Notes From Neal

I’m a software developer and consultant using FileMaker Pro as my development platform. As a builder of software applications, I find it important that my software not only work well, but is usable as well as easy to use. I pay close attention to what appears on my screens and printed page.

Below is an example of a dialog box that simply does not work.

I’ll give credit where credit is due. I found the dialog in a review of the TomTom GO 720 GPS. The article is posted on TidBits.

Your comments and thoughts would be welcome.

Awhile back, I posted an article about Julie Amero, a Norwich, CT substitute school teacher who was convicted of “endangering students by exposing them to pornographic material displayed on a classroom computer.” Feel free to read the article for more details.

According to Elizabeth Wood’s excellent blog Sex in the Public Square, Ms. Amero will get a new trial because an examination of a computer hard drive apparently contradicted evidence in court.

This is very good news, as the teacher faced up to 40 years in prison for something she did not do. Click here for an additional post.

It was in the third quarter of Super Bowl XVIII played on January 22, 1984 that the video announcing the first Macintosh ran. It ran only once, but surely impressed a lot of people with its power and creativity. Some would say the video was the precursor of “event advertising” during subsequent Super Bowls.

According to Wikipedia, which seems to have an article on everything, that commerical cost $800,000 to make and another $800,000 to air during that game between the Washington Redskins and the Oakland Raiders. For the sake of accuracy, the Raiders won that game 38-9.

At the time, I was an Educational Sales rep for an Apple reseller and actually saw the commercial back in December at a Macintosh product roll-out. Those of us in the room were stunned; literally blown away by the impact of that video. The Macintosh computer itself was also quite revolutionary for its time. Unlike the Apple //e, which I owned at the time, and the IBM PC XT, all the components were inside one box. Additionally, instead of a command line interface, it used a mouse and graphics to make the computer work aka a GUI (graphical user interface).

As an employee in an Apple store, I was eligible to purchase one of these computers under what was called “Own a Mac.” For $2500, I received the original Macintosh, the first ImageWriter Printer, MacWrite word processing, MacPaint, a revolutionary graphics program, a subscription to MacWorld, and a carrying case for the computer. It showed up in several boxes on my doorstep in March of 1984.

I still have the carrying case and printer, although I’ve not used either in years. The original Macintosh is long gone, although subsequent Macs, including my current MacBook Pro, are commonplace in my office and home. Soon after the product announcement, I purchased a few hundred shares of Apple stock, based upon what I beliefed to be a great product. I was proven correct by the share price, and sold my holding a few years later for a down payment on our current Cincinnati residence.

If you have an thoughts about that video, or experience with early computing, please feel welcome to comment below.

Today, I completed the last feature in a major software project.  Since January, I’ve worked on this FileMaker Pro database solution, two days a week.  From the initial design which was mostly replicated from an old version, to “customer” interviews, to the interface concept, to schema construction, to what seemed like endless features, detailed testing, to today.  In between, we squished many bugs and had one false start when we encountered a major flaw in FileMaker Pro 8.5.

Hours upon hours of screen layout and report design, staring at relationship graphs, stepping through code, and scratching my head, cluelessly wondering why my scripts wouldn’t work right.  Threads of code and ideas often crowded my mind.  Solutions appearing in the middle of the night, while resting between points on the tennis court, or as I lathered my hair with shampoo in the shower.  There were laughing threats to cut intruders with my plastic sword which hung from the monitor in the shared office during my stint with this client.

As I was wrapping up my work with a sigh of relief, I dropped by to wish Phil, the company president, a Merry Christmas.  As we talked, I told him of my accomplishment and that we could now see the “light at the end of the tunnel” and deploy the software to the company.  At that point, Phil reminded me of the film Von Ryans Express.  He described a scene where the train went into a tunnel only to discover that the Germans had a large tank awaiting at the other end.

So much for light at the end of the tunnel.  And thanks for those words of encouragement, Phil.

I can imagine that writers feel the same lightening of spirit and sigh of relief when they pen the words “The End” on the final page of their book.  The work is good and it’s finished.

I know, there will be more to do when we deploy the software to the company.  And during those first few days, I’ll be fending off irate staff with my plastic sword.  But for the rest of this year, let me have my peace.

In Sarasota County, Florida, apparently they “lost” around 18,000 votes in an highly contested election between Vern Buchanan (R) and Christine Jennings (D) for a seat in the US House of Representatives. Among the votes that they were able to count, the difference in the outcome was around 400 votes.

This story, which was widely reported can be read here from Wired Magazine. You might recall that Florida was involved in another electoral fiasco during the 2000 presidential election, helping the brother of the Governor of Florida to win the electoral vote and become President of the United States.

That was paper technology, in this election it was touch-screen technology. In this situation, apparently the software failed to record the vote in this race for around 18,000. Since there is no paper trail, it appears that there is no method to audit or accurately recount the vote. Election officials were taking the typical software support route to addressing this issue; it must be the voters’ fault. The article cites election Sarasota Elections Supervisor Kathy Dent,

“saying that voters either failed to see the race on the ballot because it appeared high at the top of a ballot page that also included the governor’s race, or they simply decided not to vote in that race — although they did cast votes in other races on the ballots. “

What irks me is the lack of awareness by our elected officials when it comes to matters as important as voting. How can any type of fair election take place with no accountability by paper trail or some other replication of the data? What were the people thinking that designed such a system, and then those who made the selection of these devices for deployment to the electorate?

Voting is a fundamental right and the foundation upon which the United States is built. When we allow that right to slip away to poor electoral accountability or downright fraud, then our country is doomed. For all our government’s worries about threats to our democracy from without, I often wonder if the real threat is not from within our own shores.

As my comedic hero, Earl Pitts often says, “Wake Up America!”

Last week I purchased a brand new MacBook Pro, Apple’s laptop with an Intel processor. So far, it’s an excellent computer: fast, solid, well-designed, and it even runs the Windows operating system inside a Macintosh window using Parallels Desktop.

For years, I used QuickBooks 4.0 for the Macintosh for accounting for my FileMaker development consulting practice, Watzman Associates. Unfortunately, it only ran in MacOS 9, and would no longer run on my new computer. I was more than pleased to discover that my new laptop came installed with QuickBooks New User Edition 6 for Mac. And all I needed to do was “register” the software with a phone call.

I called Intuit sales, full well expecting to get a pressured pitch to upgrade to a bigger and better version. Upon explaining my business situation, the sales rep suggested there was no need for any other product and that registration was free. What a pleasant surprise to discover that I had a “free” and high quality accounting solution for my consulting practice.

Fast forward about 7 days. I’m now using the software and, as with any accounting software, there is a learning curve. I check out the QuickBooks support web site, only to find that I’m allowed 30 days free support even for my free software. Taking advantage of their online callback support, I received a phone call in less than 30 minutes. The support person was friendly and helpful, offering suggestions on a better method to handle my payroll accounting.

I appreciate the helpful and pleasant staff that I’ve spoken with at Intuit, as previous experiences with Intuit had been less than pleasant. I’m a satisfied “customer” and feel it only right to praise their good work.

Once I figure this “blogging thing” out, I intend to bring more focus to this page. Expect to hear more about User Interface Design. I actually know something about this topic, having spent the last 20 years as a Computer Consultant, mostly building database systems for the last 12 or so.

Along with commentary about Interface Design and software development, expect the “random” (my son’s word for unexpected happenings) posting about horse racing, tennis, and other random goings-on in this world of ours.

Although I’m around technology daily, I’m from the old school. This blogging thing is quite new to me, although I find the idea of being able to publish my commentary. But then, who the heck is going to read this stuff anyhow?

So I’m thinking that what you’re going to find here are comments on anything from music to horse racing to politics to books I’ve read. If you happen to drop by, or should I say stumble by, your notes would surely be appreciated.

Egad! This is going to be a challenge at first, as I can’t even figure out how to use this software. As I write that last sentence, I have to laugh. I write software for a living and pride myself on the usability of my work. I build database applications using FileMaker Pro as a platform. This is probably a good experience for me, because if I’m going to make this blog interesting and readable, I’m going to have to figure out how to make it work.

And like most of the good folks who use my software, I simply want it to work and have little patience to futz around with all the thig-a-majigs and wangdoodles and googas that I have to click.