The yacht Skat in Gothenburg in November 2008.
Panorama over Marseille December 2008.
Section from the panorama in natural size over the Viex Port area.
Photos from the inside of two of the churches in Marseille.
tisdag 17 februari 2009
Panorama and HDR photos
The yacht Skat in Gothenburg in November 2008.
Panorama over Marseille December 2008.
Section from the panorama in natural size over the Viex Port area.
Photos from the inside of two of the churches in Marseille.
onsdag 11 februari 2009
Four and a half month and nothing to show for it
Today we had a meeting with the contractor for the upgrade of the A/V and IT systems onboard. Since I joined the yacht two months ago I have asked the contractor company how they are supposed to provide the solution to our TVRO switching since I didn't understand how there proposal would work with our equipment. In two months they have not been able to produce any details and every time I have asked them they have had a new excuse and insurance that I would get the details shortly.
During the meeting today one of the senior managers from the company again ensured us that they would solve our request during a morning meeting and that a college had the drawing of how the system was supposed to work and that I would get a copy of it this evening or early tomorrow.
Around 17 o'clock he was back onboard and told us that they are abandon the contract, and will not do the work that has been agreed and payed for. This is four and a half month after the requirements was presented to them at the Monaco Yacht Show and more then two months after we went into the dry dock and the work was supposed to start. So here we are half-way through the dry dock period and have to get new contractors onboard.
The reason that they gave to abandon the contract was:
1) That they could not guarantee the function of the system since we still have problems with the domes onboard.
2) That they couldn't meet our expectations.
When he told me that they couldn't meet the expectations I asked him which of my three expectations that they couldn't meet:
1) Provide a reliable change-over for the RF signals from the different domes in case of failures.
2) Upgrade the distribution of A/V onboard from composite to component.
3) Do a tidy and nice looking installation.
He was unable to tell me which of these expectations that they where unable to meet. And I find it hard to see what has changed with the dome situation during the day. To leave a customer in the middle of a contact when they are on a tight deadline is not a good way to do business. I really wonder what their real reason to abandon the contract was. I surely hope hope that not all companies in this industry operates in this way...
During the meeting today one of the senior managers from the company again ensured us that they would solve our request during a morning meeting and that a college had the drawing of how the system was supposed to work and that I would get a copy of it this evening or early tomorrow.
Around 17 o'clock he was back onboard and told us that they are abandon the contract, and will not do the work that has been agreed and payed for. This is four and a half month after the requirements was presented to them at the Monaco Yacht Show and more then two months after we went into the dry dock and the work was supposed to start. So here we are half-way through the dry dock period and have to get new contractors onboard.
The reason that they gave to abandon the contract was:
1) That they could not guarantee the function of the system since we still have problems with the domes onboard.
2) That they couldn't meet our expectations.
When he told me that they couldn't meet the expectations I asked him which of my three expectations that they couldn't meet:
1) Provide a reliable change-over for the RF signals from the different domes in case of failures.
2) Upgrade the distribution of A/V onboard from composite to component.
3) Do a tidy and nice looking installation.
He was unable to tell me which of these expectations that they where unable to meet. And I find it hard to see what has changed with the dome situation during the day. To leave a customer in the middle of a contact when they are on a tight deadline is not a good way to do business. I really wonder what their real reason to abandon the contract was. I surely hope hope that not all companies in this industry operates in this way...
fredag 6 februari 2009
The Kaleidescape experience - more than just cover art
This week I visited Integrated System Europe (ISE) in Amsterdam for two days. I took the oppertunity to go to some of the Kaleidescape training to get more details about the system. The training was quite basic because of the time constraints but the interesting parts was the Q&A and the presentations of how Kaleidescape operated as a company.
There are four things which I like to share:
1) Kaleidescape consider it their problem if the system doesn't work as a user would expect. An example of how they apply this is when importing DVD or CD:s which are not recognized by Kaleidescape. Instead of telling the user that they should enter the details themselves Kaleidescape offers to provide the user (or dealer) with shipment boxes so the disks can be shipped to them so Kaleidescape can enter the details for the user into the system.
2) Developed the system from the ground up. Kaleidescape have built everything in their system, from their OS - Keaos, to the hardware all within the company. Both the software and the hardware was designed just for their own purposes and the complexity has therefor been minimized which in return has maximizes the reliability.
3) Dedicated services, Kaleidescape is more than just the hardware that you buy, it's the experience from using their meta data of DVD:s and music, all freely available to the user.
4) Full support, this is something that I actually got verified just as I came back from ISE. Kaleidescape has a 24/7 monitoring service of all their equipment, if any problem is reported by the hardware Kaleidescape will be notified and they will contact the user (through the dealer) to handle the problem before the user even have noticed the problem. As I came back from ISE I had an e-mail waiting for me that there might be a problem with one of the drives in the server. They asked me to verify that it was properly sealed and if that was not the problem they would go ahead and send a replacement unit out to the dealer. I checked the drive and just as they had expected it was not properly inserted. This really improves the trust in their system and you are probably thinking like I did that this must be how Kaleidescape get their concurrent income - was I wrong, Kaleidescape does all of this free of charge, the user would not even have to pay for the replacement unit if it had to be sent out. And in the extremely rare situations that the data would be corrupted Kaleidescape will restore the data for you. That is what I would call a full commitment!
I can only say that my impression of Kaleidescape so far is nothing but great, you surely pay the big bucks for the gear but there simply is no comparison to the value that you get with it. If you like to get satisfied customer make sure that you consider their problems to be your own and than build your organisation around that idea, I believe that is one of the reason behind Kaleidescapes success, besides their grate products of cause.
There are four things which I like to share:
1) Kaleidescape consider it their problem if the system doesn't work as a user would expect. An example of how they apply this is when importing DVD or CD:s which are not recognized by Kaleidescape. Instead of telling the user that they should enter the details themselves Kaleidescape offers to provide the user (or dealer) with shipment boxes so the disks can be shipped to them so Kaleidescape can enter the details for the user into the system.
2) Developed the system from the ground up. Kaleidescape have built everything in their system, from their OS - Keaos, to the hardware all within the company. Both the software and the hardware was designed just for their own purposes and the complexity has therefor been minimized which in return has maximizes the reliability.
3) Dedicated services, Kaleidescape is more than just the hardware that you buy, it's the experience from using their meta data of DVD:s and music, all freely available to the user.
4) Full support, this is something that I actually got verified just as I came back from ISE. Kaleidescape has a 24/7 monitoring service of all their equipment, if any problem is reported by the hardware Kaleidescape will be notified and they will contact the user (through the dealer) to handle the problem before the user even have noticed the problem. As I came back from ISE I had an e-mail waiting for me that there might be a problem with one of the drives in the server. They asked me to verify that it was properly sealed and if that was not the problem they would go ahead and send a replacement unit out to the dealer. I checked the drive and just as they had expected it was not properly inserted. This really improves the trust in their system and you are probably thinking like I did that this must be how Kaleidescape get their concurrent income - was I wrong, Kaleidescape does all of this free of charge, the user would not even have to pay for the replacement unit if it had to be sent out. And in the extremely rare situations that the data would be corrupted Kaleidescape will restore the data for you. That is what I would call a full commitment!
I can only say that my impression of Kaleidescape so far is nothing but great, you surely pay the big bucks for the gear but there simply is no comparison to the value that you get with it. If you like to get satisfied customer make sure that you consider their problems to be your own and than build your organisation around that idea, I believe that is one of the reason behind Kaleidescapes success, besides their grate products of cause.
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