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Driving Innovation

Why Don’t People Update Software?July 23 2009

This question applies to personal software more so than IT-supported software.

I understand the complexities involved with taking updates to software that IT is on the hook to support. What I don’t get is why people aren’t more vigilant with their own software, specifically browsers and O/S.

Over the years, updates have become more in-your-face, with good reason. They’re usually bug fixes that you should take to prevent bad things from happening to you on the interwebs. Bugs happen, and you’d think the pop-up message, system tray notifier, or bouncing update icon would be enough to get people to pay attention.

Not so much.

For example, I routinely perform updates on my wife’s computers. I asked her one how she managed to ignore the Mac’s Software Update bouncing icon. That thing drives me nuts, so I’m happy to address it, which usually means taking the update.  The only times I wait on an update are when it requires a reboot or when I’ve read people are seeing issues with them, typically this applies to OS X patches.

In the latter case, I’ve learned the hard way.

Do You Think Social Has Jumped the Shark?July 22 2009

Way back in April 2008, Paul remarked that Web 2.0 had jumped the shark, at least for him.

Image from Wikipedia

For the last six months or so, I’ve been feeling the same way about social, which is essentially analogous to Web 2.0, but more focused on applying social aspects to everything. I’m not alone in this belief; it’s shared by my ‘Lab partners and others (a good read).

This could be a reaction to my early adopter mentality, i.e. things are only cool and fun when they’re new and under-utilized, after people flock to them, I want to move on to the next shiny object. It’s a bit ironic that, ultimately, adoption of the stuff we evangelize drives us away from it, but frankly, that’s what we do as a so-called innovation lab. We chase shiny objects.

Rich told me today he was contemplating deleting his Facebook account. The reasoning is obvious. Too

Jim Marion’s PeopleTools BookJuly 21 2009

I should have posted this before, but better late than never.

Friend of the ‘Lab, PeopleSoft guru and all around smart guy, Jim Marion is going to be in print. His book, titled PeopleSoft PeopleTools Tips & Techniques, should be going to press sometime next Summer, July-ish.

You can preorder it now, if you’re so inclined.

I know there are a lot of PeopleSoft people out there who would definitely benefit from Jim’s wealth of knowledge.

Little known factoid, when Rich came to the ‘Lab in June 2007, he tapped Jim to replace him in his old job, just in case you needed someone to vouch for him.

Congratulations to Jim on his soon-to-be author status. You can read Jim’s blog for more PeopleSoft goodness.

Join the ORACLENERD FamilyJuly 21 2009

Chet, the ORACLENERD, dropped me a note yesterday. He’s thinking about expanding his empire to include more Oracle content.

His plan is to reach out to people in the Oracle blogging community who don’t post very frequently (ahem, John P.) to see if they’d like to join his Nerd Herd.

Sounds like a good idea. Team blogs are a great way to spread the work and add new perspective (unlike this blog), and I assume Chet’s plan is to spread his coverage to include some new areas of Oracle with which he’s not familiar.

I think Chet will make an announcement or chase people on Twitter, his latest obsession, but since I’ve been low on content lately, even for me, I figured I could help spread the word here. If you’re interested in joining the ORACLENERD family, hit Chet up on his blog or on Twitter (@oraclenerd).

I did pepper him

A Computer for Your ParentsJuly 20 2009

This post in Forbes today, “Apple’s Secret Weapon: Your Mom” came across Techmeme a little while ago.

While the post centers around Apple’s financials and quarterly earnings report due this week, it interested me because I’m currently planning to bring my parents into the now with a Macbook Pro.

A few months ago, they finally conceded to the future and said they’d “have” to get a computer. Somehow they’ve managed to survive without one for all this time. I know, hard to believe, but somehow they did it. Seems like the main driver is the desire to consume news and information, not online shopping or Facebook or anything like that.

Just the news. I fully expect them to continue calling me to buy stuff for them on Amazon, but I suppose it’ll be easier with the exact URL. Of course, as an Oregonian, I don’t pay sales tax (or pump my own gas). Win.

We debated options for a while, and I politely insisted on Mac for a number of reasons. They haven’t used computers much and won’t be doing a lot other than browsing, so there’s not a lo