What MicrosoftÂ’s .NET DoesnÂ’t Get: Clay Shirky: “While Microsoft will certainly deliver pieces of the .NET suite over the next few years, the main purpose of the June announcement was FUD–the fear, uncertainty, and doubt about a competing technology that a good press release can plant in the minds of potential clients. And .NET isnÂ’t just any old FUD either, but FUD of an epic, era-defining sort. With .NET, Microsoft is suggesting that this Internet thing has been a nice try, but that it probably isnÂ’t going to pan out.

“When you used to put out a press release, it would get published in some reputable magazine or newspaper and written up as a news story. Nowadays people are just getting that stuff in email, sending it to 10,000 close friends, and saying, “Get a load of this crap.”

FEED: Christopher Locke interview with Ian Clarke of Freenet fame. Clarke: “Although I think it is important to stress that Freenet was not designed with the issue of copyright in mind. It was not designed to be the next Napster. It was actually a journalist who first said to me, “Hey, well couldn’t you do the same thing as Napster, but better?” But in terms of the actual genesis of Freenet, I wasn’t thinking about MP3s, I wasn’t thinking about music, I was thinking about freedom of speech.

Adobe sues Macromedia Adobe is suing Macromedia for using “tabbed palettes.” I wasn’t aware that Adobe had invented and patented one of the most over-used recent GUI additions to most software packages and web sites.

405: the movie Jeez, the things you can do with consumer-level video gear and 3 months of free time. (Link thanks to RageBoy

Lighthouse: Attack of the flying menus “The spread of browsers capable of displaying JavaScript and Dynamic HTML now allows almost anyone to drop flying menus into their Web sites. For many, the temptation to use the latest and fanciest technology has proven too great. And flying menus certainly do conserve valuable screen space. But with flying menus come tough, often under-recognised problems.”

Forget the hype, e-books still hard on the eyes (8/12/2000) I’ve been using the new Microsoft Reader 1.5 and it’s better than what I was using before (Glassbook). Still too hard to read lots of text on screen. I also wish it would display PDFs, which I still hate. This article has a few further complaints. Jakob Nielsen doesn’t think much of it either, apparently: “Microsoft Reader is somewhat disappointing. I downloaded Moby Dick but could not keep my interest going in reading much beyond “Call me Ishmael.

The dot com graveyard Upside’s site celebrating the demise of numerous internet companies. I find it a bit morbid, but it certainly works as a reality check.

The Toughest Virus of All: Clay Shirky on viral marketing. “The viral marketing meme has always been hot, but now its expansion is being undertaken by a raft of emarketing sites promising to elucidate “The Six Simple Principles for Viral Marketing” or offering instructions on “How to Use Viral Marketing to Drive Traffic and Sales for Free!” As with anything that promises miracle results, there is a catch. Viral marketing can work, but it requires two things often in short supply in the marketing world: honesty and execution.

AskTog: If They Don’t Test, Don’t Hire Them Tog again, and he gives 5 great reasons why user testing can improve both the product and the process. He says, “WeÂ’ve all been to those project team meetings where perhaps ten $100/hr engineers, designers, and marketing people sit around and debate how users are likely to respond. ThatÂ’s $1000 an hour for uninformed opinion. One usability professional, applying the scientific method, can have a real answer in two hours for a tiny fraction of that amount.

Ted Baker Online One of the better examples of an online store created entirely in Flash. Most of the (seemingly required) transitional animations run quickly and then get out of the way. The site also attempts to adhere to some basic UI standards. Some of the text is too small, but for the most part it seems to work pretty well.

Flazoom.com – Making Sure Usability ‘Fitts' Flash More stuff regarding Fitt’s law, specifically related to Flash in this case. “Flash designers can apply this law to our field because it involves the way people use their mouse (or other pointing device) to interact with the computer. Flash designers have much to gain from understanding the applications of Fitt’s Law.”