Microsoft support is kind of clueless on Groove

During the run up to this big Groove project, I've had to open two different Microsoft support cases. Since we are a big Microsoft shop with a global contract, we have fairly easy access to high-level technical support.

Even though I'm dealing with developers right out of Microsoft HQ on these issues, people who really should know the software, the actually fix came from a Paris-based consultant that my boss found. These guys were able to get better answers and get back to us faster than Microsoft critical product support. It was kind of annoying that the peole who make the software couldn't troubleshoot the software correctly.

Of course, they did buy the software rather than build it in house but they bought it almost three years ago. Shouldn't they have learned it by now?

E-mail is really up, this time

I finally got my e-mail situation finalized and I have e-mail to my @SBWorks.com accounts up and running again. I have the @thedamps.com e-mails available, too, for those interested. I'm using e-mail hosting through Fat Cow and they are pretty cheap and simple. I haven't set up a website just yet. I have configured the website to redirect to this blog for a while. Maybe I'll use it for something else, soon.

Not entirely in love with Groove 2007

I've been working on this Groove Server 2007 project and work and there are alot of things I like but I'm not sure it is worth the hassle. The server side for large companies seems a little complicated but it isn't that bad, it's just that the client side software isn't that really that good.



Groove lets you keep things in sync no matter where you are or how you're connected to the internet. The synchronization works transparently across firewalls exactly as advertised. Considering how technically complicated that can be, that is a pretty slick software. But there are some usability things that are odd:

• If you want to use the most secure method to share files, you need to drag and drop them into the workspace. There's no right-click >> send to workspace option and your workspaces don't show up in any file save dialog box.
• Files that are in the workspace are not accessible from any "open file" dialog box. You have to access the file by double clicking it from the workspace.
• You can link to a document in a workspace (hyperlink or OLE embeddd object)
• You get a lot of pop ups when saving documents asking for confirmation and overwrite that you don't get from just storing it on the disk.

There were a lot of cool features in Groove 3.5 that offered all kinds of customization opportunities that are missing from the new version. Since this is the first Microsoft version after purchasing the company so I guess they had to cut things out to get things integrated.

Overall, the software is a relatively small niche product. It works well for highly mobile people with high security requirements. They can accept the oddities of the user interface.

SBworks e-mail delayed a bit

Since my credit card info and contact info are not identical, it looks like my order for hosting services was flagged for additional information. My SBWorks e-mail is still down for the moment. I thought it would be up by now.

Convenience

There are a lot of different ways to describe Japan but one thing that I have seen lately is the convenience of things. There is a well-engineered, user-oriented outlook to everyday things. Let's take something really boring: ATMs. Here's a picture of one I pulled off of the Internet:

The phone to call the bank and the calculator on the right is kind of useful but I'm pointing out to the place were you put the ATM card into. It's hard to see but there is a small slot underneath the card. That is were the receipt prints out. Why is that useful? The card and the receipt are ejected right next each other and you can pick up both with a single motion.


That level of engineering is hardly of life-shattering importance but that is fairly common throughout Japan. Prepaid train pass cards that you don't even have to take out of your wallet, vending machines that lift the drinks to waist height you don't have to bend down, advanced barcodes that can be scanned by a cell phone camera - all of these things are really nice to use.


I'm not sure why these types of devices are so common in Japan and so rare in the states. Maybe it's an engineering attitude...

SBWorks e-mail should be back up soon

I signed up with an external hosting service so e-mail should be back up and running in about 12 hours.

Sloppy...

I screwed up and managed to loose the small wallet that contains my two train passes. I have two different passes, one for the JR line and one for the Yurikamome line and I had them in a separate mini-wallet since you have to pull them out at each train gate. Somehow, I had it when I left the last train station and headed to the office and I didn't have it at the end of the day when I started to head back home. I have no idea how, or where, I managed to loose it. Since I had only bought the three month passes on June 2nd, it was pretty irritating to loose something that costs 81,000 yen (~$800 US).

Chiho called the train station offices and filed the paperwork I needed to cancel and reissue the pass. The JR pass was on the new Suica system and I could get that reissued for 1,000 yen (~$10 US). I had purchased the classic style commuter pass (ていきけん) instead of the new PASMO cards so I couldn't get that reissued. That pass cost 31,800 yen so I'm out over $300 US thanks to me being sloppy.

Painful - I better not do that again.

Been a bit busy

As you've noticed, I've been a bit behind in updating this blog. I've been buried in this roll out of Groove at work and haven't had much time. My SBWorks server in Seattle died, too, and I haven't even had a chance to move my mail to alternate web host.

I'll try to fix that in the next couple of days...

Lucky 13...

It is our 13th anniversary today - measuring from the ceremony we had in Tokyo, anyway. Our Seattle anniversary is in July. I'm celebrating by working late on a phone call to the rest of the team in Paris and America. Oh what fun...

By the way, my mail server in Seattle went on the fritz and I hope to have an alternate set up shortly.