March 2005 Archives

I've been enjoying Two Ideas lately. You might want to check it out.

When McAfee changed the name of McAfee VirusScanASAP to McAfee ManagedVirusScan the released a software update that changed the name, the logo, added many features, and breaks the ability to mount shares from Samba servers. Turn off "Script Scanning" and things will be ok. Will McAfee ever fix the problem? They won't tell me, so I am left to re-enable that feature now and then to see if the problem returns. Now I have a network of machines that live without protection against Nimba. This must be why so many people tell me "McAfee sucks."

This problem seems to happen only for W2K machines talking to Samba (and possibly only Mac OS X's built-in Samba). The XP machines I use don't have the problem, and no machine that talks with a real Windows File Server (not Samba) has seen the problem.

Follow-through doesn't just mean tracking issues. Follow-through is about results. A co-worker of mine couldn't understand why his boss was unhappy with his performance when a project was delayed because a vendor hadn't returned a call placed two weeks ago. It wasn't his fault that the vendor hadn't called back, right?

There's actually a magic question you can ask to assure the vendor is following through.

If anyone (especially anyone at Apple or Thunderbird) is studying human factors on email readers, would they please contact me?

Thanks!

My cell phone has different rings for different people, and specific rings for "person not in address book" and "caller id is blocked."

What if I could upload MP3s to printers which would play different songs based on what was being printed?

• Play an old-tyme ragtime song when plain ASCII was printed
• Print a slow, limbering, elephant-like, song when someone prints something with lots of graphics
• A series of songs could play as the printer starts running out of paper: Meet Me Half Way when the paper tray is half empty, Is That All There Is when it runs out, and so on.
• And of course, be able to set your own personal MP3 for your printouts so you can hear when they are done.

Why hasn't anyone thought of this before?

Office Space is a "must see" movie for any IT worker. It's one of my favorite films.

I doubt anyone is working on a sequel, but if they are, they can use my suggestion for free:

After the events of the last movie, he finds himself in the position of being screwed over by a company with really bad customer service. How does he get revenge? He gets hired into the biggest make-or-break project at the company and screws it up. Though some comical device he finds himself in charge of the project and begins a campaign of telling management they're on or ahead of schedule, meanwhile letting his team do no work. They spend a lot of time making impressive demos but no real project work gets completed. In the big finale, he reveals that it's all been a hoax at the big press conference set up to make the big announcement. The company goes out of business. Justice is served.

What do you think?