As I write this, I am in the US conducting some training for a new software system. While a lot of work went into the specifications, design and expected results, when I was actually presented with the system a number of things became apparent. For those involved in business analysis, systems analysis, design and related fields, the following will not be a surprise, but for those on the other side (the user community) here are some observations.
Computers do exactly what they are told, or programmed to do. They do it very quickly and sometimes seem to even have some kind of intelligence, but as anyone who has ever blindly followed satnav instructions knows, if the information given is not correct the results can vary.
Part of this comes from users not really understanding what they are asked, which is actually the fault of the person, or thing, doing the asking. Sometimes they don’t even look at the specifications, expecting that everything will turn out the way they expect.
Managers often don’t make for a very good source of information, unless the direction of the company is changing and the users don’t know where it is supposed to end up. Users make a good source of information if they are familiar with their task, can define it well and understand the exceptions enough to detail these as well. If they are new then they are not usually a good source because they haven’t spent enough time discussing how things work best in the organisation.
Technical people don’t make good designers, because they approach things from a non-generic user perspective, showing that what might work is not necessarily the best way to do things. If any part of the above process is not correct, then the results can vary; from requiring a few changes to a complete restart. This is why the things you buy and the software you use may not always work the way you think they should.
With this in mind, Google has released version 1.0 of Android Studio and is now the official integrated development environment (IDE) for Android. It was announced in May, has been in beta since June and is now released for general use. It is based on the JetBrains product IntelliJ IDEA but cut down for Android-only development. So if you are going to develop something for someone, get the specifications sorted out well before you start.
One of the most popular games for mobile users at the moment is Candy Crush Saga. It is simple, addictive and includes micro payments for upgrades. It is also popular enough that in the UK, Conservative MP Nigel Mills was caught out playing it for over two hours during a discussion on national pension reforms in a conference room session.
These “optional” pay-as-you-go games are carefully marketed as being free, but if you want to advance quickly, then for a small sum you can get help. In many ways, therefore, these kinds of games are not all that different than the gambling machines in pubs and casinos. Note to parents — adults have been caught out many times when their child has played the game and innocently accepted request for in-game help with the associated payments processed silently in the background. This game is one of many that use such a system. Over time, these small payments can add up to quite large ones.
You have probably never heard of Ralph Baer. He was the man who created the Magnavox Odyssey, which is often cited as being the first home games console. Atari and others followed some time later. He also created the memory game Simon, still in use today and most recently seen in the television series Scorpion. The Odyssey was released at the same time as the Intel 8008 processor, so it was definitely ahead of its time. Baer recently passed away at 92.
Even though XP has been unsupported for some time now, there are still many organisations that use it on their computers. I have seen firsthand how this can cause issues with more modern software. As much as I loved XP it is time to move to Windows 7.
Even after all the recent hacking news, Sony has been hacked. OK that is not news. The latest news from that very deep hack were that contact details of a number of big movie stars including Brad Pitt, Daniel Craig, Natalie Portman, Julia Roberts and Tom Hanks were released. This has added to the embarrassment Sony has already faced over this issue.
Finally for this week, when was the last time you did a backup of your critical data or performed a full disk scan for malware? If it has been a while flash drives are now very inexpensive.
James Hein is an IT professional of over 30 years’ standing. You can contact him at jclhein@gmail.com