The Providers

We all were introduced to the new Windows system this past week, with the Windows 8 consumer preview. “It’s Windows reimagined and reinvented” as Microsoft puts it. But with any Windows release it is only part of the equation the other part is how manufacturers prepare their hardware and develop new ways to add value for their customers. To date the history of “preparation” that PC manufacturers have made, has only held frustration for their customers and a disappointment for the industry. PC manufacturers have gone in a direction that has complicated and depressed the customer experience.

This issue is highlighted by the programs that manufacturers of computers add to PC systems.  Why do they do this???  Do these programs generate any type of revenue for the companies?  Do they provide valuable user feedback?? Is it necessary for branding?

What I do know is that most of these programs duplicate functionality already in Windows or add layers upon an existing system that makes things confusing or slow for their customers. Do manufacturers ever test these add-ons? I mean some systems when you boot them take forever to start up because of these additions.  The end result is that the customers that I see are complaining about performance so the first thing I do is disable all or most of these add-on programs.  Some of these add-ons are useful such as driver and firmware updates to fix issues but the reality is that most users don’t keep their systems up to date let alone would they realize that the manufacturer is pushing an update out to them. These programs typically have feedback agreements, I have to believe that the majority of users don’t agree to offer feedback. A CEO should be looking at this data and realizing the low percentage that agree to this and turn his companies efforts to more fruitful endeavors.

Perhaps the customers that I see are an anomaly. But I know this is not the case having been in the business of computer support for over 25 years, and talking to other computer professionals, they see the same issues I do.  The customers that I and other support professionals work with are just a small fraction of the total customer base. The customers we don’t catch just leave and the end result for manufacturers is that they have created a cycle of frustration that pushes users from the Windows brand to a less frustrating experience, like the Macintosh or tablet environment. On Macintosh computers the manufacturers, in this case of printers, don’t dare complicate things, so the installs there are simple and integrate nicely onto the platform. But on the PC side of things it’s the wild west and anything goes.

Do the CEO’s of these companies actually review each product before they are shipped? I doubt it, unlike a Steve Jobs who was integrally involved in the testing of the products and experience in Apple, the CEO’s of the PC manufacturers are probably looking form on high, down at things, letting underlings with no authority approve the release. Instead of spending money time and effort developing useless add-on programs these companies should be spending this money and effort on being creative with their design and improving the integration into the Windows ecosystem. They should be looking at how they integrate better into the existing update system and how to make things less frustrating for their customers. 

Microsoft knows that this is an issue and hence has started to launch Microsoft Stores around the country. The computers sold out of these stores have a simplified approach and remove most if not all of the add-on programs.

Let’s hope with the next release of Windows that PC manufacturers start to take a serious look at “Reimaging and Reinventing” the value they are bringing to the table and don’t continue on the their current path of frustration.  Let’s hope that manufacturers begin to get creative in their designs instead of waiting for someone else to show them the way.  And let’s hope that this next computing experience is as exciting as the new version of Windows looks and operates.

- Michael Morris

I run across this issue quite often in my business. It seems to occur more often in clients who get set in their ways, but I also see it reflected in industry analysts and tech pundits.  Basically it’s an inability to look beyond what you are using to see the benefits of another product, process or something new.

This issue is not just a technology one and was highlighted most recently for me, when I was watching the Temple Grandin story.  Temple had designed a completely different way for the cows to be “dipped” to clean them. It was a drastic departure from the way things had been done in the past. She showed her new system to the ranch owner and a newspaper man and at the end of the demonstration the newspaper man told her it was a masterpiece and the owner was amazed. However, the ranch hands were not told nor were they around for the demonstration and when they went to use it the next day they began to tear it apart so that it would match what their expectations and experience were.

Within businesses I expect resistance to change.  They have a huge investment in their current technology and current knowledgebase, so to switch or upgrade is not cheap.  However, when they are ready to do a technology refresh, companies need to set aside what they have been doing and look at where their company may benefit from today’s technology.  Switching to a new system may require some training and it seems training is one of those areas that companies skimp on.  The result is that employee’s continue to do their tasks using the same processes they had developed under the old system, without the knowledge that the new system provides for a more efficient process to get their job done.  With just a little training company employees would be more efficient.

The other area this is reflected is in the technology pundits and analysts.  It’s rare when you listen to an analyst that they give a fair review of new technology.  Typically their comments are tainted with products that they currently are using or they have spent limited time with it to really give it a good review.  Here are a few generalized comments that I’ve heard over the past few months and my reaction;

“I just don’t work that way.” – Of course you don’t it doesn’t exist on the platform you are using.

“Don’t use that.” – They don’t provide a reason behind this statement nor has the analyst spent any time with the product to develop a credible reason.

“Switch to X product” – No thought goes into this suggestion, it is simply thrown out there because it’s what they know.

Perhaps this is a larger reflection of our society as a whole.  People want to hear or support a certain narrative and block out all other points of view.  We see this in our political discourse and it seems to be leaking into our technology decision making.

What can you do? 

Ask questions.  If you hear the responses like those listed above make sure you have the person elaborate on what made them make that statement and what are alternatives to their suggestions.

Listen to people who give both the positives and negatives of the products (believe me there are positive and negatives to all products) and don’t just harp on a single solution.  A few analysts that I’ve grown to respect over the years have been Paul Thurrott – who is balanced in both his analysis of technology and thorough in his testing of different products – and Andy Ihnatko – who is open minded in his approach to technology and won’t simply dismiss a product if it doesn’t have an Apple logo on it.

There are a lot of good products and solutions available so don’t get caught up in the narrative around the hottest products of the day, evaluate all your options and make an informed intelligent decision for your business or personal needs.

Michael Morris

We are almost at the end of the first month of the year, and if you haven’t already, it’s important to sit down with your technical person and go over several aspects of your technology.

If this is the first time you’ve ever worked through these steps, the process can be quite daunting. For small and medium sized offices you can expect to spend several weeks collecting and confirming information. Don’t just cross your fingers and hope that your luck holds out. This information is important for the growth and longevity of your business. For over 20 I’ve worked with a large number of businesses that have had the same IT professional supporting them for years. This person was the go to guy for all their technology needs. He knew how everything was installed, all the passwords, dealt with all the vendors, had all the software, and on and on. He always did a great job, until, the one day he didn’t answer his phone. When that day comes, and it will come, if you neglected the following steps you could be up a creek without a paddle.

Step 1. Backup – Make sure that any new files, folders, or drives added to the system over the last year are being backed up.  And the only sure fire way to be certain that things are being backed up properly is to do a test restore.  I have had clients over the years think that their backups were working fine only to find out the hard way, when a system crashed, that their backups were not being done.  Test it now so that you have piece of mind that it will work later.  Backups should have both an on-site and off-site component.  If you are missing one you are at risk. Lastly ask your technology provider for the documented steps in order to recover your system.  These documented steps should include the location of backup/restore software and media.

Step 2. Documentation – Take a look at your documentation.  Make sure it is current with the users, passwords, and equipment in the office.  If you removed or added equipment to the office, in the last year, make sure the documentation reflects this.  Toss out old manuals for software that isn’t in use.  Its easier to find what you need if you don’t have outdated manuals and CD’s in with the mix.  Check passwords and make sure they match the systems that you have in use today.  If you moved to a new system (i.e.. email hosting company or domain hosting) make sure the documentation takes this into consideration.  Documentation should be a process that is reviewed every time technology in the office change, because just a small change can impact the office as a whole.

Step 3. Disaster Planning – What would you do if your office had a fire or your ISP had a major outage?  How long can you run your business without computers?  What happens if you lose your main IT person?  These are important questions for you to ponder.  If the answer is we can’t be down for very long then make sure that you have a redundant plan of action in place. Work with your technology partner to develop a plan that will allow your business to function should the worst happen.  If you already have a plan in place make sure that it is up to date for the year to come.

Step 4. Software and Hardware Planning – Now is a great time to sit down and determine if the technology that you have today is going to get the job done for the remainder of the year.  When will your Anti-virus, domain name, and other software contracts expire? Is there a computer or printer in the office that you are spending more time troubleshooting then using?  Are you running low on disk space? What’s the plan to archive old information?  This is the time to plan those projects so that they don’t become emergencies in the future.

These are 4 important steps for you and your business.  For some offices it can be overkill but for the majority of offices these steps are necessary.  By following these steps you will give yourself the piece of mind that your technology is as safe as you can make it.

-Michael Morris

Since writing the last article, I’ve had a number of people ask me why move from Outlook to the Cloud?

The main reasons have to do with mobility, flexibility and reliability. 

Mobility: By moving to the cloud, devices such as tablets, phones, and other computers have clean access to your information.  There is no need to sync the device to your computer because the data lives in the cloud.  Microsoft’s Live service is built on Exchange, so this means that your calendar, email, contacts and tasks will be synchronized between all your devices.  Google’s service provides similar functionality minus the syncing of tasks.

Flexibility: Moving to the Cloud opens up a lot of possibilities for people who run small businesses or are on the road most of the time.  First you can access your information from anywhere.  Just log into the Live service from any browser and it’s there.  Second changes are instantly available on mobile devices.  So if you have an assistant changing your calendar and contacts back in the office you’ll see those changes reflected on your phone.  Lastly, its easy to collaborate and share calendars and documents that utilize Cloud services.

Reliability: Since this information lives in the cloud you don’t need to worry about backing it up, because its handled by the provider.  Switching to a new phone or computer is easy you just need to login through a browser on the new computer or just add the account to the phone and it will instantly start to populate the information.

As you can see there are a lot of reasons to move to the Cloud.  My main reason for making the switch was to have easy access to my calendar and email from anywhere including my phone, or a clients computer.

If you own a business you may want to look at more business designed Cloud solutions such as Microsoft’s Office 365 or Google Docs in order to have easy access to shared docs, calendars and instant messaging.

- Michael Morris

About a year and a half ago I made a drastic change, basically ditching Outlook 2010 for a cloud based email solution. Having used Outlook for a number of years, too many to name, I had developed an affinity for folders and sub folders and sub folders and sub folders and ….  Well you get the idea, Outlook users keep a lot of mail and they keep them in folders and the biggest hurdle in moving to the cloud is handling those folder structures.

I looked at Gmail and Live (Hotmail) and decided on Hotmail.  Both were weak at handling folders but Live at the time had a slightly (and I mean slightly) better way of handling folders so I settled on the live service.  Live had other features that I liked as well but I’ll stay focused on the email.

In making this switch you have to just cut the cord from Outlook.  You really can’t move the folders into Hotmail, you need to just start from scratch.  I did import my contacts and also setup all my misc. email addresses (AOL, Gmail) so that all of them come into Hotmail and I’m able to reply to all my email services from one interface.  So each of my email accounts has it’s own folder that the email flows into and at a quick glance I can see and handle new email.  I still keep my old Outlook file around for reference if I need to look at something old, but I haven’t had the need to do that for months.

Did I mention folders are important to Outlook users?  Since the folder controls in Hotmail were limited for the first year of usage I had some basic folders for storage of important information and that was about it.  I tried some sub folders but since you couldn’t collapse the structure the usability of the folder structure was difficult since I needed to scroll up and down in order to see where I wanted to store or retrieve a file.

Microsoft has continually improved the interface over the past year and just before the Holidays they made a tremendous improvement. They added several enhancements: The ability to collapse the folder structure; drag folders and emails into sub folders; and you can right click on items to get an action menu.  These improvements were huge and it feels like the good old days with Outlook.  Of course what I’ve learned over the past year is that I need to be a bit leaner about what is stored in folders and not to go to crazy but with these enhancements I have a choice.

If you are looking at a cloud based email system Microsoft’s Hotmail is now a clear leader and Gmail has some catching up to do.

-Michael Morris

Well I’ve had my Windows Phone (WP7) for a few months now, and I must say that I am really impressed.

First lets cover some of the caveats that I ran into switching from the iPhone.  There were some apps on my iPhone that are currently missing on WP7.  These are dropbox and audible.  Initially the app that I used to access the TWIT network was also missing but a new app was developed and released the in December. The iPhone, if set to vibrate, would still have a audible chime when the headphones were connected and a phone call came in, WP7 only lowers the volume of what you are listening too.  This can make catching phone calls a bit tricky at times if you have the phone set to vibrate.  Word and Excel do not sync to skydrive, and you can’t sync to the skydrive folders. Copy and paste are not available, although they should be available in January.  Lastly visual voicemail is missing, which was a feature I really enjoyed on the iPhone.

Now for the Upside:

First off the Phone and interface are beautiful.  Text is bright, bold and easy to read.  Dynamic tiles update with current information, such as weather or the artist you are listening too.  Applications are a joy to see with backgrounds which move and visually enhance the user experience.

The interface is also extremely easy to use.  I’ve given my phone to other people to play with and they easily can find applications they want to check out.  This isn’t the case with the droid where it will hide menu options or the iPhone where you have screen after screen of apps, in whatever order the person put them in.

WP7 uses Zune to sync the phone.  The Zune software is awesome.  iTunes has become a bloated, slow and ugly application.  The Zune interface is visually stunning, responsive and easy to navigate.  Even if you don’t have a phone you should check out the Zune software, especially if you have a Windows based computer.  Zune offers a monthly subscription called Zunepass which allows subscribers to download as many songs as they want.  Another feature of the Zune software is that you can wirelessly sync your phone.  You don’t need to connect it directly to your computer.  This is an extremely important and flexible feature if you want to keep your phone next to you at night. 

Word, Excel and PowerPoint come preinstalled on the phone so you can easily create documents, spreadsheets and presentations. OneNote also comes preinstalled which for me has replaced Evernote.  For business users you can access your companies SharePoint information directly from the phone as well.

Netflix also comes preinstalled on the phone.  So if you are a Netflix subscriber this phone is a must.  It’s nice to be able to watch a movie or series when you are traveling or relaxing.

One of the steps I took to prepare for the phone was to completely switch my email, contacts and calendar to live.com.  Once I logged into my account from my phone all my contacts, email and calendar appointments synced up with my phone.  (Note: This will also work if you have a gmail account.)  WP7 will also link to your Facebook account pulling pictures and updates from your friends.  So when a friend from Facebook calls you their Facebook picture will pop up on your phone.  Also when you go into the People Hub (this is a new way of dealing with contacts) you can see updates from Facebook there.

Hubs are a new concept that WP7 has introduced, and you really need to see them in action to really appreciate them.  The People Hub was already mentioned and the phone has a number of other hubs including Pictures, Xbox, and Office.  The Xbox hub contains all the games that you have downloaded to the phone and links back to your Xbox live account.  The Pictures hub contains information to pictures sent to you in email, on Facebook, of that you have taken from the phone. The Office hub stores your documents.  The Hub concepts make getting to the information you want more intuitive, I don’t need to remember or go into different applications to see picture from multiple sources.

Let me just end my post by posting a few apps that new people to the phone may enjoy getting.  AP mobile news app is a wonderful newsreader.  Endomondo is a free app from people that work out, it will keep track of your route via GPS and give you a breakdown of your activities performance.  The TWIT app gives tech people quick and easy access to what is going on with the TWIT network.  Flixster is great to see what is playing at the movies.  The Weather Channel app is great to keep track of the weather.  And finally the twitter and Facebook apps are implemented very nicely on the phone.

Summing up WP7 is an excellent reboot for Microsoft in the Phone market.  Over 5000 apps have been developed in a very short period of time with tons more on the way.  Application development utilizes .Net and Silverlight which is a cross-platform and extremely powerful programming language.  WP7 will push other developers and manufacturers and as consumers we will definitely benefit from the competition in the phone space.

I decided to take the plunge today and upgrade to a Windows 7 Phone.  I currently have an IPhone 3G which has been working fine over the last several years with the one exception that its been getting slower with every update to the IOS software.  Things that had been snappy before are now sluggish on the phone.

So my first stop was at the AT&T store to get an idea of pricing, look at the phones, and what the upgrade process would be.  The sales rep showed me the phones and then proceeded to tell me that it would be 199.99 for either the HTC or Samsung phones.  I asked are there any other discounts – nope that’s it.  So I headed out of the store thinking I would get a refurb down the line, I just couldn’t justify $200+ dollars.  I got back to the office and said what the heck I’ll check on-line to verify the pricing and what do you know?? But there is an additional $100 discount on-line that the stores don’t offer, knocking the price of the phone down to $99.

So I started placing my order and I swear I ended up on a Godaddy page.  I mean this page had a ton of different offers and add-on’s and is extremely confusing.  I needed to do something on this page though, because the continue button was grayed out.  What it looked like is that the page required me to change my data plan.  This was a big concern of mine since I had an unlimited data plan with the IPhone and didn’t want to lose that plan.  I didn’t see a way around this so I called AT&T directly.  The sales representative told me to just pick a plan and when I get the phone and activate it, I would need to call AT&T and correct the data plan for the phone.

So I finished the order and am now waiting on the phone to arrive.  I can’t wait!!

So I’m experimenting with different ways of handling my email accounts and synchronizing my calendar with my iPhone. So I decided with the release of Office 2010 to utilize the Microsoft Office Data Connector and see what was involved with getting this to work.

I first setup my live email account and added all my other miscellaneous accounts to it.  My work account, Gmail and my AOL account (yes I still use an AOL account).

The next thing I did was to install Office 2010 64 bit, which was a mistake.  iTunes, which is needed to sync the iPhone, only supports the 32 bit version of the Office software.  So off came the 64 bit version and on went the 32 bit version.  I next setup my live account on Outlook.  The new account setup in Outlook is wonderful but that’s for another time.  Setting up the live account in Outlook 2010 automatically adds the Microsoft Office Outlook Connector which will sync the mail, calendar and tasks from the live mail account.

At this point all the pieces were in place and I started using the system.  I initially started using Outlook like I had always done, as my main email and calendaring system.  Well this didn’t work too well.  In order to send mail from my other added accounts (business, Gmail, and AOL accounts) I would have needed to add each one to Outlook and this didn’t seem like a very elegant solution.  So I decided to utilize the browser interface into email.  This actually works very well.  I can utilize the browser from any system so when I’m on the road, I can jump on clients computer or I can use my iPhone.  I can also make appointment changes and when I get back to the home office Outlook will synchronize the changes and update my iPhone.

So far this seems to work pretty well.  In a few weeks I’ll try and see how well google as the aggregate will work.

- Michael Morris

Over the last several years I’ve noticed a few trends among manufacturers and users and support people in regards to Windows computers.

Let’s start with the manufacturers. Manufacturers have tried to incorporate utilities and software on their computers to facilitate a more functional and enjoyable experience for the end user. However the result has been a mish mash of bloated tools and a user experience that is anything but improved. Let’s take a look at this from the wireless support under XP as an example. Every manufacturer has a different add-on to create a wireless profile and connect to wireless networks. Basically if these work the user is fine. The problem is when the user ends up having an issue connecting and they call their local computer shop to troubleshoot. Typically with the built in Microsoft Wireless utility you could walk the user over the phone on what to click and where to click to get connected onto their network. But when you introduce a third party utility that is completely unique in how it works (and I mean unique – different ways to create a profile save the wireless password etc.) – well forget about that. You need to walk the user through connecting to a network via a cable or making a visit to their home or office. In most cases I end up disabling the third party utility and using the Windows built in service.

With all these third party add-ons the user’s computer is impacted negatively and performance suffers. These utilities run in the background, take up memory and resources and typically slow the computer down.

Now granted this was under XP, and I would have hoped it would improve with Vista and now Windows 7, but alas no. Instead of building upon some nice built in Windows 7 features, manufacturers have continued to add unnecessary software and utilities. I’ve deployed a number of systems into homes and offices and needless to say these utilities cause more issues than they are worth. I’ve seen these applications stop working or crash; notices are annoying and a bunch of pop-ups to distract users and confuse them.

Manufacturers need to get a clue. They need to make most of these add-ons optional and allow the beautiful operating system that is Windows 7 to shine through. If they feel the need to incorporate an addition to the system they need to think about first how to integrate within the Windows platform and secondly they need to test their software. Microsoft learned this lesson the hard way with Vista – they did minimal testing with end users and the result was a very poor operating system release. To address this issue they have done a 180 and have allowed a much larger audience to test their operating systems and now even their Office product. Manufacturers have yet to change.

Next time I’ll move on to talk about how Microsoft and manufacturers should work together to improve the user experience.

- Michael Morris