Ok, I've checked out the full Gartner report mentioned in my last post and I can start eating my hat. Gartner gives SAS a very strong push - including stating that SAS' strength is:

...

Gartner has published their latest BI Magic Quadrant and apart from the fact that almost every vendor can claim leadership I wonder about the latest claim that SAS has made today. This is the headline from the SAS PR machine:

The original post is here if you want to read the whole thing.

I find the claim a bridge too far - but...

Someone sent me the following list:

What's In ................ What's Out
Oversight ................ Regulation
Integration................ Centralization
Front-to-Back Linkages ................ Point-to-Point Solutions
Business Semantics ................ Data Dictionaries
OWL................ XML
Ad-hoc Reporting................ Compliance Reporting
Value at Risk Metrics ................ Operational Metrics
Data Tax ................ Begging...

Signs of shady Russian share dealing

Mark Hawthorne December 12, 2008, The Age


Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich.

YOU can forgive Cape Lambert's Iron Ore boss Tony Sage for feeling like a man under siege. Ever since the executive chairman secured $400 million in cash for the company's iron ore assets in Western Australia from China Metallurgical, the sharks have been...

Ode to the Numbers
by Pablo Neruda

Such thirst
to know how much!
Such hunger
to know
how many stars in the sky!

We pass
our infancies
counting stones, plants,
fingers, sand grains, teeth,
pass our youths counting
petals, hairs.
We count
the color and the years,
the lives and kisses,
bulls
in the fields, waves
in the sea. The ships
made ciphers which multiplied.
...