Category Archives: Rant

07.25.11
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User Interface progress?

I really feel the need to rant… I’ve just seen the following interface design:

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So, you tell me… does this mean Column Guides is already turned on or when you flick the switch you are turning it on? Now I would assume it’s already turned on but the trouble I have here is what is wrong with using old-fashioned interface elements like the ones below? Aren’t they obvious? They may not be pretty but at least you know exactly what it means. Mind you… I have a gripe about the check box control too – sometimes it contains an ‘x’! You know it means the Column Guides are turned on but and ‘x’!!!!

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07.04.08
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Windows Live Mesh

I was just copying over some work from my laptop to my work PC and thought I’d give Windows Live Mesh desktop access a go. At first looks it seems pretty cool – I can even connect to the laptop from anywhere through the ‘Live Desktop’ that exists in ‘The Cloud’ (gotta love these terms!!)

However, there were a couple of things I noticed – first up was my laptop screen has a 1680 resolution whilst my desktop is only 1280 and the connection to the laptop is in a window inside a browser… Mesh scales the laptop into this box. I had to squint a fair amount!

However, the more unnerving point was the laptop beside me suddenly sprang into life, unlocked and promptly showed to the world everything I was performing from the remote machine. I find this unnerving because as a default surely this is a bad plan – no one is going to know that they’ve just unlocked their home machine and it will remain unlocked until they close the remote connection. I’m far too used to Microsoft Terminal Service Clients that give you the assurance that the remote machine.

05.28.08
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Cannot delete a sync partnership in Vista’s Sync Center

This has really been bugging me recently. Once in a while the relationship with my Windows Mobile (a HTC TyTn) seems to break down between my work PC and the device and I’m left with a greyed out device in Sync Center which, even though the menu option is enabled and selectable, cannot be deleted. Without much help from searching the internet (everything seemed to suggest deleting system files which seemed a bit dodgy to me) I finally stumbled across the solution…

The screenshot below shows my device in Sync Center now happily activated and connected. Previously it was greyed out and called ‘Tytn’ – I added the month and year to the name to see how long it lasts this time! Every time I tried to delete it the menu option simply did nothing.

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However, I just happened to selected ‘Network and Internet’ from the address bar and found my old friend the Windows Mobile Device Center – I selected that and the device was recognised and I could re-establish the partnership.

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Seems soooo simple now that I’ve done it but it just seems to be one of those interfaces in Vista that seems to confuse rather than help – I was so preoccupied by the Sync Center interface not working and not allowing me to remove the device that I forgot about the interface I should have been looking at in the first place! (There’s a ‘mini rant’ in there somewhere!)