I'm sick and tired of companies that make products, have a web site, sell you and market you on the web, and then don't put any pricing on their web site. What do these companies have to hide?
Now I'm not talking about people who sell their services or do contract work. I'm talking about companies who sell product A and charge X for it. How simple can that be?
Three companies that come to mind (mainly because I'm frustrated this very minute with them) is SWSoft, Iron Mountain, and Compellent. I really hate wasting my time and if I'm checking out a product and trying to see if it is a fit for the company I work for, then I want to find out if it is within our price range first. If it is, then I'll pursue it.
SWSoft sells virtualization products. How hard can it be to provide a list price? I need X servers licensed and it will cost me X. If you want to know more then contact a reseller for better pricing. Easy enough.
Iron Mountain sells off site storage and backup. It should be $X/GB to backup. So tell me already and stop playing games! This isn't a thriller or suspense story.
Finally, Compellent sells a SAN solution for storage. Their site should have a configuration utility where you drop in drives and controllers and figure all that out and it gives you a quote. It shouldn't be more complicated than that. If you want better pricing then contact a reseller.
Server manufactures have been doing this for years and they seem to have no problem at all. There are tons of components and options too and they seem to be able to handle this. Why can't others? Don't tell me the product is too complicated or we need to consult on the solution. We're not stupid and your product is not that complicated. If I have trouble, I'll call. Trust me.
So, would everyone out there who sells something please stop wasting my time and give me what I, the customer, want!! Thank you.
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Two kinds of people in the world
There are two kinds of people in this world: (a) Those that read my blog and (b) those that do not. Unfortunately, the former is very small compared to the latter. I'm here to tell you that you can change all that. In fact, if you are reading this, you just did. (Unless of course you've been here before and then it doesn't count.)
So what are you? Are you Group A or Group B? The simple answer is A unless of course you have magical powers of which I know nothing about. Aren't you glad you are part of Group A! Whoopie!
So what are you? Are you Group A or Group B? The simple answer is A unless of course you have magical powers of which I know nothing about. Aren't you glad you are part of Group A! Whoopie!
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
I've had it with iPhone "experts"
I've had it with the iPhone "experts" out there. Network World just put out an article stating how the Gartner group is telling "IT executives to not support it." Whoopie ding dong!
Who the heck is Gartner group to be telling anyone anything about the iPhone at this point. Correct me if I'm wrong but no one outside of Apple and AT&T even have access to one of these things. Even if I am wrong on that point, it really matters little. Since when did Apple start promoting the iPhone to the enterprise customer?
First, let me just say, I won't be buying one. I'll let the others out there run it through its paces first. I'm still in the middle of a two year contract with Verizon ayway and I also don't have $500 to plunk down on a cell phone (although I did get mine run over by a car today...ouch.)
If a user had one in our office and wanted to forward their email to it, fine with me. We'll handle it the EXACT SAME WAY as we handle the Blackberry. Oh yeah, didn't you know, you need to drop a load a cash on software to integrate the Blackberry with Exchange. Sure, you can sync it on your desktop but who the heck cares. If you are a large enterprise, I'm sure you can afford the software but I'm sure those in the $150,000,000 and under sales category (small potatoes, I know) aren't dropping a load of cash on Blackberry software for their servers, assuming they even use Exchange or Notes.
Ok, I'm getting off topic a bit, but my point is that Apple knows who their customer is, they know what people want, and they are going to give it to them. Will it be perfect out of the box? No way, nothing is. It will be nearly perfect and future iterations most likely via software upgrades will close the gap with perfect eventually. Nothing Gartner or any other analyst out there can say is going to change that.
Interestingly, what I find most telling about this and of no great surprise is that people, particularly analysts, like to bring other products down. They produce nothing so therefore they have to come up with crap to feed people and hopefully others will buy it. The more shocking, the better it sells. Since the iPhone is one of the biggest things this year, why not pick on it. Besides, for IT guy who can't stand that he can't have an iPhone, this is the perfect excuse to prevent others in his company from getting. Trust me, once he gets approval for one of his or her own, they'll be iPhones all over the place in that company.
Hello! Message to Gartner! Jobs doesn't give a rip about you or your approval and last I checked, he didn't need your blessing to blow the doors off the cell market which is exactly what is about to happen in 9 days!
Who the heck is Gartner group to be telling anyone anything about the iPhone at this point. Correct me if I'm wrong but no one outside of Apple and AT&T even have access to one of these things. Even if I am wrong on that point, it really matters little. Since when did Apple start promoting the iPhone to the enterprise customer?
First, let me just say, I won't be buying one. I'll let the others out there run it through its paces first. I'm still in the middle of a two year contract with Verizon ayway and I also don't have $500 to plunk down on a cell phone (although I did get mine run over by a car today...ouch.)
If a user had one in our office and wanted to forward their email to it, fine with me. We'll handle it the EXACT SAME WAY as we handle the Blackberry. Oh yeah, didn't you know, you need to drop a load a cash on software to integrate the Blackberry with Exchange. Sure, you can sync it on your desktop but who the heck cares. If you are a large enterprise, I'm sure you can afford the software but I'm sure those in the $150,000,000 and under sales category (small potatoes, I know) aren't dropping a load of cash on Blackberry software for their servers, assuming they even use Exchange or Notes.
Ok, I'm getting off topic a bit, but my point is that Apple knows who their customer is, they know what people want, and they are going to give it to them. Will it be perfect out of the box? No way, nothing is. It will be nearly perfect and future iterations most likely via software upgrades will close the gap with perfect eventually. Nothing Gartner or any other analyst out there can say is going to change that.
Interestingly, what I find most telling about this and of no great surprise is that people, particularly analysts, like to bring other products down. They produce nothing so therefore they have to come up with crap to feed people and hopefully others will buy it. The more shocking, the better it sells. Since the iPhone is one of the biggest things this year, why not pick on it. Besides, for IT guy who can't stand that he can't have an iPhone, this is the perfect excuse to prevent others in his company from getting. Trust me, once he gets approval for one of his or her own, they'll be iPhones all over the place in that company.
Hello! Message to Gartner! Jobs doesn't give a rip about you or your approval and last I checked, he didn't need your blessing to blow the doors off the cell market which is exactly what is about to happen in 9 days!
Friday, June 15, 2007
Why Wii is (are) successful!
This is for all the Wii fans out there. This would be funny if it weren't so true.
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Next Gen consoles too complex!
I thought this article was worth mentioning here as I'm willing to bet it represents a large part of the console development community. How many other companies out there would say the same thing if given the opportunity? I'll bet a lot of them.
Personally, I couldn't care less about the games but to have what, in Japan anyway, is a major force in the gaming community basically write off the 360 and PS3 is big news. This is a very big endorsement for the Wii and DS platforms.
Monday, June 11, 2007
Safari on Windows
This is going to seem anti-climactic to my Mac friends but the WWDC announcement that Windows will finally get a decent web browser made by an innovative company is absolutely fantastic. For those that haven't heard, Apple announced Safari 3 is going to be released for Windows. The beta is posted and everyone should jump in and get their feet wet.
Don't get me wrong, I've got nothing against Firefox, but I want something designed by an innovator. Something like Firefox that is groupthink designed just doesn't strike me as a product that will ever push the envelope much. Opera is very nice but you have to pay for it.
I guess time will tell if this latest strategy by Apple works but I applaud them for giving this a go.
Incidentally, I've spent about 5 minutes with Safari on the PC and it is lightning fast and has great looking, easy to read text. Personally though, Apple made a big mistake by not letting us grab the edges of the window and resize it. Apple's been hammered about this before even in OS X so it strikes me as odd they wouldn't have this feature in a Windows version of Safari where it fits in naturally. Thank goodness it is still a beta and they have time to fix this.
Don't get me wrong, I've got nothing against Firefox, but I want something designed by an innovator. Something like Firefox that is groupthink designed just doesn't strike me as a product that will ever push the envelope much. Opera is very nice but you have to pay for it.
I guess time will tell if this latest strategy by Apple works but I applaud them for giving this a go.
Incidentally, I've spent about 5 minutes with Safari on the PC and it is lightning fast and has great looking, easy to read text. Personally though, Apple made a big mistake by not letting us grab the edges of the window and resize it. Apple's been hammered about this before even in OS X so it strikes me as odd they wouldn't have this feature in a Windows version of Safari where it fits in naturally. Thank goodness it is still a beta and they have time to fix this.
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
Happy 30th Birthday Apple ][
I just had to say Happy Birthday to my old friend the Apple ][ computer. I cut my teeth on this or technically the Apple ][+ (although my first love was a Compucolor a friend of mine had - those dot addressable COLOR graphics via peeks and pokes were so much fun - Jay if you are out there somewhere, please say HI). I still remember going to Radio Shack and picking up this big black tape cassette player/recorder so I could hook it up to my Apple with an audio cable to read in the tapes. Games like Lemonade Stand and Penny Arcade are fondly remembered (I really hated that little bolt of lightning signifying a rainy day and low lemonade prices) and Planet Miners from Avalon Hill.
I used to visit the Computer Tree and spend hours and hours and hours looking at and tinkering with everything they had in the store. The first graphics tablet I ever played with was there and was a blast but was around $700 (or was it $1100, I can't recall) and certainly out of the reach of most people.
After my Apple ][+, I added an Integer Basic card and Floppy Disk Drive, then it was on to the Apple ][e. Eventually I graduated into the a Mac 128 (yeah - but can you say "disk swap") but that is a whole other story. (I also had the fortune or misfortune of using an Apple ///, Apple IIgs, and a Lisa - Lisa fun, Apple /// not so fun, gs...well what can I say, it was there.)
Those were the good ol' days!
I used to visit the Computer Tree and spend hours and hours and hours looking at and tinkering with everything they had in the store. The first graphics tablet I ever played with was there and was a blast but was around $700 (or was it $1100, I can't recall) and certainly out of the reach of most people.
After my Apple ][+, I added an Integer Basic card and Floppy Disk Drive, then it was on to the Apple ][e. Eventually I graduated into the a Mac 128 (yeah - but can you say "disk swap") but that is a whole other story. (I also had the fortune or misfortune of using an Apple ///, Apple IIgs, and a Lisa - Lisa fun, Apple /// not so fun, gs...well what can I say, it was there.)
Those were the good ol' days!
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
The aweful internal combustion engine
It is now time for me to rant about the unbelievably crappy internal combustion engine that powers most of our vehicles. I've got problems with my vehicle and it is in the shop now which made me think how aweful the automobile is in terms of design and engineering. Sure, it gets us from Point A to Point B but I have to guess that if nothing was around today and you started from scratch, the design we have today would be the last thing anyone would think of or want.
Personally, I'm sick of how complicated these things are. I have THREE fuse boxes on the vehicle that died and there has to be 100 fuses in this thing. How many systems does it take to make me go forward (and back if necessary)!?! These vehicles should be simple and elegant in design. Maybe Apple needs to make a car for the rest of us too.
At one point I had high hopes for the Rosen brothers (Ben Rosen started Compaq) but their marvel of engineering elegance failed. I tried to see if I could buy stock in this company once and I guess it is a good thing stock wasn't available. It would be nice to see a new car company break into the market with something new and radical that the masses could afford. (The Tesla doesn't count, it is too expensive.)
It seems unfortunate that with so much innovation and amazing technology, the basic design of the car is fundamentally unchanged from the car of 100 years ago.
Jobs, why couldn't you be a car buff!!
Personally, I'm sick of how complicated these things are. I have THREE fuse boxes on the vehicle that died and there has to be 100 fuses in this thing. How many systems does it take to make me go forward (and back if necessary)!?! These vehicles should be simple and elegant in design. Maybe Apple needs to make a car for the rest of us too.
At one point I had high hopes for the Rosen brothers (Ben Rosen started Compaq) but their marvel of engineering elegance failed. I tried to see if I could buy stock in this company once and I guess it is a good thing stock wasn't available. It would be nice to see a new car company break into the market with something new and radical that the masses could afford. (The Tesla doesn't count, it is too expensive.)
It seems unfortunate that with so much innovation and amazing technology, the basic design of the car is fundamentally unchanged from the car of 100 years ago.
Jobs, why couldn't you be a car buff!!
Friday, June 01, 2007
Coincidence or is there a glitch in the Matrix?
I had a very odd thing happen today.
I went to work and followed a truck most of the way there on my motorcycle. Normally I don't follow anybody if you get my meanin' but for some reason I was stuck there and the confusing logo caught my eye. Was it SLH, STH, SZH, or what? Let's just say it was S(x)H Transport (replace the x with whatever you want) and go with that.
Anyway, I noticed the license plate too and it was from Quebec and had an odd combination of letters and numbers. Again, normally I wouldn't think of these things but all the oddness stuck in my brain.
On a normal day, I'd never think of this truck ever again but this was no normal day. Would you believe I went home and ended up behind the exact same truck! That just doesn't happen does it?
Very weird!
I went to work and followed a truck most of the way there on my motorcycle. Normally I don't follow anybody if you get my meanin' but for some reason I was stuck there and the confusing logo caught my eye. Was it SLH, STH, SZH, or what? Let's just say it was S(x)H Transport (replace the x with whatever you want) and go with that.
Anyway, I noticed the license plate too and it was from Quebec and had an odd combination of letters and numbers. Again, normally I wouldn't think of these things but all the oddness stuck in my brain.
On a normal day, I'd never think of this truck ever again but this was no normal day. Would you believe I went home and ended up behind the exact same truck! That just doesn't happen does it?
Very weird!
Friday, May 25, 2007
iPhone Killer
Well, Apple had what appeared to be a great product in the iPhone but now Nokia is preparing to one up them with their latest and greatest new development. Fortunately for me, I'm prepared to take advantage of this product in a way that will put a smile on Al Gore's face and put the carbon credit market into a tailspin.
Once Nokia's new product hits the market, every Nokia owner on the planet is going to want to ditch their old phones. When they do, I'll be there to take them off their hands and put them to good use. I'm betting if I strap enough of these old phones to a very long pole and engineer the proper circuits, capacitors, and stand far enough away, I'll be able to harness the tremendous power of mother nature. My new invention will generate so much electricity by attracting all those wayword watts that fly through the air that we may just be able get rid of coal, natural gas, wood, and propane powered unicycles. The utility companies will actually be paying me for power.
How great is that!?!
NOTE: Misleading topic at no extra charge.
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Once Nokia's new product hits the market, every Nokia owner on the planet is going to want to ditch their old phones. When they do, I'll be there to take them off their hands and put them to good use. I'm betting if I strap enough of these old phones to a very long pole and engineer the proper circuits, capacitors, and stand far enough away, I'll be able to harness the tremendous power of mother nature. My new invention will generate so much electricity by attracting all those wayword watts that fly through the air that we may just be able get rid of coal, natural gas, wood, and propane powered unicycles. The utility companies will actually be paying me for power.
How great is that!?!
NOTE: Misleading topic at no extra charge.
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Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Game developers that actually listen
I have to give a big fat thank you to the guys at Gas Powered Games for being so dedicated to their art. Chris Taylor must be doing something right. The company produced a fantastic game called Supreme Commander and it really is the rightful heir to one of my all time favorites, Total Annihilation.
First, they seem to listen to the community and are actively improving an already released game. Do they have to do this, certainly not, but boy am I glad they did. If you play Supreme Commander, the latest patch that was released includes a feature that should have been in every RTS game ever released. The feature actually seems so obvious that it is amazing it hasn't been done before.
What I'm speaking about is the new ability to create a control group (basically, you assign a number to a group of units for easy recall) and include a factory in that control group. Doing this now causes every unit produced to automatically be assigned to this control group from there on. What a beautiful thing this is. Imagine, if you will, assigning a factory to produce bombers and making it part of control group 5 and never having to go seek out these new bombers ever again. Just press 5 on your keyboard and those new bombers are ready to fulfill your every command. Kudos to the SupCom development team!
Second, I commend Chris Taylor for actually giving the developers of his company a real life outside of game development. His philosophy is counter to all other game developers and many other companies in general. He actually wants his people to leave on time from work and spend time with their families! What a concept!
Oh, if you want to try another game from a company that listens better than any I've ever come across before, check out the guys at StarDock and the Galactic Civilizations line of games. If you've never played Galactic Civilizations II, you owe it to yourself to play it. Anyone who likes the Civilization style game or fondly remembers Master of Orion, just go buy it. You won't be disappointed. The best part is that patches and enhancements happen with regularity and they always listen to the comments of their customers. In fact, it isn't uncommon for them to have real conversations with those in the community. There are very few companies out there that do this anymore.
Oh, and the best part is they don't believe in copy protection either. GalCiv2 is not copy protected and neither is the expansion for it. Even without copy protection, when GalCiv2 was released it was on the best seller list at WalMart for quite some time. It just proves that if you give the public what they want, you'll be rewarded for it.
First, they seem to listen to the community and are actively improving an already released game. Do they have to do this, certainly not, but boy am I glad they did. If you play Supreme Commander, the latest patch that was released includes a feature that should have been in every RTS game ever released. The feature actually seems so obvious that it is amazing it hasn't been done before.
What I'm speaking about is the new ability to create a control group (basically, you assign a number to a group of units for easy recall) and include a factory in that control group. Doing this now causes every unit produced to automatically be assigned to this control group from there on. What a beautiful thing this is. Imagine, if you will, assigning a factory to produce bombers and making it part of control group 5 and never having to go seek out these new bombers ever again. Just press 5 on your keyboard and those new bombers are ready to fulfill your every command. Kudos to the SupCom development team!
Second, I commend Chris Taylor for actually giving the developers of his company a real life outside of game development. His philosophy is counter to all other game developers and many other companies in general. He actually wants his people to leave on time from work and spend time with their families! What a concept!
Oh, if you want to try another game from a company that listens better than any I've ever come across before, check out the guys at StarDock and the Galactic Civilizations line of games. If you've never played Galactic Civilizations II, you owe it to yourself to play it. Anyone who likes the Civilization style game or fondly remembers Master of Orion, just go buy it. You won't be disappointed. The best part is that patches and enhancements happen with regularity and they always listen to the comments of their customers. In fact, it isn't uncommon for them to have real conversations with those in the community. There are very few companies out there that do this anymore.
Oh, and the best part is they don't believe in copy protection either. GalCiv2 is not copy protected and neither is the expansion for it. Even without copy protection, when GalCiv2 was released it was on the best seller list at WalMart for quite some time. It just proves that if you give the public what they want, you'll be rewarded for it.
Transformers Movie Trailer
The new exclusive Transformers Movie Trailer on Yahoo! is very cool. If you have the time, make sure you download and watch the 1080P Exclusive version.
Too bad I'm boycotting the movie theaters otherwise this would definitely be one worth watching on the big screen.
Bummer!
Too bad I'm boycotting the movie theaters otherwise this would definitely be one worth watching on the big screen.
Bummer!
Monday, May 21, 2007
C&C3 Comic
Having recently played C&C3 (Command & Conquer 3 for the noobies out there) I couldn't help but chuckle at this Penny Arcade comic I ran across. Funny, I'm always running out of Tiberium too.
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Best Visual Illusions
Everyone must check this web site out:
Best Visual Illusions of the Year
The first place winner is absolutely unbelievable!
Best Visual Illusions of the Year
The first place winner is absolutely unbelievable!
Apple TV Thoughts
I was looking at something about Apple TV and had to comment. (I know this is old news and it's been out for a while but I still had to say something.)
What was Apple thinking? Why did they hamper what could have been a spectacular box by doing the following:
For a company that is so innovative, what happened?
Honestly, they should also have an interface to NetFlix in this thing. Partnering with them and allowing streaming of video rentals through this box would have been a major win.
On a funnier note, I was watching this video from Keith Shaw and in the very beginning he says its got a huge hard drive. That was that hilarious!
What was Apple thinking? Why did they hamper what could have been a spectacular box by doing the following:
- 40GB Hard Drive (even some iPod's have larger HD's)
- Component Video or above only - some people don't have HD sets
- No built-in iTunes - I'm sure this has the horsepower. Why couldn't they have put in an interface to iTunes in this box
For a company that is so innovative, what happened?
Honestly, they should also have an interface to NetFlix in this thing. Partnering with them and allowing streaming of video rentals through this box would have been a major win.
On a funnier note, I was watching this video from Keith Shaw and in the very beginning he says its got a huge hard drive. That was that hilarious!
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
MacBook Video Still Subpar
What happened? Apple released the new MacBook today and while the changes look great there is NO NEW VIDEO CHIPSET! What gives?
How can they do this to us? The Intel GMA chipset is one of the worst out there besides the S3 crap that is out on the market. Why must I spend another $1000 for a laptop with a decent video card. Give us something? Even a GForce Go7300 or a low end Radeon would be better than this garbage. Others seem to agree too.
You can check out the specs here and believe me, the video card is still crap.
I want so bad to get a MacBook but I'll never buy one until the fix they video card in it. A MacBook Pro is more than I need, larger than I need, and frankly more money than I want to spend. Please Apple, fix this and fix it soon!
How can they do this to us? The Intel GMA chipset is one of the worst out there besides the S3 crap that is out on the market. Why must I spend another $1000 for a laptop with a decent video card. Give us something? Even a GForce Go7300 or a low end Radeon would be better than this garbage. Others seem to agree too.
You can check out the specs here and believe me, the video card is still crap.
I want so bad to get a MacBook but I'll never buy one until the fix they video card in it. A MacBook Pro is more than I need, larger than I need, and frankly more money than I want to spend. Please Apple, fix this and fix it soon!
Movie Theater Advertising
I'm sick of paying almost $9 per person (I'm sure it is more elsewhere) for the privilege to sit down in a theater and be bombarded with advertising. I'm personally boycotting the movie theater until they stop this incredibly annoying practice. It is bad enough that I have to skip ads on television and I'm paying for the cable system to bring it into my home.
I'm sure the theaters will argue that it offsets their cost and keeps the ticket prices down but please, I'm not stupid. Ticket prices have risen steadily for the past 20 years and I don't see it coming down anytime soon because of advertising.
I know Comcast is trying to get the rights to show movies in the home at the same time they are released in the theaters and at $30-$50 per pop, it seems expensive but if I can get several people together for a movie night, the cost per person is far less and I'm sure I'll enjoy it just as much. Of course, Comcast will screw that up too and put advertising that can't be skipped into the movie stream. How much do you want to bet?
I can't be the only one who finds these ads annoying? If you do, send a message to the movie studios and theaters by simply refusing to pay for advertising and let's force them to stop this practice.
I'm sure the theaters will argue that it offsets their cost and keeps the ticket prices down but please, I'm not stupid. Ticket prices have risen steadily for the past 20 years and I don't see it coming down anytime soon because of advertising.
I know Comcast is trying to get the rights to show movies in the home at the same time they are released in the theaters and at $30-$50 per pop, it seems expensive but if I can get several people together for a movie night, the cost per person is far less and I'm sure I'll enjoy it just as much. Of course, Comcast will screw that up too and put advertising that can't be skipped into the movie stream. How much do you want to bet?
I can't be the only one who finds these ads annoying? If you do, send a message to the movie studios and theaters by simply refusing to pay for advertising and let's force them to stop this practice.
Friday, May 11, 2007
One Year Anniversary
OK, this is really stupid but I had to put at least one post here to celebrate the one year anniversary of this essentially non-existent blog. Seeing how I've posted nothing to it this really isn't very interesting. I promise to do better this year.
Nothing to see here, move along...
Nothing to see here, move along...
Thursday, May 11, 2006
Apple Corp, the Beatles, and iTunes
What gives with Apple Corp.? Every person in the known universe (OK, most of them) loves the Beatles' music. Why can't Apple Corp. give up and allow their music to be digitally downloaded? Why not start with the world's largest provider of digital downloads, BitTorrent...err, I mean iTunes?
This whole lack of digitally available versions of the Beatles songs just shows the lack of respect that Apple Corp has for the people that supply all the cash they've earned over the years. It is sad that one of the most popular groups of all time has a company controlling it that just can't seem to get with the times.
This whole lack of digitally available versions of the Beatles songs just shows the lack of respect that Apple Corp has for the people that supply all the cash they've earned over the years. It is sad that one of the most popular groups of all time has a company controlling it that just can't seem to get with the times.
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