Month: February 2005

A Rant Against Lotus Notes

2005-02-02 / spierzchala / 0 Comments

I have never had the pleasure of working for an organization that uses Lotus Notes as its primary corporate e-mail program. And I never will work for one; this is one of the core beliefs that guide my life.

I will never work in a mill or plant
I will never work in a restaurant
I will never work in retail
I will never work for Google
I will never use Lotus Notes

Lotus Notes is a long-lost relic of the early 1990s, when GUI design was in its infancy and the precepts were still being laid out. This site, categorizes 70 reasons for the loathing that this dinosaur evokes.
Number #71: Lotus Notes still can’t receive HTML e-mail messages, 10 years on.
Article link courtesy of Damien Katz.

Getting scanned from Comcast IP address — AGAIN

2005-02-01 / spierzchala / 0 Comments

This time, the IP (67.164.122.83) is definitely a client computer.
It’s hitting me once every 15 minutes, like clockwork.
Time to add another entry to the IPTABLES config. Done.

The Reality of Usability, Standards and Design

2005-02-01 / spierzchala / 0 Comments

In an interview with InfoDesign, Jared Spool talks about Web Design.

The TakeAway:

I learned quickly that business executives didn’t care about usability testing or information design. Explaining the importance of these areas didn’t get us any more work. Instead, when we’re in front of executives, we quickly learned to talk about only five things:

1. How do we increase revenue?
2. How do we reduce expenses?
3. How do we bring in more customers?
4. How do we get more business out of each existing customer?
5. How do we increase shareholder value?
Notice that the words ‘design’, ‘usability’, or ‘navigation’ never appear in these questions. We found, early on, that the less we talked about usability or design, the bigger our projects got. Today, I’m writing a proposal for a $470,000 project where the word ‘usability’ isn’t mentioned once in the proposal.

I need to live in Australia

2005-02-01 / spierzchala / 0 Comments

I love Smart Cars — Get Me A BRABUS
This idea rocks

Battle over the Google Bonus Plan

2005-02-01 / spierzchala / 0 Comments

John Battelle broke the story of how Google will assign bonuses.
Then Russell Beattie leaps in. He slams this idea. As do I. Google will create a culture of have and have nots. And with morale being anecdotally reported as low due to the publication of money made by people when Google went public, I continue to feel that Google will implode or get acquired within 5 years.

What do 1919 and 2005 have in common?

2005-02-01 / spierzchala / 0 Comments

These are likely to be the only two years since its presentation to the people of Canada that the Stanley Cup will not be presented to the best team in hockey.

The Free Stanley group is seeking to change that by restoring the prestige of the cup, and presenting it to the best hockey team playing in 2005. This could be exciting adventure, making hockey truly worldwide.

There are hundreds of teams worldwide who would leap at a chance to play for the Stanley Cup. I know I would…in a heartbeat.

Oh, and for the folks in Boston who may have forgotten hockey…the 1972 Bruins.

Moving from Typepad to b2evolution

2005-02-01 / spierzchala / 0 Comments

This morning, I decided that I had to re-locate to blog server that I ran myself. Typepad was kind enough to provide me with a 90-day free subscription, and I would been happy to use MoveableType. But when I went to install Moveable Type, the process was far more complex than I had time to dedicate.

b2evolution appeared straightforward. I installed it. Found that it had a Moveable Type (or Typepad) import feature. Exported my Typepad data, including the images.

Imported it. Blog was done.

Really, it was that simple. I was shocked. By 3PM EST, I was tweaking the layout and the template, not futzing with the content. Kudos to the b2evolution team; this is a truly amazing lightweight blog platform for someone like me, who wants something to work right out of the box.

I will keep you informed as I continue to use this product.

Open Note to Seth Godin

2005-02-01 / spierzchala / 0 Comments

Seth:
Typical notes about how we don’t know each other, blah, blah, blah.
On point, your comment on the PC. You said:

I had to use a PC today in order to run Exact Target to do a mailing. I was stunned and astonished at how much the experience has degraded since my last exposure.

I know what you mean. But I am stuck.
I could mortgage myself and use a Mac. I would kill for a Powerbook in any size. I think they are cool. I love Apple.
Truth is, I work for Windows Regime. I have a mortgage and two kids. My disposable income does not exist.
I would love to say that I have tried the alternative, but Linux Desktops don’t cut it for me. I want a machine that is dead sexy. I want an OS that gets it.
I want a Mac. And I can’t have one.
I can have Firefox on Windows, but that’s just not the same.
Thanks for the Firefox Evangelizing…and for reminding that the OS I use isn’t sexy.
Sorry Scoble.
Stephen

In case you need Amazon’s Phone Number…

2005-02-01 / spierzchala / 0 Comments

This is a great little tidbit from the Church of the Customer. [here]
What are your top 5 search terms? As a company, you should know these. This is how people find you…and look for you.

Microsoft Technical Evangelist

2005-02-01 / spierzchala / 0 Comments

The news that Microsoft is looking for a development technical evangelist has been banging around the net this morning. [here and here and here]
Hmmm…is this the equivalent of a Jedi or a Sith Lord? I leave that to the community to decide.

This thread lives! [here]