Play Around with a Plaxo And Anger Some Friends
Turns out you never really know someone until you ask them to update their contact details using some new automatic on-line service thingy.
I learned this from playing around with Plaxo (
www.plaxo.com), free software launched in May by Plaxo Inc. that plugs into Microsoft Outlook or Outlook Express and updates all your contacts without you doing anything. Well, sort of.
It works like this: Plaxo , via some extra buttons in Outlook, will send e-mail to all your contacts asking them to update their details. Recipients, it is hoped, will oblige. Plaxo will then update your database. And, if your contacts use Plaxo too, your address books will automatically update themselves from time to time to stay farm-fresh. Hurrah.
Of course, this being a column about technology and real people, it doesn't work out quite like that. The software is simple and relatively intuitive, letting you check easily which folk have updated their details, etc., who hasn't, and which folk have decided Plaxo is a fabulous idea and started using it themselves. In fact, if they'd offered this product in 1997 or 1998 we might have said: "Excellent idea, thanks for the great product, have a cigar." But this is 2003 and our experience with the Internet has changed us. Which is where I realized that I really didn't know my friends any more.
As part of the exhaustive testing you expect from a quality publication like this, I fired off 91 Plaxo e-mails. Here are the results: 18 e-mails bounced (I can't have been that close to those people, I figured); another 30 haven't replied -- they could be on holiday, have passed away without telling me, or are mad at me for something; seven downloaded Plaxo ; and, amazingly, 26 others actually updated their contacts, including my ultra-cautious friend Jim who is currently somewhere in Iraq. And, finally, 10 sent back e-mails with deliciously varied reactions.
One, an author of a trenchant tome on corporate law, reckons Plaxo is a scam to grab e-mail addresses and then sell them to spammers. He wasn't alone. My Dutch friend Hans, who runs a high-level, low-profile political consultancy, had a more immediate objection, which he made forcefully. "You are the fourth person who has asked me to do this in the last four days. It's driving me crazy." When I asked him whether he had responded to any of the requests, he got even angrier. "Of course not," he replied. "I have my secretary take care of my own address book. Why should I take care of the address books of others?" I didn't ask him any more in case that vein in his forehead exploded, but he does have a point.
Indeed, Plaxo may have been the victim of its own success. It has spread amazingly fast -- it's called viral marketing -- but this speed may well alienate folk before it has a chance to tweak itself. By default, for example, it selects your whole address book in preparation for a mail blitz, meaning that if you're anything like my energetic friend Rani, who has upwards of 7,000 e-mail addresses in her Outlook (don't ask), you would fall into the spammer category if you hit the send button. That won't win over skeptics.
The bottom line is that Plaxo hopes to make money. This will be by selling corporate versions, but there's been speculation that, with some heavy dot-com hitters on the board, they won't settle for just that. The company, meanwhile, denies any intent to gather contact data for spamming purposes, and says its software is designed to keep users' data confidential.
Let's not be too cynical too quickly, but we Net users have seen too many broken promises when it comes to personal data to take anyone's word any more. If Plaxo irons out the kinks, this could be a useful product, allowing us to keep a fresh contact book without much fiddling. My advice? Give it a try, but don't, repeat don't, send any update requests to Hans. That vein is still throbbing.
Plaxo帮你自动更新地址簿
2003年07月04日14:21
当你开始使用一种新型的自动在线服务软件，请朋友们更新各自的联系方式时，你会惊讶地发现，原来你并不真正了解他们。
使用Plaxo软件(
www.plaxo.com)让我悟出了这个道理。它是一个由Plaxo Inc.公司于2003年5月推出的免费软件，能与微软公司的Outlook或Outlook Express电子邮件收发软件相结合，不劳你亲自动手就能更新地址簿里的所有信息。效果嘛，还算可以吧。
它的工作原理是这样的：Plaxo通过在Outlook上增加新的功能键，向你所有的朋友发送电子邮件，让其更新具体联络方式，并希望收到该邮件的人都能照办。如果你的朋友也使用了Plaxo软件，那你的地址簿就能自动定期更新对方的联络信息。神奇吧！
当然，作为一个谈技术和个人体会的专栏，我必须指出，实际使用情况并非尽如人意。Plaxo软件简单易用，且较有新意。它能让你轻易了解谁更新了联络信息，而谁没有，以及哪个朋友觉得这是个不错的软件，已经开始使用它。事实上，如果Plaxo公司在1997年或1998年推出该产品，我们可能会说：“这个想法太棒了，多谢你提供这么好的产品，来支雪茄吧。”不过，现在是2003年，我们在互联网上积累的经验已经改变了我们的想法，也正是此时，我发现自己其实对朋友知之甚少。
反应不一
作为一个试用软件，Plaxo肯定会让你做一些测试，搞得你精疲力尽，我就发了91封Plaxo的测试邮件，结果是：18封邮件被退回（可能是因为我跟他们还不太熟）；另外30封没有回覆──他们可能度假去了，或者没有事先通知就过世了，或者在生我的什么闲气；有7个人下载了Plaxo；令人惊奇的是，还有26个人真的更新了他们的联络信息，其中包括我一向高度谨慎、目前身在伊拉克的朋友吉姆；最后，还有10封回覆邮件，反应迥然不同。
其中一位是搞公司法的大律师，他以为Plaxo是为获取他人邮件地址并卖给垃圾邮件发送者而设计的一个陷阱。有这种想法的人不在少数。我在荷兰的朋友汉斯经营一个高级别、低曝光率的政治咨询公司，他的反应更加激烈。“你是四天来第四个让我干这件事的人，它都快把我逼疯了！”当我问他有没有给其他人回覆时，他更加怒不可遏－－“当然没有，”他说，“我自己的地址簿都交给秘书去管理，怎么还会帮别人管理他们的东西？”我没有继续追问下去，怕他额头上的血管迸裂。不过，他说的也没错。
实际上，Plaxo可能会搬起石头砸自己的脚。它的传播速度快得惊人－－即所谓的病毒式推广－－但这种速度可能会使用户尚未接受该产品就产生厌烦情绪。举例而言，在默认方式下，Plaxo会选择你的整个地址簿来发送邮件。这意味著，如果你和我精力充沛的朋友罗妮一样，在Outlook里有7000多个邮件地址，那么一旦你按下发送键，你就会被列上垃圾邮件散布者的名单。这种传播方式会遭到很多人的抵制。
Plaxo公司的根本愿望是赚钱，因此将在未来发售企业版的Plaxo软件。不过，在激烈的互联网竞争下，有人怀疑该公司仅靠这个产品无法生存。与此同时，Plaxo公司否认自己有收集邮件地址卖给垃圾邮件商的企图，并表示其软件会保护用户的隐私信息。
我们还是不要过早就下负面结论。但作为互联网用户，那些不守诺言、擅用个人资料的事我们已屡见不鲜，以至于很难再相信任何保证。如果Plaxo软件能改善不足之处，它会是一个有用的助手，让我们毫不费力地更新地址簿。我的建议是：你不妨试试这个软件，但不要－－请一定不要－－给我的朋友汉斯发任何更新地址簿的请求，他随时会血管迸裂的。
