Windows "Vista" Upgrade

The buzz around technology news this week is the Microsoft's announcement of their Windows Vista Upgrade Coupon. Both CNN.com and PC World.com feature articles that disucss the process.

Vista Launches

Microsoft has designed a program to increase the sale of its new operating system, Vista. Cnn.com reports that the normal consumer release is planned in January.The system will be available to "big business" clients in November. Microsoft's plan is to include coupons in select computers on the market with their current operating system,Windows XP. The coupons will go into effect this Thursday. If consumers buy the new computer with XP the coupon will allow them to upgrade to Vista at a lesser value when it is released after the holiday season.

Vista Effects

Rex Farance, PCWorld.com blogger thinks that the Vista coupons will cost consumers more than less. He says that upgrade prices ultimately depend on where one buys their computer. Hidden Shipping and Handling fees can also come into play. He also states, "Updating an operating system is not a trivial process". He advises consumers to wait until the Vista system comes pre-installed. He warns,"If you use this coupon program, you are committing yourself to personally upgrading your own PC".

I would assume the hassels of updating an operating system in a business would be tenfold. Although upgrades are meant to speed processes and eliminate patches, coordinating them can be tricky.

Social Networks and Job Interviews

Upwards of 7 million college students use facebook.com according to an NBC nightly news story displayed on CollegeRecruiter.com.

Online Networks

Students use the popular online communities, Facebook.com and MySpace.com as social networking tools. In order to access Facebook, one must have a college email address. The networks allows users to post pictures, biographical information and link to blogs. Users can also "message" their "friends" and leave notes on each other's "walls".

Drawbacks

One of the problems with social networks is that employers increasingly use the sites to do research on interviewees. The NBC news story above said that employers have even paid students to access and report on peer profiles. Sometimes the information people post is unprofessional. Other times it is of a truly personal nature. It might show even show the interviewee in a compromising position.

Is this for real?

Some employers might use the information to determine who to hire. Others like Tory Johnson of ABC.com says that she uses the sites only to find out more about the candidates and see how they react under pressure. She often brings up information on the site in her interview. I agree that these networks can be a hiring tool. They could also potentially damage one's career. The point is that its the user's responsibility to decide how much to share with the world.

Keystroke Logging: The "Unknown" Internet Evil?

But everyone's doing it Mom. I would look like a loser if I didn't. Such a statement could have resonated at the congressional hearing had by Hewlett-Packard last month. Lisa Lerer of Forbes.com reports that HP was involved in a "pretexting" scandal but says that a much more common form of company snopping that HP and other companies may use is keystroke logging.

They're Watching You

Keystroke logger programs are used to track e-mails, record keystrokes made by the employee, and to record screen-shots. Basically those that invest in a keystroke program can see what you look at, type and recieve on the internet. Lerer reports that the loggers are widely used both by the public and corporations. Advertisers may also send them out attached to emails. Webroot Software reports that seven percent of computers have them with or without the user knowing it.

What Does it Mean for Business?

More like, what does it mean for employees? Lerer reports that most keystroke loggers come from external devices (like usb ports), attachments, operating system flaws and websites. Corporations that use the keystroke programs would, from my realitvely ignorant position, probably already have them installed on employees computers. From a business prospective these programs are good for the bosses and bad for the workers. Employees need to monitor their "leisure time" online and realize that they may not be as trusted as they may think. Bosses need to take into account just how invasive their particular keystroke program is. Lawsuits could be even more prevalent in the future.

Lerer's full article can be found on www.msnbc.com.

Deceptive Advertising?

"The Internet's just a big bluff"

So stated David Carter, website entreprenuer. He followed this statement with "If you can make a site look pretty and sound credible, you can pullinquiries in for just about anything and turn the Internet into one greatsales-generation machine". Carter was talking to Business 2.0 magazine Editor, Paul Sloan. Sloan reports that Carter did just that: launched professional looking and sounding websites to advertise a service. The problem is, the service did not exist at the time.

Misdirection Means Money

Carter reportedly creates websites with generic names realted to a business or topic he knows nothing about. For example, his site AsbestosSurveys.com. He writes a few articles (after educating himself first) and lists a few local phone numbers with an answering service. On getting tons of calls for a fake business he states, "I told them there was a big backlog...Then I said, 'Oh, God. What do I do now?" Once he gets the people to commit and call in for the service, he establishes the businesses himself or subcontracts to others.

Crossing the Line?

Although reporter Paul Sloan does not take a stance himself, he does question the ethics of Carter's tactics (barely). Carter set up the site above as an experiment. He is now using it and others to make money. He thinks its a great opportunity for local businesses to build a customer base. He reccomends others first find an overlooked service, create a professional website and then create a business or subcontract. I understand the idea of establishing a need first. Is advertising the service under a name that is not actually the provider a little too misleading? People might think they are getting one serivice and then be subcontracted to a service they swore not to use. The line is thin indeed.

Sloan's full article can be found on www.cnn.com.

Google's "Docs and Spreadsheets" Service

I recently found a potentially great service from Google. It is their "Doc and Spreadsheet" service. Google says, "Google Docs & Spreadsheets is a web-based word processing and spreadsheet program that keeps documents current and lets the people you choose update files from their own computers".

What Can It Do?

In theory the service can do everything a normal spreadsheet or document software (such as Excel or Word) can do. It also allows the user to change it from anywhere, since they are sorted on a web browser instead of on your hard drive. It allows different people to change the documents at the same time without dealing with sending back and forth through email. Google boasts that the service can:

• upload old docs/sheets or create them from scratch
• has a "familiar desktop feel"
• share, edit and export instantly
• safely stores work and allows user to control who access it
• publish work to webpage or blog instantly

My Take

It seems to me that the Google service could simplify work being done on the same project by a number of people. It could eminate a lot of irritation and potential of loss of information from copying and pasting. It also stops sending updated attachments back and forth through email. My only concern is that although Google claims the pages would be secure, I've been taught that you can never be sure of that on the web.

Back to Blogging

Although this blog isn't primarly about blogging, I found some relevant information while researching. Continuing with our previous blogging discussion, Corporate Event or Conference blogs offer positives for a business.

Corporate Event Blogs

In a blog by the VP of HP Global Marketing Strategy and Excellence, Eric Kintz disucsses corporate event blogs, namely the popular "Backstage at Sundance" blog with contributions by Alison Waterson, HP.com's Editor and Chief. Alison noted a positive of her blogging experience was the opportunity to meet new people through interviews. She says, "An event blog is generally a limited-time collaborative blog where different people attending an event will blog about their experience while there".

Get Your Feet Wet!

The great thing about event blogs is that they are intended to last for a limited time only. Alison notes that an event blog is a great way to try out blogging if a person or business is not ready to commit to blogging. Although blogs require planning and coordination before the event, having diverse perspectives make for an interesting and well represented take on the event.

My Thoughts, Exactly...

I think a diverse representation of an event or conference that corporate event blogs afford could help:

1. improve the event in the future.

2.businesses decide if the event was worth sending their employees to.

3. give employee contributors an active role in the conference/event.

4. the employer to see what the attendee took from the event.

I like to think of event blogging as a relaxed book report on the part of the employee. But shhh, don't tell them that!

How Safe is your 'Net?

Most people know that anything you put online can be suceptible to another's view. Even after blogs or webpages have been deleted, they are cached and can show up in searches in the future. However, a secure intranet, or private network used with a company or group of computers doesn't always have that connotation.

China Attacks

The federal government admited today that Chinese hackers once again invaded the computers of the Bureau of Industry and Security. According to Gregg Keizer's article on TechWeb.com this is the second "attack" from China since July. The hackers act by hiding malicious codes into the U.S. computer systems.

Vunerability

Oftentimes codes or spyware are injected into networks through a vunerability. Techweb.com defines this as a security exposure in an operating system, software or application component. They say, "Designing software to be bulletproof against attacks is like building a house where every square inch is fortified with steel and sensors that detect intrusions". The website sends the reader in the direction of security firms to help eliminate vunerabilities.

Website Usability

There are several things a business can do to makes its website stand out from the crowd. Instead of making a site flashy, make it easy to use.

Disabilities

A business might consider those that have disabilities when considering website usability. For example, we discussed in my Electronic Publishing class that about 50% of males are color blind. Using colors like red and green to differentiate on a business site would not be the best idea. Also, computer screens are back lit and tire the eyes easily. Too much white or black back ground can worsen the effect. Striking a balance between white space and color saturation is safe bet.

No Frills

In addition to considering those with disabilites one might want to take a streamlined design approach. In the Article "Is your Web site usable?" columnist Kim Komano writes, "...elegance is simply not going to win over users. If your site is not easily navigable and doesn't contain relevant and up-to-date information, you're driving customers away". Kim discusses six different ways one can improve a business site. She puts emphasis on keeping the site simple and testing it over and over again.

Blogging for Business

Anne Stuart's "Technofile: Blogging for Business" on Inc. com was a great introduction to, as she termed it in when written in 2003, "The Next Big Thing". This term seems to be very popular in business and although blogs might already be here, they are certainly worthy of further discussion.

B-blogs: The Good and The Bad

Stuart uses the term "b-blog" for business blog, chalking it up to industry jargon. Either way, its less for me to type, so I'm using it too. Politics and Media are listed as already being affected by blogging voices, and corporate blogging is discussed. Postives are listed as: cheap to build, easy to maintain, not intrusive because users must click to them, and fast, informal way to share info. Negatives are blanketed under: "Do it wrong and you could embarrass yourself, bore or alienate customers or prospects, contribute to information overload, and potentially even wind up on the wrong end of a lawsuit". Stuart gives an example of a negative blogging situation by Dr. Pepper/7up Inc.

Uses for B-blogs

Similar to podcasts, b-blogs can be used both externally and internally in a corporate enviornment. Stuarts uses include: "project updates, research or test results, product-release news, industry headlines" and I'll add: meeting notes, employee or customer feedback, picture sharing. Basically blogging lends a different, informal, interactive approach to sometimes dry, standard procedures.

My favorite quote from the article reads: "At a recent business-blog conference, Jupiter Research vice president Michael Gartenberg said today's single word of advice to Dustin Hoffman's character in The Graduate wouldn't be 'plastics' but 'Weblogs'."

Hello, Mrs. Bloginson.