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Thanks $WEBEX_CON_EMAIL

4 Jun 2012

Thanks $WEBEX_CON_EMAIL

Dear WebEX,

We’ve been testing out a few conference systems and first went with WebEX as several of our clients/partners seem to use it, but after a few calls, it seemed like a lot of moaning and groaning on our end about having to navigate their UI.

We’ve since settled on GoToMeeting as their tools/interface feel much easier to interact with.

So, today… I went through your cancellation process, which required me to call and wait on hold for 20 minutes, talk with one of your agents, explain why we wanted to cancel, turn down their offer for free training of using their tool, and eventually wait for my confirmation email. I’ve gone ahead and provided it for you.

I’ll give you some credit though. When I first compared WebEX vs GoToMeeting, I found your marketing/sales pitch to be more compelling, so pulled my credit card out for you first. However, once you gave me access to my new account, It was nothing but headaches and annoyances for the team. Very difficult tools to interact with… the epitome of a web tool designed by technical people who lack much empathy for the end-user. I worry that you’re losing a lot of customers for similar reasons… and would encourage you to have some of your usability experts focus on your online scheduling/planning tools as it was too painful for us to work with.

Sincerely,
$FIRST_NAME

Quote  |  Misc

Where are the women?

23 May 2012

A survey of 11 recent Portland tech startups, ranging from companies with four employees to 80, reveals that their total workforces were typically 70 percent to 80 percent male, while their development and engineering teams—i.e., the people who write the actual code—have even fewer women. In many cases, none.

Ruth Brown from Willamette Week: Where the Tech is She?

<p><img src="http://distilleryimage1.instagram.com/5118364ea4df11e18cf91231380fd29b_7.jpg" width="500" /></p> It's good to see this issue getting more and more attention.

Video  |  Misc

Finding Portland

25 Apr 2012

“Finding Portland was produced, shot, and edited in 51 days during March and April at the invitation of TEDx Portland, where the video was unveiled to a sell out crowd of 650 and met with a standing ovation. Filmed in Portland and the Columbia Gorge, this time-lapse piece offers a new perspective to the City of Roses. From a Portland Timbers season opening soccer game, to the top of the Fremont Bridge, to an aerial shot of Oneonta Gorge, Finding Portland tells the story of a city and its many faces.”

“Comprised of 308, 829 photographs taken from over 50 unique locations, it took an average of 3.8 hours to make each second of this film. The intent of the project was to place our cameras in unique locations across the city, achieve significant ranges of dynamic camera motion, and pursue cutting edge time-lapse techniques.”

Fascinating perspective of our little city.

Photo  |  Misc

Memory Lane - Server outages

6 Apr 2012

Memory Lane - Server outages

While I have fond memories of the days when we’d be getting several hosting orders each day for new customers, I don’t miss the days when servers would crash. We’re thankful to be able to partner with companies like Blue Box for most of our client hosting needs these days.

Days since I was last in a colo facility: 97. (when we pulled all of our remaining servers out of our cabinet on Dec. 31, 2011)

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