New HelpDesk, Mac-Dongle and ReadBurner

Yesterday we have added two new languages to our web-based Help-Desk product: Norwegian and Portuguese. Also the new version comes with a great new feature: when Jitbit HelpDesk works in Windows-authentication mode and detects a new unregistered user, it tries to connect to the Active Directory to get the user's email and save it to its' database.

Some interesting finds for today:

• Jeff Atwood thinks that Mac is just a giant hardware dongle that allows you to run OS X programs.


• ReadBurner.com is a new "social" website which counts how many people have shared an item in their Google Reader, sorting items in a Digg-like way. Very nice idea.


• Neil Davidson talks about what does a recession mean for the software business. Nothing, actually. Don't panic.

7 reasons why I will never buy a Macbook Air

Macbook Air: the thinnest notebook ever, based on Flash-memory (still there's a HDD-version), featuring a 13,3" screen and a 1.6 GHz Intel Core-Duo inside.

It's undeniably beautiful. It's unbelievably thin. But:

1. Costs $3000 and has the same specs as a PC laptop for $1000
2. No DVD-drive. If you want to install some software, rip CDs or watch DVDs - get an add-on drive for another $100
3. Only one USB-port which is too little these days.
4. No Ethernet, No Firewire, No Audio-input... But you can get an adapter for all that. For instance, an Apple USB-to-Ethernet adapter for $30. But you won't be able to use Ethernet and DVD simultaneously (see #3).
5. Only 1.6 GHz which is a bit slow. But I've read that Apple even coaxed Intel into reworking their Core 2 Duo processor to be 60% smaller, just for the Macbook Air.
6. RAM is un-expandable. Stick to the default 2GB.
7. Nothing is replaceable. The battery is not user-replaceable, nor is HDD (if you choose a HDD-version). So if the battery dies in 2 years, you’ll be taking your notebook to Apple to replace it.

Yes, you pay more for smaller size, but who, exactly, is this product for? It's not a "subnotebook", but it fails to be a regular notebook.

Google Apps for Jitbit

Yesterday we have moved our company email to Google Apps.

Basically it works like this: by simply editing the MX-records for your domain name, you can have Google servers handle all your emails. Moreover, all your employees can access their email via a GMail-like web-interface. It's a pretty nice solution for small businesses: you don't have to maintain your own email-infrastructure or rely on your hosting provider for email accounts and services.

Here's my two cents why a mISV should consider moving it's email to Google Apps:

• Delivery. If your website sends serial numbers automatically after order completion, using an SMTP interface (which Google handles perfectly, by the way), most likely your customers sometimes complain that these emails get spam-filtered. Not with Google. Their servers almost never get listed in spam blacklists. Unlike your hosting provider ones.
• Reliable. Google servers can handle VERY high traffic loads and offer almost 100% uptime. Unlike your hosting provider.
• Spam-free. GMail offers one of the best spam-filtering on the market (for instance, it filters more than 400 spam-messages for Jitbit Software every day). Unlike your hosting provider.

Email is not the only service provided by Google Apps. After you create an account for all your employees, you can create and share documents with Google Docs, manage shared events in Google Calendar, chat with your team in Google Talk and create web pages in Page Creator. And the best part - it's all free of charge.

So, Google Apps is just great for a small business. But enough with the pros. Here are some cons:

• No file sharing. It would be great to be able to upload and share all file types, not just office documents. That's why I like Microsoft Live SkyDrive better.
• No to-do lists. If you want me to move all our office work to Google Apps, give me a collaborative ToDo.
• Privacy. This is a big one. Storing intellectual property and financial data on a third-party datacenter is risky. And even if you're OK with it, your customers might not be.

IE8

The eighth version of Internet Explorer will be named "IE8" (obviously). But there were options:

• IE 7+1
• IE VIII
• IE 1000 (think binary)
• IE Eight!
• iIE
• IE for Web 2.0 (Service Pack 2)
• (my favorite!!!) IE Desktop Online Web Browser Live Professional Ultimate Edition for the Internet

http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2007/12/05/internet-explorer-8.aspx

Email Marketing vs. Spam - what's the difference?

What's the difference between spam and email marketing?

Spam - is unsolicited bulk e-mail (UBE) and its main characteristic is: recipients never agreed to receive it. Spammers obtain email-addresses from the Internet by searching Web pages for email addresses, scanning Google Groups for signatures, buying address-lists, reading WHOIS information for domains and subnets etc. All in all, spammers collect e-mail addresses which their owners have published for other purposes.

Legitimate email marketing is opt-in email, meaning you agree to receive newsletters, announcements or other marketing and support materials from the company. Companies who send these emails usually honor their opt policies as they don't wish to be categorized as spammers.

The key characteristics of spam:

• you are unable to unsubscribe
• the sender address is fake or hidden
• the number of recipients is huge, often millions of users

The key characteristics of legitimate email marketing:

• you can unsubscribe
• you have agreed to get it, or at least you expect these emails
• the number of recipients is reasonable
• the sender address is legitimate
• emails are personalized

Also, while spam is sent using bot-nets, or open relays, marketing emails are sent using legitimate email marketing software.

These are some distinctions between spam and email marketing.

The secret of a big salary

Short and sweet.

A stupidly simple formula for a big salary is - the company needs you more than you need the company.

Same applies to the business relations with your partners, suppliers and middlemen.