September, 2008 Vol. 8 No. 2 |
| cyberbarf8.2 |
EXAMINE
THE NET WAY OF LIFE
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September, 2008 Vol. 8 No. 2 |
| cyberbarf8.2 |
EXAMINE
THE NET WAY OF LIFE
|
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CUSTOMER SERVICE REOCCURRING THEME
It had been a while since we bought an upgrade version of some graphics software. So when the box arrived and it was time to load it, the installation went fine. Until it asked for the serial number. Yes, there are still software copy protection protocols in the Age of the Freewheeling Internet. Which is fine if you actually bought the program from the software house.
The install screen did have an oddity. It asked for the “exact” serial number, “if any.” A contradiction in terms any bureaucrat would find appealing for job security. So I check the box, the outside contains no reference number unless it is imbedded in the bar code. I look inside the box; there is a postcard registration form with . . . no serial number on it. So we hit enter without entering a serial number; rejected and prompts for a serial number. Well, that's strange. So after quitting the program, and ejecting the disc to see if the serial number is inscribed on it (it was not), it was off to the developer's web site.
And in the customer service area, there was a direct link for serial number installation issues. So it was apparent that a significant number of customers have software serial number issues. In going to that link, we find that the program will ask for an “exact” serial number, “if any.” Well, that did not answer the question. Reading on, we learn that if you are missing you serial number, you should look at the packing slip invoice. Of course! The shipping invoice would have the serial number.
So taking the paper out of the box reveals the single sheet of paper. On it, the product is listed after a SKU# which contains two lines. Then under the product description, there is another set of numbers. We assume that the first number is probably the stocking bar code number. The other two sets we believe must be the serial number. So we enter the first - - - wrong. We enter the second - - - wrong.
So back to the customer support web site. On the serial number issue page, it stated that if you lost your serial number, enter your order number. We enter the order number, and after a painfully slow swim down subsequent pages, we find out that the system cannot retrieve the order. We would have to send a technical support person an email. A pop up screen to fill in was provided, and with the order number and question about sending us the serial number sent off, we waited.
And waited. Waited. No quick reply. In fact, it has been more than three weeks and there has been no reply.
Nice customer service.
In most companies, you call in and get routed through the call tree. A series of choices from a monotone voice that is supposed to lead you to your answer or a live body to discuss an issue. But today, finding a live body is harder than finding Blackbeard's final treasure.
After a day, a search inside the program box revealed no clues. It was after looking inside the paper DVD cover did we actually find the serial number, which was not printed on the invoice. Why it was slipped inside the DVD jacket is another one of those mysteries that customer service would have to explain . . . if they would ever answer their email.
REAL NEWS KOMIX
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IS THE iPHONE CHANGING THE CELL PHONE WORLD? DEBATE
YES. Apple has a history of making innovative and easy utilitarian features for complex hardware and software devices. The iPhone is another example of porting Apple's GUI on a touch pad screen that makes using the phone simpler, easier and faster to the average non-Geek user. Apple touts its integration into its Apple computer line by being able to effortlessly sync personal contact and calendar information with your home and office computers. But the biggest change that Apple has been in the forefront in cell phone industry is opening the door to third party developers to create iPhone applications. The App Store is a revolutionary concept of letting independent rebel programmers lead the way in creating new innovative software programs for the handheld generation.
NO. Apple is merely joining the party late. Long term cell phone providers like Motorola and Nokia have more sophisticated telephone components. The idea of smart phones came from existing manufacturers and not in Apple's R&D department. Older companies have been generations ahead of the iPhone in speed, wireless, connectivity, GPS, ringtone customization, network infrastructure and personal information management of dates, calendars and contacts. For the average consumer, Apple is more expensive option with less features. In the industry, even if Apple sells 10 million units, that is less than five percent market share which does not make it a significant player on the world telecom stage.
iToon
ADDICTION CENTER MAINSTREAM
There is an old expression: if it can play in Peoria, it can play anywhere.
The saying goes back to the days before electronic entertainment; the days of vaudeville stage shows were performers barnstormed the countryside trying out material in the hope that audience applause would lead them to the bright lights of big city stardom.
It was reported that Peoria, a city in Central Illinois, has opened the first comprehensive Internet Addiction Center. Mainstream America is familiar with AA, drug abuse rehab centers, battered women shelters and other social service facilities. But now, the concept of internet addiction has joined the social-cultural ranks of a psychoneurosis.
By opening of a full time clinic for the sole purpose of weaning people from their computer screens will now take its place among the cultural centers for alcohol and drug addiction. Those afflicted by those conditions sometimes wear the badge of victim as they tell you of their struggles to beat the bottle or beat the needle. All humans have weak spots. All people have an opportunity to learn the difference between good and evil; right and wrong; constructive behavior and destructive behavior.
When corporal punishment of children because out of vogue by the Dr. Spock generation, bad behavior had more room to take root inside a child's head. Without punishment and boundaries, a child will find trouble. When society does not pull back the troublemakers, they will find more destructive ways to express themselves or in the cases of addiction, destroy themselves.
Alcoholism and drug abuse are forms of masked suicide; where a person is subliminally trying to kill his current situation through the destruction of brain cells and memory. Does Internet addiction have the same traits as the physical need for alcohol or drugs?
Computer technology has engulfed the entire waking day in our culture. Computers at home, school, work; on your cellphone; at store kiosks; at cash registers; at gasoline pay stations. The Internet has woven its interconnectivity into the minds of everyone. And it is an easy hook-up: a computer and a modem is all that is needed to surf.
People who surf the net for 10 hours a day either have too much time on their hands, or are trying to escape their dull normal life by trying to find something different - - - even though it is not real. Children used to watch too much television, to the detriment of school homework, to a point where a parent-teacher lobbyist group sought strict regulation of television.
Regulation is never the answer for change in personal behavior. The Internet is a tool to obtain information and not as a substitute of one's real life. This concept is running against the people who now find their virtual Second Lives or Sims communities more interesting (and in some cases more profitable) than the real world. It is a sad commentary when people turn into hermit crabs connected to the outside world by a T1 line and avatar.
It is like the story of Prometheus, who taught mankind the use of fire which he had stolen from heaven. His punishment was being chained to a rock where a vulture came each day to eat away his liver. And each night his liver regrew, only to be eaten away by a vulture the next day in an endless cycle of pain and misery.
iToon
THE WHETHER REPORT STATUS
Question: Whether high unemployment, a service economy and slowing global growth will lead to the United States generally adopting a four day work week to spur more civilian jobs?
* Educated Guess
* Possible
* Probable
* Beyond a Reasonable Doubt
* Doubtful
* Vapor Dream
Question: Whether the next World War will be fought in cyberspace?
* Educated Guess
* Possible
* Probable
* Beyond a Reasonable Doubt
* Doubtful
* Vapor Dream
Question: Whether a four year college degree will be worth more than a technical-vocational degree in the next 20 years?
* Educated Guess
* Possible
* Probable
* Beyond a Reasonable Doubt
* Doubtful
* Vapor Dream
cyberbarf
EXAMINE THE NET WAY OF LIFE
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