Mar 2, 2006 | blog
Ok, I’m game – what exactly is foldera? I’m very curious about this upcoming service and it’s offerings. Supposedly it will be free for the basic services and have enhancements available as pay-for add-ons when you need to upgrade.
From a small-business point of view, this service intrests me a great deal. I mean, the ability to focus on providing your services to your customers rather than spending time just maintaining your applications to run your business is appealing.
Let’s see – some features are email, task management, calendar, document manager, comment folders, activity folders, contact management, instant messanger… the list is quite long for services. I can’t wait to give it a try and see how it works for small groups.
You can sign up for more information on there site here!
Feb 28, 2006 | blog
Want to see something cool? Scoble has linked to a very neat prototype site that Microsoft Live.com is working on. An actual street-level view of San Francisco and Seattle (more cities to come), where you can move down most any street and see not only “storefronts” but the actual street-level-views as if you were walking or driving the street. Very cool.
This is the kind of stuff that Microsoft is good at and should leverage more often. My hat is off to MS on this one – very nicely done & performance was quite good as well.
Thank you Robert!
Via: Scobleizer
Feb 24, 2006 | blog
This post over on Om Malik’s blog has me thinking of how simple it has become to start a different spin on practically anything. Take VoIP for example, with open source PBXs like Asterisk anyone could start a new “skype” like service focusing on whatever aspect that they believe to be important to their niche market.
Just thinking of that one possiblility is intriguing in the possibilities of having. For example, a private VoIP system for your social organization like a club, or community. Something that would cater to the unique needs of your group’s requirements.
Another aspect of the open source movement that is now possible, is the ability for anyone to take on the roll of an entrepreneur, building a business using common, high-quality open-source components. The focus of a given business can now be on the services, support, and price instead of the technology underneath.
I have to admit that I’m a big Microsoft fan in most everything that they do, but Om’s article really has gotten me thinking this afternoon. It has opened my eyes to the real possiblilities out there, along with the many high-quality “web 2.0” services that have cropped up lately. From free hosting at Microsoft’s Office Live, to GMail, to free Blogs & Wiki’s, the new business models can be built on standardized blocks and the main thrust of one’s energies can be targeted on your market or audience rather than the parts needed to run the business.
Of course it makes it hard on people like me – I’m a technologist, I’m in the industry for the technology, it is very hard to come up with something new or improved that people will want, or that someone else can do much better.
Still having the opportunities and tools available is a huge improvement over the previous entry-price to startups.
Feb 22, 2006 | blog
*rant*
Sensational – yes, but you have to admit the current practice of making new phones/devices available to “new” customers and not to loyal existing customers is one sure way of making them unhappy.
This is my case – I’ve been waiting for T-Mobile USA to carry Windows Mobile Pocket PC Phone devices for over 4 years. I’ve poked, prodded, emailed, called, suggested, etc… and now that the MDA is “available” through T-Mobile – I get the standard run-around that its not available to current customers “right now”.
However, if I want to start a new line of service I can get the phone. Will someone explain the logic to me? This is one of the few times Tmo has pissed me off. Customer service is good, and so are the pricing plans, but to not make a new phone available to your current loyal customers is simply unacceptable.
Well Tmo, Verizon is looking better – even if it costs more in data services, at least I can get the PPC 6700 right off the bat, or the Treo 700w. All it takes to make me happy is to sell me the phone that is on the web site for the price you are asking for it, without making me start a new line of service – is that so hard?
*/rant*
Feb 22, 2006 | blog
The Wireless Report has an interesting post about mobile and VoIP communications taking over the world. I agree that the trend is moving in that direction, but what is fascinating to me is how long our country takes to catch up to the rest of the world. Our providers and the media do a great job of covering up what new options there really are for us to use and move to. To save money and gain flexibility – it’s only the web-savy “power-users” and folks in the IT industry that are “in-the-know” as it were.
While I find this very disappointing, its good to see these options start to pick up here in the U.S. – and I think the traditional telephony providers are dreading this very trend. How they will fight it I’m not sure, but I’ll put forth my $.02 and suggest that they simply provide the fastest, cheapest, biggest communications pipe to my house. That is all I want from them, I’ll find my content places that are focused on content, not as a means to attract me as a broadband or infrastructure customer.
Via: The Wireless Report
