My parents, on Christmas Eve wanted to surprise everyone with a gift card to a store. But for fun, they wanted it to be a bit random. So, they taped a gift card to the bottom of all of the plates (in a buffet style dinner), so that when someone grabbed a plate, they discovered a gift card! They didn’t mention they were doing this – so at first we didn’t get it – but then … hey! Gift Cards! Cool!
Category / General
Netflix lays off people because Silverlight works…
Probably this is not quite the press Microsoft would have liked from Netflix.
For those of you who watch movies instantly on your PC or Mac, you may have noticed our player is much easier to install and use now with Silverlight. The good news is fewer problems for you. The bad news is that we are now overstaffed with technical specialists in our Customer Service (CS) group.
So last week we announced internally some changes in CS. 50 of our technical specialists will work through December, then be let go in early January after the holidays. 15 of our technical specialists will take new roles in the main CS group.
Too bad those affected couldn’t be moved into other positions. Admittedly, I don’t know how those affected are employed by Netflix – maybe contract work, etc. Maybe they can interview for other Netflix jobs. (Many companies operate that way – my team at Microsoft was cut, and I was forced to re-interview with no guarantee of future employment, even though at the time they were hiring hundreds of people every week).
I read a few of the comments (I know, I shouldn’t have) …
Too many are the typical, “It’s a Microsoft product, if it hasn’t failed you yet, it will. So, keep those employees.”
One genius went so far as to call Silverlight, “pernicious malware.”
Hi [NAME], (Are you listening?)
Have you ever had a conversation similar to below? It happens far too frequently. If you give out your business card or contact information, expect that people might actually use it and expect a response. Don’t give it out if you don’t care about your customers. You’re just wasting my time if you don’t bother to respond.
———————–
We recently met at the [LOCATION:___________]. We were discussing your [product/solution/technology/____________]. We really had a [great/good/interesting/________] conversation. It really helped me understand some of the [issues/challenges/__________] I was facing recently.
You provided me your contact information and suggested that I e-mail you if [I needed more help/had suggestions/________]. So, I thought I’d take you up on that offer. I really appreciate your willingness to discuss this with me more.
[DETAILS]
———————–
A few weeks later ….
Hi [NAME],
I’m sure you’re really busy, but I was wondering if you got my last e-mail? I had really hoped that you’d continue the conversation we’d started at ____________. I’ve attached my original e-mail below for reference in case you misplaced it or it was unfortunately marked as spam.
———————–
A few weeks later ….
[NAME],
Any chance you’ve given any thought to my e-mail? I had expected to hear back from you by now. I’d really appreciate a response. I really do need [some help/comments on my feedback/______________].
———————–
A few weeks later ….
[NAME],
Hello?
What have I done to deserve this treatment? I’m a paying customer. If you hadn’t committed to me that you’d be willing to communicate, I wouldn’t be so frustrated now. Is it too much to ask for you to at least send back a response to my e-mails? It’s been several months.
———————–
Not soon enough ….
[NAME],
It is with no sadness that I’m writing to say that we’ve switched to your competitor. A little correspondence with us would have gone a long way. Event a polite, “I’m really busy, but I’ll look into the details of your e-mail soon” would have been better than the silence. Thanks for nothing.
There’s power outside of the browser: BrowserPlus from Yahoo!
BrowserPlus, from Yahoo! is an interesting new browser plug-in which allows developers to extend their web applications beyond the browser – to gain desktop-like capabilities. For example, the ability to drag and drop files.
I haven’t tried it – it looks useful. However, I’m concerned about the need for “yet another” browser plug-in. Flash and Silverlight need to add these features – to eliminate the need for this plug-in. I applaud their efforts on this work, but ….
The biggest trouble with something like this right now is unfortunately the fact that it comes from Yahoo! With their stock prices dropping like a rock, I’m not sure I’d jump on any technology from them that doesn’t involve open source.
This project can’t easily be opened sourced as it defeats the trust relationship that exists with consumers and Yahoo! Additionally, it prevents the spread of many variations of this same component.
U.S. 2008 Presidential Election Visualization at NY Times
From the NY Times, the “President Map.”
I love a good interactive visualization .. these two below show the difference in support for the major parties between the 2008 election and the 2004 and 1992 elections.
There’s a few other visualizations, including a bubble representing how far the leading candidate was ahead of the other:
