Let’s Set Our Music Free

November 15, 2008August 22, 2018 Lorin Olsen

I am not someone who believes in music piracy. I buy music. And if I download a song for some reason, I have to go out and buy the music at some point in the near future. I guess I have a finely tuned inner voice (call it the Holy Spirit) that doesn’t let me get away with stealing. But I do believe that I should be able to listen to music (that I have purchased) anywhere and everywhere I go. For this reason, I rip every CD I have into MP3 format. And when I download music, I try and buy music that is not encumbered with DRM technology.

But like most music enthusiasts, I have had to settle with Apple’s music ecosphere for far too long. I do love iTunes. But it is a very pretty walled garden. I can have anything and everything that Steve Jobs wants me to have. I can even have video and games – as long as I buy them from him. And I can even have “DRM free” music (called iTunes Plus) – as long as I buy it from the iTunes store.

But if I buy content from other sources (or rip it from obscure CD’s I own), it is dreadfully difficult to add it to my iTunes library. Yes, I can use Amazon’s store and install their add-on software. And I can use MusicPass (from Sony/BMG). But both of these technologies have an uneasy feel about their integration with iTunes. It’s all getting better and better. But integration advances are under the control of Apple. All they have to do is change iTunes versions and unilaterally disable anything done by other people (or organizations).

And that’s where Songbird comes in. Songbird is an open source media player that is based upon the Mozilla foundation. And this week, the Songbird team is getting very close to offering a competitive product to the iTunes ecosphere. This week, they released the second release candidate for Songbird 1.0. And while they ask bloggers and editors to refrain from comments until the software is stabilized, I still have to provide a glimpse into what will soon be available – a world free from the rules of Steve’s Matrix.

Songbird does the basics with ease. You can organize all of your music/media files with ease. And the interface is familiar enough. I am a little concerned that too much of iTunes’ “look-and-feel” may be incorporated. And with that, there is risk that Apple may take legal action against the Songbird team. But there are enough differences in “look-and-feel” that this will be difficult to prove in a court of law. And I hope that Apple will not challenge Songbird in court. Rather, I hope that Songbird will be seen as the competition that Apple needs in order to make their product even better.

While Songbird gets the basics down cold, it is the new and innovative touches that are so much more impressive. Songbird is trying to make a competitive ecosphere to the iTunes ecosphere – and they are doing a pretty good job of it so far. So what is the Songbird team doing rght:

– There is an add-on / plugin architecture that is showing some initial success – and a whole lot of promise. If developers start creating new add-ons, the future promise of the platform will be amazing. As new technologies are developed, they can be plugged straight into Songbird. So we won’t have to wait upon a new mega-release from Apple. Rather, we can incorporate those changes that we need from any number of competing software developers.

– The core HTML rendering engine (Gecko) is quite an improvement over the rendering that is based upon the Safari engine. Yes, there is a great deal of similarity between Gecko and Webkit. And there is a lot to like about Webkit. But Gecko is still a superior application infrastructure – at least, for now.

– Using the add-on foundation, there is some excellent Last.fm integration already available. There is insufficient room to discuss all the cool things about Last.fm. But here is the short version: Last.fm is an exceptional system for collecting immense amounts of metadata about personal music libraries. And I can use Last.fm to build a community around the music I listen to, the music of my friends, the music of my favorite bands, and the music of bands I might like to listen to. And whereas the Last.fm folks do have a plugin for iTunes, the integration in Songbird is “out of the box” – and can be revised/extended via the add-on / plugin framework.

– There are a couple of very good add-ons for the Twitter community. Unlike the iTunes add-on (from Last.fm), I have direct control over which songs I want to tweet about. So I can send an occasional tweet about who I’m listening to – rather than flooding my Twitter feed with every song every few minutes. This is incredibly important as I want folks to know when I’m listening to music – but don’t want to swamp them with a flood of tweets. When I was scrobbling all 5500+ songs in my library (over a two-week period) this would have been catastrophic to my followers.

– There are some very cool add-ons that are still a little bit unstable. For example, I really like having access to a lyrics database that is online. But at this point in time, the lyrics add-on is a little unstable. So I’ve turned it off. But the fact that I can enable and disable this features with very little effort is so very encouraging to me. It shows that the plugin framework is robust and manageable.

– I can’t wait to see the next series of plugins that will show up. Personally, I am very interested in seeing Musicbrainz integration. Musicbrainz has a very nifty song fingerprinting system that can be used for obscure CD’s that might not be in Apple’s library. And up until a few months ago, this included Beatles CD’s. So I used MusicBrainz to determine which album art and which ID3 tags to associate with CD’s I couldn’t get recognized by iTunes. Again, I would rather work with a community source of metadata rather than a corporation that seeks to “provide” and “manage” metadata about my music.

There are a couple of things that still need to be ironed out before the final 1.0 release. Some of the add-ons that are available need to be stabilized. And some of the core needs some performance tweaks. And I still think there are some race conditions present in hte Vista code. But I’m sure that will all get ironed out in the next couple of weeks.

But the single largest element that is missing is the tight integration of a music store. I’m a little conflicted over this item. Songbird really needs this to be competitive. But it needs to be done in a way that any number of stores could be used. I would love to see integration with Wal-Mart, Amazon and a host of others. But I wonder how that can be done in short order. In any case, I really would love to see cleaner and sharper purchasing capabilities. That way, I can buy new songs I find. I don’t want to go through ridiculous hoops in order to purchase and import music into my library.

Bottom Line: Songbird is an exceptional platform for building an entire music ecosystem. And its architecture is fundamentally extensible in a way that iTunes never will be. I can’t wait to see how my new media player evolves.

-Roo

The Customer Is Always Right

November 15, 2008August 22, 2018 Lorin Olsen

According to Efrainm Turban, “Customer service is a series of activities designed to enhance the level of customer satisfaction – that is, the feeling that a product or service has met the customer expectation.”
The Setup
I worked at home yesterday. That is not the normal way I meet my executive’s expectations. Instead, I was staying home to meet my family’s expectations. And so begins a trail of disappointment…
When we bought the house (over twenty-one years ago), it was a relatively new house. And it had Anderson-built casement windows throughout the house. Since the house is aging, we are starting to notice that some of the windows are starting to deteriorate. And two casements in particular absolutely needed to be repaired/replaced. So a few weeks ago, we invited a sales representative from Home Depot to our house. Our desire was to have Home Depot replace the two deteriorating casement windows.
We chose Home Depot for two reasons. First, the sell Anderson windows. So we figured that they would be able to match the windows as closely as anyone else. Second, we had some experience with Home Depot acting as our project manager on a small household project. Last year, we had Home Depot replace the guttering on the entire house. And they did an excellent job. So when we determined that we needed to start replacing some of the 30-year old windows in the house, we decided to let Home Depot have a crack at the first few windows.
When the salesman came to the house, he measured the windows twice. And he highlighted the window that would best match our existing windows. This was critical as we weren’t replacing all of the windows at the same time. So a close match was important. He gave us a bid on the spot. And it was a fabulous price. So we accepted the bid. When he left, we were feeling quite exuberant about the situation. And then the other shoe started to drop.
Within thirty minutes, he called to tell us that he had made a horrible mistake on the price. He had charged us $900 less than he should have. We gulped and then told him to come back so we could fix the situation. I kinda thought that the original offer he made was a little low, but I gladly accepted a good deal. Now, we had to decide whether or not to fight. Since the salesman had made an honest mistake, we decided to accept the amended contract.
Once signed (again), the orders went into motion. We got a call from an admin assistant to the project manager. She informed us about who they were subcontracting to do the installation. And she told us about the amount of time we would need to wait since the windows were custom-sized to our household measurements. Once we got through all of this, we had to wait – about three weeks.
Yesterday, the appointed day of installation arrived. I took off work so I could meet the contractor and let him in the house. I got the typical call from the admin assistant who informed me that the contractor would be late. Since I always expect this, I wasn’t too upset. However, I was a little peeved that I had yet to hear from the project manager. After all, I was really paying Home Depot to be my project manager.
In this transaction, Home Depot arranged financing, hired the contractor, managed the manufacturer and scheduled the project. They got a very handsome premium for performing this service – and I got the luxury of trusting a professional to manage the project. This is the kind of project that either my wife or I should be able to handle in our sleep. But we didn’t want to. We both work hard at our jobs. And sometimes, it’s nice to pay someone else to do the management for you. Well, my cautionary tale to everyone who reads this is to never let someone else do something that you can do by yourself. But that is water under the proverbial bridge.
When the contractor measured the first window (to validate it), he realized that the window was the wrong size – it was an inch too big. When he told me this, I started to get a little frustrated. This should have been handled by the project manager who is responsible for ensuring that the manufacturer produces a product to our specifications. The PM failed. Fortunately, the contractor noticed this before he removed the original window.
So the contractor and I tried to get in touch with the project manager. He was not available. So we spoke with his admin assistant who apologized for the error and promised that everything would be taken care of. So we decided to focus on the second window. At least we would have one new window!
Wrong again. After removing the old casement, the contractor noticed that the hinges on the window were in the wrong place. The two frames were supposed to be hinged on the outside of the window frame. Instead, the were hinged on the inside. Indeed, this was something that we specifically mentioned to the salesman. And he had scribbled something to ensure that it was properly noted. But now we had a problem: we had a hole in the wall of our house. And we had a window that would fit – but was otherwise unacceptable. So we had to call the office once again.
We called the office to discuss the entire situation. We were told that they would install the errant window and then replace it when a proper window arrived. We decided that this was alright. At this point in time, I was quite short with the assistant. I wasn’t rude – but I wasn’t polite either. At this point in time, we had experienced the following errors: 1) a bad price quote, 2) a late contractor, 3) a wrongly sized window, and 4) a wrongly configured window. Throughout this entire process, we had yet to speak with the project manager. In any event, the contractor installed the temporary window so we wouldn’t have air infiltration (when the temperature dropped below freezing later in the day). He took one old window and the one wrongly sized new window and left.
At this point, I figured that we were done for the day. I figured that nothing else could go wrong. Boy, was I ever wrong. When my wife cam home, she immediately noticed that the frame itself was not even close to the one that was installed previously. We expected minor differences. But the difference between the new window and the windows throughout the rest of the house was alarming. [Note: I would never notice this as I am not very visually adept.]
So now we need to call Home Depot and have them get their salesman out here again. We have to ensure that he orders the right style of window as well as the right size of window. And we need to do this today.
The Service Paradigm
This entire fiasco started with a fundamental failure in communications. First, the salesman did not properly record what the customer wanted. Second, the salesman did not record the proper pricing/cost of materials for the project. Third, the project manager did not validate the manufactured goods when they arrived. Fourth, the project manager did not properly schedule the contractor to ensure timely arrival on the site. Fifth, the project manager was not available to rapidly address and resolve problems. Finally, no one really spent the time to ensure that the customer’s expectations were met – or adjusted as the situation changed. Instead, this entire situation has become a blog posting about customer service.
As companies like Home Depot move from a traditional retail delivery model to a service-oriented model, they must adapt to the needs of the customer. And they must create a communications and feedback-rich environment. And the person to do this was the project manager. Unfortunately, it didn’t happen that way.
But it did start to happen in a different way. I decided to tweet my frustration. I noted that I was struggling with Home Depot to resolve some customer satisfaction issues. I didn’t say bad things about Home Depot. I just tweeted what I was doing. And within fifteen minutes of posting the tweet, I had a response from a Twitter account associated with Home Depot customer service. Home Depot gets high marks for this.
And it gets a little better. Sarah (the person associated with the tweet response) hooked me up with the right customer service queue (via email). So I think I am on the path to getting this resolved – at least, I hope so. We will soon see. But a person was using scanning technology to find customer service complaints. That person contacted me and directed me to a different service channel. Brilliant. They didn’t try and solve it on Twitter. [BTW, that would have been horrible because public outbursts in 140 character chunks cannot be good for brand image.] It is this process of blending technology and the personal touch that impressed me the most. Let’s hope that the next steps by Home Depot are equally as adept.
And then I did a little research myself. I had called the PM – or attempted to reach him. I had tweeted my issue. I had sent a summary email to Home Depot. I began writing a blog post. And now I decided to look for social media channels for customer service. And I quickly ran across GetSatisfaction.com. This service is a social networking web site that is tailored for customer service. It links customers to company contacts (or employees that want to help their customers). It stores data on other customers’ troubles in a searchable infobase. And it can cross-post to Twitter and other services. In many ways, this service is the start of something quite innovative. If it were fully realized, I would readily use it as a primary channel for getting feedback to Home Depot. But the service is still evolving. And it really needs strong linkages to formal support teams within companies. But it is a great start. I can’t wait to see how it evolves.
But in the meantime, I am forced to manage this incident myself. I sure hope that I can get the Home Depot project manger to be fully engaged as he should be the one locus of support for the customer. Indeed, involvement of a professional project manager was the real reason that I spent a premium for Home Depot’s involvement. Let’s hope that their PM can get fully engaged and can resolve these issues post haste.
-Roo
^ Turban, Efraim (2002), Electronic Commerce: A Managerial Perspective, Prentice Hall, ISBN 0131854615

Social Media Schizophrenia

November 8, 2008August 22, 2018 Lorin Olsen

It is Saturday afternoon and I’m spent. This week has been full of lows – and highs. Here is the brief rundown:
1. My Country – The lows: The election has confirmed my belief that conservatives are now in the wilderness. The Republican party got thumped in the election – and deservedly so. The only thing the Republicans didn’t lose was the ability to conduct Senate filibusters. Everything else was washed away in the tidal wave of anti-Bush sentiment. And if I could have voted up/down on Bush alone, I would have joined the masses. But I was unwilling to cede all power to the Democrats simply to send a message to the Republican party.
The highs: As I noted last week, the rejection of the current Republican party establishment is a GOOD THING. We need to purge ourselves of encumbrances like “party affiliation” and “reaching across the aisle” to embrace watered-down policies. Don’t misunderstand me. I am in favor of embracing our fellow Americans – even when we disagree. But let’s not be so willing to compromise our principles in order to be loved by all. The prophets of the Old Testament dd not worry about whether their message was accepted by their listeners (and readers). Rather, they spoke truth to power. And that is what the conservatives in exile must begin to do.
I think I may be writing a whole lot more about this in the future. But for now, know that I am both disheartened as well as elated. I don’t believe that conservatism has been rejected. Indeed, we haven’t seen real, honest-to-goodness conservatism for quite a while. So now is our chance to proclaim that truth.
In the meantime, I am so incredibly proud of my country. First, there was tremendous participation in this election. Second, we took one huge step towards erasing a legacy of social schisms. Our forefathers struggled about whether to include emancipation of slaves into our Declaration of Independence. The first step towards John Adams vision of equality came with the Emancipation Proclamation of Abraham Lincoln. The second step came with the US Civil War. The third step came with the civil rights efforts of the fifties (esp. the US Armed Forces) and the Civil Rights Act of the sixties. And the most recent step came with the election of an African American President. This was truly a remarkable election that every American should be proud of. It demonstrates all of the best things about America.
2. My Family – The lows: My middle daughter has been having a very tough time at school. I really don’t want to go through all of the details as this blog is publicly available – and her challenges are very private. But suffice it to say that she started the week very disheartened.
The highs: After several days of struggling with herself and seeking the counsel of others, she has come to some decisions. In candor, I do agree with her decisions. But I am still brokenhearted as I don’t know if she is fully invested in her decisions. Indeed, I suspect that she is only grudgingly accepting he unanimous counsel of others. But she has taken the first steps towards returning to the mission that God has set out for her. I’m praying that God speaks to her in intimate and affectionate ways. I’m praying that she sees His hand guiding the way – even while His other hand is lifting her up to keep her from stumbling.
My third daughter came home for the weekend. And she brought seven friends with her. They came to KC so they could experience First Fridays in the KC arts district . They were all thrilled to walk around art exhibits, munch on appetizers and act all artsy-fartsy. OK, that is harsh. I can’t truly appreciate the visual arts because of my poor eyesight. But I really shouldn’t discount the joy that some people receive when looking at a wonderful piece of art. Fortunately, they all enjoyed the art and the joi de vivre they experienced.
BTW, Bailey has some great friends. They spoke with us. They laughed with us. They discussed politics with us. And they ate our food. So a good time was had by all.
And the biggest family high point this week was my wife’s return to full-time employment. Three months ago, her previous employer had to terminate a large number of employees. And my wife was assigned to projects that were being reduced. So she was released. And while I know exactly how Cindy felt, I couldn’t really help bear her burden. She has had to bear a lot of the emotional burden herself.
But as of this past Monday, she is now fully employed. And her work is both more challenging and more rewarding than her previous assignments. In almost every way, she has been kicked up the work ladder. For this, I am so very grateful to a God that has met our family needs while He guided her to the right interviews with the right people. Now I’m paying for her success with a new team and a new company.
3. My Job – The lows: One of the projects that I was working on was halted. The software worked. The inter-corporation communications worked. But the product was still canned. And the basic reason for the project termination was the general economy today. Our key financial partner declined to under-write the loan instruments that were pivotal to the product. So the product has been suspended – at least for now.
The highs: While the one product was terminated, the overall system will be used for other products this season. So work proceeds. And even if it didn’t, I have so many other projects that I am working on. I’m not worried about my continued employment. Nor am I worried about my standing in the eyes of executive leadership. In many ways, I have the privilege of being considered a “go to” person in the organization. So I am quite pleased.
4. My Twitter Egosphere – The lows: About a week ago, I was reading a note from Jennifer Leggio (a freelance writer for Ziff-Davis) about her philosophy concerning following and unfollowing people on Twitter. Actually the article was about Qwitter, an app to track who quits following you (and what the last posted tweet was before they quit following you). It is a true vanity app.
Early in the week, I got a note from Qwitter that Jennifer had unfollowed me. Normally, I don’t care about who follows me. But this time, it actually struck a raw nerve. After everything else that happened this week, I actually felt a little upset that someone I respected had unfollwed me. I didn’t feel so bad that I sent Jennifer a note. But I did feel bad enough to tell Noah about it.
The highs: Noah sent a quick note to Jennifer and asked her what had happened. It turns out that I hadn’t offended her with anything I had said. Rather, she was having Twitter problems and inadvertently unfollowed a ton of people. So Jennifer sent me a very heart-warming note apologizing for unfollowing me. That was truly unexpected. But it occurred at the same time that everything else was swing upward as well. So this warm note and ego boost came when everything else was on an upswing.
5. My Social Media Metaverse – The lows: I have way too many social media networks that I am part of. The current list includes: Twitter, identi.ca, Friendfeed, Brightkite, Del.icio.us, Google Reader, Flickr, GoodReads, StumbleUpon, GMail, Jabber, GTalk, AIM, Live Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, Last.fm, Blip.fm, and a few other services. I am often overwhelmed by all of this. So I’ve focused on Friendfeed as my social media aggregator. And the folks from Friendfeed have now added the ability for Friendfeed posts to be sent to an IM account. In my case, I’ve decided to try this with my GTalk account.
The low associated with all this integration is that I have so much social media stuff and it is now funneling to one place – me. I can’t just turn stuff off. I have grown accustomed to the buzz. I hate being swamped. But I love being informed of all sorts of things at the same time. I have so many inputs now arriving at my frontal lobe. And every beep, tweet, blip and alert is begging for me to switch focus. It’s great to be connected. And it is a real pain to be connected. But as of now, I can’t imagine not being connected. I feel like an addict that just needs one more hit of stimulation. Arghhh.
The highs: After the addict comment, I don’t need to repeat the highs associated with social media and networking . But I am quite excited about the levels of integration that are starting to coalesce into something almost discernible. As everything begins to congregate through Friendfeed, the link to IM poses an amazing integration point. With XMPP based IM integration, it will be possible to set up processes that run on my system – and under my control. These processes can be intelligent agents that will consume XML from an XMPP server. And as XMPP and OpenID are starting to come closer to one another (see http://openid.xmpp.za.net/), the possibilities become quite mind-bending.
Whew. That list just skims the surface of highs/lows for this week. There really was so much more. But amidst all the sensory and emotional input that is causing my “virtual” schizophrenia , there is one thing that remains constant. No matter how much is going on in this world, I know that my God loves me. And I know that however I feel (whether high or low), nothing can separate me from that love.
Romans 8:38-39 – For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things yet to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

From Vanity to Transformative Energy

October 25, 2008August 22, 2018 Lorin Olsen

It has been invigorating – and startling – to see how social networking has been used during this election cycle. When our presidential campaign began (over two years ago), the pinnacle of Internet technology (in politics) was the static website, the email distribution list and the online cash register. Basically, it was a testament to first-generation web technologies. Yes, there were exceptions (like some of the forays of Howard Dean’s 2004 campaign). But the de rigeur Internet investments were fairly pedestrian.
Since the last presidential election cycle, there has been a whole lot of maturing that has occurred. First, the technology itself has matured. We have gone from unidirectional content publishing to multi-channel advertising and bi-directional communications and involvement. Today, a supporter can subscribe to any number of channels and/or feeds that interest them. Followers can: provide their email address, read a candidates’ positions published on a website (or on Facebook or MySpace), or even see speeches on YouTube. Most politicians have a presence on Twitter (or Friendfeed, if they are truly forward-thinking). In short, politicians have many ways of getting their message to current and future supporters.
And this is a great start. But to go from broadcasting information to building a community of involved activits, a candidate must successfully blend Web 2.0 technologies with some personal “connection” to his or her supporters.
Like Howard Dean before him, Barack Obama has been able to capitalize on personal charisma and a fundamental “distrust of the older generation” to build his support base. If you are active on Twitter, it doesn’t take long to see the “personal” attachment that people have with Obama – regardless of the positions that he espouses. Indeed, I have seen many “conservative” people who have decided to vote for Obama because he has “connected” with them on more than a policy level. In many ways, this sense of connectedness is the same thing that Ronald Reagan was able to do with the “Reagan Democrats” during the 1980 campaign.
On the flip-side, John McCain has had little success achieving a sense of connectedness with his supporters. Most of his supporters are not “connected” to him or the campaign. Rather, they currently support McCain because they oppose Obama. In many cases, Republicans support McCain as their second choice candidate; many Huckabee, Romney and Giuliani supporters are only grudging supporters of McCain. And in many ways, this is so reminiscent of the 1976 campaign where many conservatves only grudgingly supported the candidacy of Gerald Ford.
But there have been two events that have altered the course of the McCaign campaing. The first was the nomination of Sarah Palin as the party’s vice presidential candidate. In many ways, Sarah has been able to “connect” to dissatisfied and disillusioned Republicans. At the same time, she has been able to reach a number of independent voters. Much of this reach beyond the party failthful is due to her energy, vitality and personal attractiveness. Indeed, she has been able to reach many people on a personal level. Indeed, many of the GOP faithful talk about their support for her rather than their support of McCain.
The second event was the elevation of Joe the Plumber. Through an odd set of circumstances, an “everyman” in Ohio has captured the hearts of many Americans. Many folks see him (or the ideal he symbolizes) as someone who represents their interests. They saw an indifferent Obama making decisions that will fundamentally alter their futures. And many folks don’t like that. Uncertainty often breeds the kind of fear that can affect elections. And the Joe the Plumber issue has created a great deal of uncertainty about Obama.
Fundamentally, both events demonstrate the simple fact that people want to support the familiar. They want to connect with their leaders. When McCain can offers two surrogates for their need to connect, many folks will gravitate towards those surrogates. When Obama offers himself as the person that can relate to mainstream America, then the polls swing in his favor. In short, people want to connect with their leaders.
And modern technology is all about “connectedness” and community. When systems and technolgoies draw folks together, they foster this spirit of community. And most Americans will willingly invest in communities of shared interests – whether they be Sunday School classes, churches, local school booster clubs or even political parties. People want to belong. And they will work for that sense of belonging.
In many ways, the use of technology in politics has finally moved from Web 1.0 to Web 2.0. In the first generation, technology was used to fulfill the vanity of the candidate (or his/her followers). But with the advent of social networking and Web 2.0, we are truly seeing involvement of the citizens – and unleashing of their effort and energies.
In the final analysis, we have been created with a need to join together and serve one another. The rock band Switchfoot says it well: “We were meant to live for so much more; have we lost ourselves?” There is a fundamental part of the human heart that needs to be part of something bigger than our own selfish interests. We want to tell our children and our grandchildren how we were part of something transformative. Indeed, I believe that this is part of what made “the greatest generation” so great: they overcame econmic hardships as well as the tyrranies of totalitarian dictators. They were transformed from their pety and selfish concerns into a community of shared purpose and vision.
In politics, we can reach beyond ourselves – if we try. And with technology, we can reach others in amazing and innovative ways. But it is not the method that matters. In the end, it is the message that must transform us. In our current election, I pray that everyone takes a step back and asks whether they are supporting the position or the package. If we are supporting the package, please understand that we are often disappointed when we unwrap a package and learn that it is not everything that we had hoped for. Nevertheless, the act of reaching beyond yourself is one of the most transformative acts you will ever intitiate.
So get involved. Think and pray about your vote. And always remember to be grateful for the awesome privilege of getting to decide your own future.

Chumming for Mad Props

October 18, 2008August 22, 2018 Lorin Olsen

I’ve been in IT for many years. And through most of those years, I have striven for excellence in both form and function. I have striven for the recognition of subordinates, peers and superiors. But in all things, I have sought recognition of personal excellence. And like most folks, we are happiest when we believe folks recognize our talents – and applaud them in one way or another.
So what does that have to do with social networking and/or the nascent technologies of today? Simply put, it has everything to do with it. As some of you know, I am a music aficionado. OK, a better word would be neophyte. I love music – of all kinds. But I am utterly talentless when it comes to music. I know what I like to hear. But I could not reproduce any such sounds using only my own abilities. So I am comfortable simple listening t music. I love being transported to different places. And I love being inspired to become greater than I am.
Modern technology lets me listen to almost any music. And it lets me share music. So everyone must be saying “Lorin, you must be using Last.fm.” And everyone would be right. I do like Last.fm. But it is a service that catalogs what I listen to and then distributes that information to other platforms (e.g., Twitter, etc). It can also be used to “share” music with others – although you should only share those things that you own the copyright for. Otherwise, expect a knock on the virtual or physical door from the RIAA and the newly empowered Pro-IP cabinet leadership (once selected by our next President).
But I’m wanderign off topic. Last.fm has a lot of great featrues. But I think of Last.fm in the same way I think of blogging: it is rich – and somewhat cumbersome. What we really need is a micro-blogging annalog to music. Enter the Blip.fm service.
Blip.fm has lots of capabilities. And it would take far too much time to list and explain them all. But one feature is truly compelling: the notion of public praise. Blip.fm promotes the notion that their community “rates” its membership. Members can “listen” to favorite DJ’s. This is an analog to the Twitter following that a user collects. And members can give “props” (tokens of virtual respect/attention) to one another.
OK, this sounds pretty mundane. But just like some folks on Twitter “whore” their postings for followers (er, stop thinking about Jason Calacanis or Robert Scoble), Dj’s can position themselves to gain “respect” through both followers and props. In many ways, this kind of competitiveness drives lots of folks.
But Blip.fm adds just a little more to the equation. Not only do you want to have followers and props, but you also want some visible/public recognition of your talents. In the case of Blip.fm, DJ’s can receive “stars” (virtual badges of success). These are based upon the number of listeners you have attained. And it is amazing to see just how much a little star can push your behavior. I kept posting until I gained my first level of public acknowledgment (the silver star of 50 listeners). It amazes me how a cynical curmudgeon like me can be motivated by a little star. That simple validation subtly altered my activity within the Blip.fm community.
At first, I just “blipped” (i.e., referenced) favorite songs. But everyone does that. And most of the songs I “blipped” had already been “blipped” by others. So I started to look for an “angle” whereby I could gain the attention of others.
At first I focused upon Christian music. That gained me some listeners. But that community is smaller than the general population of Blip.fm. So for that strategy to work, I would need to invite a whole lot of friends who shared my love of contemporary Christian music. It was a good idea – but it would require a huge investment of time. And I wanted more immediate results.
So I took a different approach. I decided to become a purveyor of cover songs. And this niche worked quite well. I’ve been linking to famous covers and/or famous originals with infamous covers. And there is a lot of fertile ground in that vein. So I’ve plumbed Wikipedia, Last.fm and my love of diverse musical genres to build a unique meme for myself.
And I am now a DJ with sufficient listeners to have achieved my first level of recognition: the silver star. But there are multiple levels of “stardom” in the Blip.fm universe. And I feel a compulsion to achieve higher levels of recognition. If it were anyone but myself, I would call such a person a hapless “tool.”
But my situation proves a point: social networks will become more successful when creators find means in which to actively challenge their members. And simple (and visible) tokens of appreciation and/or expertise can have an inordinate affect on members. Build systems that reward members. And build systems that pulicly praise your members. It will spawn more active and more devoted communities.
-Roo
If you’re interested by what you’ve read, check out the YouTube video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuOL3JhPcBw

The Opening of the Veil

May 29, 2006August 22, 2018 Lorin Olsen

For the past several weeks, I’ve been testing the escrow build for Windows Vista Beta 2. And I’ve also been testing a whole cluster of other products and technologies. I’ve noted my excitement (and some challenges) with all of this new software.
But my personal experiences will now be shared by countless more people. Last week, BillG announced the general availability of a whole slew of beta products. We’ve all heard the announcements. But what about the code base. How are all the betas looking? In my humble opinion, so far, so good. Here’s the rundown:

Vista Beta 2: I’ve been running the escrow build for three weeks. After three attempts to get the actual beta bits downloaded, I finally got the bits on Saturday night. So I installed Saturday night and went into the office on Sunday. Why did I go in? Well, I wasn’t able to upgrade from my previous build. So I had to install into a clean Windows directory. And that meant that I had to re-join the network and re-install all of the apps I use. The process Is pretty simple – it just takes some time. So after two hours, I got everything set up the way I like it. I’ve installed all the Office betas. I’ve installed the Windows Live Messenger beta. I’ve even got the new IT Connection Manager installed.I can’t comment on the XP-to-Vista upgrade as I haven’t done that. But my new Vista partition is working quite nicely. I would have no objection showing this to any of my customers. Indeed, I can’t wait to start showing all of this to all of my customers.
They’re still were a couple of device challenges, but nothing too terribly difficult to resolve. I had to update the audio drivers, but the new drivers were downloaded automatically. The drivers for our smart card readers didn’t work at first. But a quick automatic download of drivers solved this challenge as well. Unfortunately, the video drivers were still a challenge. I had to install them by hand. It’s not hard – especially since I’ve done it half-a-dozen times already. If any of you need help, let me know.
Office Professional 2007: The installation was simple. And the code does work – with a couple of challenges (especially speed and transient system hangs). All in all, I can wait to get the last few minor problems ironed out. As I’ve noted before, I’ve been using Office 2007 as my default for almost two months. And I’m loving it. I think I’ve finally got the hang of the ribbon bar. But without any tips/tricks or handouts, it took me some time. I love the design and utility. But it will take time for folks to get used to this.As a side note, I’ve really started to explore the use of Outlook categories and action flags. In the past, I’ve flagged important items. But now, I can create multiple categories, sort by those categories and create actions for any and all items. For my part, I’ve color-coded categories for each of my customers. So when I’m looking at any email, I assign it to the customer category. That way, any time I look back at any message, I immediately know which customer is affected. And since you can assign multiple categories, I can categorize an item that affects one, two, three or four of my customers. In short, I assign impact scoping of every item by customer. And then I assign priorities/follow-up flags based upon urgency. The system isn’t flawless. You can’t set multiple action flags for an item. But you can always create a separate task for each customer. I’m fiddling with how this will all work. I’ll let you know how the fiddling turns out.
Office OneNote 2007: This product gets better and better. There are a lot more “management” and “organization” features that make it much simpler to work with a large library of notes. Handwriting recognition is a bit better than before. So it is easier to move documents between Office components with more confidence in handwriting recognition.
Office Groove 2007: There are a few new features. But most of what I see is a cleaner integration with other Office products. Groove used to look like it didn’t belong as part of the Office suite. Those days are disappearing. There are still a few points where it looks like another vendor’s product, but those are rare exceptions. I think we need to rally start emphasizing this to our enterprise customers. Groove is no longer “an after-thought” of the Office product line.
IE 7+: Yup, you read that right. IE 7 is the beta product for Windows XP. The Vista-specific version is now known as IE 7+. I am using both as my default browser on both Vista and XP.
Office Communicator Mobile: The IM client for Windows Mobile 5 is officially ready for production deployment. I have been able to ensure IM presence, even when I’m not in front of a PC. I both love and hate the fact that I am “always on.”
Windows Live Messenger Beta: I’ve been using this at work and at home for about six weeks. This is a very good IM client for the general, Internet-connected experience. And it includes VOIP support. Since this product integrates both mobile and connected experiences, it fully supports text messages moving from a connected device to a mobile device. It’s a very simple and mostly intuitive experience.

So that’s the update for this weekend. In the past week, I’ve seen some dramatic changes at home with a child graduating. But despite all the changes at home, I’m glad that some things stay the same: at work, our development teams are diligently working to deliver new code. With each week, their efforts are showing better and better results. Boy, I love this stuff!
-CyclingRoo-

Ultraman: Beta Capsules and Gomora

May 15, 2006August 22, 2018 Lorin Olsen

How many of you remember Ultraman and the Science Patrol? Alright. How many of you were alive when Ultraman first arrived in America? For those who don’t remember, Ultraman was one of the first Japanese sci-fi imports in the U.S. I remember watching the brave Shin Hayata lift the beta capsule into the air and become Ultraman – defender of the world. He fought the evil renegade monsters from outer space.
So why would I think of Ultraman. That’s easy. For the past week, I’ve been lifting “the beta capsule” (beta software products) into the air. Of course, I haven’t turned into a super-hero. But I do feel like there are super new things I’m finding with each beta.
So what have I been playing with? First of all, Microsoft is about to release Windows Vista Beta 2. While the development and QA teams are still ironing out the final usability issues, the beta code is now in escrow. That means that there are no changes in the “Beta 2” branch except for show-stopper errors. That also means that we are rapidly heading to a point where the hard work of all of the developers will be spread before a huge customer community.
And what a sight Vista is to behold! After many years, it is fantastic to realize that I will see a new Microsoft OS. It’s been many years since Windows XP was released. And since then, the computing world has changed dramatically. And Vista represents our efforts to both address the changing world as well as shape the emerging world. First and foremost, Vista is designed with security in mind. Not only are there “visible” features (like BitLocker), but the entire infrastructure of the OS has changed. Vista is the first OS designed with Trustworthy Computing in mind.
Sometime, I love the security touches. But other times, I’m startled by them. For years, I’ve had the explicit authority to do anything and everything to my system. And by default, system invaders could inherit those abilities – if they could usurp my credentials. But changes to user access controls will change a lot of that. Indeed, users will be prompted whenever a system action requires explicit administrator authority – even if you are already an administrator. There has been a lot of good and bad things written about this design decision. But I’d rather err on the side of caution. So I’m getting used to UAC changes. And I’m very surprised about how many seemingly trivial tasks actually require some form of elevated privilege.
But the Vista changes don’t end with security. As everyone probably knows already, Vista “looks” stunning. The UI has been retooled to take advantage of advanced graphics capabilities. This includes desktop transparency – also known as “Glass”. But transparency is not the only visual touches. The OS now includes vector graphics capabilities. So what’s so sexy about that? Well, any object on the desktop can be scaled (up or down) and retain true image fidelity. In addition, all of the base applications have been re-tooled to include imroved “look and feel” characteristics. These touches include new widgets, improved font management as well as other touches.
And as I’ve noted many times, RSS is everywhere. I think I love this as much as anything else. The ability for a user to classify and organize content based upon their own personal taxonomy will make Vista “personally configurable” for each user.
And the list can go on and on. But let’s look at the other beta efforts underway.
Next on the beta drumroll is Microsoft Office System 2007 Beta 2. The new Office System is staggeringly beautiful. For those who haven’t seen it, the new system has a somewhat different user interface design. The cascading menus have been replaced by a “ribbon bar.” The ribbon bar features related menu objects grouped together. While the notion of hierarchically cascading functions isn’t gone, it exists in a more usable form. Further, the ribbon bar adjusts based upon usage. More frequently used items will gain increased prominence and visibility. Our usability studies indicate that this new interface should truly improve the user experience. I sure hope so. I’ll use it for a few weeks and report back. Until then, I’ll have to hunt to find some of my more favored commands / menu items. [It is important to note that Outlook retains much of its previous menu-oriented design. I guess that this is to ensure maximum usability on the most frequently used product in the Office suite.]
And the Office System 2007 also includes new versions of OneNote as well as a new version of Groove. Both products have picked up some nifty features – few of which I’ve had a chance to explore. In fairness, I’ve focused on the basics: Vista, IE7, and the traditional Office products. So I’ll take another action item to report back on these tools.
And more is one the way. The rumor mill is grinding out a great deal about the new Windows Media Player 11. Now I’ve seen the new Windows Media Player in Vista. But if the rumors are correct, there’ll be some WMP11 candy for the XP crowd sometime this week. And I can’t wait to put this on my home systems. My kids have a fondness for iTunes. And it will be nice to let them see what Microsoft is doing in this space. Coupled with Urge (the MTV co-venture), I hope to see a real challenger to the Apple primacy. I do need to note that I use iTunes. I bought my iPod before I joined Microsoft. But I believe that competition makes everything better. So here’s hoping that our new entry into this space will heat up competition and spur further innovation.
BTW, the title of this post mentions Gomora. Gomora was one of Ultraman’s most fearsome foes. Well, my week in beta heaven has been interupted by its fair share of challenges. First, I was having some odd problems with Wifi in my current Vista build. I could easily connect to the corporate WLAN (no small feat when you consider that this requires auto-enrollement and certificate setup. But it turns out that there is a minor bug being chased down in relationship to the latest Linksys drivers for the WRT54G. If you are running the latest Linksys firmware (which I am – via HyperWRT) and your router is configured to support AES+TKIP (which mine was), then you won’t be able to connect this Vista build to your router – unless you make a change. The fix is simple – once you know the problem. I had to change my router to support AES only. Once I did this, I could connect my Vista system to my home network. I had reached my Monday Nirana.
OK, not really. Too bad one of my daughter’s had a system that only supported TKIP encryption. So when I made my change, she couldn’t connect to the network any longer. So I had to find the right XP drivers and software to support WPA2 and AES for her system. This wasn’t hard. But it was one more thing to fiddle with.
But the problems didn’t end there. We are reorganizing furniture in the house as a prelude to a graduation party we are holding for Dana. So our youngest daughter felt that now was the best time to re-organize the upstairs loft. Not a problem, right? Wrong. She decided to switch monitors and keyboards on two systems. Unfortunately, these were the two oldest systems in the house. And they didn’t take kindly to the swap. As a result, I spent about 90 minutes swapping stuff around to get drivers recognized. In the end, it was no big deal – except that my kids wanted everything solved ASAP (in order to prepare for school finals). I guess the old adage that you shouldn’t change more than one thing at a time is appropriate. I’ll teach Bailey that lesson – when she speaks to me again. 😉
And the list didn’t stop. Over the weekend, my son was doing some gardening. Unfortunately, he cut our cable infrastructure. So we’ve been without phone, cable and high-speed Internet access for the weekend. So I had a lot to catch up on when the cable repair crew finally restored service.
So here I sit. I’ve changed hardware on two systems. I’ve updated five systems with either new software or new configuration data. And I’ve gotten my network infrastructure damaged and repaired. So it’s time to relax. I think I’ll catch up on a new Doctor Who ep from the BBC.
Ciao!
-CyclingRoo-

The intersection of vision and action

Category: Technology

The Opening of the Veil

Ultraman: Beta Capsules and Gomora