Windows 8 Consumer Preview Review

TL;DR version: lots of potential, I like what I'm seeing thus far.

Slightly more elaborate version: Microsoft's next gen of the Windows family is (and has been) out for public  preview (which can be freely downloaded here). Installing it on a blank drive was a breeze and without issues. With the exception of my laptop vendor's driver for dynamic graphic-card switching, all other hardware was detected and properly configured. From the get go, you can tell that they are making an effort to modernize their well-known and familiar UI; however, this can end up being a double-edge sword  for them.

Metro UI: At first, while I found the Metro UI visually pleasing, I wasn't sure how to navigate my way to the familiar and ubiquitous Windows desktop paradigm we all are so accustomed to.  Also very obvious is Microsoft's concerted effort to foster and push its own computing ecosystem (SkyDrive, Bing Maps, Search, Internet Explorer, and so forth) which is something they have not very good at in the past few versions of Windows. Don't get me wrong, they are not trying to put a wall around you or insistently annoying you. No, they simply visually encourage you (i.e. prevalent screen real estate)  to use those services and apps for a better experience. So, after some trial and error, I figured out how to get to the familiar desktop. Once there, the first thing I realized is that there isn't "Start" button in the task bar. So what happens when you click the "Windows" button on your keyboard (or CTLR + ESC)? You are taken back to the Metro Dashboard. And then it clicked (in my head). The Metro Dashboard is the "start" menu but taken literally -- which is a really neat thing -- but it will take some getting used to for some users. After installing some necessary software (i.e. Chrome and VirtualBox), I set out to "explore". So, I learned when you put the mouse pointer near the lower (or upper) right corner a menu shows up gives the options of settings, search, devices, share, etc. You can go to the Start area and once there, you can press ESC to return the the app you were working with. Also in that Start dashboard, if you click on your username, you'll see a menu with options to log off/switch users and so forth. While in the Start dashboard, if you right click, you'll get a choice to see all installed apps which can be helpful if you are looking for an app but don't remember its name. Also really neat, while in that same area, as soon as you start typing anything, windows will search for an app with those letters you have just typed.

Apps Compatibility: all apps I've installed have worked without any problem. VirtualBox installed and runs an Ubuntu image flawlessly. Chrome runs without a hitch. Adobe Lightroom 4 and Photoshop CS5, again, both seamless and flawless. The two exceptions have been Cisco AnyConnect VPN client (which works fine under Win7) and the ATI graphics card auto-switching driver. Neither of the latter work at all. They both installed without warnings or errors, but when it's time to run, they error out. I also installed some dev tools (MS VisualStudio 11 for the Web, Notepad++, Dart editor/VM/Dartium, etc.) and all work well and otherwise as expected. Steam client and other games work well (well, the programs run well, the graphics are horrible due to driver issues, as explained above).

Not tested: IE10. While I've heard really good things about IE10, truth is Chrome is working very well for me, so there really isn't a good reason for me to try IE10 to any meaningful extent.

Overall, I think Windows 8 has serious potential. I've become familiar with the Metro Dashboard in a short time and I actually enjoy it. Microsoft also seems to have taken notice that users want to customize their computer experience (specially when it comes to themes and wallpapers), so, they now let people customize the start screen and the lock screen (both customization options missing in Vista and Win7) as well as the desktop and the background of the Metro Dashboard. My only concern would be that for older people who aren't tech savvy who have finally -- after so many years -- gotten used to the Windows workflow that this new workflow/UI paradigm will get them confused and flustered which in turn can turn them away. At any rate, I think the OS is behaving really well considering it still in beta and definitely showing lots of promise. So, I would say that, if you have the time and a blank drive to experiment with, you should give Windows8 preview a try.

The Long (Space Age) Hiatus Needs To End

Recently I've been reading and watching documentaries about the Voyager mission. The more I've learned about it, the more flabbergasted I've become at the long hiatus we, as a society, have taken about exploring outer space. Sure, we all awe at the breathtaking images the venerable Hubble Space Telescope and certainly felt utmost excitement when the Mars Pathfinder sent the images of our red planetary neighbor. However, at this point, I think we have all but abandoned space research. We, as society, leave that task  to the academicians and practitioners at NASA (or its subsidiaries) without much care whether they take their funding away, or budget constraints put missions on indefinite stand-by. I find perplexing that with the incredible advances in science and technology in the last twenty years, we don't have plans to have a human on mars in, say, the next ten years. We are perching on information from a mission that was conceived and launched thirty-plus years ago. Those people, that generation didn't have the technology we have today -- not even in their remote dreams. They had to MAKE the technology. They endeavored in a mission they had anecdotal information about. They pushed forward with a lot of theoretical knowledge, but very little, if any, practical sapience. They painstakingly designed gear to withstand the trip, and then when they found out that those specs were not going to be sufficient to survive the hazards of inter planetary travel, they redesigned and retooled it pretty much on the fly: everything from electronics, to the vessel itself. There was a huge push and pressure to get it right. It was much more than seeing the giants of the solar system "up close". It was about expanding the bounds of human knowledge. And at that, I would say, the Voyager Mission was a colossal success that caused "shockwaves" we still hear about  to this day.

Why should we not do that again but with loftier goals?  Why can't we think about and beyond of what's known? We have gained a substantial amount of knowledge and technology since the Voyager Mission set sail, in terms of materials science, computer science, electronics, telecommunications and so forth. Why not harness that in order to learn more about our solar system? Let's send a drone to do "Recon", if you will, of Venus' crust? Let's learn more about Io, Europa, Callisto and Ganymede. Let's send space craft there, take samples and bring them back! Imagine being able to see/examine/study a piece of the crust of one of Jupiter's moons? How about sending probes to Neptune and Triton. You get the idea: let's expand the bounds of human knowledge again! If we can spend days musing about HTML semantics, distributed databases, metrics and code poetry, we surely can support those who spend their days musing about the exact chemical make-up of a distant planet or what would it take to put a human on Mars (and back). I think it's crucial we get the Space Age back to the forefront and as a priority for the advancement of the human race.

 

An Interesting Pattern of Parallels

Now, for a change of pace, something sorta random and non-technical. This blog post is more of a "lessons learned" type of post.  A decade ago or so I got pretty hard-core into equity and futures trading and I came out of it in the red (although close enough to break even), however, I gained a lot experience and "wisdom" in the area that can't be quantified. For the last few weeks I've been hitting the freebie online Poker (Hold'em) games at nights and while learning the game, some patterns and parallels with other aspects and activities in my life started to become clear. So here's my list of things I've noticed:

* It's never, never, never, ever, ever too late to fold. So what if you made a judgement mistake? So what if lady luck effed you with that lousy flop? So what if you thought you had a strong hand and went neck-deep upping the ante? So what if you'll be left with only a pittance of money to cover couple blinds? It does not matter. Better to lose 80% of your money in one hand than 100% of it. Exact same concept applies to equity trades! So what if that strong momentum fizzes and leaves you without a floor? So what if that piece-of-junk stock you are shorting suddenly comes with spectacular good news? It does not matter. Cover/sell, take your loss and move on.

* Many small gains are better than a "slam dunk" gain. Targeting your game for methodical, measured small gains will, at best, make substantial gains over time; at worst, it will let you stay in the game for a long time. Don't get me wrong, it takes quite a bit of discipline not to go all-in with a strong hand, but letting your impulse to go all-in will likely leave you all-out sooner or later. Not to say that you shouldn't take risks, by all means you should. But you should take calculated risks, not risks based on pot size. Very similar dynamic happens in equities/futures trading. If you are hunting around to go all-in on a "slam dunk" stock, you will be all-out before you can realize the mistake you made. If instead you go for trades that you perceive will yield a modest return (whether it's a 20-second round-trip trade or a week-long trade it's irrelevant), there's a decent chance, you'll make good money in the aggregate.

* You don't have to win every hand to do well. In fact, I'd say (based on my empirical observation, not on stats), that, counter-intuitively, the more you fold the better you'll do in the long run. If not winning every hand bother you, if the thought folding with pocket aces revolts your stomach, then you are almost guaranteed to do horribly at poker. Again, same parallel can be drawn in trading. You don't have to make money on every trade to do well. So long as you make the same or more than you lose on another trade, you'll be fine.

* Check your emotions at the door. If you let your emotions (positive or negative), your prejudices and your biases be part of your game, you are in for a lot of trouble and disappointment. For example,  if you draw parallels between folding and cowardice, or if you take someone raising your bet as an attack you must defend against, boy, it will be fun to watch you lose all your dough really fast. Smart decisions aren't made with emotions. Smart decisions, in poker, are made with data, facts and a decent grasp of probability. See the pattern of parallels? Indeed, a very similar concept applies to trading. If you take a loss personal, if you resent the market (or the bulls or the bears) when a trade goes the other way (and against you), they you are in for a rather unpleasant and money-losing experience.

* Cannot possibly be emphasized enough and over and over again: patience is a virtue (and your best friend). You will often be dealt crappy hands and often followed by even crappier flops. At a certain point after you've used, say,  25% of your chips just in blinds and then folding, you start getting uneasy, restless and get the itch to make bet meaningful amounts. If you know how to keep your composure, if you know how to wait, if you can control that impulse to get some momentum going, you will do much better than the player who at that same point says/thinks "Screw this, I'm bored. I want to play" and then goes and makes a horrible bet. If you begin to get bored and restless, stand up and take a break. Same dynamic goes on in the trading world. Often you'll see stocks in you "watch list" do nothing, maybe the market is treading water, and that's the perfect time to either make horrible trades or take a refreshing break. Patience, patience, patience.

 

Do you have any parallels to share? Do you think the same parallels above apply to other aspects of our lives? If so please feel free to comment. Bear in mind that instead of having some asinine CAPTCHA image that no one can read, I do manual filtering of spam; however, I do not censor or otherwise leave out real comments, I simply filter out all the spam.

A Humble Proposal to the Tech Industry (and its Buzzwordsmiths)

The Tech world, apparently, thrives on buzzwords and cliches. The one buzzword  that's been pervading all conversations and most articles is "Cloud".  "Cloud" is a particularly hazardous one because it's both blurry and nebulous (both puns intended). Unlike many other buzzwords, "Cloud" has many different meanings to different people (and not in a good way). Marketing folks sure LOVE this one because it's so metaphoric and evocative yet intrinsically meaningless, but what about your product and project managers? Your non-technical directors?   Your developers?  Your Operations personnel? How do they define and understand the word "Cloud" (in the technical context)? Do they see it a Holy Grail or panacea? Do they see it as a "nice to have, but not required"?  As a threat to their jobs? It is precisely why this buzzword can be and is dangerous.

So, my humble proposal is to get rid of it, in as much as possible, from our technical vocabulary. Instead, I humbly suggest, you use words or phrases like Utility-Priced Scalable Computing (UPSC)? Or more simply Scalable Virtual Computing (SVC)? How about the existing phrases like IaaS or SaaS or PaaS (wherever appropriate) ? Or use phrases or words that have a very specific, to-the-point meaning. Everyone in your organization, your customers, associates, etc. should unequivocally understand the same terminology. The less ambiguity in buzzword semantics, the better decisions can be made, better conversations can be had and, ultimately, the simpler it'll become to think, talk and do something about it.

How to (and not to) sell your Android app

I'd like to briefly preface this post by saying that I'm writing it as a (potential) customer and not as a developer/vendor.

In preparation for releasing my Android photo blog, Da Giorno a Notte, I needed to gather as many photography-related apps on my phone as I could find. I downloaded many of them from both the amazon app store and the Android Market. All of them were free (either through amazon's free paid app program or through Android Market demo/ad-supported).  Among all demo/ad-supported apps I downloaded  Little Photo and Vignette Demo are the ones I'd like to focus on.

How To Sell Your Android App:

Little Photo is a bit unusual. Super minimalistic UI (perhaps a bit much sometimes), adds the effects in place for direct preview and you only see unobtrusive banner ads right before you save a copy of the app in your SD card. The developer is constantly pushing updates, adding needed features, organizing the menus a bit better, etc. This is exactly what I like to see as a potential customer. I want to see that the developer cares about the app (and invested/immersed in it) , I want to see updates, I want to see communication with the user base, but above all else, let the potential customer use your app to its fullest and if your app is worth its salt, they'll probably fork the money to buy it.

How (Not) To Sell Your Android App:

Vignette Demo, on the other hand, has a very user unfriendly UI, things/menus seem to be slapped around for no good reason. Blind editing: you cannot see the changes until after you close the effects window (which is superbly annoying and time inefficient). Has a lot of "filler" effects i.e. instead of presenting the user with a dialog to choose a variation of a given effect, they're listed (and feature counted!) as a different effect. To make matters worse, the developer decided to limit the size of the pictures to save/share to couple hundred pixels on the longest side unless you pay for the app (which is about $4 at the moment). In-app, feature paywalls are ridiculous, IMO, and it will not make customers upgrade to the paid version, it will drive them to find an alternative.

In closing, if I had to choose today which of the two apps I would buy, I would choose, hands-down, Little Photo. Not only it offers a MUCH better user experience, very nice feature set, but also has a developer behind it that it's passionate about both the app and photography and smart enough to not limit the app's potential hoping to force the customer to buy the paid version.