Microsoft Teams: The Disconnect between Users and Features
August 5, 2022
I have mentioned that “free” Microsoft Teams does not work on my Mac Mini which I use for Facetime, Zoom, and WebEx meetings. The Massachusetts Attorney General knows about my problems first hand. Let’s just say that there were fewer than 30 investigators who recognized that Microsoft and Apple are not exactly in sync.
I read “Microsoft Says It Added More Than 450 New Teams Capabilities in the Past Year.” In the past year, there have been some issues with Windows updates killing printers and a few trivial security gaffes. Hey, who is trying to make a league table of Microsoft software vulnerabilities? Not me.
The write up states:
officials also updated investors on Teams momentum a bit, saying they’ve added more than 450 capabilities over the past year.
Among the technological gems added, according to the write up, were in the words of the write up, “It is unclear what “Teams capabilities” means, but that can cover things across chat, meetings, integrations with Microsoft Viva, and a lot more.”
Okay, unclear. I did a quick search on Swisscows.com for Microsoft Teams features. Here are a few of the precious stones presented to me:
- Adjust filter brightness
- Background blur
- A horizontal participant gallery
- A customer lockbox
- Day view in calendar
- Anonymous meeting join across clouds
And more than 440 more important additions.
My view is very simple. Why not get Teams to work for those who are using Mac Minis? You know. Basic functional reliability. Microsoft Teams, like Zoom, is essentially a telephone call, right? And why not get that printer thing fixed? And security? I think that particular issue is unfixable. Sorry but that’s just my opinion, not a PowerPoint about Microsoft’s security capabilities. PowerPoints are easy. Delivering what customers and users want is much more difficult.
Do the MSFT priorities pursue the trivial, not the substantive?
Stephen E Arnold, August 5, 2022
Salesforce, Alibaba, and China: Is an Enterprise Superapp the Goal?
August 4, 2022
I read an announcement about a tie up among Salesforce, Alibaba, and whoever is over-seeing the high profile online outfit. “Salesforce Shutters Hong Kong Office, Leans on Alibaba in China” reports:
As a result of its tightened partnership with Alibaba, Salesforce is “optimizing our business structure to better serve the Greater China Region” and “opening new roles while eliminating some others,” the spokesperson said. The company’s career page shows it’s currently hiring a product management director and a senior software engineer in the southern Chinese city Guangzhou, where it placed its tech team.
The cited article points out:
Salesforce’s interest in China lies in serving international businesses localizing in China, but it can’t do it alone due to the country’s intricate regulatory restrictions.
What will Alibaba do?
Alibaba will be taking over the firm’s sales in mainland China and Hong Kong, while Taiwan will fall under the management of its Singapore office…
Several observations:
- Like Oracle, Salesforce is taking steps to make sure it is able to operate in some acceptable way in China
- The technology for these deals is probably sealed in a quantum secure container so that “partners” are unable to learn what’s in the black boxes. (Well, that’s the hope?)
- China faces some challenges, and it is possible that Alibaba’s overseers could make helpful suggestions which make this tie up less or completely unattractive.
What happens if Alibaba integrates Salesforce functionality into its apps and services? Will we have a commercial superapp purpose built for China and companies permitted to operate in the Middle Kingdom?
Net net: Nah, just “lean on” and lean in.
Stephen E Arnold, August 4, 2022
Big Tech: Is Big Change Next to Impossible?
August 3, 2022
I read “The Disproportionate Influence of Early Tech Decisions.” The article adds some specificity to the notions of technical debt and why the Roman empire ended up with people wearing fur in the summer recycling stone from gigantic weird buildings jammed together. There are nifty quotes about the nature of things. (Lucretius and De Rerum Natura, right?)
The more recent article states:
… everybody knows that it’s hard to migrate a database or rewrite code in a new language, so this status quo wouldn’t be surprising anywhere you find it….What is more surprising is that it’s not only the big stuff that has a tendency to stay fixed. It’s the small and medium-sized elements as well.
I interpret these observations to the plight of the Silicon Valley type of big tech outfits. I believe that the observation applies to pinnacles of technological capability like the US air traffic control system and the Internal Revenue Service. If you have a backlog, just shred it. Effective. Simple. No big tech needed.
The article illustrates how expedient (maybe just bad?) initial decisions persist through time. There are examples of fixing and adding, but the persistence of initial conditions is a characteristic of some companies’ products and services.
The point which resonated with me was:
Simply this: software has inertia.
Bingo!
I noted these statements too:
quality is more of a sliding scale than it is a good or bad dichotomy, and I’d argue that many small companies optimize too much in favor of speed by trading away too much in terms of maintainability by shipping the first thing that was thrown at the wall. And this fails the other way too, where major believers in academic-level correctness agonize over details to such a degree that projects never ship, and sometimes never even start.
So what?
The people and time required to figure out how to implement meaningful technical change impose a significant cost. Cost translates into management’s need to kick the can down the road, change jobs, or ignore the mounting problems. Early decisions manifest themselves in systems whose problems cannot be addressed; management decisions which to an outsider appear to be downright wacky; and big companies struggling to escape their past.
I never “meta” a high tech outfit that I could not google or rely on a one day delivery that stretches to 10 days or more or an operating system unable to print a copy of this blog post.
Vulnerable? You bet.
Stephen E Arnold, August 3, 2022
Time Travel in the Datasphere: Lock In Is Here Again
August 3, 2022
“Lock in” was a phrase I associated with my university’s data processing and computer center in 1962. I was a 17 year old freshman, and I got a tour of the school’s state of the art IBM mainframes located in one of the buildings in the heart of the campus. Remember I went to a middling private college because I fooled some scholarship outfit into ponying up money to pay for tuition and books. That still amazes me 60 years later.
I do remember looking at the IBM machines lined up inside a room within a room. A counter separated the “user” from the machines. Another room held three keypunch machines. There was a desk with a sign in sheet and a sign that said, “Help wanted.” Hey, even then it was clear that money was to be had doing the computer thing.
The tour was uneventful. Big machines blinked and hummed. The person giving the tour did not want to explain anything to a small group of students who qualified to enter the digital sanctuary. No problem. I got it. If a person wanted to use a computer, one had to work in the computer center. It was infinitely better to work behind the counter, wear a white lab coat, and stuff the front pocket with pencils. I was in. I even wore a slide rule strapped to my belt like Roy Rogers with a math fetish. Quick log, Stephen was my moniker.
I learned very quickly that using computers was done the IBM way. Don’t bend, fold, spindle, or mutilate. Don’t push buttons on the keyboard unless you knew what that key press did. Don’t think about learning anything about any of the other computing devices. IBM was the way. Why? The funding for the computer center and much of the engineering department came from an outfit engaged in manufacturing equipment to produce big holes in the ground or eliminate pesky trees from the path of the Trans Amazon Highway. The company was an IBM outfit.
Ergo, lock in. My mind was locked into IBM. Even today if someone mentions an MIT LINC, I am quick to snort. Hey, big iron.
Well, lock in is back, and there are many Millennials, GenXers, and whatever other category marketers use to describe young people who don’t know about lock in. Navigate to “A Third of Businesses Feel Locked In to Major Cloud Providers.” The write up explains that lock in is here again:
new research from Civo shows that 34 percent of users feel locked into the services these major providers deliver, with 65 percent of these saying that data transfer costs are too expensive for them to move off their current cloud.
This is the goal of lock in. Switching costs are too high. A lousy economy provides an endless parade of people who think that those low entry fees for the cloud will persist. Then the lucky customers discover the joy of per unit transactional pricing. Now the deal is more expensive than other ways to access computers and software. But to kick the cloud habit, one has to do more than spend a month in rehab. One must reengineer, invest, plan, and be smart enough to actively manage complex systems.
Yep, lock in.
That 33 percent figure may be bogus. But one thing is absolutely certain. More companies will embrace the cloud and find them with me, back in the university’s computer center, learning that there is one way to do computers. What’s amusing is that lock in is here again. Too bad IBM was not able to become the big dog. But the IBM notion of lock in lives on. And for some today, it is a fresh and new as a Rivian truck. There is one difference. That 1962 computer set up was actually pretty reliable. Today’s cloud systems are a work in progress. Choose cloud providers wisely. Digital divorces, like real world divorces, can be messy, expensive, and damaging.
Stephen E Arnold, August 3, 2022
Horsefeathering: The Intel Arc of Optane
August 1, 2022
Intel’s announcement of the Horse Ridge quantum thing caught my attention in 2020. Then there was Horse Ridge II a year later. I jotted in my notebook containing high-tech confections the idea for putting giant water consuming semiconductor fabs in Arizona. The idea for Optane seems to have fizzled.
Has Intel has reached peak “horse.” I dub the new era Horsefeather Arcs. Intel has not matched the privacy oriented outfit Apple’s chips. How far apart are these puppies? Far. Furthermore, Intel has not been able to blast past AMD and nVidia. Is Intel the future of the resurgent and reinvigorated semiconductor manufacturing sector? Sure, sure. There a big chip bill that is going to make this trivial task come true. Will it be similar to remediating Flint’s water issue? No problem, of course.
I read “Intel Arc Graphics Cards Could Be in Serious Trouble – Will Team Blue Throw in the Towel?” and formulated the concept of the Horsefeathers Arc.
The write up says:
Arc Alchemist and Battlemage might get the ax entirely over unfixable hardware flaws that are kneecapping their performance, and it’s threatening to scrap Intel’s entire Arc discrete graphics line.
Who says “the ax”? The write up’s author, that’s who? If true, will Alchemist and Battlemage produce analyst melting revenue? Maybe not?
According to the cited article:
This report comes from YouTuber Moore’s Law is Dead, and it is a doozy, full of internal politics, bitterness, and recriminations at Intel over the company’s graphics unit being unable to actually deliver the discrete graphics cards that have been hyped up for more than a year.
Even if this report from the cited article and the YouTuber, the delays and the reports about performance for Intel Arc are causing my confidence meter to curve toward zero. Horsefeathering?
Stephen E Arnold, August 1, 2022
Zucking Up: The Instagram Innovation
August 1, 2022
I read a bonkers article about Instagram (a Zucked up property of the Zuckbook empire). You can get the allegedly accurate information from this article: “Instagram Knows You Don’t Like Its Changes. It Doesn’t Care.” I know that “real journalists” select and maybe shape information to fit into the good old pyramid method of real news craftsmanship. For the purposes of this blog post, let’s just go with the flow like good GenXers do and believe everything in the article. Keep in mind that Zucksters are flexible. The TikTok emulation is a word in progress, pending approval from the Jenner-Kardashian Consulting Company.
But here we go anyway:
- The Zuckbook does not care what its addicts — oh, sorry, I mean users — think. [This is something new?]
- Kim Kardashian does not like Instagram de-Instagraming itself and getting digital plastic surgery to be more like TikTok? [Yeah, plastic surgery can disappoint. Ms Kardashian might be able to provide some additional information on this back story.]
- There’s a “don’t change Instagram” petition with an alleged 190,000 signatures. [How many are sock puppets’ inputs?]
- Picketers appeared outside the Zuckster’s New York office. [Did anyone in Manhattan notice or even care? If I were still working in the Big Apple, I would have crossed to the other side of the street and kept on going to a meeting at 245 Park Avenue or 101 Park Avenue South, both former dinobaby offices from the ancient days of work.]
- Two “meme account administrators” handcuffed themselves to the Instagram office doors. [Well, not good if someone like me wanted to exit quickly in order to be on time for a really important dinobaby meeting. I can hear myself saying, “Hey, sorry about breaking your wrist. Gotta run. Let’s have lunch.]
One thing is clear: Another Zuckup. Advertisers will be thrilled with this publicity, won’t they?
Now what if this write up has been crafted from the addled thoughts of a sci-fan loopy on Game of Thrones re-runs? Definitely a bad look for the Zucksters.
Stephen E Arnold, August 1, 2022
Facebook to News Partners: Spike That!
August 1, 2022
I assume news publications can still advertise on the Zuckbook. However, if the information in “Scoop: Meta Officially Cuts Funding for U.S. News Publishers” is accurate, the Zucker has said, “Spike that paying for news deal.” The allegedly spot on write up states:
As the company moves forward with sweeping changes to the Facebook experience, news has become less of a priority. Meta’s VP of media partnerships, Campbell Brown, told staffers the company was shifting resources away from its news products to support more creative initiatives…
And what might “creative” mean? Perhaps more me-too innovations?
Last year, Meta’s president of global affairs, Nick Clegg, said fewer than one in every 25 posts in the News Feed contained links to a news story.
So creative means perhaps generating engagement, clicks, and money. News fails apparently as a creative initiative? I was under the impression that fake news was creative. Whoops, wrong again. How much “real news” does TikTok provide? From a person with access to user log data, pretty creative. From a person who just inhales crunchy short videos, not too much.
I think that the Zucker thing is trying to change. That’s good. Anyone signing a contract with the Zuck may face the “spike that” approach to relationship building. I would suggest we change the “spike that” to “Zuck you”. Will that fly in the metaverse?
Stephen E Arnold, August 1, 2022
Google and Kids: The School Push Squeezes Some New Concessions… Allegedly
August 1, 2022
I read “Chrome Use Subject to Restrictions in Dutch Schools over Data Security Concerns.” The write up reports:
Several schools and other educational organizations are having to restrict usage of Google’s software, including its Chrome browser and Chrome OS offerings over security and privacy fears. The Dutch Ministry of Education has ordered the country’s education industry to implement the changes following over fears that Google’s software is in conflict with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and other privacy-related regulations in the country.
I am not surprised. I noted that the article presents some familiar wordage; for example:
… The ministers discussed these issues with the representatives of Google, Microsoft, and Zoom, and that these companies assured the ministers that their future versions will be more transparent, and more compatible, with the country’s (and the EU bloc’s) privacy and data protection laws.
I like the “assured the ministers” phrase. It reminds me of “Senator, thank you for the question. I will forward the information to your office. And I am sorry, really, really sorry. We are constantly trying to improve.”
Improve what?
Well, in my opinion it is the collection of fine grained data, actionable intelligence, and insight into what those kiddies are doing. But that’s just my point of view. The giant technology firms just want to do good. No, really.
Do good.
Those assurances sparked an update to the original article and guess what?
… Chrome and Chrome OS are not banned in the education sector of the country, and that schools may continue using them provided that they perform certain actions themselves to strengthen data security and ensure student privacy.
Progress.
Stephen E Arnold, August 1, 2022
Google YouTube: Trying to Put Sand in Amazon and TikTok Product Search? Yep. Yep. Yep.
July 29, 2022
Most people don’t think too much about the impact of Amazon’s ecommerce search. It mostly works and the savvy shopper knows how to spot a third party reseller scam brand. (You do, don’t you?) Here’s a bit of anecdotal context. Amazon product search has chewed into Google search. In the post-Froogle years, Amazon sold online books. Then Amazon started adding products. With the products came reviews. Some reviews were Fiverr-type service generated but a few — the exact percentage like the number of bogus Twitter accounts — is not known.
People around the world use Amazon ecommerce search to find products, get basic information, and some useful, some misinformation about a particular product.
The impact on the Google has been significant. The number kicked around among my slightly dull research team is a decrease of 30 percent in product search in 2021. How does one know that Amazon has done more to cause pain at the Google than many know? Easy. Google took a former Verity wizard (you remember Verity, right?) and used high school reunion type pressure to get that person to indicate that Google product search was going to get a couple of steroid injections, a tummy tuck, and a butt lift. These are digital enhancements, of course. Google is not a humanoid, despite Google management’s insistence on its sentience.
“YouTube and Shopify Just Started Livestream Selling and You Should Too” explains:
YouTube just announced a partnership with Shopify.
Yep, the company that media luminary and business wizard Scott Gallagher touted for several months on a popular podcast featuring insights and school yard humor. (Was Google won over by Guru Gallagher’s blend of insight and George Carlin thinking?)
The article points out:
Social selling is the shopping experience of the future.
The write up adds a bit of color to what seems like a “next big thing.” Spoiler: It’s not.
My reaction to the write up? The most important point should be that Google is racing (possibly out of control) to find a way to stop the loss of product search clicks. Hence, TikTok me too videos with product endorsements. Hence, a deal with a modern version of Yahoo stores. Hence, a tie up to use Shopify as a war horse.
My view: Too late. Amazon, TikTok, and a handful of other product centric ecommerce services are sitting behind their revenue ramparts. Google doesn’t have the weaponry it did before the erosion became noticeable in 2006. Froogle? Froogle? Long gone. But the spirit of Verity is here to claw back the product search traffic. Exciting.
Stephen E Arnold, July 29, 2022
Meta Makes a Show of Measures to Protect Kids
July 29, 2022
A pair of articles reveals a bit of Zuckbook adulting. Isn’t it amazing what some bad press can provoke? First up, The Verge tells us “Instagram Will Start Nudging Teens Away from Content they Continuously Browse Through.” While this move does not specifically protect against harmful content, it is meant to discourage teens from obsessing on one topic by proposing alternatives to explore. Notably, suggestions will exclude something that already has Meta in hot water—content that promotes appearance comparison. Another Instagram effort has its “Take a Break” feature suggesting teens go do something else if they have been perusing Reels “for a while.” (Just how long a while is left unstated.) Writer Emma Roth also tells us:
“Lastly, Instagram is making some adjustments to its existing parental controls. The platform will now let parents send invites to their kids asking to gain access to parental supervision tools, something only teens were previously able to initiate. Parents can also see information on what types of posts or accounts their child reports, as well as gain more control over the time their teen spends on Instagram.”
As much as Instagram has been shown to cause harm to young people, the VR metaverse is already proving to be even worse. Mashable reports, “Meta Expands Parental Controls, Including Virtual Reality Monitoring.” The update lets parents block certain apps, view their kid’s friends list and activity, and require parental approval for purchases. It can also disable a headset feature that otherwise lets kids access blocked content on their PCs. All of this is accompanied by an informative “parent education hub” for guidance on using the parental controls (a feature the kiddos are bound to find very helpful.) Writer Chase DiBeneditto elaborates:
“Following the launch of Meta’s Horizon Worlds — a VR ‘creator space’ for users to connect and build virtual worlds — and it’s new ‘safety-focused’ features, users and researchers alike expressed concern that young users would still be easily exposed to unmoderated hate speech and harassment. Meta later added a ‘garbled voices’ filter to Horizon Worlds that turned the voice chats of VR strangers into unintelligible, friendly sounds, and a ‘personal boundary’ feature to hopefully block harassment by uninvited users. Then in May, Meta announced new locking tools to block specific apps from a user’s Quest headset in response to concerns that teens and children with unsupervised access were being exposed to inappropriate virtual reality spaces.”
Meta has certainly gone to a lot of effort to appear like it is protecting kids as it profits off them. If we are lucky, some of these PR defense tactics will actually do some good.
Cynthia Murrell, July 29, 2022
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