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Microsoft reboots war on sleep

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Re: Microsoft reboots war on sleep

#41

Post by aaimnr »

AznHisoka wrote: post #30
ekianjo wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A big company should aspire to make life better, not worse. People don't need to work more than they already do (unless they really want to, which is fine, but most of the time they are expected to be always available).

Tell that to McDonalds, Marlboro and hundreds of others. A big, capitalistic company's only goal is to satisfy their stakeholders, nothing more.

Yes, and by creating such a public resentment they won't satisfy their stakeholders.

So it's our job to write articles like DHH wrote and make them as visible as possible. No company is able to foresee all the negative consequences they can cause (they should try, however, because it will and should hurt them).

It's up to the society to create strong negative signals that will counteract and negate positive economic signals coming from any activities harmful to the society.

Re: Microsoft reboots war on sleep

#42

Post by prof_hobart »

phillc73 wrote: post #23

I have conflicting feelings about this article. Firstly, I don't by choice use any Microsoft products, so this is not a defence of that company. Secondly, I also fully agree that work can wait and my employer should not be intruding on my personal time, outside of office hours. However, I have a passion for something and I have a young family. Between my paid work commitments and the fabulous time I spend with my fam…

I agree. The critical question isn't "should I be attending a meeting when I'm walking in the countryside?". It's "what's the alternative?"

If it's that you can be walking in the countryside when you would previously have had to come into the office for a meeting, then that's great.

If, on the other hand, it's that you've now got no excuse for not working in times you would previously have been resting, then that's pretty bad.

I work in a company that offers pretty good flexibility. You aren't expected to be answering your emails when you're on holiday, but you are often able to work from home if that helps with your particular situation.

I've got my kid's school play in a few weeks, and I could not do a full day in the office and get back to watch it. But I can stay at home, work in the morning and the evening, and then go to the play in the afternoon. I could also choose to take the entire day off as holiday of course, but then I'd be losing a day's holiday. I appreciate this kind of flexibility.

Of course, there's plenty of companies who take the opposite tack - if you've got a work phone, you're now available to be working 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The advert at the bottom is pretty poor, because it seems to be very much pushing that message.

But most of the original ones could be read either way.

Re: Microsoft reboots war on sleep

#43

Post by cyberferret »

Mithaldu wrote: post #31
cyberferret wrote: post #7

Way back nearly two decades ago, I set up an early version of ActiveSync on my Palm Treo device. I noticed there was an option in the Treo email settings to disable real time syncing between certain times (after office hours), but I was SO excited about getting and responding to real time emails on my little phone device that I thought "Who the HECK would want to stop this wonderful flow of emails". Later when I upgr…

There's actually a nice feature regarding that in Google Inbox. It has adopted the approach first featured in Opera 12's mail client: Have all mail pre-filtered into categories with a bayesian (or similar) filter trained by the user themselves. What this means in practice is that you have a bunch of categories for emails that are not urgent, like purchase receipts, ads, mailing lists, etc. and you teach inbox which o…

Good tip - Yes, I do have this filtering turned on in my two main email accounts, so that sales emails, newsletters, family emails etc. (even some system related alerts) all get filtered into separate folders so I don't get the constant 'dings' and don't see the app notification counter climbing like an F1 car odometer! Google Mail/Inbox is very good at this, and I have never missed any important client emails this way.

However, it would be nice if the dings completely stopped of their own accord, say, after 6pm and didn't resume again until about 8am. (I know I can do this manually as other have suggested, but I would really like to 'baby' my phone less and have it figure out these things itself, or let me set it.)

After all, if the Google App can work out when I start my car and connect my phone to my car Bluetooth on a Wednesday evening, that I am going to my mom's place for dinner, and it tells me how long it will take to get there, surely it can extend itself to holding off all emails for the evening so I can enjoy a nice family dinner? :-)

Re: Microsoft reboots war on sleep

#44

Post by Mithaldu »

ekianjo wrote: post #22
AznHisoka wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i agree. i also think Microsoft isn't encouraging people to lose sleep and work in soccer games, at bed, etc. People already are doing it and Microsoft is simply putting out an ad that speaks and resonates with those people.

A big company should aspire to make life better, not worse. People don't need to work more than they already do (unless they really want to, which is fine, but most of the time they are expected to be always available).

To be honest, for some people this does make life better. I look at it from the perspective of an office programmer become freelancer, working from home.

For a number of earlier jobs i had work could only be done in the office due to technological or security restrictions. Heck, even for a number of my clients i first had to work on-site, then figure out how to migrate things to a remote setup.

But now i work entirely from home and never even visit any offices. This has freed me up considerably. I still get the same amount of work done in practice, but the hours i bill are now half of what i spent previously just in the office. Even less if you consider that i have zero commute anymore.

And yes, i have worked in weird places and at weird times. Bathroom, bed, weekend, 2 am, at a conference in another country.

But the difference is, those things were me responding to emergencies. Emergencies that in all cases would have come up the same regardless of where and when i was. Having set up the technology i had meant the difference in practice for me was:

Instead of spending an hour to get to the office at 2 AM and back, i got up from the bed, walked to the computer, fixed the problem in ten minutes and went back to bed.

My life got considerably better.

Re: Microsoft reboots war on sleep

#46

Post by midgetjones »

andrewingram wrote: post #35

Article mashes up a valid grievance with an irrelevant attack on the quality of Marvel films. Anger is a powerful tool, but it can really weaken your argument if not used with precision. I also think the message of this particular advert doesn't justify the strength of this attack.

At the very least, it's ridiculous to call it a 'sweatshop'. The kid making DHH's shoes would probably love to work for Marvel.

Yes, I am fighting hyperbole with hyperbole.

Re: Microsoft reboots war on sleep

#47

Post by adamlett »

cyberferret wrote: post #32
adamlett wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

iOS 10 still hasn't got the ability to turn off syncing between certain hours You can set Do Not Disturb between certain hours on iOS.

Coolness - I must have been looking in the wrong area (Mail Account Settings). Is there another spot where I can set that?

Settings / Do Not Disturb

Re: Microsoft reboots war on sleep

#48

Post by herbst »

Mithaldu wrote: post #31
cyberferret wrote: post #7

Way back nearly two decades ago, I set up an early version of ActiveSync on my Palm Treo device. I noticed there was an option in the Treo email settings to disable real time syncing between certain times (after office hours), but I was SO excited about getting and responding to real time emails on my little phone device that I thought "Who the HECK would want to stop this wonderful flow of emails". Later when I upgr…

There's actually a nice feature regarding that in Google Inbox. It has adopted the approach first featured in Opera 12's mail client: Have all mail pre-filtered into categories with a bayesian (or similar) filter trained by the user themselves. What this means in practice is that you have a bunch of categories for emails that are not urgent, like purchase receipts, ads, mailing lists, etc. and you teach inbox which o…

Inbox made me so much more relaxed about emails and daily work life i can only agree.

Also the shedule for later function is a life safer for busy or lazy days.

Re: Microsoft reboots war on sleep

#49

Post by Mithaldu »

cyberferret wrote: post #43
Mithaldu wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's actually a nice feature regarding that in Google Inbox. It has adopted the approach first featured in Opera 12's mail client: Have all mail pre-filtered into categories with a bayesian (or similar) filter trained by the user themselves. What this means in practice is that you have a bunch of categories for emails that are not urgent, like purchase receipts, ads, mailing lists, etc. and you teach inbox which o…

Good tip - Yes, I do have this filtering turned on in my two main email accounts, so that sales emails, newsletters, family emails etc. (even some system related alerts) all get filtered into separate folders so I don't get the constant 'dings' and don't see the app notification counter climbing like an F1 car odometer! Google Mail/Inbox is very good at this, and I have never missed any important client emails this w…

You have an iPhone, so i can't help there. Android already has quiet hours/weekend/calendar event rules/automation. Maybe iOS will follow suit soon.

But before that, iirc, people used automation/tasking apps. I.e. primitive scripting interfaces in which you could say "when beyond this time, set to DND" or "when near this GPS location, allow only phone calls". Maybe the itunes app store has such automation apps?

Re: Microsoft reboots war on sleep

#50

Post by herbst »

bad_user wrote: post #15
cyberferret wrote: post #7

Way back nearly two decades ago, I set up an early version of ActiveSync on my Palm Treo device. I noticed there was an option in the Treo email settings to disable real time syncing between certain times (after office hours), but I was SO excited about getting and responding to real time emails on my little phone device that I thought "Who the HECK would want to stop this wonderful flow of emails". Later when I upgr…

Why would they want to let you turn off notifications, when that's the thing that keeps you into using those apps? Seriously, companies have psychologists on staff analyzing the behavior of users, with their job being coming up with ways to keep you hooked. Why on earth would you receive notifications for people liking your stupid messages on Twitter or Facebook, if it weren't for our inflated ego craving for those n…

Worst on twitter is notifications because 2 people i follow retweetet the same post...
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