Technology Archives - Page 13 of 39

SVASE VC Breakfast with Gus Tai, General Partner @ Trinity Ventures

Posted on October 15, 2007 ·

After a long break (for me) I’ll be moderating another SVASE VC Breakfast Club meeting Thursday, October 18th in Palo Alto.

As usual, it’s an informal round-table where up to 10 entrepreneurs get to deliver a pitch, then answer questions and get critiqued by a VC Partner. We’ve had VC’s from Draper Fisher, Kleiner Perkins, Mayfield, Mohr Davidow, Emergence Capital …etc. This Thursday I”ll have the honor of welcoming a repeat guest, Gus Tai, General Partner at Trinity Ventures. Instead of introducing him, I suggest you take a look at his impressive portfolio.

These breakfast meetings are a valuable opportunity for early-stage Entrepreneurs, most of whom would probably have a hard time getting through the door to VC Partners. Since I’ve been through quite a few of these sessions, both as Entrepreneur and Moderator, let me share a few thoughts:

It’s a pressure-free environment, with no Powerpoint presentations, Business Plans…etc, just casual conversation; but it does not mean you should come unprepared!
Follow a structure, don’t just roam about what you would like to do, or even worse, spend all your time describing the problem, without addressing what your solution is.
Don’t forget “small things” like the Team, Product, Market..etc.
It would not hurt to mention how much you are looking for, and how you would use the funds…
Write down and practice your pitch, and prepare to deliver a compelling story in 3 minutes. You will have about 8-10 minutes, half of which is your pitch, but believe me, whatever your practice time was, when you are on the spot, you will likely take twice as long to deliver your story. The second half of your time-slot is for Q&A.
Bring an Executive Summary; some VC’s like it, others don’t.
Last, but not least, please be on time! I am not kidding… some of you know why I even have to bring this up.

For more information check out the SVASE event page, and ~~don’t forget to~~ ~~register~~ . See you in Palo Alto.

Update: I will also have a special guest: former entrepreneur-turned-into-VC, who got his fame as “the entrepreneur who won’t just take VC abuse.” That is of course before successfully selling his startup and becoming a VC Partner himself.

Update: This event is now SOLD OUT. Next Thursday I will moderate a VC Breakfast in San Francisco with Robert Troy, Managing Director of Geneva Venture Partners.

Filed Under: Bay Area, Software, Startups, Technology · Tagged: CleanTech, Digital Media, entrepreneurship, internet, mobility, On-Demand, SaaS, startup pitch, Startups, SVASE, vc Funding, venture Capital

Angry Mom Spanking Ballmer Over Useless Vista

Posted on October 10, 2007 ·

Well, it’s not the Microsoft CEO’s mother – it’s analyst Yvonne Genovese who interviewed Ballmer at the Gartner Symposium.

“My daughter comes in one day and says, ‘Hey Mom, my friend has Vista, and it has these neat little things called gadgets — I need those.'”

Said Ballmer: “I love your daughter.”

“You’re not going to like her mom in about two minutes,” said Genovese, while the crowd laughed.

She went on to explain that she installed Vista for her daughter — and two days later went right back to using the XP operating system.

That must have been one entertaining session. Read the full story at Computerworld. But first, here’s another quote from Ballmer, clearly on the defensive:

“There is always a tension between the value that end users see — and frankly, that software developers see — and the value that we can deliver to IT.”

Yesss. The key word is IT. As in “expert only”. Perhaps it’s time Microsoft recognize that they failed to serve two “masters”, and in catering strictly for IT, delivering a super-secure (?) system they created a monster quite unusable by individual consumers.

I’ve been ranting about Vista enough here, let me just add another gem to prove my point.

It’s probably fair to assume that a lot of Vista (home) users will have at least one older, XP machine around – and if they do, they want these to see these connected on a Home Network. This should be a piece of cake… or not.

Your Vista PC won’t see the XP ones on the network at all.
There’s no documentation whatsoever, but after Googling around you can figure out that you need to patch the XP machines (!) for them to be seen by the Vista. (Incidentally, the patch requires WGA, which fails on one of my perfectly legit computers, but that’s another story)
When Vista still can’t see the networked machines, back Googling again.
After some research you’ll discover a well-hidden statement that it may take up to 15 minutes for a Vista PC to see a networked pre-Vista one. Fifteen minutes!!!! in 2007!!!!

This is just one example of the many idiocies crippling Vista. Nothing major, just stupid little things that don’t work and there is no easily accessible info about.

Vista is for the corporate world with IT departments, period. I can hardly think of better promotion for Apple then releasing Vista to the consumer market. Oh, and since a picture is worth a thousand words, here’s one from Princeton University (by way of Espen Antonsen)

Update: It’s not just kids anymore 😉

Update: Ballmer speaks; Can Microsoft be everything to everyone? at Between the Lines. More on the Computerworld Blogs

Filed Under: Software, Technology · Tagged: Apple, ballmer, Gartner, microsoft, vista, vistasucks, Windows, windows vista, windows xp, xp

Customer Support, the HP Way

Posted on October 10, 2007 ·

I briefly wrote about my dismal customer support experience in Everything on this Vista PC is an Afterthought. The one piece I really like in this PC setup is the screen: 22 inches of shiny black beauty, sharp screen, it tilts and moves around in every imaginable way, even pivots for a vertical view.

There’s only one problem: colors are way off without detailed calibration. HP provides an easy-to-use (albeit not too effective) software product, which allows me to save my new defaults in a file. Too bad the configuration file is user-dependent, and I have two User Accounts on this machine. I really don’t want to go through the configuration hassle twice, so I thought I’d copy the file to the other user account… however, I could not locate it in any of the usual suspect directories, not even search by name. That’s what online support is for – so I thought, naively. This is the template response I received to my 3-line request to locate the file:

Hello Zoltan,
Thank you for contacting HP Total Care.
I gather from your email that you have downloaded and installed HP My Display and you would like to know if you can make this software user dependent.

I understand the importance of your query and look forward to provide you with the appropriate information.

Zoltan, the display settings for each user can be saved, providing an
easy way to select display characteristics in a multi-user environment, or to
save multiple defined presets for a single user based on content and ambient
lighting.
HP My Display enables monitor adjustment and color tuning using the Display
Data Channel (DDCommand Interface C/CI) protocol. All adjustments to the
display are controlled through software to eliminate the need to use the
monitor on-screen display (OSD). HP My Display runs in the background and can
be accessed through the Task tray, Start menu, or by right-clicking in a blank
area of the desktop. The HP My Display utility enables quick, accurate tuning
of the display, with the ability to easily save and use monitor configurations
that are best suited to the user.
HP My Display has two modes of operation: Wizard and OSD mode. The preferred
method of use is Wizard mode, which provides a step-by-step process to
accurately calibrate the monitor. OSD mode enables changes to any single
monitor setting without stepping through a predefined sequence. This method is
less accurate than Wizard mode, but enables easy access to any monitor
adjustment.

For more information you can use the Manual as how to use the software:

http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c00834092.pdf

I also want to inform you that the downloaded files gets saved to temp folder as default location if the location is not given while downloading the file and the setup file can be located by any user by following the steps given below:

Click on Start >Computer.

Double click on Local drive (C:)

Double click on Program Files.

Select HP My Display folder and open the same and you will get the setup file.

If you need further assistance, please reply to this message and we will be happy to assist you further.
You may receive an e-mail survey regarding your e-mail support experience. We would appreciate your feedback.
For information on keeping your HP and Compaq products up and running, please visit our Web site at:
http://www.hp.com/go/totalcare

What’s wrong here? I’m looking for a solution, don’t give me this pompous BS on how great your software is, HP, especially when you don’t address the one and only question I had. In fact the first and only non-canned sentence clearly shows you did not even listen (read): you think I want to make configuration user dependent : it already is, I want it user independent! If you read my original inquiry, you should know all this crap on how to install and use the configuration tool is useless, since I have already completed these steps.

OK, cool-off, send HP another email:

Thanks, but this template answer is a complete nonsense. I have succesfully used the software, saved it to a file. The ONLY question I had, and still have is this:
A: Can I save the confguration in a non-user-dependent area, so the same settings apply
B: If not, where is the config file stored, so I can copy it to other user directories.

Same-day response:

Hello Zoltan,
Thank you for contacting HP Total Care.

Zoltan, it is our goal to answer questions presented to us as quickly as
possible. From reading your e-mail I will need to do some additional
research to provide you with a resolution to this issue.

As soon as I have gathered this information I will e-mail you again. I apologize for any inconvenience this delay may cause.
If you need further assistance, please reply to this message and we will be happy to assist you further.
You may receive an e-mail survey regarding your e-mail support experience. We would appreciate your feedback.
For information on keeping your HP and Compaq products up and running, please visit our Web site at:
http://www.hp.com/go/totalcare

Locating a file needs additional research. Two days later I’m still waiting. Customer Support, the HP-way.

Filed Under: Customer Service, Technology · Tagged: calibration, Customer support, hewlett-packard, HP, LCD, technical support

Would You Like a Free Computer with your Wi-Fi?

Posted on October 1, 2007 ·

At these prices, I assume they must be giving free computers away with their wi-fi service:

Filed Under: Humor, Technology · Tagged: hotel wi-fi, las vegas, mandalay bay, wi-fi

Windows-less Computers? Is it Really a Good Idea?

Posted on September 24, 2007 ·

CNet reports that “the Globalization Institute, a Brussels-based European Union think tank, has recommended the EU require all PCs to be sold without preloaded operating systems such as Microsoft Windows.”

The recommendation is for PCs and Operating Systems to be sold separately, breaking Microsoft’s monopoly, increasing competition. I’m not exactly a Microsoft-fan, in fact just recently responded to Robert Scoble who asked: Why doesn’t Microsoft get the love?:

…just look at the examples above. There are a lot more. They all show a corporate culture that does not have the customer in focus. It’s hard to love such a company, no matter how great many of the individual employees are.

So, I guess it’s time to celebrate, the EU would finally break the monopoly. And we’ll be free to buy our hardware, OS, Software all separately, trying to get it all work together. No big deal … after all, no-one ever had to hassle with non-working device drivers even with the pre-installed, pre-configured systems? But wait, it gets better:

There is no reason why computer operating systems could not follow the same model as computer hard drives and processors, which comply with standards that allow for broad compatibility as well as competition in the market.

Now, this is a pretty poor analogy: as far as I know, the hard drive and processor come installed in the computer – or are they suggesting the EU mandate unbundling those, too? We could just buy the PC components separately, and assemble it ourselves. Hey, I have a friend who never buys complete systems, he loves building them. Oh, and he fixes his car, too.

But me, well, I happen to be the lazy consumer type, expecting these things to work out-of-the-box. Preferably one box. Answering my own questions: yes, selling windows-less computers is probably a good idea, but only to the extent there is a market demand for them. Certainly not mandated by governments.

Filed Under: Business, Politics, Technology · Tagged: European Union, microsoft, Microsoft antitrust, MS Windows, operating systems, os, vista, Windows, xp

The Ongoing Windows Desktop Search Controversy

Posted on September 12, 2007 ·

Windows Desktop Search continues to stir controversy, in several ways.

Desktop Search Bundled with Vista

Back in June Microsoft agreed to make changes to the way it bundles Search with Vista. This was largely due to Google’s claim that:

Microsoft’s hardwiring of its own desktop search product into Windows Vista violates the final judgment in this case.

While I’m clearly no fan of Vista (and Microsoft, for that matter), in this case I found myself on the ‘wrong side’ – i.e. siding with Microsoft (the sky is falling, the sky is falling!).

Here’s the problem: there really should not be a product named Desktop Search . Only desktop Find – and not a product. Being able to retrieve whatever I myself placed on my hard disk should be a fundamental feature of the computer – and that means the Operating System. The fact is, for two decades Microsoft has failed to deliver this capability miserably and that opened up an opportunity for others, be it Google, Yahoo, or my personal favorite, Copernic. Now that Microsoft finally pulled their act together, and Vista has good, built-in search, let’s not complain about the operating system finally doing what it should have been doing in the first place.

In short, Google does not have a case here. A personal side-note: in the meantime I have opportunistically bought a Vista PC (not a pleasant experience), and since this beast has Vista Search built-in, I decided to NOT install Copernic Desktop Search. Not that the Vista version is better: it doesn’t have to be. I hate redundancy, and a competing product would have to be by orders of magnitude better for me to install a duplicate. Of course moving to Web applications made this decision a lot easier: after all what the desktop search capabilities are is becoming more and more irrelevant.

Windows Desktop Search Illegally Bundled on pre-Vista Systems

I found it more than ironic, in fact outrageous that in the very days Microsoft outlines the changes it plans to make to the desktop search feature in Windows Vista to satisfy antitrust concerns, it continues to dump its Desktop Search on XP systems without the users authorization – in fact without even telling users what’s happening.

Users who complain that the newly released Windows Live Installer comes with several options defaulted to “Yes” are missing the big picture: while the defaults may just be an inconvenience (OK, a trap), Windows Live Installer secretly installs Desktop Search on your XP system (Vista already has it). It is not listed anywhere as an option, you are not even warned what happens… you may just notice something funny in your taskbar after the installation:

Yes, that’s Windows Desktop Search, right next to Copernic Desktop Search, which was my choice on the XP system. Further search (Google, of course) reveals that one of the products, Windows Live Photo Gallery relies on Desktop Search. I am not going to argue the merits of this architecture, or Photo Gallery itself, but desktop search clearly isn’t just a component to gallery, it’s a basic piece of my desktop infrastructure. Running two searches is not only redundant, but clearly performance degrading, so at a minimum Microsoft should warn users about the consequences and ask for permission to proceed.

Of course this is not simply a performance issue: this practice is a blatant violation of my rights as the computer’s owner (I don’t recall Microsoft having paid for my PC, so I suppose I still own it). Frankly I am shocked, if this was 1995, I wouldn’t even be surprised, but after all the antitrust issues Microsoft faced, you’d think they learned a lesson… or not.

Additional reading: Microsoft Support, All about Microsoft, BetaNews, Ars Technica.

Update: Surprise, surprise! Microsoft changes Windows files on user PCs without permission, researchers say – reports Computerworld and Hardware 2.0. Also read: Windows Secrets, Today @ PC World, Inquirer, and Microsoft Watch

Filed Under: Business, Personal Productivity, Software, Technology · Tagged: copernic, copernic desktop search, desktop search, google desktop, microsoft, microsoft antitrust issues, microsoft litigation, windows desktop, windows live, windows live installer

Dell Warming up the Storage Paradox

Posted on September 10, 2007 ·

Michael Dell has warmed up IDC’s Storage Paradox during his town hall meeting today. IDC originally estimated:

“the world will produce 988 exabytes of data in 2010 – but only 601 exabytes of storage will be available.”

Dell’s accelerated version:

“This year the amount of digital data will surpass the digital storage capacity available. If we don’t do something, we are going to lose that data.”

Like I’ve said before, I’m not worried:

Last I checked, data storage was not a natural resource, it is manufactured. Why wouldn’t market forces take care of balancing demand and supply?
Just where exactly would the excess “data” exist? Right now I am typing this post – but if I don’t save/post/send it, it does not get stored anywhere, it won’t become data – it won’t exist at all. (for simplicity forget caching and autosave). Does IDC count our thoughts as data?

Clearly, Michael Dell must also realize the paradoxical nature of this statement, since he offers a solution: the Dell PowerVault MD3000i.

The On-Demand model is another solution, effectively reducing storage requirements: since we work natively online, it will be easier to share & link, we don’t have to send and store redundant copies of the same file.

Related posts: Between the Lines, InfoWorld and The Register

Filed Under: SaaS, Technology · Tagged: analysts, data storage, dell, idc, michael dell, On-Demand, research, SaaS, smb, software as a service, storage, storage paradox, zoho viewer

Thinkpad Reserve: Lenovo (Almost) Gets Hardware as a Service.

Posted on September 8, 2007 ·

The photo above isn’t just a leather portfolio. It’s the Thinkpad Reserve Edition, reported by Crunchgear and Engadget.

For $5,000 you can be part of an exclusive club, since only 5,000 units will ever be made. You’ll also get access to the exclusive, concierge-style support service: immediate access, your own personal support consultant, next-day delivery of a replacement computer ..etc for 3 years, the expected life-time of the Thinkpad. And therein lies the rub.

If you exclusivity is so important that you spend $5K, do you really want to carry a 2-year old computer? Your Thinkpad will be obsolete in 6 months, but let’s say you don’t have to be cutting-edge… in a year it will feel so uncomfortably old… a shame to be seen with, so you might as well keep that nice leather portfolio closed at all times. 😉 Joke apart, here’s what Lenovo missed: adding the strong service part was good, so why not go all the way? Introduce Hardware as a Service: charge an annual fee, include annual computer replacement, but make the transition painless – from contacting the owner through shipping the new units to transferring user setup and data – now that’s real Concierge! Charge whatever they want: $3k -$4K – $5k annually -probably doesn’t matter… exclusivity is priceless.

Filed Under: Customer Service, Marketing / PR, Technology · Tagged: concierge, exclusivity, HaaS, hardware as a service, lenovo, thinkpad, thinpad reserve

Windows Live Installs More than it Tells You

Posted on September 7, 2007 ·

“Beware installing Windows Live Writer Beta 3” – warns Tom Raftery. He finds Microsoft’s default of swithching to Live Search and installing a bundle of software outrageous.

If only he knew that if gets a lot worse! Default are an annoyance, I kind of expect them – I consider all install programs booby-trapped, and actively look for what I have to “disarm”. But this time Microsoft crossed the line, going back to the old practice of installing software without even asking, what’s more without even telling the user anything about it.

If you look at my install choices, you can see I unchecked all selectable options:

The above were all selected as deafult, which is what ticked Tom off.

Again, unselected everything above, and I can clearly see the four programs to be installed (or so I think).

Now, let’s look at my Windows taskbar after the installation:

The red arrow points to.. none other but Windows Desktop Search, a program I did not select, was never listed, yet Live Installed sneaked it onto my computer. I clearly have not had it before, and don’t need it, since – as you can see – I already have Copernic Desktop Search installed.

Frankly, I was so shocked, I started to question myself… simply because in 2007 such agressive behavior is unthinkable, so I wondered if in fact there was a screen where I could have unselected it. To double-check, I went ahead and repeated the process on another PC – same results.

Apparently Microsoft doesn’t learn – they are just as agressive and ignorant as they were in the 90’s. The only difference is that now we have non-Microsoft alternatives.

Update: This could be a coincidence, but Firefox disappeared from my Quick Launch bar. IE7 is still there.

Update (10/18): Wow, Microsoft does listen, after all:

Windows Live Photo Gallery no longer requires WDS (Windows Desktop Search) to be installed on XP! Again, we heard the grumblings loud and clear, and took action! Once you have installed the update via Microsoft Update and have build 1299.1010 install you can uninstall WDS if you’re not using it with any other programs.

Filed Under: Software, Technology · Tagged: copernic, copernic desktop search, desktop search, microsoft, windows desktop, windows live, windows live installer

How Apple Sc****d their Most Loyal Customer

Posted on September 5, 2007 ·

Today was supposed to be Office 2.0 day, with the conference starting tomorrow, pre-conference reception tonight, and the Unconference today. Yet Apple decided to steal the day, and with the flurry of announcement it’s hard to find anything but Apple news on TechMeme. But that’s not the worst.

This years Office 2.0 conference will be an Apple Lovers’s geek-feast. I guess the official version is focusing on mobility, proving that the iPhone is business-ready. Either way, this year all conference attendees receive an iPhone which will be actively used throughout the 2-day event. It’s hardly a gift, considering that the individual registration fee tripled from last year, but it doesn’t change the fact: we’re talking about 500 iPhones.

Conference-organizer Ismael Ghalimi did not receive a special deal from Apple, in fact he was not even allowed to buy the gadgets in batch, he had to do it one-by-one, which created its own logistical nightmare. The ‘default’ was the 4G model, which is now being discontinued, but attendees could pay an extra $100 to receive the 8G model – which today just saw its price dropped from $599 to $399. Of course this is great news for consumers, but I wonder what attendees will think. Will they ask for refunds?

Oh, before I forget, Ismael also purchased 60 iMacs (!) as demo units for the conference. It’s hard to find a more loyal fan/customer – yet today he may feel somewhat inconvenienced (if he even had time to follow the news) by Apple.

Some of the (many) post on the subject: Techdirt, Good Morning Silicon Valley, Apple, Computerworld, dslreports.com, Epicenter, Ars Technica, WebProNews, Digital Noise, IP Democracy, Between the Lines, Guardian Unlimited, Macworld, bub.blicio.us, Digital Daily, Live Coverage …, MacRumors, The Unofficial Apple Weblog, The Utility Belt, BloggingStocks, jkOnTheRun, Techomical, Channel 9, and of course Fake Steve himself.

Update (9/7): Ismael strikes back.

Filed Under: Collaboration, Personal Productivity, Social Networking, Technology · Tagged: Apple, imac, iPhone, ipod, o20con, office 2.0 conference, Office20con