Kuan Yean

Category: Technology

  • Melbourne IT NetRegistry Acquisition

    Melbourne IT NetRegistry Acquisition

    I found out yesterday that Melbourne IT is to acquire NetRegistry, and in my view it’s buying it for a steal ($50.4m). Deja vu – Melbourne IT bought WebCentral in 2006, and all it’s done in the meantime is bleed it dry. The irony is that Melbourne IT claims the “WebCentral plan” bled it dry. With no investment in skills and technology renewal, who in the industry is surprised? WebCentral lost some of the most skilled people in the hosting industry in the aftermath of the takeover, and Melbourne IT did nothing at all to either retain them or to invest in skilled replacements.

    I became a WebCentral partner a decade ago, and in that time saw the flourishing company turn into a basket case, and the moment that happened was when the Melbourne IT accountants took over. It was a sad day when I made the decision to transfer my clients to other providers, but it had to be done for the sake of my clients. Unfortunately, one of the gaining providers was a brilliant company called TPP Wholesale – who subsequently became part of the NetRegistry family – and so I find myself back in the Melbourne IT fold.

    Melbourne IT is a woeful, myopic and chaotic company to work with. Now that NetRegistry CEO Larry Bloch now sits on the board of Melbourne IT, I can only hope he will help them clean up their act.

    In the meantime, I’m looking for yet another new provider…

  • Host hostage

    Host hostage

    Negotiating on behalf of a client today, hard-ass credit department guy on the other end of the phone says:

    “Mate, what’s your hourly rate? Why don’t you whip out your wallet and we can fix this right away. Cheaper than the time you have wasted talking to me.”

    I had to humour him.

    “I like to believe that — like you — I’m good at my job. And that involves getting the right outcome for my client, end of story.”

    “I can hear your wallet slipping out of your pocket” he says, with a cavalier smugness.

    “Nice try”

    “Well I will when you call me again tomorrow”

    This guy is used to getting his way. The curious thing is that I was negotiating on behalf of a client whose bill is fully paid up. Their account has consistently been in good order for more than a decade. What our credit department friend was doing here was holding my customer to ransom, in order to recoup funds owed by a different account owner who is merely acquainted with my client. “Clearing this account”, he assured me, “will get your customer’s stuff working again right away.”

    Naming and shaming

    Now this is not a small, high-risk, fly-by-night company I’m talking about, this is Melbourne IT. To think that the credit department at Melbourne IT would allow such unconscionable conduct is not only surprising, I’m not even sure it’s legal. I have complained to the highest level I can get to in the company, but I don’t think that’s going to be enough.

    Melbourne IT has been a sick company for a while, and WebCentral (the web hosting arm I deal with) has for the longest time been the bleeding rag that it stuffs into its wounds. WebCentral was a great company before it was sold off by its original owners. Having clung on for so long, I think it’s time to cut this one adrift. If you are considering hosting your website or email services with WebCentral, or any Melbourne IT company, do your research first.

  • The end-game password

    The end-game password

    I spoke on the radio a few weeks ago about how you might control what happens to your social media presence after you’re… no longer present. When you’ve gone to the big social network in the sky it’s a bit late to start figuring out how to shut down your Twitter, facebook and Tumblr accounts, so why not prepare for it well in advance. After all, many of us have wills, so why not incorporate a digital will into it?

    So my idea is this: a social network could provide you with an option that they could call a terminal password, or perhaps even an end-game password. I don’t know – those are just minor details. When this password (and this password alone) is used to access your account, it sets in motion a pre-planned event that either automatically shuts down your account, or memorialises your profile (a common procedure already in use by facebook). This password can be specified in your will alongside other mundane details, potentially saving dozens of lines of instructions and making life a little easier for your survivors at what will probably be a difficult time. The same could work for cloud email accounts such as GMail and Windows Live accounts.

    By doing this, the provider is absolved of a painful duty to survivors of a deceased user, and that user can have their will exercised without having to reveal any sensitive information. Win-win, no?

  • Bad form

    Bad form

    Example of the power of websites put to shameful, rather than good use:

    http://getridofrob.com/

    My position on his politics can have some bench time; whoever set up this website is playing the man and not the ball. Poor form.