DominoKeys.com

As I type this entry, I’m sitting in a coffee shop doing the following:

• Using my MacBookPro 15″ running MacOS X
• Using Boingo to connect to the WiFi offered by the coffee shop, which is normally pay-by-the-hour, but with Boingo, included in my monthly fee.
• Logged on to Lotus Notes (6.5.4 – Mac) which is actually running under Rosetta because IBM hasn’t quite realized that the HUGE applause at Lotusphere last year when they stated they’ll have better Mac support meant “there are many Mac users who want to use full Notes functionality on the Mac!!!”
• Replicating via my internet connection back to the office which is connecting me to databases located on servers in 3 US States plus France and Singapore.
• Blogging using BMachine running in Camino
• Sync’ing news from 40+ RSS sources using NewsFire
• Running Parallels to run WinXP Pro
• Using Domino Designer to help someone with a development question (which really means bridging the network in WinXP through Parallels to the Mac and leveraging Boingo to hit the internet … all with no wires! )
• Launching a clientless SSL VPN connection using CheckPoint’s VPN client so I can access data in our ERP system (BPCS) using a 5250 emulation (be sure to check out that last link to see what IBM says about it! ) within Windows (same network bridging applies as the above point … this time, add VPN to the mix)
• On a conference call using my unlocked Razr from Europe that’s connecting to a call hosted on our Cisco IP phone system where participants from China and Singapore are calling in for FREE using Cisco IP SoftPhones on their laptops.

Now that’s some amazing technology. It hit me today that I’m doing this all flawlessly and easily … two words that make most IT people cringe when they launch these types of technology. None of it was hard to get started, nothing required extensive configuration (on my part) to get it running. And it all works!

It is simply amazing to me that this can all be done. Now, if they would just get my coffee order right…

Beta software is kind of a love/hate thing to me. I love seeing a good piece of software being perfected before my eyes. For example, my RSS NewsReader of choice is NewsFire. I love it! Its exactly how I would have made the application look if I wanted or knew how to build it. — So I happily pay the $ for it and go about my buisness.

I recently heard that the dude behind it was working on another project called Xtorrent. So I ran to his site and got myself the public beta download. And guess what, its great too! I’m not a big user of that type of thing, but I do have an addiction to Top Gear which I can only get off the BBC and since I’m in the States, that’s a problem. Thus, something like Xtorrent suddenly made my life easier! (Don’t worry … I’ve bought TONS of Top Gear stuff so they’re still making money off me! )

But here’s the problem … too many people consider Beta to mean “perfect and free.” I see it all over the place. Whether its people complaining that the beta software they downloaded is crashing their PC, or people being frustrated that they suddenly have to pay for software they’ve been using for a while … and not getting that the previous version was BETA!

Its such a big problem at my company that we’ve had conversations about calling our own development applications something other than “beta” when we’re trying to get people to test them. Any suggestions? My favorite is “not a chance in hell of being released until you each find about 8 bugs in it.” — But that’s a bit long.

Whenever I hear a good idea that’s not mine, I like to borrow/steal it. One of my favorite “borrowed” ideas from the past year came from my wife’s company. They added a second monitor to everyone’s computer in the office to help reduce the amount of paper printed out. Great idea … so I stole it.

At my company, we started with our Customer Service group. It was an instant hit! They were now able to pull up a faxed/pdf’d/emailed order from a customer on one screen and enter the order into our ERP system on the other (among many other things). It drastically reduced the amount of paper used. But it also improved productivity because if they were interupted by a customer calling in on the phone, they could keep most of the documents they were working on in place and use only one screen to access whatever system was needed to answer the question. — Some people even reported that it was “less stressful” with a 2nd monitor!

Then we hit the Accounting group. Same concepts applied here. Their only complaint was that they couldn’t open two Excel worksheets at the same time and move one on the left screen and one on the right. — I, of course, had to point out that Macs CAN do that, but Windows can’t.

Then the IT department wanted to try this. I was pretty sure it was because they were looking less cool, but agreed anyway. I was wrong … its a very powerful thing for IT people. Admins can open a remote control session on one screen and search a knowledgebase on the other and not have to flip between windows to fix things. Developers can open up code on one screen and preview the results on the other.

So this idea is working its way around the company, but it makes me wonder: is there a point of diminishing returns with this concept? — What if we increased the size of the screens from 17″ to 19″ or 21″? — What if we put THREE monitors on their desks?!!?

Then I stumbled across this little article about the AMAZING Apple 30″ Cinema display and how there is a measurable productivity increase as you give people more screen real-estate. You can access the report here.

I need to go now … I think I just found the justification I was looking for to go out and buy two of these 30″ displays! I think $4000 worth of monitors on my desk would look GREAT!

The day after I hear that Trump used his famous “You’re Fired” catcphrase on Carolyn, I see that she will live on as part of the Apprentice team forever in this video game about the show.

Do be sure to click the image to see a larger version. Its … disturbing, partly because I really don’t know that the show translates well to a video game, but mostly because of the rediculously horrible graphics. Isn’t Trump the dude who’s always saying everything should be “the best” and be of high quality? What happened here, Donald?

The Apprentice : The Game – Look for it on a clearance rack near you.