Arbitrary Musings

If you know anything about me, you know I love Firefox. I’ve used it since the days of Phoenix 0.1, I wear a Firefox t-shirt (though not around the office), and most recently I’ve been alpha testing Gran Paradiso. (Side note: a number of Microsoft employees have complemented me on my Gran Paradiso wallpaper, not noticing the “Firefox 3″ banner being pulled by the airplane). It seems there’s nothing out on the web that I can’t browse with Firefox. Consequently, I was quite surprised when I clicked the link to register at mytravelers.com to pay my renters insurance and received this dialog:

Really? You don’t support a (superior) browser that now holds about 25% market share? What’s the dealio? Not content with that, I checked the FAQ and read this tidbit:

What browsers work best on your website?
For optimal performance we recommend you use one of the following browsers when viewing the site.

• Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5
• Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0
• Microsoft Internet Explorer 7.0
• Macintosh Safari 2.0
• Firefox 1.0.7

Firefox 1.0.7? You’re shitting me, right? Well, I checked the source code of the front page, and apparently I am not being shitted. (Is that the right phrase?) I’m no JavaScript expert, but check out this crap code:

else if(navigator.userAgent.indexOf("Firefox")!=-1)
{
  //Do logon or registration if using 'Firefox1.0.7' or 'Firefox1.5'
  var vers=navigator.userAgent.indexOf("Firefox")+8
  var versionextension=navigator.userAgent.indexOf("Firefox")+10
  var versionindex=navigator.userAgent.indexOf("Firefox")+12
  if ((parseInt(navigator.userAgent.charAt(vers))==1)
	&& (parseInt(navigator.userAgent.charAt(versionindex))==7))

I’ll break it down if you don’t want to read all of that. Any Firefox version other than 1.0.7 or 1.5 will get the “unsupported browser” dialog. Apparently the site hasn’t been touched after October 23rd, 2006, since Firefox 2.0 was released the following day.

I know I’m complaining about this a lot, but the fact of the matter is that most users of the web don’t know what a user-agent string is, much less how to change it. Some users may read the FAQ and choose an alternate browser; others may not read the FAQ at all. (I’m sure I’m in a very small segment of users who check out the source code). Regardless, it gives the impression that Firefox isn’t as compatible as other browsers out on the market, all because a web developer wasn’t very forward thinking when writing code.

I’ve tried to do the right thing and have e-mailed the webmaster; hopefully this issue will be resolved shortly, and there will be one less website where Windows users have to rely on Internet Explorer.

There’s a phrase that I say every once in a while, either in my head or to a close friend, and that is, “This reminds me of that Seinfeld episode where [insert character and particular situation].” Sometimes it’s been a stretch, but there were a couple of recent instances that I can relate to situations experienced by some of my all-time favorite sitcom characters:

Circumstance #1: Due to the schedule for the field studies I’m conducting in users’ homes, I tried fitting in my gym time around the lunch hour. Although this energized me for the afternoon, I seem to share the same affliction as George; specifically, the post-workout shower “didn’t take.” During the trip back to the office, my human heat pump ability turned on. Fortunately, there weren’t any meetings during the afternoon hours.

Circumstance #2: Our work group used to share an administrative assistant who ordered supplies for the team. Unfortunately, he’s no longer with the group due to time restrictions on contracts. I made it a nearly daily ritual of shooting the shit in his office, and it worked wonders for my stress levels. Anyhow, this co-worker was quite candid when it came to his voicing opinions on some of the other employees. When someone passed by (who I don’t work with at all), I heard him remark “oh my God, he/she has B.O.!” Of course, he didn’t say, “he/she”, but I’m trying to keep this person as anonymous as possible. One of my first questions back to him was: “Do you think it’s B.O.? Or is more B.B.O.?” Although it made me a bit uncomfortable hearing about the cleansing habits of someone I hardly knew, I did feel good knowing that I was a great outlet for my friend, and in some way I relished that fact that I was one of the first people to hear his rants.

Circumstance #3: There’s been a great deal of construction on the freeway close to my apartment, and a large stretch of the road has become extremely rough. There are construction signs all through the areas undergoing maintenance, most notably two “bump” signs, one where the road goes from smooth to rough, and another where it goes back to being smooth again. For the sake of illustration, this is the sign I’m talking about:

Someone apparently thought the large, colorful, and reflective sign did not convey the message strong enough, as he or she took the liberty of adding an exclamation point after the word BUMP with electrical tape. Now, when I reach the part of the freeway where it transitions from rough to smooth (the second sign, if you paid attention), I laugh to myself as my car passes over the BUMP! on the way to work. Seinfeld fans will know where I’m going with this one:

LIPPMAN: Ah, (reads an excerpt) “It was damp and chilly afternoon, so I decided to put on my sweatshirt!”
ELAINE: Right, well…
LIPPMAN: You put exclamation point after sweatshirt?
ELAINE: That’s that’s correct, I-I felt that the character doesn’t like to be ch-ch-chilly…
LIPPMAN: I see, (reads another excerpt) “I pulled the lever on the machine, but the Clark bar didn’t come out!” Exclamation point?
ELAINE: Well, yeah, you know how frustrating that can be when you keep putting quarters and quarters in to machine and then (prrt) nothing comes out…
LIPPMAN: Get rid of the exclamation points…
ELAINE: Ok, ok ok …

Well, that’s it for this round of Seinfeld observations. I’m sure there are bound to be more in the future.

Before we part ways, I saw the new T-Mobile ad on TV the other night for their new HotSpot @Home service. I shook my head and thought, “Did they use the third person speaker angle? And not even change the name of the character?” Seems I’m not the only one, as another blogger has taken notice as well. A note to T-Mobile: GSM/Wi-Fi handoff sounds appealing, but can’t you come up with a creative way to market it instead of using a joke from a sitcom? Come on!

On second thought, I better not give the advertisers any more sitcom references in case they decide to use them. Uh oh. I’ve made a huge mistake.

As I was driving in to work this morning, an advertisement came on the radio (which I’ll describe in a bit). I’ve heard this ad before, but this time it served as a stimulus for a blog post. Beware, oh readers, for this entry is on the technical side of my interests. So, turn away now, or stay and (possibly) learn a bit. There’s even a minor rant about the iPhone. Did I get your attention? No matter…Onward!

The theme for this overall post is about some of the technical information that advertisers (or marketing folks) don’t tell you. Now, normally I’d be all for the hiding of tech talk. After all, “speak the user’s language” is a usability heuristic that has been around from some 20-odd years. However, I’m specifically talking about two recent advertisements that:

a) throw a little technical jargon in, but not enough to give the user a clear picture, or
b) hide the technical background which can give a misleading impression of a product/service.

Let’s start with the first advertising method, which is also what prompted this blog entry. While listening my usual morning radio show, an advertisement for Comcast’s high speed internet service came on. Part of the advertisement mentions “blazing 12 Meg speeds,” or something to that matter. The important thing that stuck in my mind is “12 Meg!” Now, I know what that means, but I’m fairly certain that a non-technical user, upon hearing “Meg”, will think of “Megabyte“. Most people who have downloaded something off the big truck series of tubes will relate the transfer of data relative to a second. Therefore, I’m sure that Comcast wanted to give the impression that their service has transfer rates of 12 Megabytes per second.

The problem is that most people don’t know the difference between Megabytes per second and Megabits per second. Since there are 8 bits in 1 byte, you’ll actually see maximum data transfer rates of around 1 ½ Megabytes per second. (Side note: I use this internet service at home, and I haven’t reached that transfer rate). Now, I will grant you, it’s still quite fast in this day and age.  However, my point comes down to this: if the average user knows about Megabytes per second, then advertise it in that fashion!

Okay, we’re halfway through. Still with me? Let’s get onto hiding the technology, and I want to relate it specifically to the iPhone. Since I’m sure this is going to be a touchy subject, let me first state that if I wasn’t locked into my current carrier’s plan, I’d buy one NOW. I want one. With that said, let’s talk about those advertisements that are displayed non-stop. They’re wonderful ads, but they never state the fact that everything you see is done when the phone is in transferring data through Wi-Fi mode and not on the cellular network (EDGE). Why does it matter? Here’s a quote from CNET’s EDGE vs. Wi-Fi test results:

EDGE averaged a download time of 15.69 minutes for a 9.4MB file, while Wi-Fi required a mere 1.18 minutes. In the end, our test results indicate that the iPhone’s Wi-Fi connection is about 13 times faster than using EDGE

What difference could it make in real life? Take a look at this video of browsing the New York Times using AT&T’s EDGE connection.

My grievance isn’t with the iPhone in any way here; rather, it’s the fact that the commercial never mentions the conditions under which the video was made. Not even a disclaimer in microscopic text stating “Wi-Fi connection. Actual speeds may vary.”

So, what the hell am I trying to say? Simply put, be honest when advertising products and services to users. I just needed to get all of that off of my chest. Oh, and buy me an iPhone too.

One of the perks of being at my current job is that I have a free membership to a very nice gym. When I lived in San Diego, the “gym” was usually the exercise center at an apartment complex or those that were on site at Qualcomm. I never had something to complain about (or perhaps it was the fact that I didn’t have a blog to do so).

There are a couple of digital scales in the men’s locker room at the gym which display your weight to within a tenth of a pound. Due to their location, a lot of members use them before entering or exiting the showers. Okay, that’s fine. However, I chuckle to myself every time I see someone deliberately take off their towel, drop it on the floor, and step onto the scale in their birthday suit.

Now, I know most men are more comfortable with their body image than I am, but do you really need to be showing your junk just to achieve an extra 0.1 lb of accuracy? Honestly, people, how much does that piece of cotton weigh? I’m almost tempted to put a sign up in front of the scales:

The towel you have dropped by your side weighs 0.1 lbs (dry) and 0.2 lbs (post-shower). As most of you are Microsoft engineers, you are more than capable of performing the subtraction in your head. Please keep the towel on, and thank you for sparing us the genitalia show.

Of course, it goes without saying that I don’t mind the towel-shedding in the women’s locker room…

Maybe you missed it, but Bill Gates gave a webcast yesterday from New York, celebrating the general availability of Windows Vista and Office 2007. It’s available from here now.

After Bill gave the introduction, Mike Sievert, a corporate VP, gave a demo of some of the features in Windows Vista. I was only half-paying attention, enjoying the free cake, but there was something Mike said around 17:20 into the video that made me say to myself, “Umm, excuse me?” And I quote:

“What Uno for Windows Vista can do is something that games before have never been able to do, and that’s cross-platform play.”

This “never before” feature is the ability for Mike to play Uno on Windows Vista with his son, who’s playing it across the country on his Xbox 360. Now, I don’t blame Mike for giving the speech, but when they crafted this presentation, did any of the writers forget that Final Fantasy XI has been doing cross-platform play for nearly three years?! (Although the PC version was released in October of 2003, the PS2 version didn’t come out until March of 2004). And, for those critics who say, “Well, what about Xbox 360 cross-platform play?”, FFXI for Xbox360 came out in April of 2006. That’s three different platforms playing the same game.

So, this is for Microsoft, Apple, or any other company making such broad claims. Before you make such a general statement that something is the “first time” it has been done, please make sure it truly is the first time.

Welcome to my first blog posting not related to the setup and configuration of WordPress. While I really want to concentrate on getting WordPress up and running the way I like it, I don’t want to avoid those events that are part of the purpose of setting up a blog.

Side note: There will be some forthcoming ground rules about what I will/will not blog about. Most anything that happens at work that isn’t publicly in the news won’t be posted; however, since there’s no confidential information here, I believe it falls in the exception category.

With that out of the way, I got an interesting e-mail at work on Friday. I asked a co-worker who was not in my immediate team if we could set some time aside to discuss some results from a past usability study. Her reply was brief, consisting of 3 sentences. The third sentence was:

Go ahead and send me an s+.

An s+? Well, looking in the “New” pane of Outlook, I see I can send a Mail, an Appointment, a Meeting Request, a Task, etc. Nothing beginning with s. Searching in Outlook Help for s+ doesn’t give me anything useful. While my first inclination is to use Google, I figure I’ll give my employer the benefit of the doubt and use Live Search with the query “s+ outlook”. After looking at the first three pages of results, I decide to go back to my trusted search engine. Not surprisingly, the results give me the link to something useful on the first page (which, coincidentally, is another blog talking about the use of s+).

The thing that gets me is that s+, which is shorthand for Schedule+, is a product that ceased development in 1997. Um, hello, 10 years ago? And people are still propagating the use of this abbreviation? Seriously, how much harder is it to write “send me a meeting request” instead of “send me an s+”? Meeting request: clear and understandable. And I just wrote it twice in this paragraph. As an added benefit, you don’t have to reach your pinky finger over to the = key while holding down the shift key. Less effort for your pinky finger, and less cognitive effort for my brain. Win win situation.

So, what did we learn? Or, in corporate lingo, what are our “key takeaways”?

1. If there’s any possibility that people in your intended audience aren’t familiar with your abbreviation, it will inevitably cause more effort on the part of those users to figure out what those abbreviations mean.
2. Stop using abbreviations based on products which have gone the way of the dodo. You don’t see me referring to multitasking by saying “Shh, I’m DESQviewing.”
3. Live Search has a long way to go if it can’t even figure out a query that has a key piece of MicroSpeak.