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• Pledge to Download Firefox! (but use IE to do it)
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• RIAA: “You’re a thief!”
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• Apple Got This One Wrong
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The fine folks at the Mozilla Foundation are encouraging everyone to pledge to download Firefox 3, when it’s released later today. If you’re interested, you can pledge at the Download Day 2008 web site. It’s a nice site, with a real-time map showing pledge totals per country, and it has a lot of juicy, AJAX-y goodness. But before you go, check what browser you’re using!

Apparently the design team was expecting most of the users to come from other browsers. Either some flavor of Internet Explorer, or an older version of Firefox. When I tried to pledge using Firefox 3, RC2, it didn’t work. I clicked the ‘Pledge’ button, entered my country and email address, and clicked the pretty ‘Pledge Now’ button.

Nothing.

Clicked, clicked and clicked some more. Nothing. Checked my email, thinking the site was overloaded and it registered me, but didn’t go to the ‘Thank You’ page. Nope. No email. Restarted FF3, and tried again. More nothing.

Went back with IE7, worked like a charm.

I’ve slowly come to realize that this blog template doesn’t reflect my views on usability. The text is too small, and low contrast. The column on the left creates a block that you have to consciously skip over when you start each line.

So as part of upgrading to Wordpress 2.5.1, I’ll be switching to a much simpler template, that is hopefully better.

But since I don’t have a development server, the changes will be playing out live on this server. Hopefully, things don’t get too messed up in the process.

…that there were usability problems with Vista. This is an illustrated tech support article explaining how to open the Vista box.

Others have written about the problems with the Vista (and Office 2007) box, as representative of Microsoft’s desire to do everything different this time around. What Microsoft has fogotten is, that if you are going to redesign something everyone already understands, the new design had better be so improved, that it overcomes the learning curve. This doesn’t do that. There is no improvement over a regular box, or even a DVD style case.

Perhaps there is a runaway problem of people having their Windows OS disks stolen from the packages in their homes and offices? If that’s the case, then maybe theres a benefit here. But I suspect its really more about trying to be clever, rather than really worrying about user experience.

If you are responsible for shipping packaged software, remember that if you have to post a tech support article about how to open the box, you’ve already screwed it up.

The good news is that the RIAA’s relentless drive to sue the people who buy music has reached the point of utter rediculousness. The bad news is that it could wind up being a royal pain for a lot of people before it finally blows up in the RIAA’s collective faces.

The RIAA has now said, if you lend a CD YOU PURCHASED to a friend so they can listen to it, or you copy it to iTunes to put on your iPod, you are a thief.

A recent article in the Washington Post details the case against Jeffrey Howell, of Scottsdale Arizona. Mr. Howell committed the high crime of copying about 2,000 musical recordings, that he purchased legally, to his personal computer.

The industry’s lawyer in the case, Ira Schwartz, argues in a brief filed earlier this month that the MP3 files Howell made on his computer from legally bought CDs are “unauthorized copies” of copyrighted recordings…

RIAA’s hard-line position seems clear. Its Web site says: “If you make unauthorized copies of copyrighted music recordings, you’re stealing. You’re breaking the law and you could be held legally liable for thousands of dollars in damages.”

They even argue that it’s illegal to lend a CD to a friend, even if that friend doesn’t make a copy of the music.

The buggy whip manufacturers have filed suit against the people who bought cars.

Over 100 million iPods have been sold. Microsoft has sold dozens of Zunes. Other manufacturers have sold millions of MP3 players. In almost all of those cases, users have copied legally purchased CDs to their computers for transfer to their MP3 players.  While to most reasonable people, this seems to be a textbook example of “fair use,” the RIAA disagrees, and have been willing to file suit against people to prove it.

So, I think they should push this issue to it’s logical conclusion. If it really is stealing, why cherry pick among users just because you think they’re too scared to fight back?

I think we can safely guess that the users of MP3 players fall into a relatively narrow demographic band. We can exempt the very young and many senior citizens. And we’ve already seen that the RIAA doesn’t require a lot of proof before they go after someone.

So I encourage the RIAA to file suit against every single person in the United States between the ages of 10 and 60. Leave it to each person to prove they have never copied a CD to their PC or MP3 player.

Maybe once this goes to its logical extreme, we can put this nonsense behind us and the recording industry can start thinking about how to better reach the people who love music so much, they’re willing to go to all this trouble to carry it with them everywhere.

Sitepoint is giving away a free copy of Patrick Lenz’s Build Database Driven Web Applications with Ruby On Rails. It’s a free download of the complete book in PDF. If you’re interested in learning the capabilities of Ruby on Rails, it’s a great introduction.

The book’s only available until the end of day on November 30, 2007.

Brilliant parody video showing what life would be like if meetings were conducted like a typical Internet comments thread:

http://www.43folders.com/2007/09/21/if-life-were-youtube

WARNING: VERY NSFW! (language)

I have to try this at my next meeting.

“Pwnd!”

“I still don’t know what that means!”

HAT TIP: 43Folders.com

John Gruber at Daring Fireball has an excellent article about the implementation of the new ringtone service for the iPhone. Between the sporadic performance, the uninformative error messages, and the bizarre terms of service, it’s clear that Apple just got this one wrong.

To be fair, Apple is hamstrung by the limitations that the labels have put on the music. And Apple’s pricing is more competitive than other ringtone services. But overall, the user experience is not what users have come to expect from Apple.

From the beginning of the iTunes Music Store, it has felt like Apple has been in charge, and the labels have been forced to come along for the ride. With over 70% of the market for digital music, you would think that Apple would still have the same clout. But there are some new players on the field, and there have been some high-profile defections. The record labels might be getting overly confident.

This new service certainly feels like the labels are calling the shots.

UPDATE: Brian Tiemann agrees.

What does it say about the iPod’s position in the market when Amazon.com has to create a category called “Top Selling Non iPod MP3 Players?”

And what does it say about Microsoft’s “iPod Killer” the Zune, that it’s not even at the top of THAT list?

HAT TIP: Daring Fireball

Well, I’m now an iTunes user for life!

Want to make your users into fanatical users? Listen to them! Few things will inspire a user more than knowing that they have contributed to a product in a way that’s meaningful to them.

I often find myself watching a movie, or a favorite TV show while I’m doing my general surfing/puttering around on my computer. My ideal would be to have a half-size window playing in the corner of my screen. But unlike the music miniplayer, the video player lacked an “always on top” feature.

So I entered a feature request.  And now it’s there! I’m now, officially, a fanatical user!

(No, I’m not so naive to think that I was the only person to request this feature, but don’t burst my bubble, OK?)

The central Florida area is getting it’s first BarCamp! BarCamp Orlando is scheduled for September 23, from 1pm to 10pm. Admission is free, but you have to register to attend. Registration opens on Monday, August 6, at 10am EST.

Seats are limited. Should be a good time.

More information is available at BarCampOrlando.

• Welcome

  
  • I'm Bob Crosley. Since 1995, I've been involved in the web and software development as a developer, project manager, program manager and product manager.
  • I'm obsessed with usability, interopability and great design. I want to build great software. Software that users LOVE!
  • These are my thoughts on everything great, and not-so-great, about this business.
  • Thanks for stopping by.
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• Disclaimer

  This site represents my own analysis, opinions and sarcastic rantings. In no way does it represent the official, unofficial, or even unintentional positions of any past or future employer.