Tuxrocket

Phoning Home

Dave — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 06:11:51 +0000

Lately there’s been a lot of commentary about Canonical’s new package that they’ll be using to count computers using Ubuntu for an OEM partner. As that last comment clearly said, people need to calm down about this. Even if they were tracking users in disagreeable ways, it’s open source and out in the open. If they start doing something shady, people can see that in the code and you can just uninstall it. From what I understand, it’s not even going to be part of the default- it’s specifically for an OEM’s customers which implies ‘normal’ Ubuntu users aren’t going to have this installed.

What’s the Big Deal?

Why is it such a surprise that a software maker would want to see how many users they have? In the commercial world where a software license is involved, user registration often is required and the software maker can be privy to all kinds of customer demographics. When my parents fill out these registration forms, it doesn’t even occur to them to not enter the information or to lie. They just type it in. And if that data is anonymous why should we begrudge our Linux distribution of choice a few demographics that will help them hone their product.

There are several other ways open source companies try to find out what they can- without threatening users. There’s Smolt from Red Hat which openSUSE also participates in that’s intended to evaluate hardware support priorities based on the userbase for a certain device. Debian has Popcon and openSUSE has Popcorn, their own spin on it. According to the description it “is an attempt to map the usage of … packages.” What a great idea! Know what users are using! It’s shocking!

Why Would You Want Your App to Phone Home?

Outside the Linux ecosystem, it would be typical to phone home to check for updates. Since the norm is for Linux to let you know and help you update accordingly, I think we’re used to apps not phoning home. But there are other reasons an app phoning home is a good idea:

Update content for users like news or to highlight website content
Get statistics on usage of your releases

Here’s a great example. Thunderbird from Mozilla uses the phone home tactic to great effect. At least since Thunderbird 2, the start screen when Thunderbird opens is by default a web page on Mozilla’s servers.

And in fact, when Thunderbird calls that page on the server it sends several bits of data:

application
version
locale
operating system
application build number

They don’t know it’s you- don’t worry. But they can get an idea of their userbase in broad terms. Not just that, they can show users content targeted to the version the user has installed. If the user is using a version that’s about to be abandoned, they can be warned. In the Shredder example (Thunderbird’s developer version codename), early adopters and testers are given information that will help them get feedback to the Thunderbird development team. In the 3.1 start page, Mozilla adds a donation button for a good cause. Potentially, they could highlight a feature every day, training the user on how to use the app from within the app itself! The start page can be overridden, but most users won’t bother, leaving this valuable two-way communication channel open for you to better understand and help your users to use your app even better.

Maybe phoning home isn’t for you, but maybe it’s going to be key to making your app great. Think about it.

By the way, the Thunderbird pages are here, here, here, and here.

Tweak Your UI- The Ubuntu Calculator

Dave — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 14:10:50 +0000

Recently I saw a couple articles on the improved calculator that will be shipping in Ubuntu 10.10 and I thought “Really? An improved calculator?” It turns out that the major, obvious improvement is a UI change. It seems odd. I mean, calculators are calculators right?

Take a look.

The second I saw it I loved it- the colors make the eye easily track where the button groups are. Reminds me of other calculator apps I’ve seen mentions of lately:

A little UI polish goes a long way to making an app fabulous to use.

A few years ago, an interesting blog article surfaced about the development of Coda, a web development app for Mac OS X. The toolbar was strikingly different- it really just meshed well with the overall UI. Coda is sofware that is just fun to use. Extremely slick and powerful. Anyway, the toolbar wasn’t possible to do using standard Mac OS X apis, due to a 3 pixel border they couldn’t get around and still use standard UI controls.

I’m just as much (maybe more) of a standardista as the next guy. But your app needs to be perfect and to do that, it may have to break rules. After a long development cycle, the team behind Coda threw out the system toolbar and wrote their own, even though it took a lot longer.

And all because we didn’t want to settle.

So take a look at your app. Are you settling?

In the end, by the way, the UI looked so good that Apple incorporated that look into the system toolbar in the next release of Mac OS X. It’ not rule breaking- it’s pioneering.

No related posts.

A Couple Neat Tips

Dave — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 04:27:39 +0000

http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/five-tips/?p=204

The only thing new for me was the first one- maybe the others will be for you. I’m not sure how much faster my boot time can get- even with the profile flag it was pretty speedy.

Good Linux Security Tips

Well-written Article on Switching from Mac to Linux

Dave — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 20:00:06 +0000

One thing I love about Dan Gillmor’s recent article on switching is his emphasis on the increasing control Apple is exercising over their customers.

Whereas I’m free to use any software I want to access my Android phone when I dock it, your iPhone will only work consistently with iTunes from Apple, and only the apps that Apple allows into the iTunes store. Buying media in that store? Good luck accessing that media in places Apple hasn’t decided you should.

It comes down to Apple (and Steve Jobs) knowing what’s best. And doing what’s best for you. They don’t. They do what is best for them.

I think I’ve mentioned before an experience my wife had with the home movies she likes to make in iMovie (I’m not making her switch). For years we had been buying iTunes music with DRM and since we used Macs that wasn’t a problem. We spent lots of money in that store- it’s easy to after all. And we had a lot of fun using that music in our home movies. Without notice or warning, an update came out an suddently DRM music from iTunes couldn’t be used in iMovie. Oh, we tried lots of things. But Apple had decided we couldn’t use that music in our home movies. Even though we had paid for it.

We buy all our digital music from Amazon now. We don’t live in Apple’s little Animal Farm anymore.

What Dell Offers: Ubuntu, Which Is Better Than Windows

Dave — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 19:52:35 +0000

As has been widely reported, Dell’s Ubuntu sub-site was offering not just Dell computers preloaded with Ubuntu, but advice on which OS should be used. I’m thinking that a Linux fan was tasked to create the page without much supervision- maybe even a Canonical employee. Regardless, when I noticed it, I knew it wouldn’t be up for long so I took a screenshot and copied the ten reasons so I could use them when I had the time. Below are the screenshot and the ten reasons to use Ubuntu as cited on the Dell website. My favorite part other than the obvious dig at Windows were the bolded ‘Unwarranted’ marks under Anti-spyware / Anti-virus. :) I love educational facts.

10) Ubuntu is simple and elegant

If you’re the kind of person who likes your computer to simply work, Ubuntu is right for you. It’s based on stable, secure, easy-to-use software that’s been around for a long time.

9) Ubuntu is designed for the Internet

Do you spend most of your time on the Internet? Ubuntu connects you to the Internet in seconds. Firefox is a very popular browser and works well with practically every website you’ll run across, e.g. news sites, social media sites, etc. It also works great with web-based e-mail sites like Yahoo or Gmail.

8) Ubuntu is “social from the start”

The people who make Ubuntu designed it to be very social-media centric. Do you use Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, or any of the other dozens of popular social networking sites? Ubuntu 9.10 works very well with these websites. And beginning with Ubuntu 10.04, these websites will be integrated into the Ubuntu OS itself for your convenience.

7) Ubuntu plays videos, songs, and movies easily

Do you like to watch videos on YouTube, buy songs from Amazon, pop in DVD’s from the local video store? No problem! Dell bundles a multimedia player with Ubuntu to deliver a great entertainment experience.(DRM protected music not supported.)

6) Ubuntu is safer than Microsoft® Windows®

The vast majority of viruses and spyware written by hackers are not designed to target and attack Linux.

5) Ubuntu boots up fast

Beginning with Ubuntu 10.04, available on Dell systems this summer, boot times have improved dramatically over Ubuntu 9.10. Depending upon the Dell computer your purchase, boot times can be around 30 seconds!

4) With Ubuntu, you have access to 1,000’s of free software programs

What do you like to do?

3) Ubuntu with OpenOffice is compatible with Microsoft® Office and Adobe® Acrobat®

Do you need to open Microsoft Office documents? What about Adobe Acrobat? Ubuntu comes with the award-winning OpenOffice software. With it, not only can you create word processing documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and even drawings, but it can also open and save documents in Microsoft Office format. Do you ever get .pdf files emailed to you—no problem!

2) Ubuntu is based on Linux®

Linux has been around for nearly 20 years. The software itself is not only stable and reliable, but also pervasive. Linux is used on computers of all sizes ranging from the biggest to the smallest.

1) Ubuntu comes pre-loaded with select Dell desktop, notebook, and netbook computers

Beginning in 2007, Dell began shipping computers with Ubuntu. Since then, Dell has shipped more computers pre-loaded and pre-tested with Ubuntu than any other computer maker in the world. Every computer we ship with Ubuntu has been fully tested to ensure the best possible Internet and multimedia experience Linux has to offer.Two high-tech leaders—ensuring Ubuntu on Dell “just works.”

Windows or Ubuntu?

Good Linux Security Tips

Dave — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 19:40:43 +0000

From ZDNet: http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/five-tips-for-improving-linux-security/35798

Go Ahead and Ship Already

Dave — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 06:02:10 +0000

There’s this mantra I hear a lot in open source: Release early. Release often.

This saying is very fortunate because only a certain kind of personality is good at proudly releasing source code for the world to see. We tell ourselves that we’re good programmers and that we solved some interesting problems. Maybe even in an elegant way. But then, it’s time to release and we feel a little edgy about the world seeing the code. Some of it was elegant, but some of it was ugly. And there are parts we weren’t even sure what we were doing but it seems to be holding together.

And we don’t ship.

I’ve got an open source CMS based on the Zend Framework that I’ve been working on for years but it’s never going to be so ready that I’ll be able to ship without any nervousness. What if I release and am flamed by the world as an incompetent programmer? That would just be humiliating. I might have to switch careers.

So it gave me a good boost to read some comments from Seth Godin:

Shipping is fraught with risk and danger.

Every time you raise your hand, send an email, launch a product or make a suggestion, you’re exposing yourself to criticism. Not just criticism, but the negative consequences that come with wasting money, annoying someone in power or making a fool of yourself.

It’s no wonder we’re afraid to ship.

I didn’t feel it was fair to quote the whole article but you should read it. Stop being afraid. You’re right. It won’t ever be as good as it needs to be for us to not be nervous. Just give it a shot.

That “release early, release often” saying gives us an easy out. We can just say “we live by the ‘release early, release often’ philosophy” and we’ll be ok.

Can You Legislate Insanity?

Dave — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 02:07:57 +0000

A school district is mandating that students’ parents buy them MacBooks. According to the article,

Superintendent James Hayes sees the technology as an essential move to prepare kids for the future.

Well, that makes sense- Macs are everywhere. I bet by the time they graduate, there will be nothing but Macs as far as the eye can see. Right.

Maybe someone should have mentioned to Mr. Hayes that despite Apple’s popularity, Macs account for only 8% of computer sales in the US. I think Mac news sites play on this a bit too much as good news- that’s less than 1 in 10! That means if there are 10 homes on your street and everyone goes out to buy a new computer this year, maybe 1 will get a Mac. 1. You can tell me how great his life will be compared to those other 9 all you want, guys. It’s still only 8% sales.

Or, even more relevant Mr. Hayes, why would this prepare kids for the future? Apple seems to think we won’t use computers for much longer. But even if we do, why would you go with the platform (Mac OS X) that has less than 6% market share? I don’t like Microsoft (I after all, root for the OS that has under 2% market share), but the fact is that most people in the business world will have to use a Windows PC. Maybe you’re lucky like me and have always had the professional flexibility to use what you wanted to as long as you got the job done. But most people will not have that luxury at least for now. But enough talk of Windows dominance- if Macs are such a small player, why did that school district choose them?

Money Talks

I’m sure they’re getting a pretty good deal- Apple has been know to really cut the price down on such large deployments. And I do not doubt that the computers will be great and that the software will too. But the easy answer as to why the school would go with Apple? Cost- if they force everyone to use the same thing, it cuts support right down to a phone call (which according to the article, Apple will handle) for any student. The teacher only has to know one system. The same instructions will work for each student. Each keyboard will be the same. They don’t have to worry about a handful of students that maybe are missing a certain port or feature and therefore can’t participate. The article even mentions that even kids that already have a MacBook will have to have it checked to make sure it’s new enough. It’s the same reason builders like to build a hundred homes that look almost exactly the same. It saves money.

So, in the end, the students will learn about business, because this is the kind of decision a business would make- to save on costs. It just turns out that most businesses don’t choose Macs.

Impressing New Users with Your Site

Dave — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 19:38:09 +0000

I saw a very telling article this morning on Ajaxian about a new Mac app called Kaleidoscope:

The Website for this tool is so well done, that I feel compelled to click buy even before downloading the free 30 day demo :)

That is what you’re going for- albeit perhaps without the buy part. Your users should be enchanted. Eager not to just try it, but to turn their life upside down just to be able to use it!

The site is really just one page with some anchors down to content farther down. Honestly the design of the page with the big horizontal sections isn’t pulled off that well, but overall it’s very sleek.

The app interface looks simple but does some pretty amazing things. I work with images all the time, have never needed something like what it offers for image comparison, but it’s such a cool feature that I want it!

But think about this- this app has one page on their site and conveys a solid perception of trust and dependability by the finished look of their site.

In the Chrome browser, I didn’t realize for a while that the image of their rainbow-y icon actually had the color gradually shifting. Wow. They must have so much time to be able to do something that’s such a waste of time, right? No- they’re serious about this being a great app and have spared no energy to convince others of that fact.

Why The openSUSE Build Service Matters

Dave — Wed, 26 May 2010 03:21:47 +0000

While currently my Linux distribution of choice, openSUSE is not the most popular distribution by any means. Honestly, I think it’s a little unfortunate that openSUSE is in the name, but the openSUSE Build Service (OBS) may be the most important thing to come out of the openSUSE team.

Build service?! My users can build from source, you say. Don’t be stupid. Linux momentum is growing because users don’t have to do that anymore. If you’re not providing packages for the major distributions, you are doing two things:

You label yourself as a minor app without the skill or resources to provide packages.
You label all users of distros you don’t support as having made a bad choice and not being worth your time.

Why? Why in a world with Launchpad from Canonical and so many other great products for packaging is OBS a big deal? Because despite being made by one distro, it can package for all the main distros including Debian, Fedora, Mandriva, openSUSE, Red Hat, SUSE Linux Enterprise and Ubuntu. Notice that they’re not just the ‘open’ distros but a few commercial derivatives too. They have made a tool to make it easier for you to get your app in the hands of Linux users all over.

Users who may be using a distro you don’t care for.

The distribution puzzle of Linux creates certain problems other operating systems just don’t have. Odds are that there are a big group of users out there that right now, simply can’t use your software. The OBS levels that playing field.

Benefits

Think about it for a second.

No more waiting for your users’ distribution to update the official distro packages before they can use your cool new feature.
No more looking for a packaging expert for that one distro or waiting for that expert to have time to help.
No more saying to users that you only support distro X. That’s almost like saying that the distro they have chosen is for losers. That may even be true. But give them a break.
No more download page with nothing but a source tarball on it.

What It Is Not

OBS is not a project management tool. It is a build service (that’s why it says that in the name). OBS won’t get your project on track, but should be used in conjunction with project management tools.

This just emphasizes how great OBS is. Rather than making something that corrals developers to “their” playground, the OBS team have made a tool, not a world for you to live in. Come on in, take advantage of this great service, and then distribute the results to your users!