It's Decent, But it's Not a Night at the Opera

alternateorg on December 13, 2000

From IHT:

Opera Software’s market share is microscopic, at less than 1 percent. But the Oslo-based company’s launch of an advertising-sponsored version of Opera 5.0 for Windows intends to heat up the competition…

Hrm. I would really be interested in knowing if more people would use alternative internet software (as in non-MS, non-Netscape) if most of the developers would stop the insistence on putting advertisements in unless you pay for it (as in Opera or Eudora). Also, I think Opera would be a viable option for some people, if it didn’t suck so bad.

The User? What's That?

alternateorg on December 13, 2000

I just overheard an interesting exchange in a conference call with a client. The designer spent 3-5 minutes describing to the client why the client-suggested navigation would not work out best from a usability standpoint. The client kind of kept quiet until the word ‘user’ was mentioned (as in ‘it would be more confusing for the user’), at which point the client said ‘Right…’ in such a way that made 2 things painfully obvious: 1) He had never even thought about anyone using his ridiculous idea, and 2) really didn’t care what we thought.

THIS is why bad websites happen (or at least the majority of them), in my humble opinion. It all boils down to clients trusting experts to do the job they hired them for.

What an idea!

alternateorg on December 13, 2000

Hmmmm…


Hey Kev, give this URL to your excuse for a SysAdmin.

You may have to click on the “Macintosh hangs or freezes when accessing a DAVE volume. ” link.

More Network Admin Gripes

alternateorg on December 13, 2000

How come most people, the ones who are supposed to help you in particular, simply tell you that the problem you are having is your own fault, and that they cannot help you, despite the fact that it’s their job to? Everyone in the office has a problem with Photoshop locking up while saving to a specific server, using DAVE to connect to it. What then happens is that the file you crashed while saving didn’t get totally written, and the file is now impossible to open. This is a problem. And yet the network guy just keeps telling me ‘it’s a Photoshop problem,’ and walking away, offering nothing in the way of help. Motherfucker. I could fucking punch him.

President Weed er.. Tree.. er.. Bush

alternateorg on December 13, 2000

So Bush is the pres. Wow. The best thing to come from this presidency? I bet it’ll be some really decent screwups for ‘The Daily Show’ to capitalize on. That’s about it. I could go on and on here about Republicans and Democrats, but I’m too tired.

Before I Knew What a Blog Was

alternateorg on December 12, 2000

So before this whole weblog thing got started (or at least before I knew what ‘Blogger’ was…), I started reading this online journal. I’ve found it nearly impossible to pull myself away from it, and get really excited when I forget about it over a weekend, and there’s multiple posts to read on Monday morning. Isn’t that odd? I mean, I hardly know this guy (at least in person: he writes about just about anything), and yet I find it terribly fascinating that he writes about his life online, every day, or very nearly. I even got a postcard from him from Texas over his Thanksgiving trip home. So check it out, if you feel the need to know far too much about someone you don’t know. Strange, this internet thing.

Hrm. :/

alternateorg on December 12, 2000

This page is all of a sudden too cluttered. I just wanted to let you know that I know this. Hrm.

…And Why is Gates So Rich?

alternateorg on December 11, 2000

From MSNBC (am I actually referencing that POS? I guess so…):

Says Gates of Microsoft’s eventual UI path: “We want users to be able to run applications without even knowing it,”

Right. Because I love NOT BEING ABLE TO KNOW what my computer or OS is doing, especially when it’s doing things I DIDN’T TELL IT TO. Jesus.

And how would they go about doing that? Microsoft thinks that the answer might lie in a “universal type-in line,” an always-active blank space that intelligently processes what the user wants to do at a given moment—whether its a recalculation command, a URL address, a search query or the beginning of an e-mail composition. (Gates is well aware of the irony—the old command line, left for dead, is back!)

Right again, Mr. Gates. If it works for AOL users (it doesn’t) then it works for the world, I guess (it won’t). All of a sudden I don’t see Microsoft making out of this .NET monsrosity alive.

(Simplicity) helps keep the MSN screen coherent in the midst of a surprising amount of activity. Uh-huh. Did that screenshot look coherent to you?

X, 10, What's The Difference?

alternateorg on December 11, 2000

I just consciously realized something: when I read ‘OS X,’ I say ‘Oh-Ess-EX’ in my head, but when I say it out loud, I pronounce it ‘Oh-Ess-Ten.’ Which is weird.

If 37Signals Controlled The World (Or At Least Apple)

alternateorg on December 11, 2000

SU at SVN sent me his rendition of what it might look like if Apple sort of backed off on the ‘Aqua-bubble’ look, and stuck with a cooler Platinum-looking/IHT interface. Which brings up whether or not Apple will build into OSX what would make it truly a next-generation (no pun intended) operating system: full system-level control over the interface.