Thursday, March 25, 2010

Cheated By Google

There was a time when Google search provided me with meaningful results everytime I'm searching for solutions to a particular problem. A simple search like "Java Collections How-To" can quickly point me to useful sites like JavaRanch or TheServerSide. Fast forward to many years later having seen some of the most impressive offline entities in the iPhone development if the Greater Washington Area (D.C., Maryland, North Virginia), I wondered if I could see the same qualities and "wickedness" of the iPhone applications developed in the Philippines.

So I typed "iphone development philippines" in the Google search field and a few online community sites focusing on iPhone development here and there filled the first four lines of the screen and the fifth brought me to www.melvindaveconsulting.com, So I checked it out, it's nowhere near a corporate website, it's a privately-hosted blog, that looks more like a balikbayan website in Multiply.com selling his/her loot from a foreign country. Giving the benefit of the doubt I read further since there's nothing much to do in my hotel room and a winter storm outside, so I gave it my expensive time (very highly likely more expensive than the site owner's income).

The first paragraph tells the visitor that "Yehey! I got a Google Talk, any talkers?" kind of brag and I just went on to the signature; Melvin Dave P. Vivas is Owner and Senior Consultant in Melvin Dave Consulting and Marketing specializing in IT consulting, business solutions, mobile services and technology products marketing. He is founder and Chairman of the Association of Filipino Java Developers(PinoyJUG), the largest community of Java Developers in the Philippines. He also invented the Lemongreen SMS appliance.

Awesome! The latest was September 2008, coming to two years now. So this chap is an I.T. consultant, marketer and an inventor. I'm now hoping I can come to my answers so I pondered; an owner and a consultant could be no less than a freelancer in between jobs given the antiquity of the post. A marketer? I'm really not sure what's in there to market that's a personal blog as far as anyone can see. And an inventor, so he must have invented something that is not of priori art, with that, it must be patented but no. I know what's a real invention looks like, my father used to be the National Secretary of the Filipino Inventors Society before he retired to the U.S. and this lemon can't be an invention with an inventor with the absence of patent and with priori art(the fact that it's just a CPU and a modem nothing more).

Now my hopes for finding an iPhone Development in the Philippines has grown dim and this site is becoming nothing more than a scam. I already felt cheated by Google but I went to the products. First on the list of this clutter is EnableSMS, of course, it's a software that let's you send SMS to mobile phone from a PC with a modem. Pfft! First he got a Lemongreen SMS that is not patented and a definite hard sell. Probably knowing that it will fail because the cheap 3G modems will just simply kill it. I'm thinking EnableSMS is just a way out, here's why: it's a redundant software, 3G modems comes with a better plug-and-play equivalent of this crap, so where's value proposition? None. For PHP6,500 it's an introductory price to a more expensive headaches for the clueless customers to come and it's just trying to tell the would-be victim "look ma, I can code SMS too!". It's just a knocking tool for a possible consulting scam on the hapless victim, kind of predictable.

I'm pretty concerned that this what represents the iPhone Development in the Philippines from Google's perspective. It is definitely a serious concern that a potential foreign locator who is into iPhone development will find nuisance entities or individuals like this, which is a total misrepresentation of the country's more talented individuals and by talent I don't mean photography(I think the owner only got), which I guess is the owner's parachute in case everything fails as indicated by some random girlie shots displayed in the page that is totally unrelated to whatever monkey business this site is up to. So ask yourself, is this the kind of company you want to engage? I hope not.

As I moved on and knowing that I will get nothing from this, I did my offline informal research and what I got is a true act of professionalism from this company err...individual.





For whatever it's worth, I just deleted it. A partner saved a screenshot for me. So I don't know, am I really cheated by Google or by tags?