Just recently i got this firefox plugin installed on my laptop. It was cool. Implementing tabs in browsers are no longer new in the mainstream and many find it as powerful, great and useful especially for people who likes multitasking on their browsers. Some says it’s the intelligent way of browsing these days and i couldn’t help but agree more. Looking back, I think the first tabs i got to experience were still in Lotus Notes Workspace.  I was still using this Lotus Notes Client 4.6 version and i felt how useful these tabs were in terms of my productivity and categorizing each notes icon in my workspace.  Now the same benefit goes as it rolls down to web browsers. As of 2006 most web browsers support tabbed browsing, Opera was the first tabbed browsing interface, followed later by NetCaptor, later by IBrowse in 1999, then Mozilla in 2001, Konqueror and Safari in 2003 and Internet Explorer 7^[1] in 2006. Google Chrome, released in 2008, also has tabbed browsing capabilities. - Wikipedia. I think this concept was adapted to web browsers to open the habit of multitasking when browsing the internet or to answer the need for multitasking. Reminiscing old days, i remember if i wanted to check email in yahoo and browse friendster at the same time i need to open 2 browser sessions i.e. internet explorer just to accommodate this request but doing this would mean running 2 application  on the taskbar  with different URL address or processes. Imagine doing this side by side with other office desktop applications on your computer, horrible speed problems should certainly be expected. To answer this cry for multitasking people,  innovators initiated tabbed browsing.

What is tabbed browsing?

A function in a Web browser that hides the current Web page behind a tab and presents a new blank window for continued browsing. All browsers keep track of pages visited, and clicking Back and Forward moves through them. However, after a long period of Web surfing, the pages of most interest are often interspersed between a slew of others. Tabbed browsing creates multiple browsing sessions within the same browser window.

Multiple Browser Windows
Opening multiple browser windows has always been and still is an alternative to tabbed browsing. Users with large monitors and dual monitors often prefer two or more pages on screen at the same time

Tabs in Internet Explorer

Tabs in FireFox with the FireFox Plugin- Color ful tabs

Tabs in Apple Safari

Did you see the coloful tabs in FireFox? Yes, thats the colorful tabs plugin in Firefox.  Just by comparing each of these browsers above, the one in firefox exudes a glowing effect making your browsing experience even more colorful..

Here are some of the features of the plugin..

ColorfulTabs is a Firefox extension that colors every tab in a different color and makes them easy to distinguish. It also beautifying the overall appearance of Firefox. ColorfulTabs does one and/or more of the following -

• Beautiful colours - A beautiful in-built colour palette.
• Unique Colours - Colour each tab with a different colour for easy differentiation.
• Colours by site domain - Colour each tab depending on its server/domain
  for identifying the website.
• Custom tab colour - Give your tabs a colour of your choice.
• Enhanced tab highlighting - Fade the background tabs to identify the currently
  selected tab
• Easy Options - Quick tab-context-menu for ease of access to the options.
• Colors each tab using pre selected colors in a definite order starting from
  the left.
• Colors each tab using a unique and randomly generated color.
• Colors each tab using a unique color depending on the site domain using
  a formula.
• Allows user to chose colors.
• Allows to fade the background tabs for easy identification of the selected
  tab.
• Allows quick identification of the tabs.
• Allows quick identification of tab boundaries.
• Increases usability and visibility for people with visual challenges.

http://colorfultabs.binaryturf.com/colorfultabs.html?v=3.6

What are you waiting for? Download the plugin now.

I was sitting back on the couch in my jogging pants this morning when i decided to run a quick look on my email. Suddenly,  i noticed i just got an email from the IBM Professional Certification Team saying…

=============================================

Due to the great interest in our new Take It Again voucher program, we are extending the time period for you to request your Take it Again voucher throughout the month of November. 

If you have not yet heard about Take It Again….. it is an exciting new initiative we are piloting in 2008. With this program you may purchase a special voucher that allows you to retake a certification exam for no additional cost. During this pilot period, Take It Again vouchers are offered for all four of the new IBM Power Systems tests and for the six Lotus Notes and Domino 8 core exams. (See the complete list of eligible tests on the Web: www.ibm.com/certify/process/tia.shtml ). 

All Take It Again vouchers must be requested by November 30, 2008. Although the voucher order must be submitted by the end of November, you will not have to pay for the voucher until you are ready to first register for the test. 

The vouchers are valid throughout 2008, and will expire at year-end. Both the first use and (if necessary) the second use of the voucher, must be redeemed no later than December 31, 2008. So all the tests must be taken this year. 

Please visit the following IBM website for more details: www.ibm.com/certify/process/tia.shtml

Or, go directly to the Prometric website www.prometric.com/ibm/TIA.htm to get your vouchers today! 

Your IBM Professional Certification Team

 ====================================================

“Wow!”, I mumbled. Thinking that this could be the chance to get certified with Notes Domino 8 Program. The best part is that you can get a voucher in the event in case you want to retake the exam with no extra cost. Based from what i’ve read from the previous articles, they have been implementing this IBM Take It Again Voucher Program since last July 2008 closes until 31 December 2008.  

As i browsed on the links from my email account, particularly at Prometric site center, you would see the rules of the said promotion and the list of certification exams which this voucher applies to. Check it below.

==============================================================

Pilot Promotion: IBM is evaluating the use of a Take It Again voucher. As a result, we are introducing an offering for the limited number of tests, listed below, through the end of 2008. At that time, we will evaluate extending the promotion to many of our other tests across our product lines.

Rules of the Promotion:
1. All vouchers must be requested by October 31, 2008. http://www.prometric.com/ibm/tia.htm
2. Both the first exam and (if necessary) the second exam must be taken by December 31, 2008.
3. The voucher may not be used with any other voucher or promotion code.
4. The voucher can be used at an Authorized Prometric Test Center only.

IBM Lotus exams and IBM Power exams

Lotus

• 834 - IBM Lotus Notes Domino 8 Application Development Foundation Skills
• 835 - IBM Lotus Notes Domino 8 Application Development Intermediate Skills
• 836 - IBM Lotus Notes Domino 8 Developing Web Applications
• 847 - IBM Lotus Notes Domino 8 System Administration Operating Fundamentals
• 848 - IBM Lotus Notes Domino 8 Building the Infrastructure
• 849 - IBM Lotus Notes Domino 8 Managing Servers and Users

Power Systems

• 330 - Power Systems Technical Support for AIX and Linux
• 331 - Power Systems Sales for AIX and Linux (also in Japanese, European Spanish, and French) 
• 973 - Power Systems Technical Sales for the IBM i Operating System (also in Japanese, European Spanish, and French)
• 974 - Power Systems Techical Support for i      

If you enjoyed searching around for hours using Chofter from the related article i posted, what if i tell you that you can actually EARN while SEARCHING. Think of this as your benefit while sitting on your desktop for hours and searching for work related articles. Yep you heard me right. Earning while searching? Think again. If you love Google, Yahoo and MSN, you’ll even love Scour! Scour search results are taken from Yahoo, Google and MSN. The SSER (Scour Search Engine results) are the average ranking of your search keyword from the 3 major search engines.

If you are searching for a specific keyword, let’s say “Techronnati”, Techronnati ranked 1st in Scour from the average results of 3 search engines (1st in Google, 3rd in Yahoo, and 0 in MSN), as you can see from the snap shot above.

Another benefit you can get with Scour is the functionality to compare the returned results from the 3 major search engines as smooth as you can get. By just looking in the Scour SERPs, you can visually see and compare the returned pages by navigating the area where it will show you the ranking of each keyword from the 3 major search engines after your query. And what makes it even stand out and more user friendly is the ability to comment in the returned pages. There’s a section where you can actually vote, give a positive or negative reaction about a specific website in the Scour SERPs.

As of writing, I already incurred 54 points! See, I just started yesterday and i hope to search more to gain more points and earn $25.00 from Scour.com!

Every member is awarded one point for every search, two for a vote and three for a comment with a maximum of 4 points a search. Once you aggregate at least 6,500 points you can cash them out for a $25 Visa gift card. -Scour Website

To come to an end, I want to invite you to join Scour.com if you haven’t joined yet! You’ll lose nothing if you register. You’re searching everyday in Google, Yahoo and MSN. Why not let Scour pay you while you search?

SIGN UP WITH SCOUR NOW AND LET MONEY RETURN YOUR SEARCHES!

Reward Mechanics:

You can try, but Scour has several checking systems and algorithms in place to spot and block those who wish to abuse our feedback or points system. BUT since nobody is perfect, if you notice of a way around our system that you think we have not addressed, please let us know, it will be your good deed for the day!

Reward System:
Q: How do I earn money?

Each registered user earns points for each search, vote and comment they do for each keyword searched. When you’ve earned enough points you can redeem them and get a visa gift card or paypal money transfer for out of US users… cool right?

Q: How do I earn points?

You can earn points from your own actions and from inviting friends.

Our revised points schedule for all territories will be as follows:

* 1 = Search
* 1 = Vote
* 1 = Comment

Max amount of points per search = 3

*Points are earned from the first 100 daily searches with a maximum of 300 total points per day.

Remember that for every friend that you invite, you will earn 25% of the points they make! Now that’s a good friend!

Q: What is the reward program for my country?

Countries participating in the following rewards program include: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, U.S., and U.K. :

* 6,500 Rewards Points may be redeemed for a $25.00
* 12,500 Rewards Points may be redeemed for a $50.00
* 25,000 Rewards Points may be redeemed for a $100.00

Countries not listed above are still eligible to participate in the following rewards schedule:

* 50,000 Rewards Points may be redeemed for = $5

We want to assure you that our goal first and foremost at Scour is to build a superior search experience through global community participation and secondly share our success by rewarding the users for their contributions. We understand that these revisions will be an inconvenience to some, and appreciate your patience. As we continue to grow and fortify our technology, we are confident that we will be able to offer an expanded rewards system in the near future.

Q: What is the daily cap for points?

Out of the cap of 300 points per day, you may earn points from your first 100 daily searches. There is no cap on community contributions.

Q: How many points can I earn per search?

You can earn up to 3 points per search through any combination of actions. Repeat searches in the same day will not count for additional points.

Q: If I cap my points in one search, can I still vote and comment?

Sure, there is no limit as to how many votes and comments you can do per search.

Q: I have done searches but there are no changes in my total points, why?

This could be a result of a few things:

1. You need to be signed into Scour for us to be able to track your searches, votes and comments.
2. You have maxed out your total points per search: 3 max points/search
3. You have maxed out your 100 search opportunities for points for the day.
4. You have maxed out your total points per search or for the day: 300 max daily points
5. We have not yet refreshed your points.

Q: Why did my points total decrease?

We often conduct manual reviews to ensure quality contributions across our network. During this process we may delete inappropriate comments or ban abusers that may be within your friends’ network. When reaching the “Cash Out” stage - your activity and friends points will require review to ensure that they are legitimate - while this process can drop your points below “Cash Out” level, this is to ensure quality participation across the Scour community.

Q: Can’t people abuse the system?

You can try, but Scour has several checking systems and algorithms in place to spot and block those who wish to abuse our feedback or points system. BUT since nobody is perfect, if you notice of a way around our system that you think we have not addressed, please let us know, it will be your good deed for the day!

See How it works here
What are you waiting for? Sign Up NOW!!!!!

I was sifting through the web to find some cool technical SEO/programming related stuffs to my blog when I bumped into this Nuffnang website (www.nuffnang.com.ph) by accident. Just about month ago, i remember, the site (www.nuffnang.com.ph) was still on it’s beta version for the Philippines viewers. And to be honest, I must say i was totally clueless as how they arrived with such Site title… hehehe.. until i recently found out from someone else’ blog that the term “Nuffnang” is actually a Jafaikan Translation for “Real Good/Cool”. Wow isn’t that cool! Now am just being Techronnati! (”Techronnati” is a Portmanteau word which means “Enlightened by Technology.” =P)

Ok, so aside from the distinguishable icon we see i.e. an artistic stick man bubbling and a Nuffnang - Philippines Flag what else can we get from this blog advertising community? Certainly a lot! Not only it becomes an advertising network but also crosslinking between social networking and blog advertising. Everything falls into the networking bandwagon these days and the call to bridge these bloggers and advertising is what makes nuffnang a reality. With the Philippines claiming to be the blogging capital of the world, I wouldn’t be surprised if someday the small island becomes the home of a new breed of millionaires. Certainly the growing and stronger nuffnang community would entice even more members to join.

Nuffnang is also jampacked with a lot of technical and ’nuff-ing features. Once you become a member, you would get the chance to add blog tracking (unique visitors and page views you got every hour) and analytics to your blog (see those light green graphs matching black background interface !), not to mention the the keywords that they used to reach your blog, referral links and the community at large.

And get this techronnatis! True enough, the early birds always catch the worm. Nuffnang is giving away five hundred pesos (PhP500) each to 68 lucky bloggers! (I wonder why they decided it 68? and not 70 or 100! hehehe. I wonder, could it be the lucky number for nuffnang? Is it whatsome feng-shui experts say? Sounds intriguing!hehe )

So what are you waiting for. Sign up now! Who knows, you might be one of the lucky 68 bloggers to get the 500 bonus… Signing up is pretty much straight forward. Just click on the Nuffnang ad unit in my side bar or icon below and it will take you straight to the NuffNang site. Filling out the form takes less time than you think. Then add your blog into the details section. Within 48 hours, your registration will be processed and you will become a “Nuffnanger” in less time. No more links added.

Hurry! Nuffnang will wait for the entries til September 30 (that’s exacly 14 days from now) and the lucky 68 bloggers will receive 500 pesos to be credited to their accounts. It’s on a first come, first served basis so sign up NOW!

Brought to you by:

If Microsoft has Internet Explorer and Apple has Safari then don’t be surprised if Google introduces its own state-of-the-art web browser. Google Chrome, the much-talked about open source web browser owned by the Internet Giant - Google is currently on its beta version release.

Some of its highlighted features can be seen on their website which primarily includes New Tab page, Application shortcuts, Dynamic tabs, Crash control, Incognito mode, Safe browsing, Instant bookmarks, Importing settings, Simpler downloads, One box for everything. You can also get a glimpse of the features in this video.

Reviews: http://www.google.com/chrome/intl/en/features.html

If you like to hear about the story behind the google chrome then you may watch this video.

Personal Reviews:

Luckily, I had the opportunity to try this version myself. Currently, it’s only available for Windows Vista and XP, and only in 32-bit compatible machines (w/c Linux and Mac versions will be released soon). I downloaded it and took it for a test drive on my windows vista ultimate toshiba machine. Surprisingly, i must agree with the early users around that this browser seems to be one of the fastest browsers available in the web today. One thing that i notice, though, is that this version lacks the complexities as what firefox and IE can do like the plugins, extensions. I can fairly understand this as this is still on the beta version, but we could expect more enhancements and bug fixes as this browser becomes mature and more reliable in the coming days and months to come. Chrome on my initial impression has a sleek, streamlined and elegant look. I used to love tabbing in web browsers but the tabs above the address bar for this version seems a little off for me as i need some user adjustments because am used to the interface of firefox and IE. But what i do really like about Chrome is how it loads the pages really fast as compared to Firefox and safari. IE is definitely way too slow to compete with these browsers. The architectural model of Chrome is impressive as the tab processes allows for a cleaner memory management model. I guess, this must be the result of innovating their own JavaScript engine model dubbed “V8″ which according to some resources i’ve just read, is to provide improvement to browser to allow: Multi-threading capability, Dynamic compilation to native code, Hide class transitions for optimizing repetitive composition of similar classes, and showcase “precise” garbage collection to keep better track of pointers to objects, and release them as soon as they are no longer referenced.

There are still lots of things on this browser that need to be polished and done like some bug fixes for Adobe Acrobat and Java Virtual machines compatibilities which i’ve experienced lately. Chrome’s security, licensing, vulnerability, and privacy issues have to be double checked also since this is entirely coming from a new model .But with a lot of support and growing fans of Google from the Open Source Community at large, a quicker and brighter response would surely be expected. And as competition gets even well and exciting, I hope we don’t overlooked Microsoft’s version i.e. IE8 as it would stir stiffer competition between the 2, not to mention other cool browsers available Firefox 3, Safari and Opera. See this comparison on Google Chrome and Microsoft Lab Test here.

[Job well done to the innovators of Google Chrome.] Now i wonder where does this Chrome bring us in the following months to come.

So, What do you think of Google Chrome? Try it yourself and see how this speedy browser could change the way you use the web. Download it here for free.

So here i am on my desk trying to validate the FM Model i’ve just created. It is basically a simple query using XML as a datasource ( coming from a Lotus Notes-based system) which is generated on the fly when the report is manually run). But when i clicked on the test sample command, instead of displaying the expected output I see this error which is shown below.

According to Cognos 8 documentation which i’ve just read, Cognos 8 stores temporary files in the Cognos 8 install path/temp directory. The amount of storage/space required in the temporary files folder depends upon several factors, which mostly include the number and type of reports being generated at a time. It looks like that when Cognos8 server tries to load the records coming from an external XML source (via LotusNotesAgent i made), the server is generating substantial volume of data which may have reached the memory threshold resulting for this error message to appear. I haven’t figured the exact memory threshold for this yet nor had an idea as how it is calculated but i am retrieving and arranging more or less 24,000 records in my cognos report. Not to mention the summary counts on a number of columns i have on the report which may have added some burden when calculating and aggregating totals. Furthermore, as i did my own investigation, i found out that this write error has interrelated errors in cognos, mostly attributed to that temporary folder being full and may need user’s action to free up some spaces.

QE-DEF-0177 An error occurred while performing operation ’sqlOpenResult’.
UDA-SQL-0114 The cursor supplied to the operation “sqlOpenResult” is inactive.
UDA-TBL-0004 There was a Write error while processing a temporary file.

For this reason, i had no choice but to ask our cognos8 admin to free up server’s space and that to double check whether firewall existed which may have resulted this error. If firewall existed, then client PC and the content should be open so that report specification can write to the content store. Since I have no control over the server’s settings especially concerning about server’s performance and administration, what i can do is just wait Admin’s advice so i can retest the FM Model if this works. I also was advised by server admin to free up resources in my local drive in cognos8 temp folder which i did. Moments after, I resume and generated a sample test, finally it worked.

So the next time you encounter this error,  ensure that the server has enough memory to dump temporarry files  and that the temporary files directory in your local drive has adequate space. 

Browse related topics and threads only here at : http://www.techronnati.com/forum/cognos/

While wandering the internet for hours, i was lucky enough to initiate a test trial with this new search engine i just discovered by accident. Introducing, Chofter.com, the beta-released version has been on the playing field early of this month - August 2008. Although relatively young, the site makes it promising as the author, Shane O’Sullivan, an Ajax/J2EE expert, dynamically uses all the tricks of what Web 2.0 and DOJO Ajax Toolkit can do. Gee, such a genius!

Chofter.com revolutionizes how the existing search engines returned search results by simultaneously searching keywords on Google, Yahoo, Microsoft Live, Flickr, YouTube, Amazon, and Wikipedia. And according to the author’s blog, there’s more to come. It also lets you to scroll the returned pages! This dramatically changes the way we view search results compared to traditional search engines in the net which only returns 10 results per page. It also allows you to search multiple categories spanning from Web, News, Images, Videos, Blogs, Books and a lot more - ALL at the same time. Wow, that’s saving us more than a quarter of our precious time rendering a research or query. Using the search’s portal compact view, each result showcases a title and summary just like a normal search engine would do. Moreso when you use the expanded view, each result displays the title, summary, and links to similar pages, cached versions of the page and for sure there would be even more updates in the future releases. Although not as aesthetically appealing (for me) as i personally compare it with the rest of the top search engines around, for a beginner, i think this is worth a second look. The initial release of this version was pretty slow for IE users but the author already rectified this issue and now it’s a breeze that i am able to search keywords much faster (am using IE, by the way).

Now, get yourself a break. Try it out for yourself-and I hope you discover it as an alternative site for searching. =)

… And to the author, keep up the good work. I hope to learn DOJO Toolkit too =)

I think one of the most rewarding experiences as a technology blogger is the chance of getting rated by your peers in an unbiased way. I was checking my email today when to my surprise i got an email from Amy Liu of Blogged.com saying…

Dear Unleashing the Techronnati Spirit author,

Our editors recently reviewed your blog and have given it an 8.1 score out of (10) in the Technology/Computers category of Blogged.com.
This is quite an achievement!

http://www.blogged.com/directory/technology/computers

We evaluated your blog based on the following criteria: Frequency of Updates, Relevance of Content, Site Design, and Writing Style.
After carefully reviewing each of these criteria, your site was given its 8.1 score.

We’ve also created Blogged.com score badges with your score prominently displayed. Simply visit your website’s summary page on Blogged.com:

http://www.blogged.com/blogs/unleashing-the-techronnati-spirit-1357360.html

Click on the “Show this rating on your blog!” link underneath the score and follow the instructions provided.

Please accept my congratulations on a blog well-done!!

Sincerely,

Amy Liu
Marketing Department
amy@blogged.com
http://www.blogged.com

Wow! Thank you Amy Liu and Blogged.com for such inspiring words and felicitations. I guess one of the reasons that is keeping me inspired to write about is because of YOU…. my avid visitors and loyal readers who unselfishly supporting Techronnati Blog and for believing Techronnati. The chance to be able to collaborate, meet fellow technology bloggers and exchange innovative/creative ideas between like-minded individuals are what makes blogging as exciting as it can be. Rest assured that only the honest opinions, hottest topics, real rantings and unbiased reviews are reflected in this blog.

Being on Top 700 out of 2,874 registered blogs under Blogged.com >Technology > Computers is truly such an honor knowing that this techronnati.com domain is just about 2 months old. (I started using free wordpress domain -> check this out. www.techronnati.wordpress.com.)

I believe there are still a lot of things to improve in this website. I have future plans of customizing the layout presentation in the future so watch out for it. But for the meantime, if you wish to rate Techronnati via Blogged.com…. just follow this image link below.

Or you can drop me a line and tell me what you think….

cforms contact form by delicious:days

Thank you very much,

Ron Z. (a.k.a. Techronnati)

(When a professional programmer becomes an avid writer)

Phil. 4:13

“I can do all things, through Christ who strengthens me.”

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

Hi everyone. I’ve been really mulling over this for quite some time now. But the recent events i.e. avalanche of emails and calls from the fulltime job which is demanding my whole attention have persuaded me to push this “idea” to the next level. Just about few months ago, I was carefully thinking about creating a section wherein there is a collaborative environment between techronnati visitors, guests and friends hence Techronnati Forums was born. Some avid Techronnati visitors here have agreed to pilot test the initial website which i am really thankful for. [thank you guys.... you know who you are! =) ] but after a week of testing and doing some technical code adjustments, i decided to technically link it already to my blog hoping others could use it for their research, discussion, and to search for answers.

Hence, this is it. I am officially launching Techronnati Forums.

So, who are the target audience of this discussion board?

• Regular visitors/readers of the Techronnati blog. All current and old discussions from the time i opened up this blog until now will eventually flourish into the forum. [I am currently synchronizing the topics but this would take me after sometime]. All readers will have the chance to interact to one another, create poll, surveys, conduct study and will be given a platform to initiate discussions or just thrown in questions out of curiosity who wanted to be enlightened. For those who doesn’t know it yet, {Techronnati} is an adapted term i created which means “Enlightened by Technologies“. It is basically a Portmanteau word coming from 3 different words = Technology + Ron  (given name) + Illuminati. So to those who are also enlightened by technologies in any way or another, feel free to share your stories in this forum =).
• Programmers, Analysts, Architects, Business People, System developers, Website Owners, Instructors, Students, Researchers…. Everyone! Existing bloggers who are interested into technologies, Gadgets, Businesses and Enterpreneurship. Discussions on site enhancements, server administration, problogging, web hosting, site monetization can be thoroughly discussed here with the help of other developers and gurus.
• Late Bloomers, Start-ups and individuals who are interested in harnessing blogs/blogging as a marketing tool as well as bloggers who want to promote their projects and events.
• People interested to become bloggers. This forum will also discuss in more detail, the ins and outs of starting a blog, webhosting and other tips about site administration, site development and more. For sure, there will be more resources, articles in the future and links will surely be added on a regular basis.
• I created the forum not to discriminate any gender, and any race. For this reason, i have incorporated translation modules into the Forum so those who are not comfortable in english can use this facility to translate to their native language [More Language support in the future so watch out for it]. Just like every club owner, Techronnati Forum has specific terms and conditions. Please read Techronnati Forum Rules and Policies and please abide accordingly.

Of course, since this forum is nearly just 3 weeks old, I’d be needing the help of my avid readers here to share their gift of knowledge and experiences. Tell us what you think. Be the first ones to post. Sign up there now.

It seems to me that Business Intelligence Softwares are getting popular these days. Some experts even say that BI Market are the trend of the future. With lots of businesses today realizing the value of data and information for their businesses, so are the mushrooming BI sellers in the market place. Datawarehousing, Performance Management, Business Intelligence, Dashboarding , Scorecarding, BI reporting, Historical, Statistics and Trending are some of the key terms associated with BI Softwares. Sometimes the decision to buy a software solution brings a greater challenge for the company as there is a need to compare various BI platforms arising in the market today. I thought sharing this chart would benefit those in search for the top BI softwares in the market. You see, am not claiming yet to be an expert in this field of BI Softwares. But since my job role at the moment is exposing me more into various BI reporting and functions, life is becoming interesting (well at least for me. =))

Below summarizes the list of the top BI Software Companies with their top BI products and the best they are known for. They are not as comprehensive as other studies but somehow it would give some insight to those who are wishing to add BI softwares solutions to their companies. Not to play bias here but some BI companies i know go for Business Objects, Cognos and Hyperion. Well, it’s not surprising though, since they were already acquired by the top IT vendors already-> Business Objects (a SAP Company), Cognos (IBM Company), Hyperion (Oracle). Needless i say but the decision to buy a software solution depends on the business requirements and budget of the company. I company I work for at the moment is using Cognos as the official enterprise BI Platform. Hence, the reason why some of postings I created are related mostly into programming experience with Cognos.

Actuate iServer v8, Business Objects XI, Cognos 8, Hyperion System 9, Web Focus 7, SQL Server 2005, Microstrategy 8, Oracle BI 10.1.2, SAP Netweaver 2004, SAS v9.13.