Why Yahoo! and Microsoft are both crap

Posted on February 10th, 2008 by Richard Catto 3,816 views

It actually doesn’t matter if Microsoft buys Yahoo! or Yahoo! buys Microsoft or they give each other to the other in holy matrimony because at the end of the day they are both very crap companies.

The big difference between them is that Microsoft still makes huge annual profits (last year it was over $16 billion) while Yahoo! is on a sharp decline. It’s share price has halved in the past two years down to under $20 from $40.

Google’s profits last year are also less than expected.

The only company doing really well financially still is Microsoft. Financially, Microsoft is very stable due to its Windows and Office products. Vista sales are up. The financial future remains rosy for Microsoft.

So if this is the situation, why does Microsoft want Yahoo?

I believe it is out of fear of what Google might do to undermine Microsoft’s core business in the future.

Fact is, Google is already undermining Microsoft’s Office product with its online Google Documents service.

If you compare Google’s online web 2.0 services with Yahoo’s and Microsoft’s then Google’s are superior except in one instance – Yahoo’s flickr.com is better than Google’s Photos (Picassa Web Albums).

Yahoo’s 360 and MSN Spaces are both shit blogging platforms. Blogger rules them. In turn, Blogger is ruled by self-hosted WordPress blogs.

Google’s gmail rocks Yahoo mail and hotmail into the garbage tip.

Anyone I’ve ever introduced to gmail has ended up dumping both yahoo and hotmail for gmail. The only hottentots who refuse to get with the gmail program are those poor technically challenged neaderthals who still crave their daily Microsoft Outlook fix. I pity those poor bastards.

What else you got? Search? Hahahaha!!! Yahoo and MSN are both useless at search and since they still haven’t been able to engineer a new search service that puts Google’s in the shade in the 10 years that Google has dominated the field, we can safely assume that they will never achieve that Herculean feat. It is simply beyond them. They have no clue how to build a better search engine. Or they would have done it already.

Yahoo Messenger and Windows Live both have more chatters than GoogleTalk has. GoogleTalk only does text chat and voice whereas both the former offer video as well. Thing is, based on extensive use by myself over the past few years, I can quite confidently assure you that you will get no better VoIP voice quality than via GoogleTalk. Even the much venerated skype is shit. For vid conferencing I find Windows Live the best at the moment. Thing is, Google is so good at producing quality services that I expect that when they do release a Vid service on GoogleTalk that it will knock the socks off all competitors.

I believe that the best company to buy Yahoo! is in fact Google, because Google knows how to make web 2.0 services work and be financially viable. Microsoft is clueless and Yahoo is trailing Google in its core competencies.

If this Microsoft buys Yahoo! deal goes ahead, Yahoo! will be obliterated by a clueless, clumsy and outclassed Microsoft.

Microsoft is a bad company with a lot of cash and an installed base that feeds it – for now. However, at some point, I believe Microsoft and ALL its technologies will be wiped out by better Open Source Software products.

I strongly believe that young people should not invest their time learning Microsoft developer technology skills. They should invest themselves in the LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP) platform. Businesses building in-house software systems on the Microsoft platform will regret it.

Tags: Google, LAMP, Microsoft, web 2.0, yahoo
Filed under Google, Microsoft, web 2.0, yahoo | 12 Comments »

iBurst versus Telkom DSL – why you should switch to iBurst

Posted on February 9th, 2008 by Richard Catto 8,604 views

I recently came to the end of my Telkom DSL 24 month contract and I decided to investigate using iBurst as an option because my friend Candy Tothill recommended it to me. I had also previously been disadvantaged by Telkom who supplied me with a DSL router which contained a security hole and as a direct result of that, I suffered bandwidth theft. Telkom refused to restore the bandwidth that I lost, so I felt that their poor customer service should have consequences for them, viz. the loss of my business.

When Candy was down here recently, she plucked this compact little iBurst modem out of her laptop bag and showed it to me. She had brought it down with her to Cape Town from Johannesburg so that she could enjoy Internet access whilst she was here.

The whole concept of having mobile Internet immediately grabbed me, because, of course, with a DSL line, the only place I can use the Net is when I am in my office.

Right now I am a happy iBurst customer. Let me tell you my story…

The first thing you need to know is that iBurst does not make you wait. You can get it and get it right away. I approached iBurst for the first time on Friday Feb 01 2008 and they faxed me the application forms right away. I faxed the forms back to them on Monday Feb 04 2008 and on Wednesday morning early (10h30) I received my iBurst desktop modem and omni-directional antenna delivered to my door via courier.

I was frankly amazed by the speed with which iBurst moved. With Telkom, speed is not a word in their vocabulary. I waited 6 weeks for my Telkom DSL connection to be installed in Dec 2005 and their technicians were incompetent, having to come back several times before the installation was completed. They also missed the date of installation I had been given by several days.

In May 2006 I moved to my present abode and I had to beg and plead with Telkom to move my connection in a reasonable time. It took 2 weeks for that to be affected, and I had to pay for them to move my connection. They also managed to screw up my billing completely in the process. All in all, dealing with Telkom was an incredibly frustrating experience. My advice is to avoid it if possible, and now, of course, you can if iBurst has coverage for your area.

Okay, so I took delivery of my iBurst package and I excitedly unpacked it and read the installation instructions. First step was to install the software, and that is where I hit a snag. When I inserted the iBurst CD, my LG DVD writer could not read it. The disk was faulty. So I called the iBurst helpdesk number printed on the CD and got through to a customer service representative very quickly. He suggested that they courier me a new disk to arrive the next day, but I wanted to get online right away so I asked if I could rather go to my local iBurst office in Canal Walk and get a swop out there. He said I could and gave me the number to call to arrange that. That’s where I hit snag number two.

I got put through to an extremely incompetent (white) woman who was rude and unhelpful and who should just be immediately dismissed by iBurst. They don’t need someone with a Telkom mentality working for them. I asked her directly (twice) if I could just come through to the office and get a swop out but she insisted that I speak to the salesperson who sold me the package. She gave me his JHB number and bounced me back instead of just sorting me out. I slammed the phone down on her. I proceeded to call my father to tell him of the miserable experience I was having with them and he proceeded to phone iBurst and shit on them from a dizzy height until he found someone who escalated my problem to the branch manager of the Cape Town office of iBurst, Marco de Vries.

Marco de Vries sorted me out completely. He organised the replacement package and I drove in and collected it. I also booked to have my iBurst omni-directional antenna installed the next day. I got home and the new CD worked. I installed the software, connected the modem and I was online immediately, albeit with a weak signal strength. Without the benefit of an external antenna, my average signal quality was only 30%, enough to connect, but not good enough to use broadband applications. Nonetheless, I was happy to wait until Thursday to get the antenna installed.

The next day, however, no-one called to tell me they were coming and no-one arrived to do the installation. So in the afternoon, I emailed Marco again (he had given me his business card with his personal email address and cell phone number on it). He apologised for the delay. The external contractor and his in-house technician (Warren) were totally booked up doing installs for other customers that day. I felt let down and I let Marco know. He apologised again and within half an hour I got a call from Warren who arranged to come out Friday afternoon around 13h00 to install me.

Warren kept his appointment. coming slightly before the agreed time and installed the antenna exactly where I wanted it and he did a neat job of it too. I found him to be a pleasant, friendly and competent technician and he affected a very professional installation. The external antenna boosted my signal quality to 100%, which means that I now enjoy up to 1024Kbps connection speed (double that of my DSL512K connection).

Unlike Telkom, iBurst does not charge different rates for different connection speeds. All their customers enjoy the same 1024Kbps broadband speed. iBurst charges only for the amount of data used. This makes logical sense. Telkom is actually ripping off the public when it charges a higher rate for their higher speed connections, because speed means nothing if your bandwidth is capped (as it is in South Africa).

Despite the snags I had, I am blown away by my iBurst customer experience. They got me online and fully installed within days. Whatever bad experience I had with one incompetent iBurst staff member was totally made up for by the attention my problems received from the Cape Town iBurst branch manager, Marco de Vries. He did his company proud. Thank you, Marco, you did an excellent job at satisfying this customer.

I now have a fully functional broadband connection at my office, and if I need Internet access away from my office, I can simply take my very compact and portable iBurst desktop modem with me. Even if I don’t get full signal strength elsewhere, I can still get online at a slower speed.

Pricewise, I also just shaved over R400 a month off what I was paying Telkom. I signed up on iBurst’s Pro Classic package which gives me 3.5GB. However, I was told by my salesperson that they allow up to 7GB on that package. After that, iBurst does not cap me and shut me off completely like Telkom does. Instead iBurst throttles my speed to 64Kbps for the rest of the month. iBurst also gives me the option of topping up to continue enjoying full speed. I pay iBurst R699 per month on the Pro Classic. I can move up to R1029 for the Pro Extreme or R1229 for the Pro Addict.

Since I contracted with iBurst for 24 months, they supplied the desktop modem and external antenna free of charge. Installation of the antenna cost R300.

All in all, I think it’s an excellent choice for the smart South African broadband shopper.

Tags: broadband, DSL, iBurst, Marco de Vries, Telkom
Filed under iBurst, Internet, Internet Access | 77 Comments »

BlogTrickle, you are out of style. Take the runway!

Posted on January 13th, 2008 by Richard Catto 1,522 views

Yes, it’s true my dear gay readers and fellow pink and blue bloggers, we had our hopes raised and then horrendously dashed when earlier this year we all galloped off in the direction of BlogRush to install their rather wretched and awfully ugly unstylish fat plop of a blog widget.

BlogRush, you are out of style! Please take the runway.

And following down that runway too, are BlogCatalog and MyBlogLog. Your total inability to deliver the goods has been noted.

Furthermore, you were guilty of that fatal flaw – you were dreadfully and godawfully BOOOORING.

The fresh New Kid on the Block and Saviour of us all is Entre Card. I declare this web site my personal Jesus Christ! Hallulujah, and please pass the wafers and wine!

I’m not going to ‘plain it all again, because that has been done so, so eloquently, already by that master of money making Australian blogs, pro-blogger, whose article is linked to from the Entre Card dashboard.

All you have to do right away, if you’re a blogger intent on gaining the benefit of this brand new blog community, is sign up NOW.

You can do that by clicking on my Entre Card widget, which will magically transport you to the right location.

It’s a totally free service which drives traffic to your blog and allows you to amass Entre Card credits with which you can purchase 125 x 125 pixels blog adverts to display on blogs which are part of the EC network. You can also use your EC to buy really useful fings such as web hosting in EC’s new online shop.

Take your skanky blogging asses over there NOW!

Fanks!

Tags: entre cards
Filed under Entre Card, Online Advertising, Web Adverts | 8 Comments »

Go and FLOCK yourselves!

Posted on October 24th, 2007 by Richard Catto 1,960 views

Flock is groovy. If you don’t know what it is yet, it’s a web browser which integrates with social networking sites.

Under the hood, Flock is just a version of FireFox. You can install FireFox extensions on it, including the FireFox StumbleUpon extension.

The default theme for Flock is super cool grey, with light blue and orange icons. It totally enhances your browsing experience. I think Flock is set to become my web browser of choice now.

Best of all, when you access the linked social networking sites such as flickr and facebook, it does some really groovy things. I clicked on a friend’s facebook profile and Flock alerted me to the fact that a media stream was available. I didn’t know what that meant, but Flock is so user friendly it displays short helpful explanations in a collapsible yellow area at the top of the page.

I followed directions and down came a neat black bar at the top filled with all my friends pics from her photo albums. I could select to see each album individually or just see all the pics in one stream. Clicking on a pic, displayed it in the familiar facebook gallery page.

Flock presents the user with a number of useful options to use the image elsewhere, such as in your blog. You can blog anything you see in Flock, with its built in blog function. Once you’re set up your login info, you’re set to send anything you like directly to your blog.

There’s more! I haven’t told you about the My World page, or the People page, the RSS feeds, the clipboard sidebar that you can drag and drop any content you like into, or the Account sidebar that logs you into all your popular services. Like the old Peter Stuyvesant cigarette adverts used to say, “There’s so much more for you to enjoy!”

If you’re a FireFox user, Flock will seem like a natural fit to you. Call it an upgrade if you like. If you’re an Internet Explorer user, you should try Flock – it will blow you away.