

Amongst most consumers, the general consensus regarding Apple products is that they are more secure and less "hack-able" than other brands. Although Apple is known for creating user friendly interfaces and less redundant code, it can be agreed amongst us technologists that there is nothing special about Apple that actually keeps it safe from hackers.

The main reason why we don’t see a lot hacking amongst Apple products is because it’s simply more popular to go with other platforms such as PC. In a previous blog post, we touched upon how Windows (both XP and 7) made up of over 70% market share for operating systems (excluding mobile devices). Therefore from a hacker perspective, it is much more enticing to create a malicious virus that can be applied to 70% of the world, rather than the other 30% made up of Apple, Linux, and other operating systems.

Recently, it was announced that Apple had released a new patch for both its mobile and Mac operating systems because of a critical security flaw. Quoting an Apple spokesmen, "Impact: an attacker with a privileged network position may capture or modify data in sessions protected by SSL/TLS and modify data”. This basically translates into a hacker having the ability to impersonate a protected site such as a banking website to steal valuable information.

This is just one example on how the general view of the consumer is wrong. The customer is NOT always right. Apple products can also have bugs just like any other products. The only difference is that since the market has not deemed Apple the market leader, it does not garner the same attention. 

Video Explaining the Fix of Apple's Security Flaw

Facebook's Horizontal Integration: Buys WhatsApp for $19 Billion

So by now, a lot of you probably know about Facebook's announcement to acquire WhatsApp, a cross platform messaging application, for $19 Billion. This has been one of many acquisitions by Facebook since its initial IPO in 2012 as the social networking giant is attempting to diversify amongst social networking platforms as a whole. 

So the question is... How does WhatsApp add value to Facebook?

Coming from a Finance perspective, the only 2 reasons to acquire another company is 1) to restructure it and sell it at a HIGHER price, or 2) because the company offers synergy, which is defined as the added value of having business units working together. 

For Facebook, it is clear that the motivation is based off of the latter. This acquisition is known as horizontal integration, which is the process in which a company acquires related companies on the same level, ie: messaging services. 


Summarizing the Financial Post, the main motivations are as followed:

1. WhatsApp has more than 450 million monthly average users, 70% of which are active on a given day.
2. WhatsApp now handles more than 19 billion messages per day, a figure that is approaching the text message (SMS) volume of the worldwide telecom industry, which is a US$100-billion market.
3. WhatsApp uses internet connectivity rather than a phone network to offer low-cost messaging, costs just $1 (after the first free year) and the company has spent nothing on user acquisition to date.
4. WhatsApp can Facebook strengthen its footprint in international markets and with teens. 

With this acquisition, Facebook believes it now has a significant opportunity to be the leading global communications utility along with its already popular Messaging Services.