Facebook's recent evolution mirrors the evolution of lots of other software, including websites: here's what happens
- someone gets a great idea that makes something easier and/or generic, which was otherwise difficult and/or specific
- it becomes a success because it does exactly what it says on the tin and the users build a consistent mental model of how it works. the people who developed the idea do a good job because they're the ones who use it, so they know what works
- the marketeers see an opportunity: but because they have a mindset that sees money and markets, they add features and increase complexity to the point where the mental model is becomes inconsistent and opaque to the end user, mainly because it's not the end user's needs that are being met, but the needs of ambitious people in the business
- people start complaining and looking for alternatives
- then someone gets a great idea that does just what it says on the tin and provides a consistent, non-annoying experience. the first company then collapses
they're also going against one of the most basic rules of the web: it's a road, not a train on rails. the user is in the driving seat and they can choose to follow any path they like. Facebook is in some ways attempting to put the user on rails, with more limited and pre-defined options, rather than simply a set of signposts they can follow if they wish. that's a big failure and many, many other sites have suffered, because the basic rule of the web is one of active user choice. i reckon that in a boxing match, Marshall McLuhan would trounce Zuckerberg every time :)
i don't care whether facebook survives or not: but it does surprise me that they haven't learned from the mistakes people have made in the past. however, i can tell from Google's evolution that they have learned this lesson: that's exactly how they took a massive market share from Altavista in the late 90s.
btw: does anyone remember Altavista? it was once the search engine everyone used :)
Thursday 22 September 2011
Tuesday 13 September 2011
The Hunter - a story
"I think there's one just down the road, dear." I'm sure she used that sardonic tone to irritate me. It's a matter of seconds if you want to get a good score and she knows how seriously i take it. If she could get her eyes off that handheld, with its incessant stream of inane gossip...ah fuck it. Thats' where she got the tip, no doubt. I rushed out onto the balcony.
There he was: two blocks down, in the Harper building, looking out from the open platform on the 23rd floor. I could see him without binoculars or the scope on the P22. Jumping platforms aren't strictly legal, by the way, but the landlords always found a way around that by putting a few bins there and making up something about them needing to be open because of the smell. This was going to be a tough shot: the sun reflects off those windows at this time of day. I'm a serious player so I don't use that auto-filtering crap and a self-aimer like a lightweight. It's a matter of honour and nobody in the main Ladder (yours truly is now in 79th place and rising) would be caught using one. Good points to be had here.
I shouldered the P22 and took a closer look. Male, underweight (I'd say a BMI of about 32) and ready to go, by the looks of things. He'd got the usual twitches and tics and he must have hit hard times because there's no shortage of Averin and it was only about 30 creds for a week's supply, unless you'd been mixing it with Zero-Cola. They say the high's good, but what goes up, must come down, and when your intake rises tenfold every two weeks, I reckon it would bankrupt most ordinary people within a year. So you stop...and when you do, most people end up jumping. There are other ways, of course, but at least this way, you go out quickly and your loved ones get some creds. We always have a whip-round and while it's not compulsory to contribute, nobody who wants to be taken seriously on the Ladder would dream of not helping out. It helps the sport, after all.
The polariser on the scope kicked in and cut out the reflections. Here he goes...to the edge: I took up first pressure. I'll take him when he's level: i reckon about 20 feet of lead. Too high and he's too easy a target, too low and someone else will get him. Some people buy their way to a good score by renting apartments on the lower levels, which means plenty of time, but there's no artistry in that. Anyone with the money can get a south-side low-level in the Valleys - Christ knows there are enough empty offices, after the computers took over the trading floor. Money and the right connections can get you a weapon with all sorts of fancy automatic shit but there's no art in that. Manual is where's it's at: anything more than an aimer and you won't get any kind of rank, but it's mostly about self-respect. That's why it's important to get a flat shot rather than a high or low one: it's about the angles. While the jumper's high up, they're a small target, for sure, but they're not crossing your field of vision very fast and you've got plenty of time. Likewise with the low ones, except for the time - and anyway, someone further up will get them first, if they're any good. A flat shot gets you a better score (and more respect) than anything else: they're moving fast past you and even the best aimbot would be no use because you can't keep up. That's where the real skill lies. You've got to shoot on instinct.
Of course you could always use a smart round - well, we all do, but not that kind. The kind of smart flechette the military uses that can go round six corners, through a concrete wall, and into a target's neck without even spraying blood on their pillow would do the job, for sure. Anyone could do that. The only approved round is a Hawking round and that's that. Anything else and we'd be either half-arsed or shut down right away. All it does is disintegrate within a metre of anything that isn't made of flesh and moving fast. They say it was that wheelchair guy who figured out the principle - I'm damned if I know how they work - but we couldn't do this if they didn't do that. There'd be no windows in the Manhattan Valley blocks and the sport would not exist. We're on the edge of illegal as it is but nobody has ever been successfully prosecuted for shooting someone who'd just jumped to their death. Even so, if it weren't for a bit of pressure from the landlords, who live quite nicely on the rents they can get downtown for defunct office buildings, we'd be fucked and there'd be no ladder. I'd have to go back to hunting deer a couple of times a year, and to be honest, i never liked the exercise and the cold.
He was moving to the edge: it couldn't be long now. I could see the usual blank stare they get when the Averin wears off but God only knows what's going on in his head. The arms and shoulders were twitching and I could see him sway back and forth as I held first pressure. There's no laser on this sight but it's 220 yards to that platform. I knew the settings by heart for all seven I could see from my balcony. Zoom out with a frame-in-frame. I don't know if my heart can take this kind of excitement much longer...
Small frame: there he goes! He was a falling silhouette against the mirror glass and there were a couple of cracks followed by self-destructed puffs of dust as a couple of noobs had a go and missed. It was too early for my main rival Bucky: this guy was mine, for sure. I let one go - only one - as he passed the eleventh and i saw him spin with the impact. The spin continued for a few milliseconds and then he was free game for the rest: they'd waited too long, as usual. Fucking losers...anyway, before he hit the ground, there wasn't much left. They wouldn't get the score. I was already uploading the vid to the Ladder and this one was mine. Bucky wasn't there, but this was a classic, so even if I don't advance, I'll get the kudos. The angle of the sun made for a really good sequence and it'll confirmed as a matter of course. One of those dumb fucks on the forum will start bleating about saying prayers for his immortal soul, but we have to tolerate the fuckers because they help keep our guns legal. I just wish they'd shut up.
She was still sitting reading that celebrity crap while she chatted on Twype. At least she had the good sense to let me know one was ready but then again the widget i'd put on her handheld would snitch if she'd known and hadn't said.
Oh well...back to work. I switched the machines off auto and there'd been no alerts, probably because Indonesia was still fast asleep. Working from home is one of the perks of being a drone pilot.
==========
The Hunter is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 UK: England & Wales License.
There he was: two blocks down, in the Harper building, looking out from the open platform on the 23rd floor. I could see him without binoculars or the scope on the P22. Jumping platforms aren't strictly legal, by the way, but the landlords always found a way around that by putting a few bins there and making up something about them needing to be open because of the smell. This was going to be a tough shot: the sun reflects off those windows at this time of day. I'm a serious player so I don't use that auto-filtering crap and a self-aimer like a lightweight. It's a matter of honour and nobody in the main Ladder (yours truly is now in 79th place and rising) would be caught using one. Good points to be had here.
I shouldered the P22 and took a closer look. Male, underweight (I'd say a BMI of about 32) and ready to go, by the looks of things. He'd got the usual twitches and tics and he must have hit hard times because there's no shortage of Averin and it was only about 30 creds for a week's supply, unless you'd been mixing it with Zero-Cola. They say the high's good, but what goes up, must come down, and when your intake rises tenfold every two weeks, I reckon it would bankrupt most ordinary people within a year. So you stop...and when you do, most people end up jumping. There are other ways, of course, but at least this way, you go out quickly and your loved ones get some creds. We always have a whip-round and while it's not compulsory to contribute, nobody who wants to be taken seriously on the Ladder would dream of not helping out. It helps the sport, after all.
The polariser on the scope kicked in and cut out the reflections. Here he goes...to the edge: I took up first pressure. I'll take him when he's level: i reckon about 20 feet of lead. Too high and he's too easy a target, too low and someone else will get him. Some people buy their way to a good score by renting apartments on the lower levels, which means plenty of time, but there's no artistry in that. Anyone with the money can get a south-side low-level in the Valleys - Christ knows there are enough empty offices, after the computers took over the trading floor. Money and the right connections can get you a weapon with all sorts of fancy automatic shit but there's no art in that. Manual is where's it's at: anything more than an aimer and you won't get any kind of rank, but it's mostly about self-respect. That's why it's important to get a flat shot rather than a high or low one: it's about the angles. While the jumper's high up, they're a small target, for sure, but they're not crossing your field of vision very fast and you've got plenty of time. Likewise with the low ones, except for the time - and anyway, someone further up will get them first, if they're any good. A flat shot gets you a better score (and more respect) than anything else: they're moving fast past you and even the best aimbot would be no use because you can't keep up. That's where the real skill lies. You've got to shoot on instinct.
Of course you could always use a smart round - well, we all do, but not that kind. The kind of smart flechette the military uses that can go round six corners, through a concrete wall, and into a target's neck without even spraying blood on their pillow would do the job, for sure. Anyone could do that. The only approved round is a Hawking round and that's that. Anything else and we'd be either half-arsed or shut down right away. All it does is disintegrate within a metre of anything that isn't made of flesh and moving fast. They say it was that wheelchair guy who figured out the principle - I'm damned if I know how they work - but we couldn't do this if they didn't do that. There'd be no windows in the Manhattan Valley blocks and the sport would not exist. We're on the edge of illegal as it is but nobody has ever been successfully prosecuted for shooting someone who'd just jumped to their death. Even so, if it weren't for a bit of pressure from the landlords, who live quite nicely on the rents they can get downtown for defunct office buildings, we'd be fucked and there'd be no ladder. I'd have to go back to hunting deer a couple of times a year, and to be honest, i never liked the exercise and the cold.
He was moving to the edge: it couldn't be long now. I could see the usual blank stare they get when the Averin wears off but God only knows what's going on in his head. The arms and shoulders were twitching and I could see him sway back and forth as I held first pressure. There's no laser on this sight but it's 220 yards to that platform. I knew the settings by heart for all seven I could see from my balcony. Zoom out with a frame-in-frame. I don't know if my heart can take this kind of excitement much longer...
Small frame: there he goes! He was a falling silhouette against the mirror glass and there were a couple of cracks followed by self-destructed puffs of dust as a couple of noobs had a go and missed. It was too early for my main rival Bucky: this guy was mine, for sure. I let one go - only one - as he passed the eleventh and i saw him spin with the impact. The spin continued for a few milliseconds and then he was free game for the rest: they'd waited too long, as usual. Fucking losers...anyway, before he hit the ground, there wasn't much left. They wouldn't get the score. I was already uploading the vid to the Ladder and this one was mine. Bucky wasn't there, but this was a classic, so even if I don't advance, I'll get the kudos. The angle of the sun made for a really good sequence and it'll confirmed as a matter of course. One of those dumb fucks on the forum will start bleating about saying prayers for his immortal soul, but we have to tolerate the fuckers because they help keep our guns legal. I just wish they'd shut up.
She was still sitting reading that celebrity crap while she chatted on Twype. At least she had the good sense to let me know one was ready but then again the widget i'd put on her handheld would snitch if she'd known and hadn't said.
Oh well...back to work. I switched the machines off auto and there'd been no alerts, probably because Indonesia was still fast asleep. Working from home is one of the perks of being a drone pilot.
==========
The Hunter is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 UK: England & Wales License.
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