Site90 is up!

I just recently created a dummy page, still learning on how to design it. For now, the link is:

Website Link

Enabling FileZilla on your CSB PC

For those whose FileZilla cannot connect, simply do the following on your workstation:

Going to Settings

Setting the proxy

Just enter the following on Proxy Host: proxyicc.csb.edu:2121

Taming your Computer “A How-To”

Ever irritated that your files have names like MySong.mp3.mp3? Or Name.doc.docx? At times, when in need of saving a particular file format, like for example, changing a .html file to .css file (in case you accidentally forgot to save in the correct format), here’s the fix to ensure that when you change the file format, it DOES HAPPEN.

So, let’s begin. Basically, you just have to open MY COMPUTER or MY DOCUMENTS, click on TOOLS on your menu bar, and click on FOLDER OPTIONS as shown in the following example:

Finding Tools and Folder Options

Looking for the HIDE EXTENSIONS FOR KNOWN FILE TYPES

The Folder Options window should appear, look for the HIDE EXTENSIONS FOR KNOWN FILE TYPES and ensure that it is unchecked. Click Apply and OK. Looking at your files, your music files, for examples, will show its extension after its filename.

The End at Sixteen

Reading through the book sure was fun!

A new concept, never told by any instructors in school or elsewhere, and a pretty good one at that!

What I really liked about the book is how it was able to discuss everything, from execution, people, and software,  in a manner as if you are just listening to a story teller. Reading it straight isn’t dull, doesn’t make you feel eventually bored, or lose interest. It’s a great book, and I believe it’s a book that pretty much justifies completely as to why Sir Dave recommended it in the first place.

Yes, the application of Getting Real is just not on Web Apps, the exemplification of the Navy Seals, the iPod, and other real life applications were pretty much a good way to support the book’s claims. Life isn’t about documentation or large-scale, long-planned projects. It’s about making things NOW, doing things NOW, and giving it NOW. Good people, excellent execution, and timely release makes a program click. And quite frankly, I would like to be able to create one that would just have all the variables essential for being able to accomplish one. Soon enough, soon enough, I’ll be pretty much a fanatic of a principle that defies formalities through endless documentations! I’ll be real, Getting Real!

Befitting Fifteen

I suppose the second to the last chapter is as expected of what it should be. After learning how to start developing a program, introducing the program, and creating the hype for the program then providing support for it, the last part comes just like any other Systems Lifecycle would have: the maintenance part.

True, there should be a periodic update for a system, no matter how little such updates are. Updating thus create the sense that the product has not been abandoned, that it’s still an ongoing process, and provides a sense of assurance for the customers. Posting current plans, updates, and developments with the system allows customers to give some hints as well, tips, and even their negative remarks – something that is highly useful when thinking about possible fixes and added features.

What I pretty much laughed out about was the Beta-Forever idea. Haha… yeah, not to mention Yahoo! Messenger 9.0 and Vista, which are still Beta versions as of current writing. Imagine that! The last time I heard in my SYSDESI class, a BETA version is when the program is tested by a chosen few. Unfortunately though, some sites and programs use the term BETA even at the time when their program is already being used by users on a worldwide scale. When errors pop out, Yahoo! sure has a lot of excuses in their Faqs page, but nevertheless, like the book states, being BETA is not enough of an excuse.

What I also kept noted in this chapter is the term “bloat” – I really like this word when applied to software because, well, when it pops up, the best example would always be the Windows OS. To justify why prices of their OS is constantly getting higher, Microsoft would use the new features as their primary defense. But to look at their Vista OS, it’s so much filled with bloat that a lot of computer systems’ lifespan were significantly reduced – not to mention that it’s earlier version, XP, is much better in terms of performance. The sad part about this though is that in Microsoft’s way, customers have no choice but to upgrade. Why? Because, contrary to other softwares wherein previous versions are always available, Microsoft’s early OS’ are phased out or stripped-off updates once the new one is streamlined. Which is in theory unfair, especially when plenty could still capitalize on the old one or can’t afford to upgrade their computers to keep up with the requirements of their new bloated software. I would really admire more a program that continuously updates not because they would have to earn more by selling and providing more expensive software, but simply just because they know they have to, no strings attached.

Fortunate Fourteen

Is it me? Or are the sections per chapter getting shorter as I move along?

Well, anyways, in Chapter 14, it pretty much talked about the same thing with what the Cluetrain Manifesto has opinionated. The fact is true that there should be no middleman in customer support. There should be a direct connection between customers and the people who made the software. If I were to talk about it, I’d pretty much say that I hate Epson’s Customer Service because of this. I asked as to why your printer’s printouts are reddish, and after waiting for 3 days, I got a reply that does not even answer my concern. In particular, the reply was, “Sir, please ensure that your printer is properly turned on to avoid encountering the same problem.” So, if anyone could tell me if that makes sense, please do.

Being a customer myself, I do prefer being able to talk to those who are really behind the product – the innovators, makers, or what have you. When I look for electronic gadgets, I’m really not fond of a salesman who would say that product x is better than product y just because it’s newer or so-so. But businesses are too busy finding ways to profit that it seems they just don’t care anymore to talk to those they’re not even aware of as their market. They let call centers do the support, the babbling, all the forwarding to technical, etc. It just doesn’t help in making customers happy – myself included.

In such events, instead of waiting for a customer service representative to pick-up, I just post my problem on the forums and I get a reply in less than five minutes, much faster than waiting for 3 days (or even more) for an answer that may or may not even solve my problem. In my example with Epson, I pretty much appreciated more their competitors (Canon) FAQ page (which Epson does not have for my particular product) more than their lousy e-mail support. The conciseness of the FAQ listed helped me fix a problem of my Canon Camera’s pixel issues, something that Epson could only perhaps dream about.

If only businesses could’ve long prioritized their customers, then these customers could’ve long been already spreading the good news of the business through word-of-mouth. Why businesses keep disregarding such facts is pretty disappointing, wherein perhaps that their customers could help the most in every step of the way that their business makes.

In conclusion, I always believe that good products could never continue to exist without good customer relationships. Products whose owners does not give a care to what their customers are saying are just like any other country under a dictatorship, wherein opinions are disregarded for the opinions of one and one alone – and in this essence, that would be the business.

Lucky Thirteen

Marketing! How I missed it! Reading chapter 13 sure flashbacked a lot about it!

In our PRINMAR class, we focused a lot on getting attention for a product. We even had discussions on strategies, and possible events that can trigger a chain reaction of word of mouth, news, traffic, and intrigued media and prospective customers.

Indeed, if you want to make your product from just any other ordinary on-the-shelf product to a pop star type of product, you would have to hitch in on the excitement! Capitalize on the element of desire, and soon enough you’ll be able to create the hype you’ve been wanting your product to have.

I remember then when me and my cousin were planning to introduce his BMW Z4 E85, the first E85 ever shipped into the country (he’s a customs guy). We wanted to boast it in AutoIndustriya, a local automotive forum site catering to Filipino Car Enthusiasts, to perhaps gain sponsors that would help us gain funds for upgrades and partnership with auto shops. We gave some pre-shots and a lot have already been posting positive replies. Some interior shots were posted, and during official release of the entire photo shoot, a car modifications expert, A-Toy bodykits, offerred to sponsor free accessories and modification materials for the chassis and interiors. It then participated in a car show in the World Trade Center, earning a share of 30/70 from the profits, with 30 being the share given to my cousin and the 70 plus the trophies to A-Toy.

I guess that’s pretty much how I can relate with this chapter. Truly, it doesn’t matter how good your program or your product is if there’s no hype, or better yet, no market. It’s like telling yourself that you’re building a just-another-program off the shelf. I believe that what 37signals did in deploying their Bootcamp is pretty much a good way of creating hype which in turn creates markets and develops customer relations which in turn produces new customers. And best of all, they did it without the need for paying advertising managers, they just checked on blogs, replied on those checking on them, and that was enough to work the trailer-preview-launch hollywood-like launch.

Swell at Twelve

Looking at chapter 12, I guess it’s pretty much about customer pampering – which is pretty essential and pretty much disregarded by profiteering businesses.

A good site I like to refer with this chapter is Multiply. Signing up and leaving is pretty easy, no questions asked. Just the type I love seeing in sites wherein your accounts have been hacked by a tricky keylogger.

A program on the other hand would be O2 Phone Manager. You can try it and backup your messages non-stop to .txt files, and if you no longer like it (although I doubt such will happen), you can always remove it with no strings attached – and you can keep the .txt files and read your text messages even without the program installed. I think it’s a good program since the 30-day free do what you want trial is entirely functional, and offers discounts as well for those who intensively uses it during the trial period. Every program I believe should have this.

The exemplification of a hit single being offered for free is also pretty effective and true. You don’t have to keep your single for yourself when in fact you can give some of it and expect that those who like it will buy your entire album – and this works! A lot of OPM bands, such as the Eraserheads, were not really anti-piracy. They gave free singles discs then and even up to now, original albums of their band are still being auctioned, appreciated nationwide.

I guess that’s the best way of doing FREEMIUM, wherein the basic services or trial runs are offered FREE, while advanced ones can bought as a PREMIUM (Paul Pajo, 2nd Term, SY 08-09). Asking your customers to remain using your software when they no longer want it or just because they would lose their data is similar to low-balling a politician by accusing him of being corrupt – which shouldn’t be so. A good software is a software that enables the most important reason to why it was even created in the first place – FREEDOM.

Even at Eleven!

First of all, lorem ipsum dolor sure made me make a Google search as soon as I read it. Haha.. and what I found is this:

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetaur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum Et harumd und lookum like Greek to me, dereud facilis est er expedit distinct. Nam liber te conscient to factor tum poen legum odioque civiuda. Et tam neque pecun modut est neque nonor et imper ned libidig met, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed ut labore et dolore magna aliquam makes one wonder who would ever read this stuff? Bis nostrud exercitation ullam mmodo consequet. Duis aute in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. At vver eos et accusam dignissum qui blandit est praesent luptatum delenit aigue excepteur sint occae. Et harumd dereud facilis est er expedit distinct. Nam libe soluta nobis eligent optio est congue nihil impedit doming id Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, set eiusmod tempor incidunt et labore et dolore magna aliquam. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerc. Irure dolor in reprehend incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse molestaie cillum. Tia non ob ea soluad incommod quae egen ium improb fugiend. Officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum Et harumd dereud facilis est er expedit distinct. Nam liber te conscient to factor tum poen legum odioque civiuda et tam. Neque pecun modut est neque nonor et imper ned libidig met, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed ut labore et dolore magna aliquam is nostrud exercitation ullam mmodo consequet. Duis aute in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. At vver eos et accusam dignissum qui blandit est praesent. Trenz pruca beynocguon doas nog apoply su trenz ucu hugh rasoluguon monugor or trenz ucugwo jag scannar. Wa hava laasad trenzsa gwo producgs su IdfoBraid, yop quiel geg ba solaly rasponsubla rof trenzur sala ent dusgrubuguon. Offoctivo immoriatoly, hawrgasi pwicos asi sirucor.Thas sirutciun applios tyu thuso itoms ghuso pwicos gosi sirucor in mixent gosi sirucor ic mixent ples cak ontisi sowios uf Zerm hawr rwivos. Unte af phen neige pheings atoot Prexs eis phat eit sakem eit vory gast te Plok peish ba useing phen roxas. Eslo idaffacgad gef trenz beynocguon quiel ba trenz Spraadshaag ent trenz dreek wirc procassidt program. Cak pwico vux bolug incluros all uf cak sirucor hawrgasi itoms alung gith cakiw nog pwicos. Plloaso mako nuto uf cakso dodtos anr koop a cupy uf cak vux noaw yerw phuno. Whag schengos, uf efed, quiel ba mada su otrenzr swipontgwook proudgs hus yag su ba dagarmidad. Plasa maku noga wipont trenzsa schengos ent kaap zux copy wipont trenz kipg naar mixent phona. Cak pwico siructiun ruos nust apoply tyu cak UCU sisulutiun munityuw uw cak UCU-TGU jot scannow. Trens roxas eis ti Plokeing quert loppe eis yop prexs. Piy opher hawers, eit yaggles orn ti sumbloat alohe plok. Su havo loasor cakso tgu pwuructs tyu InfuBwain, ghu gill nug bo suloly sispunsiblo fuw cakiw salo anr ristwibutiun. Hei muk neme eis loppe. Treas em wankeing ont sime ploked peish rof phen sumbloat syug si phat phey gavet peish ta paat ein pheeir sumbloats. Aslu unaffoctor gef cak siructiun gill bo cak spiarshoot anet cak GurGanglo gur pwucossing pwutwam. Ghat dodtos, ig pany, gill bo maro tyu ucakw suftgasi pwuructs hod yot tyubo rotowminor. Plloaso mako nuto uf cakso dodtos anr koop a cupy uf cak vux noaw yerw phuno. Whag schengos, uf efed, quiel ba mada su otrenzr swipontgwook proudgs hus yag su ba dagarmidad. Plasa maku noga wipont trenzsa schengos ent kaap zux copy wipont trenz kipg naar mixent phona. Cak pwico siructiun ruos nust apoply tyu cak UCU sisulutiun munityuw uw cak UCU-TGU jot scannow. Trens roxas eis ti Plokeing quert loppe eis yop prexs. Piy opher hawers, eit yaggles orn ti sumbloat alohe plok. Su havo loasor cakso tgu pwuructs tyu.

Whatever that long paragraph is trying to say, I don’t know. And pretty much is the point of the chapter I suppose. I mean, why put something as gibberish as that on your document? As a sample? It doesn’t even serve such purpose. A copy? Of what? Not even close. I guess it’s what the chapter means: why print tons of documents that does not merit anything? Why send documents that won’t even be read? What’s the point of doing so? Nada – zilch.

Like what the Cluetrain Manifesto says – talk with the human voice. It doesn’t matter if you have features x, y, or even perhaps z. What matters is that you talk in the same manner you talk with your friends, relatives, and family. You say what is true about your product, not tons of features list, specs, etc., you just say what it actually is.

The problem is true in the sense that those that rely on spec sheets for their product  never actually accomplishes all that’s listed in the specifications – more so finish the product itself. Obsession with the specs leads to commitment to them – something that you can’t turn back on. And when the costs are rising with you unable to do anything, you fail miserably.

The lesson I learned in this chapter is that being too technology involves more liabilities than that of just being conversational. When you can fully describe your application, when you know what it should be, how it should be, and what it can be more, and differentiate which should be on a first-things-first basis.

Meant for Ten

Chapter 10 is pretty much about lessening the codes. When I first heard Ruby on Rails during our Imagine Cup competition through Ms. Menchu Cueto, BS-IS Chairperson, when I asked her about what Sir Dave tackles on with his subjects, I was pretty much intrigued when it was about RoR.

Pretty soon, more about it has popped up, how a program that needs 30 days to accomplish in Java can be done in as quick as 3 days for RoR was pretty much more than enough for a turn-on. I’m still glued to the desire to learn it, and I’m pretty much doing a lot just to be able to finally start studying it. Not to mention, one requirement in another subject required a prototype built with RoR, so perhaps no matter how many obstacles may hinder me from learning it, I eventually will. Hehe… finally!

I pretty much am an advocate to coding less, having to do program functions without unnecessary importations, extends, and so on and so on… There are a lot of things that I can do from the time I can save for doing so. When I look back at the chapter, it pretty much creates a solid mix – less codes and happy people equals great software – an ideology that defies conventional methodologies! And it’s great! Some programmers would vehemently disagree with it, but I definitely love it! It’s true, I mean, why make thousands of validations when all your program does is activate your PC Speaker and act like an alarm? Why make thousands of classes and apply different design patterns when all you need is to retrieve the customer’s information? Such just doesn’t make sense!

Reading more and more about RoR sure is inviting. Haven’t found any article yet disappointed about it, and I don’t I ever will – unless it’s an article coming from the Marketing Dept. of some M***(and some more asterisks) comparing their similar to Java language about how better their software is compared to RoR. God knows who.

Once I’m done with all of this, really… RoR will be the next big priority!