Losing the will to live….. And then…

Sounds dramatic doesn’t it – but dealing with Virgin Media must have an effect upon the nations suicide rates! Luckily I appear to have survived, my problem has finally been resolved, the experience was not a pleasant one though.

I thought I would be in my grave before this was sorted!

We were almost at the 3 week mark for my issue with Virgin – I won’t summarise the story, you can look here for the trail in my blog (I have even given Virgin their own category as they are a major contributor now!).

Suffice to say the depth of incompetence here was staggering. Initial advice and action at the call centre was all wrong (and numerous ‘untruths’ appear to have been told).

I knew from my wifes experiences that I needed to escalate the matter from the call centre as quickly as I could, and I did. My email to the MD was answered personally by him within 30 minutes (and at 9.30 at night) – so fair enough I was impressed.

Added to that Sophie in the CEO’s office has been helpful and has finally managed to sort the issue for me – but she had to take over from the three ’experts’ that were given the job in the first place. Apparently the IT issue was being dealt with by the head of IT eventually!

Virgin added lots of freebies to the phone over the last 3 weeks, which are appreciated but how about actually providing decent service in the first place Virgin? I find it appalling that a company that has Richard Branson’s name on it can be so bad! And the number of people that have told me their tales of woe with Virgin in the last few weeks beggars belief!

So the matter is resolved (as far as I know) – am I a happy customer? Well I am certainly happier than I was, but Virgin really need to address a few basic issues before they have me fully back on board!

 

Virgin Mobile – more issues – and then a light at the end of the tunnel?

sorry - I need something to smile at!

I have been having a jolly time this week – as expected my contact with Virgin Mobile has not been productive or stress free. We started our little charade back on Saturday morning – bright and early. The task was simple (or so I thought). Transfer my son from pay as you go to a contract, something that most mobile companies should be able to do easily – but not it seems Virgin.

Since Saturday;

I have made 6 calls to Virgin.

I have spent two and a half hours on the phone to them!

I have had various 24 or 72 hour guarantees pass with no progress.

I have been ‘mislead’ twice

I have never received the promised calls back or texts to confirm the (hoped for) progress.

Oh – and although they tell me the phone contract has been set up – it hasn’t!

Getting to the end of my tether I decided to email the CEO of Virgin Mobile UK, Graeme Oxby, I doubted he would even get the email – they seem very good at deflecting complaints and then don’t act when you do complain. However I have recieved a quick reply directly back from him (and this was at 9.30 last night). So thank you Mr Oxby, I am impressed by your personal interest in my issues

So may be there is a light at the end of the tunnel? Mr Oxby has told me he will get someone from his team “to get in touch to sort things out”.

I await with interest.

 

Why Microsoft “don’t get it “

For a while I have been ‘coming over from the dark side’ – that is to say I have been embracing the world of Apple. To some that classes me as a geek, historically Apple products were the preserve of the ‘Guardian reader’ set, not a bad thing in any way, but a stereotype that probably didn’t help their marketing! This puts me in the minority, but if I am honest I don’t care, as I find the Apple way so much less stressful.

With the massive growth of the iPod, iPad and iPhone, Apple are now a major player in the hardware market (for example they have almost 80% of the tablet market). Historically they have been weak in the world of software – and by weak I mean they did not have the business market particularly catered for – that was the province of Microsoft – and still is. But for how long?

Computing in the business and home market is going mobile, we are all getting smartphones, and the tablet is making desktop computing far less of a necessity. Our PC at home is used rarely now, either iPad or Mac has taken over. Consequently we are all keen to have our data available where ever we are – cloud computing by any other name. And who is doing this best and appears to have a game plan going forwards?

In my view it’s Apple and not Microsoft. I have started using Apples iCloud with its Numbers and Pages packages – all my documents are automatically available on all my devices (including my PC). The program’s are nothing like as ‘belt and braces’ as Word or Excel, but who uses anything like the full potential of those packages – they are just too complicated! Also on an iPad the Numbers spreadsheet is way better than anything Microsoft or any third-party converter can offer.

Apples iCloud is in its infancy, MobileMe was not a success, but the mobile OS has developed and I think we will see great things from Apple over the next few years in mobile data sharing and working – they never get things wrong more than once!

And what about Microsoft? Windows 8 is just about to appear and from what I have heard it is just Windows 7 with a weird front end. Their Office package has a web version, but it is not catching on (probably due to being too complex). Microsoft may be about to start to see the end of their dominance – a good thing?

 

How much time does a PC lose you in a week?

I am writing this on my iPad while I wait for my Microsoft based Laptop to be repaired by scan fix – it tells me that I have a very nasty Rootkit type thingy which has rather upset my laptop. Now I am not a ‘dodgy’ user and am usually rather careful about what I open on my PC, but this time I have been caught out and we are now at around two hours and counting since my laptop became unusable.

This rather annoys me, (actually it really annoys me) as it is totally un-necessary. If I was using a Mac I wouldn’t be suffering from the scumbags that create these ‘bots’ and virus things. It has also set me thinking, Microsoft have the computer market firmly clasped by the privates, most business environments use Windows and other Microsoft packages. But you and I are fully aware of the down time that we all suffer from their software being the target of certain sections of society. Yes, windows 7 is much better, but there is still the issue of viruses etc that are nearly all aimed at the PC user.

If we didn’t suffer crashes and the other viral issues etc how much more work could we get done? A search of the Internet doesn’t come up with any figures for this, but it does bring up pages of details about crashes!

So if I ignore the enforced crashes and just look at boot times (to a fully useable state) for my laptop and mac this suggests the following;

Laptop average boot time – 4 minutes
Laptop turn off – 1 minute
MacBook average boot time – 1 minute
MacBook turn off – 15 seconds

That’s an extra 3 minutes and 45 seconds a day because I use a PC

So over a year that’s almost 20 hours wasted before we suffer any crashes or the delightful “program is not responding” messages. I believe we are probably looking at probably a working week a year lost to the PC – I think on that basis Microsoft should be paying me for using their software – not the other way round!

Reliance on one system is never healthy, it is about time that more people moved away from Microsoft – you never know it might even increase the time you have to work!

 

iPad 2 or 3?

spot the difference?

After all the hype Apple finally launched the new iPad this week – I say ‘the new iPad’ because they don’t appear to be clear as to its official title. Apple are referring to the new iPad, not iPad 3 or iPad HD as the press were suggesting. Going for a generic ‘iPad’ moniker is probably sensible as it would sound silly in a few years time to say iPad 8!

The launch has set me thinking if I would want a ‘new iPad’ – it’s not a simple decision because the new one isn’t as different as it might have been. The retina display is a nice touch (it is amazing on the iPhone 4) but that is a small screen that benefits hugely from the extra definition. The iPad user is only really going to notice the better resolution on HD movies or photo editing, not something that is important to me at this time in the way I use my iPad..

Also the new unit is slightly thicker and heavier than the iPad 2, not a particular step forward in my view. Also are people really going to use a tablet to video or take photos? A better camera is nice, but again I can’t see a benefit for me.

So I am happy to stay with my iPad 2, I can see it giving many years of use like most Apple products. Having said that I am sure Apple will sell as many of the ‘new iPad’ as they can produce – so what do I know?

 

Sinclair ZX81

Having blogged about the Raspberry Pi the other day it set me thinking about the old Sinclair ZX81 in the attic at my Mums. The ZX81 ‘the first home computer’ was produced by Sinclair Research and manufactured in Scotland by Timex Corporation. It was launched in the United Kingdom in March 1981 as the successor to Sinclair’s ZX80 and was designed to be a low-cost introduction to home computing for the general public. It was hugely successful and more than 1.5 million units were sold before it was eventually discontinued in 1984. It even found success in the United States, where Timex manufactured and distributed it under licence.

Little did I know that this week is actually the 31st anniversary of its launch! When you consider what modern technology can do it is interesting to look at the spec (and price) that was a cutting edge machine in 1981!

Introductory price – £49.95 for the kit, £69.95 for the assembled machine (equivalent to £143 – £200 in 2012).
Operating system Sinclair BASIC
CPU Z80 at 3.25
Memory 1 kB (64 kB max. 56 kB usable)
Display Monochrome display on UHF television
Graphics 24 lines x 32 characters or 64 x 48 pixels graphics mode
Dimensions 167 millimetres (6.6 in) deep by 40 millimetres (1.6 in) high
Weight 350 grams (12 oz)

Even the most basic mobile phone is way more powerful than this today – who says we haven’t made progress over the last 30 years!

 

iPad two years in…..

Amazingly the iPad is two years old (last week) – it has taken me two years to get into the iPad owners club, but I have to say now I have one I can really see the attraction!

When it was first launched there were a large number of people who said it was a pointless piece of kit which would never take off – well history has proved them wrong – and it is still in my view the machine to beat.

Why? Well it is a well worn adage about all things Apple – but it just works.

Hand an iPad to almost anyone and they can get into using it very quickly because everything is so intuitive. We have a number of ‘new users’ in the office and they just love it. They are all iPhone users but the experience is so much richer and better on the iPad.

Since getting mine a few weeks ago I have found a number of things that are better than I expected (and I had high expectations). They include;

Browsing – so quick and easy on a touch screen device, our desktop PC at home is slow and is becoming used much less because of this.

Wordprocessing – I have downloaded the ‘Pages’ app and have found it brilliant. the keypad on the iPad works really well (despite what some people say). And using iCloud allows me to share the files across my devices and keeps them synced.

Spreadsheets – The ‘Numbers’ app is also brilliant and allows me to use graphs on my iPad – something that other spreadsheet apps don’t allow. It syncs to iCloud as well.

Evernote – If you don’t use this you are really missing a trick – it is superb.

Games – I am not big into gaming but some of the driving games are amazing.

So all in all I love my iPad, it is not a total replacement for my laptop but it goes a long way towards it. The big plus is the fact that is instantly on. I am sure that Apple will develop the OS even more over the next few years which can only make it better!

And iPad 3 is due in only a few weeks?

 

iPad – a laptop replacement?

I have recently joined the iPad owning millions – due to a ‘significant’ birthday and a very generous wife (thanks Wendy!). I have been a fan of the iPhone ever since we got them at work and have been lusting after an iPad since they came out a couple of years ago.

Is the divide becoming blurred?

Well, now I have one and I have been giving it a bit of a ‘shake down’ to see what I can use it for at work to help ease my day. I have a laptop which runs Windows 7 which is my day-to-day machine, but I have always felt that the iPad could take some of the load – and be much quicker and portable! I am still working on this but will report on my thoughts shortly.

It appears however that I am not alone in this belief as we have been bringing a few iPads into the firm to try out in a variety of our departments. The general consensus appears to be that they are useful and being used more and more. This also appears to be a general trend across the world – recent research has found quite a high percentage of iPad use in the business environment already.

The role of the iPad in the enterprise was explored by IDG Connect in their “iPad for Business Survey 2012″. The survey found that 12 percent of workers indicated that the iPad has “completely replaced” their traditional laptop. Another 54 percent said the iPad has “partly” replaced their laptop, and instead complements it on the go.

Nearly three-quarters of respondents said that they ‘carry their laptop around less’ now that they own an iPad.

So it appears that the tablet that ‘no one would want’ according to much of the IT world is starting to take over! Yet another example of the genius that was the late Steve Jobs.

 

Another Google ‘duffer’?

As I have commented before I really like my social media and things – I keep up with the news via a combination of Twitter, RSS feeds and various news apps. But, in the main its the RSS feeds and Twitter that I find most effective, they provide a short headline that I can either ‘ignore’ or dig deeper on. All part of the ‘sound bite’ generation I suppose.

just not 'nice'

So as I blogged about earlier this week I was keen to give Flipboard a go when it came available for the iPhone and it did not disappoint. I am very impressed with it and find it as an iPhone app should be – very intuitive to use and smooth and ‘nice’ to use and look at.

I have been keen to look at Google’s effort in this sector of the market, it’s called Currents and was released a week or so ago – but only in the USA. I have no idea why Google always seem to do this. They are a global brand so you would think it would be possible to release things world-wide at the same time – but apparently not!

Anyway, I remembered that I have a US login for iTunes that I have used previously to access things like this via the US iTunes store. So after a quick reactivation today I downloaded Currents to have a play.

My initial reaction was that it is quite a good attempt at bringing a magazine style experience to this type of feed – and if Flipboard had not been there it might have been quite impressive! But it just does have the same feel as Flipboard. It is not as easy to use or as pleasing to the eye. More importantly it doesn’t work as smoothly and consequently isn’t as ‘special’ an experience.

Particular annoyances?

• You have to swipe sideways to read more in an article rather than the iPhone ‘norm’ of scrolling down.
• It doesn’t show feeds with new stories differently from ones without
• It is like Google+ – not obvious to use

So will I keep trying it out? Possibly for a week or so, but unless I have an ‘epiphany’ I don’t expect it to remain on my iPhone long-term. Is it me or do Google lack a certain something when it comes to design these days?

 

Blackberry issues

It doesn’t seem 5 minutes ago that we were using our Blackberries at work, they were the unit of choice for the business market and they introduced us to email on the road. At the time they were quite remarkable to a new user – and a total source of hatred at home – up to that point leaving work meant the end to emails coming in, that was about to change.

chalk and cheese

The Blackberry introduced us to a new way of working – that is now the ‘norm’ – you are never out of the office and can always be reached by email. I am used to it now, and if I am honest don’t mind the emails at night. It is just part of life now.

So, emails are still the order of the day, but we moved on to the iPhone and Exchange email over 4 years ago. At the time most big corporate users stuck with the Blackberry system due to its secure server system (a massive extra cost when setting up as a Blackberry using company). President Obama is a Blackberry user, quite amusing when RIM is actually a Canadian Company and their main rivals Apple are American!

The rot has slowly been setting in on RIM and the Blackberry, each successive version of the iPhone iOS has brought the iPhone further into the corporate market – even some banks now allow them on their systems. Blackberries are now the weapon of choice for teenagers due to ‘BB’ing – free texting to you and me. The rot had started to set in….

This weeks massive outage of the European servers may well have started the death throes of the corporate Blackberry user. The big selling point of RIM has always been their safe and robust servers – but if they fail you lose all contact with the office email system – useless!

Apple with their licensed Exchange sync (from Microsoft) are not going to miss this opportunity to turn the knife on RIM – especially with iOS 5 launching this week.

The beginning of the end for RIM as an enterprise solution?

UPDATE 11.10.11 - It appears that the Blackberry servers are down again, it is time for iPhone and exchange users to look smug!