Trapped by Programmers: No Exit
I have this naïve theory. When programmers release an upgraded product, it should do two things: (1) work better than before; (2) look the same as before.
What we find is that it sometimes works worse than before -- permanently. Also, it rarely looks the same. The programmers tweak the interface "to make it really neat," as defined by programmers.
The existing users climb another learning curve, and when they get to the top, the guru at the top kicks them back down. "Sucker!"
Think "Windows Vista."
FIREFOX
I am having trouble with Firefox. I'm not either ready or able to adopt Google Chrome, but I am getting closer to switching.
See if you are having any of these problems.
First, Firefox locks up at least three or four times a day. It never used to do this. The screen simply freezes. I have to click the little red X box in the upper right-hand corner of my screen. I have to shut down the program. This is becoming a real annoyance.
Second, and even more of a problem, Evernote Web Clipper no longer works with my version of Firefox. I have produced a screencast on this. It is here.
[Side note. You will hear a hum in the background. This is because of the clothes dryer a floor above my almost dead silent office/recording studio. I could not hear it when I did the screencast. But I can hear it with my Denon headphones. My Audio Technica 2020USB microphone is incredibly sensitive. It picks up everything. When I record my daily lessons for Ron Paul Curriculum, I must do this on non-washing/drying days.]
I sent a copy to the people at Evernote. They don't have any solution. The Web Clipper update will not attach itself to my installed Firefox. At some point, my latest edition of Firefox lost Web Clipper, and I cannot get it back.
Web Clipper is just about the most useful program on the Web for researchers -- or was (keep reading). Evernote is free. Web Clipper enables you to click an article you are reading, or any extract, and the article is automatically installed on Evernote. This includes the original hyperlink back to the article. You can now search Evernote for any word or combination of words to find this article. I used to post at least three or four articles a day using Web Clipper. Now I can no longer do it easily. I have to log in to Evernote every time, and then save the article. It is a real hassle.
[Update, July 7. A site member told me what is wrong. It is a coding error in Web Clipper. If you turn off History in Firefox, Web Clipper disappears.]
EVERNOTE
Evernote's problem is power. They get you dependent, and then they take away your years of experience. The outfit asked me if I wanted to see the new design for laying out notes. I clicked. It's terrible. Now they have locked me in. The "would you like to see" offer really means: "Click this, sucker, and all your work gets scrambled." I saw 5 years of notes go down the digital toilet last week. The notes are there, but in a new page layout that is "streamlined," meaning dumb, forcing me to re-learn everything. There is no visible way to go back.
It's like upgrading a Microsoft product. Evernote has just given us its version of Vista. Programmers are contemptuous of existing users' learning curves.
The user asks: "Don't I have a choice?" Programmers stay silent . . . and giggle inside. "Dumb cluck."
ADOBE FLASH
Third, I cannot upgrade Adobe Flash. This is probably my problem, and it may not be a Firefox problem. But I have tried repeatedly to get Adobe Flash to install on my system, and I cannot get it to do this.
[Update: July 7. The problem Adobe has is this: prior to about 18 months ago, Flash updated automatically. Since them, the programmers decided to insert extra hoops for users to jump through. A site member figured out the problems. First, there is a problem with Firefox. The default setting is to assign all downloads automatically to Downloads (plural). It is possible to set this so that a drop-down box gives you the option of where to download it. Set this here: Tools> Options> Always ask me where to save files. Visible in this drop-down box are the older files for Flash 18. You must right-click a file. Then it starts to install. But then it locks up -- sometimes. It says you must close Firefox. If you close Firefox -- which took you to Adobe's site -- the rest of the program installs. Then you get hit with an ad to buy something -- they don't explain what -- for $9.95 a month. All in all, a ridiculous installation procedure. I have I have prepared a screencast on this: http://screencast-o-matic.com/watch/coii6QfZvp.]
I am glad to say that Flash is probably going to go the way of all flesh over the next two or three years. It is going to be replaced by the new standard, HTML5. You can read about it here. The sooner, the better. We read:
For online video, HTML5 offers two things Flash does not: mobile capabilities and semantic markup. The growth of mobile engagement; the rise of Interactive Video for entertainment, advertising and shopping; and HTML5's open structure all combine to create the future of an HTML5-based Web, leaving Flash to eventually shuffle into its place in the Retired Tech Hall of Fame (make some room Windows XP, Palm Treo).
GOOGLE CHROME
Switching to Google's Chrome browser is not yet an option, as I cannot figure it out. I literally cannot make sense of Chrome. A lot of people can, but it is way beyond me. I don't like Google's tracking of everything I do, and so I am inherently opposed to Chrome anyway. You would think that Google, with the billions of dollars it has in reserve, would have a YouTube channel devoted to how-to videos on getting started with Chrome, and how to use it. But it doesn't.
Firefox really is fading in importance. Chrome is replacing it. Firefox has 17% of the browser market. Google Chrome has 48%. Google really is like the Borg. Resistance is futile.
CONCLUSIONS
Programmers care about what is convenient for programmers. This is the #1 rule governing our online lives today. They are not paid on commission, so the users' convenience is far down on the programmers' list of objectives.
What do Firefox, Adobe, Evernote, and Google have in common? They offer their stuff for free. If users had to pay, the programmers would be told to put users' first.
Whenever the company's money comes from back-end deals, such as advertising, the authority of the user begins to erode. Then the programmers, like termites, go to work. They come to senior managers, who do not hire beta-testers. "We can make the program really neat." That is the siren song for senior managers. That is when they lose control. Investors should lash them to the mast.
Programmers do not work on commission. They work to achieve two goals: (1) make things easier for themselves, and (2) impress other programmers with their neat coding.
Benjamin Franklin, writing as Poor Richard, once quipped: "A man caught between two lawyers is like a fish caught between two cats."
We must add programmers to his list.