Sebelum memulai, ungkapan di atas, for your record, adalah ungkapan seorang yang optimis. Seorang pesimis akan bilang, “mungkin, tetapi sulit.”
Probably, the hottest topic from the recent school reunion is about marriage. How to handle it? How to sustain it? And a lot of other how to’s question… I don’t need manual books for electronics, but probably we really need a manual book on this.
Rasanya manual booknya sudah ada, tetapi memang tidak dalam bentuk A-to-Z quick reference. Melainkan prinsip-prinsip yang harus dicerna.
Mulainya dari mana? Point A: dasar, Point B: tujuan, and how to get from point A to point B.
Dasarnya adalah sebuah institusi yang dibentuk dan berpusat pada Tuhan sendiri, sejak awal Penciptaan. Sebuah janji yang diikat bertiga, Suami-Istri disaksikan dan diberkati oleh Tuhan-nya. An unbroken vow.
Tujuannya untuk mencitrakan hubungan Kristus dan gereja-Nya di dunia ini. Relationship yang akan dipakai Allah untuk mencapai maksud-Nya di dunia ini.
Now the trick is how to get from point A to point B…
Secara manusia, sebenarnya kita harus belajar dan melengkapi diri dengan skill dan attitude yang tepat selama hidup pernikahan.
Among others – in random orders:
- komunikasi,
- Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus (or if you prefer Why Men Don’t Listen and Women Don’t Read Maps),
- belajar mencintai dan menghormati,
- membangun budaya keluarga,
- mengatur keuangan,
- mendidik anak,
- bicara tentang sex,
- punya peers dan konselor.
Such a big task, but thankfully we have The Comforter. Sang Penolong yang dikirim Bapa sendiri yang mencukupkan kita dalam damai sejahtera dan kuasa.
Keberpusatan pada Allah rasanya tercermin dari sini, ketika kita tidak mengandalkan semua tips/tricks yang kita pelajari dari Cosmopolitan atau the late Playboy Indonesia (note: I read it for the articles), tetapi pada pimpinan Roh Kudus. Kuasa Adi Kodrati.
Prinsip God-centered juga semestinya tercermin pada hubungan pribadi masing-masing suami/istri dengan Tuhan. Karena itu adalah yang mendorong keduanya untuk justru semakin intim.
Dari Point A ke Point B. Sesuatu yang harus diperjuangkan. Tetapi kita tidak berjuang sendiri.
Dan sebagai penutup, sebenarnya Tuhan meninggalkan satu petunjuk yang tested and true. (Sayangnya di jaman modern ini banyak dikaburkan oleh segala macam ajaran…)
1Petrus 3:1-7… PR utk dibaca, dihapal dan direnungkan.
Wait, I left out one topic: what to do kalau pasangan selingkuh? Next post ya…
Special thanks buat Pak Pendeta Sigit dan Andri “ET” – serta semua participant yang sudah sumbang suara dan sharing ilmu. Mari kita berjuang bersama-sama.
I realized that for my kids, there are a lot of “first timer” moments for them! First merry-go-round ride, first roller coaster ride (well, not yet…), first Pringles chips, first vaccine shot, first airplane flight, even as simple as first bite of new food (rawon, for example?) or the first time being able to put on shoes on their own…
The amazing thing is to always see the twinkle in their eyes, the look of being puzzled, curiosity, and eagerness, all combined. As if that moment was so special for them – ordinary it might be for many of us, but so special for them.
The idealist in me thinks that if we can approach life as they see it, we could have a wonderful life. Being able to see things from fresh view, enthusiastic, without prejudice. And if we can approach our relationship with God as children does, that’s also will be very rewarding.
This also helps me understand why my kids are soooo enthusiastic about soooo many things. Things that I don’t see as interesting as they do. Need to show a genuine and sincere interest in the things they do.
And to remind us that children are so special, let me share you the story and the spirit of Capt. Budi Soehardi, a recent nominee for CNN Heroes 2009 – this post is actually already loooong due. Capt. Budi and his wife, Peggy, are managing the Roslin Orphanage in West Timor. Their compassion and dedication for kids are remarkable and touching.
Simple things, an example of partially broken IT system and probably cost mgmt system.
Queueing in a pharmacy… 24-hour pharma, facility of a famous hospital.
I noticed a very long queue in the Rx receipt … While there’s only one poor, overloaded employee serving the queue. It’s late @21:48:42, so understand-able…
Then I also notice a non-functioning (non-optimally used) digital signage/queueing system.
It was supposed to help us the queuers to know the status of our medicine, if they have finished preparing it.
So what’s supposed to happen is:
- you queue, give your Rx
- they calculate the price for med
- you confirm the cost and get an Rx number
- you pay
- you wait (and wait…..)
- you watch the signboard, wait until your Rx shows up
- you pick up the med
Automatic and smooth. Although still long.
What will happens…
- we don’t wait, but we go run errands
- we come back and miss the signboard (or the signboard simply doesn’t work… Like tonight)
- so when signboard doesn’t work, they call your name when the med is ready and you will miss it…
- we speak, try to reach, and call impatiently to the employees
- they check manually
- you get your Rx
Manual, too many human intervention.
I wished someone from IT could help to smooth the process. Increased (my) customer satisfaction. And didn’t waste my time.
Wished IT could really matter and make difference…
Update: turned out that our elect co was the culprit, due to power failure, the q-system failed too… Ha3x…
Quoted dari sebuah majalah komunikasi intern perusahaan:
- begin quote -
Beberapa karyawan ’smart’ tidak merasa meninggalkan loyalitas. Bukan loyalitas yang kaku… Di beberapa perusahaan, karyawan mengembangkan rasa loyalitas melalui sikap agresif. Seperti “going the extra mile”, lebih membuka wawasan, sehingga bisa merasakan kompetisi di pasaran dan mengembangkan kesiagaan untuk bertindak sejalan dengan harapan manajemen perusahaan.
Perusahaan juga perlu mengekspresikan ‘loyalitas’ pada karyawan dengan cara loyal pada prinsip-prinsip pengembangan talenta dan empowerment…
Dengan demikian, fenomena karyawan bertahan selama puluhan tahun di perusahaan tidak berarti bertahan secara pasif, namun aktif mengembangkan diri dan mendorong pertumbuhan perusahaan.
Pasal 30
Pemegang Kartu dengan ini memberikan persetujuan kepada BXXX untuk memberikan data-data Pemegang Kartu kepada pihak lain dalam rangka kegiatan promosi atau untuk tujuan komersial lainnya. Pemegang Kartu membebaskan BXXX dari segala tuntutan yang timbul akibat pemberian data-data kepada pihak lain tersebut.
Another thing worth to look at… and to really understand is the size of so-called broadband market in Indonesia.
Traditionally, we took the addressable market of broadband subscription as a percentage of households. We assume that one household will have one broadband connection.
For Indonesia, we are looking at 40-50 million households, and 20% of them is the addressable market (having the purchasing power, PC penetration, availability of connection, etc.), actual demand will be less (the people that will actually buy…). So all in all, it’s 2-3 million potential demand.
Now, does this change with the availability of 3.5G connections and phones (HSDPA or EV-DO) and soon (or not so soon) WiMAX? Not to mention netbooks? Phones are suddenly capable of consuming so much data. And phones are the first device on which many people experienced Internet.
Have the market shifted to personal broadband? Will we have 2-3 broadband connections per household? (YES!) Will we even see 2-3 broadband connections per person?
Looking at my own experience, I have one Speedy line at home, one HSDPA (which was office-paid — no longer, will disconnect), one EV-DO, one cellular data package, and one BlackBerry (not exactly broadband).
If I took the same math as above, then it’s suddenly 10-15 million potential demand. (or not?). Additional factors need to be taken into account (mobilephone penetration (!), mobile subscribers #, USB dongle sales, notebook penetration, netbook penetration, cellular coverage, …)
Am I biased? Or am I just simply optimistic? A lot of people shared my optimism… as you noticed the race towards the data package, but unfortunately a sign of price war is also imminent… (could it be driven by the pessimists that fear of market saturation?!)
Let’s do the more precise math tomorrow. Or just buy that Pyramid report….
After junk mails, junk emails, now we arrived to the era of junk SMS…
This is getting too far and too much. In this a very real example, six last messages that this poor guy received are promo SMS – some are so unrelated that can be categorized as spam!
My own experience is no different. I constantly got SMS from various cafes, credit card agents (offering credit cards and loans), bank promo, gadget promo (which I don’t mind – spam for some persons but not for me) and so much more… even scam!
“Selamat!!! Anda mdptkan hadiah undian XL MANIA :Rp.35juta, dari EXCELCOMINDO utk/info, Hub:07846647889 PIN:42ag9f577S Pelaksana:+878″
Can not blame anyone, because they’re just trying to make some decent money and business.
Somehow, somewhat, we might sign an agreement without reading the small prints, unknowingly selling our personal data to these organizations, permitting them to blast us with junks.
They thought they asked for a permission and we gave it.
Or not. Worse, they stole it. Violated my trust.
And I also noticed that the phone number that I gave to the credit card companies are the one which constantly getting bugged with telemarketing and SMS… the other one is still safe… ha3x…
But critically looking at this… is it healthy and good for the future of mobile industry in Indonesia?
Is this the so called mobile marketing? Mobile as the 7th mass media?
A wake up call!
Yes, a wake call. Let’s make the mobile marketing practice better. No more spam.
Send me SMS, yes, but of something that I care about (valuable, relevant, contextual, personal).
Send me SMS, yes, but of something so entertaining that I’m willing to forward and recommend (viral).
Send me SMS, yes…
“Bapak2 and ibu2 yg sy hormati berhubung nomor sy yg 085510… sdh terlalu banyak gangguan dr telemarketing, maka sy ganti ke nomor baru ini, mohon bisa disimpan ini sbg nomor sy” [courtesy of RP]
Ever heard of the “Cloud Computing”? Yes, computing resources and applications delivered from the “cloud” (a term normally referring to Internet as a black box network). Often also dubbed as “XaaS” or “X as a Services” – we replace “X” with whatever terms you want to deliver via the Cloud.
It is definitely something cloudy… a technology which is still early stage of adoption, but I believe it has crossed the chasm already (Need to verify that!).
Wikipedia has a good introduction of Cloud Computing. And I guess you can find a bunch from Slideshare as well. Generally accepted is there are three categories of Cloud-based services:
Infrastructure as a Services: basic computing/IT resources (hence infrastructure) sold and provided in a pay-as-you-go manner, e.g. storage and rent-a-server-computing-power from Amazon AWS.
Platform as a Services: in my observation this is software platforms, also delivered from the Internet, that enable you to create your own services on top of them. Example: Ning – a social networking platform.
Key drivers for Cloud Computing are (non-exhaustive list yet):
the first ones relates to outsourcing and out-tasking
cost effective (kind of…) – no initial investment, monthly recurring charge or sometimes free… the provider can achieve economics of scale by consolidating all the resources
kind of cost effective in the view that you don’t need to buy licensed software as well…
concentrate of core competencies – no need to maintain servers and infra, no need to develop own apps
data safety in the sense of disaster recovery
portability of data – available anywhere you are, with a bonus ease of sharing and collaboration
Key issues for adoption – I’ll put Indonesian context in bold – are:
Internet connectivity and bandwidth – broadband is not so pervasive (but it will change!)… there are some technologies though that can optimize the use of bandwidth so that it can help application performance in low-speed links
Trust & security – storing your sensitive data on someone else’ servers… hmm… (this is a world-wide concern, though)
Adoption of IT in general - how many companies are adopting IT yet? Especially SME (and even big companies, trust me I was there…)
Cost – or questionable TCO - also relates to IT adoption, especially if you have to pay for some SaaS; this in turns make our poor XaaS providers just go poorer….
Availability of pirated apps… :-0
Service Level Agreement
Loss of customization (hmm… though SFDC is believed to be very customizable)
Not best of breed applications (hmm… Google Apps is good enough and MS new Cloud-based Office suite should be cutting edge as well)
Is it happening in Indonesia? I hope it will.
And I do hope that the opportunity is grabbed by Indonesians. I want a version of Google Apps (or Salesforce.com or whatever) hosted, created and delivered by Indonesians!
I think the small-medium segments are the right segment to pursue. I know the Koreans government are doing this with their IT389 (or 839 or whatever), providing XaaS for their SME’s.
Sigma has already started cloud-based core banking system for small banks.
Another candidate is Zahir. One of the good accounting software package. Can we deliver them via the Cloud? (Or did they already?)
If you get Nokia E71, and don’t want to buy a BlackBerry because of whatsoever reasons… can you be as effective in mobile working?
What do we use BlackBerry for? William tried to share his usage pattern. He’s on corporate plan… and judging by what he shared, he’s also a heavy user. On the other hand, a typical Indonesian Jane/Joe will use less of BlackBerry’s capability.
So, I can think at least few scenarios:
1) Corporate Users, especially if you have BES in place, so you have Exchange calendar and the whole corporate address book in sync with the device,
2) for the typical guys only using BIS (BlackBerry Internet Services), connected to ISP & Internet mails, Facebook, and instant messengers
3) for the heavier users, doing more than email & chatting/social networking…
4) and only in Indonesia – BlackBerry owners without BlackBerry subscription whatsoever. Go away!
Can not comment on Scenario 1 yet.
My BES is still not working (they told us that the contract is being negotiated… ha3x), and I will apparently never experience Nokia E71 on corporate mail sync… well… Few colleagues are using E61i with GoodLink installed. Giving them a full-fledge corporate mobile email (though with stability issues….). Such thing should be available in E71 as well or I can opt for Mail for Exchange solution.
But I guess here, the challenge for Nokia is the out-of-the-box experience, BlackBerry will work right out of the box (sort of, as everything is configured/pushed OTA)… with E71, provisioning for the mobile mail is more tedious.
Scenario 2 for normal users trying to get emails & chatting on their E71?
More relevant probably, as the majority of BlackBerry users in Indonesia are actually BIS users. (Errr, maybe not, most of the owners might not have BIS subscription).
Again, I found out that my E71 still needs a bunch of additional applications (most of them are free, fortunately) before it can fully functioned as mobile mail machine.
It did change with the E75, I heard, which is coming with full email application (Nokia Messaging and Mail for Exchange) pre-installed, even coming with a quick-and-easy setup of free Ovi mail account (“from zero to emailing in 15 minutes”). Reviewed in zdnet blog here and on AAS (slightly ’bout the email apps).
Reviewed by other people already, such as here at E71fanatics and here at Symbian-Addict. In general they’re quite happy with the interface and performance of the app. Some of the negatives mentioned, e.g. HTML support and multiple accounts are already addressed. The latest that I got installed in my handset is “Product Version 5.3 Build 9.5.3.72 (main)”
10 email accounts, including Yahoo, Gmail (and gmail-hosted emails), Windows Live, and Ovi
HTML-enabled
Integration with address book
Folder support
Sync control – when, what
It’s still in beta, so pretty much free at this time.
Comparing to BlackBerry experience, I found few things still critically missing for me:
stronger search functionality: customizable (search by subject, sender, …) and saved search
attachment preview – I don’t want to download the whole attachment to view it
handling of .ics (calendar invitations)
filtering of emails to be delivered to the handset (BB can do this through on their BIS web setting)
rather sluggish performance?
For normobs? Current iteration of Nokia Email should be enough to get them started in the mobile email experience and usage, I think.
Then IM, another killer app, Slick or others (Nimbuzz, Fring, e-Buddy, and others)
No yet an equivalent of BlackBerry Messenger, a messaging system exclusively available for BlackBerry subscribers. But who knows if Ovi will evolve there? (The keyword here is exclusive)
Yahoo, GTalk, ICQ, and AIM works great with Slick and the gang. Doesn’t look as good as the YM/GTalk client in BlackBerry. But does the job well enough. (I haven’t tried to send photos through mobile YM, pls remind me tomorrow….)
Fring is also a good candidate, because they have Skype integration and Facebook client as well. In good network coverage and in WLAN coverage, you can do VoIP (yay!) with your Skype contacts.
VoIP is worth mentioning
… hmm, Nokia E71 has a built-in VoIP/SIP client, that we can configure to access various VoIP services. Free talk with other VoIP users. Besides Skype (and all the IM-based voice chats), I don’t know how popular are these services. There are a bunch in Indonesia (voiprakyat, CBN Talk, etc.), but I still feel that they are a bit too geeky
Facebook?
Nokia E71 users have to stick with the mobile web site. (The E71 firmware 300.21.012 gives a facebook icon on the application menu, a click on it takes us to the m.facebook.com). So BlackBerry leads by far here.
Come on Nokia… you got the S60-Touch Facebook Client, when it’s coming to mainstream? (and to the S40?)
Older BlackBerries (pre OS 4.6 or 4.5) still got the “mobilized” version of the web, not full web browser. Javelin/Bold is another story, as they got a very capable browser plus the proxy/data compression.
So the challenge for Nokia is to minimize the data charges. A single homepage like yahoo! for example might eats several hundred kB of already-so-small-and-so-expensive data quota. Opera Mini will be a nice addition to install in the Nokia E71 for us who live in bandwidth-scarce mobile world.
And finally, cost.
This is where it is going to be interesting.
BlackBerry BIS subscriptions is typically around Axis BB Promo of Rp 100k or Telkomsel/Indosat/XL Rp 150k per month. They also recently offer weekly for 25k-40k rupiah and daily (!) subscription packages – cost you Rp 4k-5k. Generally this is a flat all-you-can eat data usage.
For Nokia E71 users, I suggest them to consider data packages. Yes, a number of alternatives available… XL recently for example offers daily (Rp 2000 for 1 MB), weekly (Rp 10k for 10 MB), and monthly (starting from Rp 20k for 40 MB, Rp 50k for 130 MB, Rp 100k for 320 MB). According to them 1 MB is enough for 2.5 hours of chatting and 50 pages of m.facebook.com.
If Facebook is all what you need… do it via SMS – Axis for example offers two FB SMS packages: weekly @ Rp 1500 or monthly @ Rp 5500… most of the operators offer similar packages.
Chatting? Try Hutch 3 with YM or XL Chat. Also Rp 5k per month. Not bad.
Bottom line, temporary conclusion…
Cost wise E71 should be less expensive v.s. BB, while being able to do what most people need (normobs)…
But preparing E71 (installing applications, configuring) to achieve what BB can do requires extra effort that most people won’t take… This is where BlackBerry shines really bright – remember that it’s not a handset, it’s a service that comes with a handset.
Once these steps are taken, I got mixed feelings, Nokia E71 might be adequate… some limitations here and there (especially the email client), good things there and here. Reliable enough.
I’ll say, if you have your E71 and need to jump into mobile data world, do it. IM, email, browsing, and FB will work just fine. Experience is pleasant enough. I have an interesting suggestion, BTW, go sell the E71 and grab two (yes, 2, or even 3) NexianBerry.
More interesting will be Scenario 3 – the heavy users… Pushing it a bit further… reading RSS, twitter (very important!!!), maps, locations, GPS, multimedia functions, plus photo sharing/uploading and blogging other than Facebook. Oh, and don’t forget synchronization. I will give my E71 a challenge (and a second chance, currently it’s my secondary handset, put into less active number) and write my experience in the next post.
the other one is still safe… ha3x…![[image courtesy of Lonelycat Games]](http://duckling.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/shot2.jpg?w=144&h=192 "slick")
No yet an equivalent of BlackBerry Messenger, a messaging system 
