Rants Tagged with “Business”
1 (Total Pages: 1/Total Results: 7)
I have a problem. When I (or my customers) are being taken advantage of it makes me so very angry...probably angrier that it should. I am in Hartford, CT this week to teach a course for a corporate client. One of the recommended hotels is a Crown Plaza Hotel at $199/night. It was the cheapest of the three hotels they selected. While I find expensive hotel rooms ostentacious, usually I can figure out why they are so expensive: excelent service, nice rooms, etc. The room I am in right now is actually about 1/2 the size of the $75/night hotel I stayed in a couple of weeks ago. Not just the size, but its a bit shabby actually.
When I checked in I was shocked that they charged extra for Internet access in the rooms. Ok, $9.95 a night. Big whoop. I find it offensive to be nickle and dimed, but its their hotel. Fine. But then when it didn't work, they wanted me to call a 800 number to get it working. Final straw was when the guy on the phone (a 3rd party company I am sure) said he didn't have time to fix it and got me working but told me that tomorrow I'd have to call again to get it actually fixed.
Maybe I am from the wrong side of the tracks and I shouldn't be as offended by bad service, bad hotel room and lack of features for $199/night. Am I overreacting?
According to this MSNBC article,
"Microsoft Corp. has told about 1,000 technology contract workers to take seven days off the job, without Microsoft pay, in a cost-saving move that came as the company unveiled a series of new perks for its internal staff."
Cost-cutting move? Huh? I wonder what the real story is. Also, I wonder why they have so many contractors to begin with. Maybe to fill in while they try and hire on (since they always seem to be hiring tons of programmers). Anyone have any information on this?
Palm announced their new logo today and told the press what the new logo "means". Here's the logo:
And this is what they had to say about what it "means":
"The new Palm says its updated logo reflects the brand equity from the former blue Palm circular medallion. The updated typeface is suggestive of digital content, the company said, and its orange background symbolizes energy."
Almost every company I have been an employee has had this sort of marketing nonesense in their mission statement, rally cry or other propaganda. Maybe I am the idiot who thinks its mostly bunk.
In other Palm news, it seems that they bought a company for $30 million for their NASDAQ symbol. Palm used to trade under PLMO, but now they can trade under PALM. Makes me wonder if there are any Ticker Symbol Squatters?
While I don't agree with much of what they say, especially that MS code is poorly written and buggy; I am convinced that MS has lost their way with what the story around Longhorn really is. They announced so many interesting ideas in Longhorn that have been either dropped (WinFS, Monad) or moved it to pre-longhorn (Indigo, Avalon, Aero), that they have lost the momentum story.
The funny thing is that I don't think Apple or Linux have an opportunity here (unlike what the article perports). I think Windows real competition in the next round is with Windows XP/2003. People just won't move because Microsoft wants them to. XP is a solid OS (unlike 9x or even 2000). I cannot imagine that unless there is a real story here around Longhorn (and they get it right *not*, not when the public beta arrives), many people will move. Unfortunately, I think Ballmer is betting the company on Longhorn's success.
Lastly, I'd like to hear from Microsoft on which direction Longhorn is headed:
- Replacing the Win32 with a .NET API; or...
- New Hardware Model that will lower driver crashes.
I can't imagine they can do both, and I suspect the promise of the .NET API is dead. Too bad. We will still be stuck with Win32 legacy for too long. Avalon might help this, but until we see a real designer that can help replace WindowsForms, VB and a ton of older RAD tools...I am not convinced. Essentially Win32 was a maturation of Win16. There are a lot of hold-overs from Win16 that still plague us. We now have coolbars, gradient titlebars and other niceties, but it is still basically Win16 designs. Avalon promises a new model where we can actually innovate...hopefully.
What do you think?
Here is video of Gate's MCE demo at CES. Not only a MCE crash, but also an XBox crash later on in the day. Very embarassing. But it isn't without a precedent:
Windows 98 BSOD
I just joined Magenic Technology as a Consultant and they put me at a client right away. Its been so long since I commuted to a job that it was kinda wierd getting up at 6am and driving for an hour. After a couple of years of getting up at the crack of noon and working till late into the night, this is a great change...of course after a couple weeks of this, I may not like it but we'll see.
Right out of the box I am getting to work with Rocky Lhotka's CSLA.NET business object framework. If you know me, you know I have been living and breathing DataSets for several years now. Rocky and I have always been at the opposite ends of the business object discussion. I know there are pros and cons to both of our points of view. I suspect as I use his framework over the next few weeks that my opinions will either strengthen or weaken. Keep tuned in...
I haven't been this annoyed with an online game in years. I've goten about 17 of the logos, but stuck on the last six. The only nasty thing is that if you want the answers, they charge cash! So please help me out with B, D, F, H, L, N, O, P, Q, U, V, and Y.
