Gordon's Tech

Friday, March 26, 2004

Why I hate computers: "Unexpected error ($80080005)" with DataViz BeyondContacts

DocID: 13208 - During the synchronization, I recieve an error in the HotSync Log "Unexpected error ($80080005)"

...Restart your computer and try the synchronization againl.... Uninstall and then reinstall Outlook. After uninstalling and then reinstalling Outlook, restart your computer and try the synchronization again.

1. Chapura KeySuite is hosing my Outlook data when I sync to my Tungsten E. I paid $50 for it a few months ago.
2. I switch to DataViz BeyondContacts. In two days of testing it works ok. I have to stop at day two for irrelevant reasons.
3. I pay for BeyondContacts. $30.
4. BeyondContacts starts failing to sync. It can't connect to Outlook 2003. Retry fails. Outlooks is "busy":

$80080005 - A possible conflict involving Beyond Contacts and another application has occurred. Please see http://www.dataviz.com/BCConflict/ for more information on this error. There was an error attaching to Outlook. Restarting your computer often corrects this problem.

I am developing a visceral dislike for:

1. PalmOne (hacked up Palm conduits and databases)
2. Chapura (only because they've caused me great pain for years)
3. Outlook (every version)
4. Microsoft (ok, I always disliked them).

I wonder if I could figure out a way to get a piece of desktop software to suck in the Outlook calendar and then sync from that software to the Palm ...

PS. BeyondContacts spells "canceling" "cancelling" and "receive" as "recieve". It doesn't help my confidence in the product.

Googles fragility

The Register: "Google's IPO is expected in July, but doubts are already being raised. 'IMHO, they made a huge mistake in not having their IPO earlier as their 'superior technology' is increasingly being compromised,' a Slashdot poster noted at the weekend. Google is still the world's most popular brand name , but the deteriorating quality of the results raises questions of whether it can get to the finishing line in time. Google's greatest threat is not the competition: but that it appears to have no Plan B. We certainly don't hear that 'Google is God' so much these days.

From its omniscient authority of just a couple of years ago, Google already looks like one of Silicon Valley's most spectacular burn outs. Only by popular folklore, they're supposed to burn out after they've IPO'd, or been destroyed by Microsoft. Google hasn't even IPO's yet."

The fear is that Google has run into some pretty severe technical problems. Their infrastructure may be too big to fix ...

Invision Power Services: Inexpensive conferencing/community software

Invision Power Services

They provide hosting services and open-source based commercial proprietary software. The missing pieces is an RSS feed for RSS client monitoring of forum activity.

Thursday, March 25, 2004

Bloglines | Free, Web-Based News Aggregator

Seems to work fine. I use NetNewsWire on OS X, and I could use Newsgator or FeedDemon on Windows, but a web based solution makes more sense. Yahoo is adding an experimental service, but when I tried it was out of order. So bloglines looks interesting.

Wednesday, March 24, 2004

David Allen: Blog of a productivity guru

David Allen

Talk about reputation management. He comes highly recommended by a very interesting guy I've been reading. Another one to add.