HighEndBuzz

They get it over at VentureBlog...

Here's a great story from one of the blogs I read on a regular basis.  As you know I'm a big Vonage advocate so I just had to share this.  I'm also a big user of Skype.  I still predict that Ma-Bell is going to take a bath in the near future if they don't get it together and compete.

Link: VentureBlog: CES, pt 2: Voice Over IP Hits The Masses.

Switch

I've been getting quite a bit of grief in my network of friends lately.  The fact is, I'm a Mac guy now.  Now if you're a marketing dweeb there's a good chance you're sitting in your seat shrugging your shoulders giving me the "big deal".  The truth is that for me it is a big deal, because until recently, I was a "closet" Mac guy.  You see, although I'm only 35 years old, I come from a time right after 'big iron'.  My first workstation was a SPARC, I was a command line guy, I know vi and Emacs, I thought Macs were for kindergartens and people who only knew how to paint by numbers and use one finger.  I was a techie that used to make fun of those guys.  Hell, I remember the disaster that Cripple-Talk (apple-talk protocol) caused in a networked environment. 

All of that changed when I bought my wife an iMac over a year ago...

I did it out of rage more than love.  One of our home Windows machines was so loaded with spy-ware, demos, spam and viruses that I was tempted to move my family into the uni-bomber shack and give up technology all together.  I did some research and found to my surprise that the OSX was actually run on a UNIX platform.  I was also amazed at the styling of the unit.  For the first time ever, someone thought about what this device should look like.  This wasn't going to be a loudly humming eyesore like my other PCs. 

Just a FYI...I wasn't born in a barn, I saw the commercials, understood this was something new, but actually never gave it a second though.

So I made my way through the cold to the Apple Store in the Mall of America...

When this place opened we used to have a standing bet as to when it was going to close.  (If this Christmas was any indication that's going to be a long time from now)  I bought the device, presented it to my wife and reluctantly set it up.  I couldn't believe the ease of use.  No pop-ups, no viruses (not to say it couldn't happen), the system takes care of itself, mounts devices, DOESN'T CRASH, DOESN'T CRASH, DOESN'T CRASH. 

Still nobody knew that I was the one in love with the iMac.  Oh the stares I got when commenting on the Mini-me/Yao Ming Powerbook commercials during the Timberwolves game.  You would have thought I had just come out of the closet with 5 inch pumps and a mini-skirt on.

Well, I got over myself in the last 5 months.  I came out of the closet with my very own iBook.  I take it everywhere, do most of my work on the thing and can't find any reason to purchase another PC.  I'm now an evangelist for Apple in the IT community.  I purchased my wife and myself iPods and we have a Bose Sound Dock (which I highly recommend). 

Now I'm just waiting from the call from the Apple people to do my very own Switch commercial...or from Dave Chappell....

 

It's All About the Touchdown Dance

Being that we're in the middle of the NFL playoffs, I thought I would write a tribute to football (actually a football analogy for business).  I had a great conversation with a colleague last week about how more so than ever people are more concerned about getting credit than getting the job done.  I don't know if it was because of the bust, but ever since then, some IT departments are on perpetual hold...more like hide.  Almost 2 years ago I had a conversation with a CIO where she told me that people (her employees) should be "happy" and "fortunate" to have jobs at all.  You could say I was shocked (glad she doesn't use that in her pep-talk). 

Since then, what I've noticed from her organization is quite a bit dancing, and not a whole lot of production.  A great example of this was the recent acquisition of their largest competitor they decommissioned a legacy CRM system they acquired.  This included moving over 300 users to Siebel at a cost of over $300k.  Long story short...they convinced their Sr. Leadership that they are able to save $25k/year as they don't have to pay maintenance on the legacy system.  During a company meeting they celebrated the "ROI" with no mention to the costly Siebel system that now does all of the heavy lifting.

...just like some football players, it's all about the dance.

I sure hope this changes in 2005.

Vonage

I've been using Vonage for over 2 months now and must say I'm very impressed with the service.  Don't get me wrong, quality of service could be better, but then we're talking about calls to Grandma.  I'm willing to suffer just a little for a total cost of $25 vs. the cost of a local service (plus features) and the costs of long distance.  If I had to rate the service I'd give it a 3.5 out of 5.  The only problem I currently see is that when I'm working on-line in my home office (as I am now), there is a noticeable deterioration in the quality of service (minimal however, but noticeable).  Once they figure out the quality of service issue, this will be a great business quality service.  I wouldn't want to be the "Bells" at this point.

Taxi

Getting ready to launch our product (even more so a startup) is like getting a jumbo jet to taxi onto the runway...a monumental task if you really think about it.  It's amazing how the little things you don't want to worry about initially (accounting, email systems, communications tools, expense reporting system and even this blog) seem to consume half of my time, not to mention the fact that we need to launch our website in the next couple of weeks. 

I realize I'll appreciate all of the work we put in to get the wheels on the car, but don't we all just wish it were easier.