I haven't posted on this blog in months. I've been too busy. I've not had much to say. I didn't have the time. Take your pick. You'd be right on any of the above. But Oh, do I have something to say now! There is an infuriating little icon in my Windows Control Panel entitled "MobileMe Preferences". Funny thing. I didn't sign up for it. Never requested the software to be installed. So you can only imagine my consternation.
For the one or two people that may happen on this posting and wonder about my anger, let me enumerate.
1. This is an entirely new software which was sneaked onto my computer without my permission from a so-called reputable company as part of a software update.
2. Apple has done this before with their release of Safari - "The so called best browser on earth". Then again, what thing has been released by apple isn't "The best blah blah on earth?". That previous release had the entire tech blogosphere crying foul. That method undermines the entire software update system, because if I don't trust a company to only install updates of software I put in there before, I may shut down the update system, which is bad because I may disregard actual critical software updates that I need. - There was incessant outcry from the previous issue with Safari. You would think they would learn.
3. If Microsoft tried this tactic, they would incite so much anger and flame from people. Apple does this and somehow, it's less of a problem? I think not.
The ironic part of this whole fiasco is that MobileMe has turned out to be one of Apple's rather crappy releases of the past few years. Way to go Apple.
With Apple's market share slowly growing, if this is what we should be expecting from Apple, there are lots of reasons to be worried.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Friday, May 02, 2008
The Geek Sandwich
So, I was sitting in the subway on the ride home yesterday when I looked glanced to my right to spy on the book the lady beside me was reading and I noticed it was a book on Visual Basic. I smiled and turned away thinking to myself how often these days I've seen people on the train or bus reading a computing book - I saw a guy reading a book on Windows XP a couple of days before. I'm a programmer, I notice these things. Up until I looked to my left, it was a forgettable moment...
And then I looked to my left and saw the gentleman who just entered the train and sat beside me pull out a book on Battlestar Galactica. It was all I could do not to burst out laughing. I don't know if any one else gets it, but it was a funny moment.
In other news this week, Microsoft and Yahoo still don't know whether to make wedding plans and have a baby named Microhoo or throw "Your Mama" style insults back and forth. Good times.
Fantasy Interactive Fi, one of the top interactive website design firms has grown up today with the relaunch of their website and an what amounts to a rebranding of the company and it's goals. They are no longer all about Flash. They like Ajax and html too.
And then I looked to my left and saw the gentleman who just entered the train and sat beside me pull out a book on Battlestar Galactica. It was all I could do not to burst out laughing. I don't know if any one else gets it, but it was a funny moment.
In other news this week, Microsoft and Yahoo still don't know whether to make wedding plans and have a baby named Microhoo or throw "Your Mama" style insults back and forth. Good times.
Fantasy Interactive Fi, one of the top interactive website design firms has grown up today with the relaunch of their website and an what amounts to a rebranding of the company and it's goals. They are no longer all about Flash. They like Ajax and html too.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
On Microsoft taking over the web
Quite a bit has happend on the web since my last post. Among them in a nutshell,IE8 beta 1, Firefo3 beta 4, SXSW, MIX, AOL buys Bebo, The MPAA, RIAA and all other associated AAs are still crazy and self destructive, Apple finally release an SDK to the delight of many apple yuppies everywhere, I bit the twitter bug, Microsoft can't seem to give away enough software and oh yeah, let's not forget Microsoft wants Yahoo really bad.
But all that being said, I'm going to focus on only a couple of items that interest me.
To follow up on my last post, IE8 finally gets released as a beta a couple of weeks ago at MIX, microsoft's conference for all things web - designers and developers alike. In response to the outcry from the web development world, they decided to let IE8 default to rendering in standards compliant mode and instead forcing people who have coded their websites around IE8's eccentricities to do the work of updating their websites if they don't want them to break. For the most part, I'm happy about the move. Ask me in a year when the software goes RTM and I have to spend hours updating the templates on my older sites.
So far in testing, the browser seems to be a lot better with rendering to standards, although it's still got some work to do. I hesitate to criticize beta software as it is just that, a beta, so I'll leave it at that. Not much has changed as far as the interface is concerned. I'll post a more comprehensive overview when it's closer to release.
Staying on Microsoft, I'll say this much, when they decide to do things well, they do things well. Pundits and critics alike tend to like the MIX conference. I particularly like the fact that the presentations in audio and video formats are all available on the web right now for anyone to go and watch and or listen to. It's not quite the same as being there for the party itself, but you can still benefit from the content. Of particular note is the increased emphasis on designing and creating user experiences and not just producing software. I'll post more on that later.
Also, regarding Microsoft, the company has expressed a sincere determined interest in buying Yahoo. And they are not taking no for an answer. All signs point to this deal going down one way or the other as Yahoo hasn't exactly being doing very well recently. The stock is down and can't get up. With Microsoft offering to scoop up the company in an all cash 44 billion transaction, the stock holders are chomping at the bit to get this to happen.
I'm not sure I'm going to like this merger. I like Yahoo as a company. It's style, it's outlook and the way it relates to it's customers. Microsoft is in many ways an overbearing behemoth that can't let go of what it used to be - an old style software company. Granted, Microsoft is working very hard to change that and to their credit, they are doing a lot better. 'Open source' or more accurately "Less restrictive source", which used to be the enemy is now very much a present part of Microsoft's recent offerings.
Still, there is the very large possiblity of Yahoo suffocating under this Merger, especially with all the current management and talent vowing to flee if the merger happens. Yahoo, for the most part is all about open. In terms of services and software. As a developer, I love that. In simple terms, Microsoft despite its may efforts is still not. Might Yahoo be the arbiter of change at Microsoft? It's possible, but me thinks, unlikely.
J.T
But all that being said, I'm going to focus on only a couple of items that interest me.
To follow up on my last post, IE8 finally gets released as a beta a couple of weeks ago at MIX, microsoft's conference for all things web - designers and developers alike. In response to the outcry from the web development world, they decided to let IE8 default to rendering in standards compliant mode and instead forcing people who have coded their websites around IE8's eccentricities to do the work of updating their websites if they don't want them to break. For the most part, I'm happy about the move. Ask me in a year when the software goes RTM and I have to spend hours updating the templates on my older sites.
So far in testing, the browser seems to be a lot better with rendering to standards, although it's still got some work to do. I hesitate to criticize beta software as it is just that, a beta, so I'll leave it at that. Not much has changed as far as the interface is concerned. I'll post a more comprehensive overview when it's closer to release.
Staying on Microsoft, I'll say this much, when they decide to do things well, they do things well. Pundits and critics alike tend to like the MIX conference. I particularly like the fact that the presentations in audio and video formats are all available on the web right now for anyone to go and watch and or listen to. It's not quite the same as being there for the party itself, but you can still benefit from the content. Of particular note is the increased emphasis on designing and creating user experiences and not just producing software. I'll post more on that later.
Also, regarding Microsoft, the company has expressed a sincere determined interest in buying Yahoo. And they are not taking no for an answer. All signs point to this deal going down one way or the other as Yahoo hasn't exactly being doing very well recently. The stock is down and can't get up. With Microsoft offering to scoop up the company in an all cash 44 billion transaction, the stock holders are chomping at the bit to get this to happen.
I'm not sure I'm going to like this merger. I like Yahoo as a company. It's style, it's outlook and the way it relates to it's customers. Microsoft is in many ways an overbearing behemoth that can't let go of what it used to be - an old style software company. Granted, Microsoft is working very hard to change that and to their credit, they are doing a lot better. 'Open source' or more accurately "Less restrictive source", which used to be the enemy is now very much a present part of Microsoft's recent offerings.
Still, there is the very large possiblity of Yahoo suffocating under this Merger, especially with all the current management and talent vowing to flee if the merger happens. Yahoo, for the most part is all about open. In terms of services and software. As a developer, I love that. In simple terms, Microsoft despite its may efforts is still not. Might Yahoo be the arbiter of change at Microsoft? It's possible, but me thinks, unlikely.
J.T
Monday, February 04, 2008
Two parts Intrigue, one part hi-larious
In the course of my day, these things intrigued me. I thought I'd share and post here for the record.
Intriguing
Improv-everywhere
http://www.improveverywhere.com/2008/01/31/frozen-grand-central/
In Car Karaoke
http://www.youtube.com/v/vjmZjr8a2K8
Recycled Heat - Sort Of
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/01/08/crematorium_plan/
'nough said
Intriguing
Improv-everywhere
http://www.improveverywhere.com/2008/01/31/frozen-grand-central/
In Car Karaoke
http://www.youtube.com/v/vjmZjr8a2K8
Recycled Heat - Sort Of
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/01/08/crematorium_plan/
'nough said
Saturday, February 02, 2008
Standards or Bust!
Short of going into a room filled with apple fan boys/girls and dropping a flamer like "Apple products are wildly overrated" (which they are), very few other things have generated a controversy in the developer community so intense as that triggered by Microsoft's announcement of the IE8 Standards compliant mode switch. Anybody who questions how passionately web developers feel about standards mode and it's side effects only need to see the responses to Jeffery Zeldman's post on the issue (234 at the time of this post. Yes, that's right; Two hundred and thirty four).
If you haven't read or heard about the story, here is the basic breakdown of it. In Microsoft's efforts to work towards standards compliance in their new browser, they announced last week that developers who wish to enable standards compliant mode in IE will have to add the following meta tag to their code at the top of the page.
If they feel that their page will stay standards compliant regardless of future versions of the browser they can instead use this
In my opinion, clunky hack that it is, I think it is a move in the right direction. Having experienced the repeated frustration of fixing my current websites to display correctly in IE6, (most times leading to ungentlemanly utterances) it gives me some kind of relief to know that the next version will make my life a lot easier. With a simple tweak. And there, my good readers is where the problem lies. The tweak.
The standards compliant idealists prefer that IE8 render by default in standards compliant mode and instead should revert back to 'quirks' mode when the tag is added to a page. In essence, opt in to use the previous display engines which worked horribly, but will keep your currently badly coded page displaying correctly. In their opinion, if the day after Microsoft releases IE8, half the world's websites suddenly went all wonky, and the 'developers' who created these pages come to realize that it is because of bad coding techniques, they will be motivated to learn how to code correctly and fix their pages. They wouldn't be called idealists if they didn't think as such. Then of course, there is the minor fact that they feel they would be once again bowing to Microsoft in using this tag. Rewarding bad behavior if you will.
The realists or pragmatists, of which I am one realize that a good majority of the world's web pages out there aredesigned created by people who 'save as' web page from inside Microsoft Word and other related software; Who still think that designing layouts using tables is the best thing since sliced bread. I know, because I'm revising a series of about 10 different websites created like that at the moment. And then of course, there is the abundance of corporate websites out there still being fed to the public from old, expensive content management systems. Standards compliant evangelizing isn't something new. And while there is a learning curve, it doesn't take a massive amount of effort to learn CSS. Far from it. Tutorials for CSS abound all over the web. I know. I learned CSS sometime in 1998, 10 years ago. And yet, with ALL these different resources abundantly available on the web for ALL this time, we still have to deal with terribly coded websites. And here's the bitter truth. Outside the tight knit developer community, most people don't know or care about standards. They just want to create a web page and be done with it.
Here is the bottom line. Many people, designers and developers in particular want Microsoft to get their act together and finally deliver a standards compliant browser. IE is currently the most prevalent browser on the web today (around 56% as of Dec 2007 according to these stats) which means that as much as we may want it, Microsoft cannot be irresponsible about how they deploy software. Those saying "Well, they were irresponsible in designing it this way in the first place" are right, but doing two wrong things won't make things right. It's a cliche, but it's no less true.
To be quite honest, I also consider that at some point Microsoft has to make a clean break a la OS9/OSX Apple style and leave those who want to program things the old way behind. But that being said this is step in the right direction. A clunky one, granted, but a good one.
If you haven't read or heard about the story, here is the basic breakdown of it. In Microsoft's efforts to work towards standards compliance in their new browser, they announced last week that developers who wish to enable standards compliant mode in IE will have to add the following meta tag to their code at the top of the page.
meta equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=8"Essentially, that tag tells IE8 to render the rest of the page as close to standards mode as it currently supports.
If they feel that their page will stay standards compliant regardless of future versions of the browser they can instead use this
meta equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=edge"
In my opinion, clunky hack that it is, I think it is a move in the right direction. Having experienced the repeated frustration of fixing my current websites to display correctly in IE6, (most times leading to ungentlemanly utterances) it gives me some kind of relief to know that the next version will make my life a lot easier. With a simple tweak. And there, my good readers is where the problem lies. The tweak.
The standards compliant idealists prefer that IE8 render by default in standards compliant mode and instead should revert back to 'quirks' mode when the tag is added to a page. In essence, opt in to use the previous display engines which worked horribly, but will keep your currently badly coded page displaying correctly. In their opinion, if the day after Microsoft releases IE8, half the world's websites suddenly went all wonky, and the 'developers' who created these pages come to realize that it is because of bad coding techniques, they will be motivated to learn how to code correctly and fix their pages. They wouldn't be called idealists if they didn't think as such. Then of course, there is the minor fact that they feel they would be once again bowing to Microsoft in using this tag. Rewarding bad behavior if you will.
The realists or pragmatists, of which I am one realize that a good majority of the world's web pages out there are
Here is the bottom line. Many people, designers and developers in particular want Microsoft to get their act together and finally deliver a standards compliant browser. IE is currently the most prevalent browser on the web today (around 56% as of Dec 2007 according to these stats) which means that as much as we may want it, Microsoft cannot be irresponsible about how they deploy software. Those saying "Well, they were irresponsible in designing it this way in the first place" are right, but doing two wrong things won't make things right. It's a cliche, but it's no less true.
To be quite honest, I also consider that at some point Microsoft has to make a clean break a la OS9/OSX Apple style and leave those who want to program things the old way behind. But that being said this is step in the right direction. A clunky one, granted, but a good one.
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Of Meats and Browsers
As a result of quite a few incidents over the course of the past couple of months, this here citizen reporter is of the wild but not necessarily crazy belief that the universe is having fun at his expense. I mean, one thing happening. Well, that's life. Two things, it's a coincidence. Five things and well,.... I'm not crazy you know. You walk a in day in my shoes before you judge me
The most recent event which admittedly, could have happened to anyone begs the question - "Why is it that it's the day when you are so hungry you could eat a horse, you walk into a Chipotle Mexican Grill, and the person behind the counter decides that since he spent the last three hours killing, skinning and consequently grilling the pork/chicken he's about to serve you, he's only going to give you enough to flavor your food, the actual tasting and eating being so overrated?" . It's enough to drive one to cussing I tell you.
In a less related event, Firefox 3.0 beta 1 launched recently, and being the tech savvy person that I am, I decided to try it out. Despite the so far numerous good reviews the browser has been getting out there, I learned first hand why betas are called as such and released for testing only. The list of improvements is quite long and welcome, and as this is just a beta release, this isn't a criticism of the browser. It deserves a mention. I'm just going to have to find a virtual machine to test it on.
Also, I'm publishing this here post using the recently released Flock Browser 1.0 and travesty of all travesties, did I just see the "font" tag in my source code?
toodles..
The most recent event which admittedly, could have happened to anyone begs the question - "Why is it that it's the day when you are so hungry you could eat a horse, you walk into a Chipotle Mexican Grill, and the person behind the counter decides that since he spent the last three hours killing, skinning and consequently grilling the pork/chicken he's about to serve you, he's only going to give you enough to flavor your food, the actual tasting and eating being so overrated?" . It's enough to drive one to cussing I tell you.
In a less related event, Firefox 3.0 beta 1 launched recently, and being the tech savvy person that I am, I decided to try it out. Despite the so far numerous good reviews the browser has been getting out there, I learned first hand why betas are called as such and released for testing only. The list of improvements is quite long and welcome, and as this is just a beta release, this isn't a criticism of the browser. It deserves a mention. I'm just going to have to find a virtual machine to test it on.
Also, I'm publishing this here post using the recently released Flock Browser 1.0 and travesty of all travesties, did I just see the "font" tag in my source code?
toodles..
Blogged with Flock
Friday, September 07, 2007
Adobe Customer Support Stinks
Arrghhhh!! There are expressions in my head that are too vile to spill right now regarding how I feel about Adobe's Customer support department. I have had four interactions with Adobe customer support since Adobe took over Macromedia and all four have been nightmares, some of which I've chronicled on this blog. At the time, I put off the problems I was having to making my purchase during Adobe's swallowing of Macromedia, transition woes and all that jazz.
My most recent interaction started was this morning. Why did I need to contact adobe you ask. Sometime, earlier this year, when CS3 came out, I obtained a copy, a valid copy. Sometime this last week, I uninstalled my old fireworks 8 from my laptop and decided to install the copy of CS3 I had (Which, btw, the install time on a P4 2.6 Ghz machine is mind boggling, but that's a whole other issue) . As I wasn't at home at the time, I didn't have my serial number with me. I tried to run it in trial mode with the intention of activating it when I got home. It didn't work. I got some error message about being unable to activate the trial period, and I must enter my serial number or nothing. Either that or try re-installing it. I did, twice. Nothing. Well, there ends my work for the day. But hey, can't be helped right?
I get home and enter the serial number in my fireworks installation. It decides to go online and activate the software. After about a 5 dog years, it comes back and tells me everything is fine. And then I get this little window that says "License expired". WHAT!!! I just installed spent the last hour installing this stupid software and now I can't even use it? I pick up the phone to call Adobe Customer Service, dreading my next experience, because the last two times were so pleasant. I get put on hold, and then finally connected.
My first mistake was continuing a conversation with a nitwit in sales instead of just reconnecting to speak to customer support.
I love Adobe products, in general, but honestly, if the customer support remains subpar, it completely ruins the experience. I have the last bit of my recording with said nitwit on my zen. I'll have to figure out what to do with it.
My most recent interaction started was this morning. Why did I need to contact adobe you ask. Sometime, earlier this year, when CS3 came out, I obtained a copy, a valid copy. Sometime this last week, I uninstalled my old fireworks 8 from my laptop and decided to install the copy of CS3 I had (Which, btw, the install time on a P4 2.6 Ghz machine is mind boggling, but that's a whole other issue) . As I wasn't at home at the time, I didn't have my serial number with me. I tried to run it in trial mode with the intention of activating it when I got home. It didn't work. I got some error message about being unable to activate the trial period, and I must enter my serial number or nothing. Either that or try re-installing it. I did, twice. Nothing. Well, there ends my work for the day. But hey, can't be helped right?
I get home and enter the serial number in my fireworks installation. It decides to go online and activate the software. After about a 5 dog years, it comes back and tells me everything is fine. And then I get this little window that says "License expired". WHAT!!! I just installed spent the last hour installing this stupid software and now I can't even use it? I pick up the phone to call Adobe Customer Service, dreading my next experience, because the last two times were so pleasant. I get put on hold, and then finally connected.
Adobe CS Person: Hello, can I have your customer number please?
Me: Uh, I don't know where it is at the moment, do you absolutely need it?
Adobe CS Person: Okay, sir, may I have your phone number?
Me: I give it to him
Adobe CS Person: Goes away to put a coin in the meter and comes back a minute later. So, how may I help you sir?
Me: I'm having some licensing issues with Fireworks, I had Fireworks 8 installed on before.....
Adobe: music, music, music.....
Me: What now? Did I bore him to death already? I hear a music and a couple of clicks
Interlude: Here's my question. Any self respecting customer service agent, knowing that you were speaking with a customer before, and you got cut off, doesn't it seem logical to call that customer back since you have his/her phone number?
Adobe: click, click, silence, click, after a minute, new person.
(for the purposes of this section of the conversation, we'll call this person moron #1 (heretofor Adobe CS Moron)
Adobe CS Moron: Hello, welcome to Adobe Sales, how may I help you?
Me: Well, I was talking to (Person) at Customer support before, and suddenly, I got cut off and now I'm talking to you.
Adobe CS Moron: Well, sir, maybe I can help you, what seems to be the problem.
Me: I'm having licensing issues with Fireworks, I had Fireworks 8 installed, but now after installing a clean valid copy of Fireworks CS3, I keep getting the error message "License has expired" .
Adobe CS Moron: (Sounds lost) Uh, well, what version of Adobe Studio is this CS2, CS3?
Me: Fireworks. FIREWORKS CS3, not studio. Running on Windows XP (trying to be helpful)
Adobe CS Moron: Did you try uninstalling and re-installing
Me: (thinking I'd save us both some time) Let me give you some background, I tried to run this software as a trial version before because I didn't have my key blah blah.............. so now, I've put in my key, and here's the error it gives me. And yes, I have gone through three install cycles, the third as I'm writing this blog post (each one takes about 2ominutes, no joke)
Adobe CS Moron: Did you obtain the software from Adobe Online, get a disc, etc?
Me: I got it from Adobe, legally. (For the reader: I didn't have to pay for it. I did get it from Adobe the company directly, but because of legalities, I can't get into details. I did explain the details to him though)
Adobe CS Moron: Oh, well, because you didn't pay for it, we are not obligated to support any software that we give away.
Me: Why? Why should that matter? I got the software legally.
Adobe CS Moron: because you didn't pay for it, we are not obligated to support any software that we give away. If you'd like to put in an order for a fireworks CS3 Product, I'd be happy to process it for you.
Me: Are you kidding? So, you're telling me more or less "too bad buddy, sorry, can't help you, you're on your own"?
Adobe CS Moron: Uh, well, no. I wouldn't put it that way. But we don't support software that we give away.
Me: Let's say hypothetically, that I bought the software, which btw, I'm not very inclined to do right now, is this supposed to happen?
(And here's the best part)
Adobe CS Moron: Um, well, no it isn't, but since you didn't buy the software and there's no way to know if it's a valid copy or not, I can't help you. If you'd like to buy a customer support package, or order a new copy of Fireworks, or Adobe Studio, then I can help you.
Me: Huh? (Is he implying that I stole it)
(Fuming at this point, reach out for my trusty zen media player with the available microphone so I can record).
Me: You know, every time I've called Adobe Customer support since Adobe merged with Macromedia, it's always been a pain. What the heck is going on?
Adobe CS Moron: Well, sir, like I said, since I can't determine whether or not you have a legal copy of the software...
Me: Implying what? That I stole it?
Adobe CS Moron: (Realizing what he's saying, back pedals... ) Well, sir, that was absolutely not what I was implying. (Liar)
Me: What the heck is going on over there? Plus, you're not encouraging me to be honest right now. I could very well have said I got this via Adobe download, and you would be none the wiser.
Adobe CS Moron: Well, sir, sometime during the conversation, we'd have asked for your serial number;
Me: Which I have, a valid serial number.
Adobe CS Moron: Well, that serial number would have told us what we needed to know. But for right now, unless....blah blah
Me: So, the long and short of this conversation right now is go figure something else out, Adobe is not going to help you today.
Adobe CS Moron: Yes, sir, that's more or less the case.
Me: Okay, then, well, thank you very very much, you've been absolutely no help.
Adobe CS Moron: Well sir.. you're very..(click. I hang up)
Me: Uh, I don't know where it is at the moment, do you absolutely need it?
Adobe CS Person: Okay, sir, may I have your phone number?
Me: I give it to him
Adobe CS Person: Goes away to put a coin in the meter and comes back a minute later. So, how may I help you sir?
Me: I'm having some licensing issues with Fireworks, I had Fireworks 8 installed on before.....
Adobe: music, music, music.....
Me: What now? Did I bore him to death already? I hear a music and a couple of clicks
Interlude: Here's my question. Any self respecting customer service agent, knowing that you were speaking with a customer before, and you got cut off, doesn't it seem logical to call that customer back since you have his/her phone number?
Adobe: click, click, silence, click, after a minute, new person.
(for the purposes of this section of the conversation, we'll call this person moron #1 (heretofor Adobe CS Moron)
Adobe CS Moron: Hello, welcome to Adobe Sales, how may I help you?
Me: Well, I was talking to (Person) at Customer support before, and suddenly, I got cut off and now I'm talking to you.
Adobe CS Moron: Well, sir, maybe I can help you, what seems to be the problem.
Me: I'm having licensing issues with Fireworks, I had Fireworks 8 installed, but now after installing a clean valid copy of Fireworks CS3, I keep getting the error message "License has expired" .
Adobe CS Moron: (Sounds lost) Uh, well, what version of Adobe Studio is this CS2, CS3?
Me: Fireworks. FIREWORKS CS3, not studio. Running on Windows XP (trying to be helpful)
Adobe CS Moron: Did you try uninstalling and re-installing
Me: (thinking I'd save us both some time) Let me give you some background, I tried to run this software as a trial version before because I didn't have my key blah blah.............. so now, I've put in my key, and here's the error it gives me. And yes, I have gone through three install cycles, the third as I'm writing this blog post (each one takes about 2ominutes, no joke)
Adobe CS Moron: Did you obtain the software from Adobe Online, get a disc, etc?
Me: I got it from Adobe, legally. (For the reader: I didn't have to pay for it. I did get it from Adobe the company directly, but because of legalities, I can't get into details. I did explain the details to him though)
Adobe CS Moron: Oh, well, because you didn't pay for it, we are not obligated to support any software that we give away.
Me: Why? Why should that matter? I got the software legally.
Adobe CS Moron: because you didn't pay for it, we are not obligated to support any software that we give away. If you'd like to put in an order for a fireworks CS3 Product, I'd be happy to process it for you.
Me: Are you kidding? So, you're telling me more or less "too bad buddy, sorry, can't help you, you're on your own"?
Adobe CS Moron: Uh, well, no. I wouldn't put it that way. But we don't support software that we give away.
Me: Let's say hypothetically, that I bought the software, which btw, I'm not very inclined to do right now, is this supposed to happen?
(And here's the best part)
Adobe CS Moron: Um, well, no it isn't, but since you didn't buy the software and there's no way to know if it's a valid copy or not, I can't help you. If you'd like to buy a customer support package, or order a new copy of Fireworks, or Adobe Studio, then I can help you.
Me: Huh? (Is he implying that I stole it)
(Fuming at this point, reach out for my trusty zen media player with the available microphone so I can record).
Me: You know, every time I've called Adobe Customer support since Adobe merged with Macromedia, it's always been a pain. What the heck is going on?
Adobe CS Moron: Well, sir, like I said, since I can't determine whether or not you have a legal copy of the software...
Me: Implying what? That I stole it?
Adobe CS Moron: (Realizing what he's saying, back pedals... ) Well, sir, that was absolutely not what I was implying. (Liar)
Me: What the heck is going on over there? Plus, you're not encouraging me to be honest right now. I could very well have said I got this via Adobe download, and you would be none the wiser.
Adobe CS Moron: Well, sir, sometime during the conversation, we'd have asked for your serial number;
Me: Which I have, a valid serial number.
Adobe CS Moron: Well, that serial number would have told us what we needed to know. But for right now, unless....blah blah
Me: So, the long and short of this conversation right now is go figure something else out, Adobe is not going to help you today.
Adobe CS Moron: Yes, sir, that's more or less the case.
Me: Okay, then, well, thank you very very much, you've been absolutely no help.
Adobe CS Moron: Well sir.. you're very..(click. I hang up)
My first mistake was continuing a conversation with a nitwit in sales instead of just reconnecting to speak to customer support.
I love Adobe products, in general, but honestly, if the customer support remains subpar, it completely ruins the experience. I have the last bit of my recording with said nitwit on my zen. I'll have to figure out what to do with it.
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Mono's Moonlight
I just wanted to take a second to congratulate the team of the Mono Project, the open-source counterpart to .NET on Linux for nothing short of an astounding feat - porting Microsoft's Silverlight to Linux in 21 days. Condiering that the team had no knowledge of Silverlight before the MIX conference earlier this year, it is quite impressive. YAY!! for open source.
Based on my previous posting on Silverlight, and what I've seen so far, things can only get better. Silverlight, while still in it's infancy is a project with tremendous potential (assuming Microsoft doesn't mess it up) and with maturity will undoubtedly become quite ubiquitous. The icing on the cake, the fact that it is essentially a part of the .NET framework only makes things better for integration into other aspects of development as the Mono team is already doing.
I can't help but say though that my disappointment continues with some members of the Adobe team who, at this point seem to just wait on the sidelines so they can stomp on any news of Silverlight coming their way, sometimes, legitimate, sometimes just plain petty. Everyone is of course entitled to his/her opinion. There wouldn't be debate without it.
Sometimes though, you should just say congratulations on what is nothing short of an incredible feat, and leave it at that.
Based on my previous posting on Silverlight, and what I've seen so far, things can only get better. Silverlight, while still in it's infancy is a project with tremendous potential (assuming Microsoft doesn't mess it up) and with maturity will undoubtedly become quite ubiquitous. The icing on the cake, the fact that it is essentially a part of the .NET framework only makes things better for integration into other aspects of development as the Mono team is already doing.
I can't help but say though that my disappointment continues with some members of the Adobe team who, at this point seem to just wait on the sidelines so they can stomp on any news of Silverlight coming their way, sometimes, legitimate, sometimes just plain petty. Everyone is of course entitled to his/her opinion. There wouldn't be debate without it.
Sometimes though, you should just say congratulations on what is nothing short of an incredible feat, and leave it at that.
In search of englightenment
In my continuous bid for self betterment alluded to in a previous post, I have been reading up on Grid Design in the context of the web as well as the use of Type.
Aside from keeping me occupied and distracted from the much over-hyped launch of the iPhone, it has added some well needed tools to my skill set and given me ideas to experiment with going forward.
I had briefly read up on grid design before thanks to the impressively good book - "Transcending CSS : The Fine Art of Web Design", written by Andy Clark, but as I didn't have much time to really look at it in great detail, finding other resources on the web that dealt with it such as designbygrid made me exceedingly happy.
In addition, I have spent some time reading up on hanging indents and punctuation, ligatures, leading, em spaces and kerning, thanks to Mark Boulton, who is thankfully trying to revive the lost art of Type design in this digital age. While his insights and articles were thoroughly enjoyable, he does seem to align himself to the classical way of thinking, which isn't all bad. And of course there's Richard Rutter who brought us the invaluable "Elements of Typographic Style - As Applied to the Web".
All in all, both good reads.
Aside from keeping me occupied and distracted from the much over-hyped launch of the iPhone, it has added some well needed tools to my skill set and given me ideas to experiment with going forward.
I had briefly read up on grid design before thanks to the impressively good book - "Transcending CSS : The Fine Art of Web Design", written by Andy Clark, but as I didn't have much time to really look at it in great detail, finding other resources on the web that dealt with it such as designbygrid made me exceedingly happy.
In addition, I have spent some time reading up on hanging indents and punctuation, ligatures, leading, em spaces and kerning, thanks to Mark Boulton, who is thankfully trying to revive the lost art of Type design in this digital age. While his insights and articles were thoroughly enjoyable, he does seem to align himself to the classical way of thinking, which isn't all bad. And of course there's Richard Rutter who brought us the invaluable "Elements of Typographic Style - As Applied to the Web".
All in all, both good reads.
Friday, June 01, 2007
Steve's a Mac, and Bill's a P.C
In what was without doubt an historic event, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, the two icons of the computer industry, rumored rivals and friendly competitors met for a joint interview at the D5 Conference in California.
The interview covered several topics from their historic beginnings working together in the late 70s to where they both see technology going in the next few years.
As has been commented on by other bloggers who viewed the interview, there was an obvious sign of respect on both sides, and an acknowledgement of how much both companies complemented each other.
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
User Experience - Why Customers come back
The mark of a professional, I believe, in any field of expertise is the drive to improve their value, their worth as a whole to that field; The desire for self improvement. In some ways, it is what sets us as humans apart from the lower species. Over the course of the last few years, what has inevitably come to the fore for most designers and developers alike is the importance of customer experience, and in many cases, the emotional connection the customer forms with your product and or brand.
This connection is what fuels popular brands like Starbucks, Apple, JetBlue and others. They seem to have discovered this much earlier on than most companies and the benefits are tremendous.
As a designer and a developer, it is very easy in this field to lose sight of the most important part of the entire process. The Customer. Not the product, not the tools, but the customer. The customer's need, his connection with you and how much he feels you understand that are key in creating brand loyalty. Reviewing the recorded sessions from MIX07 that are on the web reveal a few sessions dedicated to rethinking the entire design experience, changing how we the producers of what customers use approach the process. My favorite of all those by far, and quite frankly, the best presentation I've seen in a while was the one given by Lewis Carbonne on "The Emotion of Customer Experience" available recorded. One of my favorite quotes from his presentation is this
I would classify that as well as several others as a must see for any designer, developer or producer as a way to provide context and direction for where and how they need to evolve in the current competitive market.
This connection is what fuels popular brands like Starbucks, Apple, JetBlue and others. They seem to have discovered this much earlier on than most companies and the benefits are tremendous.
As a designer and a developer, it is very easy in this field to lose sight of the most important part of the entire process. The Customer. Not the product, not the tools, but the customer. The customer's need, his connection with you and how much he feels you understand that are key in creating brand loyalty. Reviewing the recorded sessions from MIX07 that are on the web reveal a few sessions dedicated to rethinking the entire design experience, changing how we the producers of what customers use approach the process. My favorite of all those by far, and quite frankly, the best presentation I've seen in a while was the one given by Lewis Carbonne on "The Emotion of Customer Experience" available recorded. One of my favorite quotes from his presentation is this
Good, bad, or indifferent, every customer has an experience with your company and the products or services you provide. But few businesses really manage that customer experience... so they lose the chance to transform customers into lifetime customers.
I would classify that as well as several others as a must see for any designer, developer or producer as a way to provide context and direction for where and how they need to evolve in the current competitive market.
Thursday, May 03, 2007
My Flash is bigger than your Silverlight
In what can only be referred to as a playground pissing contest, I've been coming across quite a few posts by Adobe developers reacting to the news of Microsoft's release of Silverlight (formerly WPF/e) and the inevitable conclusion by this observer is that Adobe and it's developers are worried and are acting out, like children in a playground who just noticed a new kid with a better ball than them. With good reason I might add.
To start with, in my brief testing and review of Silverlight and it's capabilities, it is nothing short of stunning. And the potential for this technology is tremendous, and cross browser to boot (except for linux that is). Silverlight is without question a competitor to Adobe's Flash offering, which has more or less owned the market for vector animations and rich dynamic applications for quite a while. It's features are quite similar, both have a light install footprint, but more than that, even in it's beta release form, the video performance of Silverlight exceeds that of Flash. And to sweeten the pot, the upcoming version 1.1 opens up development to all .NET developers as it includes a reasonably full subset of the framework.
With all this going on, it is understandable that adobe and it's developers would be a mite perturbed. But instead of taking a step back and examining where they need to innovate and go from here to bolster competition, many of them are taking the juvenile step of attacking the technology and Microsoft, seemingly on every little weakness or deficiency of the technology. Nitpicking at this and that like kids at a playground. And interestingly, so far, this has been mostly one sided. Alessandro Crugnola, a well known flash developer referred to it as "Fear of Silverlight".
I am a big admirer of Adobe, quite frankly, as far as software goes, if there were software groupies, I'd be one. But I have to say, in this most recent outburst of emotion towards Silverlight, they leave a lot to be desired.
To start with, in my brief testing and review of Silverlight and it's capabilities, it is nothing short of stunning. And the potential for this technology is tremendous, and cross browser to boot (except for linux that is). Silverlight is without question a competitor to Adobe's Flash offering, which has more or less owned the market for vector animations and rich dynamic applications for quite a while. It's features are quite similar, both have a light install footprint, but more than that, even in it's beta release form, the video performance of Silverlight exceeds that of Flash. And to sweeten the pot, the upcoming version 1.1 opens up development to all .NET developers as it includes a reasonably full subset of the framework.
With all this going on, it is understandable that adobe and it's developers would be a mite perturbed. But instead of taking a step back and examining where they need to innovate and go from here to bolster competition, many of them are taking the juvenile step of attacking the technology and Microsoft, seemingly on every little weakness or deficiency of the technology. Nitpicking at this and that like kids at a playground. And interestingly, so far, this has been mostly one sided. Alessandro Crugnola, a well known flash developer referred to it as "Fear of Silverlight".
I am a big admirer of Adobe, quite frankly, as far as software goes, if there were software groupies, I'd be one. But I have to say, in this most recent outburst of emotion towards Silverlight, they leave a lot to be desired.
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Design Treasure 35/5
The good people at Smashing Magazine have released a survey of 35 designers, each answering 5 questions about their design process, workflow and approach and other tips. What it amounts to is a vital resource of ideas and suggestions and consequently a link dump of portfolios from other designers.
For anyone who is even remotely interested in design all the way to established designers, this is an excellent place to gain some perspective on what drives others in the field and maybe pick up a few nuggets of information to add to your design toolbag.
2. Normalizing the browser (reseting margins and paddings to 0px or 1px) before applying new styles as one of the top CSS techniques used by designers.
3. Helvetica, Lucida Grande, Arial, Garamond - classic fonts still widely loved.
4. Steve Krug's "Don't Make Me Think" came out on top by far as the book most designers referenced. (Just added to my Amazon wishlist)
Robert Bringhurst's "Elements of Typographic Style" also caught my eye in the list of books mentioned.
5. DigitalWeb Magazine as well as A list Apart came out as designer favorites in the online magazine category for the surveyed group. A good number have also opted out of reading online magazines and focusing on relevant articles as they come out.
View the full survey here..
For anyone who is even remotely interested in design all the way to established designers, this is an excellent place to gain some perspective on what drives others in the field and maybe pick up a few nuggets of information to add to your design toolbag.
Highlights included
1. Communication, Usability, Typography, Navigation and Details being the top 5 things designers focused on when designing. Others were listed.2. Normalizing the browser (reseting margins and paddings to 0px or 1px) before applying new styles as one of the top CSS techniques used by designers.
3. Helvetica, Lucida Grande, Arial, Garamond - classic fonts still widely loved.
4. Steve Krug's "Don't Make Me Think" came out on top by far as the book most designers referenced. (Just added to my Amazon wishlist)
Robert Bringhurst's "Elements of Typographic Style" also caught my eye in the list of books mentioned.
5. DigitalWeb Magazine as well as A list Apart came out as designer favorites in the online magazine category for the surveyed group. A good number have also opted out of reading online magazines and focusing on relevant articles as they come out.
View the full survey here..
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Humorously Yours
Inevitably in my travels around the interweb, I find new things that tickle me. Based on a link from a podcast I follow quite faithfully, I discovered this online column/video podcast on technology from David Pogue at the New York Times.
I particularly like the perspective he brings with his column, obviously tailoring it for the everyday user, who frankly is the average N.Y. Times reader. It's full of good insights and fun to watch. As a techie, it's sometimes hard to remember that not everyone understands why having an 802.11n router is cool or VOIP for that matter.
I particularly like the perspective he brings with his column, obviously tailoring it for the everyday user, who frankly is the average N.Y. Times reader. It's full of good insights and fun to watch. As a techie, it's sometimes hard to remember that not everyone understands why having an 802.11n router is cool or VOIP for that matter.
Friday, March 16, 2007
Can Wii have this dance?
In the trend of continued popularity and adaptability of the Nintendo Wii, I happened upon the DJWiiJ. The concept on the site shows how Wii fans and users have modified the Wiimote to be used as a control device for D.Js. Pretty nifty stuff. Like I've always said, it's never really about the glitz and glamour. If you make a good lovable product, the fans will do the rest.
It is wiithout doubt, time I got me a wii.
via Jetset
It is wiithout doubt, time I got me a wii.
via Jetset
Thursday, February 15, 2007
Vista, Can you hear me now? What about now?
I just ran into this hilarious video on YouTube of a guy using the speech recognition software on Vista to write a simple perl script . Thought I'd blog it for posterity, and for laughs.
warning: hilarious out loud laughter is sure to ensue.
via stacyyoung.org
warning: hilarious out loud laughter is sure to ensue.
via stacyyoung.org
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
Steve Jobs casts his vote in the DRM debate
In what's bound to be without a doubt, the opinion that's heard around the blogoshpere and the technosphere, Apple's website today posted what appears to be an OpEd piece from Steve Jobs on the ever present debate over DRM (Digital Rights Management).
In said posting, Steve Jobs, who's company, like it or not controls the bulk of online music downloads via the iTunes music store stated that from his point of view, there are only three ways to currently solve the DRM issue. One, is to leave things as is, which quite frankly does nothing to resolve the issue, two - open up the DRM software that Apple uses, (thereby possibly encouraging other companies to do the same ) to promote interoperability or - and here comes the best part - sell their music DRM free. This is something everybody and their mama has been lobbying for, for the past couple of years. Why? In his words, which by the way, echo what everyone else has been saying..
Why would the big four music companies agree to let Apple and others distribute their music without using DRM systems to protect it? The simplest answer is because DRMs haven’t worked, and may never work, to halt music piracy.
As he said, over 90% of the world's music is at the moment sold DRM free. Also evidence has shown that so far, DRM has likely hurt digital music sales much more than it's helped.
All of this comes on the heels of the trouble Apple is dealing with in Europe regarding opening up it's FairPlay DRM system to other companies (gotta love those pesky Europeans) . It's only likely to get worse as more and more countries join the band wagon. Apple is essentially now throwing the ball in the court of the big music companies, saying in part..
Convincing them to license their music to Apple and others DRM-free will create a truly interoperable music marketplace. Apple will embrace this wholeheartedly.
Hopefully this is a beginning of a turn in the right direction.
In said posting, Steve Jobs, who's company, like it or not controls the bulk of online music downloads via the iTunes music store stated that from his point of view, there are only three ways to currently solve the DRM issue. One, is to leave things as is, which quite frankly does nothing to resolve the issue, two - open up the DRM software that Apple uses, (thereby possibly encouraging other companies to do the same ) to promote interoperability or - and here comes the best part - sell their music DRM free. This is something everybody and their mama has been lobbying for, for the past couple of years. Why? In his words, which by the way, echo what everyone else has been saying..
Why would the big four music companies agree to let Apple and others distribute their music without using DRM systems to protect it? The simplest answer is because DRMs haven’t worked, and may never work, to halt music piracy.
As he said, over 90% of the world's music is at the moment sold DRM free. Also evidence has shown that so far, DRM has likely hurt digital music sales much more than it's helped.
All of this comes on the heels of the trouble Apple is dealing with in Europe regarding opening up it's FairPlay DRM system to other companies (gotta love those pesky Europeans) . It's only likely to get worse as more and more countries join the band wagon. Apple is essentially now throwing the ball in the court of the big music companies, saying in part..
Convincing them to license their music to Apple and others DRM-free will create a truly interoperable music marketplace. Apple will embrace this wholeheartedly.
Hopefully this is a beginning of a turn in the right direction.
Friday, January 12, 2007
Design confessional
I got an e-mail update this morning that reminds me of how much cooler a design shop can be if they don't take themselves too seriously. It adds a lot to the work environment. One of my very favorite design firms - group94 updated their site, - sort of. I'll let their project manager explain here
They did what inevitably happens to a lot of design shops. If you do manage to stay afloat and build a client base, you tend to spend most of your time working on client projects than doing your own website which inevitably may leave your website without an update for years. I for one am a poster child for this.
And considering that when I built my website,I was quite new at this whole web design thing and didn't put a content management system in, the idea of having to manually update the website didn't help. An updated version is coming. Soon.
They did what inevitably happens to a lot of design shops. If you do manage to stay afloat and build a client base, you tend to spend most of your time working on client projects than doing your own website which inevitably may leave your website without an update for years. I for one am a poster child for this.
And considering that when I built my website,I was quite new at this whole web design thing and didn't put a content management system in, the idea of having to manually update the website didn't help. An updated version is coming. Soon.
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
iPhone, USue
It's a beautiful new year, and as is prone to happen, what's old is new again. Technology as usual keeps moving at a dizzying speed and the law firms of Cease, Desist and Howe are rubbing their palms together waiting for who it is they can dig their claws into once again. Gotta love technology. I can only imagine how many General Counsels are thanking their gods for copyright infringement lawsuits. If nothing else, it's keeping them busy, without doubt funding house expansions and jacuzzi bathrooms and for us the observers, it makes for fun reading.
In a "I so didn't see that coming, wink wink" move, Cisco Systems today is suing Apple Computer Inc. over the use of the name iPhone. Yesterday, at MacWorld, the quintessential face and CEO of Apple launched the iPhone, the company's new entry into the phone/handheld/mp3 player space. What makes this interesting is that Linksys, a division of Cisco Systems, the copyright holder to the name "iPhone" a few weeks ago released their own product of the same name. While both products are reasonably different, there is obviously a conflict here. Considering that Apple knew about it and are actually in negotiations (albeit stalled it appears) to use the name, going ahead to use the name anyway is a bold move if I ever saw one. Cisco it appears is not amused.
Me thinks this is going to be a fun year.
In a "I so didn't see that coming, wink wink" move, Cisco Systems today is suing Apple Computer Inc. over the use of the name iPhone. Yesterday, at MacWorld, the quintessential face and CEO of Apple launched the iPhone, the company's new entry into the phone/handheld/mp3 player space. What makes this interesting is that Linksys, a division of Cisco Systems, the copyright holder to the name "iPhone" a few weeks ago released their own product of the same name. While both products are reasonably different, there is obviously a conflict here. Considering that Apple knew about it and are actually in negotiations (albeit stalled it appears) to use the name, going ahead to use the name anyway is a bold move if I ever saw one. Cisco it appears is not amused.
Me thinks this is going to be a fun year.
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Zune come, Zune to go
So, in all the hullabaloo surrounding the premiere of the Microsoft Zune media player, just in case there haven't been enough comments about it already, I figured I'd throw in my two cents.
I got a chance to play with the good 'ol Zune last week when I went into J&R in downtown Manhattan. Like most people, I was impressed with the picture quality and ease of use of the player. So far, it has the largest screen and best resolution of all the players I've seen and physically handled, which to be quite truthful hasn't been that many.
That being said, the release of the Zune is classic Microsoft at its usual game of - It ain't ready yet, but lets get it out the door.
Potentially the one player that could have shaken the quintessential iPod from it's perch as top dog, Microsoft took a good thing and shot themselves in the foot. The player is quite clunky in size, I'm talking first generation iPod size here, maybe a lil bigger.
All that probably wouldn't be a problem if they did everything else right. The iPod is continuously successful largely in part to the ecosystem of iPod - > itunes music store and the classic plug it in and it just works philosophy. There have been numerous reports of how bad the zune software is, many from people who couldn't even get the software installed at all. Then of course the side effects of removing the software from your p.c and getting unexpected results.
What's even more terrible about this is that they've probably turned so many people gun-shy with this debacle that even if Microsoft learns from their mistake and releases a revision to the Zune next year with everything working, it wouldn't make a difference to those people.
Let's not even start on the branding, cheerfully shown on Zune.net - "Welcome to the Social". Really? that's the best they could come up with? Apple has nothing to worry about, at least not from the Zune.
There's nothing as sad as excellent potential in the wrong hands.
I got a chance to play with the good 'ol Zune last week when I went into J&R in downtown Manhattan. Like most people, I was impressed with the picture quality and ease of use of the player. So far, it has the largest screen and best resolution of all the players I've seen and physically handled, which to be quite truthful hasn't been that many.
That being said, the release of the Zune is classic Microsoft at its usual game of - It ain't ready yet, but lets get it out the door.
Potentially the one player that could have shaken the quintessential iPod from it's perch as top dog, Microsoft took a good thing and shot themselves in the foot. The player is quite clunky in size, I'm talking first generation iPod size here, maybe a lil bigger.
All that probably wouldn't be a problem if they did everything else right. The iPod is continuously successful largely in part to the ecosystem of iPod - > itunes music store and the classic plug it in and it just works philosophy. There have been numerous reports of how bad the zune software is, many from people who couldn't even get the software installed at all. Then of course the side effects of removing the software from your p.c and getting unexpected results.
What's even more terrible about this is that they've probably turned so many people gun-shy with this debacle that even if Microsoft learns from their mistake and releases a revision to the Zune next year with everything working, it wouldn't make a difference to those people.
Let's not even start on the branding, cheerfully shown on Zune.net - "Welcome to the Social". Really? that's the best they could come up with? Apple has nothing to worry about, at least not from the Zune.
There's nothing as sad as excellent potential in the wrong hands.
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