The Weekly Round-Up: 06.07.07

Wimbledon will probably be concluding sometime this side of Christmas and large parts of the country remain under flood waters. Meanwhile those of us standing on dry land are dusting off our winter coats and scarves and dodging hail storms that would have Flash Gordon running for cover.

So it must be summer.

Which means only one thing - holidays, right?

Sadly not if you happen to be one of the many put-upon managers who are apparently too snowed-under with work to take time off.

Because research out this week suggests nearly two-thirds of managers suffer the cruel irony of being too snowed under with work to take a break from, well, work. This has rocketed up from just over a third in 2003, when everybody was clearly sat with their feet on their desks reading the paper between lengthy sojourns to the South of France.

Or to get all Daily Mail about this current state of affairs... while single mothers and the jobless are all swanning off to the Costas or Orlando to enjoy some hard-scrounged largesse on the backs of honest tax payers, the hard-working moral backbone of Britain are chained to their desks with no chance of seeing the sun this side of 2020.

Shocking stuff.

Or is it?

When asked by the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) why they're not taking holidays, not all managers said 'because my ogre of a boss has given me way too much work to do and I fear for my job if it's not done'.

Surprisingly, only 20 per cent blamed excessive workloads, followed pretty closely by 'poor personal planning' and ...wait for it... 'enjoyment of work'.

It seems many managers are just having too much fun to bother with a holiday.

But Jo Causon, marketing and corporate affairs director at the CMI, isn't so sure, suggesting a fear of appearing weak may be the real reason people are rejecting their holiday entitlement.

Causon said: "Taking time off for a proper break is not a sign of weakness."

So what are you waiting for? Go put in a holiday request right now... you wusses.

Bad news this week for two internet service providers - TalkTalk from the Carphone Warehouse and Orange, owned by France Telecom.

These two have once again been singled out for offering the worst levels of service to customers - this time by a uSwtich survey of 10,500 UK broadband customers.

Interestingly, both services are offered 'free', which does raise an interesting question about the complaints consumers are making. After all if you get something free can you really be surprised when it turns out to be a little bit pants?

You can't say you're not getting what you paid for, because you paid nothing and anything more than nothing in terms of service is therefore a bonus, isn't it?

One irate reader wrote in to say of TalkTalk: "My service was supposed to be offline for four hours. It was actually off for two months. It was only when I actually managed to get the email address for Charles Dunstone [chief exec at Carphone Warehouse] that I finally got some action."

We're not entirely sure what she means by 'got some action' but we really, really hope she means her problem was resolved.

Another reader put the boot in to Orange: "I've been a communications and computer expert for 40 years. Two weeks ago I spent over eight hours unravelling the mess left behind after a friend had complied with the instructions from the Orange technical help desk."

Oh dear, oh dear.

A spokesman for Orange said: "We acknowledge the findings of this survey but moreover listen to our customers and as a result are aware that some of them have experienced service and technical issues over the past few months."

How convenient. Orange has listened to its customers and is about to take some action to make life better for them... and this just happens to coincide with the week the company's name is dragged through the mud for poor customer service.

Just a coincidence, right?

Digging a deeper hole for himself, the spokesman added: "We would like to reassure [customers] that we work as effectively as possible to resolve their complaints."

Which is an interesting statement to make because it's essentially saying, 'We're working as hard as we can and yet our customers still aren't happy', which doesn't bode well.

At least if he'd said, 'We rubbish but to be fair we've only been giving it 10 per cent' you'd have reason to hope for an upturn in quality.

TalkTalk meanwhile stayed HushHush about the whole thing when silicon.com asked for reaction.

At the other end of the scale, spare a thought for PlusNet who may feel a little aggrieved that every media outlet took the understandable option to lead with TalkTalk and Orange and rather overlooked the fact PlusNet had topped the list.

Not content with being the first man on the moon, Neil Armstrong, director at PlusNet, said: "We're obviously overjoyed to top the uSwitch chart this year and we'd like to thank our customers and staff for making it possible."

Moving on, if you were to ask one of our German cousins if they know how old silicon.com turns today there is a very good chance they would get it right.

'Why?', because they'd most likely tell you 'Nein'.

That's right, from humble beginnings in the summer of 1998 silicon.com has weathered nine years of dot-com twists and turns to become the respected institution it is today.

Just listen to this week's podcast to find out what a professional outfit we've been - or to hear one of the longest-serving members of the team sign-off the final time.

The silicon.com editorial team will doubtless be raising a glass to this hard-earned milestone down the pub this evening and we'd heartily encourage you to do likewise.

Speaking of pubs, since the smoking ban came into effect these fine British institutions have all become far more pleasant places to wile away a few hours (unless your local boozer happens to be one of the thousands of pubs who were relying on cigarette smoke to mask the underlying whiff of piss, stale beer and vomit).

But the smoking ban isn't just good news for drinkers and casual smokers looking for an 'out'. Many online companies are seizing upon the ban as an opportunity to market their services to smokers.

Bookmaker William Hill for example has launched a marketing campaign aimed at attracting smokers online, as they are no longer allowed to smoke while they prop up the counter in their local betting shop or bingo hall.

William Hill's marketing department must be so proud to be targeting those who can't go without smoking long enough to place a bet, and those who can't go without betting long enough to smoke a cigarette.

Hill's spokesman David Hood said: "The smoking ban will hit some types of traditional gambling harder than others. Casinos and bingo halls especially will take a hit and many smokers will be attracted to the sit at home option that playing with williamhillcasino and williamhillbingo now offers them."

And by hook or by crook Hill's will encourage them to do so.

Still on the subject of smoking and almost certainly heavy drinking as well... aren't tramps great?

Once upon a time every town in Britain had a tramp and by and large they were considerably better known local celebrities than the mayor or any of the other appointed dignitaries.

(For our US readers, we're talking about 'hobos' here not cheap women.)

But since the mid-nineties and the ousting of the last Conservative government, changes to public sector funding have meant a dwindling number of tramps on our streets - with some often relied upon to staff whole cities single-handed. Or even whole regions, in extreme cases.

However, one UK-based tramp has found notoriety in the unlikeliest of places this week - on social networking site FaceBook.

'Gordon the Tramp' as he's lovingly - if somewhat predictably - known is a fixture on the streets of Bournemouth and FaceBook users from the town have launched a group dedicated to the bearded street dweller.

Like FaceBook itself, the popularity of the group has ballooned as residents past and present have logged on to share stories and sightings of the local celebrity, making Gordon famous the world over from Bournemouth to Borneo (possibly).

The group - and Gordon - has even received worldwide media attention and according to the Facebook user who set up the group: "We now have the largest 'Tramp related' group on Facebook."

What an accolade.

Expect to see Gordon the Tramp on the next series of Celebrity Big Brother.

And finally, a rare piece of industry news amidst all this chat and banter. Word broke this week of a long-awaited IPO for on-demand CRM vendor NetSuite. The company this week crossed the 'Ts' and dotted the lower-case 'Js' on its paperwork for the Securities and Exchange Commission and announced plans to press on with a float.

But when silicon.com tried to elicit some comment from the usually effusive Zach Nelson, CEO of NetSuite, we found him more tight-lipped than a Mafioso in front of a Grand Jury.

He wasn't turning canary, not for anybody; not even when we asked about timeframe, current valuation of the company or amount of common stock being offered. Nothing.

You see SEC rules and regulations being what they are, Nelson is now more fearful of an inappropriate slip of the tongue than a teenage boy kissing his great auntie.

Which is a shame, because this is the same man who has variously described rival and CRM titan Siebel as "a giant hairball of a product" and "a pig in lipstick".

Of course he's also put the boot in to rivals Sage and Salesforce.com but it's the ill-feeling towards Siebel which is of particularly of interest, especially since Oracle - Nelson's former employer - bought Siebel last year for $5bn.

What's more, Oracle's CEO is of course Larry Ellison and Larry Ellison also happens to be the majority shareholder in NetSuite.

You can picture the chat now over dinner.

'What was that you said about a pig in lipstick Zach?'

'Nothing, Larry... Now can I go outside and IPO?'

'Not until you've eaten all your vegetables.'

Now before you go it wouldn't be Friday without a new Caption Competition.

Congratulations to Rob Falconer who won last week's competition with this zinger.

And don't forget to listen to this week's Weekly Round-Up podcast.