Shame on you, Creative!

Just came across this on the Creative forums (via Digg).. And my respect for Creative as a brand has just dropped like 95%..

Apparently, Creative has been releasing a whole bunch of audio cards whose drivers did not work properly in Vista, even though the boxes claimed that these were “VISTA READY”. Creative tells everyone that they’re working on building updated drivers, but they don’t seem to release these for ages. So a guy called Daniel comes along and builds a set of drivers himself and distributes these to desperate users on the Creative forum!

Now any sane person would expect Creative to be thankful to this individual and maybe even give him a job (Hell, he was able to do what the Creative software engineers couldn’t for so long!). Instead, the ‘VP of Corp Comms’, Phil O’Shaughnessy coolly comes along and posts this on the forums. He basically accuses Daniel of ’stealing’ their intellectual property and order him to remove all links to the drivers! He seems to think that the Creative IP is far more important than millions of users who are stuck with cards that basically don’t work. Dumbass. And now that Daniel has removed all his links, we have a whole bunch of audio card buyers whose cards are nothing but hardware junk

Obviously the customers are mad – The news is spreading like wildfire and whole communities of gamers have sworn never to buy Creative products again! And our friend Phil seems to be missing (he hasn’t replied to any of the angry Creative buyers after his ‘brilliant’ post).

Now, seriously, what sort of a dumbass actually does something like this?! He’s the VP of Corp Communications for crying out loud.. Will someone from Creative please fire this moron before he ruins your company?

The leopard delay isn’t such a bad move…

Industry analysts have cried wolf over Apple’s recent announcement delaying the Leopard OS’ release by a few months. Apple has explained that the iPhone requires more resources (engineering and QA) than previously expected and so they are shifting some manpower from the Leopard team to the iPhone team.

First of all, this is a 4 months delay – hardly anything compared to the years that Vista was delayed. This is not such a big deal. Not even to the hardcore mac guys. Why? Apple will only be delaying the Leopard so that they can thoroughly test it before releasing it. The actual OS will be complete by the WWDC in June as originally planned, but they will not have enough time to QA it before WWDC. And so, Apple is going to release a Beta version of the Leopard to the developers at WWDC for free. This will definitely keep them happy – for a while.

Many claim that this move signifies ‘Apple abandoning the mac for some toys’. While this does initially look like the Mac were abandoning its staple Mac OS for the unpredictable and risky iPhone venture. But lets take a step back and look at the options that Apple had at this stage. Just a few months ago, the iPhone announcement received massive media coverage – almost every single publication (tech and non-tech) had something to say about the iPhone – and in most cases, the feedback was positive. The Leopard, which was announced a couple of Macworlds before the iPhone got almost no coverage when compared to the iPhone. While the Leopard ‘represents’ the Mac, its delay isn’t such a big deal actually – especially when you compare it to what might have happened if Apple announced that they were delaying the iPhone.

Some argue that Apple has no right to give the excuse of insufficient manpower. They say that Apple should have no problem spending a little more money on hiring more engineers. Well, a look at the career section of the Apple website does show that they are hiring feverishly. However, hiring cannot help them solve a short-term problem like this. They had to shift resources.

It is also wrong to assume that the iPhone is completely independent of the ‘Mac’. iPhone runs the Mac OS and its potential to turn PC users to the Mac is incredible. According to John Welch , the iLife, the iPhone and Final Cut Pro are all doing one thing – bringing back attention to the Mac. The iPhone is perhaps going to have a stronger influence on getting in new Mac users than the Leopard itself.

Therefore, concerns about Apple fumbling around are definitely misplaced. Steve and his guys know what they are doing and they seem to be on the right track. If all goes well, lots of people are going to be really happy when the iPhone comes out. And they will be pleasantly surprised to see Leopard when it does get released.

Prashant.

Check out my portfolio and analyses at Socialpicks.com

TED Talks: Debunking myths about the ‘Third World’

This is a fantastic presentation made by Prof. Hans Rosling at the TED Talks last year. Prof Rosling is a global health visionary and a professor at Sweden’s Karolinska Institute. He is also the founder of GapMinder, a company that “unveils the beauty of statistics by converting boring numbers into enjoyable interactive animations.”

In this presentation, Prof Rosling uses these beautiful animations to disprove some myths and misconceptions about the state of the “Third World countries”. What I love about this presentation is the incredible amount of energy that this guy has. He mixes in humor, excitement and drama to capture the attention of the audience. Good stuff Check it out here…

Btw, if you are looking for some great speeches and presentations by visionaries, you should check out TED – Technology, Entertainment and Design. It’s an annual conference where thinkers and visionaries from around the world come down to share their thoughts. These are some of the TED Talks I found powerful and inspiring:

U2’s Bono on Poverty in Africa
Steven Levitt, Author (Freakonomics)
Richard Dawkins, Author (The God Delusion)
Jeff Han, Inventor of Multitouch Technology (a la iPhone)
Al Gore on Global Warming
Majora Carter on community building in the Bronx

Prashant.

PsychoTel?

Check this out…

Sonopia, a Menlo Park, CA based company, actually allows you to launch your own mobile phone career… And apparently it just takes minutes to set up!

Obviously, by ‘mobile phone career’, they are actually referring to an MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator) – a company that leases out cellular bandwidth from conventional careers and provides it to customers with additional value added services.

You can create your own calling plan and tailor the service to serve a particular set of customers.. One can only imagine the number of wireless ‘companies’ that are going to spring up as a result of this! They have already set up a number of networks – including NWF mobile, DOGSF and 4×4 wireless. NWF (National Wildlife Fund) for example offers a 450 minute plan for $40 and they even guarantee you that a good portion of the money that you spend will go towards protecting wildlife!

I can’t wait to launch “PsychoTel”

Prashant