I have been working in the web development industry since 1999, I kid you not.
During all these years, nearly everything has changed except for one: greed.

That was true while I was working in France and is a fact here in Indonesia: companies want "cheap internets".
Actually, when it comes to IT they want cheap everything, from their system admins to their online campaign.

The results of having a cheap sysadmin, pirated softwares, amateurish websites and apathetic marketing are a virus-ridden network, non-existent customer service, and a below average brand image.
The corollary of these results... is a technical/strategic bottleneck that can ultimately translate into a total failure.

Of course you could think "Well ok, if a company choses price over quality, it's their problem, let them fail".

Unfortunately it doesn't work like that.

When a majority of companies in an industry ends up preffering money to experience, the whole industry suffers, and on a larger scale, the whole economy, and there is why:

'Cheap' is given the wrong meaning.

When it comes to workforce and services, cheap usually means that you will pay less for less value.
What it should mean is that you will pay less than the actual value, that is, pay less for the same standards and quality.

Why is this difference so crucial?

Say you are looking for a graphic designer. If you are willing to pay less for less value, you will attract a crowd of less talented/productive/reliable candidates. These flaws can come from a lack of experience, and anybody has the right to a first job, so theoritically there shouldn't be a problem, right?
Well, there will be a problem if you keep on doing it: you will demotivate the more talented candidate, who will either drop their prices and deliver a lower quality work or find something else to do because their current occupation just doesn't pay the bills. Oh, and the inexperienced ones you started with... they will leave you once they've learned enough, and join the 'talented and jobless' club.
Their little brothers and sisters and cousins will see how disappointing it is to do such a job, and as another side effect,  will spend their precious education money on something else.

And one day, you'll hear yourself say: "I don't understand, I can't find a good graphic designer" and "Why are all middle sized companies' websites looking like they were made in 2000?".

This, is true for any kind of workforce you are going to need in your industry, and for any industry as well.
The popular saying goes "If you pay peanuts, you'll get monkeys"...

How I see it is: "If everybody pays peanuts, there will be nothing left but monkeys".

And if you still don't believe me, try to find a good plumber in Jakarta.

Earlier in this blog I've told you about things that irritate me on Twitter.
And, surprise I'm getting back with more.

1. The tunnel vision self-advertiser

Still human but barely so, they have one thing in mid. ONE.
They have achieved a ghost written e-book about the marvels of the gag reflex, and now they are going to let the whole world know about it.
They have developed a near-godly ability to relate any topic to their product, and whatever the cost they will do it to advise their marvelous e-pamphlet on the virtues of dried crab neck whenever you feel happy, suicidal, or your car broke down.

Block, choke with recycled e-paper.

2. The bloggers

140 characters are not always enough to express what you mean.
14.000 characters are still not enough for them.

They are the TL;DR kings of the TMI land, and will, not once, sir, not twice mam, but systematically, flood your timeline with novelettes about every single frame of their morning floss ritual.

Block, report for spam, poke in the leg with a hot needle for ever extra character.

3. The jokers

I'm inappropriate and often offensive.
But when it comes to be downright infuriating, I'm a baby compared to them.

Everything is laughable, everything is funny. They probably spawn from places such as /b/ (don't go if you don't know), and are always happy tobring the fun back in your agonizing grandmother, the last natural disaster or your sexual orientation.

Block, invite them to a lawyer-only rally and watch them melt in lava-hot lawsuits.

4. The dirties

Here I quote

" @porkknuckle ;) RT: @killmenow #ouch #Iknewit RT: @vampireunicorn Totally #mommy #eyebleach RT:@killmenow http://too.short...(snip)"

You really want to have a part in that. You know you do.

Block, force them to pay for the eye surgery they just brought on you.

5. The liberated army of sexual innuendoistas

Men and women who think sexual liberation equals tweeting about their genitals every other minute.

They usually try being smart about it and lamentably fail while letting all of us know about their renewed excitement for all the alphabeticvariations of the F-word.
They are not exhibitionists either, which make them totally unworthy of any interest.

Block, compliment them about the quality of their content, quoting them aloud, in a public place, preferably a church or a kindergarten.

Anything I missed?
I could turn it into a comic if you had an idea ;)

So, I have a good Friend, who works for an NGO.

This post is an answer to Robert Scobles's post, where he wishes privacy to be dead for good, again, and Facebook to turn full disclosed.

Robert, if you allow me...

First of all, I do think we have something in common. I am popular among my offline friends for the same reason you are famous online: our inflated ego. No that's not a bad thing. But here, in this very case, I think you're pushing it too far.

We're not all celebrities

I might be a star before my friends and a demigod before my girlfriend, there are some things I like to keep for them and them only: the silly faces, the naked pole dancing, some of my pretty disturbing thoughts about gastronomy and babies...
Facebook would go all open, it would be even better for you, more visibility, better way to let your opinions known.
Then again, we are not all celebrities.

We're not all techies/internet marketers

You and I, Robert, have something to say. Me on a much smaller scale (but I'll get you one day don't worry), but still. We know how to crawl for information, we know what to say and when to open our mouth, and before all, we want it to be heard.
That's not the case of my auntie. I wouldn't want people to know my auntie is 75 years old and still single....oops?

Not everybody knows how to use Facebook.

Apparently, tutorial about Facebook are highly demanded. Nearly 10 millions results on Google with "how to facebook".
You have to realize that 400.000.000 people have various levels of knowledge about the site and its features.
The proof? Well, that article, which dates from last April, states that more and more people are bullied online.
They wouldn't if they knew how to use the site, right?

Apparently users are idiots

Well, at least that what I can deduce from the privacy settings policy.
It switched from "It's safe, it's on Facebook" to "OMG it's on Facebook HOW DO I REMOVE IT?" through multiple layouts and rules changes, and yes, obfuscated settings.
If we compare the skyrocketing concern about privacy on Facebook and the plethora of tutorials to the introductory sentence
"It should be easy to find and connect with friends. Your privacy settings should be simple and easy to understand." found on the site's privacy guide, we can only be drawn to one conclusion : users are idiots.
Or Facebook thinks so.
Anyway, idiots tend to publish things they regret later. No?

Last but not least: It's people's right...why, it's their life after all....

That the easiest argument of all, the one that makes the most sense.
Controlling our lives and deciding what we should expose and to whom is our right.
It should be easy. It should not be an option.

Bonus: your naked picture (from flickr), it's probably everywhere. Mine coming soon.

 

And here it its! The very fist video of the Vlogging serie!

This also mark a turn to this Blog's short history, new tagline and now a real domain name: www.danny-fr.com.

Here, yours faithfully is all about telling about that little "fever moment" that comes when you plan to write an app. That moment that can make you forget about your real goal if you don't keep it real. Just hit the play button and tell me what you think, there is a lot of effort behind this video :)

I just wanted to update my phone.
Nokia boasts about the terrific connectivity of their last N series, I got tempted, and got myself a N97.
I wanted to get these bashing new email functions as well as this rad Ovi Contacts thingy that could allow me, for 5 bucks a month, to chat and email at will.
No unlimited data plans here in Indonesia (RIM gets loaded over that, just saying), that offer was more than tempting.

I bought the phone (second hand), and, in order to access these latest features, I went to their websites to look for a firmware update. There it began.

Limited OS support.

That is, Mac (and Linux) users can go sit on it, that's apparently not going to change. I work on a MacBook Pro.
No problem, I went to the Nokia service center, not too far from my place, and after an hour of waiting in line...

Incompetent customer service

"Oh by the way you'll lose all your data in the process". - That's after an hour of waiting and filling in the blanks.
"You mean you can't back it up?"
"No we can't"
"You are a customer care center and you can't back up a phone's data?"
"Nope"
"Thanks for telling me earlier..."

Hideously unfriendly "PC Suite"

Ok, after all I'm a geek. It's seriously an overkill to bootcamp a copy of Windows XP (install it in parallel with MacOS)  just to update the phone, but no other solution.
Once done, I proceed to download, install, backup...
The software is slow and unpractical, I remember now why I never used such things for my previous phones.
Backup done, update.. failed.
Turned out that I somehow had to remove my XP theme first. Weird, but at that point not so surprising.
Upgrade, then. Good.
Restore the backup....oh, wait.

Broken backup system

After the backup restored, I notice that some of my old apps shouldn't be there, since the upgrade hard-resets the phone and cleans it all.
No problem. I'll remove them.
Not.
Impossible to either remove or install an application after the backup restored. Nice. Hard reset again.

Second upgrade

Yes. It's not enough to have gone that far. Now there are other updates to download, this time from the phone.
Lucky I could access a wlan , because my data plan would have died of shame and exhaustion.

Memory leaks

Nokia isn't very smart. The N97 has 32GB of flash memory and... 100MB of phone memory.
Of course half the updates install themselves in the phone memory as well as, by default, are stored all the emails, sms, mms, notes, temporary files...
The only benefit I got from the hard-reset is wasted by a dodgy design choice, 26 MB free after all the updates are installed.

Unfinished apps

Now I finally can access the new Messaging and Ovi contact, I launch them for a test run.

Mail: Nothing to see there, my old LG Viewty had the same interface.

Ovi Contacts: Nothing to see there either, I have to use a long and not very reliable workaround if I want to add my messenger's contact.
Yes, you can only use Ovi Contacts it with other OVI members.

Sorry, Nokia, you are not RIM. I can use any java app to chat with my other contacts and use my email through Opera. That will do.

Cherry on the cake?

All these efforts for nothing, no price deal for me, and to top it the nice fade-out/fade-in effect for the landscape/portrait mode transition is gone.

Get real, Nokia!

You can't possibly make me believe that one of your flagship phone is a memory-hog, under maintained, inefficient BlackBerry wannabe.
You've just been slacking, your customer service is the proof of it. And I will not buy another device from you unless you pay me to use it (and even so, I still wonder...)

What now?

Well, I'm stuck with the phone anyway, and there is no way I use either an iPhone or a Blackberry, so... I am SO going to hack the bejesus out of that device, I don't care if I brick it in the process. At least if it's not functional, I'll be fun. Plus, it takes nice pictures.

My turn to make a list. Plus a rant. I love you guys.

1) People complaining about bot

Bot are everywhere. In your inbox, in your chat, on YouTube and you probably have a couple of dormant ones in your fridge without even knowing it.
They are the very allegory of obviousness, they can be spotted from parsecs away.
But still, some complain, showing the botenstein developers how much interest they have in these little zombie monsters .

2) Info flood

If you are a brand, a company, or just a regular tweet willing to share the goods (in order to care, feel sexy or just because), please, refrain from posting the same news 10 times in a row, or clogging my time line with 25 tweets about news I've read this morning. At least, if you have nothing more to give, attach a personal comment. Reuters does info flood better than you. And their content is fresher.

Info flood is the usual answer to the "Be active" rule, by people who don't know their arse from their left nostril.

3) Auto follow

The worst way of saying "now if you unfollow me, you'll lose me forever and you'll cry, yes you'll cry".

Auto follow is the usual reaction to the "Be engaged" rule, by people so lazy they have a butler chewing food for them.

4) Auto direct message

Some of these are actually funny. Very rarely.  Most often they are the trigger to a major WTF reaction. Who is this person with a screwdriver as a picture profile trying to sell me the new version of the waterproof sugar?

Auto direct message is the usual response to the "Be human" rule, from people who mix social skills and Ruby programming, and it leads to the most hated tweehavior (yeah, I coined a word 2.0 !)...

5) The dude who doesn't understand we don't want to know about his Perpetual Motion Engine (or whatever he sells).

He posts all the time, floods the time line, even answers and get into conversations, DM you like mad and he is the hidden father, mother, uncle and son of Nikola Tesla. He just invented the zero point energy generator, the invisibility field and will show you how to make money on the internet while fighting ManBearPig, on one leg. And he has 3000 followers. Say what?

They are the reaction to evolution, everything has to be in balance. Thanks to them, Darwin is turning is in grave to often that he powers 3 major cities on dynamo power alone.

Hope you liked the list. Many people hate lists. I like them, I will learn lists and list in lisp.

I post pictures, I'm a macro freak, you've probably seen it already.
When I take this new-shot-I'm-so-proud-of, my first craving is for critics.
I, thus, proceed to sharing my picture, while trying to make it available to most of my contacts.
That's where I am actually having a slight problem.

SNS addicted as I am, I have contacts on Facebook, Twitter, Gmail, Deviant Art, Flicker and I also publish over two blogs.
Some of my Facebook contacts don't use Twitter, not mentioning the ones from Deviant Art. I can't make my picture available for public search if I post only on Facebook (in a sense yes, but it's pretty difficult), and I am granted instant oblivion if I use a service such ac Tweetphoto or ImageShack, even if it's the only way to reach my Twitter contacts who are not on my other accounts.

Posting the pic (it would be the same for a blog post) everywhere at once is not a solution, since the my friend's feedback will be fragmented along all the services I use.
But where things become funny, is when even if you post some data over one place only, the comments will originate from any place you've linked to it. Meaning that if I upload an imageor text to Facebook and cross-post (which is often done automatically) to Twitter and Posterous, the comments on this picture will originate from Facebook, Twitter and Posterous.

That's a corollary of what I'd call the multiple entry point problem, and it's irritating.

And there is no way I can aggregate that. Or is there one?

Edit:

After having thought about it for a little while, the ideal solution would be a unique ID and/or entry point for curated data, something ressemblig Discus, but for all uploaded content. If we could link single pieces of curated info to a unique ID, all metadata reffering to it would become easy to access.

A service would be nice, a standard would be awesome.