Evolve

Microsoft Vista

It can be tough persuading people of the value of alloting time to consider the user experience of a software application during its development. There always seem to be so many other pressing things to consider - like just getting it to work.

But with products that have evolved over multiple releases the user experience increasingly becomes one of the most important differentiating aspects - partially because the importance of functionality reduces (most of the really useful features have already been added).

Do we really need more functionality from Microsoft Word? I'd gladly sacrifice much of its functionality for an improvement in its user experience.

Interestingly (and perhaps unsurprisingly given the competition from Apple and Microsoft's desire to dominate the digital living room) Vista makes 'User Experience' the top item on its list of features.

And it does seem that they've thought of some interesting ideas literally outside the box (or at least outside the laptop case). Check out Windows sideshow which allows a second smaller screen to be placed on a laptop for rapid access to the type of content (calendar info, etc.) you don't necessarily want to boot to get at...

As for the rest I guess we'll have to wait and see...

What would your Avatar look like?

There are some compelling images on the BBC web site today showing, side by side, images of online gamers and their avatars. I find it fascinating to look at the comparison and to think about how people have chosen to represent themselves. Take a look - the side by side portraits are accessed via a side bar not too far down the page.

Some of these themes are touched on in Tad Williams "Otherland" series - which, while really really long, is the most detailed and engaging exploration of virtual worlds (in fiction) and related ideas I've read.

Trekking the High Atlas

Well, just back from trekking in the High Atlas - including climbing Mount Toubkal which is North Africa's highest peak (4167m). The landscape proved to be much more varied and dramatic than I'd expected. This was particularly the case in the higher mountains. Simply beautiful.

I went with Explore but a number of companies do similar treks (Exodus for example). We covered about 80 miles in the ten days or trekking with quite a lot of up and down (probably an average of 700m of both each day). Fortunately we only had to carry our day packs with a mule train carrying our more substantial luggage and cooking gear :)