Author: chris

Mosso – the hosting system

Posted on by chris

Although I’m very happy with Dreamhost, my dream host this new internet services company looks interesting. I suppose they’re making a similar kind of system as Amazon’s S3 and EC2 products – big bangs for your buck.

For people running large web applications this type of hosting is a must. For work we’re using a local, but very large, company for our hosting (which includes email, websites, extranet systems and much more). I took a look round their datacentres a couple of months ago, but as (regular reader of this blog) Mark says “once you’ve seen one datacenter you’ve seen them all”. Wise words. There are only so many rows of rack-mounted servers a man can take.

The good thing about this Mosso offering is they seem to straddle the gap between the “serious” hosts (of which I count Dreamhost one) and the really huge stuff such as Amazons systems. I’m sure there’s a market for it, and their mix of technology, user-friendliness and slick design makes me think they will be a force to be reckoned with.

Web developers in short supply

Posted on by chris

A recent article in Computing.co.uk highlighted the fact that web developers are in short supply. I’m sure this is true, with more and more companies waking up to the potential of the web. However there’s one bit I’m not sure I agree with, a quote from Atsco chief executive Ann Swain:

‘It was relatively easy to publish a decent web site back then, but now it’s difficult without expert programming skills.’

Really? I think it’s easier than ever to publish a decent website – as long as you’re not wanting all the latest bells and whistles. And even if you do want an AJAX-ified, People Powered, Social Media 2.0 web application there are easily utilised methods for putting the click-candy into a site.

Still, I’m glad that quality web developers are getting the attention they deserve. It’s a tough job, being a mix of many different disciplines none of which is easy to master. It’s good news for me, as the need for my services isn’t diminishing.

Improving customer relations

Posted on by chris

Wow, it’s been over a week since I wrote here. Great was the rejoicing, but now I’m back. It’s been a busy week, not least because I’ve been without an internet connection since last Thursday thanks to those that shall forever be known as The Worst Internet Service Providers In The World.

The saga ongoeth, but when I’ve got a bit of time I’ll put down here the entire story so hopefully other unsuspecting punters won’t get caught out by these cowboys. In the meantime I’d like to draw your attention to this gem from Guy Kawasaki. My favourite bit is this:

Question: What’s the best way to improve customer relations?

Answer: This is almost too simple—actually take care of customers! I am sure we have all heard the recorded message, “you’re call is very important to us.” Well, if the call were important to the company who has recorded the message, maybe they would answer it in some reasonable time instead of either playing music or bombarding the caller with advertising messages. When you make a mistake, fix it and admit responsibility. Tell the truth. By the way, the airlines seem to be the worst at all of this, with a few exceptions.

My new best friend: Beryl

Posted on by chris

Further to my experiences loading Ubuntu Studio on my main machine, I thought I’d let you know about something that may just change your opinion about Linux. You thought it was a hard to use, graphically boring operating system for geeks, yes? You’d be wrong, then. Meet Beryl (watch this selection of videos for details).

Impressed? You should be. That’s some sweet window effects right there, yes sir. And it’s as easy to get as ticking Beryl for installation – the system takes care of the rest (downloading, compiling, organising, fettline, installing, cleaning up and initialising). OK, I admit I had some problems getting the operating system onto my machine, but it was worth it.

SO hopefully we’ll start to see some more people agreeing that Linux is ready for the big-time.

Round-up of the week

Posted on by chris

That sounds like I’m going to report on some successful cattle handling, doesn’t it? Sorry to disappoint you, it’s nothing so exotic.

This week has been a tough one. I’d rather not go into details (yes, all the problems were technological, and yes, they were my fault) but suffice to say I’d rather not have another week like this one any time soon. Still, there have been good points, too.

I’ve (finally) managed to install Ubuntu Studio on my main machine. It wasn’t as easy as I hoped, as the DVD I burned from their installation file didn’t work. So I ended up loading Ubuntu 7.04 (Feisty Fawn) then doing the package dance to upgrade.

So far it seems to work fine, although I admit I’ve done nothing yet except load a few extra packages I need and check JACK starts. It looks great, but I do think they need a few more desktop wallpapers as the default selection is a bit limited.

Anyway, I’m currently immersing myself in a large glass of whisky to help wash away the pain of earlier in the week. More regular entries may, or may not, be forthcoming.