From the Archives: Windows Vista Packaging Patched

Joel, over at Joel on Software, wrote today about his less than fantastic experience with the new Office 2007 packaging. Back in February of this year I wrote about my less than fantastic experience with the Vista packaging. I thought I'd pull that post back up to the surface in this "From the Archives" post. Enjoy. Microsoft. Suck this up and stop repeating your mistakes. Hire new uber-packaging experts.

---- From the Archives, February 2007, Windows Vista Packaging Patched ----

Earlier this week I came across a Windows Vista Ultimate package here in the office and discovered something interesting - a U.I. flaw in what was probably an uber-expensive package designed by uber-packaging experts from all corners of the world.

I saw the package sitting on a co-worker's desk and was immediately interested. I've worked on designing software packages in the past so a package like the Windows Vista package that is obviously going to be well funded and the product of hundreds of hours of experience deserves some attention. I picked up the package, looked at the front, looked at the back, and proceeded to open it. To my surprise, and some embarrassment because my co-workers were watching, I had a hard time getting it opened. I don't remember how long it took me to get it opened but I do know it was way longer than it should have been. Even after I got it opened, using what appears to be a last-minute hack, I had difficulty opening and closing the package. Is this for real? How many of these packages is Microsoft shipping? Did they test this at all?

The hack I referred to is illustrated in the photo I took below. The little red piece of tape attached to the top of the package can't be part of the original design but without it I would have been really stuck. I'm sure the last minute hack was subject to protest on the designers part - it's ugly. Did Microsoft "Patch" the Windows Vista package? We'll probably never know.

By the way, I passed the package around the office for a little in-house usability testing and a lot of really smart people turned red trying to get the Windows Vista package opened in front of a crowd. That's bad design - period.

Has anybody else had this experience? If so, comment.

Does anybody know who designed the package? If so, comment.

Related:

I found this post on the Windows Vista Team Blog that, after having seen the package for myself, is almost comical.

TripAdvisor Buys Facebook Application "Where I've Been" for 3 Million

Wow, it looks like travel site TripAdvisor has acquired Facebook application "Where I've Been" from creator Craig Ulliot for 3 million. Less than two months ago Craig could barely afford to keep the app. up. "I have 250,000 users, now what?"

In what is by far the largest Facebook application acquisition to date, travel company TripAdvisor has reportedly acquired Where I've Been from Craig Ulliott for $3 million. -- Inside Facebook

This acquisition is going pump a lot of developer talent into the Facebook platform. Congratulations Craig - the best programmer!

Do you love what you do? Should you love what you do?

There's a good conversation going on over on the Planning, Statups, Stories blog. Tim Berry responds to the question "What's more important--passion or ability?" when it comes to selecting a career. Check out the comments section. A copy of my comment appears below.

It's hard to make a living doing what you love. Why? Because introducing the green stuff into the relationship often leads to relationship problems.

Love blinds, often making it difficult to mix business with pleasure. I think this is why most people keep what they really love far, far, away from the JOB. NOTE: A lot of people claim to be doing what they love but it isn't often the case. Everybody wants it so it's natural for people to claim they have it - it's in our nature.

Most of the people (there are exceptions) I know that have turned loves/hobbies into businesses regret it. Why? They turned that special thing they really loved into a JOB - it isn't fun anymore, it's work. It's the thing that puts food on the table. That, usually, comes with stress and external pressure. Other people start messing around with the thing you loved.

My advice to the entrepreneur.com reader - keep doing what you're good at, become the best at it, and find a way to leverage that success so you can spend more time doing what you really love. That way, you keep the green stuff out of the relationship.

-- Cale

Fortunately, and I'm not just saying this because Tim Berry is the President and Founder of the company I work for, I love what I do for a living. Or, maybe, I'm just claiming to love what I do for a living to make all of you jealous. You'll never know. I do however think the word "love" is getting tossed around here a bit too freely. Love, for me at least, is a word reserved for my wife, my kids, and my family. It's a powerful word that carries a lot of meaning. I don't really believe you can "Love" a car, your house, a hobby, or your job - really "Love" it. Or, maybe you can.

Breaking: palmit.commentary acquired by New York Times

I'm pleased to announce that palmit.commentary has been acquired by the New York Times for an undisclosed amount of (love that smell) cash.

The New York Times, smartly, rushed palmit.commentary to the top of their list of blogs to acquire. As many of you know, they just acquired the blog Freakonomics. More blog acquisitions are expected as part of the recently updated New York Times "stay relevant" business strategy. The acquisition was quick and painless - the whole transaction happened via PayPal and IM.

We're working on integrating palmit.commmentary into the New York Times design template for acquired blogs. They said something about needing to spell-check my blog and make it look more like a newspaper but I expect to see my content on The New York Times soon. It will probably look a lot like this [[blogs.nytimes.com acquired blog template]]

Scoble Inside Twitter Headquarters

Scoble gets inside Twitter headquarters. Scoble posted An inside look at Twitter yesterday, a video interview on the scene at Twitter headquarters in San Francisco, featuring pretty close to the entire staff. There's a lot of good stuff in this interview. Scoble covers everything from their recent round of funding to the technology under the hood at Twitter. Worth watching if you're at all interested in Twitter and services like it - or Web 2.0 bubble companies for that matter ; )

My Twitter Profile. My take on Twitter and services like it - there's a future in the micro-blogging format but I don't really have a use for it in my life or work today. My Friendverse doesn't Tweet so that makes the service pretty useless as far as I'm concerned. Following events or popular people using the service just isn't my thing. Connecting it to SMS just makes my Q really annoying.