the finger-keyboard synapse - June 2004 Archives

June 2004

Are hidden features really features? (23:41) - Something I struggle with frequently is the value of "hidden" features in BitWise. My definition of a hidden feature is a feature that is not immediately obvious--you would have to either have it specifically told to you or you would have to accidentally discover it by clicking or typing something unusual. Generally speaking, I do not add hidden features, because they tend to be useless (nobody knows about them, so nobody uses them), making them a waste of time to... | 7 Comments

The Cat and the Mouse (aka Trillian and Yahoo) (16:34) - It happened again yesterday. Trillian, a popular "all-in-one" IM client was shut out of Yahoo's network (to be fair, all 3rd party clients were shut out). This isn't a new problem for Trillian, in fact, it was AOL's similar maneuver two and a half years ago that inspired us to create BitWise. Then, AOL and Trillian shared 3 or 4 rounds of the cat and mouse game, where AOL would make a change to block Trillian, and 1-4 days later,... | 1 Comments

A better way to "buy" and use software? (20:19) - I should state here and now that I am not a Microsoft basher or an Apple basher, or a Microsoft lover or Apple lover. I may praise or criticize either company, and comments either way should not be construed as pro or anti-anybody. That said, on we go. It seems that Microsoft has been struggling with how to support (or not support) the aging Windows NT 4.0 platform. By the end of the year both NT workstation and NT server... | 9 Comments

Freedom of misinformation and bad software (20:38) - Today, a different BitWise user informed me about another [bad] IM program called PSST. Not only is my favorite "military-grade" expression used again there, but this person obviously knows nothing about encryption and has the absolute worst ideas about what to put in screenshots."It would require military-grade supercomputers to crack the 128-bit block encryption." - Again, no such thing as a "military-grade" supercomputer. Besides, a fast PC these days could crack 128-bit encryption within only a couple of weeks (or... | 1 Comments

Deceptive Advertising and Stupid Pricing (16:52) - I like to make truthful statements, and like to do honest promotions that are not misleading or controversial (at least not more than mildly so). Though there is always some marketing flex that is expected, sometimes it goes way too far, and reading about a product just sends me over the top. A BitWise user sent me a message today telling me about more competition, Intego ChatBarrier which is a plugin to Apple's iChat. It's a nice idea, but I... | 3 Comments
The "Perfect Website" paradox (14:33) - I've decided that web design is largely a thankless job. You can't please everybody all of the time, and on top of it, people are always either too reluctant or too willing to offer armchair advice. I find it amusing that there seem to be so many books and sites dedicated to how not to design a web site. Perhaps what's really bothering me is the world's obsession with glitz. We want glitzy cars, glitzy movies, glitzy stores, and among... | 3 Comments

Releasing software on your birthday (17:19) - I'm a person that is always enamored with "milestones" and "landmark dates." It shouldn't be too much of a surprise then that I like to have BitWise releases, if possible, on dates that have had some significance in the past. While we didn't make the date, the original release date for BitWise 1.0 was going to be exactly 2 years since we first conceived the idea of BitWise (February 17th, 2002). BitWise 1.0.2 is currently planned for a July 2nd...
Software Reliability (2 years later) (15:13) - In a nod to my previous blogging life (back before blogs were "cool"), here's an updated version of the last post I made some two years ago. Enjoy. Of all the stories you don't want to hear, this is one of them, from the August 2002 Wired Magazine: Ed Yourdon was on a tarmac in Pittsburgh when he got a glimpse of the coming software hell. His New York shuttle had been cleared for takeoff when the pilot pulled a... | 1 Comments
Today's mail could change your life (11:18) - "Mommy, what's this?" I asked as I held up a 5.25" floppy that I had picked up from the table as I sat down for dinner. "That's something that they're trying to sell me, it goes along with a magazine I get," she said as she continued serving. "But what's on it, are there any games?" I asked. Looking back, it's clear that my cut-to-the-chase brutal honesty was something that I developed as a child. Truth be told, two games... | 2 Comments