Metue.com

I got a panicked phone call from my mother.   “Outlook won’t open.  It’s f*&*#$.  I think all my emails are lost.”

I asked what she was doing when it failed.  Nothing, she said, the problem started as soon as she turned on the computer but it was working fine yesterday.  I had her reboot, run through virus checks; everything I could think of.  Nothing worked.

When I got the computer I found the problem in the error logs: Virus Software.  No, not a virus, I mean – the Virus Protection Software itself was the problem.   The new computer came preinstalled with free trials of MacAfee’s everything-including-the-kitchen-sink security software.  What it didn’t come with was clear notice about what happens if you don’t purchase the software, or uninstall it, before it lapses.

The day that Outlook died, or seemed to, was the day all the free trials lapsed.  The anti-virus component had been paid for; the others were overlooked and ignored.  They didn’t like the lack of attention.  The anti-spam component (I believe) had a bond with Outlook and hung on like a jaded ex-lover.  Outlook tried to function but it was smothered by the anti-spam piece.

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About a two years ago I made my first foray into the blogging world by way of few comments on Roger McNamee’s blog: The New Normal. At the time, Mr. McNamee was promoting his new book and writing regularly on the site. His observations and his reputation, led to some ongoing discussions that included the thoughts of a wide range of people, including some high-tech executives like Marc Andreeson and Jeremy Allaire (founder of Brightcove, which was just beginning).

I was intrigued and as a passing experiment wrote a reply to two of Roger’s posts, one on Sarbane Oxley where Roger’s speculated the law was influencing corporate earnings guidance, and the other a post of Roger’s about the direction Internet video. With just a toe-in-the-water of blogging, I wrote both pieces anonymously using only an email address (lookingglass@gmail.com) to identify myself.

My replies were an experiment, but after recently seeing what I wrote in some old files, for the sake of nostalgia, and to own what I originally wrote, I decided to reprint my posts as well as links to the original discussion here on Metue today and tomorrow.

Today, Sarbanes-Oxley issues from February 2005(tomorrow net video):

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The jury is still out on who’s been naughty or nice. Santa and Hanukkah Harry are still divvying up gifts for distribution. Rudolph’s off somewhere recharging the batteries for his nose.  But a year is about to end and another to begin, so before anyone gets crazed under the mistletoe, or confused by the unseasonably warm weather in parts of the world, I’d like to throw out 10 gift suggestions, in case people don’t want to shop from my Amazon Wish List:

1. A fiscal quarter without a major accounting or legal scandal.
2.  A software update for my 5th Generation iPod that gives it the alphabetic search functionality announced in September for the 5.5G iPod.  Don’t penalize me for buying my iPod three months too early (I’d have waited but my 4th generation Ipod crashed and died after an update).  C’mon, we all know having to scroll from AC/DC to Modest Mouse before getting to Springsteen is an un-Apple-like cumbersome process.  You have the solution on a virtually identical product.  It’s just a software upgrade.  The web bulletin boards have been begging for it for months.  Look after your fans.  A little help Mr. Jobs? 
3. My dream Ipod (see yesterdays post)
4. A single accepted standard for High Definition DVD – I mean, BluRay? HD-Dvd?…I know the stakes are high and it’s a battle but the biggest loser right now is the consumer.  Can’t we all just get along?
5. A year when ticket prices – for movies or concerts or sporting events – don’t rise at a rate well above the rest of the Consumer Price Index.  If not, at this rate, sooner than later the classic Dinner and a Movie date is going to be just one or the other.
6. A viable means for sorting through the overwhelming volume of information now thrown at us.  Between the emails, the blogs, the daily newspapers, TV, radio, podcasts (if anyone actually has time for them), (and not to mention advertising) there’s barely enough time in the day to read the sports pages before the day is over.  Isn’t technology supposed to make life easier? I’m getting information overload.  As it stands, it’s the carpal tunnel syndrome for the next generation.
7. Legally downloadable movies – (full length videos, not just clips) – in DVD or better quality that I can play on my TV or my computer, or if I want, burn to a disc to watch later.   No more DVD by mail or rental store (sorry Netflix and Blockbuster but one of these days distribution has to catch up with technology no matter how much Digital Rights Management issues (DRM) and conflicted Entertainment Conglomerates slow the process)
8. A dinner date with Natalie Portman…or Cameron Diaz…or Claire Danes…or Jessica Alba …or Audrey Tautou…  really, I’m not that picky…I’d even cook.   (And if none are available -  I would graciously settle for a group dinner with any combination of the previous along with maybe Robin Williams, Steven Spielberg, Michael Crichton, Bono, Oprah and Uma at the table? I’d happily cook for the whole group too….unless Thomas Keller wants the job.)
9. A top ten ranking for Metue in the blog traffic reports or top 50 for a few consecutive months.
10. [this space is reserved for something I'll think of later….hindsight being 20/20 and all]