An End to the IT ‘End User’
This has bothered me for quite a while, and I thought it about time to mention it. Hang on though, this may be a bit of a rant, but it bears bringing up. Why do corporate IT departments continue to call their customers “end users”? Of course, it’s part of the language of IT, part of the culture as well. You know the jokes, “if only we could get rid of the users, our support costs would go down”. Good for a laugh on a stressful day, but what’s really being said there? Are we that far off the path of providing quality, usable,...
Read MorePondering A Motorola Nexus Droid
I’ve been on the fence for some time regarding whether Google should use Motorola to produce a pure Google Android phone. There are lots of reasons why this would impact the Android marketplace in many predictable ways, but could also bring a number of unknown effects. However, I’ve been thinking lately of all the so-called fragmentation, and of all the varying user interfaces (skins) that every OEM ships with their phones. Some are great, most aren’t. They all add unnecessary overhead to the Android experience, no matter how good they may seem on the surface. Maybe...
Read MoreHappiness CDI
A chance to work with people you’ve worked with before – ’cause you know what they can do! Photo University Bridge under construction, 1932 courtesy of Seattle Municipal Archives. The Seattle Municipal Archives does not endorse this post.
Read MoreHappiness CD
A tasty beverage, good people, and good times at your favorite joint. UPDATE: After posting, I’d realized the Roman number in the title was wrong. Oops! It’s fixed but I left the permalink unchanged… just in case you were curious.
Read MoreTechnology Redux
So I find myself a year into another technology consulting gig for “the big client”. It’s an interesting thing after spending a couple of years working both the corporate IT world and growing a community for social media professionals. While I’ve grown a little tired of social media for its ability to enable too much interaction, I do find I miss the action. Sometimes. As you may have noticed, I’ve backed away from the social media space in the past six months or so. It’s a conscious decision on my part to get back to basics, and focus on life directions. Sometimes...
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Rick Mahn is the Founder of 