If is freezing cold here in the Western Cape and all because of some snow on our mountain tops.
FNB and their service
Currently I do some of my banking with ABSA and over the last couple of weeks I became dissatisfied with their service and their costs. I decided to go and see what a bank like FNB can offer me and since I spend about 90% of my day on Internet related work, I wanted to do the whole process over the Internet.
I am already an FNB Internet Banking customer since I have a FNB Business Account and a Discovery CreditCard. They have an on-line real-time application for a FNB Checking Account. On 29 May 2005 I completed all the on-line forms and also requested an overdraft facility. Remember this is a real-time facility which meant that the application should have been completed to a certain extent in real-time.
Since I asked for an overdraft I expected not to have that granted in real-time since they probably had to have some human made some decisions. Well at the end of filling out the forms nothing was done in real-time. Not even the creation of a normal check account. All that was said is that the application was referred and they will get back to me in 2 business days.
I gave them time till 2 June which was 4 business days and then phoned them. The person on the other side of the phone said that he will escalate it and somebody should phone me within 24 hours. Guess what, 24 hours later and nobody contacted me so I phoned again and again the same promise. Well it is now a couple of days later and I have not heard a whisper out of First National yet.
I cannot understand how a company can operate a business like this. Absolutely no idea what service is all about. No interest what so ever in what is best for the customer.
Well I know where I will not do my banking and I will not recommend First National Bank to anybody and I am seriously considering moving my FNB Business Account to somebody else. Just one problem that the other banks in South Africa is just as bad if not worse.
Open Source and Business in South Africa
During the last week I was asked the question whether Open Source is a viable solution for Business here in South Africa. My instinctive answer was yes but after thinking about it for a while I have my doubts.
Technically the answer is a yes … Open Source solutions is technically just as good if not better than most proprietary solution out there. I then asked myself the question why does Business then not use Open Source solutions and after talking to some businesses (both small and big) I came to the solution that it is all to do with professionalism and maturity in the Open Source community.
What do I mean by this? One big business told me straight that if you look at The Shuttleworth Foundation (TSF – which is suppose to be one of the biggest evangelists of the use of Open Source) and see the way they operate then I will understand. The impression is created that TSF promotes Open Source that is usable in schools and for the geek that wants to play around with it at home. They talk about things like Freedom Toasters and all the fun that can be had with Open Source. But when you ask them about how Open Source will help a business they do not seem to have the answers. Very few if any of the people at TSF knows or have any experience of what happens in the business world and how technology influence Business.
If this is true or not does not matter, it is the impression that is created that is important. As long as Open Source gets seen as the playground of youngsters/geeks and only usable in the education fields then business will not take it serious.
It is time that a forum/organization get established that has its aim and goal to further the use of Open Source in business. Even better is to add to an existing establishment like TSF to solely concentrate on the business world. But it must make sure that the people that is put to do that knows what the priorities and problems are in the business world and then come up with Open Source solutions that addresses that.
We have very credible and professional support companies in South Africa like Obsydian and products like Ubuntu but until we have a professional spokescompany to promote Open Source in the business world, it means nothing and proprietary software will be continued to be used.
Why does business not pay?
I am a Small Business owner and provide services to other businesses. My biggest problem in life is to get money that people own me. Surely the right thing to do is to pay one’s outstanding accounts.
This is why I am going back to the corporate environment where I do not have to chase companies to get them to pay me a few hundred bucks.
Die Burger Pryslyn Kompetisie – hoe regverdig is dit?
Ek neem al geryme tyd aan Die Burger Pryslyn Kompetisie deel — kyk hier om ‘n idee te kry van hoe lank al. Tot op hede was ek nog nie eens naby om iets te wen nie so die vraag het by my ontstaan van hoe regverdig is hierdie kompetisie?
Ek was altyd onder die indruk dat die nommers elke dag in Die Burger lukraak (randomly) gegenereer word sonder inagneming van in watter ry dit voorkom. Al wat geignoreer word is die nommers wat reeds in die verlede gepubliseer is en die nommers wat glad nie op ‘n kaart verskyn nie.
Ek het tot die besef gekom dat hierdie afleiding nie korrek is nie. Ek is seker dat elke dag voordat die nommers gepubliseer word daar gekyk word dat die nommers die minste wenners lewer en indien daar wenners is, dat dit baie lae pryswaarde het. Van julle mag sê dat dit nie moontlik is nie want hoe weet Die Burger hoe elke kaart lyk. Wel, Die Burger weet presies hoe elke kaart lyk en watter nommers in watter ry is. So al wat ‘n rekenaar hoef te doen wanneer die nommers gegenereer word, is om dit te vergelyk met al die kaarte in omloop en te kyk watse wenners word opgelewer. Indien daar te veel wenners is dan word ‘n nuwe stel nommers gegenereer.
As ek na al my kaarte van die verlede kyk is dit intressant om op te let hoe eweredig die nommers oor die hele kaart versprei is en dat daar altyd 1 of 2 oop nommers op ‘n ry is. Nooit 5 oop in ‘n bepaalde ry en 1 of 2 ander rye vol nie. In ‘n lukrake omgewing is dit net nie moontlik dat so iets sal gebeur oor so ‘n lang tyd nie. Wiskundig maak dit net nie sin nie.
Julle sal dink dat ek hierdie slegs sê omdat ek nog nie gewen het nie. Wel dan moet iemand my asseblief verkeerd bewys en ek hoor met graagte julle menings.
WordPress Upgrade
I have upgrade WordPress, the software that runs this blog, to version 1.5.1 to solve some security and performance issues.
If you find any problems please let me know.
Eventually found a Note taking program that does what I need.
For a couple of months maybe a year now I have been looking for a software program for my Note taking needs. It must just sit hidden somewhere and when I need it, it must just magically appear. Well I have found one and it is free — it is called Shirusupad and you can get it at http://www.shirusupad.tk/
It does my Todo list, I can set alarms that even execute programs and the most important, I can keep notes. It even handles Ctrl C when you hold down the Ctrl C key long enough.
It is one great program and can recommend it.
Web page redirection and output buffering
Why cannot all web servers by default buffer there output and only send the output to the client when the page is finish created? I developed an PHP driven website and used the header function often to redirect to a different page. Those that know PHP also know that HTML headers cannot be change when some output has already gone to the client.
To make a long story short the server I was developing on (PHP 5.0.4) was buffering PHP output by default due to a setting in the php.ini file so the call to the header function was working perfectly. When this application was put on another server that was running an older version of PHP (4.3.0), everything just broke.
What a slept to change all the pages by including ob_start() and ob_end_flush() on all the pages that used the header function.
Well I suppose things will get better in the future!!
What is our purpose in life?
This question has probably been ask by a lot of people and I would think that each of us would have a different answer to this question depending on our circumstances in life.
I have been pondering about this for a while. I have been battling to find employment for the past 2 years and wonders everyday why did I land in this situation. What have I done do deserve this? Why is everyday such a battle?
Are we put on this earth to just worry about ourselves? To make as much money as possible, to accumulate as much earthly things as possible?
I cannot say that I am an overly religious person. Yes, I do believe in God and I do believe that Jesus died on the cross for my sins. Over the last couple of weeks after I was invited to a church service by some friends I came to the conclusion that what I though was my purpose in life was totally wrong. We are here for 5 simple things:
- Bring God glory by worshiping him
- Bring God glory by loving other believers
- Bring God glory by becoming like Christ
- Bring God glory by serving others with our gifts
- Bring God glory by telling others about him
I am doing a 40 day session with a group of friends based on the book by Rick Warren called The Purpose Driven Life. It ask the simple question — What on earth am I here for?
We are now 9 days down the road and I must say that it is truly life-changing. Things that were important before just are not any more. Where a couple of weeks ago I was on the edge of a cliff I now look forward to getting up in the morning. Life is still a struggle but I now have the knowledge that if I do everything to worship God then there will be solutions to all my problems.
Recruitment Agents and ethics
The 2 concepts in the title in my opinion is mutually exclusive. Over the last 2 years I have been job hunting and have not found 1 recruitment agent that has any ethics to speak off.
Some of them like Microstaff is just blatantly liars. They would not hesitate sending your details and CV to companies without your permission. Never ever even bother to ask any agent to get back to you via email or phone. They just do not bother. Most of them will give you some story when you confront them on why you was not selected for a certain position.
There is one or 2 exceptions that is slightly better. And I emphasis the word slightly.
I have learned that it is a waste of time using job sites like CareerJunction, PNET or Careerweb to find a job. You application will just go down a bottomless pit. Using Recruitment agencies is just as bad. How they make money and survive I do not understand.
I suppose it is just because I am an oldish white male. Does not matter that I have all the experience in the world.
Well if you want to talk to me regarding a job the please contact me via my details on the contact page.