How ridiculous is DRM?

I've written about DRM before. I hate it. It is the spawn of the devil. It is the tool that tells you "Hey, you know that product you just spent good money to buy? Well yeah, you will never really own it".

The guys over at Ecal decided to demonstrate DRM by making a chair that can only be sat on 8 times before the joints melt and the thing falls apart. You can view the video on Gizmodo.

Ridiculous? Absolutely. But it does show how DRM can destroy something you believe is yours.

So my advice is to avoid anything with DRM built-in, until the perpetrators of it get the message. Hop over to Defective by Design and read up on the alternatives.

Should you register yourname.com?

Lots of people purchase their own names as a domain name - I have waynedmoore.au.com for example, where I host this blog. There are lots of good reasons for doing this, some of which were discussed on lifehacker.com recently.

A couple of reasons I believe it is a good idea (as well as those in the article) are:

1. You get to control your name. As we move deeper and deeper into a fully digital world, it becomes more and more important to claim your own real estate. If you don't do it, somebody else will. What if somebody else registers your name and posts some unsavoury content on there? People may well think that came from you. Imagine turning up for a job interview and being faced with a potential employer who thinks you are some low-life because of what she found on a web site when researching your background. Not good.

2. Project your own message. Maybe you are a thought-leader in your field - an expert that other people pay attention to. In that case, why not create a web site or blog in your name to get your message out there to as many people who are prepared to listen? Maybe you are important in your community - a leader or an organiser - again, get your message out there where people can find it.

3. Your name reflects your business. Well this one really is a no-brainer. If you have a business in your own name, then you absolutely must have that name registered. Even if your business has it's own domain name, you will probably want to register your own name for the reasons already mentioned and, and / or to use as a personal blog that will direct traffic to your business site.

So there are lots of reasons to register your own domain name. I can't really think of any good reasons not to. Can you?

Windows 8 - My experience

I wrote the other day saying I was going to give Windows 8 a try - Windows 8 is out!

So on Saturday, I decided to upgrade my laptop and give Windows 8 a run. I had played around with the early betas and release candidates by running them in a VM but this time I went all out. As I had only purchased my laptop in June this year, Microsoft gave me a cheap upgrade to Windows 8 - $14.99 to be exact. So I paid my money and started the download.

To install an upgrade, you download a small installer and let it take care of the rest. The process is pretty painless and took a little while to complete, mostly because of the download time. Once complete, the laptop rebooted a couple of times, then gave me my logon page. I logged on (with my existing domain credentials) and was prompted with the now familiar and divisive "Metro" interface (which Microsoft now calls the Windows 8 UI for legal reasons).

So far so good. I started setting up the tiles on my home screen and generally going about my business but just found it ... a little difficult to navigate. And then it started crashing, frequently. The whole computer would just freeze up solid and have to be power cycled. Not a good start. I wonder if a Windows Update installed in the background broke something? I'll never know because at that point I decided I needed a working computer, and therefore had to format it and start again. Lucky for me, I had taken a backup before I started. Never do any kind up upgrade like this without a backup!

So I went back to my download and realised that all I had downloaded was the magical installer. I followed the links to my account from the receipt and quickly realised that this installer was the only file Microsoft was going to give me. Hmm. Lucky for me I have access to other legitimate sources and downloaded a complete DVD ISO, so I could start again.

After formatting the laptop and starting again, everything seemed pretty smooth. I set up my home screen, started downloading my most important applications, configured power management, wifi and all manner of things. I used it like this for several hours, doing some work and play. I must admit, I was really getting into the new interface at this point. My one major gripe of the interface is that it is not really keyboard friendly, despite there being some shortcuts. I would take keyboard over mouse every time and love Windows 7 for the ability to hit the start key (on the keyboard) and just start typing to find an application or file. In 8, this isn't possible (or I just never found the right shortcut key combination).

Sunday morning I fired up the laptop again but now it started crashing again, just like the upgraded version did. After a few power-cycles I was getting pretty frustrated. I tried unplugging everything and trying different things but it kept locking up. Worse, there were no clues left in the event logs. At this point I was due to go out to a friend's place to help with her website (which was all stored on the laptop). So I took it with some trepidation. However, at her place and then later at my wife's work, it worked sweetly again - not a single hiccup. Then I brought it home and .... yep, you guessed it. Maybe it doesn't like my wifi?

I need my laptop for work (day job and sideline business) and play, so this wasn't acceptable. Sadly, I spent  Sunday afternoon formatting it again and reloading Windows 7, which I'll stick with for now thanks.

IT guys normally say wait until the first service pack before jumping into a new operating system - I normally say this myself! So that's what I'm going to do now. Something isn't quite right. It might be in the product, or Updates from the web, it might be in the drivers for my laptop (even though it is a current spec machine and there are official Windows 8 drivers available), or it might be a negative vibe coming from all my swearing. I don't know and I don't care. I will be steering clear of Windows 8 for the foreseeable future and I would probably suggest you do too, unless there is a really good reason not to. Let somebody else work out the kinks, then install it when Microsoft release the first big set of patches, or service pack 1.

Windows 8 is out!

Windows 8 was finally released yesterday. It seems to have been around for ever with the developer previews, betas and release candidates but now it is finally here officially.

I am downloading it now and will post back here once I have had chance to install and find my way around it. I will be doing an upgrade install on my just over a year old Lenovo L520, currently running Win7 Pro. So I'm a little nervous to say the least. I am doing backups while downloading Eight. Better safe than sorry.

Watch this space .....

Why CRM is a necessity for your organisation

I wrote recently about why you should have a CRM system in your organisation - Information is King. The post talked about using a CRM solution to better manage your sales leads and opportunities. There is a lot more to CRM that new prospects - what about managing your existing customers? Kamal Sharma, CIO of Mindlance goes into more detail on different purposes of CRM in his blog, Why CRM is a necessity for every growing enterprise.

In the piece, he is talking about knowing more about your existing customer - not just who they are and what they do but drilling down further into understanding the trends in their business or industry, and better understanding what they actually need. Overall, this will ultimately lead to a closer relationship with your customer, which we all know always leads to a longer relationship, involving more sales. What's not to like?

If you don't have a CRM solution in your business, you should be asking yourself 'why not?'

Shameless Plug - Waynessa Bags

I wouldn't normally do this but it is for a good cause - my wife!

My wife has started up an online store selling quality fashion handbags, purses, wallets and accessories, and we would love to be getting a bit more attention on the net. Please have a browse and let me know what you think of the site (I created it). And of course if some pretty item takes your fancy, please feel free to throw it in your cart and buy it!

Waynessa Bags - All your accessory needs.

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Who Owns Your Digital Life? Follow Up

Recently I wrote a piece about Who owns your digital life? I talked about how if you read the small print on your digital purchases (books, music, movies, etc) then you would see that you never actually owned it, you only purchased a licence to use it.

Wel it seems Amazon decided to prove me right recently when they deleted somebody's account and wiped their Kindle because they were apparently linked to an account that had been abusing the system - see
Amazon account ban reminds us DRM content is only rented | Digital Trends

I find this frankly staggering. Amazon just decided "we don't like you so we are going to delete everything you have purchased from us - thanks for your business". This should be a wake up call for us all. Not least by virtue of the fact that we keep having DRM (Digital Restrictions Management) imposed on us. All DRM does is takes all your rights away and gives them (leaves them?) with the company that 'sold' you the product. I believe that DRM makes content and products Defective by Design. I would urge you to take a look at this web site and learn more about your rights and how they are abused and more importantly, how to do something about it.