The Cloud Computing Manifesto

Posted by : Jim Love on Thursday, June 9th, 2011

This might date me – but one of my favourite movies is flick called “Network”.  It features a psychotic newscaster who leads a revolution of TV viewers who charge to their window screaming, “We’re mad as hell, and we’re not going to take it anymore!”

I must have a soft spot for that type of sentiment.  Because one of my favourite books is the Cluetrain Manifesto.  I love the line - “We are not eyeballs, or clicks, we are human beings — live with it!”

About bloody time, is what I’ve said.  And apparently so have a lot of others.  Today’s customer isn’t going to take it anymore.  Anyone with a business knows that.  All those predictions in the original Cluetrain Manifesto have come true.  In today’s world, if you aren’t better, faster, cheaper — your customer is gone in a click.

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Hey, You. Get Off Of My Cloud

Posted by : Jim Love on Thursday, June 9th, 2011

What do you do when your cloud partner tells you that they can no longer provide service?  Just like any relationship, we don’t often make plans for what we will do about a breakup until it happens.  And those agreements that nobody reads — you just scroll down and hit “I accept”.  It turns out that they have a “don’t let the door hit you in the a** on your way out” clause.  They certainly protect the options of the supplier.  They don’t, as it turns out, do much for you.

I got this email the other day.

Pursuant to the Dimdim Terms of Use (the “Agreement”) governing the use of Dimdim Inc.’s (“Dimdim”) Site and Services (as defined under the Agreement) by you (“You”), Dimdim is hereby exercising its right to terminate Your Dimdim Account and the Agreement in its entirety. Dimdim will continue to provide Services to you until March 15, 2011. Following March 15, 2011, neither You nor Dimdim shall have any further rights or obligations of any kind under the Agreement, including the right to access the Site, or receive or use any Services. Dimdim thanks you for your business, and wishes you success in the future.

This was the quote from their agreement.  You know those agreements that you scroll down to the end of and don’t really read?  I confess that this came as a surprise.  I missed what I call the “don’t let the door hit you in the a** on your way out” clause.  Because this is a pretty blunt stick.

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Security strategy – Back door locked. Front door wide open?

Posted by : Jim Love on Tuesday, June 7th, 2011

Sony got hacked.  It was a bad day for everybody.  As a company that hosts systems for companies who need access over the internet, we spend a lot of our time trying to ensure that proper security procedures are in place.  We think about it constantly.  But when you see the giants getting hacked, you realize that you can never be complacent.

In the wake of the Sony disaster, we got a lot more questions about security.  We are not egotistical about this.  We take it very seriously, but I hope we never lose our humility and hard work.

Yet one thing amazes me.  Companies spend a great deal of time trying to ensure that they have fixed all of the “back doors” to entry.  But they leave the front doors wide open.  What do I mean?

Have you done some basic education about how to construct a password that is at least a little bit difficult to guess?

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