Friday, December 23, 2011

Fungibilsation of Humanity

An interesting read http://www.forbes.com/sites/rawnshah/2011/05/17/the-future-of-work/ Part of the article reminded me of the day that I realised that my employer had shifted "our" Values in such a way that humans had become fungible resources I believe this is a trend that is spreading like a cancer across the world The companies Values used to be: Respect for People, Integrity and Excellence in that order, in the short form P.I.E. The company like many I see are shifting their Values to Respect for Profit, Discretion, and Agility Some organisations are still clinging to their original values and avoiding this shift, but the "market" will punish them until they bend to the inevitable. fungible - of goods or commodities; freely exchangeable for or replaceable by another of like nature or kind in the satisfaction of an obligation It seems I am not alone in thinking that making humanity fungible is the ultimate sin http://www.patrickemclean.com/2011/10/a-word-patrick-likes-fungible-adj/ One might call this trend the Commoditisation of Humanity, I personally abhor the trend whatever we might call it! Is the trend exacerbated by our dire economic situation, or was our dire economic situation a result of the "Fungibilisation of Humanity"? There was a time when Companies thought differently: Cadbury used to be one such company, a firm run by Quakers whose beliefs helped direct their enlightened management style Sadly even this firm has fallen to the "market" for Cadbury Shareholders chose the 11.4 Biilion offered by Kraft, the temporary promise of continued employment for the Cadbury staff has now lapsed... The "Market" is apparently driven by Shareholders... I am one…. But do I really want the goal of any organisation that I hold shares in to treat humans as fungible resources to be cast aside when someone or something equivalent can be found to do their work for less? My answer is a resounding NO! But apparently I am alone… What must change? A word of warning or a glimmer of hope: Humans are not unthinking commodities, they can think, and act! Merry Christmas

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Long time no see...


Partly as I have not been moved to remonstrate or share at length = > 140 Characters

Today I finally have...

Open Letter to Tim Cook, Steve Jobs' replacement

I just wanted to wish you luck in stamping your own mark on Apple. I read with interest that Steve has inserted his DNA into the company and that it will continue on it's merry way with the innovative zeal that Steve is so famous for. That has some clear benefits as well as some very dangerous implications. I would like to think that you are aware that your Customers are moving with the times and Apple is rapidly being left behind. So what are the signs....

Exhibit One: The Apple Store Purchasing Experience
I today decided to never again purchase any more Hardware from the Online Apple Store, having placed my order for the new Mac Mini I was disappointed to find that to Apple Next Day Shipment still means Next Month Delivery! I have made this complaint directly at every opportunity that I can find. The MAC MINI was indeed "shipped" next day as you proudly informed me and "happily" it only took TWO WEEKS to arrive, which assuming an average speed of 70 MPH produces a distance travelled that is remarkably similar to the circumference of the Earth. (Methinks something is very wrong in Apple Distribution land). With a little perusal I have now found that I could have bought my Mac Mini from Amazon and get Next Day Delivery for LESS than I paid from the Apple Store, teach me to be blindly loyal!!. So, goodbye Apple Store

Exhibit Two: The Mac Mini Installation Experience
Happily getting ready to instal the Mac Mini with the new Magic Track Pad that you implied might have been the reason for the delayed delivery, "we have to get all the parts of the shipment in one place before we can ship to you"

I powered up the Mac Mini and the Magic Track Pad and my previously acquired Apple Blue tooth keyboard. The Track Pad stubbornly refused to be recognised by the Mac Mini, and as a result I could not get the keyboard connected either. So I had to go find a USB Mouse to gain control. At this stage I was able to cajole the Track Pad into working in a fashion. The Track Pad refused to produce a "Click" apparently it was defaulted to not do so? So I set the appropriate Box to persuade it to, and then found that there is a system wide default that meant that when I started up the box and tried to select which user I was, I couldn't, as I could not click! When I was in my own user domain clicking was possible. I have temporarily bypassed the problem with Auto Login, something I do not want to keep as the final option, currently I am stuck with that though... This is not the simple user install experience I expect from Apple. There where other similar glitches that all point to some poor UI testing... Hey Apple your UI DNA has been compromised somehow?

Exhibit Three: The LION OSX 10.7 Experience
Here I am quietly apoplectic, how am I supposed to bray about how good my new Apple is when you create a user experience that reminds me of the reason I set up this Blog. http://vista-log.blogspot.com/

On 10.7 eMail blows up regularly for no reason that I can tell even after the rapidly rolled out update.
You have also turned my world upside down, while I do get the reason, it is making my head swim watching the up and down scroll become the down and up scroll. I will get there but oh the pain!

I could go on but as I said I am apoplectic and a symptom of that condition is irrational irascibility.

Exhibit Four: A lost key...
Having lost, of all things, the Apple Key on my trusty MacBook Pro keyboard, don't ask me how! I simply asked how I might "buy" a replacement to clip back on myself. I prepared myself for a stupid price for a silly bit of plastic (I set my upper limit at £10) Sorry sir, the only way we can do that is to replace the whole keyboard. Say What?! Needless to say I am still missing the Apple Key and EVERY time a I press the transparent plastic nipple I get yet another mini shot of Apple Frustration.
What really annoyed me is that I was watching other "Apple Geniuses" agree to replace whole devices on a whim, and I could only imagine the pile of dead Apple Mac Book Pro's out the back. Methinks that the Apple Geniuses could do with being given a dose of common sense!

Apple Delight = MISS!

Exhibit Five: The Enterprise Experience
I work with an organisation that gives senior executives a glimpse into the future of technology, you are the one company on the West Coast that is so up it's own posterior, that you refuse to even consider groups of potential customers understanding the future of technology through your own eyes. Why??? OK so I am now beyond apoplectic. Which means that anything I type after this may start getting me into trouble.


So please Tim stamp your mark! Keep all the good parts that you know exist in Apple, but please get rid of the growing Apple Arrogance and focus on delivering the experience that in the original Apple DNA aimed to deliver "Apple Delight". For those times when you do get close to delighting me, more often than not your systems ahve already frustrated me.

So Tim what say you? How do you plan on keeping me as an Apple Customer?

Monday, May 09, 2011

Crowd Sourced Wedding Album Site

Where-fore-art-thou?

I am looking for a Wedding Album SIte

Design/Specifications
1) Simply enrolment Wedding Guests as Crowd Sourced Photographers (Up to 200 Guests)
2) Clear communications of Album Goals
3) Simple Bulk Uploads (Up to 200 per Guest)
4) Simple Video Uploads
5) Automated Photo Time Synchronisation
6) Automated Face Recognition (linked to a Guest List)
7) Geolocation Tagging
8) Timeline
9) Crowdsourced Photo rating
10) Individual Album Development
11) DVD Creation
12) Printed album creation

Flickr 2/5 Poor Group Tools
Picassa 2/5 Capacity limited for Group Albums 500 Free 1,000 Paid

Is it out there?