The reformat kiss-off

One of the things that really gets me cranky is the "reformat your computer" solution to software problems. A question we have on our IT queries website is from a gentleman who has been told he should reformat his computer to reinstall Pinnacle.

What a load of rubbish! The thing with this blind "reformat your computer" advice is that it's the IT equivalent of a doctor telling you to "take two asprins and call me in the morning".

The difference is the two asprins are relatively harmless while a reformat can result in hours of work, frustration and lost data.

Put simply, reformats are the last resort and usually are only necessary for fixing major spyware infections.

In this case, it's the classic example of an incompetent computer tech fobbing someone off with some nonsense.

A competent computer tech should be able to resolve this problem with a few hours work. The problem though is clients often don't want to pay for that work.

Which is probably why so many incompetent techs survive and even prosper; they may not be good but they are cheap.

The dangers of upgrading your website

It's always risky updating your website as you never know what will break. I changed the layout of my IT Queries site a week back and promptly messed up the ads and Google Analytics.

So it's with sympathy I note the problems on the Newsagent's blog, particularly with posting comments and linking to posts.

This is why the PC Rescue site looks so bloody awful. I designed it in 1999 (if design is the right word) and I'm loathe to change it because of the risk of breaking it.

I know the site would work a lot better in a blog format, but the thought of getting the design right, the inevitable teething problems and the time and effort importing the old posts into the new system gives me a headache.

Still, editing posts in Notepad gives me a headache too, so I'm working on it.

Getting your store right

One thing I noticed when I went to Myers to look at the Eee PC was the difference between the PC and Apple departments.

The PC sections were dingy and unimaginative while the Mac areas were lively and well lit.

More importantly the Apple staff were bright, cheery and helpful while the PC staff gave the impression they'd rather be in working in the menswear section.

It can't be understated how important presentable, friendly and knowledgeable customer service is in the consumer sector. As we constantly see in the newsagent blog, service is important for small purchases such a magazines, but it's even more important for big ticket items like computers.

Another strike against the Eee PC was the Chatswood Myer store keeps theirs under glass; there's no opportunity to play with it or see how well it works.

It's another reason why I think Asus made a mistake choosing Myer. If they were serious, they should have insisted on properly trained staff, separate areas and distinct branding. Just like Apple do.

Ten reasons why are Macs hot right now

One thing that's jumped out at me over the Christmas break is how hot the Apple Mac currently is.

I noticed this first hand when I popped into Myer to have a look at the EeePC, there was a reasonable number of people looking at the Asus device, but the real crowds were in the Apple section. The PC section was very quiet indeed.

The experience of Peter Kafka at Silicon Alley Insider over Christmas indicates this was a world wide phenomenon.

Added to this Amazon claim the Mac was their hottest selling computer up to Christmas.

It's interesting how the Mac's regaining ground. The question is why and how. I suspect there's a number of reasons.

1. The iPod and iPhone: These devices have exposed millions of users to Mac products who simply wouldn't have bothered otherwise.
2. Reduced prices: The switch to Intel chips has reduced the price of systems. While they are still pricier than similarly specced PCs, the price difference isn't the issue it once was.
   
3. Viruses and spyware: People are sick of this garbage. Families don't want their kids infesting machines with offensive and damaging malware.
4. The failure of Vista: Microsoft have bungled the roll out of Vista. It's a major turn off for consumers but the alternative in the Windows world is the malware prone XP.
5. Boot camp: The ability to start into Windows gives switchers an exit. If they aren't happy with the Mac OS, they can always go back without having wasted a couple of thousand dollars.
   
6. Increased use of web applications: One of the big objections to the Mac was being unable to run Windows based applications. With the rise of web based apps, this argument loses ground.
   
7. Ease of use: The difference between Windows and the Mac has reduced over the years, particularly since the improved GUI of Windows 95, but the Mac still has the edge. Put simply, most things work on the Mac.
8. Good design: Apple's designs look and work better.
9. Good engineering: This is reflected in points seven and eight. The Mac is better put together than most PCs, this means things work better.
10. Better marketing: I hated the Mac versus PC ads and still do, despite the odd triumph (the bloated PC skit). But the marketing is more than the ads; the packaging looks good, the stores look good and the resellers look better.
    

All up, Apple are just offering a far better experience for both consumers and power users. All of that said, their market share is still a fraction of that held by Windows.

Personally, I doubt they will ever overtake Windows in the PC market place. However this is not such a bad thing.

The big risk in computing is getting stuck in the commodity end of the market. Dell made that mistake as did HP, Packard-Bell and Gateway. It ends up eroding your margins and trashing your reputation.

Apple haven't gone there and it doesn't look like they will.

This means better margins for Apple and better computers for the customers who are prepared to pay a few bucks more.

It's a pretty good story for Apple. No wonder their shares are up.

Artificial shortages

Like many others, I swallowed the line that the Eee PC was completely sold out.

Apparently not. The Sydney CBD Myer store had a sign announcing a limit of four per customer.

So supplies can't be too short if there's only four per customer.

Making an artificial shortage of stock is one of Steve Job's old tricks. By restricting supply, it only makes the product more desired. This also worked for Cabbage Tree Dolls.

Looking at my fellow gawkers, it seemed to me most of the interest for the Eee PC was with techie and tinkering types. The mums and dads seemed more interested in the Apple section.

I still reckon Linux was a mistake for Asus.

Computer Christmas present problems

A Merry Christmas from the Cranky Tech.

One thing that gets all techs cranky are phone calls from upset computer users on Christmas day.

So we've put our tips on how to avoid Christmas Day tech disasters on our PC Rescue website.

Happy holidays.

Waiting for service packs

I'm currently working on getting the PC Rescue newsletter out, one of the things I'm mentioning is how home users shouldn't play with beta software.

One of the things I can't believe is it's been over three years since the last service pack for XP was released.

IT won't support the iPhone?

I've just read the Forrester Research findings in this week's Fortune magazine on why IT departments won't support the iPhone.

All the reasons are good, but it misses the point about modern IT.

IT departments don't dictate what users use, users decide. Fake Steve Jobs makes this point very well.

While all the points made in the Forrester paper are true. I'd suggest that these limitations need to be flagged to those who insist on using iPhones and other devices, but they won't be able to stop these being used.

IT can't stop staff using the iPhone. It's going to happen, so deal with it.

Skype chat spam evolves

I previously mentioned my scam chats from Skype. These seem to be getting more sophisticated as Jeremy Wagstaff in the Loose Wire Blog found in his chat with sexy Veronica.

Skype don't seem to be too concerned about this. They darned well should be. Nothing will kill a service's reputation quicker than than spammers and scammers infesting it.

I'm wondering if Jeremy's chat was related to this project. I imagine having a real live crook posing as Veronica is a quite labour intensive for our scammer friends.

Are Dell services doomed?

Forbes magazine describes how Dell is going to reinvent itself. Central to the idea of the resurgence is services. Now I have a problem with this on two fronts.

The first is channel conflict. Dell's move into services directly cuts into the business of resellers and integrators. Given the channel is key to growing their sales into the SMB sector, they will have a serious problem getting the local IT guys on board.

More importantly though, is this idea they know how to provide services. My overwhelming experience with big businesses in the IT and Comms sectors is they are genuinely clueless when trying to run a service business.

Dell's recent track record in customer service shows this. In fact, I would go as far as to say the decline in service levels is the number one reason for Dell's fall in market share over the last five years.

This isn't to say Dell can't succeed in this area, it just means that Dell have to invest in the infrastructure, staff and training so they can offer a compelling and useful product.

To do this, they have to have decent margins on the product. If they sell cheap, the product will fail. This is why most service offerings from big corporations are rarely successful.

Margins are at the core of Dell's problems. They made the decision to chase the bottom of the market and now they are paying for it in declining margins, declining customer satisfaction and declining long term prospects.

All of this said, I love the idea of a suicide chip. Blowing laptops up remotely sounds like fun. Although given Dell's experience with exploding batteries, one would think they've had enough of self destructing laptops.

Data loss is no joke

Angus Kidman thinks data loss is a big joke. Angus once nearly lost data when he poured booze on his laptop. He thinks thats funny.

Angus, the joke is on you. As a professional tech writer you should know better.

For computer techs, dealing with data losses are the most stressful moments of their job. In my small business talks I describe data protection as the most distressing subject of the talk.

Data loss is no joke if you've lost your business records or family photos. For the poor old computer tech, the customer's pours all their stresses onto you.

It's a traumatic, stressful time for all. Protect your data. That way, Angus Kidman won't laugh at you.

ABC Now

Before tomorrow's show, I've had a play with ABC Now. It's a useful little tool for bringing together all the ABC media streams.

You can download files and podcasts the old way.

It's important to choose the right media player. Personally I prefer Real Player, but it can be a pain with all the pop ups and advertising.

It's easy to change preferences later as the options settings are nice and clean

It worked nicely on my middle of the road test machine.

One warning is that if you are like me you may have a habit of clicking on the heart which adds the item to your favourites list rather than opening it.

It's good to have a TV guide to ABC and ABC2, one improvement there would be to put the details of the programs.

On the radio tab, quite a bit of local programming is missing. One notable exception is Tony Delroy's podcasts.

We also see a lot variations between the stations and programs. For instance, Sydney 702 has nowhere near the variety that Melbourne 774.

A future improvement may be to cross index content between the local ABC stations. For instance, the 774 finance segment would probably be as interesting to listeners of Perth 720.

The predictable criticism is going to be the lack of Mac and Linux support. The Mac version is on its way and the Linux version will be here as soon as possible.

Linux is proving a bit harder, as Nicola the manager of ABC Interactive says,

So Linux dudes, mess with Nicola's developers at your own risk.

All up, it's a fast nicely presented and simple tool that brings together a lot of the favourite streams of ABC tragics.

Driving away customers

I've previously mentioned how I stopped going to my local newsagents because of lousy service.

Recently I started going back to the nearest one (the one that refused me a credit account) simply because it's a nice Saturday morning walk up to the shops and the adjoining bakery does a nice cherry Danish to munch on the way home.

Normally I'd pay cash for two papers and wander off but this morning I splurged on a magazine as well. The total was $12 and being low on cash I handed over my credit card.

"Sorry, minimum $15"

Luckily I had enough cash left over for my Danish or I'd have been a very cranky tech.

Now as an a regular reader of the Newsagent Blog, I accept newsagents operate on tight margins and minimum charges are fair given the fixed costs of accepting EFTPOS and credit cards, but $15 is too high a limit.

From now on, I buy my papers from the supermarket or the servo around the corner.

Incidentally, on the way home I passed a cafe that has a CASH ONLY, NO EFTPOS OR CREDIT CARDS ACCEPTED sign out the front.

I've been there and it's been a pain if you haven't the cash, I can imagine some people have been deeply embarrassed by this.

This cafe's been around for a few years so there's obviously nothing like a delay with the bank to be causing this and the cost of accepting cards is actually cheaper than the problems you have dealing with large amounts of cash.

So the only reason I can think of why this cafe only accepts cash is because the owners aren't declaring their full income to the tax office.

Now I don't particularly care what they do with their tax affairs, but as a customer I shouldn't be stuffed around as a consequence.

Businesses need to remember that customer convenience is everything. The harder you make it for a customer to buy from you, the less likely it is that they will.

While I'll probably go to the cafe again, the newsagent won't be seeing me.

Eee PC: Why Linux is a bad idea

The Asus Eee PC is an interesting beast. A cheap, lightweight and robust laptop is the sort of device the market is crying out for and it's not surprising it sold out across Australia.

While the device is fascinating and it opens up some interesting markets that previously wouldn't have considered PCs, there's a few problems with the product.

Bundling the unit with Linux is a terrible idea if you are going to sell the product into the home market. To make it worse, Asus' channel partner is Myer. The fatal mistake is to fixate on price when selling to the consumer.

The worst possible place to be in the IT industry is at the low price of the consumer market. Not only are the margins horrible but the customers are disloyal and demand high levels of support.

Dell have learned this to their cost and it appears Asus are prepared to make the same mistakes.

Giving Myer exclusive rights to the machine also fudges the issue. Myer are not a low cost channel, so that's going erode Asus' margin even further. Worse for the customer, Myer and Asus is that Myer is not renown for the high tech geeks it employs.

I hope the Myer stores have plenty of stock of Xandros compatible hardware and software and the phone number of a good Linux tech handy.

Which brings me to the choice of operating system.

Going with Linux may have kept the unit price down. It's is probably an excellent choice for the hardware configuration, as opposed to lumbering the device up with Vista. But the fact is the bottom end of the market demands Windows compatibility.

I'd hate to be on the Asus support lines when little old ladies start trying to connect their twelve year old HP laserjets to these system or a cheap Lexmark printer they picked up for $50 at Officeworks.

It gets worse when you throw kids into the mix.

In fact Elissa Baxter of the Sydney Morning Herald should be reported for child abuse for this comment.

if you're thinking of buying a laptop for your school child, this one could be it.

Sure Elissa, if you want your child to be struggling with a Linux based machine in a school full of Windows or Mac users.

If you want her humiliated by the school system administrator's snide remarks when he can't figure out how to connect her to the Intranet.

If you want to see hours of his work wasted when it turns out Open Office's Impress is incompatible with the school's Powerpoint or Keynote.

The idea of packing a kid off to school with laptop running Xandros fills me with horror.

This is not to say Linux is a bad idea, it's a very good idea in the right market.

But school kids and home users looking for a cheapie PC are the wrong market. As a result, we're going to hear people whingeing about the lack of compatibility and how they couldn't download iTunes. In the end, Asus will give this up as a bad, unprofitable idea.

The risk for the Linux community is that Acer's experience will give rise to the myth that the channel can't make money from Linux machines. Worse, consumer will associate Linux with cheap systems that don't work very well.

In my view that's a real shame as the Eee PC and Xandros are both good products.

Choosing a version of office and OEM software

Over the weekend I've updated our choosing a computer page. I've added the pros and cons of OEM software.

In reviewing the different versions of MS Office page, I also realised I'd missed the added option of academic versions.

This only illustrates my earlier rant about just how confusing the whole Microsoft Office Product range is.

Is MS Publisher dying

Following my rant about the versions of MS Office, I'm completing my write up for the PC Rescue website.

While researching it, one of the things I stumbled on was the Publisher blog at the MSDN website.

It hasn't been updated since September 2006. So I think we can safely say the poor beast probably won't make it into the next version of Office.

One of the things that killed Publisher was the failure of MS to ever get a reader out for it. Couple that with the fact it was never bundled with anything less than the premium editions and it made it impossible for most people to read .pub files.

These days, the layout features in Word make Publisher irrelevant for most home and small business users. For the business that do need functions more advanced than that, Microsoft have completely conceded the field to Adobe.

Goodbye Publisher. I'd like to say we'll miss you, but I don't think most of us will notice.