Jay McGavren's Journal

My workflow vs. Bill Gates's...

> How I Work: Bill Gates > FORTUNE Magazine > Bill Gates, chairman and chief software architect, > Microsoft, U.S.A. > April 7, 2006: 5:17 PM EDT

> At Microsoft, e-mail is the medium of choice, more than > phone calls, documents, blogs, bulletin boards, or even > meetings (voicemails and faxes are actually integrated into > our e-mail in-boxes).

I wish my workplace was like this. Leaving me voice mail is a good way to get ignored.

> I’m not big on to-do lists. Instead, I use e-mail and > desktop folders and my online calendar.

Same here, though I’m actually looking to integrate e-mail and calendar with a to-do list instead of vice-versa.

> using SharePoint, a tool that creates websites for > collaboration on specific projects. These sites contain > plans, schedules, discussion boards, and other information

AKA Wiki, right? Again, something I wish my workplace would do.

> Another digital tool that has had a big effect on my > productivity is desktop search. It has transformed the way > I access information on my PC, on servers, and on the > Internet.

Damn right. I saved all my e-mail for later searching even before I had Google Desktop Search.

> If the entire week is very busy, it’s the weekend when I’ll > send the long, thoughtful pieces of e-mail.

I wish I was Bill Gates. Then people would actually read my long, thoughtful e-mails, instead of asking me stupid questions the next week.

> “One expert warned me about the gruesome requirement for a > ‘live test’ by fingerprint readers, necessitated by the > likelihood that fingers might be chopped off in an effort > to defeat fingerprint security.”

Military thumb drives expose larger problem - The Red Tape Chronicles - MSNBC.com

My big fear was always retinal scanners.

Bioinformatics companies take note. I refuse to use any form of authentication that doesn’t include a live test.

I’m sitting here using Google’s new calendar feature (which I’d been waiting months for), and I just had an “aha” moment. I realized that from now on, this is the only way I want to do calendaring. No messing around with a calendar app on the PC that won’t share data with anyone else…

And then I thought: hey, how long before I no longer want to mess with ANY app on my PC? Reinstallation and reconfiguration every time you upgrade hardware is something end users have no business doing, and it’s a pain even for geeks. People should be worried about their data, not their apps. And here Google is, rolling out online applications that replace the basic functionality of every piece of the Microsoft Office suite. Zero installation, zero configuration.

I’d been listening to predictions of Google taking on Microsoft for months. But now, having used one of the key apps, I can actually envision them winning.

After giving me a week off, Lenny has resumed his habit of coming into the room and waking me up at 3 AM. I put up with it before, but now that I know he can do better, I’m pretty mad at him.

Turnips...

Two Sunday mornings in a row now, I’ve wandered around town looking for Joan so I can buy some turnips. No show both times.

Has anyone else ever found her? Where?