Chris Parkes: A PC is not just for Christmas... : Music

The Arcade Machine Fire

chrisp — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 17:02:00 GMT

I went with the Mellow Marsh Man to see Arcade Fire at Brixton Academy last night (it was his birthday don't you know :) Steve's a good bloke, great conversation and into his music in a big way. On the tube back our discussion turned to blogging and the associated effort it needs if it is to be successful long term as part of an overall marketing strategy/communications platform.

Now, when I explained to Steve the that I personally take a much more light hearted approach to blogging as indicated by the spoof song lyrics in my post he replied "What spoof song lyrics?" Oh come on!!! I've been trying my best for a long time and quite a few people have picked up on this... The first one was a dead giveaway, I even told you dear reader who the artist and song was..!

It then started to get a little more interesting with only a few clues here and there...does anyone out there notice these things or should I just give up right now?!? Well, I've got news for you folks, we can build this dream together, I could write this stuff forever nothings gonna stop me now! And if this world runs out of bloggers, we'll still have each other, nothings gonna stop us, nothings gonna stop us now...

So, especially for Steve Marsh, here's a recap on the rest of the spoof lyrics so far...more to follow later, that's a promise!!!

If I didn't know I was mad I'd be starting to question my own sanity right about now (the funk soul brother :p)

Ciao for now :)

I Love My Media Center

chrisp — Sun, 17 Sep 2006 16:55:00 GMT

I do...I think without it I'd be lost nowadays. It provides me with access to all of my music in one place and I can pump it out through my floorstanding Mission speakers!

The great thing is, if you've never experienced Media Center edition of Windows XP, you can now take it for a test drive!

This is a funky swf which highlights the Media Center interface, if only there wasn't so much 'Not available in this demo' content, it would be a whole lot better mind... Check out the play slideshow option in My Pictures, which I use a lot to view all of my photographs whilst chillin' to tunes!

The Demo Showcase & Communication

chrisp — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 17:03:00 GMT

The moment I wake up, before I turn on my laptop, I make a little call or two...

And, chances are I will get through to someone's voicemail...at this point, I have a few options:

Leave a voicemail (which I don't know when they will get)
Send an Email (which I don't know when they will get)
Use Microsoft Office Communicator (aha!!!)

In the Demo Showcase, Office Communicator is an enterprise wide communication tool that Contoso uses and the uses are built in to many of the scenarios. The provision of built in presence really is a great advantage which allows people to find out if someone is in a meeting/out of office/on holiday/busy before deciding to contact them. It's extremely useful if, for example, there is a need to get a quick answer to a question without having to waste time generating email that may not get read for days or making a telephone call to leave a message on voicemail...

Within the Demo Showcase, one such scenario highlights how the Contoso Sales Manager uses Microsoft Office Communicator 2005 to communicate instantly with her fellow employees.

In addition, the scenario runs through quick assistance from the IT department to help solve the issue through application sharing!

The possibilities around flexible working are great. I'm thinking how I work here, waking up in the morning, checking email whilst eating breakfast, being able to review what is planned for the day on my Windows SmartPhone, using Mobile Communicator to find out if people I need to speak to are in/out of the office, contacting people over IM to inform them of urgent issues etc. etc.

So, maybe, with a little help from Aretha once more, I should rework my way through the day... The moment I wake up, I start to boot up my laptop and find out what my contacts are up toooooo...

Ciao for now :)

The Demo Showcase & Small Business & The Stone Roses

chrisp — Mon, 04 Sep 2006 17:57:00 GMT

I was listening to The Stone Roses the other night, they were a four piece band that originated from Madchester in the mid eighties. The vocals were sung by lan Brown and occasionally guitarist John Squire. Completing the quintet were Pete Garner on bass and Reni on drums.

John Squire also did all of the artwork for the bands releases. In particular I love the track titled "I Am The Resurrection"

Now, specifically, the Demo Showcase for Small Business is also comprised of four pieces:

Financial Management
First Server Right Server
Mobility
Sales and Marketing

In total, we have ten scenarios, let's face it, if these were tracks we'd have enough for an album right? And so, for each of these, we then have multiple scenarios.

Take Financial Management for instance, the two scenario's here deal with rapid sales growth, paper records, bad debtors, and the understanding of how technology and process automation can help address such issues. Then, with Sales and Marketing, opportunity management, service scheduling and campaign management all get the treatment. For First server, Right Server, we deal with Small Business Server but what's my point here?

Well, each of these are solo, they are individuals, not part of a band at all. If we start putting them together, the music we can make is bound to sound a whole lot sweeter, wouldn't you agree?

For example, a First Server, Right Server including Mobility scenario could go something like this...

Stan Orme, the business owner needs to get some financial information from his accountant Debra Garcia. He does this through opening a secure connection to Outlook Web Access whilst traveling. He schedules a meeting and later on uses his new PocketPC phone to check email finding that Debra has proposed a new meeting time. When her returns to the office the next day, Stan is taken to the Contoso Intranet where he is authenticated and updates the meeting with Debra.

I'm hopeful that you're getting the picture here, when we join the campaigns together, the scenario's become more concise and the opportunities to sell are far clearer.

Finally, let's head back to "I Am The Resurrection" - Anyone familiar with the tune? I tired to think of a way to make this also fit into the demo showcase so here goes my best shot... I definitely apologise in advance for this one :p

I am the Demo Showcase and I have the right, to help you sell solutions and to drive business insi-iiiii-iiight...

Ciao for now :)