When I opened my Acrobat Connect Pro desktop client, a message popped up telling me there was a mandatory update. I'm not even sure why they bothered to tell me at all if they're going to force me to download and install it anyway. When I clicked to expand the release notes to find out what was so incredibly important - it was blank.
Nice one, Adobe.
Does anyone do quality assurance testing any more?
Let me start by saying that the IBM and Lenovo service reps have always been very pleasant to deal with. And I've talked to a lot of them. Frequently. Which is the problem.
My first laptop (back in the early 1990's) was a Toshiba Satellite. It was thick as a brick and weighed as much. When that died I used a desktop machine for a few years and then had a couple Sony laptops that worked well. I eventually bought an IBM ThinkPad T40, first because it had a full-size keyboard and second because ThinkPads had the reputation of being bulletproof. I have to say, the T40 was bulletproof — except for the wireless connectivity. It would drop frequently and then it would take 30 minutes to get back online. I spent all kinds of time on the phone with IBM service reps troubleshooting, installing software, installing drivers, uninstalling software, rolling back drivers. Nothing every improved the wireless issues — and some of what they told me to do made it worse. Other than the persistent wireless issues, it's still going strong.
Eighteen months or so ago I decided to treat myself to a new laptop. I threw down a bundle of cash for a fully-loaded Lenovo ThinkPad T60p with 4GB RAM, 120MB hard drive (I store most of my stuff on an external hard drive), an extra battery, the travel accessories pack, etc. And I've hardly used it since. I've sent it in for repairs three or four times now and they've replaced almost everything in it, and I've spent more hours than I care to think about on the phone with service reps, researching problems online, rebooting over and over, etc. It's been a complete nightmare. I just received it back from yet another trip to the service center (thank goodness I invested in a great service plan!) where they replaced the video card and the fan, and it's running about as fast as my mid-1990's Toshiba brick. When it runs at all.
I won't list the seemingly endless list of problems I've had, but suffice it to say that they've replaced the motherboard, the video card, the fan —and no doubt a few other things along the way. Oh, and the wireless has sucked from day one, too.
I'm using a Dell laptop at work and that will probably be my choice for my next personal laptop, as well.
I used to subscribe to The Industry Standard. I couldn't help but feel a little of the old dotcom excitement when I heard they'd relaunched with an online-only version. Unfortunately, it seems they've jumped the gun. The site is very buggy—which they seem to know because it features a prominent Report a Bug link.
I've tried verifying my e-mail with them three times now. Each time the e-mail arrives, I click the link and it tells me that verification was successful—but I'm still not authorized to view some pages or interact with the site at all.
I don't get it. Why launch now—after all these years—with a buggy beta site? Why not wait another week, or even month or so, and launch a functioning, usable site?
Weird.
Nero needs to find a new e-mail marketing partner because Innovyx has to be costing them customers. Innovyx claims to know something about what, in decade-old marketing speak, is called 1-to1 marketing. The most basic tenet of 1-to-1 marketing is this: "The worst thing you can do is to treat all your customers the same." E-mail marketing 101 includes marketing to segments of your customer and prospect databases, not sending one blast to your entire database. Nero and Innovyx haven't even figured that out. In fact, they seem to be sending the same e-mail to both their existing customers and those who have never bought a thing from them!
I bought Nero 8 a few months back and have been getting offers on what seems like a weekly basis to buy it again - at a lower price! After the first offer came, I contacted them and said, "I just bought this from you for $20 more. Since you're sending me this e-mail, I assume you're offering to refund $20 of what I paid you to match this price?" I got a boilerplate reply explaining why they wouldn't do that. Then the "Buy Nero even cheaper than last week!" spam kept coming.
All this has done is make me realize that if Nero can't even get decade old e-mail marketing techniques and technologies down, how can they possibly be committed to their customers and write good software?
Nero needs to either replace their e-mail marketing firm (Innovyx) or get with them to find out why they haven't figured out decade-old techniques. Otherwise they're going to continue costing them customers.
Santa Claus came today. He was dressed in a DHL uniform.
Good things really do come in small packages. The package (click the image for a larger view) in my photo here is smaller than a typical software box, but it is loaded with goodies. The Adobe Creative Suite 3 Master Collection comes with the full / extended versions of:
along with a bunch of other utilities and a 13-hour training DVD.
If you're planning to buy any Adobe applications in the near future, be sure to check out the various suites they offer. In addition to the Master Collection, they have more specialized suites that include a subset of these applications for Web designers, print, etc. They can really save you some money -- or at least give you some additional applications for the same price you'd have paid for the ones you were going to buy a la carte.
Remember all the buzz about citywide free wi-fi (wireless Internet) in Portland? How could anyone help but be excited by the prospect? Or at least intrigued. Portland was going to not only bridge the digital divide -- we were going to fill the damn divide and put a public park in its place. With a bioswale surrounding the bus stop and bicycle parking shelter. Well, it was a nice thought. Instead of free wi-fi, we got a dial-up speed advertising channel. And for many (most?) of us, those ads come crawling onto our screens at the price of a $119 Wireless Access Gateway.
MetroFi launched its network in Portland in December 2006 following a November 14, 2006 press release that begins:
Microsoft Corp. and MetroFi Inc. today announced a strategic alliance to bring locally relevant MSN® content and services to MetroFi's advertising-supported, free Wi-Fi network throughout Portland, Ore. The two companies also plan to use the Microsoft® adCenter platform to help advertisers reach local Wi-Fi users...
Clearly a network by the people for the people. Oh wait, that would be the Personal Telco Project. (Let me make it clear that I am in no way affiliated with Personal Telco and have no ax to grind on their behalf.) But I'll get to that. MetroFi Inc. has been, from its inception, a for-profit corporate entity in the business of making money. It does this by persuading cities to give it the wireless key to the city so that they can keep up with "nearly a dozen, forward-looking cities across the U.S." The only forward-looking Portland residents are doing relative to MetroFi is looking forward to MetroFi either getting its act together or getting out so we can get back to doing it right: locally and organically.
Wait... Isn't MetroFi local? Nope. They're happily nestled on Clyde Avenue in Mountain View, California. But hey, at least they're in it for the right reasons... Right? Well of course they are! Three very big reasons:
August Capital
...our partners have financed technology companies with an aggregate market capitalization of over $400 billion. These companies generate $75 billion in annual revenue and employ 240,000 people around the world.Sevin Rosen Funds
Over the past twenty-one years, SRF has employed a unique blend of technical vision and operational expertise to identify, at a very early stage, the potential of such companies as Compaq, Lotus Development, Cypress Semiconductor, Citrix, CIENA, and Capstone Turbine.Western Technology
Western Technology's investment team has originated over $1.5 billion dollars in transactions with more than 500 companies.
These aren't charitable non-profits. So why is MetroFi a company that investment bigwigs like this see value in? It's called advertising -- to an audience that is literally captive. MetroFi was to be Internet access for everyone. Instead, it's Internet access for everyone that has the patience to wait for Web pages to crawl onto their screen, sandwiched between and surrounded by lucrative advertisements.
From a June 6, 2007 press release:
"This is an exciting time for our Portland network," says MetroFi Vice President of Marketing, Adrian van Haaften. "We're growing and hitting milestones faster than anticipated, and are looking forward to what the months ahead will bring: more users, more advertisers, and more applications of municipal Wi-Fi."
Ah, more users. And more advertisers! Wooohooo!
So I guess that's you and me: an affluent and influential online consumer demographic. Feels good, doesn't it? To be both affluent and influential. I'm sure that's exactly who all the good souls with great intentions had in mind when they thought of free, citywide wireless Internet access for Portland. They must really be feeling the warm fuzzies now.
So just what does this ad-supported wi-fi look like? If you've been fortunate enough to not need MetroFi, allow me to give you a brief overview -- in MetroFi's own words.
First, there is the "Persistent Ad Banner." This "launches when a user logs on to the Internet within a MetroFi network coverage zone. The banner remains in the top 90 pixels of a network user's browser screen as they traverse the Internet, and advertisements rotate within it. MetroFi banner ads do not get lost 'below the fold,' and do not alter or rely upon the websites a user visits." Translation: It shows up as soon as you get on the network and never goes away.
Then there are the wonderful "Interstitials." This is a relatively innocuous sounding word which translates into normal English as "obnoxious, intrusive commercial." But let's let MetroFi speak for themselves about interstitials (emphasis added):
MetroFi also offers advertisers a highly effective full page ad placement, served as an interstitial several times per hour, per user, as they transition from one website to another. These ads can be in rich media format and generally display for at least 15 seconds, before redirecting to the user's intended web page. A great way for the advertiser to connect to its target audience!
- Rotated into network user's screen 1-4 times per hour
- Focuses consumer's attention to your advertising message
That last line has to be one of the best I've heard. Focuses consumer's attention to your advertising message. That's like saying that waterboarding focuses subject's attention to your question. Interstials were a very bad idea that every other major website abandoned a long time ago as it is indefensibly obnoxious and a sure way to drive customers away. But MetroFi doesn't have to worry about that. They're offering a free service.
So what exactly do we affluent and influential types look like? Well, according to the demographics data for advertisers on the MetroFi website, those of us using MetroFi in Portland break down as shown in the chart here.
- 7 out of 10 users are male
- over half are hitched
- we all have at least some college
- 90% of us have jobs
- almost half of us make more than $70,000 a year, with 10% making more than $150,000 a year
- the other 54% makes less than $70,000 a year
I just love that. The lowest income number they're willing to show is $70,000. Those poor folks. They definitely need the free wi-fi.
So what am I on about here? I want truly free wi-fi for everyone. Including those who make less than less than $70,000 per year. Including those who have less than some college education.
And I want wi-fi that works. I don't want people who make less than less than $70,000 per year to have to pay $119 for a booster so they can get free wi-fi so they can watch a page full of ads paint slowly onto their computer screen. I don't want the driver for free wi-fi to be the affluent and influential consumers who are worth showing ads to.
In short, I want Portland to get back to supporting the people who were doing exactly that: the Personal Telco Project. Never heard of them? Please change that now by visiting their website:
We are a volunteer group of Portlanders who believe that 802.11 (wireless networking, or "Wi-Fi") technology is both cool and empowering. We started out by turning our own houses and apartments into wireless hot spots (also referred to as "nodes"), and then set about building these nodes in public locations such as parks and coffee shops. Currently we have over 100 active nodes, and we eventually would like to cover the entire city of Portland, Oregon with even more.
Portland deserves free wireless Internet access for everyone. MetroFi is the johnny-come-lately illusion of free wi-fi. Personal Telco Project is the genuine article. They've been doing it -- with no fanfare -- for years. Let's give them the attention and support that they richly deserve.
Do you use MySpace? Looking at it and using it really takes me back -- to website design circa 1997. But it's not the terrible design and embarrassingly bad usability that will ultimately kill MySpace.
It's a far superior and far cooler service called Facebook. So grab your data and photos off MySpace now and stake your claim on Facebook because it's here to stay. MySpace is the new Friendster (remember Friendster?). Don't believe me, yet? Read on.
It's hard to know where to begin. For me, the transparency of a company about who they are and what they're about usually tells me all I need to know. And for a company to whom you're entrusting your personal information -- for many people their virtual diaries! -- as well as the information of all your friends, it seems this should be extremely important. So take a look at the About Us page for both these sites:
MySpace tells you absolutely nothing about who they are. For a site of this size with this many users, this is outrageous. Most personal blogs offer more information on the About page than MySpace does. In fact, the MySpace About Us page
should be called the Another Blatant Sales Pitch page. Facebook, on the other hand, gives you far more information than you could ever possibly want about their technology, privacy, staff, funding and so forth.
Here's the real About MySpace page:
with information about the guy pulling the strings here:
But all the terribly frightening, Bush-loving Big Brother Rupert stuff aside... MySpace just plain sucks. Despite having billions upon billions of dollars backing it, MySpace looks and feels like a site that was designed and built by complete amateurs who wanted the cheapest ad-serving, info-harvesting platform they could come up with.
Facebook is the antithesis of MySpace -- in all the right ways. Rather than list the myriad reasons why, go check out this recent article on the founders and the company:
Hacker. Dropout. CEO. | Fast Company
And check out what they're up to right now:
Facebook Launches Facebook Platform; They are the Anti-MySpace | TechCrunch
See you on Facebook!
Technorati Tags: advertising, Facebook, Fox News, media, MySpace, News Corp, politics, Rupert Murdoch
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