The Virtual Engineer » apple

When you are the "Big Dog", you must consistently deliver!

derrek.cooper — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 21:20:00 +0000

Everyone, big and small, strives to be the best at what they do. Right? Only a select few ever reach the status of the “standard”, “best of the best” or the “Big Dog” in their market. Look at Microsoft, Apple, Google etc.. I think we can all agree that they dominate in their own right.

But look at what happens when you become so big that you are are constantly criticized for not delivering — Microsoft. They are still doing well for themselves, but becoming more and more vulnerable. Not to mention, losing market share. Google is new and young enough that they are doing great, but things can quickly change if they slip, even once. Take Chrome, for example, people jumped all over some of the inefficiencies. Personally, I like it, but will stick with Firefox for now.

Now, let’s take a look at Apple. I have always been a fan. In fact, I just returned from the Apple Store with my 6th ipod. (I recently dropped my shuffle in the ocean). In general, I have always been happy with my ipods. I use them constantly and some have stopped working over time or I just wanted an upgrade.

But let’s take itunes. Where to start.. For an application that updates itself more than any other application I have ever seen, it leaves ALOT to be desired. Sure it is functional, but for the core product of their music business, I expect way more. Some people argue, ‘well, it is free’. Totally bogus excuse as it is the front-end of the money making machine for Apple.

I am sure that many of the issues that I have are operator error, but.. I don’t care. I have GB’s of music that I purchased on itunes as well as the above mentioned box of ipods. I have purchased countless songs on itunes that I already had on CDs simply because it was easier. So, I consider myself a good consumer for Apple and have the right to rant about itunes.

Here is a quick list of the things that irritate me…

User interface is becoming old and outdated – medium irritation
Play list management is clunky – minor irritation
Randomly, it creates duplicate songs in my library – huge irritation
Switching my library from one computer to another is a nightmare – HUGE irritation
No way to access previously purchased songs – online backup — medium irritation
Loses path to external drive; resets to default – huge irritation

I am sure that there are simple fixes to the above, but to me, I don’t have the time or the patience when it comes to this sort of stuff. I expect it to be as close to perfect as possible and want you to continue to WOW me every time. If you don’t, I will then begin to look for the next big thing. Major expectations on my part, I know. But that’s what you should expect when you are the “Big Dog”.

This relates to all markets. As a member of a fairly small company, we live and breathe thinking we are the standard. We work each day “earning” your business. Are we perfect? Absolutely, not. But we strive everyday to exceed your expectations. My point here is not to brag, but simply state the facts. I think everyone should work each day as if they were the standard and strive for perfection. In the software world, there will be bugs and imperfections. But the harder we push ourselves to deliver the entire package each day will result in happy customers.

The idea here is that someday you might be the next ‘Big Dog’. The catch is that it doesn’t get any easier. The bigger you get, the higher the expectations.

Efficient Design is the Key to Success

derrek.cooper — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 12:40:00 +0000

I mentioned Desktop Engineering Magazine in my last post. There is a great article by Amy Rowell that discusses the importance of design. The point is that it is extremely important to push the envelope on design regardless of the industry you serve. Pushing the envelope can mean many things. For some, it may involve the industrial design department, others may need to tweak a % or two to gain extra efficiency and others may need to ensure that their thermal management can accomodate the latest and greatest coming from the EE’s. No better example of a company that pushes the envelope than Apple. They have raised the bar so we now expect them to “wow” us. Difficult position to be in for a company, but they are certainly reaping the benefits.

We speak to many engineering manager’s all over the world everyday that acknowledge the fact that competition is tough and they would like to expand their foothold on the market. Unfortunately, they are already stretched thin and are struggling to keep up with the demand of their existing products. It is doubtful that hiring additional engineers is on the shortlist. So, doesn’t it make sense to optimize the efficiency of your existing team? I know people are cringing as this is the perfect time for a sales pitch. Bear with me.

Today’s engineer is multi-tasking. Time management is probably the biggest obstacle. Personally, I go through an exercise of jotting down where I spend my time each day. No fancy tools, just pen and notebook. I try to see where I am wasting time, not necessarily spending the most time. I am trying to identify tasks or areas that can be eliminated or automated.

So, where does Upfront CAE come into play? Begin to look at your process. Are you spending time, building and testing? Is it a fast and inexpensive process? I doubt the answer is yes. Are you spending time supporting customers after the fact because your products are failing in the field? Are there areas of your new designs that you really think would have an impact, but there just isn’t enough time in the day to try them? If the answer is not an definitive, NO, then you should at least talk to somone about Upfront CAE.

To start, my advice, ask the sales guy how he envisions incoporating Upfront CAE into “your” process? Often, we get very tied up in how software works click for click. This can be a huge time sink. It is important to understand how it can be implemented first. The rest, usually falls into place.

Yahoo! Widgets make my desktop look cool

derrek.cooper — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 22:44:00 +0000

Being an interface snob, I have always been jealous of my brother’s Apple/Mac interface. Looks way cooler than everyone else. Same feeling I had back in the day when I was rocking the Atari and my buddy up the street had Intelivision. Being a huge fan of Asteroids, I was psyched to have Atari. But his machine definitely looked cooler.

Anyway, when Vista was announced, I was stoked. Finally, I can now have a cool desktop like my brother’s Mac. But then, oh no, Vista is a giant nightmare. All I really wanted was the “Sidebar” that Vista was rolling out. I then found that Google had one that you could install on winXP, but quickly was disappointed as it is a big clunky thing. My brother’s MAC was still cooler. Sound like I am whining?

But, alas, check out Yahoo! Widgets. I love them. Cool little add ins that you can install that “float” on your desktop. So, I can rearrange them, however I want. I can customize the look and feel. Some have been developed by Yahoo and some by whoever. So, obviously, there is a big risk that they will not work or have limited functionality. But some are really cool and let you change colors etc.

Check out a portion of my desktop above. There are literally scores of different things you can have. I stuck with the basics: clocks for the various time zones I work in, a calendar with a preview of events from Outlook, local weather and an XM radio player.

Each has odd little quirks like, “bleeding” through both Pro/engineer and SolidWorks? If you maximize both CAD systems, the odd behavior goes away. So, as long as I know how to fix it, I am good with it.

When Google burst onto the scene, I felt bad for Yahoo! As you have seen in other posts, I am becoming a loyal fan.