The True Significance of the Tablet
This blog post and the comments about it have provided me with a great deal of inspiration. This is actually the second essay inspired by it. The first was the previous post about the music industry. It was not directly related to the post, but it serves as a foundation for what follows.
When I was young, America got its news from two sources, its local newspaper and Walter Cronkite. Now, I say that somewhat tongue in cheek, but it really was true. I grew up in the age of TV, and Walter Cronkite really was that important. I am not old enough to speak to the importance of radio as a source of news.
In the TV age, we got our news from the TV, both local and national. Newspapers continued to be an important source of news. The newspaper was local, but through the AP, UPI and other news services it carried stories from across the nation and around the world. As the broadcast TV of my youth (yes, I can remember a time before cable) changed into cable TV, we were offered more choices, but the news paradigm remained unchanged. Instead of the nightly network news, we may have watched CNN, but the format and delivery remained familiar.
But, we have moved beyond the TV age. Yes, we all still have TVs and some of us still watch the network news. Newspapers are not faring as well though. We have entered the Internet Age, and many of us get our news through the new medium.
In the comments to the blog linked above is a reference to newspapers as a news aggregation. News aggregators are common across the web. But I think that many have failed to recognize that we have, to an extent, become our own news aggregators. Most of the people I know get their news from many sites.
It might be because we like CNN over MSNBC but it may also be (and in my opinion more likely) that we do not get all our news from one site. And, it is not just that we use more than one news site, but that we use specialized or focused sites. I don’t go to MSNBC or CNN, I go to Fox sports for sports news and Gizmodo for techie news and then I check the formula one site, and…
I think you get the picture. I don’t rely on any one site for my news. I browse several sites, grazing here and there finding what I want and consuming it.
And I think that many of you are like me.
This change, which I think has already occurred, has had and could have several far reaching effects. One will be discussed in a future essay, where I will be working together ideas from this essay and the previous one.
Now, back to Fakesteve and his idea that the tablet will be tied to some “…entirely new way to convey information…” I think that he too has missed something.
It’s already happened.
Well, that’s not completely true, at least not the way that Fakesteve is thinking about. Many sites already include video when they can. Gizmodo is a good example. We have moved well past the old standard of news, from a few aggregators to hundreds or thousands, from generalized to specialized, and from single media to mixed media.
No one knows what the next change will be, but I believe it is a mistake to think that there will be one new way to convey information and to bind yourself to one “format”, or to withhold a product waiting for “it” to appear.
The future is diversity. I am not sure that there will be a single new standard for conveying information. There may not be a new equivalent to the newspaper or TV.
The iPhone did not succeed at changing the landscape alone. Without iTunes and the Appstore, the iPhone would be just another cellphone.
The tablet, whether Apple’s or Courier or any of the existing tablets are going to change the landscape only when content providers and programmers start to create content and apps formatted and aimed at tablets.
Maybe Steve Jobs can pull that off, but I think that the change will come, even without him.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
The New Music Paradigm
Before tearing into the heart of today’s topic, I want to say that this is the first in a set of related essays. They do not follow a single topic, but they are built on one the other. This essay sets a foundation for the next.
The New Music Paradigm
What can we learn from the plight of the music industry?
First, let’s look at the past.
I grew up in the 60s and 70s. I own an enormous quantity of vinyl. Well, I suppose it isn’t that much, but I do have several hundred LPs.
Back in those days a group put an album about once a year and an LP cost about $3-4. Most LPs had 8-10 songs. Out of those, a couple would be great (hits) and a couple more would be good and if you were lucky, the rest would be okay. 45s went out of vogue while I was in junior high. No one I know bought them. I bought 1 (for a B side).
This was the modus operandi of the music industry for decades. Most bands weren’t (and aren’t) good enough to produce an album with nothing but winners every year, for every Wish You Were Here (Pink Floyd) there were probably a dozen LPs with only a single really good song.
Now, the switch to digital music and the proliferation of file sharing, and through it music sharing, may have turned things down a different path, but the ultimate truth is that the path was taken and where we find ourselves today is vastly different from my youth, when we got our music on vinyl.
Today, we buy songs, not albums. And yes it is still an album, even when it comes on CD. An album is a collection. A collection of photos is an album, and so is a collection of songs. But, enough of that aside, back to the topic at hand.
Today, we listen to music on MP3 players, not record players. We buy songs, not albums. We use iTunes or Napster or Rhapsody and we don’t buy as many CDs. We won’t pay a band for the mediocre songs they write to fill out the album. We don’t hear them when we see the band live and we don’t want them on our MP3 players. We may never again see the sort of album sales that were common in the 70s and 80s. I am waiting for the first band that really gets it. I am waiting for the first true internet band.
No record deal. No CDs. Play live and sell your songs on your website. A few are starting that direction. Muse has at least a dozen songs that you can listen to, in their entirety, on their website. No need to hope that their album is good, or buy a song based on a 30 second clip. Listen to the whole song and then decide. This is a step in the right direction, but Muse is an established band. I think it will take a new, unknown band to break though. Maybe one already has and I just haven’t heard of them.
But, I think that this new paradigm may have an effect beyond music, but for that you will have to wait until I post again.
The New Music Paradigm
What can we learn from the plight of the music industry?
First, let’s look at the past.
I grew up in the 60s and 70s. I own an enormous quantity of vinyl. Well, I suppose it isn’t that much, but I do have several hundred LPs.
Back in those days a group put an album about once a year and an LP cost about $3-4. Most LPs had 8-10 songs. Out of those, a couple would be great (hits) and a couple more would be good and if you were lucky, the rest would be okay. 45s went out of vogue while I was in junior high. No one I know bought them. I bought 1 (for a B side).
This was the modus operandi of the music industry for decades. Most bands weren’t (and aren’t) good enough to produce an album with nothing but winners every year, for every Wish You Were Here (Pink Floyd) there were probably a dozen LPs with only a single really good song.
Now, the switch to digital music and the proliferation of file sharing, and through it music sharing, may have turned things down a different path, but the ultimate truth is that the path was taken and where we find ourselves today is vastly different from my youth, when we got our music on vinyl.
Today, we buy songs, not albums. And yes it is still an album, even when it comes on CD. An album is a collection. A collection of photos is an album, and so is a collection of songs. But, enough of that aside, back to the topic at hand.
Today, we listen to music on MP3 players, not record players. We buy songs, not albums. We use iTunes or Napster or Rhapsody and we don’t buy as many CDs. We won’t pay a band for the mediocre songs they write to fill out the album. We don’t hear them when we see the band live and we don’t want them on our MP3 players. We may never again see the sort of album sales that were common in the 70s and 80s. I am waiting for the first band that really gets it. I am waiting for the first true internet band.
No record deal. No CDs. Play live and sell your songs on your website. A few are starting that direction. Muse has at least a dozen songs that you can listen to, in their entirety, on their website. No need to hope that their album is good, or buy a song based on a 30 second clip. Listen to the whole song and then decide. This is a step in the right direction, but Muse is an established band. I think it will take a new, unknown band to break though. Maybe one already has and I just haven’t heard of them.
But, I think that this new paradigm may have an effect beyond music, but for that you will have to wait until I post again.
Friday, September 25, 2009
A Long Held Dream
More than 10 years ago, I bought a paper organizer. I did not have the money for a laptop, or even a PDA, but I wanted to get more organized. I used to print out pages for it, I bought special papers, and all sorts of stuff. It was the medium size, using pages that were approximately 6.75” x 4.25”. Overall, it is a little smaller than a hardback novel. I really enjoyed it.
It was at about this time that the first eBooks were coming out. I don’t even remember their names, and I am sure that they would seem terribly primitive today if compared to the Kindle or the Sony Reader. Thinking of these eReaders, and that paper organizer, an idea started to form for a combination electronic book and organizer.
I love the idea of an eBook, and I truly believe that they are the wave of the future. In another 50 years, paper books will be a luxury that most people will not be able to afford. Most of us will be reading off some sort of electronic screen. I am not saying that paper publishing will entirely disappear, but as more and more people read off a screen, books will sell less and less. Especially, if anyone ever figures out how to actually put a library online, where for some sort of nominal fee you will be able to check out a book onto your eReader.
But, I already have too many electronic devices. I have a cell phone, a PDA, a TABLET (Samsung Q), a portable (Dell XPS 1530) and a desktop. I do not believe that we will ever get it down to one, but I am already trying to figure out how to reduce the number of devices I have around. The first two to converge into one will be my cell phone and PDA. My next cell phone will be a smartphone, if I can figure out a way to pay for the data plan (I already pay too much for three cell phones in my family). I am not sure how many of the others I will be able to compress into one, but I intend to work on it.
So, I think that is a long enough aside, so let me get back to that device that I dreamed out 10 years ago (or it may have been closer to 12).
My paper organizer (though the organizer itself isn’t paper, you get the idea, I hope) is 8 ¾” x 5 ¾” x 1 ¾”. I felt, and still feel, that this is a very good size. Small enough to carry about, though it won’t fit in a pocket, small enough to hold in your hand and take notes on, and yet large enough that you can read easily.
My idea was that you open the organizer, and there are two LCD screens. When you want to read a book, it looks like a book, two pages at the same time. When you “flip” a page, you go from the bottom of the right screen to the top of the left screen to continue reading, just like a real book. At the time, I was fascinated with the version of Microsoft Encarta that came with Office 95, and I imagined reading through a encyclopedia article, clicking on a hyperlink and having it open on the opposite page of my electronic organizer. I imagined reading a book, and clicking on a word and being able to open a dictionary on the opposite page, or even write notes or add annotations. Imagine a book where the footnotes would be hyperlinks that would open on the opposite page.
It was a wonderful dream. Since them, I have owned three portables, two PDAs, and several desktops, but none has ever filled in completely for that electronic organizer that I dreamed of. I own a Samsung Q1U, which I like very much, but it does not do, or at least not easily, what I envisioned in that electronic organizer. I love my PDA, but the screen is really too small for a lot of what I would like to do. The Samsung Q is a little too clumsy. It is a little too large to wrap my hand around comfortably (I am a big guy, and I can do it, just not completely comfortably), and it is too clumsy to carry around all the time and jot down notes on.
Over the years, I had sort of forgotten that dream. I have looked at dozens of Tablets and Netbooks and they all have flaws. If I had the money, I might try one of the smaller tablets, like the Viliv S5, but I don’t really think I am going to have the money anytime soon. Some of the smaller Netbooks are a great size, and the folding design makes them a little easier to carry about, since you do not have to worry as much about damaging the screen, but they are just tiny laptops, and being a big guy, I prefer a big laptop. I would rather use a touchscreen then a tiny keyboard.
But, Tuesday everything changed, when Microsoft announced Courier. Go watch the video. The software involved is pretty cool, but it was the hardware design that got me excited. Here, more than 10 years later is what I dreamed of, and from the demo, they seem to understand the value of the device as an organizer.
I want one.
It was at about this time that the first eBooks were coming out. I don’t even remember their names, and I am sure that they would seem terribly primitive today if compared to the Kindle or the Sony Reader. Thinking of these eReaders, and that paper organizer, an idea started to form for a combination electronic book and organizer.
I love the idea of an eBook, and I truly believe that they are the wave of the future. In another 50 years, paper books will be a luxury that most people will not be able to afford. Most of us will be reading off some sort of electronic screen. I am not saying that paper publishing will entirely disappear, but as more and more people read off a screen, books will sell less and less. Especially, if anyone ever figures out how to actually put a library online, where for some sort of nominal fee you will be able to check out a book onto your eReader.
But, I already have too many electronic devices. I have a cell phone, a PDA, a TABLET (Samsung Q), a portable (Dell XPS 1530) and a desktop. I do not believe that we will ever get it down to one, but I am already trying to figure out how to reduce the number of devices I have around. The first two to converge into one will be my cell phone and PDA. My next cell phone will be a smartphone, if I can figure out a way to pay for the data plan (I already pay too much for three cell phones in my family). I am not sure how many of the others I will be able to compress into one, but I intend to work on it.
So, I think that is a long enough aside, so let me get back to that device that I dreamed out 10 years ago (or it may have been closer to 12).
My paper organizer (though the organizer itself isn’t paper, you get the idea, I hope) is 8 ¾” x 5 ¾” x 1 ¾”. I felt, and still feel, that this is a very good size. Small enough to carry about, though it won’t fit in a pocket, small enough to hold in your hand and take notes on, and yet large enough that you can read easily.
My idea was that you open the organizer, and there are two LCD screens. When you want to read a book, it looks like a book, two pages at the same time. When you “flip” a page, you go from the bottom of the right screen to the top of the left screen to continue reading, just like a real book. At the time, I was fascinated with the version of Microsoft Encarta that came with Office 95, and I imagined reading through a encyclopedia article, clicking on a hyperlink and having it open on the opposite page of my electronic organizer. I imagined reading a book, and clicking on a word and being able to open a dictionary on the opposite page, or even write notes or add annotations. Imagine a book where the footnotes would be hyperlinks that would open on the opposite page.
It was a wonderful dream. Since them, I have owned three portables, two PDAs, and several desktops, but none has ever filled in completely for that electronic organizer that I dreamed of. I own a Samsung Q1U, which I like very much, but it does not do, or at least not easily, what I envisioned in that electronic organizer. I love my PDA, but the screen is really too small for a lot of what I would like to do. The Samsung Q is a little too clumsy. It is a little too large to wrap my hand around comfortably (I am a big guy, and I can do it, just not completely comfortably), and it is too clumsy to carry around all the time and jot down notes on.
Over the years, I had sort of forgotten that dream. I have looked at dozens of Tablets and Netbooks and they all have flaws. If I had the money, I might try one of the smaller tablets, like the Viliv S5, but I don’t really think I am going to have the money anytime soon. Some of the smaller Netbooks are a great size, and the folding design makes them a little easier to carry about, since you do not have to worry as much about damaging the screen, but they are just tiny laptops, and being a big guy, I prefer a big laptop. I would rather use a touchscreen then a tiny keyboard.
But, Tuesday everything changed, when Microsoft announced Courier. Go watch the video. The software involved is pretty cool, but it was the hardware design that got me excited. Here, more than 10 years later is what I dreamed of, and from the demo, they seem to understand the value of the device as an organizer.
I want one.
Monday, September 21, 2009
How I Found Funky
Monday is my TV night, but you might be surprised. Now, considering the time of year, you might think that Monday Night Football would be on the agenda, but no, that would be way too simple. Back many months ago, I discovered Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. Now, across last summer, I began to follow it nearly religiously. I say nearly because I cannot get religious about anything on TV.
But, my Monday night goes beyond Triple D. The night starts off with Alton Brown’s Good Eats. Alton Brown’s take on a cooking show is unique. You do see him actually do see him cook, but cooking is only part of his show. Good Eats is about teaching. Most cooking shows show you how to make a recipe, but they don’t really teach. Alton Brown takes the time to teach you about cooking, while still teaching you several recipes. It is no accident that one of the lead-in teasers has Alton saying, “There’s a lesson here.”
Tonight’s episodes were pancakes and waffles. Now, most cooks would not bother with a show on pancakes, unless they had a signature pancake that they wanted to demonstrate. Alton Brown teaches us how to make simple, plain pancakes. Well, he does add blueberries to them. I had seen the pancake episode before, that is where I learned that a whisk is the right tool for mixing pancake batter. I still don’t bother with making pancake batter from scratch, but I carefully follow some of the things I learned on the show to make my pancakes come out better. Well, I actually prefer waffles.
After two episodes of Good Eats, we get two episodes of Unwrapped. Unwrapped is not one of my favorite shows, but it is sometimes fascinating. I often go off and fix dinner, or do something else for an hour. Tonight it was dinner, and then making my usually bowl of popcorn to eat during Triple D.
But, finally we come to the star of the evening. Let there be no mistake, Guy Fieri is the star of the show. The restaurants are merely his stage. Now, that is not to say that he steals the shows. He spends most of his time showing off the food and the cooks.
For those who have never seen the show, Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives is a restaurant show, where Guy visits three restaurants during each half-hour episode, but there is always something different about that restaurant. What is different depends on the restaurant. They have done restaurants in auto body shops and gas stations. Often it is a restaurant where you can get something that you would not expect, based on the outside of the restaurant, like the fast food drive-in that serves prime rib. Sometimes, it is a type of restaurant in a location you would not expect, like the Mexican restaurant in Lincoln, Nebraska or the Chili Parlor in Seattle, Washington. And sometimes, it is the owner or cook who is unusual enough to draw Guy to the restaurant, like the metal sculptor turned restaurateur, or the….I don’t know what to call any of the others.
The show has become so popular that they now get lots of suggestions, and recently they did a show where all three restaurants were from viewer suggestions. They have done shows all over the country, including some out of the way places that you would not normally associate with great dining, like Salt Lake City, Utah and Boise, Idaho. There are a few things that are common to all the restaurants. The cooks and owners are enjoying what they do. They prepare food from scratch, and it isn’t what you expect.
Tonight’s restaurants were…
LoBello’s in Pittsburg, where they are making many Italian classics from scratch.
Pizzeria Luigi in San Diego, where a native Italian who learned in Chicago is making the best pizza in San Diego, in the words of his customers.
Pasquale’s in Baltimore, another Italian restaurant.
As you can see, I was busy for a few minutes, and I did not take any notes about Pasquale’s. Sorry guys.
They show two Triple Ds back to back, but the second is always a repeat, but since I have not seen them all, I sometimes get two that are new to me.
Then, the evening finishes with another Good Eats, and then they start repeating with the earlier episodes of Unwrapped and then Triple D. I usually don’t sit to everything twice, but I did tonight while I wrote this. I enjoy my Monday night lineup, and I won’t miss it until my beloved 49ers appear on Monday Night Football sometime late in the season.
Come join me some Monday night for the best night on TV.
Oh, and the title, “How I Found Funky”? One of the catchphrases of Triple D is, “If it’s funky, we’ll find it.”
But, my Monday night goes beyond Triple D. The night starts off with Alton Brown’s Good Eats. Alton Brown’s take on a cooking show is unique. You do see him actually do see him cook, but cooking is only part of his show. Good Eats is about teaching. Most cooking shows show you how to make a recipe, but they don’t really teach. Alton Brown takes the time to teach you about cooking, while still teaching you several recipes. It is no accident that one of the lead-in teasers has Alton saying, “There’s a lesson here.”
Tonight’s episodes were pancakes and waffles. Now, most cooks would not bother with a show on pancakes, unless they had a signature pancake that they wanted to demonstrate. Alton Brown teaches us how to make simple, plain pancakes. Well, he does add blueberries to them. I had seen the pancake episode before, that is where I learned that a whisk is the right tool for mixing pancake batter. I still don’t bother with making pancake batter from scratch, but I carefully follow some of the things I learned on the show to make my pancakes come out better. Well, I actually prefer waffles.
After two episodes of Good Eats, we get two episodes of Unwrapped. Unwrapped is not one of my favorite shows, but it is sometimes fascinating. I often go off and fix dinner, or do something else for an hour. Tonight it was dinner, and then making my usually bowl of popcorn to eat during Triple D.
But, finally we come to the star of the evening. Let there be no mistake, Guy Fieri is the star of the show. The restaurants are merely his stage. Now, that is not to say that he steals the shows. He spends most of his time showing off the food and the cooks.
For those who have never seen the show, Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives is a restaurant show, where Guy visits three restaurants during each half-hour episode, but there is always something different about that restaurant. What is different depends on the restaurant. They have done restaurants in auto body shops and gas stations. Often it is a restaurant where you can get something that you would not expect, based on the outside of the restaurant, like the fast food drive-in that serves prime rib. Sometimes, it is a type of restaurant in a location you would not expect, like the Mexican restaurant in Lincoln, Nebraska or the Chili Parlor in Seattle, Washington. And sometimes, it is the owner or cook who is unusual enough to draw Guy to the restaurant, like the metal sculptor turned restaurateur, or the….I don’t know what to call any of the others.
The show has become so popular that they now get lots of suggestions, and recently they did a show where all three restaurants were from viewer suggestions. They have done shows all over the country, including some out of the way places that you would not normally associate with great dining, like Salt Lake City, Utah and Boise, Idaho. There are a few things that are common to all the restaurants. The cooks and owners are enjoying what they do. They prepare food from scratch, and it isn’t what you expect.
Tonight’s restaurants were…
LoBello’s in Pittsburg, where they are making many Italian classics from scratch.
Pizzeria Luigi in San Diego, where a native Italian who learned in Chicago is making the best pizza in San Diego, in the words of his customers.
Pasquale’s in Baltimore, another Italian restaurant.
As you can see, I was busy for a few minutes, and I did not take any notes about Pasquale’s. Sorry guys.
They show two Triple Ds back to back, but the second is always a repeat, but since I have not seen them all, I sometimes get two that are new to me.
Then, the evening finishes with another Good Eats, and then they start repeating with the earlier episodes of Unwrapped and then Triple D. I usually don’t sit to everything twice, but I did tonight while I wrote this. I enjoy my Monday night lineup, and I won’t miss it until my beloved 49ers appear on Monday Night Football sometime late in the season.
Come join me some Monday night for the best night on TV.
Oh, and the title, “How I Found Funky”? One of the catchphrases of Triple D is, “If it’s funky, we’ll find it.”
Thursday, September 17, 2009
I'm Back
I have been keeping a journal since 1975. I have about a dozen journals filled with my writing up until 1996. That is when I first got a computer and started keeping my journal there. Though, to be honest, I have several bound journals that I started since then.
I have written thousands of pages that no one will ever read. I doubt that even my son will ever care to read all those words and why would anyone else want to. The chances that I will ever do anything to make future generations remember my name are slim to none.
That last sentence caused an epiphany of sorts.
“The chances that I will ever do anything to make future generations remember my name are slim to none.”
Is this the answer to my depression? I often feel that my life lacks meaning as much as it lacks purpose. Is part of the problem that I feel like my life doesn’t make a difference? That no one will remember me when I am gone? I certainly have reached the age where people start to consider their legacy. Is my problem that I don’t feel like I have one?
The more I sit here thinking about it, the more I think it might be.
Now, I add this blog to that body of work, and still I wonder if anyone will want to read it. Of course, with this blog I add the worry about whether or not anyone will want to read it now.
But, if I have any loyal readers, do not despair. I am not giving up on this blog anymore than I am giving up on my journal. So, I am back, and once again, I hope to post here a bit more often. Let me know if you ever read this.
I have written thousands of pages that no one will ever read. I doubt that even my son will ever care to read all those words and why would anyone else want to. The chances that I will ever do anything to make future generations remember my name are slim to none.
That last sentence caused an epiphany of sorts.
“The chances that I will ever do anything to make future generations remember my name are slim to none.”
Is this the answer to my depression? I often feel that my life lacks meaning as much as it lacks purpose. Is part of the problem that I feel like my life doesn’t make a difference? That no one will remember me when I am gone? I certainly have reached the age where people start to consider their legacy. Is my problem that I don’t feel like I have one?
The more I sit here thinking about it, the more I think it might be.
Now, I add this blog to that body of work, and still I wonder if anyone will want to read it. Of course, with this blog I add the worry about whether or not anyone will want to read it now.
But, if I have any loyal readers, do not despair. I am not giving up on this blog anymore than I am giving up on my journal. So, I am back, and once again, I hope to post here a bit more often. Let me know if you ever read this.
Monday, July 20, 2009
Last Night’s Dream and Today’s Reality
Last night, I had a wonderful dream. I saved a child from a building that was about to collapse. Some of the details are a bit fuzzy, it was a dream after all, but I remember standing outside the building with a feeling of happiness and peace. Well, that is until my cat started scratching at the door to be let out…half an hour before I usually get up. Ah, the joys of cat ownership.
Well, the cat did not really ruin my morning, and neither did the chaos of getting ready, despite the best efforts of my wife, my son, and the new puppy. I was a little late for work, but that is fairly normal.
I work for a state agency, in the IT department, and ever morning from 8-10 I man the helpdesk. My first call of the morning?
“I can’t get my password changed.”
That’s an easy one, and a good way to start the day. Now, password changes are a common problem at our agency. There are only about a dozen places that employees have to log on to. Fortunately, most don’t have to log on to all of them. Unfortunately, almost no one can keep track of the half-dozen or so that they do have to log on to. We often get calls saying they cannot log on to their PC, when in fact, they have been logged on to their PC for hours, and now cannot get logged into the subsystem where they actually do their work.
Well, rather than ask a dozen questions trying to find out what they are trying to log in to, I just asked for the number that we use to connect remotely. Connecting in remotely allows us to do things on the user’s PC, rather than relying on the user to do what we tell them to. I used to work at Dell, and that was a major problem. Once I get connected, I quickly see that it is a problem with the mainframe password that is the problem, again, an easy one to start the day. I walk the user through changing their password and everything goes smoothly, until….
“Why does it work when you do, but not when I do it?”
I bite my tongue, hard, and answer politely, “I don’t know, technician’s luck.” Then I hang up, before my sarcastic nature gets me in trouble.
Boy, I just want to answer a question like that honestly sometime.
“It works when I do it, because I do it the right way.”
I can just imagine the conversation that follows that.
“Why does it work when you do, but not when I do it?”
“It works when I do it, because I do it the right way.”
“But I did it the same way you did.”
“No, you didn’t.”
“Yes, I did.”
“No, you didn’t, because if you had done it the way I did it, the right way, then it would have worked.”
Oh well, I can always dream, and maybe write about it in my blog.
Well, the cat did not really ruin my morning, and neither did the chaos of getting ready, despite the best efforts of my wife, my son, and the new puppy. I was a little late for work, but that is fairly normal.
I work for a state agency, in the IT department, and ever morning from 8-10 I man the helpdesk. My first call of the morning?
“I can’t get my password changed.”
That’s an easy one, and a good way to start the day. Now, password changes are a common problem at our agency. There are only about a dozen places that employees have to log on to. Fortunately, most don’t have to log on to all of them. Unfortunately, almost no one can keep track of the half-dozen or so that they do have to log on to. We often get calls saying they cannot log on to their PC, when in fact, they have been logged on to their PC for hours, and now cannot get logged into the subsystem where they actually do their work.
Well, rather than ask a dozen questions trying to find out what they are trying to log in to, I just asked for the number that we use to connect remotely. Connecting in remotely allows us to do things on the user’s PC, rather than relying on the user to do what we tell them to. I used to work at Dell, and that was a major problem. Once I get connected, I quickly see that it is a problem with the mainframe password that is the problem, again, an easy one to start the day. I walk the user through changing their password and everything goes smoothly, until….
“Why does it work when you do, but not when I do it?”
I bite my tongue, hard, and answer politely, “I don’t know, technician’s luck.” Then I hang up, before my sarcastic nature gets me in trouble.
Boy, I just want to answer a question like that honestly sometime.
“It works when I do it, because I do it the right way.”
I can just imagine the conversation that follows that.
“Why does it work when you do, but not when I do it?”
“It works when I do it, because I do it the right way.”
“But I did it the same way you did.”
“No, you didn’t.”
“Yes, I did.”
“No, you didn’t, because if you had done it the way I did it, the right way, then it would have worked.”
Oh well, I can always dream, and maybe write about it in my blog.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Thinking Outside the Box
When I started Dell twelve years ago they kept hammering one idea into our heads.
Think outside the box.
At the time Dell management was convinced that thinking beyond the accepted limits would make us better support techs. It was a noble thought which they abandoned a few years later as they tried, with limited success...very limited success...to build scripted tools that would allow less-than-fluent-in-English foreigners to answer US tech support calls.
But, my purpose today is not to dwell on Dell's dismal failures in the field of customer support. My purpose is to bring up the dismal failure of the computer industry to think beyond the box.
What box?
This one!
I am just using Dell as an example, everyone who makes computer cases is guilty of the same crime. The most significant appearance change in computers is that the cases that house them have gone from boring beige to boring black and finally to a few colors.
But it is still just a box.
We have entered the 21st Century and yet most computers are less visually exciting than a model T. Okay, there a few that have taken baby steps away from the box.
Acer
Alienware
And even Dell (kudos where kudos are due).
The problem is that these are still just boxes, admittedly fancy boxes, but just boxes. There is no reason why the computer has to be a box. The parts don't have to be arranged in any specific shape. Yes, the motherboard is a certain size, and the CD or DVD drive cannot change size. You have to have a power supply and fans are going to be important, but it does not need to be a square edged box.
I have been looking for a new computer case lately, and all I find is boxes. The computer industry has less creativity than the average bricklayer. They seem to think that slapping a few geegaws on the outside creates style. There are very few variations on the layout of an automobile, but we are bombarded with an abundance of styles of cars, trucks and vans. I wish that as much thought were put into the computer case.
At this time, there is only one computer case that I consider to be truly stylish...
It may still be a box, but at least this is a Stutz Bearcat to the rest of the Model Ts on the market. I hope that the future will see someone put some thought into computer cases and see that it takes more than add-ons and paint to make a beautiful computer case.
And if you don't know what a Stutz Bearcat is.....
Think outside the box.
At the time Dell management was convinced that thinking beyond the accepted limits would make us better support techs. It was a noble thought which they abandoned a few years later as they tried, with limited success...very limited success...to build scripted tools that would allow less-than-fluent-in-English foreigners to answer US tech support calls.
But, my purpose today is not to dwell on Dell's dismal failures in the field of customer support. My purpose is to bring up the dismal failure of the computer industry to think beyond the box.
What box?
This one!
I am just using Dell as an example, everyone who makes computer cases is guilty of the same crime. The most significant appearance change in computers is that the cases that house them have gone from boring beige to boring black and finally to a few colors.
But it is still just a box.
We have entered the 21st Century and yet most computers are less visually exciting than a model T. Okay, there a few that have taken baby steps away from the box.
Acer
Alienware
And even Dell (kudos where kudos are due).
The problem is that these are still just boxes, admittedly fancy boxes, but just boxes. There is no reason why the computer has to be a box. The parts don't have to be arranged in any specific shape. Yes, the motherboard is a certain size, and the CD or DVD drive cannot change size. You have to have a power supply and fans are going to be important, but it does not need to be a square edged box.
I have been looking for a new computer case lately, and all I find is boxes. The computer industry has less creativity than the average bricklayer. They seem to think that slapping a few geegaws on the outside creates style. There are very few variations on the layout of an automobile, but we are bombarded with an abundance of styles of cars, trucks and vans. I wish that as much thought were put into the computer case.
At this time, there is only one computer case that I consider to be truly stylish...
It may still be a box, but at least this is a Stutz Bearcat to the rest of the Model Ts on the market. I hope that the future will see someone put some thought into computer cases and see that it takes more than add-ons and paint to make a beautiful computer case.
And if you don't know what a Stutz Bearcat is.....
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