Blog
WUI Woes
Which would you prefer to write a letter to your grandma: A word processor, such as Microsoft Word, or a text entry widget in a browser? Or which would you prefer to read your email: Microsoft Outlook…
Microsoft .NET
Has control of the desktop, including the browser. Extending this to other devices, such as palms (pocket pc), cell phones, and gaming boxes (xbox).
Expanding on the server side, with features that m…
Registration Rules
Accept Contributions Up Front
A lot of users turn away when they see a login or registration screen. On my site, the number of is around 94%. Part of the reason is probably that people are just tired …
Contracts Everywhere
I recently handed over my car to a valet parking at Venice beach in Los Angeles. Just before I let go of the key, I noticed a sign saying
This contract limits our liability. Read it.
The intenti…
User Interface Fashion
Looks Are Deceptive
When I bought my last car, I thought it looked slick, fresh, cool. But then, a couple months later, a friend of mine bought a new car that looked even slicker, fresher, cooler. I c…
Subway Sounds
New subway cars were recently put in service in New York city. I had my first ride with one of them today, on the 6 line from Astor Place to 59th st. And I don’t like them. It’s not that I generally h…
A Humidifier by Tom Wolfe?
This past Moday, i ordered a humidifier from drugstore.com. (I didn’t know then that I could have saved the shipping fee and gotten instant gratification by buying the exact same machine at the exact …
The Future of the Database
New Groups of Users
Within the last few years, relational database management systems (RDBMS), such as Oracle and Sybase, has seen a whole new class of users. Up until recently, an RDBMS was primarily…