I admit it. I’m a recovering early adopter. I used to get all the new gadgets and electronic equipment shortly after it came out. I tried the new web sites and apps, signed up for all the social networks, and more. I finally got tired of all the stuff that didn’t work as promised, the sites that went out of business or just stopped getting any relevant traffic, and the time it took to stay current on all of the emerging trends.

Recently, I was forced to become an early adopter again. Forced by the fact that a service I used all the time was just terrible. The Optimum Multi-Room DVR. So I cancelled my cable service – no not the internet – just the TV.

The Optimum Multi-Room DVR is such a step backwards from their stand-alone DVR system (which was such a step back from my original Tivo), with so many bugs, that I just couldn’t take the frustration of having to use this terrible system.

Having used Tivo and being a PS3 subscriber to Netflix, I knew what the possibilities for at home video  were. Now that I have switched, I am experiencing the benefits of best-of-bread technology and see the true potential. With Netflix, Vudu, NFL Sunday Ticket et al I have access to pretty much everything I want. Supplement this with the Internet and my iPad and I find that I have an exceptional video experience. And all without commercials. The only thing I’m missing is live news.

On the product adoption curve I think I am near the end of the early adopter group. Taking this alternative approach to watching video will likely become mainstream in the next 18 - 36 months or so. Based on the multi-room DVR capabilities, I don’t think Cablevision is able to catch-up. But they do own the lines for the internet, so we’ll just have to make sure they and the other cable / phone / internet providers do not use that power to prevent the switch to better video services.

How do you watch TV / Video? When you think about it, isn’t just about every way you get your video better than traditional cable?

Finding a job in today's economy is easy if you have the right skills and have built a network over time. If you have neither then you are going to have to invest in both. and while you invest you may have to take less money, perks, etc.

So again, how are you looking for your next job? (more on this to come).

They are likely willing to pay even more for it.

One relic of the industrial revolution is the Request for Proposal. The RFP, a favorite tool of the purchasing department, is a document that outlines the requirements of a company and asks companies to respond in a standardized format. If all responses are basically similar than the company can feel good about going with the low cost provider.

The problem is that purchasing departments adopted this approach for just about everything. Unfortunately, the RFP process fails miserably when a company is looking for a differentiated, value based solution.

Image you are a company that has compelling research that a commercial using Justin Beiber would be the most effective way to sell a product. So they send out an RFP and ask companies to respond to the requirements. Only problem, there is only one Justin Bieber. An RFP would be a waste of time.

Do you offer a unique solution that can’t be effectively communicated through an RFP? If so, why are you still answering them?

I recently went to a seminar where the speaker, a very bright person who has earned the right to pontificate, told us all about why this recession is different and why we may not come out of it. Let me explain.

He talked about how we are currently in a cyclical recession (caused by the real-estate bubble). If that was it, we could just wait a few years and the economy would come roaring back. However, in addition to the real estate recession, we are also at the forefront of the next great societal revolution. This revolution marks the end of the industrial age and the start of the connected age.

Unfortunately for many, this means that way we do things is changing. The bulk of our societal infrastructure is connected to the industrial economy. From schools, manufacturing, banks, to government. Those who work within these industries will need to retool their skills or their jobs may not come back.

The good news is that every previous revolution has brought un parrelled growth and opportunity once the new paradigm was embraced. This is still bad news for those who cling to the old approach. It’s a ground floor opportunity for those willing to embrace this shift.

How will the connected revolution change your business and what do you need to do to be prepared for it?

The real reason companies will adopt cloud computing, or Proprietary Cloud Computing – which is basically just virtualization, is not because it’s “Green.”  Being green is just a nice side effect.  No, the reason companies will ultimately adopt Cloud Computing is because it costs less.

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The only problem with this approach is that the development has you use the mojoPortal source code. Even though you have the mojoPortal source, you are strongly advised against modifying any of the mojo source as it will be overwritten if you ever want to do an upgrade. Also, using the mojoPortal source requires that you load several CS projects and this comes with quite a bit of overhead. Finally, when building custom features with mojoPortal, you have to move your code in a postbuild event, which requires a rebuild even for the smallest ASPX and ASCX code changes. This means you'll be doing an awful lot of waiting instead of developing.

I think that I have found a better way. Instead of starting with the mojo source code, you should always use the mojoPortal deployment files. This way, you are sure to never overwrite any of the source, you get to operate in your custom project without the mojo source overhead and you can make minor, non C# modifications without rebuilding. Here is how you do it:

1. Download the mojoPortal deployment files
2. Create a new solution (called mojoEnterprise in the example files) and in a subfolder of mojoCustom
3. Add a new project to that solution called mojoSource under the folder mojoCustom (peer of mojoEnterprise folder)
4. Create a _libs file under the mojoEnterprise directory. Copy the contents of the bin directory from the mojo deployment files.
5. Copy the rest of the files from the mojo deployment package to the root of the mojoSource project (except the web.config file)
6. Add references to the mojoEnterprise project to all the mojo dlls in the mojoEnterprise/_libs folder
7. Copy the web config from the deployment package to the mojoEnterprise project
8. Add post build events to both projects: The first copies all the files in the _libs folder to the bin directory under mojoEnterprise. The second copies all the files under the mojoSource to the mojoEnterprise folder except those in Excludefiles.txt (see example)
9. Create a db and add the appropriate connection string to the web config file
10. Run the project

Now you have the mojo files, can build custom features and upgrading is as easy as replacing all the files in the mojoSource directory. Also, if you absolutely have to touch a mojoPortal file, you can just add it to the excludefiles.txt file and those files will never be overwritten in the future. You can add your project to source code control and ignore all the mojo files. This keeps your solution much smaller. You can of course add the mojoSource project to source control if you always want to have a full package.

Download an example of this approach here. Simply unpack the contents, open the solution under mojoEnterprise, create a db and add the appropriate connection string and run the project. An example of a custom feature is included under the directory custom feature and under the setup directory.

Hope this helps with your custom mojoPortal development in the future.

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