ANN: Global freeware laptop diary tool in REV

Jim Ault JimAultWins at yahoo.com
Sat Jun 17 21:17:37 EDT 2006


I will weigh in with a mild set of considerations.

First, I have seen and evaluated hundreds of prototype efforts, starting
with Hypercard stacks made by 'the rest of us' and then amateur web sites
made by a whole lot more of 'the rest of us'.

A clear, cold reality is that if the look-and-feel is rough-edged and
incoherent, then the content and functionality usually follows as such.  The
time and effort exploring such work is not rewarded.

With this precedent over the years, most anyone involved in software will
quickly (if not immediately) regard this as not worth serious consideration.
Add to this the jumble of concepts and functions, and it becomes a turn-off.

As I took a quick look, it seemed more on the level of a game that had many
rules and nuances to learn before it became fun or useful.  Also, it looks
as if I would be on my own to figure out how thing worked without even
knowing the goal.

So, this seems to be fragmented, jumbled, and mysterious.  Certainly not one
of my goals in life.

Hopefully there will be a version that makes things clearer and more
inviting.

Jim Ault
Las Vegas


On 6/17/06 5:55 PM, "Bill Marriott" <wjm at wjm.org> wrote:

> Mark Schonewille wrote,
> 
>> for  researchers, the interface is the least important thing. Researchers
>> want to collect data and don't have time to be bothered by something
>> silly like an interface. (Even though as a software developers and
>> researcher, I know that good interfaces help collecting accurate data).
> 
> It's *all* about the interface. From your mind to your hands to the computer
> to your eyes and back to the mind. This is what software is about. How you
> organize things, how you present them, how you manipulate them. The objects,
> the nomenclature, the schema. It's what separates a dayplanner from post-it
> notes, and a Palm device from Windows CE.
> 
> The bit about researchers not caring about interface is incorrect and naive
> at best. Look at "polls" that carefully engineer the ordering and wording of
> questions to "push" people in one direction or another. The mere act of
> observation/measurement changes the thing being observed/measured. Isn't
> that the *point* of this stack? To record -- and thus make you aware of --
> what you are thinking/doing? In a "revolutionary" new interface paradigm
> that is supposed to make it easier to sort out the chaos of your life????
> 
>> Also, my impression is that one needs to look just a little bit  further
>> than the interface. The idea behind it is very nice and it  might help
>> people change their lives.
> 
> Sure, I can encourage the "idea" of a comprehensive tool to manage one's
> life. I don't see anything about this application that helps me do that.
> It's not like there is a brilliant metaphor that just needs a little bit of
> "prettying up" work, a slight adjustment to the user interface, or a few bug
> reports to file. There's just no "there" there!
> 
>> Maybe you and everyone else on this list remember that Kresten asked  you
>> for your opinions. Have you told Kresten how bad the interface  really is
>> in your view?
> 
> My post is my honest opinion. If your true opinion is that this is great
> software that you plan to use daily to improve your life, then great. [I
> personally don't see how that's possible.] If you think there should be more
> applications just like it, then I really disagree.
> 
> The hyperbole and grandiosity in the announcement post and web site is
> simply *way over the top* not to counter with the straight-dope. Global?
> Localized? Cutting through race and economic barriers? Open-Source?
> Strategic importance to Rev? A new species of application?
> 
> If it's been going on for so many years and with so much help from so many
> sources then it's a shame no one has told the author(s) it's simply going in
> the wrong direction [to be kind], or that fundamental issues have to be
> completely reconsidered. For example: unlabeled, inscrutable proto-glyphs
> that are tossed all over the screen like so much rice at a wedding. Core
> concept. Bad idea. If there is a "core concept" that will dramatically
> enhance life, I don't see it.
> 
> The true researcher wouldn't get offended; they would simply take these
> posts as a data point, and recalibrate.
> 
>> Dear Garrett and Bill,
> 
> Garrett was 32,768 times gentler and courteous in his reply and doesn't
> deserve to be lumped in with cruel, joy-killing scoundrels like me.
> 
> 
> 
> 
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