Saturday, June 29, 2002

THREE THINGS TO DO Can these be done in a weekend? Select and purchase: A new notebook computer - Windows or Mac & which model? Windows XP PRO: no learning curve, meets all needs, allows customer demos CON: no coolness factor, routine, blah, no iPhoto application Specs: P4, 1.4Mhz or better 512MB or better 30GB drive or better DVD/CD-RW combo hi res video Wireless ready (optional) under 7lbs. Mac PRO: Mac, OSX, slick, convenient, iPhoto CON: new software, learning curve, can I make money with it? Models? IBM? HP? Sony? other? Mac Tibook? iBook? A digital camera Canon G2? (is it too old and soon to be replaced?) Canon S40? Panasonic DMC-LC40? (Panasonic? yeah, but a Leica lens!) other? A wireless access point for the home network Linksys WAP11? 802.11a? Replace the existing switch/router/firewall with a comparable device that's wireless? Reader suggestions are welcome! 9:18:23 AM     Comments[]

DEJA VU - ALL OVER AGAIN What did you change?. A conversation between two people working on a Web project (no prizes for guessing which is the programmer). "This Web page was perfectly OK and [Jonathon Delacour] We sell and support business management software. Support calls take the form described in Jonathon's post. In our case the diagnostic process is somewhat reversed. The user of the software is calling to report a problem. We're faced with understanding what has changed in the "switches & parameters" of the accounting software that could lead to the reported difficulty. Nine times out of ten, the question, "what has changed?" is met with an immediate and emphatic "nothing." At that point, support becomes a delicate human interaction where "repairing the customer" is as important as "repairing the software." 8:01:12 AM     Comments[]

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