Peanuts to Profits With Thor Schrock
Peanuts to Profits With Thor Schrock

With excitement building for the upcoming release of Microsoft’s latest operating System, Windows 7, a couple of familiar guests might be missing from the launch parties.

Microsoft has removed Outlook Express (Windows Mail in Vista) and Windows Movie Maker from Windows 7 deciding instead to promote their Windows Live products.

Windows Live Mail

The basic concept behind Windows Live Mail is that you can run it from your mobile device, your computer in offline mode, or live on the internet.

Rather than clicking on the “Send/Receive” button you instead click a “Sync” button. The idea here is that you can use your phone or computer in offline mode, and as soon as they go online they will “sync” with the online system to keep everything in one place that is shared with all of your devices.

Here’s a video that shows you how the process works from start to finish:

Windows Live Moviemaker

Windows Movie Maker has been included free of charge with Windows since Windows XP was released.

On the Windows Live blog, the lead designer on the Movie Maker project explained that the company’s research showed that most PC users employed Movie Maker to create small videos, video slide shows, or combinations of both with some titles and transitions.

Knowing that users were not using Movie Maker to create feature length films, Microsoft focused on making an application that can do what its user want quickly and easily.

For example, the “Auto Movie” feature allows you to select a group of pictures and an audio sound track and then let the computer do the hard work of organizing the images so they start and stop with the sound track.

Here’s a video that explains the most hyped features of Movie Maker:

Why Do I Have to Download It?

Windows 7 will not come with Movie Maker of Windows Live Mail (or even Windows Messenger) installed by default. Users have to make the decision to download the components from the Windows Live website or through the Microsoft Update (Windows Update) feature.

This solves a lot of anti-competitive issues not only in the US, but in Europe as well, while still allowing Microsoft to give its own products a slight advantage over their competitors in the marketplace.

I had a little debate today with some of the staff about Schrock’s 2009 Holiday Special system.

We have always offered a complete system (CPU, monitor, keyboard, mouse and speakers) for $1499 in past sales.  We have offered a tower-only option for $200 less, dropping the price to $1299.

So here is the question…

Do we advertise the Holiday Special as a $1299.99 tower only system and then offer the monitor and accessories as separate items for purchase or do we assume that most people will want the accessories, market it at $1499 and then offer the take-away discount?

If you Were Buying a New PC Right Now

If you were in the process of buying a new PC right now would you want to replace your monitor and accessories for $200 or would you fly with what you have?

We have been hard at work for the past few weeks designing the Schrock Innovations 2009 Holiday System, and the first prototype testing is underway.

This year’s Holiday Special will feature 2 new technologies that have never before been used in a Schrock build.  The result is a new Modular PC that is faster (not seconds faster but STUNNINGLY faster) more reliable, and better prep[ared for tomorrow’s technology than ever before.

What is the Holiday Special?

Schrock’s Holiday Specials are always highly anticipated because the systems push the limits of technology at an unbelievable price.  We offer a complete system (including monitor, wireless keyboard and mouse, and speakers) for only $1,499.

These systems are configured with amazing specifications.  This is not the typical Dell up-sell routine, where you are lured in for $499 and end up spending way more than you planned.

These computers are configured to rock your PC experience with no modification required.

This year’s Holiday Special Modular PC is no exception.  We are keeping the exact details close to the vest at the moment, but I can tell you it will be running Windows 7.

Faster than Anyone Expects

ONe of the big reasons we are so excited for the 2009 Holiday Special is because one of the new pieces of technology we are introducing will bring MASSIVE speed increases to the table that will be unavailable anywhere else in Nebraska (even by special order form Dell).

This new technology will unleash AMAZING speed that most computer users have only imagined.  In our tests this technology has cut processes that used to take HOURS down to mere minutes.

We get excited whenever a system we produce can dramatically improve a PC users’ experience.  To put it bluntly we have not a game-changing PC since we introduced Lincoln to Windows XP and LCD displays ion 2001.  This system will be just as revolutionary.

Reliable Beyond Anything You Have Imagined

The 2009 Holiday Special is going to be faster than anything we have ever built before at Schrock, but it is also the most reliable system we have ever built.

This system runs COOLER (temperature wise) than any previous computer we have built, even though it sports a quad core processor.  Because it runs cooler, it also uses LESS POWER than other quad core systems we have released in 2009.

Another new pieces of technology cuts the odds of a PC breakdown by an amazing 75%.  This PC has more up-time, less lag time, ind its overall cost of ownership is dramatically lower over its expected 8-year lifespan.

Power for Today and Potential for Tomorrow

As always, this Schrock system is Modular.  That means your computer has everything it needs to meet your demands today, and it can grow with you as your needs change in the future.

Schrock Innovations is the only company in the country that offers Modular computers, and that is why our Holiday Special systems last more than 8 years while other manufacturers are lucky to get three years out of their builds.

How Can You Learn More About This Computer?

Unfortunately, you will have to wait a little while longer before we let everything out of the bag.  But there are some things you can do to make sure you catch the tidbits when we do let them out.

1. Subscribe to the RSS Feed on this blog.  You’ll get an email as soon as we release anything.
2. Follow me on Twitter – I am prone to moments of weakness.  If something slips, it will happen here
3. Get on Schrock Innovation’s mailing list – Contact Schrock and ask to be added.  It’s free and rumor has it there is a coupon involved
4. Listen to Compute This every week.  Chris Goforth has a way of getting me to talk

Every day in the news you hear more bad news about the economy, but great news about your 401-k value.  How does this contradiction translate into opportunity for your business?

Easy.

You can hire the best talent available in the marketplace on a contract basis because people are out of work and they will be for some time.

If you hire clearly overqualified people, they will simply take your position until something better comes along.

Instead, hire the people you need on a contract basis.  The differences between contract employees and regular employees are subtle (but important).

Most importantly it opens up a door of opportunity that can help your small business get the talent it needs to grow.  Eventually you might grow to a point where you can permanently hire your contract help!

How can the stock market keep going up if the economy is tanking?

Remember that stock values are based on company profits and activities.  The economy on the other hand, is primarily driven by individual consumers.

Companies can generate huge profits by reducing the number of people they employ, as long as they can manage to somehow continue delivering their products and services with their remaining workforce.

Experts often cite recessions as times when employee productivity goes through the roof.  Employee productivity goes up because a company’s remaining staff must pick up the workload of the laid-off employees or face the chopping block themselves.

Fewer people doing more than ever is a recipe for business profits, and hence the stock market does well.  On the other hand there are tons of highly trained and qualified people who are stuck on the sidelines polishing their resumes.

Turning on the 1099 Tap

With so many people out of work for such a long period of time, the small business owner has a unique opportunity to leverage talent they otherwise could not afford.

When you hire someone to help your company you can bring them on as an employee or you can hire them as a temporary contractor.  There are certain advantages and disadvantages to each:

Regular Employees:

1. Advantage - You control their every activity
2. Advantage - You invest in their training and development to make them more productive
3. Advantage - The employee relies on you as their main income source
4. Disadvantage - You are responsible for benefits, including unemployment payments if things don’t work out
5. Disadvantage - Over-qualified people might take your under-paying position to tide them over while their resume circulates in higher-paying circles
6. Disadvantage - Employees come with HR nightmares like paid time off, sick days, maternity leave, office politics, and government compliance regulations

Contract Employees

1. Advantage - You tell them what needs to be accomplished, and they make it happen
2. Advantage - Lack of a regimented management structure can sometimes lead to better results and new ideas
3. Advantage - Contract employees are less expensive because you don’t have to worry about benefit packages, overtime, or payroll taxes
4. Disadvantage - Contract employees are like for-hire mercenaries.   They can work for anyone, including your competitors
5. Disadvantage - Contract employees are typically less committed to big-picture corporate goals
6. Disadvantage - You can’t control them.  If you have control and direction of their activities you have to pay taxes on them as regular employees

Using Contractors to Grow

From time to time my company has used contractors as gateway labor when launching a new division, testing out a new product or service, or simply when we could not hire an employee at an agreeable rate.

Eventually, all contract relationships end – abruptly.  Typically, the best you can hope for is a 30-day notice provision in your contract.

While that sounds better than a voluntary 2-weeks notice form a regular employee, it can be devastating to lose a key person in the infancy of a product.

Employees are typically more loyal to the corporate goals, so the odds of them seeing a project through to a transition point are typically better.

Once your product, division, or service is viable, transition your contractors to employee status, or replace them with qualified people.  Whenever possible, have the new employees train under the contractor.

Opportunity is Everywhere – Even in Bad Times

No matter how you decide to find your people, know that the “bad economy” has created a pool of very talented labor that can be a game-changer in your business strategy.

All you have to do is know how to tap it affordably and control its growth to cash in.

There is a new piece of exploit code circulating on the web that takes advantage of the SMB v2 service in Windows Vista to remotely access your computer.

At this time there is no patch to fix the problem (although the problem was repaired in the final release of Windows 7). Bevause thuis is a new exploit, it is also likely that any attackers using this code could also bypass your security software.

To TEMPORARILY fix this problem, there is a utility you can download to turn of the SMB v2 service. This may impact your home networking situation depending on your configuration, however it will not impact most users at all.

In the absence of a patch, here’s what you can do:

* Click Here To Disable SMBv2

To revert the workaround, and re-enable SMBv2, you can:

* Click Here To Re-Enable SMBv2

A couple days back I stopped into the shop to drop some things off and I had my 3-year old son Jake with me.

After a few minutes the guys had him up on a stool and working – and Jake loved it!

I can’t believe a company like Apple or even AT&T can treat their customers this way and expect to keep them loyal.  Here is what I just sent to Apple’s feedback email address (like anyone will ever read it):

I don’t even know where to begin.  My business iPhone just died in the middle of a text message today.  It will not turn on again at all.  It was purchased October 11, 2008 (less than a year old) at the AT&T store in Lincoln, NE (68516).

I live in Omaha, NE (68108) and there is an Apple store here.  I called 611 from my iPhone to find out what we need to do to get her phone replaced.  After 5 dropped calls, and a total of more than 20 minutes on hold, I finally got through to an Apple support representative (who was really an AT&T support representative).

He informed me that AT&T does not have any stores in Omaha.  (Here’s a link to the half-dozen AT&T stores in Omaha )

I read him the numbers for the first three, and he tried to call and was unable to get through to a representative (in one case the number was disconnected!)

I gave up on him and called the AT&T store where I bought the phone in Lincoln and spoke to the manager.  He informed me that the AT&T store where we bought the iPhone can’t replace it at all.  Even though my phone is less than a year old, it has to be done at an Apple store.  No exceptions.

So I called the Apple store.  The representative there told me that he couldn’t set up an appointment at the Genius Bar, so I would have to go online and do it.

FRUSTRATING.  SO now an hour after I started, I go online only to find that I have to wait 2 DAYS for an appointment.

Needless to say at this moment I am seriously missing my HTC touch from Sprint.  I doubt anyone will actually read this, and if anyone does they won’t be empowered to do anything about it in my case or as part of an aggregated policy, but it makes me feel better to send it.

I love my iPhone, but this is not the Apple service that has differentiated your company in the past, and I can honestly say I will be looking at other options in the future for my business telephone needs.

UPDATE 9:35 AM 9/14/2009.  Bruce Nelson with InfoUSA emailed me the following:

Just read your post and wanted to let you know that the pop up for the sample record on the Choose Your Package page (Park Drive Garage) is a dummy record.

It comes up regardless what set of criteria (SIC Code, geography) you choose.

It used to pull an actual record from the list you built, but it was becoming a performance issue, so we just put a static example recently. Your post brings to light that we really need to change the text to let people know that it is not one of the records you will be getting in your list.

This afternoon I did some research for marketing a computer repair company resource website.  I planned on directly marketing the website to computer repair companies, and to do that I needed a list to work from.

The first name that came to mind was InfoUSA, and I was thrilled to find that their lists can be purchased online through an automated system!

InfoUSA Sells BIG Lists But…

I entered SIC (Standard Industrial Classification) numbers 7378 and 7379 and their system returned just over 38,000 results.  The price of the list was a WHOPPING $6,227.00!

For that price I  might as well build a bot to harvest names and phone numbers from computer repair web searches on Google.  Harvested lists are rarely accurate, and can lead to wasted marketing dollars, but you would have to waste a lot of money to get to $6,000.

Holy Proofreading Batman!

InfoUSA has a cool feature where you can preview an entry from the list you are about to buy.  Before I dropped my cash on the table, I took a look at what my $6,000 was going to buy:

There is no excuse for a result for the Park Drive Garage showing up in a database search for computer repair companies.  I entered SPECIFIC SIC codes that should have returned only computer repair companies.

They obviously had this business listed in a database somewhere with an Automotive Repair SIC code.  It’s RIGHT THERE in the sample result!

Why would I pay $.16 per name for a list of businesses that will have no interest in an IT shop website?

If InfoUSA can’t manage their results database, there is no way I am going to trust them to sell me a targeted list for a marketing campaign.

Anyone know a good coder who can build a bot for me?

Today is the anniversary of the September 11th attack.  I thought about writing a thoughtful post on what it means to be an American, how America has led the world for the past 100 years, and how we are art risk of losing that edge to the Chinese and others in the next 100 years.

Well, that was too depressing for me today, so instead I thought I would illustrate some differences between George W Bush and Obama.  I firmly believe that Barack Obama’s policies are a disaster for this country.  I believe there will be a day when those who voted for Obama will realize they got duped (those few that still don’t know that already).

These posts typically get snapped up in the search engines and then hacks from both sides snipe back and forth and the truth is so obfuscated that no one can decipher what is really going on.

Rather than the usual, I thought I would let these two leaders speak for themselves.  Here are some notable quotes from Bush and Obama:

Barack Obama Quotes:

America is a Nation with a mission – and that mission comes from our most basic beliefs. We have no desire to dominate, no ambitions of empire. Our aim is a democratic peace – a peace founded upon the dignity and rights of every man and woman.

America is the land of the second chance – and when the gates of the prison open, the path ahead should lead to a better life.

Americans are rising to the tasks of history, and they expect the same of us.

For diplomacy to be effective, words must be credible – and no one can now doubt the word of America.

If you’re sick and tired of the politics of cynicism and polls and principles, come and join this campaign.

Use power to help people. For we are given power not to advance our own purposes nor to make a great show in the world, nor a name. There is but one just use of power and it is to serve people.

George W. Bush Quotes:

As a nuclear power – as the only nuclear power to have used a nuclear weapon – the United States has a moral responsibility to act.

If you’re walking down the right path and you’re willing to keep walking, eventually you’ll make progress.

It took a lot of blood, sweat and tears to get to where we are today, but we have just begun. Today we begin in earnest the work of making sure that the world we leave our children is just a little bit better than the one we inhabit today.

Operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and the war on terrorism have reduced the pace of military transformation and have revealed our lack of preparation for defensive and stability operations.

Poorly secured nuclear material in the former Soviet Union, or secrets from a scientist in Pakistan could help build a bomb that detonates in Paris. The poppies in Afghanistan become the heroin in Berlin. The poverty and violence in Somalia breeds the terror of tomorrow.

There is not a liberal America and a conservative America – there is the United States of America. There is not a black America and a white America and latino America and asian America – there’s the United States of America.

Today we are engaged in a deadly global struggle for those who would intimidate, torture, and murder people for exercising the most basic freedoms.

We have real enemies in the world. These enemies must be found. They must be pursued and they must be defeated.

Now here’s the real test. Some of you read all the way to the bottom before you fired from the hip. You THOUGHT about what these quotes meant before you applied them to the media templates that exist for these men. You are the REAL American patriots here.

You are the only ones who know that I switched the attribution for the above quotes. The Obama quotes were actually Bush quotes, and the Bush quotes were actually spoken by Obama.

Actions speak louder than words, and I am watching Obama’s actions. They don’t match what he is saying and THAT is why I am scared for America’s future.

As I type this I am downloading the 64-bit Windows 7 Ultimate 3 GB ISO through the Microsoft Action Pack Subscription program. Minutes ago I received an email from Microsoft informing me that the download was now available.

This is not a beta, or a release candidate.  This is the all-out full version of Windows 7.  This is going to be a fun night!  1.5 hours remaining on download…

Now where did I put that solid state hard drive again?