I got this today from Skype (which of course is from Microsoft because its the way they think). I hate it. Why? Because a geek in Redmond decided that it was a brilliant idea to mine as many contacts as possible from a user’s inbox and then add them on Skype! Brilliant, right? No. Problem: in an inbox I don’t only have friends. I have co workers and people I don’t really like. Let me add my friends one at a time, choosing who to add and who not to add. Don’t force me. PS: It is a very common practice across the board, but one I loathe.
Steps to update Mac OS X Mavericks – Open App Store in your Mac, type in Mavericks, click install and enter your credentials. – Wait for the download, machine reboots and you are done! Excellent user experience, done in a few minutes and just wait a bit for the download and install. Kudos to Apple. Steps to update from Windows 8 to 8.1 – Google how to update, read the instructions – Find out you need to do the updates (to Maps, Skydrive, …) before actually installing – Read in the article that when you open the Store there will be a huge billboard telling you to update – Open the Windows Store and find NOTHING – Search for “8.1” and the only thing you get is all kinds of “My app for 8.1” – Google again to see what the hell is going on – Finding this article: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/why-can-t-find-update-store – Getting upset because Microsoft still does not get it that people want a simple user experience
I have a quick test that the person that thought of, designed or approved the charms should take. Test: make them sit down in a computer, open terminal server and get into a Windows Server 2012 machine. Now ask them to try to show the charms bar instantly with the mouse 10 out of 10 times. It is not possible or you would have to be a ninja to do it consistently. If they fail, fire them! (Did Ballmer take the test?) Most people are not ninjas therefore it is not a nice user experience. Start button was way better. People need immediate reaction for an action, not guessing which one is the exact pixel to stand on top of. Make it simple, have a reaction for an action. Make a little triangle in the corner to fire it up. (You can also fix the screen with the apps but that is a separate topic) Nonsense…
Printers are the work of the devil indeed. There are several problems: – They are cheap but ink is a billion times more expensive than Caviar – They are complicated to use, require obscure drivers and come with mega bloated useless software – And the worst one IMHO, there are trillions of models. Just look at the list below for Canon. It is impossible to even memorize 1/100 of this list. You want to become a billionaire and create a business that thrives and kills all competition? Create a printer company that: – Has 3 models: personal, pro and business. Personal is only printer, pro scans and copies and business is the same as pro but faster and more resilient. – Very simple driver. Allows to print with very little complexity and even has a dropbox where you put a word, excel, pdf or image and it is printed right away. A bit of security in the business one but that’s it. – And the price can be a bit higher, but decent priced replacement cartdriges. You can claim it is a green company as there is less waste. Maybe even replace only a small tube within the cartdrige. You […]
An image is worth 1000 words… Well, it is not actually true. I do finish some of my personal projects here and there. However this post has been in my drafts for over 2 months!
Granted that: – Deadlines are usually very tight in software – No one likes the idea of their software being uninstalled – It is 2007 or 2008 – But doesn’t the Microsoft SQL Server team have someone that can spend 5 minutes making the uninstall screen look a tiny bit better?
