Also: Gates anoints SharePoint, hammers IBM, and outlines storage, workflow
Too much to ask
Regarding Mark Gibbs’ BackSpin column on the need for cell phone vendors to start focusing on usability rather than features: As the user of two new but different cell phones, I absolutely agree. One phone is a Razr, the other an LG. One is personal, the other for work. The single improvement I found is that Motorola finally gave in and switched the send (or call) button to the left side, like the rest of the manufacturers. At my age, vision isn’t the only problem; I can’t remember all the unique features of each phone.
Consequently, my phones ring when they shouldn’t, and I may think I’m on mute when I’m not. Another thing about my Razr: It’s slow. I press a key and it thinks about it for a while before bringing a function up. Consequently, I press more than once and then start over again. I haven’t had time to search the Web to see if others have this problem.
Laurie Bride
Fall City, Wash.
I couldn’t agree more with Mark Gibbs. While the Treo may be cool, the BlackBerry is solid, rarely crashing or freezing up. You can’t argue that.
As for the Razr, my biggest gripe is that the hardware/software has a regular lag when it comes to the user interface. Navigating through the countless menus, features, text messaging, phonebooks, etc. is a nightmare.
I’d love to see Vista’s slogan be “exactly the same look and feel as XP, just more stable.” That, not a bunch of transparent menus and 3D dialog boxes, would get me (and my clients) to upgrade in a heartbeat.
Morris Tabush
Tabush Consulting Group
New York
Regarding Mark Gibbs’ BackSpin column on the need for cell phone vendors to start focusing on usability rather than features: To answer Gibbs’ question, yes, in a world where first to market and lowest cost are paramount, wanting “stuff that works” is too much to ask. To really design things well takes both time and money. Even simple things don’t get designed right. How many doors have you tried to go through by pushing on the hinged side because the correct side to push wasn’t evident? Also, an “antisalesperson” is much less expensive to employ than someone who really knows both the product and how to sell. It takes time to find good sales people and acquaint them with the products. The problem is that the way the accounting is done, the opportunity cost isn’t visible. The fixed cost for the antisales people is low, but the lost sales volume is invisible. The development cost for a poorly designed and tested product is low, but again, the lost sales volume for a good product is never known.
Robert Spooner
Associate research engineer
Applied Research Laboratory
Pennsylvania State University
State College, Pa.
Mark Gibbs’ comments regarding the problems with cell phone design and reliability will resonate with most owners of these sophisticated multifunctional devices. Unfortunately, I think he is crying in the wilderness. His bully pulpit is just too small to have much of an effect on these giants. Gibbs can increase his clout by recommending some sort of action that readers could take that would send a message to the manufacturers. In the case of the cell phone guys, I have taken to returning the dysfunctional equipment as often as I can. It usually turns out that the replacement has the same problems as the original, but I derive a certain amount of satisfaction from returning defective products. And if all of us starting doing it…
Tom Graly
Pomona, Calif.
I’m shocked by the very idea that Mark Gibbs would complain about the new techniques behind technological sales. There’s the “replacement parts that cost more than the original product” technique and then there’s the “pile on enough whiz-bang wonderfuls to hide the piece of junk we’re selling” technique.
For years Microsoft has added more unnecessary high-tech trinkets to an insecure and unstable operating system, but still doesn’t address the basic issues affecting its products. They made the whole cover-it-up-with-doodads technique successful.
No one would buy a new car that couldn’t make out of the driveway just because it had the latest and greatest media toys. It would still need to function dependably as a car. No one would buy a high-definition television if the new technology caused it to be constantly shutting itself down because it had been on too long or was susceptible to all types of interference. If that were the case, most people would prefer a basic TV that was stable and worked consistently over the latest and greatest.
Is the doodad technique so common now because the products are basically flawed and it’s easier to get people excited by the promise of bigger and better toys than to create a stable product? As long as people are ready to buy the latest technology before it actually works as it should, they should stop whining when – surprise — it doesn’t work worth a darn.
Gerald Lanning
Senior programmer/analyst
American Printing House for the Blind
Louisville, Ky.
Close the Gates
Regarding “Gates anoints SharePoint, hammers IBM, and outlines storage, workflow” : Well, if you repeat a lie a thousand times, someone starts to believe it is the truth. The article states: “Gates said, ‘IBM has had a discontinuity. They are saying your Notes applications are not going to continue to run and we want you to move to a new environment that is some WebSphere type thing. People have had to step back and say it is not the best messaging system, Exchange has been totally focused on those scenarios, and it is not the best collaboration platform.’” For fun last night I tried a few of the original “Nifty 50” applications on my 7.01 system. They all worked. IBM even say that if an original template does not work in Hannover, then the problem is a bug — i.e., there is a commitment to keep the backwards compatibility.
The comment from Gates is a bit rich based on the rip-and-replace history with Exchange. I have done four major Notes/Domino upgrades on the same server. Just stick the CD and install. It just works after that. Can Microsoft demonstrate this?
Gerry Murphy
Technical & quality manager
Fidax Foundry
Sydney, Australia
