Windows 7 is Microsoft’s new operating system that was launched in early October.  Microsoft’s last system , Windows Vista, became known as a bust with many glitches and problems with the software.  Software developers for Microsoft has responded to these complaints and shortcomings with Windows 7.  Shortly after the launch of Windows 7, complaints started rolling in from the users. About 31% of users found it difficult to upgrade to Windows 7.  Many of the problems came with installation and loading the applications.  About 9% of the users would sit throuogh an hour of laoding the program, only to have it freeze upon 62% completion.  There were even some complaints about how the program severly slows down the speed of the computer and the dvd function would stop working.

Windows is well aware of these problems and continues to work to fix it.  Once the bugs are smoothed out for the users, the system actually works very well according to the users that did not experience bugs in the process of loading.  The complaints are significantly less than the complaints received from the prior operating system, Windows Vista. 

This article applies to the systems devevlopment life cycle discussed in chapter 11.  There are 7 phases in whic all systems devlopers must go by when creating a new operating system, including Microsoft.  These phases are, Planning, analysis, design, development, testing, implementation, and maintenance.  Windows 7 is on the maintenance phase right now as they respond and fix the problems experienced by the users of the software.  It is crucial to have an efficent way to hear of the complaints of the sofftware to have a speedy solution to the problems.

Goldman, David. “Windows 7 Comlaints Begin”. CNN. 2009.

Hyundai Engineering and Construction has been making serious progress in globalization, along with their market at home.  When CEO Kim Joong-kyum took over the comapny at the beginning of 2009, the company was suffering in both the global and local markets.  Many of their overseas projects were on hold due to the financial crisis. Orders were shrinking and the competition was growing.  Kim almost single handedly steered the company out of its worst economic slump in company history.  He started locally by campaigning to win orders to redevelope houses in the metropolitian area.  His redevlopment then scattered nation wide.  Kim then knew that he had to expand his efforts globally.  At 60 years old, he was travelling world wide meeting personally with clients on the site.  Since these efforts from Kim, the sales numbers are up 43% from this same time last year.  The total sales came out to 4.6 trillion won.  One of the keys to Kim’s success is maintaining a great staff of employees.  His philosophy is that personell makes or breaks a business so he keeps a personal relationship with them and eats luch witht them and keeps their needs met.  This is to ensure he get the maximun use of the employees talents.  Kim also realizes that there is much more than just construction involved in his business, so he gets teams to research things such as enviromentally friendly methods. 

I think that Kim Joong-kyum is what all leader should look to when needing an example of how o lead a company.  He keeps his employees individually happy which provokes the greatest work to come from them.  He also meets with his clients on the site ready to go.  Looking at the improvement the company has made globally shows the importance of maintaing the global market along with the local market.

Han, Jane. Hyundai E&C Redefines Globalization Under new CEO. Korea Times. oct. 2009.

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/biz/2009/10/123_54308.html

Microsoft will be cutting 800 jobs throughout its company in response to hardships the company has been facing.  These cuts are on top of the 5,000 job eliminations that the company recently issued.  In 34 years of being in business, Microsoft has not once had to announce job cutbacks.  Microsoft at one time was the biggest companys in the world.  Now, they have fallen behind to their largest competitor, Apple.  The head spokesperson of Microsoft said that “they will continue to hire in priority areas, but also understand that continuing to manage our businesses closely, as we always do, can mean additional headcount adjustments.”Cost cuts have impressed the investors of the company and by doing this they were able to turn a profit.

Enterprise Resourse Planning is being used strategically by Microsoft to control their business.  Microsoft must make a big decision and the decision making is the backbone to any successful company.  They must analyze their number and their international sales and progress and really figure out the best way to keep the company moving forward.  To lay people off is a huge decision that requires the correct use of ERP. 

I think that it is crucial for Microsoft to compete at whatever means necessary.  To lay people off is a way to save the company money. With a fierce competitor such as Apple, Microsoft must maitain their edge and fix the problems that are going on in the company.  I think that it was necessary and it was the right choice for Microsoft to eliminate jobs as a way to start back from scratch a regain their niche in the technology world.

Goldman, David. “Microsoft to Cut 800 More Jobs”. CNN. November 4, 2009

http://money.cnn.com/2009/11/04/technology/microsoft_job_cuts/index.htm?postversion=2009110414?CNN=yes

Toyota is one of the leading automotive brands that is leading in customer retention.  According to an article in Business Weekley,  65% of Toyota buyers traded in their old Toyota vehicle for a new one.  The article states that high quality vehicles and service keep people coming back.  The highest U.S. company ranking was Chevrolet at 56%.  Among the lowest ratings are the smaller imported cars such as Mini.  Pontiac is another low ranking customer retention score ebcause of their mediocre quality and appearance.  Jaguar and Land Rover are among the lowest for luxury brands.  The poor resale value and expensive parts make it a pain for the owner.  Toyota provides high quality vehicles that are durable and nice.  The quality of Toyota vehicles is well known because most customers that have ever owned a toyota continues to be satisfied.  I have a 1991 Toyota 4 runner with 280,000 miles on it and it is still running strong.  Everyone I see is amazed at how long that car has lasted me.  I will always buy Toyota because I know the quality that they have to offer.  I would much rather spend a little more money to have a strong vehicle that holds its value.  this is exactly what Toyota has going for them.  Because I have been satisfied with their product I will spread the word and on top of that I will continue to bring them my business.  There is not one person that I have talked to that does not know the quality Toyota vehicles and that is the basis of customer retention.  It is much easier to keep a customer than it is to switch a customer over and quality is the foundation.

Kiley, David. December 6, 2007. “Toyota Leads in Customer Loyalty”. Business Weekley.

http://www.businessweek.com/autos/content/dec2007/bw2007126_407250.htm

Microsoft is coming out with two new phones on October 14. The names of the phones are Pure and HTC tilt 2. The phones are going to be provided with service by AT&T. The phone will be competing with all the other smart phones on the market and it is entering a fairly well established market. Microsoft will need a niche to really pull through in the market. Microsoft hopes to make the case that the devices are not only worthy phones, but also the best option for those who want to take their Windows world with them. The phone offers Adobe Flash support, an improved browser, and menus that are easier to navigate with a finger. Users will be able to download apps directly from the developer. They need to imitate the iPhone app process because they need to reach out to the ones who are not technology savy. They offer thousands of apps and they are all available to pick and choose. Microsoft is also offering a Find-your-Phone application. They are charging $5 per use that competes with the $99 annual fee for the service from Apple. This makes it cheaper and less of a commitment for the user.
Microsoft is a strong name to put behind a smart phone. They have a loyal customer base and I think they can compete. If they want to the managers and top officials of the company must create reliable service and easy to use advancements in the technology. They are having AT&T provide it and it they have the lowest smart phone customer service ranking of all of them. They may want to consider it when listening to customer demands.

“Is the iPhone hurting AT&T’s brand?”

AT&T has recently come out with the iPhone which has been a huge hit in the cell phone industry. It has completely changed the way cell phones are used. Before the iPhone text messaging was the most advanced thing you could do on the cell phone. Now an entire world of information and entertainment sits at the fingertips of millions of people who have the iPhone provided by AT&T service. However, in a recent poll the iPhone can be hurting AT&T’s name, or the other way around. AT&T scored the worst in a survey competition amongst all the cell phone providers in customer satisfaction with smart phones. It received a 69 out of 100 score behind Verizon Wireless and even Sprint. The iPhone has been building the reputation of having poor service quality and reliability. Many of the iPhone users who were surveyed said they would switch to a different provider if given the opportunity. If steps are not taken soon, this could potentially come back to haunt AT&T in the future. Over 40% of non AT&T users switched services just to get the iPhone and not because they wanted the service. These customers are the one that are most likely to leave the service.
AT&T has never been a good mobile service provider in my experience. I know so many people who have the iPhone and when I am talking to them on the phone they are always cutting out or getting disconnected. The reception always seems to be bad. I have been a faithful Verizon customer for years and I have never had any troubles with them. In fact, when I go to the mountains I am the only one who ever gets service out of everyone and I have an old type of phone that I have had for 3 years. AT&T is spiraling downhill and if they are unable to provide a quality service for a high demanded phone and that could be detrimental to their company’s future.

Reardon, M. 2009. Cnn News. “Is the iPhone hurting At&T’s brand?”.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/10/02/iphone.att.service/index.html

“Google wave to be released to 100,000 testers Wednesday”
Google is coming out with a new application that combines the most popular internet functions into one. The new application combines e mail, chat, blogging, photo sharing, and Wiki documents in something they call “The Google Wave”. The app was created by two brothers, Jen and Lars Rasmussen. The wave is an e mail like function that can be updated and edited simultaneously between different users. The user is able to see what the other people in the conversation are saying as it is being typed. Everything is in real time. If someone joins the conversation late, they can be updated on what has been said.
On Wednesday the new application will be sent out to 100,000 testers to get feedback on the program. They have already noted some glitches but they hope to have it all ironed out after the testing. The creators have a lot of confidence in their new application and they think it will make both email and instant messaging look stale.
I don’t really see how this will be any different from an email. I need to see it and use it before I can make the judgment if it is actually beneficial. I am pretty simple minded on the internet and e mail works great for me but that is the way technology apps on the internet are going. People like to communicate on the internet and creating advancements in the programs is what people want so I think Jen and Lars can really be on to something. It can potentially be a huge step forward for Google and if it catches, Google can continue their massive growth.

Sutter, J. 2009. CNN News. “Wave to be released to 100,000 testers Wednesday”.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/09/29/google.wave.beta/index.html

Google Enterprises began an online book printing process. Over 2 million books are already available to print up due to copyright expiration. The books that Google picks up are books that are old enough to have fallen out of copyright agreements and they are open to the public domain. Through the last even years, Google employees have searched through millions of stacks of old books in different university libraries and public libraries. Google is teaming with On Demand Books and letting people print up these books individually in libraries. The Espresso Book machine is what libraries are investing in and they are capable of producing a full 300 page book with a cover in about 4 minutes. The machine can make up to 60,000 books a year. This would cost about 10 dollars to buy a book that used to cost 50 dollars.
This is a revolutionary industry that Google is on to. They are being innovative and finding a problem and offering a solution. Books can get so expensive these days and a lot of them do not even have their copyright rights anymore. This is a cheap alternative to an expensive problem. Especially for the poor college student who is looking for books as cheap as possible. The company makes a profit and the consumer is overly satisfied. That is the type of business wants to be a part of. They have a solid enterprise architecture in expanding their business and taking on new fields as they expand.

Google Enterprises has recently expanded from just being a search engine to offering a variety of applications to businesses and its users. They have expanded into the world of email trying to compete with other search engine sites with email such as yahoo.com or msn.com. In order to compete with these sites with email services, Google must outperform and rise above its competition to really gain customer loyalty.
On September 1, Google had an outage of service that lasted over two hours and it left customers frustrated. For a company that is really trying to gain customers loyalty, this was a serious blow. Google offers an application package known as “Google Apps” to businesses for an annual fee of $50 per user. Included in this package is Gmail service. Companies have been experiencing troubles with the service and quite frankly are not too happy with paying for something that is not reliable. In business, time is money and when email is an important part of your business and it fails, time is lost and in turn money is lost.
Google did well in keeping its customers aware of what exactly is going on and what caused the problem. Transparency is important, especially with a new company in trying to gain customer loyalty. An apology helps but Google is going to have to step it up to really compete. Once repeating failure become public, that could ruin the whole business and its plans.
I know what it is like to have email troubles and how frustrating it can be. What I expect from an email provider is consistency. If there are constant problems with a provider, I have no problem immediately switching to another provider. When working as a sales rep, I had to email my case counts and my time card. If on Friday my email happened to be down, I would not be able to get my time card in on time and in turn not get paid on time. Ebusiness is becoming a crucial component of most businesses which means for an email provider they must strive for perfection to really win in the world of ebusiness.

Hempel, J. “Is Gmail Ready for Business?”. CNN. September 3, 2009.
http://brainstormtech.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2009/09/03/is-gmail-ready-for-business/

Engineers at MIT have created a school of robotic fish that they can release into the ocean. A robotic fish has artificial intelligence and i has the capabilities of mapping out the ocean floor and getting to places that a submarine never could. The first robotic fish that was designed in 1994 and it was called Robotuna. Using Robotuna a a model, the new school of robotic fish can mimic actual fish movements and they can be released into the ocean.It is battery operated. The robotic fish can also be used for underwater surveillance and the U.S. Navy has expressed interest and oil companies have interest as well for its ability to monitor underwater oil pipes.
The depths of the ocean still remains largely a mystery to mankind. Much of the ocean today is unexplored. In Chapter 2, it talks about artificial intelligence and how it has becoming a part of the present and future of technology. In my opinion, the robotic school of fish is a perfect example of where technology could have the biggest impact on society. When it is used for things that humans physically can’t do, rather than things that humans are too lazy to do.

Erdman, S. August 31, 2009. MIT Engineers Create New School of Fish. CNN. Retrieved from
http://bb-app.csufresno.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_24171_1%26url%3D

GPS Phones Help Monitor Staff
The article I chose refers to the use of GPS in business. The article by Jennifer Alsever starts with an example of a dilemma that a small delivery business owner was in. Grant Opperman owned a deliver truck business and he was up against companies such as FedEx and UPS. His package tracking system consisted of the memories of his truck drivers and relying on them remembering to call at each delivery location. FedEx spends a billion dollars a year on their tracking system alone. Opperman talked to specialists to with different engineering backgrounds and they were able to get GPS built into cell phone. Opperman invested in GPS only spending $21,000 estimating that he saves up to $96,000 including work hours put into filing, manual tracking, and manual entries. This allowed Opperman to expand internationally which was is original goal.
The use of GPS has become revolutionary in world of business. However, there are some complaints and risks involved with GPS. “Snooping” can become a legal issue and has in some cases. Employees assume the risk that they may be monitored after work hours. Complaints can turn into lawsuits real quick when referring questioning privacy.
I worked for the Regal Wine Company as an intern sales rep. I ran into reps from other companies daily and one of them was telling me how their company has a GPS system in their phones. He told me stories of their boss checking on a particular employee and finding that he was at home when he should be working. He got fired and the company was able to get rid of an employee who was losing them money.
GPS has saved me from some sticky situations when driving in unfamiliar settings. It may pose problems when it is abused but for the purpose it was created, it can save a hassle, and even a business.

Alsever, J. (2009). GPS Phones Help Monitor Staff. Fortune Small Business. 26 August 2009.
http://money.cnn.com/2009/07/08/smallbusiness/inexpensive_gps_phones.fsb/index.htm#TOP