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bookmark_borderClose to home

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I meant to sit down last night and talk about that explosion at the plastics firm in Glasgow. I started to a couple of times, and again this morning, but each time I grind to halt not really sure what it is I’m trying to say.

My current thoughts, aside from sympathy, are veering towards a better understanding of how the loss of life can mould your emotions in ways you never really considered. The explosion was an accident, but what if it wasn’t?

I’m not saying that I can imagine the scope of emotional impact something like 9/11 would have on me or anyone else, but the tragic event that happened yesterday in Glasgow has made me think.

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bookmark_borderBlogger again

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I’ll stop after this.

Business Plan. What is it and why did it prompt the new ‘revamped’ design?

There is a lot of focus (rightly) on the new look and new features (and changed features). But where now? Keep adding features for free? Really? When you are taking on Moveable Type and have been, seemingly, static for quite a while you are losing ground. Everywhere I’ve read posts from the people involved in this re-design talk of it in the immediate past. So is this the first step in a longer term strategy?

For Blogger Pro people, the people who paid for extra features, the only thing we are getting is a comments system, and a restricted one at that. Granted the amount of comment spam that hits most sites means that more of the hosted comments systems will have to start offering some form of spam protection (TypeKey anyone?) but there needs to be scope for people who aren’t (touch wood) affected by this.

I’m not bashing the new Blogger, Google, or any of the people involved but I DO get the feeling that this is only half the story. Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe I’m being too hopeful and maybe I need to remove some of the emotional attachment I have for Blogger (I mean I have a Blogger hoodie after all…) but I’m sure there is more to come, and that the technological changes under the hood that AREN’T being talked about are probably twice as important as those nice new curvy graphics on the front page.

As ever, time will tell.

bookmark_borderFoggy

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Horizon fades out of view. Impossible to reach. Decisions are based on what you can see in front of you as everything else is grey.

Ohh and the weather is foggy too.

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bookmark_borderIn other news

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So yeah, there is a new ‘Blogger’ but hey, what else is going on?

Well, to be honest… bugger all.

Worked on that site over the weekend and managed to bork the entire database. Caught up on some ‘recorded’ (ahem) viewing , suffice to say that this season’s 24 is getting very good – especially the 6am-7am episode! – and I can’t wait to ‘record (ahem) the last three episodes.

Aside from that didn’t really do much with the weekend, had planned to do some gardening but it never really happened.

On the work front… well let’s just say that I’m hiring for my team as my attempts to clone myself failed. Looks like a busy time over the coming weeks which means a quieter time here. Which in turns means I’ll post twice as much as usual, and be doubly active in the y’all’s comments, cos that’s the way it works.

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bookmark_borderReactions so far

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(cross posted on my test blog)

Not overly positive.

Diamond Geezer has posted an initial reaction, and I’ll cherry pick the ones I agree with:

1. “I can’t redraft a blog post and see what the old post looked like any more. So I can’t see what all the code I’m using is supposed to look like, and make changes as appropriate. Only one or the other on screen at the same time. I think this is the innovation I hate the most.” – SNAP!

2. “Bloody American dates. The ‘edit posts’ page we Bloggers get to use lists everything by American date. Today is not 5/10/2004, it’s 10/5/2004. It used to say “May 10 2004″, which I could happily cope with.” – a long standing gripe for me.

3. “We now have the option to link to individual posts, rather than just jump to one post somewhere in a weekly/monthly archive.” – and what’s more – if you want to switch to this MT-style archiving and you aren’t using blogspot, you need to manually create all the folders BEFORE turning on the option. This is hidden in the help but surely should be indicated on-screen next to the option.

MY other comment:

There is some good stuff here, but I agree with the sentiment that it is all a bit ‘dumbed down’. Little thought seems to have been given to us more experienced users. Of course they’ll probably release an ‘Advanced’ version next week just to prove me wrong…