Why Gadgets are important even for the enterprise
Chris Miller makes a tongue-in-cheek observation that the ability to put Google gadgets in the sidebar is going to keep anyone from getting work done. And it's hard to argue with him. (But, of course, I will...)
At the risk of breaking confidentiality agreements, I want to quote a response from IBM on a design partner forum:
Every time the browser is opened, there is a risk of becoming distracted
That's the issue in a nutshell. Sure, maybe you question the business value of having the local weather in a sidebar app in your collaboration client, but if someone wants to know the forecast, would you prefer that they fire up a browser, enter an address, click through a splash screen, and read the forecast while Flash animations and Google ads fly all around the page screaming for their attention?
Distracting web users is the entire reason that web ad companies exist. Microsoft spent $6 billion dollars to buy a company so they would be able to better distract web users Google's entire revenue model is based on distracting web users.
If an employee wants to find out what the weather is like, they will: go outside and look at the sky; surf the web; or have it instantly available in the sidebar.
Which do you think results in the least cost?
Comments
Posted by Chris Miller At 03:15:20 PM On 02/21/2008 |
Cadburys (world renowned chocolate maker) allows line workers to eat all the chocolate they want, rather than trying to police the production line. It does not take long for workers to get absolutely fed up with chocolate and stop taking it.
Posted by David Bell At 04:28:31 PM On 02/21/2008 |
Posted by Mika Heinonen At 05:13:33 PM On 02/21/2008 |
Having these gadgets IMHO saves not only time, but also the bandwidth used to navigate to areas in websites where one's interest lies, and bandwidth is important here in South Africa.
Having Gadgets running in a window where I'm currently working is the best thing since sliced cheese
Posted by John Jardin At 02:08:09 PM On 02/21/2008 |
The Basic Clients also reduce also the cost of ownership: no hardware upgrade needed, consumes much less hard disk space, cpu load and memory.
Domino Designer and Admin are also only available as Basic client versions, so they fit better with the Basic Notes Client also.
Now, if IBM would also release a Basic Notes, Designer and Admin client for Linux, it would reduce the cost of ownership even more, as Linux itself, and the applications running under Linux reduce once more the need for better hardware, harddisk space, cpu, memory. And in addition, Linux provides almost all other programs you ever need for free.
Posted by Mika Heinonen At 02:17:50 PM On 02/21/2008 |
"We'll have people chatting all day and no work will get done..."
The idiots that will fail to get their job done "due to a Sametime roll-out" are the same idiots that stand around for hours and chat about last night's <enter reality show name here>... they ain't getting their work done, and it has NOTHING to do with what technology they have handy.
Companies need to look at the individuals that they hire. If they're a f*ck-off with Sametime, Sidebars, or that shiney stapler... they're a f*ck-off! Trim the corporate fat and get people that will get the job done. Be task-oriented! Who gives a damn if I'm online 7.5 hours a day if I'm 2 months ahead of schedule on my project list?!
Posted by Chris Toohey At 02:09:36 PM On 02/21/2008 |
And most of the Linux apps you can get and use for free are available for Windows for free as well...
Posted by Chris Whisonant At 02:41:08 PM On 02/21/2008 |
"AEP doesn't use an automated feed for outside news. Instead, an editor reviews the available stories and posts only those that will be of most use to the company's employees. Such extra work is amply rewarded in employee productivity by saving people from long lists of irrelevant news. For example, at JPMorgan Chase, the intranet homepage is viewed 620,000 times per day, so even one superfluous headline that required one second to scan would cost the company the equivalent of 22 full-time employees in lost productivity. The JPMorgan Chase intranet team is equally selective, displaying only the most important news on the homepage.
"Of course, in some cases, you just have to provide the news, even when it's not particularly work-related. For example, DaimlerChrysler provided the latest scores during the soccer World Cup in Germany. If they hadn't, employees would surely have spent much more time following matches on external sites."
Posted by John Smart At 09:34:46 PM On 02/21/2008 |
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Posted by dennimar At 09:01:01 AM On 06/29/2011 |