Looks like it might be time to move house according to this picture and associated article from the BBC today 
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It’s not too good for Sue either.
As diet seems to be the main issue and because it plays such a huge part in brain health it’s not just an issue for life expectancy.
Rod Boothby has been having some fun this week poking a stick it the IBM Lotus community (here, here).
I’m not going to join that particular fire-storm, instead I am going to use it as a branching point.
Rod seems to assert two things:
If you read through these two posts you will find these statements:
Quoting Charles Robinson:
“Not everyone likes working with applications in a browser. We’ve done extensive usability testing at work, and in nearly every case users prefer the Notes version to web-based implementations. We tried to force a group of users to only use web-based mail and they simply stopped checking it because they hated using a browser. (We tried them on Zimbra, too, and had the same result so it wasn’t just Domino Web Access.)”
Rod’s answer is:
This, to me, is a surprising result. The examples of Yahoo! Mail, HotMail, Gmail, MySpace, Flickr, YoutTube, FaceBook, Wikipedia and the 50+ Million blogs out there would tend to contradict that user testing.
Is that really how it is for everyone out there? Because it isn’t for me.
I don’t use Web 2.0 applications because of their browser interface I use them for far more basic reasons:
In summary: I use these sites because I get something out of it. I’m selfish. I’m not using them because they have a great interface.
When it comes to using these tools through the browser:
I didn’t write all of these tools so I’m assuming that I’m not the only one who would prefer not to use the browser.
Unfortunately I don’t have any statistics for it, but I would guess that I am using my browser less now than I was 18 months ago. The important thing to me is that the data is in the cloud and that I can access it from wherever. Now that most of my data is coming to me via RSS I don’t have to use that slow browser thing.
The need for accessibility means that I want a browser interface, but I’m not going to use it every day just because it’s there. The browser interface is not optimal so I’m better off using the things that is.
Today seems to be BBC PC Security reporting day with articles on their web site and on the TV news.
It seems that they conducted a reasonably simple experiment and decided that the results were news. I suspect the real driver is coming from the Get Safe Online campaign though.
If you have reasonable level of knowledge about IT security then be prepared for a number of cringe moments. Making this complex issue as simple as possible is a real challenge, I know I’ve tried explaining it a number of times.
What I can’t decide, though, is whether the BBC has done us a service or a dis-service in this reporting. The issue is the level of alarm and the target of the alarm.
I’d like people to be concerned and to take the right actions to alleviate those concerns. When we drive on the road we should all be concerned about the safety of our vehicle, being alarmed would be an unhealthy response. When people use IT, I want them to be concerned about the safety of what they are doing.
In car terms people terms people are thought to check the basics; oil, tyres, windscreen wash, etc.. On the BBC coverage they tried for three “do’s” and three “don’t” while it’s a reasonable approach to communication it’s prone to over simplification and false assurance. One of the over simplifications was in the TV report, when people were told to use their common sense when opening emails, and not “open” suspicious ones.. I have a real problem with the notion of “common sense” in this scenario. This is new technology to most people so the level of “common sense” is very low and can’t be relied upon. It also raises the tricky question: “If I don’t open it, what do I do with it?”
On the whole I think these reports probably did strike the right balance, just.
One piece of advice that really frustrated me was the level of advice given at the end of the TV news report. The only advice given was to go to Microsoft.com and use the tools their. I’m sorry but that’s terrible advice. It’s terrible for all sorts of reasons:
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The Get Safe Online site has a much more rounded approach to security.
Microsoft are probably a bit disappointed that the link to “Microsoft online scanner” on the “Tips to help you stay safe online” article (which is the more detailed article) point to the Malicious Software Removal Tool on the very day that Live OneCare safety scanner is released.
We like hugs in the Chastney family. Jonathan may be 14, but he still gets and gives hugs. Emily seems to run on hugs. Sue is a great hugger.
Long may it continue.
I’ve recently been introduced to a web site that’s been going for some time called Free Hugs. There’s also a video on YouTube:
As a British male hugging is a cultural nightmare, especially outside the family and that’s a shame. There are a few close friends who I would give a hug too but not that many and I would almost never hug a stranger.
I actually prefer the word “embrace” to the word “hug”, it seems a bit more masculine.
I’ve recently been reading a book about looking after the brain. This book talks about diet and exercise as important factors. It also talks about the brain’s need for us to be tactile and to have face-to-face communications. When I first read about the brain’s need for us to be tactile I was surprised, when I gave it some thought it made a lot of sense. I often work from home and there are days when I feel this urge to go out and meet someone, anyone. When I get this feeling I normally walk up to the local shop and buy some trivial item, what I’m really buying is a short conversation with a real person. I don’t give them a hug, but I would if the culture would allow.
There’s are all sorts of places where a hug, or embrace, is found in the Bible.
Jesus used an embrace to illustrate His kingdom in Mark 9:
They came to Capernaum. When he was safe at home, he asked them, “What were you discussing on the road?”
The silence was deafening—they had been arguing with one another over who among them was greatest.
He sat down and summoned the Twelve. “So you want first place? Then take the last place. Be the servant of all.”
He put a child in the middle of the room. Then, cradling the little one in his arms, he said, “Whoever embraces one of these children as I do embraces me, and far more than me—God who sent me.”
In Acts 20 this happens:
We met on Sunday to worship and celebrate the Master’s Supper. Paul addressed the congregation. Our plan was to leave first thing in the morning, but Paul talked on, way past midnight. We were meeting in a well-lighted upper room. A young man named Eutychus was sitting in an open window. As Paul went on and on, Eutychus fell sound asleep and toppled out the third-story window. When they picked him up, he was dead.
Paul went down, stretched himself on him, and hugged him hard. “No more crying,” he said. “There’s life in him yet.” Then Paul got up and served the Master’s Supper. And went on telling stories of the faith until dawn! On that note, they left—Paul going one way, the congregation another, leading the boy off alive, and full of life themselves.
Alexander (The Chief Happiness Officer) has a great set of pictures taken in inspirational working environments today.
Inspired me to think again about this room in which I sit for most of my working day. It made me slightly ashamed that I have created something predominantly traditional with a standard desk and book shelves.
The only break from the norm is the sofa (but that’s hardly radical) and the dolls house where Jimmy and Grandad live.
One of the nice things about this room is that I can control what is in here. The other day I finally decided to resolve an issue with the way some of the cables were tangled under the desk. It’s my desk, so I can. At the office I would have though twice about such things.
The thing with this room is that it is always going to be a compromise, because it is also the guest room so one it’s necessary to have a sofa bed in it, but that’s about the only restriction.
I’ve been thinking about putting a nice big whiteboard on one of the walls, because I am finding that it’s a great way of encouraging the creative flow. Anyone who has seen me in a presentation will probably be amazed that I don’t already have one .
Time to get the creativity working again.
(That reminds me, I must get a frame for that picture that needs hanging)
If you are at all interested in the Notes v Outlook debate then you should read all of the comments posted on Volker Weber’s site following his “Now what?” post.
Adam Gartsberg has blogged Mike Rodin’s Town Hall. I feel a bit like I’m reporting something third-hand but never mind, perhaps that’s what blogging is about.
There are some really interesting observations that concur with some of mine:
We think the idea of innovation is all about collaboration. We’ve connected everyone together. Think about how you work today, what you came in and did this morning. What are the first things you did this morning – probably log onto Notes and bring up your buddy list. Or maybe not in that order. For me, it’s primarily the buddy list. I use e-mail today the way I used [interoffice] mail when I started 20 years ago – maybe I check it once a day or so. IM is my primary business tool.
What’s your primary mode of communication? (Polled the audience of 200-300 people)
- e-Mail? [I only saw 1 or 2 hands go up]
- Phone? [About the same]
- Sametime? [Almost whole room]
If this is really how this presentation went, then there is a good deal of suggestion in the question, having already told them his answer. I assume that when he is talking “Sametime?” that he is primarily talking about IM type capabilities, but I could well be completely wrong there.
If I ask myself the same question “What’s your primary mode of communication?” then the answer is “it depends”.
Don’t get me wrong here, IM has radically changed the way I work and I’m a big fan, but I’m only a fan of the correct use of IM. There is still a lot of life in e-mail though. Which brings me on to the other interesting part (for me):
There’s a generation coming up where these tools – MySpace, Facebook, YouTube – are central to how they live. A friend’s daughter left for college, and knew the majority of students before her first day on campus. People we’re hiring think this way. When we give them an e-mail client, they think “e-mail is for my grandfather.” It’s not how they think, not how they work. We’re creating a set of tools for the next generation of workers.
I was doing some problem solving on my son’s PC yesterday (with iTunes). While I was there I was a nosey parent and decided to look at his e-mail. Turns out that he hadn’t checked his e-mail for more than two weeks. There was a good deal of new e-mail in there, but it was nearly all SPAM. I’ve written before about this generation and their expectations of the workplace as have others. I’m still to understand how we create a workplace that has all of these tools, but is still productive. There is a difference between work and play. When you work you have to produce something, when you play you don’t. Employers aren’t going to pay people to play without it producing anything. But provide some of these capabilities is exactly what we are going to have to do.
EMC 
Press Release:
“EMC and Microsoft Form New Enterprise Content Management Alliance, Extend Microsoft Office SharePoint Server With Content, Compliance and Archive Solutions
EMC will bring to market new solutions that seamlessly integrate the EMC Documentum platform with multiple Microsoft solutions and platform technologies including Microsoft Office SharePoint® Server 2007, the 2007 Microsoft Office system, SQL Server™ 2005 and enterprise search solutions. Microsoft provides content management capabilities in SharePoint Server 2007 today. With this new alliance SharePoint users can take advantage of the advanced ECM capabilities of the Documentum platform. Information workers will be able to access the Documentum platform natively from within Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 and the Microsoft Office system, enabling users to leverage the power of the Documentum platform in areas such as advanced records management, business process management, imaging and rich media from their preferred Microsoft applications.”
and
“These solutions from EMC will allow manual or automatic archival of content from SharePoint repositories to a Documentum repository while keeping content accessible and searchable from within Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007. By archiving content from SharePoint into Documentum for long-term retention and management, organizations can help their information workers meet compliance, content utilization, and storage optimization policies and procedures, all from within the familiar Microsoft applications they use every day.”
I am currently working with a number of customers who are feeling let down by the document/content/knowledge management project they undertook 2-3 years ago and are now looking for something much lighter and far more integrated into the normal day-to-day activities. A lot of these people have been looking at SharePoint as a way of filling the gap between the file system which is anarchy and the document management system which is owned by the process zealots.
Perhaps these activities will help enterprises build a bridge that will keep the process zealots happy.
What do EMC get out of this deal? The ability to retain a few more customers.
What do Microsoft get out of this deal? The acceptance of SharePoint by the process zealots (because they can carry on using Documentum). They also get EMC saying how great Documentum is on SQL Server.
Looks to me like Microsoft got the better deal.
