All the user knows is that their email doesn't work.
The user is just plain and simple out of the equation. The user has to sue Google in order to find out why the account was terminated in the first place.
In the old days, The 90's people paid for news from print sources.
They tended to gravitate to a few rather than many sources.
Why?
Simple. The larger news providers could provide the news conveniently and quickly. With an additional reputation for volume of acceptable content. This is something people would pay for.
Now we have access to the worlds press from our portable phone 24/7/52. Bookmarks solve the issue reputable news dealers.
I conclude it wasn't content that was valuable it was the access. Now that convergence of media has removed the distinction of news media from facebook status it is clear that what people are paying for is the access method. Thus a news provider must adjust to the fact money no longer comes from the reader.
Do you believe this marketing lie? I've been hearing this since the 80's. This is the kind of turtle droppings sales men have been leaving in my office for years.
Does a unique user return over and over again. This proves if they are engaged.
I paid a full year gym membership. I can with 100% certainty tell you I was not engaged with the gym.
P.S. I know you don't believe it either. I just react badly to marketing speak:)
P.P.S. Tracking user is easy. It's called a cookie. Done.
The CThe CIO Magazine Impact theory is something I came up with oh about 5 years ago.
I first started to formulate the theory when I noticed that once a month the CIO would come out with these completely outlandish loosely connected sprawling technology directional shifts. The emails were epic in there goals and promises.
The yes men managers of the place would get all chirpy about how at their last job they were in charge of mentioned tech 1 2 or 3. The young freshly minted IT members thought they were in the utopia of cool development. Then there was the rest of us. We learned several survival tactics. Most common of which, the tilt head and express bewilderment when spoken directly too about the fortunes this new tech would bring. Soon followed by an urgent anything leading out of the room.
Clearly something was not quite right. I couldn't put my finger on it. But I was starting to see the pattern. Then like a sprung tree branch to the face it all became abundantly clear.
I was strolling past the CIO's domain and there it was. Rather there they were. A pile of old CIO Magazines. Like a rabid addict I rifled the pile taking in each cover and index page. It was looking at the Dallas Cowboys play book after the game. It was all there in glossy colour. Without a mm of guilt I stole half the pile. I had to leave some evidence. I went back to my desk opened the spam folder of outlook and searched for the CIO's emails.
Can you understand the moment when someone realised what the Rosetta stone was. That's is how I felt. I almost had one of those gleeful little pee squirts in my pants. I however remained composed. The theory now fully formed had to be tested.
--- So here we have it the theory. First: CIO Magazine has been released to the printers. A calm settles in. The flood of overly keen email subsides. We are still grieving for our fallen co-workers that have left us as victims of the previous months storm. There is nothing official in the air just some sort of genetic trigger to hunker down where it is safe.
Second: There is no contact with the CIO now for 3 hours. No meetings, no yes bots pushing you for some stupid meaningless deliverable. You could almost split out the back door and no one would care. The day ends.
Third: It hits. The impact is large. This time there are "Attachments". The CIO clearly does not suffer from a cap on attachment size. The profanity is rising in the office. You can hear it build. The network is hosed and the exchange server has buckled.
The first impact wave is about to hit. Someone has managed to print it. Surprising little damage.
Now it's 9:30 am. The coffee break. We can't help our selves we gather like sheep. It's genetic it can't be helped. Then our manager says it. "So what do you think tech FooBar?" A very very poor attempt at trying give the impression he/she hasn't read the email. This is the pressure wave. The damage is done. Your only hope is the door. The only place in the room where the pressure can escape.
I'm always a bit blury at this point. I regain my senses a full two days later. I awake to the sound of what appears to be a caffeinated pimple spitting on me. It's the new guy. He's excited. This is the first of the after shocks. Generally they can be avoided or mitigated with careful planning. But they cause distress and are generally a bother really. The first week is the worst. 3 sometimes 4 after shocks a day. You don't have much time to prepare for them. By the second week it drops off rapidly to 1 a day.
But every once and a while a big after shock hits. It's another pressure wave. You've been knocked clear into a meeting room. In front of you is a newly constructed power point slide show complete with ripped off graphics from the attachment set. There is a way to survive. You must somehow make it cost more than a million and take more than six months. Because if you get asked for input, it is the only way they will
Most of the people reading this are part or fully nerd. My mother is not. My brothers and sisters are not. My grandmother is not.
This is the fundamental reason why City/Municiple WiFi is doomed.
Lets face it. People like to buy subscriptions to things. Cable Phone Internet. When they subscribe the vendor does all the thinking for them. The vendor either does the setup or provides instructions even my father could follow. As a subscriber you have an expected level of service from the vendor. For example: my cell/mobile phone will work anywhere. Cable is restricted to the living room and bedroom etc.
People do not want to constantly have to deal with drop outs dead spots etc. 3G for example does have these dead spots. However almost all vendors have a fall back network. This fall back is 99.99% of the time transparent, accept for speed.
What is the fall back for City WiFi. There is no consistant answer. Of the readers of this post I'm positive most of you can think of many possible fall backs. Problem is that it is most likely up to the user to configure/select/switch/acknowledge a fallback option.
People are lazy they will always gravitate to the option that involves the least effort and thinking. City WiFi in general is not that at all.
Paid for 3G 4G 5G...... is more likely to win every time. Why? It has a QoS. It just works. I can complain to someone when it's broken. I can get the vendor to fix my issue if I need. City WiFi does not always have those traits.
As a long time/. person I must say I am truly impressed by this thread. I was beginning to loose some faith.
The concept of a time capsule is fantastic. But to make it relevant to readers was genius. For the most part all responders are offering advice, constructive criticism and basically help.
17 years would appear to be a modest goal, however I'm fairly positive I have data on formats there is ZERO chance I can read. Even the simple floppy. I simply don't have anything that can read a floppy atm. So there is a two fold problem. 1. What data format will be readable in X years. 2. Will I be able to read format Y in X years.
- OS specific. ( Moon light can't count as it will never be up date with Silverlight ) - Browser bias'd. ( Again cross browser support is lets just say suspect. )
This is conversation is actually fairly mute. As html 5 + new gen Javascript engines are making application add-ons increasingly pointless.
You have points. But like others have pointed out it's all about the server room. That's the money maker. Vendor lock in the server room is a GOLD MINE. ( I speak of Large Enterprise. )
Microsoft was making steady progress in the server room. They actually had products that IT managers would say OK to. So we started to see this bleed of Wintel servers sneek in. Then something happened. All of a sudden not a single "new" wintel system has come near any of the many Enterprise server rooms I have had the pleasure of working with. Sure you see some upgrades and in some cases expansions but nothing new. So what was this meteoric event?
VISTA.
In my many many years of working in IT I have never ever seen a product release from a company cause such an instant reaction.
And your right Open Source is kicking Microsofts butt in the server room. The adoption of Linux based systems in the server room is amasing. Just a few years ago if you mentioned Linux you got that look from the CIO. ( Oh no not another OpenSource nut job ). Now from the CIO we hear "So how can I make this Linux + Java + Green"?
I personally think Microsoft is looking at a very steep decline. I also think they have started on that decline. However they have this thing called Install base. This is a massive anchor that has saved them many times. It's this install base that will let Microsoft hold at the edge or just inside the edge of decline for a very long time. Vista has eaten up some years already. IE has been nothing but a termite eating at the foundations. Basically Microsoft has to come up with a winning play soon. Or it's going to get much much hard to climb out. This massive install base is shrinking relative to the total market size for some time now. Another flop and it could be lights outs.
Oh and something to make everyone laugh. www.zune.com. I've left crayons in the sun that made better logo's
No where in the links provided did it show that the "take-up" of IE8 was faster than Firefox 3.5. It does show that IE8 has a larger market share than Firefox 3.5 but it is definitely not being adopted/taken-up faster than Firefox 3.5.
As a matter of Fact the data shows that the "take-up" is fastest with Firefox3.5.
Not bloody likely when it is a billion dollar industry.
Your statement doesn't bare up to the dollar facts.
I'd take.1 % of that business thank you very much.
Vista left me with a 3rd degree burn
on
Gaming On Windows 7
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
As an IT prof now for many years I felt it was my obligation to be one of the first on Vista. To stay on top of the current trends.
Well needless to say. Vista was an absolutely miserable failure on every front. It was advertised as being able to run on machines it point blank couldn't. I couldn't run it on top end XP machines because the drivers simply didn't exist. The user experience was an absolute nightmare, I still have nightmares with UAC pop-ups in them. The x64 version was worse than the 32 bit, it should have been better than... Last but not least the Ultimate Edition was the ultimate rip off.
I'm not going through that again. I see lots of hype around Win 7. I saw it with Vista as well. I see a truck load of promises. Saw them back then too. I just can't believe all the hype. What's the phrase. "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." or something to that effect.
For me to use win 7 with in a year of launch will be extremely unlikely. I just can't see a compelling reason why I need too. Even gaming. There will not be a decent game out that will not be compatible with prior OS for well over a year. For me to need to use win 7 in the office is even more unlikely. The odds of me recommending Windows anything for the Enterprise is ZERO.
The burn that VISTA left with me is tragic. I'm sorry MS but there are a lot of people in my shoes that feel the same way.
Where were you when I was pimping back in the 80's? They called me "Johnny Goodie Two Shoes".
My Ho's were always given away the merchandise. Eventually I had to change to IT to fund my "habit". I was just loosing way to much money. Ho maintenance ain't cheap, you know.
And all I had to do was rough up the clients once and a while. You know, I knew I was missing something. I just couldn't put my finger on it.
Jonathan Lamy is associated with the RIAA not the MPAA. Thus he is not even remotely hinting that your DVD will be DRM infection free. Only your precious copy of the Chipmonks sing "Achy Breaky Heart" can be freely copied between your audio devices.
When some one sends me the "Oh please check out my super duper cool Share point embedded Office power point blah blah blah" very important link. I respond.
Sorry Doesn't load on my iPhone.
( I don't really own an iPhone. But iPhone makes them go "Oh crap, iPhones are cooler than this. I'd better re-do it so iPhone's can view it. )
After that it tends to be de-Microsoft'd enough for me to feel comfortable opening the link.
I'm a little more militant in my opinion of ActiveX.
Dumbest idea EVER. Microsoft has tossed more money down this sinkhole of a technology trying to fill the hole. People, Companies and governments have tossed even more down the same hole fixing issues that directly arise from some ActiveX bug.
How much further along would Microsoft have been along if they had just passed over this DUMB marketing idea anyway. ( It had to come from marketing, it must have, really who else could be this dumb. )
What it's been a decade of disaster when it comes to ActiveX issues.
Guys it's a bad idea. It's lame, take it out back and shoot it. Just say out loud, "We are sorry, this will never be in another one of our products after this point."
However it has made a lot of my product buying decisions over the years a lot easier. I ask the sales nerd. "Does this product make use of ActiveX in any way? I mean even as an optional addon?". If I get the reply, "Yes", or "We are building ActiveX into the next version.". I simple end the meeting and escort them to the door and give them a complimentary donut. ( I'm getting a bit like that when the caffeinated hyper English sales guy screams, web2.0 AJAX twitter in my face when he's only talking about the product packaging. )
Back to ActiveX. Again I say, DUMBEST IDEA EVER!
Sorry I take that back. Sub-Prime Mortgages, that's the dumbest idea ever. We'll give you money at a loss, not really check your credit, and expect you to be able to repay at an insane rate in 3-5 years time. Now that's a DUMB idea.
Slashdot Mirror
I'm a shut in with no friends and I order everything online in sizes that fit through my mail slot.
And even I pity these people.
Please read the article.
Because that is exactly what it says.
The question is how?
All the user knows is that their email doesn't work.
The user is just plain and simple out of the equation. The user has to sue Google in order to find out why the account was terminated in the first place.
In the old days, The 90's people paid for news from print sources.
They tended to gravitate to a few rather than many sources.
Why?
Simple. The larger news providers could provide the news conveniently and quickly. With an additional reputation for volume of acceptable content. This is something people would pay for.
Now we have access to the worlds press from our portable phone 24/7/52. Bookmarks solve the issue reputable news dealers.
I conclude it wasn't content that was valuable it was the access. Now that convergence of media has removed the distinction of news media from facebook status it is clear that what people are paying for is the access method. Thus a news provider must adjust to the fact money no longer comes from the reader.
-->> paying shows they're "engaged". --
Do you believe this marketing lie? I've been hearing this since the 80's. This is the kind of turtle droppings sales men have been leaving in my office for years.
Does a unique user return over and over again. This proves if they are engaged.
I paid a full year gym membership. I can with 100% certainty tell you I was not engaged with the gym.
P.S. I know you don't believe it either. I just react badly to marketing speak :)
P.P.S. Tracking user is easy. It's called a cookie. Done.
OK news is another content type on the net that would benefit from micro-payments.
Problem. Is there a micro-payment system out there that people would trust? NOPE.
Every micro scheme I've seen to date want to effectively tax the user with huge fees. Or saddle it with some craptastic marketing angle.
Until the governments put some trust behind the system like have for cash then micro payments are a no show.
The CThe CIO Magazine Impact theory is something I came up with oh about 5 years ago.
I first started to formulate the theory when I noticed that once a month the CIO would come out with these completely outlandish loosely connected sprawling technology directional shifts. The emails were epic in there goals and promises.
The yes men managers of the place would get all chirpy about how at their last job they were in charge of mentioned tech 1 2 or 3. The young freshly minted IT members thought they were in the utopia of cool development. Then there was the rest of us. We learned several survival tactics. Most common of which, the tilt head and express bewilderment when spoken directly too about the fortunes this new tech would bring. Soon followed by an urgent anything leading out of the room.
Clearly something was not quite right. I couldn't put my finger on it. But I was starting to see the pattern. Then like a sprung tree branch to the face it all became abundantly clear.
I was strolling past the CIO's domain and there it was. Rather there they were. A pile of old CIO Magazines. Like a rabid addict I rifled the pile taking in each cover and index page. It was looking at the Dallas Cowboys play book after the game. It was all there in glossy colour. Without a mm of guilt I stole half the pile. I had to leave some evidence. I went back to my desk opened the spam folder of outlook and searched for the CIO's emails.
Can you understand the moment when someone realised what the Rosetta stone was. That's is how I felt. I almost had one of those gleeful little pee squirts in my pants. I however remained composed. The theory now fully formed had to be tested.
---
So here we have it the theory.
First:
CIO Magazine has been released to the printers. A calm settles in. The flood of overly keen email subsides. We are still grieving for our fallen co-workers that have left us as victims of the previous months storm. There is nothing official in the air just some sort of genetic trigger to hunker down where it is safe.
Second:
There is no contact with the CIO now for 3 hours. No meetings, no yes bots pushing you for some stupid meaningless deliverable. You could almost split out the back door and no one would care. The day ends.
Third:
It hits. The impact is large. This time there are "Attachments". The CIO clearly does not suffer from a cap on attachment size. The profanity is rising in the office. You can hear it build. The network is hosed and the exchange server has buckled.
The first impact wave is about to hit. Someone has managed to print it. Surprising little damage.
Now it's 9:30 am. The coffee break. We can't help our selves we gather like sheep. It's genetic it can't be helped. Then our manager says it. "So what do you think tech FooBar?" A very very poor attempt at trying give the impression he/she hasn't read the email. This is the pressure wave. The damage is done. Your only hope is the door. The only place in the room where the pressure can escape.
I'm always a bit blury at this point. I regain my senses a full two days later. I awake to the sound of what appears to be a caffeinated pimple spitting on me. It's the new guy. He's excited. This is the first of the after shocks. Generally they can be avoided or mitigated with careful planning. But they cause distress and are generally a bother really. The first week is the worst. 3 sometimes 4 after shocks a day. You don't have much time to prepare for them. By the second week it drops off rapidly to 1 a day.
But every once and a while a big after shock hits. It's another pressure wave. You've been knocked clear into a meeting room. In front of you is a newly constructed power point slide show complete with ripped off graphics from the attachment set. There is a way to survive. You must somehow make it cost more than a million and take more than six months. Because if you get asked for input, it is the only way they will
Most of the people reading this are part or fully nerd. My mother is not. My brothers and sisters are not. My grandmother is not.
This is the fundamental reason why City/Municiple WiFi is doomed.
Lets face it. People like to buy subscriptions to things. Cable Phone Internet.
When they subscribe the vendor does all the thinking for them. The vendor either does the setup or provides instructions even my father could follow. As a subscriber you have an expected level of service from the vendor. For example: my cell/mobile phone will work anywhere. Cable is restricted to the living room and bedroom etc.
People do not want to constantly have to deal with drop outs dead spots etc. 3G for example does have these dead spots. However almost all vendors have a fall back network. This fall back is 99.99% of the time transparent, accept for speed.
What is the fall back for City WiFi. There is no consistant answer. Of the readers of this post I'm positive most of you can think of many possible fall backs. Problem is that it is most likely up to the user to configure/select/switch/acknowledge a fallback option.
People are lazy they will always gravitate to the option that involves the least effort and thinking. City WiFi in general is not that at all.
Paid for 3G 4G 5G...... is more likely to win every time. Why? It has a QoS. It just works. I can complain to someone when it's broken. I can get the vendor to fix my issue if I need. City WiFi does not always have those traits.
As a long time /. person I must say I am truly impressed by this thread. I was beginning to loose some faith.
The concept of a time capsule is fantastic. But to make it relevant to readers was genius. For the most part all responders are offering advice, constructive criticism and basically help.
17 years would appear to be a modest goal, however I'm fairly positive I have data on formats there is ZERO chance I can read. Even the simple floppy. I simply don't have anything that can read a floppy atm. So there is a two fold problem. 1. What data format will be readable in X years. 2. Will I be able to read format Y in X years.
This thread offers a ton of advice. Well done /,
Did anyone else notice that the car is parked illegally.
Well at least it's illegal to park that near a corner in most places on the planet. Chicago might have "special" laws. :)
I would counter point this however.
- OS specific. ( Moon light can't count as it will never be up date with Silverlight )
- Browser bias'd. ( Again cross browser support is lets just say suspect. )
This is conversation is actually fairly mute. As html 5 + new gen Javascript engines are making application add-ons increasingly pointless.
You have points. But like others have pointed out it's all about the server room. That's the money maker. Vendor lock in the server room is a GOLD MINE. ( I speak of Large Enterprise. )
Microsoft was making steady progress in the server room. They actually had products that IT managers would say OK to. So we started to see this bleed of Wintel servers sneek in. Then something happened. All of a sudden not a single "new" wintel system has come near any of the many Enterprise server rooms I have had the pleasure of working with. Sure you see some upgrades and in some cases expansions but nothing new. So what was this meteoric event?
VISTA.
In my many many years of working in IT I have never ever seen a product release from a company cause such an instant reaction.
And your right Open Source is kicking Microsofts butt in the server room. The adoption of Linux based systems in the server room is amasing. Just a few years ago if you mentioned Linux you got that look from the CIO. ( Oh no not another OpenSource nut job ). Now from the CIO we hear "So how can I make this Linux + Java + Green"?
I personally think Microsoft is looking at a very steep decline. I also think they have started on that decline. However they have this thing called Install base. This is a massive anchor that has saved them many times. It's this install base that will let Microsoft hold at the edge or just inside the edge of decline for a very long time. Vista has eaten up some years already. IE has been nothing but a termite eating at the foundations. Basically Microsoft has to come up with a winning play soon. Or it's going to get much much hard to climb out. This massive install base is shrinking relative to the total market size for some time now. Another flop and it could be lights outs.
Oh and something to make everyone laugh. www.zune.com. I've left crayons in the sun that made better logo's
Does anyone else get that feeling that Silverlight is going to be the next ActiveX nightmare?
I don't want to nit pick but I will.
No where in the links provided did it show that the "take-up" of IE8 was faster than Firefox 3.5. It does show that IE8 has a larger market share than Firefox 3.5 but it is definitely not being adopted/taken-up faster than Firefox 3.5.
As a matter of Fact the data shows that the "take-up" is fastest with Firefox3.5.
http://au.gamespot.com/news/6185347.html
And that's only 1 vendor.
metaphor
UAC only exists because almost everything on a Windows box at some point requires super user powers.
As a UNIX user that is not the case. So yes us UNIX users do know better.
PC Gaming is dead?
Not bloody likely when it is a billion dollar industry.
Your statement doesn't bare up to the dollar facts.
I'd take .1 % of that business thank you very much.
As an IT prof now for many years I felt it was my obligation to be one of the first on Vista. To stay on top of the current trends.
Well needless to say. Vista was an absolutely miserable failure on every front. It was advertised as being able to run on machines it point blank couldn't. I couldn't run it on top end XP machines because the drivers simply didn't exist. The user experience was an absolute nightmare, I still have nightmares with UAC pop-ups in them. The x64 version was worse than the 32 bit, it should have been better than... Last but not least the Ultimate Edition was the ultimate rip off.
I'm not going through that again. I see lots of hype around Win 7. I saw it with Vista as well. I see a truck load of promises. Saw them back then too. I just can't believe all the hype. What's the phrase. "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." or something to that effect.
For me to use win 7 with in a year of launch will be extremely unlikely. I just can't see a compelling reason why I need too. Even gaming. There will not be a decent game out that will not be compatible with prior OS for well over a year. For me to need to use win 7 in the office is even more unlikely. The odds of me recommending Windows anything for the Enterprise is ZERO.
The burn that VISTA left with me is tragic. I'm sorry MS but there are a lot of people in my shoes that feel the same way.
But what do the students say?
Where were you when I was pimping back in the 80's? They called me "Johnny Goodie Two Shoes".
My Ho's were always given away the merchandise. Eventually I had to change to IT to fund my "habit". I was just loosing way to much money. Ho maintenance ain't cheap, you know.
And all I had to do was rough up the clients once and a while. You know, I knew I was missing something. I just couldn't put my finger on it.
Minor point people.
To put it in cave man terms.
RIAA is audio.
MPAA is video.
Jonathan Lamy is associated with the RIAA not the MPAA. Thus he is not even remotely hinting that your DVD will be DRM infection free. Only your precious copy of the Chipmonks sing "Achy Breaky Heart" can be freely copied between your audio devices.
SCO is reborn.
You heard me right SCO is reborn to file another frivolous lawsuit.
http://www.h-online.com/open/SCO-vs-Linux-New-investor-rescues-SCO-from-bankruptcy--/news/113540
When some one sends me the "Oh please check out my super duper cool Share point embedded Office power point blah blah blah" very important link. I respond.
Sorry Doesn't load on my iPhone.
( I don't really own an iPhone. But iPhone makes them go "Oh crap, iPhones are cooler than this. I'd better re-do it so iPhone's can view it. )
After that it tends to be de-Microsoft'd enough for me to feel comfortable opening the link.
I'm a little more militant in my opinion of ActiveX.
Dumbest idea EVER. Microsoft has tossed more money down this sinkhole of a technology trying to fill the hole. People, Companies and governments have tossed even more down the same hole fixing issues that directly arise from some ActiveX bug.
How much further along would Microsoft have been along if they had just passed over this DUMB marketing idea anyway. ( It had to come from marketing, it must have, really who else could be this dumb. )
What it's been a decade of disaster when it comes to ActiveX issues.
Guys it's a bad idea. It's lame, take it out back and shoot it. Just say out loud, "We are sorry, this will never be in another one of our products after this point."
However it has made a lot of my product buying decisions over the years a lot easier. I ask the sales nerd. "Does this product make use of ActiveX in any way? I mean even as an optional addon?". If I get the reply, "Yes", or "We are building ActiveX into the next version.". I simple end the meeting and escort them to the door and give them a complimentary donut. ( I'm getting a bit like that when the caffeinated hyper English sales guy screams, web2.0 AJAX twitter in my face when he's only talking about the product packaging. )
Back to ActiveX. Again I say, DUMBEST IDEA EVER!
Sorry I take that back. Sub-Prime Mortgages, that's the dumbest idea ever. We'll give you money at a loss, not really check your credit, and expect you to be able to repay at an insane rate in 3-5 years time. Now that's a DUMB idea.