System Advancements at the Monastery

“No institution can possibly survive if it needs geniuses or supermen to manage it. It must be organized in such a way as to be able to get along under a leadership composed of average human beings.“ — Peter F. Drucker

I would argue that the above quote is true whether you have “institute” or “product.” This was the week of the iPhone. Now, whether you love or hate Apple, you have to admit that they do a nice job with user interface. They do a great job in promotion. I read and heard alot of folks talking about the purchasing of the iPhone as not being a rational decision but an emotional one. I can see how IT professionals could feel that way. There lies the problem with most IP professionals. Newsflash: what applies to you does not apply to everyone else.

Before I get dismissed as an Apple lover, I don’t even have an iPod. I have a SanDisk Sansa with 4G flash memory and expandable memory slot. I purchased this MP3 after outgrowing my Creative 1Gb Muvo Tx MP3. It is a sensible IT professional choice. I download my podcasts through iTunes and I have Windows Media Player copy the files over to my MP3 player.

Recently I was looking to buy another MP3 player with bookmarking capabilities. My local library is allowing, through NetLibrary, downloads of books to MP3 players. I like listening to books when I work out. I have tried listening to podcasts, but my attention is not really there. Plus I work out early in the morning, and my mind really is not functioning enough to listen to a discussion of the latest on Google SketchUp.

When I refer to bookmarking what I am talking about is the ability to place a bookmark in a MP3 file you are listening to, listen to something else, and come back to the first MP3 file and start listening where you left off. The books from NetLibrary are one large MP3 file that can be 10-14 hour of listening. Is it unreasonable to ask for the ability to listen to some of audiobook, switch over to some music, and later switch over and listen to podcasts throughout the day? Bookmarks make your MP3 act more like Tivo in that you can stop watching a show at any point and come back to it later and resume watching where you had left off. You can do this for any number of shows.

The other thing I require is the ability to create playlists where I order the sequence of what I listen to. The first podcasts on a playlist might be news style podcasts, so I can make sure I am up to date. Sure, I read RSS feeds, but repetition is the key to learning. On my playlists, the podcasts then follow in order of importance. I want my MP3 to have a listening order defined and not require me to go searching through my MP3 player. Right now, I have some 45 podcasts items waiting for me to listen to. On a long trip, I will go through all those podcasts. Right now, some podcasts can wait.

The MP3 player I purchased, with bookmarking ability, would not recognize the playlists I created under Windows Media Player. Plus it hung while downloading podcasts. One of the nice things about Amazon is that they make it so easy to do business. I was able to print out a return address, which included postage that would be billed to them. I cannot imagine how they could make it less of a hassle return.

In contrast, I had an interesting experience with Sprint this week. I had a phone stop charging. This problem occurred a few months ago and Sprint simply replaced the battery. It really was not the solution because a few month later the phone once more is not charging. Sprint states now that the problem was caused by sweat. Funny, I don’t recall taking my phone to the gym. If they had stated the problem was caused by dog slobber, I could more easily believe my Westie had been making phone calls (maybe ordering pizza) when I was not looking. But sweat? According to the Sprint representative Sprint has this problem all the time. Of course, it is not covered by the equipment insurance. Since this sweat is suppose to be coming off me, it is my fault. According to Sprint, I abuse my phone. I expect that phone services will be called and my phone will be put in foster care. The only problem is, I don’t sweat on my phone. Besides, how does Sprint distinguish sweat from air moisture? No matter, the Sprint representative has a solution: a new phone. Since I am outside of my contract period, I can get a new phone for free. It will only require me to sign up for another two years. Is that really free then? Or, I can buy the phone for $190. My thoughts are, why would I sign up for two years with a company that tells me my phone stopped working because of sweat, then refuses to honor the insurance I have been paying every month, and finally tries to force me to be locked into business with them for another two years? Is that not how the company stores in the old coal mining towns get their workers so in debt they never could never leave their job? Besides, the whole idea of cell phone contracts go against my nature. Even the cable company stopped that medieval practice years ago.

The point of this tale is that the IT community is too quick to discredit ease of use and good customer service. I don’t know if AT&T is good to deal with. I do know most people have positive experience with Apple customer service. IT folks are so use to struggling against the computer. We role our eyes and are unsympathetic when “users” complain. As for me, I continue to use a process where I occasionally have to switch the USB ports that my MP3 player connect to because Windows Media Player will refuses to see it (though the computer acknowledges it). Every once in awhile I have to blow away everything on my MP3 player because somewhere between the MP3 player and Windows Media Player, my playlists end up loosing most of the podcasts. It is probably a corruption in the MP3 memory. To me, this is normal when dealing with technology. Microsoft has gotten me use to rebooting to take care of problems. We shrug our shoulders and go on.

When I first started to do work for OSTI, many years ago, they would reboot their Solaris server every morning. Their UNIX administrator would be there along with their Oracle DBA in order to rebuild the database in case of corruption. I asked them why they did this? They found if they did not, the server would crash and then they would spend hours getting the Oracle databases up. My first order of business was to determine what caused the system to crash. It did not take long. The developers were filling up the tmp area. Sometimes folks do what they have to do. In this case, alot of downtime was introduced because the people involved simply did not know how to resolve the real problem.

To the non IT world, when things stop working confusion and anguish follows. People are dead in the water. The poor souls try to call customer support. Good luck there. When driving I do not have a problem stopping for directions, but I will not call customer support unless absolutely necessary. It is not that I have found customer service to be generally mean. I deal enough with them. It is just that it seems the person on the other end spends their time asking me questions whose sole intent it is to establish that I am a complete moron. “Are you sure the computer is plugged in? How do you know?” By doing so, customer service avoids the cost of having the product shipped back and repaired. Plus, if the process is annoying enough, folks will go away. This makes management happy. There are less calls to customer service and less returns. Add a user who is not sure of themselves, and it makes for a bad user experience. Now the folks are Sprint are as nice as one can be, but they still are telling people their phones don’t work because they sweated on them. Customer service is not just about doing things with a smile as you tell people they are idiots.

The thing about products from Apple is that they tend to work well. They do what they are suppose to do in as few steps as necessary. Sure, their batteries might catch fire but then that is happening to laptops all over. Plus, when your laptop goes up in flames, you don’t really need to have phone conversations with customer service as to whether it was your fault. Apple controls the equipment that is used by Apple products. This monopoly helps things work better together. Windows has to support all sorts of equipment and operating systems dating back decades.

So, with Sprint’s recent dealing with me combined with my desire for another MP3 player, I may end up with an iPhone. Not so much because I want one. It looks cool, but I am a practical person and my needs are simple. I would prefer going with the open phone, OpenMoko. It fits my philosophical beliefs better. Starting July 9th, the OpenMoko folks plan on launching openmoko.com and start taking orders. There will be two configurations:

Neo Base — everything the mobile application developer needs to enjoy the benefits of the first freed phone, the Neo 1973:

• Neo 1973 (GTA01B_v4)
• Battery
• Stylus
• Headset
• AC Charger
• Phone Pouch
• Lanyard
• SanDisk 512MB MicroSD Card
• Mini USB Connectivity Cable

Neo Advanced — everything the mobile device hacker wants to get down and dirty with the first freed phone, the Neo 1973:

• Neo 1973 (GTA01B_v4)
• Battery (2x)
• Stylus
• Headset
• AC Charger
• Phone Pouch
• Lanyard
• SanDisk 512MB MicroSD Card (2x)
• Mini USB Connectivity Cable (2x)
• USB Host Mode Cable
• Debug Flex Cable
• Debug Board v2 (JTAG and serial console)
• Ruggedized Toolbox with shoulder strap
• Guitar Pick (for opening case)
• Torx T6 screwdriver

The phones will cost $300 for the Neo Base and $450 for the Neo Advanced. Will this be a good phone for the non IT folks? I think they would be better off with an iPhone. For those of us who are use to messing with technology, the Neo should be alot of fun. When we get no customer service, at least we will have expected no service beyond the forums when initially buying the phone.