If you've ever encountered problems reaching my blogs one reason this has occurred on occasion has been run-away processes started by other web sites that are hosted on the same box. I've had to contact the hosting service Hosting Matters and alert them so that they could go kill those processes. Well, it looks like they've had to do this one too many times as a result of customers using Greymatter to run their blogs. Therefore Hosting Matters has banned the use of Greymatter scripts.
As of July 1, 2003, all Greymatter scripts will be banned from any Hosting Matters server. The reason is quite simple: the resources used by Greymatter can quickly spiral out of control, killing services. The problem with Greymatter is that the various pieces of it will not properly exit. This results in multiple gm* processes spinning and requiring manual termination. It also results in a continual upswing in CPU usage for just one site. The following is an example of one existing site we watched:
I cheer them for making this move. Servers shouldn't be getting bogged down by buggy software. If you are thinking about setting up a web log this report strikes me as a good reason not to use Greymatter. Perhaps now that a web hosting service has made such a dramatic move against the use of Greymatter maybe some hackers will fix the Greymatter scripts to prevent this problem from happening (and, then again, maybe not).
The Hosting Matters, Inc. Acceptable Use Policy and Service Guidelines now include a statement about Greymatter. Hosting Matters is not alone in taking this step. Scribehost bans Greymatter as well.
My own blogs are run with MovableType and I'm quite satisfied with its reliability and recommend it to anyone thinking about blogging.
The New York Times has an interesting article about the trend of companies taking a greater interest in monitoring and defending their reputations on internet consumer opinion survey sites and in discussion groups. Intuit, bowing to the power of the web, will discuss major new features in online forums before springing features that might upset their customer base.
"I think that, now, the power of the Internet is captured in the ability of everyday Americans to give their opinion on any product or event that they want," Mr. Gulbransen said. Next year, he added, before Intuit releases a new product, it will discuss possible changes with users of important online forums. The company will also eliminate the features that customers complained about angrily.
The Times article cites a long list of sites that report on and influence consumer customer opinions. Being somewhat backward as web sites go the Times did not make most of those URLs into clickable links. So if you want to click thru to them here are most of the ones mentioned: Extremetech.com, CNET.com, Slashdot.org, Amazon.com, and Epinions.com. As an internet deal search site they mention DealTime.com. But they should have mentioned Google Froogle too. The article also mentions that Paul Resnick of the University of Michigan runs a website that reports on research on online reputations.
I think a lot of companies are missing a big opportunity by not making a more concerted effort to more systematicaly collect a lot more informaton from their customers, ex-customers, and potential customers on what customers like and do not like about the various products on the market and what customers want but can not find. Companies ought to offer questionnaires on their sites that have detailed lists of products and aspects of products to solicit feedback about what ought to be changed and why and how. Companies that send emailings to convince customers to buy ought to include sections in such emails that ask for feedback and that provide links to places to provide the feedback.
In a nutshell: there are more excellent minds outside of most companies with great ideas for product planning than there are working on the inside. Those minds that are on the outside are a great resource that could be tapped in a variety of ways to get better ideas to make better products.
Better to type than to surf the internet. Also, better to learn keyboard shortcuts and stay away from the mouse.
But while the Danish researchers may have exonerated the computer keyboard as a leading villain, the mouse remains suspect. According to the study, there was a small but significant association between use of a mouse device for more than 20 hours per week and a risk of carpal tunnel syndrome.
I gotta say that I already look for ways to avoid having to switch over to the mouse. In Visual Slick Edit there are lots of keyboard shortcuts for moving between buffer windows and doing other operations most people tend to do using a mouse. Keyboard is faster if you can use the keyboard.
People who do a lot of CAD are probably at greater risk than the average computer user since the CAD types use the mouse so much to move around graphical objects. Programmers are less at risk in comparison.