While I'm not entirely convinced that users know how technology works now, or care how it works for that matter, I have a different view of it. I tend to look at the back end system side and how it all ties together in the end to make us productive, maybe I just don't give users enough credit for understanding front ends because I don't work with them as much.
Enough rant onto something about technology. James was telling me about Second Life the other day, and me being as anti-social as I am I figured this may be something I want to check out. Forgive me if I'm not impressed. From the limited time I spent with it before realizing it wasn't my thing, it basically reminded me of a 3d graphical chat room. I can already see the Dateline special on Second Life predators. Maybe if I had gotten off of "Orientation Island" things would have been different, but after a few minutes of wandering around under water it was pretty easy to say "what's the point" and log off. I did see the new MS Zune and thought it looked pretty cool, The ability to share from Zune to Zune via wireless has my interest, I wonder if you can steal some unsuspecting Zune patrons playlist?
Comments (3)
I never got further than picking out a name on Second Life. The provided last names are ridiculous. The best I could come up with were "Mercury Comet" (my mother's car in the late 70's) and "Date Oberth" which gives you an idea how much I work with databases on a daily basis. After amusing myself for fifteen minutes making funny names, I ended up playing WoW (World of Warcraft) instead... My main character is up to level 14, and I have set rules on when I let myself play it. (Gaming addiction is a real thing - trust me.)
Zune's music sharing seems really cool. I heard from the online echo chamber about all the problems it's having. Another Mac user friend of mine immediately poo-pooed the sharing as not "true" sharing, but whatever. Sharing music, even temporarily is definitely a community-social aspect that is totally opposite from the solitary behavior encouraged by the iPod. Someone at Microsoft is on to something. I only wish someone would write some software that would let the Zune plug into my iMac, but I'll wait and see. I'm not married to my 3G iPod.
Posted by Jason | November 17, 2006 1:24 PM
Posted on November 17, 2006 13:24
Ok, so I'm not the only one who finds Second Life a let down. I spent an hour thinking of a good name before I knew of their last name list. I had settled on Art VanDelay (if you don't know who this is I feel really old), but alas I had to choose from some preordained surname.
Before I say anything else I think it's important to point out that I drank the Microsoft kool-aid long ago. That being said, I think you're right about someone being onto something. Leave it to Microsoft to take an idea and make it better (Bill, you can send that check directly to me!) I can actually see possibilities for wireless sharing in a classroom environment. A Zune is on my short list of must haves. Anyone want to buy a 4G Nano or 30G Ipod, or want to bet that the next revision of the IPod doesn't have this feature?
Something else I got to thinking about -this will become the topic of a post I write later due to the length- is Windows Vista. Does anyone else feel like you're looking at OS X with better desktop backgrounds? Personally, if I wanted a Mac I'd buy one, gadgets or widgets or whatever you want to call them are useless to me, especially when they're chewing up 30% of the system resources. The real question of any OS in my mind is a) how does this help users be more effective in day to day tasks? and b)how does this make administration of "X" number of pc's easier? Knowing that it's 30 degrees and snowing outside doesn't help the user get the 200 page report their boss is screaming for done any faster, or help me get 1200 pc's upgraded to the new FTP software we're deploying. I can see possibilities here, but weatherbug and an impossible slider puzzle aren't it. I guess Redmond will be keeping that check.
Posted by Brian | November 17, 2006 9:16 PM
Posted on November 17, 2006 21:16
Hi guys. I assume you're letting everyone in on your fun here...
On Second Life...I'm with you there. I've tried it out several times. The most excitement I had was when I literally bumped into someone and he flew away. I guess I violated his personal space. (A recent article I read said that the same social rules of personal space that we apply in real life are being applied in second life.)
My name is Rufrom Cork, so say hi if you ever see me there. (The name comes from a stupid joke Michael finds hilarious...but really isn't. I'll tell you about it sometime.)
On Vista: No, Brian, I don't think it's anything like OS X. Sure, it has the widgets but beyond that it's Microsoft all the way.
You make a good point about what helps people get work done, but you miss out on one big fact. People use computers for a lot more than work these days. I'm not talking about what they use their college computer for, but rather their home computers.
I think Apple realized a long while back that there was going to be more money to be made in the home market than the business market and so they focus there. Microsoft is way behind there. As far as what you do with a computer at home, it's either platform independent (web browsing, email) or Apple has it way over Microsoft (working with digital cameras, video cameras, music). Just look at the number of kids who came to college this year with macs and said that they had used pcs up until now. There's a reason they're switching.
Posted by Susan | November 28, 2006 4:54 PM
Posted on November 28, 2006 16:54