Dan Rubin's SuperfluousBanter

Year: 2004

  • Weekend Reading (11)

  • Opera Shares Now Trading

    While worldwide the news was dominated by the terrible bombings in Madrid,
    Spain software developer and browser maker Opera was the rising star on the
    Oslo Exchange. The stock jumped from its NOK 10 introduction price to 11.40
    later in the day. Opera raised about $16 million in cash to spend on development.

    Although I doubt they will take the desktop browser market by storm any time
    soon their software for mobile devices is impressive. In my opinion their focus
    on mobile connectivity and software     is a good strategy. On another note
    it seems investors are picking up tech shares again, a renewed interest so it
    seems. I’m still waiting for Google to go public.

  • When Human Brain Needs an Update

    Chris PirilloSome
    mucho smart people have ranted
    about and analyzed
    the Lockergnome affair in much detail. What Lockergnome did is incomprehensible
    for rationally thinking people. That’s a fact, right? I really have a
    hard time believing they can justify the change to themselves, or their audience
    for that matter. I do however think Pirillo is a smart guy and he’s a
    funny geek on occasion. But this time I guess he missed a few braincells —
    and it surely isn’t funny. Anyway, this whole Lockergnome debate reminds
    us of the harsh truth. The human brain can’t adapt as fast as technology
    develops.

    While I think the current Lockergnome website is deplorable I can see how the
    decision came to be. Not the reasons they mention per se, something a bit more
    psychology related. Let me put it this way: how do you feel when upgrading your
    favorite software or application? I always think it’s a bit scary. Sometimes
    new software releases will require users to adapt to a new environment, new
    tools or lost features. While my subconscience knows that a new release will
    eventually make me achieve my goals faster or better, I have a hard time seeing
    the long term benefits as opposed to the short term required investment in time,
    money and efforts.

    Coding with web standards is pretty much the same. Yes, it took me some time
    to kick the old habits and abandon my WYSIWYG editor. But you know what? In
    the end it made me a better designer, and I now know why it was and is worth
    the short term investment in time, energy and gallons of coffee. Don’t
    get me wrong, I’m still struggling and web standards isn’t coding
    nirvana. But it sure is a hell of a better place than tables. Can you imagine
    any designer worth his salt throwing his comps together in Photoshop 3 —
    or people serious about IT using Windows 95? Probably not. Though I could argue
    that anyone serious about IT should not use Windows at all.

    So Chris, why the fear? You of all people…

  • Usability and Business Applications

    Some of you may (or may not) be familiar with the acronym ERP
    or Enterprise Resource Planning. “ERP applications are a type of business
    management software designed to help companies automate day-to-day tasks, such
    as taking orders, keeping books, and managing human resources.” Over the
    last decade or so every self-respecting and competetive company implemented
    an ERP system. Popular vendors include Oracle, SAP, J.D. Edwards, Peoplesoft
    and Microsoft, to name just a few big players.

    It has been known for a while that most ERP
    systems fall short on overall usability    . Last week I, together with some
    fellow students, was invited by SAP
    to visit their headquarters in the Netherlands and testdrive their latest R/3
    release    . Let the fun begin, oh boy, where do I start. See, I’m pretty
    confident their system does work in terms of bare-bones functionality —
    it’s just that it’s hidden behind a plethora of usability issues
    and poor user interface design. It’s such a shame that the technical ingenuity
    of these systems is not maximized (or even used at all) because of a mediocre
    graphical user interface.

    From what I was able to test it seemed noticeable SAP tried to improve some
    usability features in comparison to previous releases, but the overall achievement
    was pathetic at best. Poor information architecture, unclear navigational widgets
    and dubious iconography, the whole system felt unnecessary complicated and extremely
    difficult to use. Moreover, placement of diverse elements was unlogical in their
    context of use.

    For some years now it has been acknowledged (both in research and practice)
    that ERP systems can add significant value to business processes (if implemented
    correctly). It still strikes me as odd that crucial factors to success such
    as usability and design have been neglected, or relegated to an inferior priority.
    Next time a company fails to implement an ERP system succesfully — mostly
    due to employee reluctance — they might want to think twice about how
    usability
    and design influence their rate of success    .

  • Weekend Reading (10)