Google and China …

… a good move? Looks like at least some analysts think it’ll help Google’s image.

From the link:

People using Google.cn are now redirected to Google.com.hk, where they are given uncensored search results in simplified Chinese. Google is running Google.com.hk off of servers located in Hong Kong.

“Google made a smart move,” said Augie Ray, an analyst at Forrester. “Rather than unilaterally pulling out, they took an action that puts the ball back into China’s court.”

“While Google feels redirecting Chinese users to their Hong Kong site and search results is ‘entirely legal’, it seems unlikely the Chinese government will see this as anything other than an attempt to bypass their laws and direction. Given the impasse that Google and China came to on the issue of censorship, this move by Google seems a little less brave than inevitable,” Ray said.

Google had taken its lumps for agreeing earlier to follow Chinese law and censor search results in China . That wasn’t a popular move with critics in the West.

Monday’s move, however, may go a long way to cleaning some of that tarnish off its image. “Google is generating a great deal of press for taking on an issue that many in the U.S. care deeply about,” Ray said.

Tech sector to rebound in 2010

At least according to Forrester Research.

From the link:

The analyst firm expects U.S. IT spending to grow by 6.6 percent in 2010 after plummeting 8.2 percent in 2009. On a global basis, IT expenditures will jump 8.1 percent in U.S. dollars and 5.6 percent based on local currencies.

Forrester is making its predictions even though final data for the fourth quarter of 2009 isn’t in yet. It’s basing that confidence on recent signs of economic recovery around the world, including strong earning reports from vendors such as Oracle (ORCL) and the increased availability of credit.

The adults are now running the web 2.0 asylum

In news that isn’t all that surprising at this point, but would have been a jaw-dropper as recently as three, or so, years ago, over 34s dominate social networking websites. Web 2.0 has come a long ways from the heyday of MySpace.

From the link:

Companies can begin to target people over the age of 34 with media campaigns that leverage social networks as that age group has become the largest segment using Facebook, Twitter and other social media, a new study from Forrester Research claims.

While people in their teens and 20s were the first to adopt social networks for everyday use, they aren’t just for the younger crowd anymore, according to the report, “The Broad Reach of Social Networks,” by Forrester analyst Sean Corcoran. The report is based on a May 2009 survey of 4,455 people between the ages of 18 and 88 in the U.S.

“Much of the growth in social networks today comes from people older than 34,” he wrote. Compared with last year, adults over the age of 34 increased their participation in social networks by more than 60 percent. “Now more than half of adults ages 35 to 44 are in social networks,” Corcoran wrote.

People in their 40s and 50s still lag behind this age group in participation, but they, too, are beginning to use social networks more than in the past, the study found. And even adults 55 and older are starting to share and connect more online, Corcoran wrote.

“Seventy percent of online adults ages 55 and older tell us they tap social tools at least once a month; 26 percent use social networks and 12 percent create social content,” he wrote. “As a result, social applications geared toward older adults will now reach a healthy chunk of their audience.”

And here’s an interesting psychographic breakdown of social networkers:

Corcoran categorizes people who use social networks as “creators,” or people who write blogs and upload audio and video or post stories on social networks; “critics,” those who take part in online discussions; “collectors,” or people who organize online content by using RSS feeds and sites like “Digg” to rate content; “joiners,” or people who actually subscribe to social networks; and “spectators,” those who view user-generated content online.

Economic downturn is lowering software prices

The global recession hasn’t lowered prices in all categories, but it looks like software is one sector pressed to get lower. In a time of limited spending for many firms, I’d say pushing dollars toward the IT budget might be a good idea.

From the link:

The worldwide recession has hammered IT budgets but has also prompted vendors to make their software pricing and licensing models more customer-friendly, according to a new Forrester Research report.Forrester’s report looked at how 12 enterprise software vendors’ pricing and licensing strategies changed in the fourth quarter of 2008 and the first quarter of this year.

Easily the most dramatic change was SAP’s recent, well-publicized agreement with user groups around KPIs (key performance indicators) to prove the value of its fuller-featured but more expensive Enterprise Support service.

“The SAP change hasn’t really caused the market to go and say, we’ll do KPIs now,” said the report’s author, analyst Ray Wang.

But overall, “it is truly a buyer’s market,” he said. “We’re really seeing vendors being a lot more accommodating, especially with new customers.”