Wayne's Small Biz Tech Blog

Thank you for trying to do business with Verizon...

 "Thank you for trying to do business with Verizon."

That is what the support tech said when we ended our call. I had to laugh, it had been a long call and the support guy couldn't help. Since it was a weekend there was no one he could elevate the issue to. This was my third attempt in a week to help a customer of mine and it needed to be addressed by Verizon. They had not completed the installation on the line and there was nothing more I, or the support tech, could do.

In my business, calling tech support usually means getting to talk to people all over the world. By the way, always be nice to support people, they have all the power to help ... or not to help. I talk to India a lot. Mexico too. This time I got someone from right here in the US and it was refreshing to hear the simply stated truth for a change. He couldn't help. End of story. Time to move on and go on with our lives instead of acting out some charade that help is coming when it isn't. Yes, that is common these days in technical support.

The end result for Verizon in this case was that the customer stopped trying to do business with Verizon and went back to their old provider. Just a blip on the radar for Verizon, I'm sure. No big deal. They have plenty of other customers and now one less installation to complete.

It did get me thinking though. For us small business owners we can't afford to lose customers. I started asking myself, is there anything in my business that would end up with us saying "thank you for trying to do business with us"? Our goal is to satisfy every customer that wants to do business with us and pay us for the service. If we don't, they will find someone that will.

Every now and then I get a call for a project that seems like it could be more difficult than most. Some jobs you know will just be more time consuming than others. Even so, I don't want my customers ever saying "I tried to do business with them but couldn't". Instead, I try to express a "Thank you for doing business with us!" attitude whenever I can.

Are there any obstacles to doing with business with you that you have in your business that need to come down? It's worth thinking about, and correcting.

Gut & Anxiety, Who Knew?

Be forewarned, I'm going to stray away from business and technology in today's post.

My daughter has had anxiety issues. We're not talking about the "nervous about the test in school" variety. We're talking about off the persistence and severity scale. I believe her record was about 7 hours at a level 10 as we drove her around Las Vegas while visiting family from 10:00 PM to 5:30 AM. We're talking about your above average anxiety, or so I thought.

My wife and I have been dealing with this for four years, so we've ventured down many paths trying to solve this problem. We've tried:

• .. to Ignore it, it will go away (it didn't, it got worse)
• School intervention (made it worse)
• Medication (made her worse and suicidal)
• Children's Hospital (recommended a blood test and Prilosec, not much help here)
• Nutritionist (got her to understand how important protein is)
• Therapy (good on coping skills)

While the therapy helped with her coping mechanisms, the anxiety persisted and still at extremely high levels. My wife Anita has long thought that the solution was food related. She didn't get much support on this from any of the medical experts. I was skeptical, too.

About two months ago (Jan. 24th to be exact) we had lost hope. Four years is a long time to deal with an issue like this, and it had integrated itself into every aspect of our life. Getting any sleep before midnight was just not any part of our reality. A meal at a restaurant? There were few we could go to, and even those we would end up paying for it that night with an excessive attack.

Anita had been talking to our daughter-in-law Julie, who recommended the GAPS diet. It stands for Gut And Psychology Syndrome. Initially skeptical, she won me over when she said, "If kids acted the way they do today 40 years ago, they would be institutionalized". The definition of what was once called a mental illness had somehow become the new 'normal' for many children, within my lifetime. It was time to give this a try, what did we have to lose?

GAPS is not a "diet" as in a way to lose weight. It's a lifestyle change:

• No grains (corn, bread, flour, etc.)
• No starches (rice, potatoes, etc.)
• No sugar
• Nothing "processed"
• Only Organic

We have seen more progress in the last 4 weeks than in all of the last 4 years! My wife is out tonight on a Mom's night out (they do crafts or something!) and my daughter is sleeping. This was not even a remote possibility before GAPS. My daughter who was underweight, has gained weight and is now a low end 'healthy weight' and gaining. I've lost 3" around my waist. My wife is losing weight (again though, GAPS is NOT a weight loss program!) and looking GREAT.

GAPS is all about food allergies and avoiding processed food and pesticides found in a lot of today's food chain. My daughter constantly had dark circles under her eyes. I recently learned that this is an indication of a food allergy. Not one Doctor told us this. My daughter is sensitive to corn (its in everything processed, it seems), milk, and probably soy. She no longer has those dark circles since we started GAPS. I recently read to Kindergarten children as a part of a Rotary project. There were a lot of kids with those dark circles in the class I read to.

We did have had one setback, we introduced dairy into her diet in too large a quantity and all at once. Prayer got us through that. Thank you Pastor Myron!

Our grocery costs have gone up substantially because of the organics and grain alternatives, but we budget this gladly. If that's the price to pay for having a 'normal' family life, its a small price to pay. Anita and I started this diet to support our daughter. I don't think we could ever go back. Do the research yourself and make your own conclusions. I recommend you Google 'GMO hazards, 'corn fed beef vs grass fed beef',and 'corn allergies in children' (see http://www.cornallergens.com/symptoms/corn-allergy-symptoms.php.  I believe it relates to many of today's childhood illnesses now requiring medication).

GAPS has been a life changer for us. I recently realized our situation was in no way unique, although we thought it was. We felt no one could help, understood the problem, and few, if any, had experienced or were going through what we were. If you know someone that might benefit from GAPS, please pass this on.

Thank you.

Tech (Patent) Wars

In case you missed it, the big Tech News this week is that Apple is suing HTC, the makers of the Nexus Onesmart phone, for patent infringement. The Nexus One utilizes Google's Android 2.1 operating system software. Google is not named in the suit even though most of the patents named are related to the operating system, not the hardware.

The suit claims HTC violated 20 of Apple's patents, some recent, most 10 years old or more. Most of the patents are broadly defined ("Unlocking A Device By Performing Gestures On An Unlock Image") or quite basic (conserving power by reducing voltage).

Most companies these days build large portfolios of patents. Most use them in countersuit situations, like Apple is doing in it's own patent infringement defense against Nokia. What makes this case disturbing is that Apple appears to be simply using the much smaller HTC to strike at its former friend Google. A direct attack against Google would be much more difficult and costlier simply because Google has a larger war chest and bigger guns than HTC.

Apple is just your basic schoolyard bully in this case. It should be noted that Apple has a good number of "innovations" that were simply features borrowed and extended royalty-free from pre-existing technologies (google: Xerox GUI Apple).

Even more surprising in this case is that Apple is tarnishing their image while giving the Nexus One and Droid free publicity. A lot of the techie's that are driving the smart phone market are taking a good long look at the Nexus One now, just to see what Apple is so afraid of. It just might be better than the iPhone!

In my opinion Apple has never been that nice little company their ads like to portray so well. I believe Apple is what everyone accuses Microsoft of being, only worse. Look for the Anti-Trust suits to start against Apple in the near future.

Hopefully Apple doesn't have a patent on "Using a Hand-based Extremity to Strike a Group of Alphabet Labeled Objects to Create Text Images on a Screen". Hmmm, maybe I should go see a patent lawyer ...

To Specialize or Not To Specialize...

... that IS the question in this economy.

In my industry, I am flooded by competitors that don't specialize. The big box computer retail stores don't just sell computers and software these days. They do computer repairs, they sell and install LCD TVs, they install home networks, they sell cameras, and even offer wireless cell phones and plans.

For the most part, they just don't do any of these exceptionally well. Some of the worst cases I've ever seen of arrogance toward a customer occurred in the big box stores. Many of the worst computer horror stories I've encountered begin with "I brought my computer to <insert big store name here> to get rid of a virus and ..." The list goes on for just about everything they do. Do they get the job done? Usually. Do I know people who could have done it better, for less cost, or just a whole lot less hassles? Absolutely.

Like a lot of small businesses, I also compete with the "part-timers". This is big here in the region where I live, Cape Cod. Slap a magnet on the side of your vehicle at lunch and after work, and you're now an "On-site Technician"! If you are the proverbial "jack of all trades - master of none", then just travel around with a bunch of magnets to slap on the vehicle to suit the next job.

We are in an era of generalization, not specialization. The economy has a lot to do with it, companies and individuals trying to make a buck any way they can. Whether it's an arrogant big box store technician with little experience in computers outside of WoW berating a customer for their lack of technical knowledge or the part-timer unable to keep current in the field due to the day job, the consumer is getting the short end of the deal.

Contrast this to what is happening on the Internet. There has been a shift from "slap everything we do onto a web page' approach to a more targeted, specialized message. Web shoppers are turning into sophisticated web researchers. While "cheap prices" are still important for commodity based web businesses, specialization and relevancy is becoming much more important and profitable for others. For a great example of this take a look at Cultures For Health who specializes in healthy food starters and cultures. Not being everything for everybody is what makes them both unique and successful.

As small business owners we love what we do, or we wouldn't have started the business. We know our craft. We educate ourselves daily. We build our business networks with other specialists. We figure out ways we can serve our customers better. Our success depends on building goodwill and trust. We have much more at stake than the big-box-stores and magnet-jockeys.

And that's good for the customer.

Parenting Your Clients

As a small business owner, one of the most difficult problems for me is time management. As a fellow business owner likes to say, "The best part of owning a business is getting to decide which 20 hours you want to work." I couldn't sum it up any better.

 

I recently met with a business associate who is a business coach, Helen Kosinski of Better Than Ever Coaching (www.betterthanevercoaching.com), to talk about time management. Or more accurately, my lack of it.

 

Somehow we got on the subject of a parenting class my wife and I are attending. After six kids between us my wife and I have come to realize we know very little about raising kids. So, we might as well learn another theory. This class is all about letting your kids own their problems and to be responsible for resolving them. Basically, when presented with a problem from your child you go through several responses:

 

The first is "Oh No!", for example when Suzie says "I forgot my jacket on the bus!!!!"

 

The second response is "That's a problem!", when Suzie further explains that she forgot to tell you she "brought the Tud the Turtle in for Show and Tell without asking, <sniff sniff> and Tud's in her jacket pocket <sniff sniff> on the bus!!!!"

 

For the third response we're told to say "So what are you going to do about it?" and let them take ownership of the problem and let them come up with a solution that either doesn't involve you or involves you on your terms, not theirs.

 

I jokingly told Helen that this might work on some of my customers who drag me into problems that I am not there to resolve. She simply replied, "Why not try it". Hmmmm. After thinking about it, sometimes my time management issues are related to taking ownership of a customer's problem that I wasn't initially brought in to fix.

 

Sure enough, I got to try it out the next day. I was called in to set up a network for a medium size office. While I was setting up the network, the client kept mentioning the company had additional connectivity problems that hadn't been done correctly when the office was first built.

 

Then she said, "Our fax line wasn't wired properly!" I responded with, "Oh no!"

 

She continued, "We need our fax line, we're missing a lot of important faxes!!!!" Keeping to the script, I replied "That's a problem."

 

"But the boss wants to have the fax situation resolved today and told me to get it done!!!" Okay, this was too easy. "So what are you going to do about it?" I asked.

 

There are countless times where I would offer to help and suddenly the problem was mine. The former owner of the problem would disappear. Sometime the problem would grow and take much more time than expected affecting both my schedule and profitability.

 

Once you take ownership of a problem on the client's terms, it's very difficult to get any concessions on those terms later. In other words it's your problem until the problem is resolved for little or no financial reward.

 

In my fax problem case when I asked what she was going to do about it she told me a few of the options she had and asked if I could see if I could fix it. We negotiated the terms and conditions before the work was done. Using my parenting class technique, I took ownership of the problem on my terms - and both parties were happy.

 

Now if only it would work so well on my daughter ….

Preview: Windows 7

A Preview of Windows 7

Microsoft released Windows 7 Release Candidate 1 (RC1) to affiliates and partners last week and made it available to the general public May 5th. The RC release of Windows 7 will be available at least until the end of July 2009.

There is no cost to download or use the pre-release versions of Windows 7, however the product will shut down every two hours after March 1, 2010 and then expires on June 1st, 2010. Microsoft recommends installing a non-expiring version (meaning buy it) prior to March 1st. The download is available here.

It has been fairly well documented that Windows 7 is easier on resources than Vista and the minimum requirements have been developed with 2007-era PCs and better. So, naturally I decided to load it on the oldest PC I could find here at Malibu-Blue, a 2004 vintage Compaq Presario with an AMD Athlon XP 2600+ processor and 1 GB RAM.

Download & Installation

There are a few things you need to know before downloading Windows 7 RC. It's a very big file to download, the 32-bit version is 2.35 GB (yes Gigabytes), and it is an ISO image file so you will need to know how to burn a DVD from an ISO image. There are free ISO burning programs out there like ISOBuster and Active ISO Burner if you don't already have DVD burning software that handles ISO images (available for download from www.Tucows.com, www.Download.com, or search Google for 'ISO burning software').

After burning an Install DVD, the installation of Windows 7 is relatively easy. Updating from Vista is reported to be very easy. I took the more difficult route of upgrading from XP Home. To upgrade from XP you need to run the File & Transfer Wizard included in the Windows 7 upgrade directory. Unfortunately, it doesn't tell you until after it copies the installation files and is ready to upgrade. All in all it was only a minor setback and the rest of the installation was relatively simple and much less extensive and time consuming than previous Window version upgrades. 

Performance

Okay, I'm impressed. Even on this old machine there is a noticeable difference in the performance. The operating system loads faster and runs programs better than the previous XP Home. This may be partially due to less programs running now since not all of the previously loaded software has been reinstalled. Even so, the old computer is running as well, if not better, than it did with XP. And this is on a computer that I would not even try to run Vista on (I recommend 2GB RAM as a minimum if your using Vista, 4GB if you don't want to be frustrated). Remember, this old PC that I put Windows 7 on only has 1GB RAM and an old AMD chip.

Why is is this important? More and more consumers and businesses are keeping their PCs longer. If Microsoft released another bloated version of Windows like Vista, it would have been the beginning of the end in my opinion.

Windows 7 will run very well on older PCs, and even better on new ones. This is good news for those not wanting to spend extra money on a new PC and wanting to keep their old PC running for a while longer.

Windows XP Mode

Businesses have been, and continue to be, very reluctant to move to Vista. It's understandable, since there were many driver compatibility issues and business software that ran on XP but required costly version upgrades to work on XP. Some software wasn't readily available even if businesses wanted to upgrade to Vista.

Microsoft really had no options with driver compatibility issues. They had to deal with the problem with the release of Vista or later on down the road. They chose to deal with it with Vista. Basically, since Windows has historically been an "open" system allowing just about anyone with a programmer to create hardware and software drivers, it had become a major source of instability. Windows 7 utilizes much of the same driver requirements as Vista.

So, Microsoft's problem with businesses is two-fold. Windows 7 needs a way to support legacy software that ran on XP AND needs to support those flaky drivers too. Remarkably, they have done this with Windows 7's "Windows XP Mode".

What Windows XP Mode does is allow software written for Windows XP to run in a virtual XP environment as if it was running in Windows 7. In other words, you can run any old software built to run in Windows XP, and the associated drivers, in the actual XP operating system instead of an emulated version of XP.

Unfortunately this is not a solution for everybody, since this feature requires a PC that supports hardware virtualization which has been available for about 3 years now. Many newer PCs have the capability but its turned off by default. Computers older than 3 years or ones that don't support virtualization will need to be replaced in order to take advantage of this feature. For many businesses, this is a less costly and easier to implement solution than upgrading their software. 

Unfortunately, the PC I'm testing on cannot run Windows XP Mode so I have not been able to test the feature first hand. For more info on hardware virtualization, click here.

Anti-virus Issues

Microsoft provides a list of Anti-Virus software vendors with products compatible with Windows 7 RC1. Norton 360 from Symantec is on the list of vendors and products. I was disappointed to find that Norton 360 version 3.0 is not yet 100% compatible. It did install (with some difficulty), but some of the required drivers fail to install, specifically email scanning, leaving the PC somewhat vulnerable.

Other users note that the free versions of AVG and Avast! run well on Windows 7 RC1, but I have not yet personally confirmed this.

Windows 7 is still considered pre-release, so fully supported anti-virus products like those developed by Symantec should be available before actual release. It is still disappointing that they were not ready for this well publicized pre-release. Microsoft has provided a list of anti-virus software vendors working on Windows 7 compatible products (click here).

User Account Control (Allow or Deny!)

One of the major complaints about Vista was the constant prompt to "continue or stop", seemingly whenever a user tried to do anything on the computer (the infamous "allow or deny" in those Mac ads). What this feature really does is notify the user whenever a system-level change is attempted, either directly by the user or indirectly by a software program. This feature made Vista more secure but very frustrating to use. Microsoft says that the UAC was the single most complained about feature in Vista.

The problem with Vista was there were only two settings, "on" or "off". For Windows 7 there are now four levels for the UAC. The User can shut it off, only notify the user when a program attempts a change but don't dim the desktop. only notify the user when a program attempts a change and dim the desktop (the default), or always notify the user the same way Vista did. It needs to be noted that dimming the desktop is more secure since if this is shut off programs could interfere with the prompt (meaning disable, make their own, etc.).

The new default in Windows 7 should make the system less annoying to use while maintaining most of the protection offered by Vista systems.

What's Missing In Windows 7?

Microsoft did take some things away in Windows 7. Microsoft no longer bundles Windows Movie Maker, Windows Photo Gallery, and Windows Mail (formerly called Outlook Express). These applications, which used to be included in the Windows installation, are now only available as a separate download in the Windows Live suite of desktop applications.

This is a strange move on Microsoft's part since just about every other operating system like Linux and Apple's OS X provide similar apps. However, none of those other systems have the same anti-trust issues that Microsoft faces.

On a more positive note, unlike Vista the Games folder which includes games like Solitaire and Minesweeper are installed by default in Windows 7.

Conclusion

It looks like Microsoft may have an answer in Windows 7 to the Vista critics and businesses holding on as long as they can to Windows XP. Microsoft is doing all they can to put an end to XP and migrate everyone to Windows 7.

The operating system runs well and requires less memory, much more so than Vista, even on older machines. It appears to be as advertised, less of a resource hog. It seems to me to work more efficiently than even XP. As consumers and businesses struggle with the current economy they are keeping older computers longer. Windows 7 will allow them to do so. This is great news for all Windows users.

And most businesses (and consumers) will still be able to run their favorite Windows XP software. Microsoft may have learned a lesson or two from Windows 7 predecessor.

And the pre-release versions are free until June 2010. Unfortunately as of this writing Microsoft has not announced how much Windows 7 will cost after June 1st, 2010.

If you have any questions about Windows 7 please feel free to email me at wayne@malibu-blue.com.

Don't Worry, But Be Prepared For April 1st

April Fool's Day is around the corner and with it another threat of a virus attack. This has become common enough that some of the major news outlets are giving it little attention or even ignoring it completely. Perhaps they remember all to well of the "cry wolf" approaches to the "Millennium bug", "Michelangelo virus", "Blaster", and so many more that just fizzled out in contrast to the dire predictions of doom.

This time there is a real and imminent danger, sort of. Back in October the virus "Conficker" was found that exploited a vulnerability in Windows XP and Vista. By November it was running rampant and slithering its way into computers everywhere. Like a lot of viruses and other malware, this one infects a computer by downloading what is called a "Trojan" (it pretends to be something else) onto the PC and then goes to work disabling what it believes can destroy it. This includes disabling anti-virus software running on the system and blocking access to anti-malware and other security related websites.

Although its not known exactly what Conficker will do on and after April 1st, it is known that it is building its own "botnet". The worms creators will be able to control the infected computers to do their bidding. The infected computers are set to "phone home" to control servers and get updates to the virus and possibly new instructions on what to do. Some analysts believe that the "botnet" will launch a denial of service attack on sites like yahoo.com, wordpress.com, typepad.com and many other sites.It could also be used by its creators to send out spam emails and phishing attacks. WARNING: DO NOT SEARCH THE INTERNET FOR CONFICKER AND GO TO ANY SITE YOU ARE NOT FAMILIAR WITH, APPARENTLY MANY FAKE SITES HAVE BEEN SET UP THAT TRY TO INSTALL THE VIRUS INSTEAD OF EDUCATE ABOUT IT.

Shortly after Conficker was found, Microsoft released a patch to fix the vulnerability that let the virus into the system. This patch was distributed through the normal Windows Updates.

As of this writing Conficker is on its third variation. Each variation is getting more sophisticated but for the third iteration, Conficker.C, it is believed the computer must have been previously infected by one of the previous two variants (most likely since the patch Microsoft provided blocks access). As is common with these types of viruses, it mutates by updating itself through its own little network or servers it creates. 

So who is in danger of being affected by Conficker?

• Your computer must be running Windows XP or Vista

• Your computer does not run regular Windows Updates. The security updates provided by Microsoft to patch the vulnerability also included a malware removal tool to detect and remove Conficker.

• Your computer's anti-virus software definitions are out of date. It is estimated that 90% of the anti-virus software providers adequately find and remove this virus, including Conficker.C.

So, if you run Windows and do regular Windows Updates you are not affected.

If you use any of the major anti-virus software products and keep your subscription and definitions up to date, you are not affected.As a side note, beware of anti-virus software that is included free or with trial periods. These are notorious for being out of date or simply not adequate. The majority of PCs that have anti-virus software (sometimes even up to date) that are brought in for virus removal have the free McAfee included with Verizon, Comcast, Dell, and other PC manufacturers.

If you use another operating system other than Windows XP or Vista, you are not affected. Its not that other operating systems are more secure, its just that virus writers want the biggest market.

WHAT TO DO NOW TO PREPARE FOR APRIL FIRST (WINDOWS USERS):

Make sure your Windows Updates are up to date (http://update.microsoft.com).

Make sure your anti-virus software subscription has not expired and your definitions are up to date. If you are using a free version of anti-virus software it is recommended that you consider purchasing any of the major anti-virus software products available:

• Symantec (Norton) http://www.symantec.com

• Kapersky http://www.kapersky.com

• Trend Micro http://www.trendmicro.com

• McAfee http://www.mcafee.com

Backup your data. It's always a good idea to back up your important data regularly, not just for April Fools Day because with viruses everyday can be April Fools Day.

Coming Soon: IE8 and Web Slices!

It's no secret that Microsoft's Internet Explorer has been losing ground to other browsers for years, namely to Firefox.Some estimates have Internet Explorer usage slightly below Firefox (44.8% vs. 45.5% for Firefox) as of the beginning of this year. This user base loss is somewhat astounding when you realize that the same statistics in 2004 showed that 84.7% of web users were using a version of Internet Explorer. 

Microsoft is hoping to reverse this trend with the upcoming release of Internet Explorer 8. As of this writing IE8 RC1 (Release Candidate 1) is available for download.  Release Candidates are still what is called "beta", meaning it's not considered fully cooked.

So What's New And Exciting In IE8?

There is very little outwardly that is going to make the average browser user excited. Many users won't notice much difference from IE7 at all. Some features like the "Suggested Sites" button that "uses your browsing history to make personalized website suggestions" cause no excitement at all. At least it has a "turn off" button.

The real enhancements are behind the scenes. Microsoft appears to have focused on speed enhancements, privacy concerns, and developer tools. I'm going to skip over the geek stuff that most of you could care less about and lets talk about the changes in IE8 that really affect us:

Speed:  Many believe that Internet Explorer has lost ground to other browsers for two reasons, privacy/security problems and the perception that it is bloat-ware that runs slow.

Microsoft has addressed the speed issuein IE8 and in my unscientific analysis (no benchmarks performed) does load pages faster than in IE7. I would say it is comparable in speed to the current release version of Firefox. Unfortunately for IE, Google's Chrome and Firefox's Beta 3.1 seem to be already a step ahead of IE8 in this area. Still, IE7 users will notice an improvement, but it is doubtful proponents of Firefox will rush to jump back to IE because of this speed enhancement.

Privacy: Microsoft is mostly just keeping up with the competition with IE8's new "InPrivate Browsing" feature. This feature is designed to prevent Internet Explorer from storing data about your web browsing session. This includes cookies, temporary files, history and other data as well as preventing your browsing details from being shared with other websites.  Much of this feature is catch-up to Chrome's "InCognito Mode", Safari's "Private Browsing" and Firefox's add-in that does a similar function.

IE8 does seem to take it a step further with "InPrivate Blocking" which basically limits the type of web usage tracking done by referral and advertising tracking systems like Google Analytics. This will most likely be welcomed by privacy concerned users but very much disliked by advertisers and companies that benefit from this information, like Google (Coincidence? ... hmmmmm).

Security: IE8 makes some good strides here with enhanced protection from phishing sites and malware. Internet Explorer now has protection from clickjacking, a type of attack that tricks web users into revealing information or opening up their system by clicking on seemingly innocent web page buttons and links. Clickjacking is a problem for all browsers, not just IE, and most have incorporated similar protection. Still, this is good news for IE users and for Internet Explorer's development as a product.

Web Slices & Compatibility Mode: I saved the best for last. In my opinion Microsoft has two basic, but very large, problems to overcome. 

• Internet Explorer has historically followed it's own standards, not the standards recognized and published by WC3 as have other browsers(the authority on the subject).

• There is a strong anti-Microsoft sentiment among a large portion of the web browser using public.

Microsoft addresses the first problem quite well with the new IE8 enhancements and the "Compatibility Mode" feature. Because Internet Explorer held such a large user share for so long, web designers have been forced to create pages to the Microsoft standard and hope for the best when displayed on other browsers. Now that IE8 conforms more to the WC3 standard, many existing web designs will not display properly in the IE8 normal mode. 

So, Microsoft built in recognition of the old standard if it is being used on a web page. When detected, the user is given a "Compatibility Mode" icon to change the display mode to show the site just as it would be viewed in IE7. This means IE8 can properly display sites developed using the WC3 standard AND existing sites designed to be "best viewed in Internet Explorer 6.0 or better".

Overall, I don't think Firefox users will jump back to Internet Explorer based on the new features and enhancements. Instead, I believe Microsoft added Web Slices to get businesses to push users towards using Internet Explorer 8.

In a nutshell, Web Slices can be used to let interested parties know when specific information changes on a web page through the use of RSS feeds. Simple HTML code needs to be added a webpage and the user takes care of the rest.

As a test, I added a Web Slice in just a few minutes to my website Malibu-Blue.com. Whenever I make a change to the slice, anyone who added my slice to their Favorites will get the updated information very quickly. I don't have to do a thing! 

So, what can be done with Web Slices for our businesses?

• We can easily notify our customers of "Specials"
• We can send changing Event notifications to our customers
• Any marketing that you would normally send by email can be summarized on a Web Slice to drive customers to your website to learn more.

Of course for us business owners to take advantage of this technology we will need to encourage our clients and web visitors to use IE8. For many of us, it may be worth it.

The next challenge is to educate our customers on how to subscribe to our Web Slices, since user interaction is a requirement. They have to find the slice and then actually subscribe to it by adding it to their Favorites. This will be an initial frustration with many of our not-so-Internet-savvy customers.

Web Slices do have some limitations, but are a very good start in the right direction for those businesses not already taking advantage of blogs and RSS feeds. It's another tool for getting our message out to clients and potential clients.

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We Work For God

The sign was a simple one, right below where the cash register sat on the counter. My wife smiled and pointed at it as she went to pay for her items. I smiled back with a nod.

"We Work for God", it said. We had visited the little hobby shop several times and had come to know the owner a little. He was a tall, big shouldered, man yet very mild mannered. Sort of like if Clark Kent had chosen to sell toys and hobbies instead of being a reporter.

Each time we spoke, it was becoming apparent that the economy was taking a toll. The building his store was in had just been sold. He said that while business was good, the "For Sale" sign that had been up for many months had hurt sales. The new landlord, he told us, was not flexible and the rents in the area too expensive for a business like his. He was closing the store at the end of January, for a variety of reasons, and moving out of the area.

Lists of major stress factors usually include moving and job changes. Yet somehow, this guy seemed to be as stress free as anyone I've ever met. Didn't complain about the situation. He wasn't running around the place frantically. He tended to the customers as friendly and helpful as ever. I briefly met his wife and she was just as calm. I wondered how they both held it all together.

My daughter started collecting nutcrackers last Christmas. The toy and hobby shop had two large plaster nutcrackers outside the door. Since the store was closing, I asked if they were for sale. They were, but I would have to pick them up later in the week. When I arrived to pick them up the store owner asked if my wife and I liked the sign. He noticed our acknowledgment of the sign. I told him we did and were happy to see the sign. In this part of the country a positive sign about God is rare. I told him we had been looking for a good church in the area since we moved here and he referred us to exactly what we were looking for.  We had a brief, but very interesting, conversation.

We talked about how he had lost his daughter in a car accident a few years ago. Losing his store location didn't even rate on the same scale. Just like when he lost his daughter, his faith would get him and his wife through this. There were things out of his control and it was best to not worry about them. No matter what, everything would work out.

Our discussion reminded me about the final doctor visit I brought my father to. I had checklists of my dad's medications. I had an Excel spreadsheet of questions. I wanted to know more about his pain medications and how much he should have. I wanted them to demonstrate to me how to give him his Heparin shots, to make sure I was doing it correctly. Instead the doctor pulled me into a side office and simply said, "It doesn't matter, the end result will be the same".  No matter what, I couldn't control the situation. He made me understand that my father was beyond a cure and there was virtually nothing I could do to make things better now, or worse.

For me, this was not only a life lesson, but a business lesson as well. This economy is making it difficult for many of us small businesses. Don't waste time trying to control things that you can't control. It will only take time away from taking care of the business you can control.

To learn more about the hobby shop owner's daughter and the Scholarship Fund in her name, please visit kimhoule.tripod.com.

Gifts from Christmas' Past

Time keeps moving forward. My father passed this last October. Mom is unable to live on her own and now lives with us. My brother and sister are preparing the house we grew up in to be sold. Things are changing quickly.

While going through the house my sister found a stack of old VHS tapes. One was a tape labeled "Home Movies". The videos on the tape were shot between 1953 and the mid 1960s. There were videos from early birthdays, family Christmas parties, backyard cookouts, parades, and family members having fun. Each snippet is accompanied by organ music as played by my father. 

I vaguely remember when my father created this tapes. Most, if not all, of the videos had been filmed on 8 mm film. Dad was managing a camera department when a new machine came in that transfered old films to the then new video format, VHS. He transfered the films to VHS between customers. It helped him sell the machines, he said, by being able to show customers what it could do. In reality, I think he made the tapes for us, his wife and kids. It was a lot of work especially since he played and recorded his own music by himself just for the tapes.

I also remember that when my dad brought the tape home, we weren't all that interested in watching it. He would tell us how interested the customers were and want to play the tape but I was a teenager at the time. I had more important things to do than watch old scratchy films, even if they were on VHS cassettes now.

My father's gift at the time wasn't appreciated. Last weekend I watched the original VHS tape with my sister Debbie.Then I converted it to DVD so it would be easier to watch and easier to send to other family members. I watched the DVD with my Mom yesterday and with my wife tonight. I sent a copy of the DVD version to my brother so he can watch it with his family on Christmas Eve. There are a lot of memories on those tapes, and a lot of family history. Many in the videos have passed on. Some, like my father, just recently. Thank you Dad for putting those 8 mm films on VHS. Otherwise they would have been lost forever since I don't know anyone with an 8 mm projector these days.

Thank you Dad for taking the time to create the video and music to be handed down to future generations.I hope one of my kids someday will convert it from DVD to whatever the next great format is and tell the stories we tell about it to their kids.

I got a lot of presents and gifts growing up. I only remember a very few of them. This gift my father gave us that was so unappreciated at the time is one that will be remembered for a long time to come. I wish I was able to tell him when he was still here. I wish I was able to sit with him this Christmas and watch the tape with him. He would know how much of what he did is appreciated now.

This Christmas my wish for you is that you appreciate the things you have and have fond remembrances of things past.