What would you mind someone changing on your computer? In this I mean wallpaper, desktop icons and so on. If you are anything like me, I don’t think you would like very many things to be changed. Even minor, trivial things like the wallpaper would be an unsettling experience to many people. I think it has to do with a users model of control.
When I use the computer I like it to be set up in a familiar way. Windows for one goes a long way to ensure that if you have used one Windows computer, you should be able to use any other without much problem (given use of Explorer as a shell). All desktop environments do this. You can customise superflous things like the wallpaper, but the fundamental workings of the desktop stay the same. The functional aspects of the desktop stay the same.
This doesn't really explain, however, the not wanting to come back to **your** computer and find it has changed in these basic ways, such as the wallpaper. I would say this happens with almost all computer users. If I change the wallpaper on the home PC when I am there, it would be disaproved of. Not in a major fashion, just a feeling of gentle discouragement towards doing it again. This is for my family, who I wouldn't say are anywhere near as protective of their working environment and computer in general as I am.
It comes down to people wanting to feel in control of what they can control. So many things in life we have no control over that it brings a feeling of comfort when we can have some control over the world around us. Thus the simple things like desktop icons and wallpaper are slightly more than just disconcerting when they change.
When Windows crashes and you desktop icons all revert to an auto-arranged layout rather than the way you set them up, nearly **every single person** I have seen gets annoyed with their PC. Nevermind that it takes less than a minute to move them back (especially with the excellent auto-fit to grid of XP). The feeling of control is gone and with it the comfort of having some influence on the world. It's a minor thing in the scheme of things, but minor things build on each other to make bigger things. And the bigger things can have a real effect on us.
In conclusion, one of the things to do as a software developer is to make sure that the programs we do act just like the user expects them to. This produces a better feeling about the product we provide. As well as giving the user more feeling of control, if they like our product they are more likely to choose it over others. Whether open source, free as in beer or commercial, what matters in the end is users. For without users, there would be no point in the software in the first place.
Today I have the Tablet PC home with me. For all those that have crisicised ClearType, the fonts on this machine look absolutely stunning. There’s no other word for it, they are that lovely. Grab yourself a high res screen, the Tablet’s is about 12 inches for 1024×768, and marvel at it.
On the otherhand, I have come to the conclusion that Tablet PCs are fairly useless without a wireless network. Their forte would seem to be browsing the web from the settee, watching a movie in bed, that kind of thing, which basically requires a fast (say 84g or whatever it's called, 802.11 next gen thing) to really achieve its potential. Doing any kind of serious work would probably be difficult; I don't think these things are going to replace laptops anytime soon. But for leisure things, they will rock. Especially as they can also be used along side your main PC as (rather expensive) remote controls for stuff in the rest of the house. In conclusion, I think that Tablet PCs are still ahead of their time, but the technology that should allow them to acheive their proper potential is just around the corner.
First day at work today! My impressions, looks as if it may be an interesting summer. I don’t know if I’m going to get to do any real UI design work, so a disappointment in that respect. On the positive side, it looks like we are going to get to do some of the meaty stuff rather than being stuck with the boring tasks. My first item is to design a transparent method of storing user UI choices over sessions. There is a usrOptions table I noticed, will have to check tomorrow if this is the table to use. I think this will also involve updating the user creation scripts and so on to make sure that the defaults propagate in a reasonable way. I think the main challenge inherant in this is to find out how the system all works and fits together. Once that is done, I don’t think it’ll be so bad to add in the stuff I want and move onto maybe more interesting bits!
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Well many things have happened since my last post.
I got a job for the summer which starts tomorrow. You may think that deserves excitment. It does. But even more needing of excitment is: it's five minutes **walk** from my new flat! Thought I would save the exclaimation mark for that.
I am going to be developing C# in ASP.NET for the summer. I'd point you towards the company site, but it's in need of some refreshment. Hopefully I'll get to do that, I haven't done a completely new site for a long time now. Crossed my fingers.
I'm going to be involved in writing an EPR, which seems to be some sort of database for patient's visits, treatments and other details. It's got a webpage front end, which only works in IE. A shame, but maybe I'll be allowed to have some input so that it can do the basics in Mozilla/Opera also. Some of the things it does require ActiveX for interloping with Word, so full compatability is impossible. Whichever, I really hope I'll get a chance to use my interface design skills in a "real" for sale product. I think my ShellOn and dWall interfaces are pretty reasonable, I guess this will be the test of whether others think the same.
As you may have guessed, this job was one of the reasons for the previous [ post](http://www.dx13.co.uk/index.asp?method=display&item=73) on Windows and its shameful dominance of the PC space and the irresponsibilities of Microsoft.
I managed to miss my Amazon delivery of the [ new Harry Potter book](http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0747551006/ref=mk_wpban_1/202-4061017-0185443) on Saturday. As luck would have it, the Post Office depot where it is being held for me is just off my route to work, so I shall pick it up on the way in tomorrow.
How very exciting tomorrow shall be if all goes well =)
Sometimes, being a mostly Linux user, one forgets just how little Linux is used, and how big a force Windows and MS as a whole is. You start to think that Linux actually matters, and then some developer, user or whatever, comes up and couldn’t care less about Linux. Many times even Open Source itself. Sometimes you need this kind of feedback to bring you back to the real world, I guess, rather than the somewhat insular world open source seems to wrap around itself on occasion. Show yourself how far things have to move before things really start to get exciting.
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