I love it when technology works. When my mum, in her 60’s, can share her epic drive through Africa with over 200 people; and just chat to her grandkids every day as if she’s in the room.
From a young age I’ve been entranced by technology that works. Technology that enables. Technology that brings people together across time and space. In fact of all of the technologies I’ve studied, supported, designed, and implemented, it’s those that connect people that have enthralled me.
I’m old enough to remember our first TV, our first colour TV, and remember being gobsmacked by our first (top-loader) VCR. Imagine being able to pause Magnum P.I.
Touch-tone, then mobile telephones. Hand-held scanners. Modems. Ethernet. ISDN. Video Conferencing. Digital cameras. Messaging systems. PDA’s. The Internet. ICQ. Instant Messaging. Wi-Fi. ADSL. Smartphones. Webcams. VOIP. Social Media. I feel like I was born into exactly the right age, as I’ve worked with all of these (and their underlying) technologies. And loved every problem-solving, solution designing, people enabling second!
When sales people can submit an order whilst having coffee with their client. When a family can share a birthday dinner in real-time across oceans. That’s when I appreciate the true power of technology.
It’s also why I get frustrated when it doesn’t work.
I’ve been using Office Communicator, and Live Meeting for about 4 years now. Much of that, whilst working for Microsoft.
Office Communicator? Rock solid. I use this tool daily to have full-screen, Hi-Def video conferences with my work colleagues. Need to collaborate on a document, no problem, just share my second monitor. It really does enable us to work without the need for corporate offices. It just works. In working, it changes the way we can work!
Office Live Meeting on the other hand. Where do I start? Suffice to say, std operating procedure in organisations is to get to a meeting 15 mins early to set up Live Meeting. Even so, I have yet to see a Live Meeting start on time, with everyone connected. More often than not, half the participants are struggling to connect, or to get the video working, or the audio, or their presentation. Nightmare. Frustrating.
When it does work, invariably on a high-speed network, it’s great. Multi-party video, audio, screen sharing. But not once have I had a seamless experience, no matter the technical experience of the attendees. I mean, I can get it to work, but that’s pointless if people on the other end of the line cannot!! Even if it’s just one person. Especially if they’re not technical.
Skype on the other hand? Well, my mum uses that. And my daughters. No setup time, just click the green button. Need to add my brother from NYC into the conversation? No problem.
Oh – and it’s free. And it allows you to call people overseas on their phones for next to nothing. For people to call you, when you’re travelling, for the cost of a local call. In fact to give yourself a foreign phone number allowing people to call your mobile from the other end of the world, without even the need for a computer. It just works.
I love it when technology works. It’s why all of the collaborating I do for usergroups, and with my family, uses Skype. I have pushed the Live Meeting barrow for too long. But it just. Doesn’t. Work.
What technology do you have to use that frustrates you?
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
We run our company on Skype. Love it. It is incredibly robust. The only time it really fails is if someone’s ISP has problems. Even then it is usually the last application to disconnect.
As for technology that frustrates me. I think the last time technology frustrated me was the day before I switched to using a Mac
Thanks for visiting Michael,
I know a number of companies that use Skype for Business PABX. I think the highest profile is perhaps Quicksilver.
What were you using before the Mac? Linux, or perhaps Commodore64 :-p
Ditto on that. When the employees of the vendor can’t make the product work (and like Roger I, too, have only witnessed many many failed attempts and no successes), you know you’ve got a problem. Funny that almost every GoToMeeting experience I’ve had has been successful.
Frustrations? Try the Sydney University student website(s). They (yes, they – multiple logins depending on who owns the data you are trying to interact with) will either make you laugh or cry.
And don’t even get me started on the quest for the universal remote control…
Thanks for your thoughts Janet,
University websites (and online policies in general) have brought out the same laugh/cry response in me too. Especially at 11:58pm when you’re “no, you cannot have an extension” application is due, in Word 97 format on a Newsgroup Forum. Oh, the memories
Cheers
Rog42
It was Windows XP. I still use Windows now just in a VM. I really can’t complain about it because it’s not like I’ve ever written an OS and they are amazingly complex pieces of software.
I thought of some technology that let me down. PayPal and eBay let me down recently. eBay for sending so many scammers my way when I tried to sell something that I just gave up and PayPal for rejecting my claim when someone sent me an item that was significantly not as described.