But, as I went into to the Gmail settings for Buzz to delete the Buzz “account,” I noticed the warning that deleting Buzz would also delete my Google Profile. What? I can’t delete Buzz, an account I never really wanted and that was forced on me by Google, without also deleting my Google Profile? So, I just turned it off without deleting it. I would much prefer to delete it, but I don’t want to have to recreate my Google Profile (nor am I even sure that Google would let me recreate it).

From there I went to FriendFeed, which I hadn’t used in 6 months or longer, and into the Settings panel. There was no setting to delete the account. Because I couldn’t believe this, I closed and reopened the settings a couple of times, looking at every item carefully to see if I had overlooked the deletion option. It was not there. So, I googled for “FriendFeed delete” and got a result that will allow me to delete my FriendFeed account. While not as controlling as the Buzz account was, Google doesn’t make it easy to quit FriendFeed … you can do it from within FriendFeed but good luck finding it without a search engine. (By the way, I haven’t deleted the account yet: I posted on it that I plan to delete in a few days, giving subscribers time to follow me on Twitter if desired.)

These two frustrations come on the heals of a recent email from Google reminding me that my Google Apps account will expire on September 4 unless I check the option to auto-renew. I fully plan to let it expire. In fact, if I recall correctly, I had to set the auto-renew option to off, because its default is to renew annually. I did this several months ago. At that time I went into Google Apps attempting to find a way to opt out of it and get a partial refund for the time not used. But, as far as I can tell, no such option exists.

This really upset me at the time, and I couldn’t think of any other companies that did something so controlling. For example, if you sign up for Apple’s MobileMe and later decide you don’t want to use, you get a refund for the unused time. You can even do this with the online subscription to Wall Street Journal.

With all of this coming at the time when Google has forsaken Net Neutrality, I am a bit disenchanted with Google at the moment. I don’t really know who they are anymore, or what they really stand for. MG Siegler sums it up so well in his recent TechCrunch article:

In light of this week, much has been made about Google’s unofficial motto “don’t be evil”. Google must be evil now, right? No — that’s absurd. There seems to be this tendency to believe that when companies do something unfavorable, they must have malicious intent. I’ve stated it before, but I will again: this is not a James Bond movie where some villain wants to do bad things just because he’s evil.

Instead, Google’s intentions are much more transparent: greed. Greed also tends to have a negative connotation, but I’m of the Gordon Gekko mentality that “greed works.” It’s what drives this country. And as a public company, whether we want to admit it or not, it’s what drives Google.

The problem is that Google themselves are unwilling to admit that greed is what’s at play here. They’re still trying to put on this charade that this is all about what’s best for us. That’s insulting.

What’s best for us is net neutrality, pure and simple.

If someone at Google just stood up and gave a Gordon Gekko-esque speech about their passion for expansion and securing deals it would be easier to stomach. At least it wouldn’t be quite so disingenuous. [Emphasis is mine.]

And, in light of the Oracle suit against Google, I similarly wonder about Google’s use of Java within the Android operating system. It’s hard for me to tell what really happened with this, but, on the surface, it looks like Google did not want the limitations of the licensing associated with Java and rebuilt the virtual machine code from scratch using a different license, so it could do what it wanted to. But, again, that’s the surface appearance. It is not entirely clear to me that anything wrong was really done here, but it looks a bit suspicious and a suit has been filed.

A year ago, I would have told you that Google is the one of the best things to happen to this planet in a long while. But, now, I have a less favorable impression of them. They still do some good things, and maybe for the right reasons, but they do not seem so distinctive as they once did.

Example 1: Ubuntu

Earlier today Matt Cutts posted an article that goes into considerable detail on his disappointments with Hardy Heron Ubuntu. While noting that he absolutely loves the popular Gutsy Gibbon version, he lays out several areas where it looks like the developers took one step forward and two backward when going to the Hardy Heron version. For Matt to do this says a lot, because he just does not seem to me to be the type of person who posts critical pieces without giving them a lot of thought, and without having gotten to the point of being thoroughly disgusted. His style of blogging is to inform, not to criticize. So, the Ubuntu folks need to set up and pay attention to what he is saying. If they start losing enthusiasts like Matt, they are not likely to be able to recover.

Example 2: Twitter

Just a little while ago, Michael Arrington blogged Twitter: Something is Technically Wrong. Michael has been a big supporter of Twitter, a free communication service that is catching on like wildfire. He’s had some articles critical of the continuing problems it has had with availability, but has nonetheless remained a supporter of it. Looks like he is close to throwing in the towel on it, though. I must agree with him. It was unavailable for several hours yesterday, and has been unavailable for about the past 3 hours today (maybe 4).

The operators of Twitter need to pay attention to this criticism. If someone like me gets disgusted and stops using Twitter, the Twitter leadership would never know the difference. If Michael gives it up, a lot of people will follow him. Twitter, a great idea, will have been short-lived because it did not pay sufficient attention to its customers (and therefore to its quality of service).

Wrap-Up

You can probably draw some pretty smart conclusions from this, and feel free to share them. As for me, I hope these examples provide additional motivation to me to always focus on quality and value when writing for you. The fact that this blog is free to you means nothing. I still have to make my top priority for this blog to be one of providing value to you.

If I were to set down and talk with them, I could find that they are two of the finest gentlemen I could ever meet. But, based on what I currently know, I do not think I would care to meet either of them.

Both seem to me to be examples of closed-minded people. Not just closed-minded, but closed-minded to the point of being counterproductive to what they try to accomplish.

For example, I do not know whether the following is accurate, but it would not surprise me if it is:

• Richard Dawkins has turned more people against atheism than he has turned toward it.
• George Bush has turned more people against Christianity than he has turned toward it.

I know I have personally wondered “can Christianity be true if George Bush believes in it?” I have thought this because it seems to me that George Bush makes up his mind on what he believes, and no amount of facts are going to sway him. Of course I know it is not right to question a belief because someone else believes it, but it shows how dislike of a person can influence our thoughts.

And, as for Richard Dawkins, I forced myself through four chapters of his The God Delusion before throwing it in the trash. He comes across as so closed-minded that he probably drives people away from atheism.

I thoroughly enjoy the TV series House because one gets the sense that, despite House’s anti-religious philosophy, he could be persuaded to believe in God if presented with “evidence.” He comes across as a person who is interested in the truth, no matter what. Of course, I also like his unpretentiousness, but that is beside the point.

What’s my point? Simply that being closed-minded about something can result in consequences that are actually opposite to what you intend. I have to remind myself of this as I get older, because there is a tendency for me to become more stubborn with each passing day. You probably don’t need the reminder, but at least it is here for you if you do.

Update: John raises a crucial question in the comments: “When does adherence to one’s convictions become close-minded?” What a great question, and I firmly agree with John’s assertion that when you believe you are right about something, you should stick to it and defend your beliefs. And, of course, if you later find out you were wrong, you should be willing to admit it.

To me, Bush and Dawkins, as two examples out of dozens, come across as being closed-minded because I have the perception that neither is truly interested in hearing the views of others. I fully recognize that my perception could be wrong, which is why I state that I could change my mind about them if I actually sat down and talked with them. (In fact, I know someone who is a personal friend of George Bush and thinks highly of him and believes he is open-minded.)

Whether I am right or wrong about Bush and Dawkins (and I have been wrong many times in life), it seems to me to be true, regardless, that people who are perceived as closed-minded can be counterproductive to their own purposes. I personally try hard to avoid being closed-minded, but that does not mean that I do not have any convictions. It means that I am willing to listen to opposing views, and that I am willing to admit when I have been wrong about something. No doubt I sometimes fail in my attempts to be open-minded, and I can think of many times when I have been stubborn about something, and later regretted it.

I don’t know if that adequately addresses your question or not, John (and all of you who were thinking the same thing). Ding on me again if I have not sufficiently clarified what I was trying to say. And thanks again for the comment.

Sounds fantastic, doesn’t it?

The kicker is that only about 10% of these contributions are directed at organizations that help the needy. The remainder goes to museums and colleges and the like.

I have nothing against donating to colleges or museums. But it seems to make so much more sense to donate where the money is really needed. For example, according to the editorialist, many wealthy people still donate huge sums to Harvard, even though it already has an endowment of $30 Billion.

Donations to museums and colleges and the like also carry the same tax deduction benefit that a donation to an organization like the Salvation Army carries. Just doesn’t seem right to me.

I realize this is a departure from the type of articles we normally have here, but this struck me as something I wanted to share with you.

Then yesterday I got my first dose of disillusionment with Gmail: its delivery of mail to my box is many hours late. For example, one email that was delivered to me this morning was sent early yesterday afternoon.

Then last night I was reading an SEOmoz post entitled Yahoo! is the Most Fulfilling Search Engine:

This was a huge surprise to me. Yahoo! has been getting a lot of bad press, yet here are some stats that indicate that their search engine technology could be interpreted as the best. Debatable perhaps, but interesting nonetheless.

I have not even considered using Yahoo! for searching in the past few years, but now I am thinking I need to give them a try. Maybe I ought to try out their email system, too.

I have realized that, while I often harp on the value of competition, all too often I settle in some products and stick with them even when the competition is worth checking out. Do you do this, too? Does it really matter? After all, we can’t spend all our time checking out the massive products that are available, can we?

Getting Stuff Done

• For implementing David Allen’s GTD System (book available here), I have never found a PDA that beats how well Palm handles GTD. Perhaps that is because I learned how to implement GTD when I was using a Palm device. But I really think it is because David designed GTD around his own use of the Palm operating system. He was, and still is, a user of the Palm platform, and his system is incredibly easy to implement using the built in Palm PIM applications. I personally think I am most productive when using a paper planner (supplemented with a PDA), but, if I set the paper aside, my most productive times were when I used a Palm device to help me organize. With the built-in PIM apps and Bonsai for serious project management, I could stay on top of everything.
• Of course, PIMs aren’t the only thing to consider when you talk about getting stuff done. Modifying and creating documents is also important, as is note taking. In this regard, the Pocket PCs were the winner because I really like using their handwriting recognition systems. The specific PPC winners for me were the Toshiba e805 in first place, followed by my Dell x51v and the iPAQ 2215. The e805 was a real power house: with its 128MB of RAM I never had to worry about having too many documents loaded into my device. Same can be said of the Dell x51v and iPAQ 2215. The latter was especially good because of its form factor, but its battery life was a problem if I wanted to have a long writing session.

Form Factor

In terms of what “felt the best,” I would say the following pretty much tied for first place: my BlackBerry Curve, the Palm T3, and the iPAQ 2215 Pocket PC. Running in second place would be my T-Mobile Dash and Treo 650 or 700.

Eye Candy

The screen on the iPAQ 4700 Pocket PC was unbeatable. For watching movies, viewing photos, and reading ebooks, no other device I have owned has matched it. It had great luminosity and color sensitivity. Interestingly, the device that I consider second place in regard to how great its screen looks was my Treo 650. Its smaller screen did not make it a great device for watching movies or reading ebooks, but its luminosity and coloring were perfect, perhaps even slightly surpassing the 4700.

Closing Thoughts

Out of all the devices I have owned, and there have been upwards of 20, the ones I have remaining are my BlackBerry Curve and my Dell x51v. These are great devices and I plan to keep them for a long while. I can envision replacing the Dell with one of the HP’s at some point. And, if RIM keeps having outages on its BIS network (it has recently had the third in five months), I could replace it with an iPhone. But, for now I am happy.

What about your favorite devices?

Update: I just tried syncing my Dell x51v and encountered numerous connection problems with it, something that seems to be happening more often. I am tempted to unbox my Palm TX (which I had boxed up for selling) and use it instead. ActiveSync sucks. Can’t Microsoft do anything right any more? I try to remain open-minded about various operating systems, for computers as well as PDAs, but I can tell you that I am very glad that I bought an iMac. I am also getting more miffed at myself for having bought the BB Curve when I did … if I had waited another week, the reduced price iPhone would have been available, and I am wishing I had gotten one. Happily the rumors are starting to circulate again about Apple introducing a PDA in the not-too-distant future.

I watched a few hours of what General Petraeus had to say to Congress. Here is something he did not say that I wish he had:

I came here to describe to you the situation in Iraq to the best of my ability. I have done so. In return I have listened to your remarks with great interest, as I am convinced some of you sincerely want to do your best. But, I have also listened to a lot of your self-serving remarks, and I leave with the impression that many of you had your minds made up before hand and no amount of facts will change your minds. The American people deserve better than you.

What really pisses me off is that many of my good and honorable troops give their lives for the likes of you.

I have lived most of my life in service to my country, and I ask that you also do this country a great service and submit your resignations. Let the American people hold a general election to try to find someone who really wants to do the right thing for our country instead of just trying to get re-elected all of the time.

But, unlike me, the General has too much class to say something like this.

• I came from the generation that watched men land on the moon, and that was, what, 40 years ago? Almost half-a-century. I have my doubts that we could do it again.
• When I was a student at Georgia tech, about 35 years ago, a professor there helped develop the first handheld scientific calculator. I was so impressed by that technology (and Prof John Pittman), but I also remember having visions that computing technology would always improve and that it would forever improve our lives. We’ll it is not living up to my vision.

Now I sometimes wonder if technology has hurt us more than it has helped us. I know that is an exaggeration, but there sure is a lot of time spent on trying to get computers and PDAs to do the things we want them to do. I am not 100-percent convinced that we ever get that time back.

For example:

• You would think that we would have reached the point where you could sync your data to all manner of devices. But, you will feel challenged in trying to get a Pocket PC and Outlook and Entourage (or iCal) all in sync, and forget about trying to keep all of that in sync with any PIM you have on a Linux system. You can sync with any one of the three systems individually, but together? (I do think Plaxo has some potential on resolving this.) Update: James Kendrick reports that the Vista sync center actually turned his xv6700 into a brick!
• With my T-Mobile Dash, I have noticed two problems since its WM6 “upgrade:” (1) The audible on the alarms has stopped working: all I can get now for a reminder is a vibration, as if it were in the vibrate mode (which it is not), and (2) after every sync with ActiveStink, the device has to be reset before it will fetch mail or connect to the internet.

Isn’t that pathetic?

I am getting more and more tempted to get an iPhone just to finally have a device that is innovative. And, I bet its alarms work. And, I bet it syncs okay (with Macs, at least).

I am tired of this crap. What has gone wrong with innovation? What has gone wrong with device dependability? (Is Palm the only company that can consistently make a handheld with Working Alarms?) Lack of vision is clearly one cause. Perhaps another is that the incompetence of an organization grows in proportion to its size.

Are you as fed up with this nonsense as I am?

Instead I want to draw attention to my one disappointment with Leopard: I really wanted to see some improvements to iSync. Specifically, I would very much like it if Apple would design iSync so that

• It doesn’t require third-party software to sync with Pocket PCs,
• It syncs perfectly, without duplication or loss of data.

A lot of people visit this site looking for information on how to sync iCal and Outlook and a Pocket PC and/or Palm. I provide some guidance on it on my Keeping a Pocket PC, Outlook, iCal, and Palm in Sync page and my Revisiting That Syncing Feeling page, but I would still like to see a solution that just works simply without having to require us to jump through hoops. Of course as Thomas as pointed out before, there is the option of using a remote host to accomplish all of this, but that is an added monthly expense I would personally like to do without.

The other point that I want to add about the WWDC is the announcement that Safari is now available to run on Windows. There has been a lot of negative talk about this on several sites, with a lot of people being critical of Safari. I will say this for Safari: of all the browsers I tested my site on, Safari was the only one that let me see that there was a problem somewhere with the CSS coding. That is, its strict enforcement of CSS let me see that something was wrong. (I tracked it down to a missing bracket at the end of a declaration statement.) The other browsers ignored the error, which I suppose is good in some respects, but I personally appreciate Safari helping me track down a problem that could have grown in significance over time (as I made further tweaks).

The final point I will make about Safari: I always love to see competition in the market place. So, good for Apple for introducing a bit more competition to the scene.

Update: I mentioned my hopes about iSync herein, and not ActiveSync, because (1) we are talking about Apple, and (2) I have come to expect Apple to solve the problems Microsoft either can’t or won’t. Maybe that is a bit harsh of me to say, and ActiveSync has improved a good bit over the years, but I would like to see it and iSync sync pretty much anything you put to them. A big hope I know, but it is a mobile world.

———-

It’s been incorrectly said many times over the years that Palm is dead. However, the saying seems to be an accurate one now. The reason: in two critical areas where it had to succeed, it has fallen short. The following posts, from people I really respect, give good reasons why Palm can now be taken off life support:

• Stan Lau, over at Gear Diary, gives his initial impressions of the Palm Foleo. The bottom line: it’s a dud because it missed out on key design requirements, such as not having full screen viewing of Calendar and Contacts. When I first read that, I just couldn’t believe it: how could any company miss anything so basic and fundamental? Maybe some developers will step up to the plate and come up with apps that do the job the Foleo should do on its own, but it shows that Palm is not engaged as it should be in thinking about its customers. Of course, all companies fall short on this from time to time, but Palm had to get this right and they didn’t.
• Marc Orchant summarizes his woes with the Palm 700p, noting that he has been waiting on a firmware update for a year. Can you imagine? There are still operating system problems with this device. I know I gave up on my Treo 650 a couple of years ago because it had significant operating system problems … I struggled with it for almost 6 weeks, and then got rid of it. And they still have operating system problems? Wow! I am glad I found this out because I had been thinking about getting a Treo 700p (considering it among several other options). (By the way, remember that we have a contest going on to help Keener decide on another Smartphone.)

To top it off, you can read some of the hundreds of negative comments on the Foleo over at The Official Palm Blog.

I think this is incredibly sad. I so much wanted to see Palm keep the market competitive with some innovations and good service, and they are just not going to do it.

Having said that, I realize that many of you are Palm users. You will continue to find material on this blog to help you get the most out of your device … I am not one of those who likes to take aim at anyone’s operating system, as I believe there are advantages and disadvantages to all of them. In fact, I may even write an article on some Palm software for Getting Things Done later this week. But, it looks to me like Palm has missed its last opportunity to remain viable.

Your thoughts?