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News related to the IT industry. Well, actually more like my opinion about news, rather than news itself. There are so many news sites, there’s Twitter, Blogs… however, from time to time to do comment when I think my opinion is under-represented elsewhere.

The ethics of modern web ad-blocking

by fberzau

The best about web ad-blocking ever written. By Marco Arment:

People often argue that running ad-blocking software is violating an implied contract between the reader and the publisher: the publisher offers the page content to the reader for free, in exchange for the reader seeing the publisher’s ads. And that’s a nice, simple theory, but it’s a blurry line in reality.

By that implied-contract theory, readers should not only permit their browsers to load the ads, but they should actually read each one, giving themselves a chance to develop an interest for the advertised product or service and maybe even click on it and make a purchase. That’s also a nice theory, but of course, it’s ridiculous to expect anyone to actually do that.

His conclusion, concerning the totally out of control abuse of ad trackers and over-blown web sites:

Those days are over. It won’t be easy for many to move on, and not everyone will make it.

Read the full article. Thoughtful, clean. Makes the whole thing so obvious.

What’s New in Windows 10

by fberzau

msw-win10-hero-slider-familiar

I have been running the Windows 10 Insider Builds for a while now. And getting close to the release date for Windows 10, I was asking myself, what – other than the slightly different look and feel – has actually changed. What are the key new features. Well, Microsoft has setup a page where they detail what’s coming with Windows 10. Microsoft calls this “It’s the Windows you know, only better“. What does that mean?

Well, from that page, I get the following key new features. The stuff that Microsoft puts front and center, the things that make Windows 10 new:

  • The Start Menu is back
  • It starts up and resumes fast, has more built-in security
  • Windows 10 comes with Microsoft Edge, an all-new browser that’s built to give you a better web experience
  • Cortana, your truly personal digital assistant

That’s it. I mean this is what they list on the most prominent page, where they explain what’s new in Windows 10. The Start Menu is back. This is the number one feature of Windows 10. It doesn’t look good, by the way. It, very unfortunately, inherits the tile view for Apps and makes the Start Menu blown up and too big. And customizing it is as non-intuitive as it could be. So for users migrating from Windows 7 or earlier, this is not nearly as bad as Windows 8, yet it’s not an improvement either. The fact Microsoft advertises the coming back of the Start Menu as the number one “new feature” is a joke in itself.

The fact “it starts up and resumes fast” and “has more built-in security” as the top 2 new feature. Well, I’d hope that’s a given for any new version of Windows, to some degree. At least security is a strong must-have. Since new versions of Windows take several years, new generations of hardware can mostly take care of making it faster, so I don’t think that’s as critical as having to put it up as number 2, right after the number 1 – it has a Start Menu.

Microsoft Edge is very welcome. Microsoft has made some very unfortunate decisions in the past. Trying to lock users in with IE, by establishing a closed environment with ActiveX and countless other technologies targeted at their Enterprise customers, have made IE so inappropriate that Microsoft now just started from scratch. I think this is a bold move. A very welcome one. Keeping IE in for Enterprise customers, who run custom apps is a requirement, and it underlines how difficult it is to exit from that strategy of trying to lock customers in. Nevertheless, I welcome Edge, and Microsofts attempt at getting better at supporting a more open Web.

Cortana is promising. Yet they don’t really explain what it is. A digital assistant. One that learns. One that’s “best at reminders”. Uh… best at reminders. So, let’s hope this isn’t true really. Because, if it’s “best at reminders”, what else can it do. I certainly hope, for the sake of Windows users, that it’s also very good at other things.

What else? What other key features are there? Why should I upgrade?

Well, Microsoft doesn’t explain on this page. But I’m sure there’s more.

Should you upgrade?

If you’re on Windows 8.x, definitely yes! Getting the Start Menu back is key here. I’ve talked to many people, who were completely puzzled after installing Windows 8. Even on Windows 8.1, the experience was not was a Windows user expected.

If you’re on an earlier release of Windows, I’d still say yes. Windows 10 is a lot closer to what you’re familiar with. And it has more security built-in. Staying current is the first and maybe most important aspect of making sure you’re safe. On Windows that’s more important than on other platforms, because Windows undoubtedly is the number 1 target for Malware. At the same time, it is visibly a much larger step than any previous Windows upgrade. Even if we ignore Windows 8, if you jump up from Windows 7 – or any prior release – to Windows 10 there is a learning curve. Don’t be mistaken, it’s not just visual changes.

Overall, it amazes me how much time it takes Microsoft to build a new version of Windows, and how little they put on the list of key new features. And that much of that is pointing out how familiar it is. Not naming Windows 8 by name, but it’s clear that one of the key drivers for Windows 10 is to revert the worst decisions Microsoft made with Windows 8. And while this took a lot of resources, I think it’s a good move.

Windows 8 was driven by the desire to get cross platform. One Windows, for PC’s and Tablets alike. Obviously driven by the motivation to lock customers into an environment they’re familiar with. Like, customers already have Windows. Let’s put that Windows on Tablets (and Phones), to drive Tablet sales, keep customers in the eco system. So it was driven by Sales. It was driven by financial interest. As a result, Microsoft – to some degree – failed to deliver a great experience on Tablets. And at the same time failed to deliver a great experience on PC’s. Windows 10 is mainly trying to correct that. The features listed on Microsoft’s Windows 10 page speak a clear language. And hopefully, for Windows users, this enables Microsoft to get back to innovating – with users in mind rather than dollars.

The Rough Road to Apple Music

by fberzau

On Tuesday last week Apple MUSIC was released. On Wednesday I updated my MacBook Pro to Yosemite 10.10.4 and the new iTunes 12.2. When I launched iTunes after the update it prompted me to enable iCloud Library. And I’m like, hey this sounds like a good idea. Just like with Photos, right? Everything in the cloud, synced to all my devices.

No. Not great. Far from great.

It didn’t take long and what I saw was a completely blown up iTunes Library.

I mean thousands of songs with wrong track names, marked as duplicates, wrong artwork, playlists destroyed or wrong content. iTunes looked like after an atomic war. The work of 10 years – gone.

It turns out, Apple customers who previously had subscribed to iTunes Match, then cancelled it, and had it expired, were affected by this. At scale. There were reports on Apple blogs and publications, and there was at least one long discussion thread on the Apple Support Forums. I have detailed how I finally recovered from this disaster at WARNING: iCloud Music Library just destroyed my Mac’s iTunes Library. Yes, I do think this should have been tested before. Just considering the number of customers who have had iTunes Match and then cancelled, should be quite something. Plus the intern knowledge about a cloud that obviously hasn’t forgotten, just hidden it from customers. But regardless.

If you have had a subscription to iTunes Match anytime in the past, do not upgrade to Apple MUSIC’s iCloud Library yet.

Other observations, during or after my journey to a working iTunes iCloud Library:

iTunes still comes with some pre-defined Playlists, e.g. 90’s Music, Classical Music, and a few more. This is nonsense. Historical. Why is iTunes asking me about my music taste, where I removed that type of music, just to create a playlist for me that I’m always deleting right away. Stupid.

iTunes keeps messing with my Artwork. I have spent a lot of time, anytime I ripped a CD or imported MP3’s I made sure iTunes could download the appropriate Artwork, or I manually searched for it and imported into iTunes. Now much of that is gone.

Deleting tracks from my iCloud Library isn’t all that easy. Just as with the Artwork, this is wide-spread phenomenon. Many users on the Support Forum have seen the same issue. I had better experience with deleting smaller chunks for tracks, not thousands at once. But ultimately, when I delete – and confirm that this will remove the tracks from iCloud and all my devices – shouldn’t it just stay like that? Deleted? Not come back over night? Another stupid bug that should be fixed.

Generally, Apple – or whoever I trust my Music files – DO NOT MESS WITH MY HAND-TUNED META DATA, track/album etc. names, Artwork, etc. Not at least without giving me an option to opt-out of this, or reject a prompt asking me to overwrite data. Good Lord, who are you to touch MY data. Yes, this is an angry complaint.

Along the way, enabling iCloud Library on my iPhone prompted me to merge or replace my Music. I chose replace, thinking that – since I now have all my Music in iCloud – this would make sense. Well, Apple thinks different. I then had both, previously synced tracks from iTunes, plus the content from my iCloud Library. So I had to disable it again, sync with iTunes to disable Music sync from there. Then re-enable it to get to a clean state.

At the end of the day, I now have all my Music in the cloud. Easy access to Music. A very nice family sharing subscription. And like my daughter recently said: “Why do you even think. You’re going to pay until you die. And when that happens, I just take over.”. Good point!

Apple MUSIC. Locked in. Forever.

The Debacle of Google Glass

by fberzau

I truly enjoy when things turn out the way I predicted all the way.

:)

Worth the read anyway. Once again it turns out that geeks – which literally all of Google senior executives are – just can’t predict the general consumer reception of the latest toy they design. It’s just something else. Google has proven over and over again they just don’t. And will never. Ever.

And it’s a miracle, and fortunate for many, that Steve Jobs was actually capable of having a sense for what his customers really wanted.

Bigger than bigger

by fberzau

Much has been written about the new iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 Plus. My own review could be summarized in just a very short statement. I love my new iPhone 6 Plus, for its beautiful display, the solid battery life, Touch ID (I was upgrading from an iPhone 5), the camera.

One thing, however, is certainly sub-optimal. The size of it. Well, I do enjoy the large display, I love to watch movies, I love the screen real estate and what developers are doing with it. It’s almost like an iPad mini-mini. And what Apple calls Reachability is actually quite helpful. But no mistake – it’s a workaround. A workaround for Apps that aren’t aware of the bigger device.

But there are Apps updates being released these days where the What’s New section mentions support for iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, and support for iOS 8. Yet when I use them, most of them just support the higher pixel number, instead of being scaled up. Well, in my opinion, that is NOT “support for iPhone 6 and 6 Plus”. It is just a mandatory first step.

What is missing, but what the developer community has to address, is that people can’t reach certain areas in one-handed-operation. And let’s be honest. One handed is the default for many, and it sometimes – like when carrying or holding something else in one hand – is the only option.

The solution?

Avoid the top area of the screen. The area you can’t reach with your thumb. Move it down to the bottom, or add (respectively replace with) gestures. But stop putting often used tap targets in areas I can’t reach one-handed. Period.

Too many apps I’m using still have frequently used UI elements where I can’t reach them. My favorite RSS reader (right now I’m back at using Newsify, after using Unread for quite a while) is one of those really bad examples. And there’s many more.

The bottom line, for me at least, is that Reachability should be a feature I rarely have to use, maybe to the point of almost forgetting it exists. If there’s an App forcing me to use it all the time, I start looking for an alternative.

It’s Time to Split Up Microsoft

by fberzau

Very thoughtful article about Microsoft’s current state. Perfectly reflects my view of things. I’ve said many times before that Microsoft’s focus on Windows blinds them. Whether Nadella can turn this around remains to be seen.

In short, it’s time to break Microsoft up.

In 2000, Windows, Office, and Server were a virtuous cycle. Today, Windows and the entire devices business is nothing but a tax. Microsoft is a company that is meant to serve the entire market, and the way to do that is through services on every device.

By the way, if you’re not subscribed to Ben’s stratechery blog… it’s very worthwhile doing it now.

Full article here: http://stratechery.com/2014/making-sense-microsoft/

Giving Up on the iPad

by fberzau

Jared Sinclair:

I think the future of the iPad is for it to disappear, absorbed at the low end by iPhones with large displays and at the high end by Macs running a more iOS-like flavor of OS X. Perhaps it won’t disappear completely. After all, for certain niche uses – especially those listed above – the iPad is great because it’s neither a phone nor a PC. But these are still niche uses and can’t possibly sustain the long, bountiful future that many hope the iPad has.

This is a bold statement, but it makes a ton of sense. You have to read Jared’s entire post to see how he arrives at that conclusion.

The art of innovating

by fberzau

Note: This article was originally posted on berzau-consulting.com

A few weeks ago I watched a Samsung keynote. And last week I watched an Apple keynote. What a difference.

As far as the Samsung event is concerned, this was the second I watched. And like the other one I wasn’t able to watch it through until end. The first event I watched was the announcement of the latest Samsung Galaxy IV. I saw dancers on a Broadway stage. A step-dancing child! And I saw a confusing mess of features being mentioned, interrupted by some weird show. A lack of proper demos. But most importantly, a lack of focus. Assuming I had recorded the event, then stripped off all bullshit, to just learn what’s new about the phone, I guess I had just a few minutes worth of watching. Let’s not forget I also had to re-order sequences to make any sense out of the presentation.

The latest Samsung event I watched introduced the latest Galaxy Note and the Gear. A smart watch designed with an obvious lack of taste. I admit this is a very personal thing, and there are maybe people out there liking it, but I wouldn’t take money for wearing it. Independent of features offered. And that’s the other thing. What on earth has Samsung packed into the device? Why the heck do they think I need that on my arm wrist? Why is there a Galaxy Gear? Just why?

I was thinking for myself, what was driving Samsung? Engineering pride, certainly. It’s very obviously a result of a thinking to pack everything in that’s technically possible. And a bad desire to be first to market. To be the ones who define a new market. The product is just not ready. Lack of device support. Lack of being small enough. Lack of battery life. Lack of doing the things that matter most, as easily and obvious as possible. All clear signs of a product that was rushed to market under a deadline. And the end result? I don’t think it’s worth to quote the reviews.

But then, what is “Innovation”?

Many years ago Steve Jobs put it perfectly:

You have to start with the customer experience and then work backwards

And while that seems so reasonable. So obvious. It’s one of the hardest things possible. The difficulty in any product management or innovation process starts with your ability to imagine. Well, most companies take customer input as the number one source for making product decisions. Sales, support, analysts, press, and an endless list of other stake holders as well. And there’s nothing bad about that. However, what you get from any of these sources is typically pretty good ideas on how to improve a product. And all of these groups are driven be specific, often times conflicting, motivations. Customers are certainly closest to reality, except that in most cases companies don’t talk to the average customer, they talk to their largest, most prestigious, most educated, customers.

But how can you “start with the customer experience”? What exactly is “experience”?

Let me jump to the Apple keynote I’ve seen last week. And let me pick iWork. First I have to admit I tried to use iWork in the past. Simply because there is some reason to try to get rid of Microsoft Office (price being one, too many features being another, and there’s more). But iWork was a bit difficult to use, too. It took me a little to discover the Inspector, to get access to a bunch of features. But this floating thing, with extra floating windows for color selection and other tasks. Argh. So with a few years since the last version of iWork, and with the beautiful Web app they’ve demo’ed at WWDC earlier this year, I was really hoping to be able to get a decent iWork suite. One that would help me move away from Office.

And what I saw made me instantly feel like, yep that’s it. I’m going to give that version another try, and I’m pretty sure I’ll stick with it. Why? Because it looks simple to use. It does the day to day job, in a much more intuitive way than the previous version of iWork. I was really happy after watching the keynote. Now, a lot of people have come up lately and said, this new iWork sucks. Because Apple dropped features all over the place. So I have to go and dig deeper than what I’ve done so far, which was randomly opening Office documents to see whether they import ok, and I can edit the content (which by the way worked fine so far). But I have to do more before I’m convinced I can migrate. And maybe I find a few missing features that will make me hold off until a future incremental update adds them back in.

But the key here is this. I’ve seen so many people – including myself at times – get lost in Microsoft Office when it comes to doing the simple things. And sometimes it’s happening over and over again. I mean the same old stupid things I explained a few times. People don’t use them for a while. And they call again to ask where it was. Why? Because it’s buried under a ton of stuff, feature, options, menu items… that no one ever uses. Except that power user who uses one or two of those exotic features, and another one uses some other exotic feature. And so over the history of doing Office all those features made it in. And Office can be everything ever needed for the last power user on the planet. And at the same time it’s absolutely confusing and frightening to the average user. People who’d like to write a letter. A one or two page document, maybe with a table in it, or some images they import from iPhoto. Here’s your average user. And their experience is what’s to define the product. And the new iWork delivers.

This is not about how complete iWork is. It’s about the process. It’s about how you attempt to do product management.

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