27 Sep 09 How would you change Panasonic's Lumix DMC-GH1?
Filed under: Digital Cameras
How would you change Panasonic's Lumix DMC-GH1? originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 19 Sep 2009 01:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsTagi: early adopters, lumix dmc, lady friend, prae, panny, deci, digital cameras, quite some time, image quality, p1, rivals, olympus, panasonic, nbsp
21 Oct 09 That's Not a Bug, It's a Feature Request
For as long as I've been a software developer and used bug tracking systems, we have struggled with the same fundamental problem in every single project we've worked on: how do you tell bugs from feature requests?
Sure, there are some obvious crashes that are clearly bugs. But that's maybe 10% of what you deal with on a daily basis, and the real killer showstopper bugs -- the ones that prevent normal usage of the system -- are eradicated quickly, lest the entire project fail. The rest of the entries in your bug tracking system, the vast majority, exist in an uncertain gray no-man's land. Did users report a bug? Not quite. Are users asking for a new or enhanced feature? Not quite. Well, which is it?
It's an insoluble problem. Furthermore, I think most bug tracking systems fail us because they make us ask the wrong questions. They force you to pick a side. Hatfields vs. McCoys. Coke vs. Pepsi. Bug vs. Feature Request. It's a painful and arbitrary decision, because most of the time, it's both. There's no difference between a bug and a feature request from the user's perspective. If you want to do something with an application (or website) and you can't do it because that feature isn't implemented -- how is that any different than not being able to do something due to an error message?
Consider an example: Visual Studio doesn't use the correct font when building Windows applications. Is this a bug or a feature request?
Personally, I consider this a bug. I guess Microsoft does too, at least in theory, because it's been in Microsoft's Connect bug tracking system for over four years now. When you build a Windows application, wouldn't you expect it to use the default font of the underlying operating system you're running it on, unless you've explicitly told it otherwise? Well, guess what happens when you create a new form in Visual Studio 2008 and instantiate a label control.
Party like it's 1996, folks, because you'll get MS Sans Serif, and you'll like it. That is the default for each new form. Never mind that every new application you build will look like -- let me put this as delicately as I can -- ass.
Here's a comparison of a label with the default font, versus one that was explicitly set to the default GUI font.
Judging by the applications I've used, most Windows developers couldn't care less about design. That's bad. What's even worse is learning that same design carelessness has shipped in the box with every copy of Visual Studio since 2002.
Of course, matters of design are so subjective. If only there were some definitive source we could refer to on the matter of proper Windows GUI font usage. Some sort of reference standard, as it were. Like, say, the top rules for Windows Vista User Experience from Microsoft:
- Use the Aero Theme and System Font (Segoe UI)
- Use common controls and common dialogs
- Use the standard window frame, use glass judiciously
There are 12 rules in total, but the rule I'm looking for is right at the top -- applications should use the system font.
The hilarity of this list is already sort of self evident, given that I've written an entire post bemoaning the general lack of fit and finish in Windows Vista. I couldn't help but laugh at rule number 12: Reserve time for "fit and finish"! Now there's a rule Microsoft should have taken to heart while developing Windows Vista. Understand this is all coming from a guy who likes Vista.
But I digress.
Despite the windows forms font behavior in Visual Studio 2008 contradicting rule number one of Microsoft's own design guidelines, this "bug" has gone unfixed for over four years. It has been silently reclassified as a "feature request" and effectively ignored. Nothing's broken, after all: using the wrong font hasn't caused any application crashes or lost productivity. On the other hand, imagine how many BigCorpCo apps have been built since then that violate Microsoft's own design rules for their platform. Either because the developers didn't realize that the app font didn't match the operating system, or because they didn't have the time to write the workaround code necessary to make it do the right thing.
Yes, this is a small thing. And I'm sure fixing it wouldn't result in selling an additional umpteen thousand Visual Studio licenses to BigCorpCo, which is why it hasn't happened yet.
But the question remains: is this a bug, or a feature request?
One of my favorite things about UserVoice -- which we use for Stack Overflow -- is the way it intentionally blurs the line between bugs and feature requests. Users never understand the difference anyway, and what's worse, developers tend to use that division as a wedge against users. Nudge things you don't want to do into that "feature request" bucket, and proceed to ignore them forever. Argue strongly and loudly enough that something reported as a "bug" clearly isn't, and you may not have to to do any work to fix it. Stop dividing the world into Bugs and Feature Requests, and both of these project pathologies go away.
I wish we could, as an industry, spend less time fighting tooth and nail over definitions, painstakingly placing feedback in the "bug" or "feature request" buckets -- and more time doing something constructive with our users' feedback.
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Tagi: ms sans serif, insoluble problem, wrg, real killer, bug tracking system, fundamental problem, feature request, entire project, instantiate, deci, feature requests, software developer, pepsi, crashes, error message, coke, bugs, operating system, perspectiv
06 Nov 09 NASA May Drop Ares I-Y Test Flight
Matt_dk writes "Just one week after the first test flight test of the Ares I-X rocket, NASA says it may decide to cancel a follow-up launch called Ares 1-Y, which wasn't scheduled until 2014. Reportedly, program managers recommended dropping the flight because, currently, there isn't the funding to get an upper stage engine ready in time. Depending on whether the Obama administration decides to continue the Ares I program, this decision may be moot. Earlier this week Sen. Bill Nelson said Obama may make a decision on NASA's future path, based on the report by the Augustine Commission, by the end of November."Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Tagi: stage engine, future path, slashdot, upper stage, test flight, flight test, deci, program managers, nels, ares, first test, nasa, dk
19 Dec 09 No Hope for the Seahawks
I was thinking ahead this past summer when I bought two tickets to a division match-up between the Arizona Cardinals and the Seattle Seahawks. I wanted tickets sometime around my wife's birthday, since we have a tendency to take each other to games due to our fall birthdays. However, I must have forgotten one minor detail.
Despite the long walk up the stairs to our seats at the very top of the 300 level, we enjoyed attending our first and last home game of the 2008 season. The first half was more painful than the second, but the latter gave us hope that we might actually pull out a win and keep some element of hope alive for the remainder of the season. However, it just wasn't meant to be.
One cool thing that did happen, though, was that as we were getting on the elevator after the game, I noticed a very familiar face walking past my wife and me. After a few glances and then hearing the woman's slightly high-pitched voice, I realized that she was none other than Hope Solo, Washington native, former Washington Husky and, most importantly, 2008 Olympic gold medalist and goalkeeper on the U.S. Women's National Team.
Because I didn't want another Marcus Tubbs experience, I refrained from saying anything to her, but I already regret the decision. It would have been pretty cool to get my picture taken with one of the key members of one of my favorite teams.
Tagi: marcus tubbs, seattle seahawks, olympic gold, secd, minor detail, ariza, pitched voice, familiar face, home game, divi, deci, cool thing, goalkeeper, cardinals, elevator, stairs, birthdays, remainder, tendency, 2008 olympic
24 Jan 10 Court case shocker: Judge rules in favor of Rambus, not NVIDIA... sort of
Rambus, a company that has been in a long, drawn out legal battle with NVIDIA over five patents for what seems like ages now, had some good news delivered to it late last week. A judge at the U.S. International Trade Commission issued a preliminary determination finding that NVIDIA had indeed violated three of the five patents -- ruling that the other two had not been violated. Now, NVIDIA says that the whole patent mystery continues to be a subject ripe for rexamination by the Patent and Trademark Office -- which has consistently found the claims of infringement to be invalid. NVIDIA says it will take the claims to a full commission for a final decision. You'll probably remember that these five patent infringement claims were part of a much larger suit that Rambus filed against NVIDIA -- some of which were dropped earlier this month. Will it never end?Court case shocker: Judge rules in favor of Rambus, not NVIDIA... sort of originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 23 Jan 2010 17:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Wall Street Journal | Email this | CommentsTagi: patent infringement claims, patent and trademark office, internatial, wall street journal, judge rules, deci, court case, shocker, nvidia, patents, wall street, nbsp, mystery
