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Social Network sites like LinkedIn, Plaxo and Facebook need to figure this out quick! It's late and I'm pissed. Without explicitly throwing up a dialog in my face and asking me what I want, the default setting for blasting whatever the hell I'm doing  to the world should be Opt-out! Microsoft figured this out years ago. It is really annoying, but no one can claim they didn't ask if I'm really really sure I want to nuke a particular file! If I select all the defaults you provide me, whatever I'm doing should Opt-out of whatever magic updates you want to provide to the world.  It's a cop-out to have the Opt-in checkbox  checked by default and assume that I actually saw it! You will find most times I'm OK with the known universe knowing what I'm doing! I'm willing to Opt-in every freakin time I want said universe to know my actions.

What brought on this rant.....I'm sending an e-card to someone. WHY THE HELL DOES A SOCIAL NETWORK SITE THINK I WANT THE CONTENTS OF A CARD THAT I EXPLICITLY ADDRESSED TO A SINGLE FREAKIN PERSON BE BROADCAST TO THE ENTIRE FRAPPIN WORLD? It gets better...... This is a new behavior since the site in question decided it was a social networking site instead of being a contact aggregation site.

I was working on a document today where I wanted to include Trademarks (what can I say?) but didn't understand the difference between using the TM symbol and the R within a circle. So after some research:

A trademark includes any word, name, symbol, or device, or any combination used, or intended to be used, in commerce to identify and distinguish the goods of one manufacturer or seller from goods manufactured or sold by others, and to indicate the source of the goods.  In short, a trademark is a brand name.

The federal registration symbol, the R enclosed within a circle, may be used once the mark is actually registered in the USPTO. Even though an application is pending, the registration symbol may not be used before the mark has actually become registered.

When you want to figure out if something has actually become registered try using the
Trademark Electronic Search System (TESS). (Don't government search engines get cute names?)

Other sites of interest while doing my research:

• Adobe Systems Incorporated Permissions and Trademark Guidelines

• General Microsoft Trademark Guidelines

'Just' is a four letter word that has no place on development projects.  That's right, I advocate an all out ban on the word! No exceptions.

When trying to estimate the amount of work it will take to complete something, using the word 'just' as a bridge makes it easier to estimate things optimistically.   A.H. Weiler once said "Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it himself". I would add the word 'just' is that man's best friend

I actually make a game out of banning the word on my projects or during conversations where I'm trying to get to the bottom of something . It is amazing to me how the conversation changes when descriptions  like "Then the file is just downloaded to the desktop." are not allowed. In this example, either the file is downloaded to the desktop or we are using the word 'just' to gloss over the fact that 5 other things need to happen to the file on the way to the desktop!

When you use the word 'just'  enough on a project,  it can make three years worth of work seem like something that can be accomplished in 3 months!  Kurt Alder said "Tradition is what you resort to when you don't have the time or the money to do it right". The quote works equally well with the word 'just' instead of 'tradition'

Don't fall into the 'just' trap!

Salt Lake City Airport  is in the middle of a large project to reorganize the airport parking situation. Instead of two lots they have consolidated long term parking into a single large lot with new shelters while you are waiting for the bus. The new shelters are beautiful in comparison to the old airy steel ones they used to have. The only problem is that they are situated on the wrong side of the road! So when the bus comes you have to walk across the road in front of the bus to board.

Rumor has it that the reason the shelters are on the wrong side of the road is because the company designing the new parking lot didn't bother to consult with the bus drivers and planned to have the bus start from the far side of the lot.....So before dropping off a single passenger in the lot, the bus had to drive 1/4 of a mile to enter the lot...... In practice the route didn't exactly work out very well. I don't think it even made a week. So now the buses enter the lot from the "wrong end"  but start dropping off and picking up passengers very quickly at the various stops.

Am I the only one that thinks some studies and modeling could have been done to have avoided this situation?  So as I stand at the nice new bus shelters on my way to a consulting engagement and before crossing the road to catch the bus, I always remind myself to make sure that I talk with the various end users of a system I'm designing! I hope this approach will ensure that none of my creations end up on the wrong side of the road!