Who was doing the quality control if they shipped with 70 bugs?
The people you (we) asked to hurry up and release it.
We have no one to blame but ourselves. Apple WOULD NOT release it, if we said "Hey take you time, just make sure it's perfect when you do release"!
Yeah, like that might happen.
Like the rock bank once said "I want my iPhone and I want it now" - well sort of. I believe they said "I want my MTV, and I want it now" but it's the same - almost
who @ apple came up with an anonymous blog style entry????
ridiculous...!!!
One of the interesting things about the debacle is that blog. The way it's phrased it sounds like the author was directly appointed by Steve, and that this person had nothing to do with the MobileMe launch before that. It's like he can't even trust the MobileMe staff to correctly report on it.
Overheard conversation at Cupertino:
Steve: "I don't even want to hear from you until it's fixed. Just fix it. Fix it now, and report daily to Jane Doe here so she can post it on the blog. *After* it's fixed, I want you in to my office... "
It's certainly an improvement that they are talking about what's happening now, but for me this result is also one of the things I feared would happen in that they are still only talking about that "1%" that is without any service because of the server failure.
I am not part of that 1%, nor is anyone I know, but I am still having outrageous problems with MobileMe as are most of the people I talk to.
IMO this "communication" still amounts to completely ignoring the majority of the problems that people are actually having. Apple seems to still be pretending that if not for this 1% the service is fine, when it's pretty much the opposite of that.
In another four days, they will announce the server is fixed, the "1% having problems" will be lifted from the trouble page, and it will appear fixed, but it won't be.
This was one of my big grievances with the old .Mac service. It often did not work at all, but the main page always had that silly little ticker saying that "100% of everything is super-fine" (or whatever) when it simply wasn't.
It doesn't read like that at all. They are mentioning that about 1% has had complete failure, and they are trying their best to fix that, but they are working on the other problems as well.
It's surprising that they've had so many problems. That's the problem when you have to have a service out with partners, on a specific date. Some much of others' money is riding on that date, that it can't easily be pushed off if some last minute problems arise.
We do know that with at least the ver. 2.0 software, the final version came out just days before the introduction. Possibly the same was true for MobileMe. That would explain the problems.
Who was doing the quality control if they shipped with 70 bugs?
We've gotten into these problems before. I'm one to want products delivered only after all known bugs are gone, and the testing is rigorous enough to find all others that would be a problem. But many others disagree with this view, and think that as long as most known bugs are gone, it's enough—they want their software, and they want it NOW!
We don't know just how many bugs are present, but 70 isn't very many for a new software platform.
I remember that just after XP was released, The guy in charge of it, who has since retired from MS after the Vista release (somehow, I've forgotten his well known name), was asked how many known bugs were left in XP. His answer, and a straightforward one with no sense of jest, was that there were 68,000 known bugs.
just to give you some sense of comparison, and proportion.
I now, after one week have web mail access.....my bad for not properly setting up backup mail....it would seem I've lost over 7 thousand dollars in sales because of this outage! Thanks Apple!!
Quite honestly, it's your fault for relying on a home service for your professional use.
who @ apple came up with an anonymous blog style entry????
ridiculous...!!!
Yeah, superlame. If you are trying to restore our confidence, Apple, then stand up and say it like it is and say it to our faces. Who the hell are you? What's this hiding behind Steve Jobs' back. The touting of Steve Jobs' name in the body of the message coupled with a lack of signature at the bottom is completely weird. You are making this far more complicated than it needs to be. Just be honest. It works every time. Is this is how you deal with internal crisis resolution at Apple? Do you bring all affected staff in to the cafeteria and from behind a screen someone tells everyone: "We want to be totally open with you guys. Steve Jobs told me to tell you so. We are working really hard to deal with all your complaints. Thanks for attending."
Gmail is a prime example of how it should be rolled out. A controlled flow. Apple wanted v2.0, iPhone 3G and MobileMe to come out as a trifecta of interoperbility but instead it was a perfect storm.
They could have offered parts of the MM service to current .Mac subscribers and/or regulated the free 60 day trial until they had every well tested and under control. Apple should have planned it better to account for the torrent of new users wanting to try out the Push service with their v2.0 firmware.
The truth is that Gmail is a mess, has always been a mess, and likely will always be a mess. It certainly isn't something I would use as an example. If MobileMe is as unreliable, and insecure, as Gmail is still, after all this time, Apple would do well to abandon it!
It's true that this is a bad beginning, but I'd bet that Apple will fix it, and this will be forgotten by most.
One of the interesting things about the debacle is that blog. The way it's phrased it sounds like the author was directly appointed by Steve, and that this person had nothing to do with the MobileMe launch before that. It's like he can't even trust the MobileMe staff to correctly report on it.
Overheard conversation at Cupertino:
Steve: "I don't even want to hear from you until it's fixed. Just fix it. Fix it now, and report daily to Jane Doe here so she can post it on the blog. *After* it's fixed, I want you in to my office... "
I know. That's what's so awesome about it (with sympathies to those suffering from Mobile Me, including myself)...
It's like the Hand Of God itself came down and touched this peasant.
And overnight. He is the Mobile Me Messiah. His life now has a new destiny. Once an Average Jane/Joe in the cubicle next to you, now... an emissary of Steve himself.
I hope the Mobile Me team doesn't start slashing his tyres and stuff. \
I know. That's what's so awesome about it (with sympathies to those suffering from Mobile Me, including myself)...
It's like the Hand Of God itself came down and touched this peasant.
And overnight. He is the Mobile Me Messiah. His life now has a new destiny. Once an Average Jane/Joe in the cubicle next to you, now... an emissary of Steve himself.
I hope the Mobile Me team doesn't start slashing his tyres and stuff. \
The truth is that Gmail is a mess, has always been a mess, and likely will always be a mess. It certainly isn't something I would use as an example. If MobileMe is as unreliable, and insecure, as Gmail is still, after all this time, Apple would do well to abandon it!
It's true that this is a bad beginning, but I'd bet that Apple will fix it, and this will be forgotten by most.
Except that Gmail is free, like most of Google's other services, while Apple gets paid while they beta test MobileMe, and then find bugs.
Google and Microsoft both beta tested their online services before releasing them, and then slowly opened them up to more people as the problems were resolved.
It's Apple own fault they are in this situation. Not Google, not Microsoft. It's time they put the big boy pants on if they want to tackle the enterprise and deal with the successes, as well as the problems. See RIM when the Blackberry servers go down and how badly it affects more users, and those that really need them to get business done.
The blog states that "Steve Jobs has asked me to write a posting every other day or so to let everyone know what?s happening with MobileMe, and I?m working directly with the MobileMe group to ensure that we keep you really up to date." Yet, there is no name of the person creating the blog entry. Attention to detail - not!
I once worked for a big telecommunication's firm in IT. As part of our data center, we had a company-wide test environment to put the "latest and greatest" code from Bellcore through its paces before releasing it to production. We would bring in actual production data to feed the new code on the test environment while also keeping it running on the production environment until our clients felt that they could safely make the transition, and even then, we could easily roll back to our old tried-and-true production code should the new stuff take a dive. Then came divestiture, and our new company of several smaller companies merged into one. With that merger came consolidation, and our careful methods for rolling out new releases was replaced with a new slash-cut-and-cross-your-fingers method. Needless to say, we experienced many MobileMe-type transitions going forward. Customers, as in trust, are the hardest things to get, and the easiest things to lose. I hope that Apple will really learn from this debacle in terms of planning, rollout, disaster recovery, performance monitoring, and above all, communication with their customers, because if they don't, they will have a very rocky road ahead.
Except that Gmail is free, like most of Google's other services, while Apple gets paid while they beta test MobileMe, and then find bugs.
Google and Microsoft both beta tested their online services before releasing them, and then slowly opened them up to more people as the problems were resolved.
It's Apple own fault they are in this situation. Not Google, not Microsoft. It's time they put the big boy pants on if they want to tackle the enterprise and deal with the successes, as well as the problems. See RIM when the Blackberry servers go down and how badly it affects more users, and those that really need them to get business done.
Gmail has been released quite a while ago. To keep calling it a beta is just a marketing tool. It's a way of avoiding admitting the serious problems it has always had.
Apple will clear this up before too long. They always do.
MSN is in bad shape as well. And look at AOL.
Yahoo mail has its own problems.
When RIM's servers go down, as they do every so often, it's a major problem.
No one is immune.
This is a bad startup problem, that's for sure. But we all know it will be fixed. Will there ways be minor problems cropping up? Yes. Nothing is perfect.
70 bugs is not a lot. Most shipping software has more than 70 known bugs. Most are relatively obscure or have work arounds.
Something as complex as MobileMe probably has thousands of bugs in the database with only a handful being major and many still being found.
When I worked for the darkside it was not uncommon to have several hundred or more known and documented bugs in a new product release. Some of those were very obscure, some not so obscure but minor, and some functionally significant. Those would typically be scheduled to be fixed the next release of the product in a few years. Only seventy bugs in a product as complex and diverse as MobileMe strikes me as pretty remarkable performance.
That said, it would be better if MobileMe would fess up to all the problems. AFIK since the MobileMe rollout no one has been able to update their credit card information and that has resulted in some users losing their .Mac MobileMe accounts altogether. The same glitch prevents anyone from upgrading their MobilMe account to either add more disk space or convert to a family account. The rationale I was given for failing to acknowledge these problems are, "we hope to have them fixed very soon." So how many weeks is "very soon?"
...Apple can't be trusted for business related services.
Unfortunately that's what many, many IT managers believe as well and this disaster isn't going to do anything but continue to perpetuate that perception.
I really had high hopes Apple was climbing out of that hole with the iPhone but this experience has set them back even further.
Unfortunately that's what many, many IT managers believe as well and this disaster isn't going to do anything but continue to perpetuate that perception.
I really had high hopes Apple was climbing out of that hole with the iPhone but this experience has set them back even further.
Understand though that MS has major problems as well, but that doesn't stop business from relying on them.
It's a matter of perspective. MS already has the business market, so problems don't easily dislodge them from that. Apple has little business market, so problems prevent others from leaving MS and moving to Apple, which is a recursive problem for Apple.
After all these years, I find it amazing that computer hardware and software companies can release products with myriad flaws and, in the end, there is no serious blow back. Imagine if Nissan released a new car and vital parts of it simply didn't work? Sure, every now and then a recall occurs, but I've never heard of a recall because a car had 70 problems! (and let's face it, that's probably a low estimate!)
Heck, not only did Apple create a creepy Mobile Me logo that looks waaaaay to MS in style, but, apparently, they borrowed some of the Vista engineering knowhow as well!
Comments
Who was doing the quality control if they shipped with 70 bugs?
70 bugs is not a lot. Most shipping software has more than 70 known bugs. Most are relatively obscure or have work arounds.
Something as complex as MobileMe probably has thousands of bugs in the database with only a handful being major and many still being found.
ridiculous...!!!
Who was doing the quality control if they shipped with 70 bugs?
The people you (we) asked to hurry up and release it.
We have no one to blame but ourselves. Apple WOULD NOT release it, if we said "Hey take you time, just make sure it's perfect when you do release"!
Yeah, like that might happen.
Like the rock bank once said "I want my iPhone and I want it now" - well sort of. I believe they said "I want my MTV, and I want it now" but it's the same - almost
Skip
The people you (we) asked to hurry up and release it.
We have no one to blame but ourselves. Apple WOULD NOT release it, if we said "Hey take you time, just make sure it's perfect when you do release"!
That's a wacky dream you had there.
who @ apple came up with an anonymous blog style entry????
ridiculous...!!!
One of the interesting things about the debacle is that blog. The way it's phrased it sounds like the author was directly appointed by Steve, and that this person had nothing to do with the MobileMe launch before that. It's like he can't even trust the MobileMe staff to correctly report on it.
Overheard conversation at Cupertino:
Steve: "I don't even want to hear from you until it's fixed. Just fix it. Fix it now, and report daily to Jane Doe here so she can post it on the blog. *After* it's fixed, I want you in to my office... "
It's certainly an improvement that they are talking about what's happening now, but for me this result is also one of the things I feared would happen in that they are still only talking about that "1%" that is without any service because of the server failure.
I am not part of that 1%, nor is anyone I know, but I am still having outrageous problems with MobileMe as are most of the people I talk to.
IMO this "communication" still amounts to completely ignoring the majority of the problems that people are actually having. Apple seems to still be pretending that if not for this 1% the service is fine, when it's pretty much the opposite of that.
In another four days, they will announce the server is fixed, the "1% having problems" will be lifted from the trouble page, and it will appear fixed, but it won't be.
This was one of my big grievances with the old .Mac service. It often did not work at all, but the main page always had that silly little ticker saying that "100% of everything is super-fine" (or whatever) when it simply wasn't.
It doesn't read like that at all. They are mentioning that about 1% has had complete failure, and they are trying their best to fix that, but they are working on the other problems as well.
It's surprising that they've had so many problems. That's the problem when you have to have a service out with partners, on a specific date. Some much of others' money is riding on that date, that it can't easily be pushed off if some last minute problems arise.
We do know that with at least the ver. 2.0 software, the final version came out just days before the introduction. Possibly the same was true for MobileMe. That would explain the problems.
Who was doing the quality control if they shipped with 70 bugs?
We've gotten into these problems before. I'm one to want products delivered only after all known bugs are gone, and the testing is rigorous enough to find all others that would be a problem. But many others disagree with this view, and think that as long as most known bugs are gone, it's enough—they want their software, and they want it NOW!
We don't know just how many bugs are present, but 70 isn't very many for a new software platform.
I remember that just after XP was released, The guy in charge of it, who has since retired from MS after the Vista release (somehow, I've forgotten his well known name), was asked how many known bugs were left in XP. His answer, and a straightforward one with no sense of jest, was that there were 68,000 known bugs.
just to give you some sense of comparison, and proportion.
I now, after one week have web mail access.....my bad for not properly setting up backup mail....it would seem I've lost over 7 thousand dollars in sales because of this outage! Thanks Apple!!
Quite honestly, it's your fault for relying on a home service for your professional use.
You should have had a backup plan for the switch.
who @ apple came up with an anonymous blog style entry????
ridiculous...!!!
Yeah, superlame. If you are trying to restore our confidence, Apple, then stand up and say it like it is and say it to our faces. Who the hell are you? What's this hiding behind Steve Jobs' back. The touting of Steve Jobs' name in the body of the message coupled with a lack of signature at the bottom is completely weird. You are making this far more complicated than it needs to be. Just be honest. It works every time. Is this is how you deal with internal crisis resolution at Apple? Do you bring all affected staff in to the cafeteria and from behind a screen someone tells everyone: "We want to be totally open with you guys. Steve Jobs told me to tell you so. We are working really hard to deal with all your complaints. Thanks for attending."
Gmail is a prime example of how it should be rolled out. A controlled flow. Apple wanted v2.0, iPhone 3G and MobileMe to come out as a trifecta of interoperbility but instead it was a perfect storm.
They could have offered parts of the MM service to current .Mac subscribers and/or regulated the free 60 day trial until they had every well tested and under control. Apple should have planned it better to account for the torrent of new users wanting to try out the Push service with their v2.0 firmware.
The truth is that Gmail is a mess, has always been a mess, and likely will always be a mess. It certainly isn't something I would use as an example. If MobileMe is as unreliable, and insecure, as Gmail is still, after all this time, Apple would do well to abandon it!
It's true that this is a bad beginning, but I'd bet that Apple will fix it, and this will be forgotten by most.
One of the interesting things about the debacle is that blog. The way it's phrased it sounds like the author was directly appointed by Steve, and that this person had nothing to do with the MobileMe launch before that. It's like he can't even trust the MobileMe staff to correctly report on it.
Overheard conversation at Cupertino:
Steve: "I don't even want to hear from you until it's fixed. Just fix it. Fix it now, and report daily to Jane Doe here so she can post it on the blog. *After* it's fixed, I want you in to my office... "
I know. That's what's so awesome about it (with sympathies to those suffering from Mobile Me, including myself)...
It's like the Hand Of God itself came down and touched this peasant.
And overnight. He is the Mobile Me Messiah. His life now has a new destiny. Once an Average Jane/Joe in the cubicle next to you, now... an emissary of Steve himself.
I hope the Mobile Me team doesn't start slashing his tyres and stuff.
Steve Jobs... Remember him?
That's amusing, but as you should know, Jobs doesn't do quality control. It's those unknown engineers and programmers who do that.
No doubt Jobs does use it first, but it's not likely that with just a few testers, these problems manifested themselves.
I know. That's what's so awesome about it (with sympathies to those suffering from Mobile Me, including myself)...
It's like the Hand Of God itself came down and touched this peasant.
And overnight. He is the Mobile Me Messiah. His life now has a new destiny. Once an Average Jane/Joe in the cubicle next to you, now... an emissary of Steve himself.
I hope the Mobile Me team doesn't start slashing his tyres and stuff.
You guys are overthinking this for sure.
The truth is that Gmail is a mess, has always been a mess, and likely will always be a mess. It certainly isn't something I would use as an example. If MobileMe is as unreliable, and insecure, as Gmail is still, after all this time, Apple would do well to abandon it!
It's true that this is a bad beginning, but I'd bet that Apple will fix it, and this will be forgotten by most.
Except that Gmail is free, like most of Google's other services, while Apple gets paid while they beta test MobileMe, and then find bugs.
Google and Microsoft both beta tested their online services before releasing them, and then slowly opened them up to more people as the problems were resolved.
It's Apple own fault they are in this situation. Not Google, not Microsoft. It's time they put the big boy pants on if they want to tackle the enterprise and deal with the successes, as well as the problems. See RIM when the Blackberry servers go down and how badly it affects more users, and those that really need them to get business done.
I once worked for a big telecommunication's firm in IT. As part of our data center, we had a company-wide test environment to put the "latest and greatest" code from Bellcore through its paces before releasing it to production. We would bring in actual production data to feed the new code on the test environment while also keeping it running on the production environment until our clients felt that they could safely make the transition, and even then, we could easily roll back to our old tried-and-true production code should the new stuff take a dive. Then came divestiture, and our new company of several smaller companies merged into one. With that merger came consolidation, and our careful methods for rolling out new releases was replaced with a new slash-cut-and-cross-your-fingers method. Needless to say, we experienced many MobileMe-type transitions going forward. Customers, as in trust, are the hardest things to get, and the easiest things to lose. I hope that Apple will really learn from this debacle in terms of planning, rollout, disaster recovery, performance monitoring, and above all, communication with their customers, because if they don't, they will have a very rocky road ahead.
Except that Gmail is free, like most of Google's other services, while Apple gets paid while they beta test MobileMe, and then find bugs.
Google and Microsoft both beta tested their online services before releasing them, and then slowly opened them up to more people as the problems were resolved.
It's Apple own fault they are in this situation. Not Google, not Microsoft. It's time they put the big boy pants on if they want to tackle the enterprise and deal with the successes, as well as the problems. See RIM when the Blackberry servers go down and how badly it affects more users, and those that really need them to get business done.
Gmail has been released quite a while ago. To keep calling it a beta is just a marketing tool. It's a way of avoiding admitting the serious problems it has always had.
Apple will clear this up before too long. They always do.
MSN is in bad shape as well. And look at AOL.
Yahoo mail has its own problems.
When RIM's servers go down, as they do every so often, it's a major problem.
No one is immune.
This is a bad startup problem, that's for sure. But we all know it will be fixed. Will there ways be minor problems cropping up? Yes. Nothing is perfect.
Apple miscalculated. They admitted that already.
70 bugs is not a lot. Most shipping software has more than 70 known bugs. Most are relatively obscure or have work arounds.
Something as complex as MobileMe probably has thousands of bugs in the database with only a handful being major and many still being found.
When I worked for the darkside it was not uncommon to have several hundred or more known and documented bugs in a new product release. Some of those were very obscure, some not so obscure but minor, and some functionally significant. Those would typically be scheduled to be fixed the next release of the product in a few years. Only seventy bugs in a product as complex and diverse as MobileMe strikes me as pretty remarkable performance.
That said, it would be better if MobileMe would fess up to all the problems. AFIK since the MobileMe rollout no one has been able to update their credit card information and that has resulted in some users losing their .Mac MobileMe accounts altogether. The same glitch prevents anyone from upgrading their MobilMe account to either add more disk space or convert to a family account. The rationale I was given for failing to acknowledge these problems are, "we hope to have them fixed very soon." So how many weeks is "very soon?"
...Apple can't be trusted for business related services.
Unfortunately that's what many, many IT managers believe as well and this disaster isn't going to do anything but continue to perpetuate that perception.
I really had high hopes Apple was climbing out of that hole with the iPhone but this experience has set them back even further.
So un-Apple like.
P^6 -- Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance
Unfortunately that's what many, many IT managers believe as well and this disaster isn't going to do anything but continue to perpetuate that perception.
I really had high hopes Apple was climbing out of that hole with the iPhone but this experience has set them back even further.
So un-Apple like.
P^6 -- Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance
Understand though that MS has major problems as well, but that doesn't stop business from relying on them.
It's a matter of perspective. MS already has the business market, so problems don't easily dislodge them from that. Apple has little business market, so problems prevent others from leaving MS and moving to Apple, which is a recursive problem for Apple.
Heck, not only did Apple create a creepy Mobile Me logo that looks waaaaay to MS in style, but, apparently, they borrowed some of the Vista engineering knowhow as well!
OE