Tuesday, August 10, 2004
Windows Service Pack 2
For those of you that use Windows - which I'll wager is most of you, except for the ones in the art departments - the much-anticipated and oft-delayed Service Pack 2 for Windows XP is finally available from Microsoft. If you're running Windows XP, you'll probably want to get your hands on this fairly soon, although I'd recommend waiting at least a week or two to find out if any major issues arise with popular software packages. Service Pack 2 will also install automatically over the next month or so if you have automatic updates enabled in XP.
Service Pack 2 resolves many of the burning security and vulnerability issues that have plagued Windows XP and Internet Explorer for some time (for a mind-boggling list of security vulnerabilities, click here - it's guaranteed to keep you up at night). The update includes a new firewall that is enabled by default and changes to Internet Explorer - such as a popup blocker - that have been part of competing browsers for years.
Service Pack 2 doesn't really do that much that you couldn't do yourself in terms of protection, but it does bundle it all into one neat package. Whether it will do a better job of preventing attacks from hackers and viruses in the future remains to be seen - Windows is a major target for hackers, and I doubt that will change.
Perhaps a more important question is, How many of you are even running Windows XP? I'll wager at least half of the PCs in this industry run Windows 98 or earlier. Unless you've purchased a new PC recently, there just isn't that much incentive to upgrade operating systems. So while Microsoft's update may benefit some users, there will still be plenty of computers left vulnerable. Continue to exercise caution....
Service Pack 2 resolves many of the burning security and vulnerability issues that have plagued Windows XP and Internet Explorer for some time (for a mind-boggling list of security vulnerabilities, click here - it's guaranteed to keep you up at night). The update includes a new firewall that is enabled by default and changes to Internet Explorer - such as a popup blocker - that have been part of competing browsers for years.
Service Pack 2 doesn't really do that much that you couldn't do yourself in terms of protection, but it does bundle it all into one neat package. Whether it will do a better job of preventing attacks from hackers and viruses in the future remains to be seen - Windows is a major target for hackers, and I doubt that will change.
Perhaps a more important question is, How many of you are even running Windows XP? I'll wager at least half of the PCs in this industry run Windows 98 or earlier. Unless you've purchased a new PC recently, there just isn't that much incentive to upgrade operating systems. So while Microsoft's update may benefit some users, there will still be plenty of computers left vulnerable. Continue to exercise caution....
Thursday, August 05, 2004
Product Sourcing Search Engines
How do you find products? Do you use printed catalogs? Or supplier websites? Or do you pay for tools like ASI or SAGE provide for searching products? As much as I'd like to see more automated processing of orders in the promotional products industry (and groups like the ePromoStandards Alliance are doing an admirable job of advancing the technology here), the simple act of finding products in the first place can be incredibly cumbersome, especially if you don't want to pay a fee for access to the information.
We've been trying out a product sourcing experiment called Product Buffet that allows anyone to search tens of thousands of promotional products all in one place, for free, and takes you to the supplier's website once you've found the product you like. Try it out and let me know what you think. I believe information should be free so Product Buffet works like any other search engine - it's free, but will soon have simple advertising to support it. Is this an idea whose time has come? I'll leave that up to you to decide. Try it and let me know what you think.
We've been trying out a product sourcing experiment called Product Buffet that allows anyone to search tens of thousands of promotional products all in one place, for free, and takes you to the supplier's website once you've found the product you like. Try it out and let me know what you think. I believe information should be free so Product Buffet works like any other search engine - it's free, but will soon have simple advertising to support it. Is this an idea whose time has come? I'll leave that up to you to decide. Try it and let me know what you think.
Welcome!
Welcome to PromoTech Blog, the weblog discussing technology issues in the Promotional Products/Advertising Specialty Industry (including premiums and incentive and reward programs). My name is Brent Buford and I run a company called eBlox that provides technology services and software to the industry. I also pen a monthly column for Identity Marketing magazine devoted to technology issues for industry professionals; those columns can be viewed in our Resource Center, which is free for anyone - industry and non-industry alike - to use (read a press release about the Resource Center here). I'll also be publishing and discussing abridged versions of those columns in this weblog, although my main focus will be on current issues and trends in the industry.
Numerous technological hurdles face our industry; despite the advances of the internet and e-commerce, many distributors and suppliers still process orders the old-fashioned way, using phone and fax. Because the industry is fragmented, with thousands of businesses and tens of thousands of salespeople, inertia and entropy tend to keep us behind the curve when compared to other industries with similar supply chains. All of this is changing, of course, but not rapidly. I'm not here to determine whether that's an inherently good or bad thing – for some of you, change really translates into enormous risk.
But for those of us who believe technology can actually benefit every link in the sales and distribution process, keeping up with technological advances (and mishaps) is a way of life. For those of you realize that technology is important for your business but don't have time to keep up with the latest news, consider me your geek filter. I'll let you know what's important and when to take notice. And please, tell me what you'd like to hear about - whether it's product sourcing, company stores, wireless networks, security and privacy issues, or anything else that interests you - I'll do my best to break it down into plain English.
Numerous technological hurdles face our industry; despite the advances of the internet and e-commerce, many distributors and suppliers still process orders the old-fashioned way, using phone and fax. Because the industry is fragmented, with thousands of businesses and tens of thousands of salespeople, inertia and entropy tend to keep us behind the curve when compared to other industries with similar supply chains. All of this is changing, of course, but not rapidly. I'm not here to determine whether that's an inherently good or bad thing – for some of you, change really translates into enormous risk.
But for those of us who believe technology can actually benefit every link in the sales and distribution process, keeping up with technological advances (and mishaps) is a way of life. For those of you realize that technology is important for your business but don't have time to keep up with the latest news, consider me your geek filter. I'll let you know what's important and when to take notice. And please, tell me what you'd like to hear about - whether it's product sourcing, company stores, wireless networks, security and privacy issues, or anything else that interests you - I'll do my best to break it down into plain English.
