Unlike some other software companies, you aren't going to have to pay to download and try our beta.  We love getting your feedback, why put limits on the number of people getting it?

Tags: Qumana beta

What's the Buzz
Currently tracking 50 million blogs

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Bob Young was the founder of RedHat, one of the original examples of putting open source software to work in a business model that made sense.  With the money he made from the sale of RedHat, he set off to build Lulu.com, which offers writers a vehicle with which to publish, promote and distribute their work without necessarily using the existing infrastructure of agents, publishers and bookstores.

Evidently, according to this article from today's Globe and Mail, he's about to enter the video clip business, offering producers / creators the ability to create, promote and distribute their work.

The basics of the business model are outlined in this snippet from the article, below:

LULU.TV enters viral video field
Globe and Mail Update


Bob Young, founder of LULU.com, has announced LULU.TV, for video makers to profit from content as they deliver ad-free entertainment and provide a platform which emerging talent can exploit to further their video and movie-making careers.

LULU.TV has engineered a model for paying content providers. Creatives ("shareholders") pay $14.95 a month; 80 per cent of the total payments go into a pool. The pool is split up at the end of the month, with each contributor receiving a share of the pool based on his or her share of the total viewings of the videos on the site.

Tags: RedHat, Lulu.com, Lulu.tv, video sharing, content creation, Web 2.0, business models

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I had originally posted on this upcoming 'event' (number of blogs tracked by Technorati) last week, and had anticipated that the blog-o-meter would cross that line sometime on Friday, July 28, 2006.

Well, as of 14h00 pm PDT Technorati reports 49.9 million blogs, so I am (again) guessing that it will be sometime today ... if not, then certainly tomorrow.

A meaningless marker, for sure, but we all like watching and measuring things .. and it certainly doesn't seem so long ago that there were only 5 or 10 million blogs and blogging was still more often than not being bemusedly dismissed as a fad (hehe .. so cute that Forbes would put a blogging-focused article behind a paywall).

That was before newspapers and major online media properties began trying to incorporate blogging or other elements of interactivity into their online offerings.

It will be interesting to see what the next 12 months brings.

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First off .. apologies to them for the tardiness of this post recognizing and thanking some special people.

Well, as we at Qumana have long intended, we recently released versions in Dutch, Spanish and French.  The basic issues we needed to deal with prior to their release were ...

•  solid translation of the text strings and commands for the application,
• a straightforward web page outlining the basic information about the application
• and the ability to respond in at least minimal ways to users' support requirements in these other languages

Who is "them" ?

Thanks ... appreciative and sincere thanks .. are due to:

• Ton Zijlstra, a very well-known and wise Dutch blogger focused on knowledge management and the sociology of interconnected interactivity (Interdependent Thoughts), and his partner Elmine Wijnia - she recently completed a Masters degree in which she explored Habermasian (?) theory in relation to interconnected communications (Communigations),
• Michel Dumais, a well-known blogger and highly respected technology columnist in Montreal, Quebec (Ouvert 24 heures - verres stérilisés) , and
• Stephan Becker, a multimedia expert who is building up an environmental education service focused on marine biology, coral reefs, scuba diving and related issues as explored at Beautiful Oceans (for our upcoming German version of Qumana).

And of course thanks to our own Ianiv Schweber, who was able to create the Spanish version since he is a native Spanish speaker.

Your help and support has been, and will be, greatly appreciated.  Thank You !

Tags: Ton Zijlstra, Elmine Wijnia, Michel Dumais, Stephan Becker, Ianiv Schweber

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Via the UK's Independent.  I love it.

Typepad Europe has done a great job introducing blogging to the main European countries as well.  Loic LeMeur et son equipe ont  fait un super travail !  I remember meeting him briefly about 2 and one-half years ago in Paris as he was just getting started, and he certainly has covered a lot of ground since then.

The International Herald Tribune picks up on this emerging trend (and imo it's not surprising - I know France well and agree with the  notions advanced by sociologists cited in the articles).

"France's Mysterious Embrace Of Blogs"  (IHT, July 27, 2006)

'Cher journal': French love affair with internet results in world's top bloggers
By John Lichfield in Paris


What is the French for a "blog"? The answer is "un blog" - and the French have seized on them more enthusiastically than any other nation. By several yardsticks, the French are more rabid bloggers than even the Americans, who invented them.

According to one recent survey, six million French men and women, or one in 10 of the population, have blogs, or interactive internet diaries, devoted to their personal lives, thoughts, anguishes, loves and hatreds.

This figure, based on unchecked claims by French internet users, is regarded as exaggerated. A more conservative survey, by the respected media study company Médiamétrie, puts the number of active French blogs at just over three million - still proportionately far ahead of the US and by far the largest number in Europe. Britain is estimated to have more than one million blogs.

Why are the French such keen bloggers ?

If any of you know French bloggers, please help spread the word that there is now available a French version of a free, easy-to-use offline blog editing application that has advanced, designed-just-for-blogging functionality.

Qumana also offers bloggers a French version of a sophisticated and easy-to-use RSS newsreader - Lektora.

Tags: Qumana French, Typepad, Typepad Europe, Loic LeMeur, blogging

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I've been dying to try Foldera.  From day one, I've been thinking that it would be something really sweet.  I'm still waiting for my invite in (and I even have inside connections!), but Oliver wrote a really sage piece on the whole experience.  Foldera hit the blogosphere by storm.  They had something like 3 million requests for accounts in the first days of their announcement.  From my inside information, yes, accounts are being handed out (did I mention I'm still waiting), and progress is being made towards making the system production ready.

The lesson here?  Don't rush to let everyone into your beta.  Building stability is important.  Building a good, solid user experience is important.  Maybe Foldera could become the next Gmail?  "Oh, well I got my Foldera invite..."

I've been reflecting on this as Qumana is looking at it's next round of cool features to start rolling out.  This is a lesson that I am certainly going to remember.

Tags: Foldera, beta software, managing user expectation

Lot's of controversy swirling around YouTube lately.  They are serving 100 million videos a day.  People visit to see clips of all kinds, but there is a problem—copyright.  BusinessWeek has a good piece this morning (boy they've had some gems today) on the whole controversy.

These are tough, tough issues.  Does YouTube have the right to claim copyright and distribution of your work just because you use their service?  Are there ways to protect yourself?  Would embedding a CreativeCommons license into the video help?  Would hosting it yourself, but using RedSwoosh to distribute the bandwidth help?

As a company, Qumana believes that you own your content.  That you have the rights to monetize your content.  Your made it so you should reap the benefits.

Seems straightforward to me.

Tags: YouTube, Copyright, CreativeCommons, Qumana

One click on DropPad ... open Qumana

Type in title of blog post

Type body of message ...

Open "Source View".

Paste html snippet where the cursor is flashing ...

Posts that contain Qumana per day for the last 30 days.

Get your own chart!

Return to WYSIWYG ... check and adjust line spacing if desired ...

Add italics ... check Categories for this post.

Insert Q-Ads text advertising if desired ... place cursor where you want the ad, click on "Insert Ad", type a keyword (use the customizable banner designer to customize ad), then click OK.

Check which blog you're posting to ...

Add Technorati Tags by clicking on "Insert Tags"

Type tags into dialog box, click OK.

Take a last look ...

Click on "Publish Post".

Presto !

Tags: Qumana, offline blog editor, easy blogging, ease of use, usability

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Qumana Software  Inc.
330-1639 West 2nd Ave
Vancouver, BC V6J 1H3
Tel: 604.837.0400
Internet:  http://www.qumana.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

QUMANA REACHES GLOBALLY WITH
MULTI-LINGUAL BLOG EDITOR

Qumana Software releases blog editor in French, Spanish & Dutch 

VANCOUVER, B.C. - July 24, 2006 - Qumana Software Inc. (“Qumana”) today launches its blog publishing tool, Qumana, in French, Spanish and Dutch versions. These languages mark the first steps to make Qumana a universal tool for bloggers around the globe.

Qumana is a free desktop publishing tool for PC & Mac used to publish to one or more weblogs. Qumana makes writing to blogs as easy as typing an email, with features such as spell check and WYSIWYG image alignment that take the complication out of this new blog technology. The first release of Qumana was in February of 2006, and since then has been downloaded by tens of thousands of bloggers around the world. The increased demand for Qumana has encouraged the release of the first non-English versions: French, Spanish & Dutch, with more versions on the way.

Fred Fabro, CEO of Qumana Software, notes that “many software providers tend to focus only on the English-speaking market. We think every person who has a voice on the Internet should have access to the tools to make communication easier.” Fred continues, “We built Qumana for every blogger, and will be continuing these translations to ensure every blogger can use Qumana.”

About Qumana

Qumana Software, Inc. (www.qumana.com) is a leading developer of tools and services for bloggers. Qumana's industry recognized tools include: Qumana, a blog editor for online publishing; Lektora, an RSS Reader; and Q Ads, an advertising network for bloggers integrated into the Qumana tool. Qumana  develops tools for every blogger: PC & Mac, experienced & novice, and multi-lingual. Qumana  is headquartered in Vancouver, BC.

Contact:
Arieanna Schweber
Qumana Software Inc.
604.782.2417
arieanna@qumana.com

Not more than an hour after launching the new Qumana languages on Friday, the Qumana team got together for a barbeque. Had a beautiful view of Vancouver, great weather, great food and great company.

I realize that you need power to run computers. Obviously, after your computer's battery runs out and you can't recharge it, it's hard to keep composing blog posts ...

When there are power outages or other related systems outages that affect the Web but you still have computer power for your individual machine, you can still compose blog posts with Qumana, and save them to be posted later.

Silicon Valley gone dark day #2

George Ou reports that 100-degree weather coupled with widespread power outages have made for a miserable weekend in the Valley. George spent his afternoon assembling a gas generator to power his AC, refrigerator, DSL modem, wireless router and laptop...

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When will that marker be reached ?

Tonight Technorati states it is tracking 49.4 million blogs, so I assume it will be towards the end of this coming week that the 50 million mark will be passed.  Friday ?  Next weekend ?

Certainly many of them will have been abandoned some time ago, or shortly after being created, and no doubt many are moribund or generally inactive ... but Technorati is still tracking them.

And it's interesting .. and useful for us ... to note that they are still being created at a rapid clip.

It was on September 18th, 2004 that I posted that Technorati had just crossed the 4 million blog mark.

So, there have been at least 46 million new blogs created in just over 22 months by the time the 50 million mark is reached on Technorati. That's a heckuva growth rate.

You'd think that at least one or two million of the bloggers who have kept on blogging would want a simple, elegant, effective and free offline blogging tool ... like Qumana.

If for no other reason (though making blogging easier is a big benefit) than to avoid the frustration they seem to experience when whatever blog platform they are using experiences a service outage (which is at least as frustrating as the dropped call cell-phone experience that is now such a problem that the cell industry's advertising focuses on the issue).

I also wonder how many of the 50 million are from countries such as Spain, Argentina, Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Mexico, Central American countries, California ;-), France (and Quebec ... technically not a country, but ...), Holland and Germany.  Bloggers who blog in those languages now have access to Qumana operational in their native language (German coming in  a day or two).  Good thing Qumana plays nice with Typepad ... they have a growing base of users in those European countries / languages.

Surely more than a handful will want to try it out.

Tags: Qumana, Qumana Spanish, Qumana French, Qumana Dutch, growth of blogging, Typepad, Typepad Europe

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Qumana is going International
Introducing three new versions of our Qumana blog editor. We are proud to announce the release of:

Qumana Spanish

Qumana French

Qumana is happy to announce the first International versions of Qumana - our first steps to make Qumana a universal tool for bloggers around the globe.

The increased demand for Qumana has prompted us to develop Qumana into versions that can be used by non-English speaking bloggers. Our first non-English versions are French, Spanish & Dutch, with more versions on the way. Of course, all versions are for both PC & Mac users.

Each new version of Qumana has buttons and instructions written in natural language. We've had bloggers helping us get the translations just right, so thank you for all your help!

Here at Qumana we think every person who has a voice on the Internet should have access to the tools to make communication easier. We built Qumana for every blogger, and will be continuing these translations to ensure every blogger can use Qumana. And, we are also working to Q Ads inventory in every new language too!

Which language of Qumana will you blog in?

Tags: qumana, qumana french, qumana dutch, qumana spanish, espanol, nederlands, francais, international, global, translation, blogging, blog editor, blog