MediaTemple does the right thing
I’ve posted a few critical stories regarding MediaTemple’s new grid server product lately.
- MediaTemple GridServer is a disaster
- MediaTemple GridServer is buggy
- bizhack now on media temple grid server
But I’m happy to be able to post good news: now MT is doing the right thing. I just got this email:
Dear John,
Our records indicate that you recently opened up a support request related to an open incident, wide-spread problem, or known issue relating to (mt) Media Temple’s new (gs) Grid-Server system. We want to apologize for the inconveniences this may have caused you.
We are compensating you 3 months of service as a concession for the troubles we may have caused you and your site. No action is required on your part. In the next 24 hours this will appear in your account in the form of a credit.
We will be announcing GRID MASTER RELEASE (v.1.1), and version upgrade which fixed hundreds of bugs and will dramatically improve your overall experience with this system.
(mt) Media Temple wishes to thank you sincerely for your patience during the course of these incidents. We believe the (gs) Grid-Server is an amazing system with new technology that has only begun to reach its real potential. Please look forward to announcements in the next few days relating to our new master release.
Thank you again.
Best Regards,
(mt) Media Temple
Hosting Operations
Good move, Mediatemple. Stuff happens, errors occur: that’s reality. I’m looking forward to good continued service from MT.
Tags: MT, mediatemple, customer, service, john koetsier
I want people this passionate about the tools I’m building
Thomas Hawk just bought a Mac after 18 years of wandering about in the valley of the shadow of Windows.
Here’s what he has to say:
I never in a million years would have thought that the design of a laptop would ever matter to me at all. It’s not about the aesthetics of a machine. It’s what it does for you right? Well, maybe. But this machine is damn sexy. I love the way that the keyboard is lit at night so that I can work in the dark. I love that glassy screen. There is something about the feel of the polished aluminum as I hold, no caress, the thing in my hands. It types perfectly. I love how I can use two fingers on the touch pad to move my screen down. I love how it has a hidden built in microphone and a small little video camera in the screen so that I can do video phone stuff through Skype super easily. I love how the little power supply has a magnet built into it and just kind of plugs itself in. And yes, I even love that glowing little Apple logo on the back of the case that I’ve scoffed at in the past at the various conferences and tech meetups that I’ve gone to.
(Every time I see some crappy Dell laptop or an IBM/Lenovo ThinkPad I look at all the sharp angles, notches, odd bulges, and unsimple lids and just shake my head.)
That aside, however, here’s the point: how extravagantly wonderful is it when people rave like this about a product, service, or tool that you’ve create? I passionately want people who use the stuff I build or contribute to to passionately love them.
(And yes, I am building something. Still pre-alpha, though.)
As I saw recently on a design site: design like you give a damn.
Tags: design, mac, thomas hawk, john koetsier
Snow again
Last year we had snow. This year, we have more:
Tags: snow, vancouver, flickr, john koetsier
Help! Help! I’m being oppressed!
I love the way some companies’ emailers talk.
(Check the “to” field.)
Reminds me of Monty Python.
Tags: monty python, email, suppressed, john koetsier
MediaTemple GridServer is a disaster
I moved to MediaTemple a few months ago on the promise of great service and an upcoming grid server product that was supposed to blow everything else out of the water.
Instead, it just blows.
It’s had multiple outages, some ephemeral, some lasting for significant fractions of an hour - like today’s. See also this almost comical account: we found a bug. Another bug! Yet another bug!
Now my control panel is down for “maintenance:”
Even now, this afternoon (4:20 PST), access to my blog, email, associated sites, and services is intermittent and slow. Not impressive. Not impressive at all.
I feel for the techs behind the service - I’ve been there, in that nasty, awful place where things just keep horribly going wrong. But the bottom line is: it needs to work, and it needs to work now.
MT better fix this soon or there will soon be many recent ex-MT clients.
. . .
. . .
Perhaps only a language geek like me appreciates it, but I love the idiocy of the error message above.
First of all, is there an actual error, or is maintenance being conducted? We all know the answer, but the error message is attempting to suggest the opposite. Secondly, is the control panel unavailable for use due to maintenance … or unavailable to be maintained? Again, the answer is obvious, but the wording is ridiculous.
Tags: MT, mediatemple, grid, gridserver, bizhack, john koetsier, buggy
Some web 2.0 is very 1.0
This is the (cough, ahem) Web 2.0 Journal story on the “habits of highly effective web 2.0 sites.” One habit, of course, is ease of use.
Note the part with actual content, which I’ve highlighted in yellow:
Not very simple, or clean, or user-focused. Apparently, web 2.0 is 90% advertising and interface.
(Of course, Dion Hinchcliffe probably has very little say in the actual look here, as it’s a Wall Street Journal production.)
Tags: web 2.0, journal, dion hinchcliffe, john koetsier, simplicity, webdesign
Eternally different
Peter Field, a friend and business associate of mine, sent me the following email a couple of weeks ago. I thought I’d post it here, with his permission:
Hi all my people,
Something really neat happened tonight but I have to preface my story with a little detail dating back to the summer.
We were so busy in the summer around the time of JJ’s birthday that we could not plan him a “friends party”, we just had a family dinner and celebrated his young life.
It is Jordy’s birthday today and the 14 of us that all live together (temporarily)… me and my 5, Sharon’s brother Paul and his 4, Mom & Dad and James (plus Auntie Joan a visitor not a resident!)… all joined us for dinner tonight to celebrate. Jordy wanted to have friends over but we wanted to keep things fair between the boys.
But this is what was so neat…
We had dinner and while everyone was around the table… a thought came to me. I grabbed Jordy and I stood with him in my arms before our whole family and announced that I wanted to say a few words… I told everyone how proud I am of my boy and drew attention to all his good qualities and focused on what I see God doing in him.
Then I asked if we, as a family, could spend some time praying for Jordy, thanking God for Jordy and pray blessings on him. I did not know where this would go so I suggested short sentence prayers for the kids and any adults that wanted to pray. I started and from there we spent a good 15mins as a group blessing this young lad.
Something interesting began to happen as we prayed for and blessed this young man… I felt his heart racing in my hands… like really pounding… I was wondering what was going on so I peeked… as I looked down upon my son I saw tears streaming down his face…not little guys… I’m talking gushers!
When we finished praying I asked Jordo why are you crying? He looked up at me and said “Dad I Am Soooo Happy!” He said as he heard the words of his family praying for him, blessing him and praising God his heart was filled to overflowing. He said that this is the best gift he has ever received and that this was the best birthday ever.
Now let’s keep things in perspective folks… prior to us praying he was given FIFA World Cup Soccer for the XBOX… and only a few moments later that meant nothing to him. As a father, I can’t imagine a better feeling, I was so happy to hear these sentiments from my 9 year old son. Praise God!
I looked at Sharon…Sharon looked at Paul…Paul looked at Mom…Mom looked at Joan…Joan looked at Dad…Dad looked at me…I looked at James…James looked at JJ… JJ looked at Jeni and you can only imagine the tears of joy that flowed. Praise you Jesus our God and King! I love the little moments in life that carry such impact… I am eternally different today. AMEN.
Wow. That is such an awesome experience.
Automation and customer service
We’ve all been on the phone to the cable/satellite/electric company, furiously navigating endless voice menus, endlessly pressing 0 for a real live human being.
When is automation a good customer service strategy? That’s the question Leo Bottary, a Hill & Knowlton VP, asked today.
Since I hate to write (or do) something and only use it once, here was my comment:
Knowing what to automate and how to automate is the key.
That’s a simple statement, but what does it mean? Here’s a simple rubric: are you automating to meet your needs or to meet your client’s needs?
If the former, you’re almost certain to negatively impact customer service and customer perception of your company. If the latter - and truly the latter - you run the risk of being a truly great, customer-friendly company.
Example: I’m always getting a new computer or having a hard drive crap out, which means I’m always transfering apps to my new computer.
It’s always a pain to deal with software licensing, which I never keep good track of because it’s boring and tedious and detail-oriented, all of which I hate.
But one company, Ambrosia Software (from whom I purchase Snapz Pro - a video screen capture utility) offers an email license code service. Simply send an email from the address with which you purchased your software and they’ll send you a new license code, having looked you up in their database.
Simple and extremely fast - almost instant - meaning great customer service.
Note that this is right for them - a technology company. It may not be right for a cappacino machine manufacturer.
Just speaking personally, I hate phoning for customer service. I wish all companies had great online customer service - which should include live chat.
Tags: customer, service, technology, automation, leo bottary, john koetsier
Home theatre dreaming …
I’m considering getting an entirely new home theatre set-up, and this is where I’m saving my research/exploration findings.
Television
I’m thinking of a 42″ Panasonic Plasma (at JR.com): TH-42PX60U. It’s extremely high-rated, great looking, and fits in the space I have.
Price: $1299 US, $1500 CAD
Receiver
Panasonic SA-XR57S (also at JR). I’ll be able to run everything into here and then run 1 HDMI cable into the TV. I’ll use my existing 5.1 speaker system.
Price: $279 US, $315 CAD
Upconverting DVD player
Panasonic DVD-S52S (JR). I figure I might as well pick up everything from one company - hopefully everything will play nicer together. This DVD player does the 720p output to make my current DVDs look great.
Price: $89 US, $100 CAD
TV programming
No point having an HD TV and standard definition signal, so I’ve got to ante up for the HD receiver, and I’m thinking StarChoice is a good choice. StarChoice PVR system. I could cheap out and just get the receiver without the PVR, saving $500, but then I’d have to get a VCR anyways and have an extra piece hanging around.
Price: $700
Other costs
Shipping: $200
Tax for taking into Canada: $140-280
Assorted cables, HDMI etc.: $200 (if I can get a good deal somewhere)
Total price
About $3200.
Ouch. Not sure yet if/when I’ll bite the bullet.
More incredible citizen-generated social media marketing: Nintendo Wii
Take a peek at this 45-second movie of parents surprising their kids with a Wii console:
Wouldn’t you want that kind of reaction for your product? I know I do. Kids screaming your name? Wow.
(On a personal note: as a parent, this is the one console I might buy … because Wii gameplay is social and physical, not just individual and virtual.)
Tags: social media, marketing, john koetsier, wii, console, games
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About
Sparkplug 9 is John Koetsier's blog on life, the universe, and everything,
but mostly the stuff you see big in the tags to the left.
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