SharkTank at ComputerWorld: “Really, Really good at his job”
Monitoring network performance is a complicated and very subtle science. However, sometimes diagnosis is dead-obvious.
Fish: Hi, I’m calling from network operations. I’m calling to ask if the power is still on at your location.
Branch manager: Yes, it is.
Fish: OK, is anyone doing any construction in your building?
Manager: In the building? No.
Fish: (sensing there’s something going on) What about outside?
Manager: Well, there’s a group of guys with a backhoe across the back alley.
Fish: Can you see them from where you are?
Manager: Yes.
Fish: Are they standing around in a circle around a hole?
Manager: Yeah. How do you know this?
Fish: I’m really good at my job. Do they look like they may have just done something really bad?
Manager: Do they look guilty? From what I can see, yeah, I’d say so.
InfoWorld (via Yahoo): Firefox 3.0 opens door to Web apps, Mozilla says
Mozilla 3.0 will likely include increased supports for Web apps, making software-as-a-service even more prevalent than it is now.
Perhaps most exciting could be Firefox’s ability to support writing an e-mail in, for example, Gmail while offline, with the data sent later when a user is connected to the Internet again. Ultimately, Mozilla engineers are aiming for an integration between the browser and Web-based services that is as smooth-running as a desktop application, Schroepfer said.
So far, engineers have made Firefox work with Zimbra, an open-source e-mail, messaging, and VoIP application. With a bit of code from Google and Microsoft, it would be possible to integrate with Gmail and Hotmail and other e-mail services.
The only problem is that the entire development of SAAS is predicated on the idea that the Internet (or, in some cases, the network) is so ubiquitous that there’s no need for client-side programs. If we want to compose an e-mail offline, that’s what old POP3 clients like Ye Olde Eudora Lite and Pegasus Mail were for.
Don’t get me wrong, I see the utility in having offline access to SAAS applications, but if you plan to use offline access, why build your program online?
Of course, there are a few areas where this might make sense; especially if this IT Wire story (http://www.itwire.com.au/content/view/10043/53/) is true and Adobe plans to build a SAAS version of Photoshop, or you need to access Salesforce data on a flight.
SpendMatters: Vista, Office and Outlook 2007 are a nightmare.
This post by Jason Busch claims that category managers in charge of IT spending should pass on Microsoft Windows Vista and Office 2007 if given a chance, due to frustrations he’s had with the operating system and office suite.
Having spent approximately 25 of my last 40 waking hours trying to get Vista and Office 2007 to perform at the level of my previous operating system and desktop environment, I can honestly say that it’s an absolute travesty that Microsoft would have released such a half-baked product, having put billions into its development. In fact, my friends, colleagues and clients will probably attest to my slower than average response rates via email recently (I simply have not had the patience or the time to write emails while the new composer catches up with my typing).
While I’m not sure I’d go as far as Jason Busch, I have had some problems with Windows Vista testing it out on my home computer as well. Jason’s main complaint was speed – mine is compatibility. I have a printer I can’t use and tons of programs which just won’t run.
We’re not Microsoft bashers – in fact, we can’t think of a company, for good or ill, that has advanced rapid adoption of personal computing than Microsoft. But there hasn’t been a whole lot of love for the latest major offering – with one pundit at Yahoo! Tech calling for the return of Windows XP – and claims it would be like a return to “classic coke” from “new coke.” I’d likely purchase a version of Windows XP SP2 which contained Windows Media Center, a 3D interface like Vista’s, integrated search and gadgets. (Or I could just use VLC, WindowBlinds, Google Desktop, and Konfabulator…)
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