Separating the sheep from the goats

In the book The Inmates are Running the Asylum, Alan Cooper explains how software is difficult to use because they have design flaws.  He says the graphical user interface does not match how users want to use the software.  However, the reason software is difficult to use is because it is crowded with too many unused features.

A garage full of junk, no matter how you organize it, is still full of junk.  Most software users only use a small amount of the available features.  The rest of the features are left untouched or not even known about.  In order for interfaces to be intuitive, the unnecessary features need to be stripped away.  It is easier to find a certain feature if searching through hundreds of other features isn't necessary.

Instead of trashing all of the less commonly used features, multiple interfaces could be developed.  One example is to have three separate interfaces.  One for only the basic features, another for users more accustomed to the software, and a third for only the most advanced users.  In this way, no functionality is lost and all types of uses can have an interface tailored to their needs.

Hypnosis in our Homes

Media such as television, movies, and the internet can easily cause us to loose track of time.  It seems harmless, but the time we spend doing such activities quickly adds up. Watching television a few hours a day means spending six and a half weeks in front of the TV in one year.  Over the course of your life, you could easily spend ten years watching television.  Living an unbalanced life can be detrimental to your future as well as your spiritual progression.  On judgement day I don't want to say I spent ten years sitting in an unresponsive haze, void of any cognitive thought.

Here's an interesting article about this topic:
https://lds.org/ensign/2008/01/unplugged?lang=eng

The World Wide Waste

I have a couple roommates that are not taking classes or working this semester.  Most of their time is spent playing video games, watching TV, or surfing the web.  All of these activities can be highly addictive.  Because there is always some sort of entertainment running in my apartment, I often find myself sucked in to some of these activities, even though I try to elude them and do homework instead.  It is not only important to avoid addiction, but also to place yourself in an environment where you aren't bombarded with reasons to procrastinate.  Avoid situations that make it harder to achieve your goals.

Paid Volunteers

Many open source projects are developed solely by volunteers.  Projects are enhanced when these volunteers have time to spend on the project.  On the other hand, some open source projects are funded by companies.  These projects have full-time developers working on the software.  A couple examples of this are Firefox, which is funded mostly by Google, and the popular Linux distrobution, Fedora, which is funded by Red Hat.  These full-time developers can ensure that the project grows at a steady pace.

The idea behind open source is volunteers contributing to the cause.  As more open source projects become successful, more companies may turn to the open source business model and pay developers to work on their open source projects.  When developers are paid for their work, then volunteers are less likely to contribute.  Will this shift from volunteers to paid developers be good for open source software, or is it a step closer to proprietary software?

World of Warcraft Debate

Copywoes

If you find a CD on the ground and pick it up, you are suddenly responsible for knowing what kind of copyright the contents of that CD are under.  You might be violating the copyright laws just because you picked up the CD.  To prevent such an atrocious act, instead of printing the band and album name on a CD we should print the copyright information.  Before you touch a CD you can ensure that doing so will not be a criminal act.  Instead of saying "Hey, have you heard Mayday Parade's new album?", we can say "Hey, have you heard that new CD under copyright version 10.2.3?"

Under Pressure

Women shouldn't be pressured to enter technical fields because they are at a low percentage in those fields.  Often students are forced into engineering or mathematics, even if they hate the subject, because those fields are viewed as more prestigious and better paying.  Parents will often coerce their children to enter the field they are in (or wish they were in).  Women, like men, should be encouraged to enter a field that they enjoy, not forced to enter a field they hate.  A small salary cut is worth loving your profession.