On Expectations and the iPhone4S

I kept having this discussion in separate places, so I thought that I'd make it a post.

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I fail to see what isn't to love about the new phone. Aside from the price, screen and case being the same, the battery life is increased, and processor, graphics, and storage are all doubled. Twice as much as the iPhone4.

Nobody has been able to give me a reason not to love the iPhone4S except that the number is "wrong" or that people can't immediately tell how cool you are so you'll have to answer "not an iPhone4; a 4S."

I'm really beginning to feel sorry for Apple, because apparently iPhone5 is going to be wide panned unless it has a built-in jetpack, transmits via Ansible, and is powered by Cold-Fusion.

If you're still unimpressed, look at your car. This years model is not twice as fast *and* more energy-efficient. Still no? Look at any desktop or laptop. Last years' comparable model was not Half of this years. Show me any product or industry that has done this.

If you don't want to spend the money on this year's model, then don't spend the money. And say that. Nobody is going to fault you for that. However, saying that this model isn't impressive or calling it "rushed" is insulting to the Engineers who made it possible.

The Screen has also been brought up as a 'meh' by some people. They want bigger. I've had people hold up the iPhone Retina Display (and apps' automatic conversion) and the iPad up as examples of Apple "just taking care of it." The iPhone4's Retina display has double the vertical and horizontal resolution of the previous iPhones (4x the pixels). (Take a square, draw an equilateral cross in it and you now have 4 squares.) Apple can't make the pixels bigger and still keep the idea of the "Retina Display". They also can't "just" (there's that word again...) add more pixels without either making Developers miserable or making things look awful by trying to auto-handle apps. The iPad was different; it could run an iPhone app at native size in the iPad, but it looks like a single playing card on a blank table, or scale it up to twice the size, so it now looks like a huge blurry playing card with an awkward border around it. And have you used an iPhone-only app on an iPad? It's just awkward if not ugly.

Perhaps they could increase the screen resolution of the phone, and allow apps that aren't scaled to handle that run surrounded with a black border. But the Retina display is only a year old, and making Devs rush about re-sizing their apps (where they don't have to redo all of their artwork!) this soon is a bit much. It's likely that screens will change in the future, and perhaps this is how it will happen, but now is (obviously) not the time.

Never mind that software has always been Apple's big differentiator.

-Waldo

On Being Disingenuous and Not Actually Solving Piracy

A musician that I have previously enjoyed wanted to fund a new album, and decided to do so through Kickstarter.com. I happily contributed my $25, and was among the earliest contributors on October 30th. The $20,000 funding goal for the album completed on December 12th. (It just barely completed funding on the day of the deadline.)

For those who don't know, "Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine" is a cover band who plays popular music in a swing / lounge style.

Later that day, a survey was posted on the Kickstarter page asking for mailing addresses (a common practice in Kickstarter for the shipping of completed physical goods). I am not certain about the exact wording or details (as it has all been removed from the site by the poster), but we also had to click a checkbox swearing to the effect that we would not Pirate or Rip the CD that we'd helped fund. There were some objections to this, as many (including myself) found it to be rude and inconsiderate. The next day, he posted an update to the Kickstarter project page that reads:

To all Backers who purchased a CD:

If you are NOT willing to "agree" to the required "copyright" terms, please contact us via email with your reasons. We will do our best to help.

Thank you.

Lounge Mart
Richard Cheese & Lounge Against The Machine

I'd expressed my dissatisfaction on the comment page and on his Facebook page. Some time later, all of the users' comments had been deleted (leaving his own), and he had blocked my account from making comments on his Facebook posts and Wall. I don't care to look for his indirect replies on Facebook (none were addressed directly to me), but my impression of them had been "This is my stuff, I can do what I want, and if you don't like, you can suck it. Real fans don't disagree with me."

Let me say that he is entirely within his rights to do these things. These are his pages to do with as he pleases.

But I think he did the wrong things.

At some time in July (on or before the 20th), long after funding had been completed and the album was due to ship (the original post reads: "LET IT BRIE" CD PRE-ORDERS WILL SHIP IN JULY 2011.), I received a notification from PayPal that he was cancelling my order and refunding my payment. Emails to his support email address went unanswered, as did a comment on his Kickstarter page (except for another user who'd wanted to know the same thing.) Further emails got not response.

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Two days ago, on August 1st, he sent another update offering an additional album for $3, and you could save on shipping because they'd package them together. Paying into this finally got a response after this, too, was refunded.

On Aug 3, 2011, at 0:52, Lounge Mart Customer Service wrote:
>
> We have cancelled and refunded your LoungeMart orders and KickStarter pledges because of the comments (below) you posted on the KickStarter Project. We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone, and while we respect your right to your opinion, we do not wish to continue doing business with you.
>
> Thank you.
>
> MS
>
>
> "Dick, I love the music, which is why I was one of the first backers. I hate the spam, and your insulting copyright messages. Further, your comments on Facebook that amount to "Real Fans Don't Disagree" is a real dick move, not to mention blocking me from liking or commenting on your posts. I agree with Christopher Masto, entirely. The extreme copyright stance is overblown. Even if you're not targeting your fans with these messages, they're the majority of the people who see them. (Preaching to the choir, anyone?) If you would like to discuss, feel free to contact me. You have my info.)"
>
>
>
> At 08:45 AM 7/25/2011, you wrote:
>> I'm still looking for an explanation for this refund.
>>
>> -Me

(Note that he often goes by "Dick" in the albums and on stage, and was originally going to go by "Dick" instead of "Richard" as his stage name, but some objected to "Dick Cheese")


To which I replied:

Ah, I see. You can't bear for anyone to disagree with you; Not even a fan and willing investor. It's a bit disingenuous that you wait until the album is due to be released (and well after the funding was completed) before you found your High Horse and decided that you could be picky. It's pretty ironic that a Lounge Singer who does nothing but cover other artists' songs is especially touchy about Copyright.

Does that mean that you secure the rights for every song before you perform it, or do you claim that your rendition is legitimate under "Fair Use" under the Parody or Transformative interpretations?

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So, a couple of interesting points from my perspective:

1) He's a lounge singer. Jazz is noted as being a musical genre rife with copy and imitation, but instead of litigation, it's part of the culture. "Hey, that thing you did was cool; let me try that." Lounge style is even more so.

2) He's a comedian. Comedy is also known for a lot of borrowing. ("Take my wife, please.")

3) He does no original work. His schtick is 'Lounge Covers of Popular Music'. Lyrics and melody remain largely unchanged, but the style is "swankified".

4) He is doing this to people who have INVESTED in a forthcoming, incomplete work.

5) He somehow thinks that clicking a checkbox is going to prevent piracy.

6) Preemptively accusing his fans / backers of piracy.

7) He thinks that by denying to sell a product that people actually wanted ("sight unseen", or rather "sound unheard", as it were) is going to keep them from wanting the thing.

8) He waited until the project was completed before deciding that he could afford to refund 'unsavory contributions.'

9) His actions demonstrate that he thinks that this is a good way to handle your fanbase.

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I'm not entirely sure what he's trying to accomplish, besides pissing off fans. (Or at least former fans.) His prior antics had previously only annoyed me - there's a track in one of his albums where he takes a video camera away from a member of the audience and whines about 'infringing his copyright' - but I may stop listening altogether, now.

In short, it's obnoctious, and just about the least effective way to fight "piracy." This strikes me as disinginuity at it's best.

Maybe he's right; Perhaps "Real fans don't disagree", and I'm just not one...

In any case, who am I to tell him how to run his business...? (Besides a former customer, that is...)

-Waldo

On "Evil Companies"

I keep seeing a theme circling tech circles, and that is a hint (or more) that making a profit is bad, and companies who make money from you are evil.

Stop it.

If you paid money for a product or service, and are happy with it, then be happy. If not, review their customer service / returns policy, complain and attempt to initiate a return, and move on with life. If that company doesn't change how they do things and/or your needs do not change to match what they provide, don't be a patron.

Apple makes money hand-over-fist by providing products and services that many people enjoy. If you're not one of them, don't give them money.

Last week I was at a tech conference, and one of the keynote speakers was a VP of Facebook. Facebook is enjoyed by most of it's active users. They voluntarily share info with Facebook, and in return they get easy access to their network of friends, and (depending on whether or not you choose to get value from it) receive or put-up-with advertisements. That's their business model. They provide a service for free (in terms of cash), and provide their customers with a framework for communication and interaction, and thus entertainment. During the keynote, the VP played a video about a woman who'd been hit by the recent hurricanes. When the dust settled, at first glance her neighborhood was riddled with debris. When more closely examined, she noticed that they were pictures of other peoples' families, childrens' toys, heirlooms, letters, etc. She thought that, like her with all of the things that she was missing, those people would want their tangible memories returned to them in order to help restore a sense of normalcy. So she started a Facebook group. Individuals took photos of items, added them to the group, and people could claim or identify individual items from anything posted.

Without Facebook (or something similar with those capabilities), this would have been largely unsuccessful, if not impossible.

But somebody at that conference posted (verbatim): "How much money did @Facebook make on traffic "helping" connect people in the wake of the Alabama tornados shown in ad @ #velocityconf?"

My response was "I don't see that that matters..." http://twitter.com/gwaldo/status/81404040486985728

First, Facebook didn't cause the disaster. They also didn't charge for their service or this feature. Nothing about their operation or billing changed in response to the disaster except to ensure that the site kept running. Business as usual. If the objection was that they made an advertisement, it was pretty tasteful, and displayed an example of how their site had been used by real people for something important to them.

If they should have stopped receiving payments for that natural occurrence (a series of tornadoes), I ask what natural occurrences they should stop receiving payments for. Earthquakes? Tsunamis? Volcanic eruptions? Solar Flares? Supernovae? Hail, snow, and rain? Tides?

At what point does your argument become ridiculous? To me, it's the beginning.

-Waldo

On Getting the Entire Question

My recent interview went well, and aside from just having my opinion to go on, the company apparently though the same since they offered me the job.  (For those not keeping score at home, I accepted.)

I'd discovered the Standalone SysAdmin Blog a couple months ago, and have found it enjoyable and insightful.  I've been in various sizes and scopes of teams in my years as a SysAd (including Lone Sheriff), and his advice would have been helpful at any one of those gigs.

Today he posted an entry entitled "90% Answers, and when they’re wrong".  Had my interview went poorly, I'd have kicked myself, because it was these kinds of questions that were asked.  After asking for more info, or prefacing my answer with "knowing little about your environment, culture, or practices...".  After a couple of q/a's like this, I think they started tossing it in with a laugh.


It's hard to know when you have the entire story, or even enough to make an informed decision.


-Waldo

On a Universal Right

There is a certain inexorable right possessed by every person in existence. It is not documented in the United States Constitution, for it is a Universal Right, guaranteed by your fellow Humankind. It is a right which by simply exercising, little by little, makes the world a better place.

Ladies and Gentlemen, you have the Right to Not Be An Asshole.

Please exercise that right.

-Waldo

On Professional Communications

In these days of always-on always-available communication, it's more important than ever to be clear in your communications so that you're not wasting people's time. As I see it (and that's really the only opinion that matters), Instant Messenger and Texting have each allowed lazy people (and/or morons) to waste my time more effectively.

In my opinion, IM and SMS have been huge contributors in lazy communications due to their immediacy and the casual attitude associated with their use. If you're at work, try to be professional. Sure, they facilitate communications, and they're often used for informal communications, but there's no reason that you should be unclear. Being unclear is ineffective and wasteful.

The only things that I desire from communications is to communicate effectively. Seems like circular reasoning, doesn't it. I assure you that it isn't. For many people with which I interact in a given day it seems that they just don't get that. When people reach out to me, they usually need my help.

As one who's job it is to help people, here's a hint:
Help me to help you!

The single easiest way to do this is to communicate clearly. Fix bad spelling. Use punctuation. Attempt to use context. Be descriptive. Before sending, read what you've typed and correct anything that's wrong.

No, the occasional numeral 0 instead of the letter 'o' won't bother me, but runningwordstogether or gorsslee misspelling words isn't helpful neither is having multiple clauses or sentences without punctuation or capitalization dusnt make it EESEEER 4 me 2 REED!!1!! LOLZ

Abusing my time and brainpower in these ways will make me hate you more.

Really, if you must interrupt what I was trying to accomplish, don't waste my time and energy trying to figure out what you want. Before you came by, I was probably happily getting my own work done. Yes, you're an interruption; I hope what you want is important.

Sure, the eventual emoticon (smiley) or a or tag can certainly help tell me that you're being sarcastic or attempting a joke. Please keep them to a minimum.

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Once I've gotten the gist of what you're asking for, I'm probably going to have follow-up questions for you. This is never a time to get pissy because you 'just want him to fix it, damnit. Gosh!' Chances are, you don't really know what you're talking about, but if you do, I likely don't know everything about your system. (This is actually true; the more you know about your system means that I consequently need to know less about it. Unless of course we're actually peers in this subject, in which case this post probably isn't for you; you probably already know how to communicate effectively with me.)

Now is not the time to get snide, snotty or sarcastic. Now is the time to be more helpful. Remember that you asked me for help; I was happy without your interruption. Asking questions means that I am going to try to help you, but I don't yet have all the information that I need to do so effectively. Sure, I may be able to discover the answers myself, but you providing useful answers saves my valuable time.

If I present follow-up responses, being questions, suggestions or recommendations, it is never, EVER acceptable to respond to me with only punctuation. Today, a particular individual customer (I'm refraining from calling him a jackass, but that's what I'm thinking) responded to my four response statements with a single question mark.

Yes, he typed "?" and sent that to me.

In no way was that an acceptable response. The only intelligent conclusion that I can draw from a response like that is either that is a floating leftover punctuation left over from the dozens that had been ignored thus far in the conversation, or that he typed an entire intelligible question but his keyboard's keys have all stuck except for Shift, the question mark, and Enter. (They are right next to each other. The Right Control probably works, too....) So, he's still guilty of not checking what he typed before sending. This tells me that you don't value me or my time. So I hate you more...

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This is all exacerbated by the fact that I need SMS for my job in order to receive pages, and at my last two jobs are required that I stay logged into IM while at work. Any person who happens to come across or guess my cell number or look up my ID at work can now waste my time, 'round the clock! It's these types of interactions that make me firmly believe that IM is a wonderful technology for facilitating the interruption and distraction of otherwise productive people.

Additionally, communicating effectively means that I don't need to post another rant and spreading vitriol.

-Waldo

Wood Turning as Therapy

Therapy is wood shavings on the floor next to your lathe...

-Waldo

A Most Useful Class

The single most beneficial class that I think that I've ever taken was touch-typing.

It was mandatory to take as a freshman in my high school in a remarkable burst of foresight. I find myself surprised whenever I find my peers in IT, or others who's work relies on a keyboard, who can't touch type. I take it for granted!

To be fair, my school was pretty good about encouraging computer use and exposing students to the internet. Granted, this was pretty early on in www-days (1994-5), so the big-G didn't exist, and information was sparse and hard to find. The search engines of the day were nigh-useless.

I was also fortunate to have Internet access at home (well, AOL, so a slice of the internet...), so I didn't get much use out of the school's resources except for not having to burn my online minutes.

Anyway, I am truely glad that my school had the foresight to make Touch Typing a mandatory class. Otherwise, I would have never taken it. Sadly, I never got the habit of using the right-shift key, and my numbers are still shaky...

(Irony is writing an article praising touch-typing using only two thumbs.)

-Waldo

Rather be an Inventor than a Firefighter

Yesterday two separate people told me how much more relaxed I've been this week than the previous month or two.

Before this week, I'd been primarily responsible for fixing at least three or four major crises in a row. Fortunately, each waited before the previous had been resolved before kicking in, but still... In fact, in each instance there was a half-to full day between one and the next. It was just long enough to remember what the Urgent task that I was supposed to be working on, figure out where I'd left off, and start getting back into that when a cooling device and excrement would again meet. This has been since the beginning of Sept that this has been going on. A lot of things (including this blog and personal correspondance, as well as a significant amount of coding) had been set aside for the duration because of exhaustion.

I realized today how to explain what I enjoy and dislike about my career in IT: "I'd rather be an Inventor or Engineer than a Firefighter."

-Waldo

According to Dylan...

According to Dylan, I'm no longer to be trusted...

-Waldo

On Cover Songs (and A Public Apology to Mike E.)

I realized that I really enjoy covered songs in the last few years. Whether they are more appropriate stylings such as Disturbed's cover of "Shout" by Tears For Fears, or Marilyn Manson's cover of "Tainted Love" by Gloria Jones (though made famous by Soft Cell), or gloriously inappropriate, like almost anything by Richard Cheese (though his takes on Disturbed's "Down With The Sickness" and Guns 'n Roses' "Welcome to the Jungle" are personal faves).

So recently a friend of mine shared his recent discovery of Me First and the Gimme Gimmes. Their schtick is happy Punk covers of older (usually 15+ year-old) songs. My old buddy from the Corps Mike E. tried to turn me on to them more than five years ago. So, Mike, "You were right. They're fun."

-Waldo

On Visions and Jogging

Anyone who has met me in the last (almost) four years since I left active service in the Marine Corps would be surprised that I used to be in excellent shape, had very little body fat, and for most of my time in the Corps, could run three miles in less than 24 minutes. (My personal best is 19:58.) It has been no secret to anyone who's met me in the past eight years that I dislike running. Like really hate running.

It is with no little surprise that I found myself in a very vivid dream in which I could feel what it used to be like to enjoy running in the hour before needing to get up for work. In it, I could feel what it was like to be a young man of 17-21, a much lighter body pumping fluidly, and the not-unfamiliar and not-unpleasant burning in my lungs. With this vision nagging me, and seeing that my sneakers were not up to the task, I purchased new running shoes and went for a jog before dinner. After running around a few blocks (just over a mile according to Google Earth) I've discovered this truth:

Visions are Bullshit.

Ok, that's a little harsh, and quite unfair. When I last could tolerate running I was carrying about 60 lbs. less than I am now, and had sustained significantly less wear-and-tear. Oh, and I haven't run in about four years.

In reality, I feel more like Tony Stark in the Iron Man movie after his suit fails and subsequently crash lands in the desert. He lifted his head, said "Not Bad", and then passed out. (It certainly wasn't a "Yea. I can fly." experience...)

I'm expecting that I'm going to be in a fair amount of pain tomorrow, but I like to think that I'll keep this up somewhat.

-Waldo