Tuesday, January 11

taking sides in the coming conflict

It was unsettling to read in the computer papers about the looming battle between Dougal and Dr. Finlay's Casebook. One of them's a wonder of discreet design, innovation and quality services, all free so that you don't begrudge their discreet advertising. The other one is utter sh*te, used only by NPD sufferers, the attention-deficient, and sociable folk.

To try and keep on expanding, Casebook allegedly wants to siphon consumers away from Dougal Mail, presumably by offering some more immediate means of staying in touch, as an alternative to email. As if knee-jerk communication of trivia needs any encouragement.

As a first step they've poached some of Dougal's top technical staff.

Then I suppose Dougal will respond by offering some kind of Casebook-like features, although they tried that before and failed.

Normally I ignore or boycott corporate products, but I make an exception for Dougal (and Apple) because their gear is so good. And because they're likely to be around for a long time, so I won't have to keep moving on to the next big thing.

I don't take sides in football, but this is more important than sport. To start with, I've persuaded Alec and Albert to close down their Casebook pages. But their efforts may turn out to be unnecessary. Pubs, corporations, films and consumer products all have their own Casebook pages now, which I think is stretching the whole friend metaphor beyond breaking point, and the whole thing could implode.

A Wall Street merchant bank recently paid $500 million to buy just a small share of Casebook. No comment, but you might want to pause before placing the call to your broker.


- Posted using Apple hardware, and Dougal software and web resources.

10 comments:

  1. Albert? What? I have no idea what this is about. Dr Finlay drank himself to death like all good actors do! But I do know what an apple is. So hurrah for me!! I hope the apples win. Hotboy

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  2. I daresay this stuff is irrelevant to blissworld. PS not just actors.

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  3. PPS Dougal and Dr Finlay are my equivalent to Dale Robertson, if that helps.

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  4. Albert? Dougal is a dog! Right? Hotboy

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  5. I say!

    Facebook is now valued at more than Barclays Bank.

    Before Facebook became popular, I had some quite similar ideas for a service for students, but my idiot boss would not allow me to go to a meeting to present the idea.

    MM III

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  6. Mingin' and Albert?! What amazing company! Albert nearly invented the world wide web and you nearly invented facebook. Well, I did invent spiky haircuts in City Whitelight well before the punks got to it, but I just gave the idea away. What kind of idea is facebook anyway? It's just connecting folk up through the computery thing, is it not? Is that an idea? Hotboy

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  7. Albert? I had an idea that everyone should meditate and join up on a real time webby page which would eventually look like a mass of postage stamps with lots of atavars or webby cam things logged on, so that the meditators would not feel alone, but nobody was interested because all the techy folk are too dumb to meditate, which is why we should sit in a cave, lock and load, and shooty shooty any of these flatheided basturns that come near us! Hope this helps. Hotboy p. s Just steal this idea, or give it to one of your students. Make a fortune if you could be bothered. pps Once you're sitting on the hoards of nazi gold, the impetus to do bugger all has gone, has it not? Give this idea to some little, impoverished Philippine and watch the world change.

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  8. Mingers. A good argument for doing the opposite of what bosses say. It all balances up.

    Hotters. I never thought I'd say this, but you're making sense. If this is what abstension, abstemiousness or whatever does for you, think what you might achieve! It might not be too late. Actually someone may already have implemented your mass bliss site, if I wasn't on holiday i'd find it for you.

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  9. I say!

    Hotboy has just had the idea to create Second Life.

    My idiot boss threatened me with disciplinary action if I communicated my idea to the people in question. I then took out an official grievance against him.

    Then things turned nasty.

    MM III

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  10. Mingers, it's not too late for a voodoo doll, or you could pay Hotters to kill him with evil thoughts.

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