ACK! Thanks for that horror memory...typing in a Compute! game on my Atari 800...must've spent four hours...recording it four times onto three separate tapes on the 410(?) Recorder and not having one of them load up.
Now, in two minutes I can do a quick Google search and download that same game, which I never did get typed in again, and run it on my emulator.
You mean I have to configure a "blahdeyblah.blah.blah.yippideedoodaa" parameter in an "advanced configuration" section? How the hell is that "easy-of-use". The old Mozilla provided me that parameter straight-away in a nice graphical dialog box. Safari handles this even better. Web page text boxes are resizable in Safari. They all have a resize widget in the lower right corner of the box that allows you to resize the box any way you want.
That's assuming they keep to their current practices. If they indeed intended to hold onto them "forever", they wouldn't mess with shifting the names from business to business and just buy them outright.
I'd say usability testing like what was done in this article is the ONLY way to succeed, if you're going to proceed with a true goal of "ease of use". Anyone savvy enough to help build an OS is FAR too removed from comprehending all the points of confusion the "average user" might run across. True, although care must be taken to put too much weight on the results of one test. Proper usability testing requires multiple participants performing the same tasks to get a better sense of where the usability issues lie. The girlfriend's mental model may be unique, and testing multiple people will show with more certainty what the biggest issues are and where the developers should spend most of their time to address the most pressing issues.
What about complaining to the township? If the agreement is anything like the franchising cable gets, it seems that you can complain to the township, or even get a petition signed with x signatures and take it to them, demanding that Comcast provide better service/support. That's what I'd do in that situation. If enough people complain, the township might look harder at alternatives when Comcast's agreement comes back up.
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ACK! Thanks for that horror memory...typing in a Compute! game on my Atari 800...must've spent four hours...recording it four times onto three separate tapes on the 410(?) Recorder and not having one of them load up. Now, in two minutes I can do a quick Google search and download that same game, which I never did get typed in again, and run it on my emulator.
That's assuming they keep to their current practices. If they indeed intended to hold onto them "forever", they wouldn't mess with shifting the names from business to business and just buy them outright.
Of course! You need something to stroke as you sit back and ponder your next line of code.
I must be the only one here who missed the news that Disney bought out Pixar -- back in 2006. I feel like I've woken up in an alternate universe...
Will M$ want royalties, or at least partial copyright control?
What about complaining to the township? If the agreement is anything like the franchising cable gets, it seems that you can complain to the township, or even get a petition signed with x signatures and take it to them, demanding that Comcast provide better service/support. That's what I'd do in that situation. If enough people complain, the township might look harder at alternatives when Comcast's agreement comes back up.