Performance Zen

Author: spierzchala

  • No Stanley Cup this year

    The NHL has officially cancelled the 2004-2005 season.
    A sad day. I say that this opens the door for all hockey teams that are playing to compete for the cup, as it appears that it belongs to the people of Canada, and not the NHL.
    Some interesting info on this can be found here.

  • Some hints on MSIE 7.0 Features

    Jeremey Wright hints at some of the features we might/will see in MSIE 7.0. [here]
    Again, composition and design standards are important; but do not forget the networking standards as well. It will take a lot for me to switch back to MSIE, but it would be good to if the Internet doesn’t have to design itself to fit the foibles of a single browser platform again.

  • The power of ecommerce supremacy

    A while back, I posted a letter from the president of eBay about how they are having to perform some strategic back-pedaling to recover from their sense of supremacy in the online auction world. [here]

    Today I read a post on how Google may be having an impact on the auction business as a whole. It also posts to a fictional description of how Google achieved true online supremacy. [here]

    It is true that other companies have all of the apps that Google has; the genius in Google is that they will be unified on a single patform, tied together to deliver a fully-realized work/home/play/buy tool. Why go anywhere else, when Google can find it for you? Which is faster: Amazon’s native search, or Google’s search that points to the appropriate link on the Google site?

    Google drives people to e-commerce sites. It is how buyes find sellers. All players need to realize this, and get on the bandwagon, or they will get lost in unfriendly, and unprofitable, territory.

  • Linux Journal under DDos Attack

    This is currently posted at their site.
    Linux Journal DDoS Banner
    This is what site performance has looked like, up until they put up the 458 byte banner.
    Linux Journal DDoS Performance
    Ouch.

    The LJ site returned to normal service at approximately 20:50 EST, February 15, 2005.

  • MSIE 7.0

    That is not a typo. The great man spoke the words today. [here and MSFT Press Release and here and here and here and here
    and here and here]
    Will it be better…?

    The quote:

    Building on those advancements, Gates announced Internet Explorer 7.0, designed to add new levels of security to Windows XP SP2 while maintaining the level of extensibility and compatibility that customers have come to expect. Internet Explorer 7.0 will also provide even stronger defenses against phishing, malicious software and spyware. The beta release is scheduled to be available this summer.

    But what will those features be?

    • Complete CSS2 support? Hell! CSS1?
    • Full HTTP/1.1 compatability?
    • Final removal of ActiveX?
    • Truly enforce [X]HTML standards for publishing?
    • Simple extensibility for any developer?
    • Themes/Chrome?
    • A matching version for MacOSX?

    They know they are in trouble. They are generating buzz. But if they have just patched and incremented MSIE 6.0, without re-engineering the core parser, rendering and networking engines, then it won’t be worth talking about.
    Come on Microsoft: Impress me.

  • A face only a … mom? Mom? Where are you going?

    Isn’t he cute?

    I love these drooling beasts…thanks to Damien Katz for the link.

  • More on MSIE

    After linking to a group of articles on MSIE and interoperability [here], there comes this post that speculates on a MSIE update pre-Longhorn. [more here and here and here]
    My guess: They have to, and they know it. They have to do something to make the browser lighter, faster, and more secure. And they know it has to be good. Very good.

  • Brilliant comments on CRM “solutions”

    Scott Jones of SalesBuilders has an excellent and very succinct critique of CRM “solutions”. [here]
    Scott nails it: a CRM is just another application. It’s usefuleness is completely reliant on people knowing how to use it, and actually using it to help isolate and identify the links and opportunities which will allow them to grow their business within existing customers and obtain new business from prospect.
    At my former company, a large CRM solution was implemented. Took over a year, involved at least one full-time consultant and 3 staff members. And when it was complete, nothing. It was slow, clunky and difficult to maintain. People avoided it. And it showed.
    Are there any honest stories out there — not originating from CRM vendors — of how a CRM solution allowed companies to more quickly identify and isolate new opportunities that would have been overlooked without such a solution? How did it help you gain new business and grow revenues from existing customers?
    Are they out there?

    Paul Lavallee adds more to the conversation here.

  • Delivery — Two perspectives

    This comment on the British DIY giant B&Q’s sponsorship of Ellen MacArthur’s solo round-the-world sail cracked me up.
    Ouch.

  • Ogilvy + Mather may comment on FAUX Mailing

    Site-9 has more comments on the faux Ogilvy + Mather email that he received. [here]
    Apparently, mine was one of the 30 blogs that linked in to his article. [here]
    The quote at the end of the new posting, as seen in Fortuune, leads one to see how O+M will talk their way out of this debacle.