Dell ASAP Software. @FAIL @UNBELIEVABLE FAIL

So I’m writing this as I sit on hold, waiting to get some information about the Adobe CS5 Premier Suite that I ordered a month ago. I received some kind of license certificate in the mail with absolutely no instructions. Of course I called Adobe, and these numbers mean absolutely nothing to them, so I’ve lost an hour there, mostly on hold.

So now I’ve been on hold with Dell for 15 minutes. Do they have hold music? NO. They have some cheerful, clipped female voice that asks me to continue to hold, and then they try to sell me Microsoft Office.

Then they try to Sell me SQLServer.

Then Adobe Creative Suite 5.

Then they tell me they have 150,000 title for favorable bulk licensing programs.

Then they tell me that they work with Federal Agencies, and tell me to get in touch with software accounting. Good to know in case I ever work for the government.

Then they thank me for holding, and tell me that they value my business.

Then the string of completely annoying commercials, over and over again.,

And again.

Whomever decided that it was a GREAT idea that they could try to sell me software and services while I’m sitting on hold frustrated with the purchase that I have already made is a complete dimwit. I hope your boss (who I’m sure you gave this idea to thinking it would further your career is reading this) because you made him look like a complete douchebag.

6 Oct 10 by Danilo

eCommerce Usability FAIL…

I currently live in Detroit 4 days a week, and commute home to my family for the other three. This necessitates living in a small apartment in Grosse Pointe Park, and of course, getting the obligatory pizza from time-to-time. Delivery is somewhat limited in Detroit, and I decided to order on-line a few weeks back from J*******’s Pizza. I tried for 30 minutes to get to the order page. Finally I just gave up and ate some Cheerios, but before I did, I fired off a note to the “webmaster” at the pizza store. Through their “contact” form.

I actually received a reply:

My name is M***** C****** and I currently work in the online ordering department. I was wondering if you could tell me exactly what happened so that I can better assist you with this problem.

So naturally I replied back:

I could not get to an order button. Kept having to go to main screen, then identify state, city, etc. Please put a zip code finder on the home page, then an order now button on the landing page. The landing page I found myself on had PDF downloads of the menu and coupons, but I couldn’t find an order button

And today I finally got another reply after about a week:

I have complied a step by step instruction guide to order online. I sincerely hope this helps! We at J****’s Pizza® want you to be just as excited as we are for online ordering.

If you have any questions or concerns please do not hesitate to contact me.

The instructions follow:

Click “Find Store”
Input your zip code and click “Search”
Click “Online Ordering Available” under your desired store (If this link does not appear under your desired store this store does not currently offer online ordering)
You may view the menus and specials from here
If you are a new user to online ordering click “Register as a New User” located on the right hand side of the page
Input all information and click submit
Click “Add New Delivery Address”, input your information, and click “Add Address”
Click the bubble next to your address and select “Order Now” next to your store
Select “To-Go” or “Catering”
Select “Pick-up” or “Delivery”
Select your expected time (“ASAP” or select a specific date/time)
Choose your items. Use the left hand navigation bar to help you find your favorite products.
When your order is complete: To finalize an order you must click the yellow “Edit/Complete Order” button, and review your order to ensure it is correct.
Then on the next page click the yellow “Proceed to Checkout” button.
Then on the next page complete your payment information and click the yellow “Submit Order” button.
The final page will confirm your order has been submitted and have details of your order including restaurant, order type, and expected time/date.

There is also a helpful guide at the top of the page listing steps 1, 2, 3.

When you order has been submitted you will also receive an email with the subject “Online Order” proceeded by the location you have ordered from. The email will resemble a receipt detailing the store and order information.

So, being hungry for dinner, I thought I’d go through the steps and count the clicks for the fastest possible order…

My notes:

Click “Find Store” — FOUND AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE IN THE FOOTER MENU
Input your zip code and click “Search” — takes you to a google maps embed with a bunch of stores, and your approximate location as a tiny map pin. The store I want is highlighted. Why don’t they just take me to the order page and highlight the name of the store somewhere in there? Put the food in front of me for God’s sake!
Click “Online Ordering Available” under your desired store (If this link does not appear under your desired store this store does not currently offer online ordering) — did it
You may view the menus and specials from here
If you are a new user to online ordering click “Register as a New User” located on the right hand side of the page — I pre-registered to make this short(6 clicks at the end of this step)
Input all information and click submit — skipped – I clicked order now
Click “Add New Delivery Address”, input your information, and click “Add Address”–even if you click “returning user”, you still have to confirm the address or enter a new one. Another page, another click.
Click the bubble next to your address and select “Order Now” next to your store —Did this (7 clicks now)
Select “To-Go” or “Catering” — what she doesn’t mention is the landing page has all of the pizza stores that are close to you. Didn’t I already pick a place? Why am I confused again? Which store? Why does this page exist? Couldn’t the “bubble” in the other page have been a “To Go”, “Pick up” or “Delivery” choice box at that point, skipping this and the next step entirely? Wait a minute! I click “catering menu”, and get one item for delivery, but.. No way to even order it. Where the hell am I? I’m hitting the back button…(10 clicks)
Select “Pick-up” or “Delivery” — arrrggghhhhh… I hit the “ORDER NOW” button…. THERE is the “To Go/Catering” and “Pickup/Delivery” radio button groups. and then I am prompted to CONFIRM THE DELIVERY ADDRESS ONE MORE TIME… I click on the ASAP button. Three clicks on this page…
Select your expected time (“ASAP” or select a specific date/time) see above — I can finally see food to order.
Choose your items. Use the left hand navigation bar to help you find your favorite products.–the “aspx” extension on the page was a dead giveaway. OF COURSE the screen doesn’t render in Firefox well (see attached screen shot). I’ll see if I can get through this… (we’re at, I don’t know 15 clicks? more? Lost count…)
When your order is complete: To finalize an order you must click the yellow “Edit/Complete Order” button, and review your order to ensure it is correct.
Then on the next page click the yellow “Proceed to Checkout” button.
The final page will confirm your order has been submitted and have details of your order including restaurant, order type, and expected time/date. — I get to confirm my address one more time! They want to make damned sure that I’m getting my pizza!

And the number of clicks is:

More than 30.

Below find the menu screenshot:

Another MS developer forgets to test cross-browser functionaliity....

If you’re going to have on-line ordering, knock off the number of screens, knock off the number of clicks Small operations often make usability mistakes, often because they have “weekend” developers, or worse, the management has someone that “has some Internet experience” build the pages or implement some pre-built store. I can’t tell what happened here. It’s just a train wreck.

My suggestion to help would be:

Plaster Order now everywhere, with a zip code entry in the “portlet”.
At that point you should know where it’s going. The landing page should have the name of the restaurant plus a possible alternate. It should also have one set of radios for catering, etc. GO TO THE FOOD NOW.
Choose the food
Confirm the order, and have a returning user login or address form with an optional sign up on one page.
You now have the order and the address. One page to collect the money with the order posted and back button to get to the order and edit it if need be
Enter credit card information and confirm the order. Send the email

Done. Steps eliminated. Here’s a thought. Go through the Amazon order process, new customer , existing customer, etc. They’ve spent millions upon millions of dollars streamlining that process. Just dupe it. You’ll be 90% of the way there. At this point, you’re about 10% of the way there.

Hmmm. There’s a Chinese restaurant across the street…

6 Oct 10 by Danilo

eCommerce Usability FAIL…

I actually received a reply:

My name is M***** C****** and I currently work in the online ordering department. I was wondering if you could tell me exactly what happened so that I can better assist you with this problem.

So naturally I replied back:

I could not get to an order button. Kept having to go to main screen, then identify state, city, etc. Please put a zip code finder on the home page, then an order now button on the landing page. The landing page I found myself on had PDF downloads of the menu and coupons, but I couldn’t find an order button

And today I finally got another reply after about a week:

I have complied a step by step instruction guide to order online. I sincerely hope this helps! We at J****’s Pizza® want you to be just as excited as we are for online ordering.

If you have any questions or concerns please do not hesitate to contact me.

The instructions follow:

Click “Find Store”
Input your zip code and click “Search”
Click “Online Ordering Available” under your desired store (If this link does not appear under your desired store this store does not currently offer online ordering)
You may view the menus and specials from here
If you are a new user to online ordering click “Register as a New User” located on the right hand side of the page
Input all information and click submit
Click “Add New Delivery Address”, input your information, and click “Add Address”
Click the bubble next to your address and select “Order Now” next to your store
Select “To-Go” or “Catering”
Select “Pick-up” or “Delivery”
Select your expected time (“ASAP” or select a specific date/time)
Choose your items. Use the left hand navigation bar to help you find your favorite products.
When your order is complete: To finalize an order you must click the yellow “Edit/Complete Order” button, and review your order to ensure it is correct.
Then on the next page click the yellow “Proceed to Checkout” button.
Then on the next page complete your payment information and click the yellow “Submit Order” button.
The final page will confirm your order has been submitted and have details of your order including restaurant, order type, and expected time/date.

There is also a helpful guide at the top of the page listing steps 1, 2, 3.

When you order has been submitted you will also receive an email with the subject “Online Order” proceeded by the location you have ordered from. The email will resemble a receipt detailing the store and order information.

So, being hungry for dinner, I thought I’d go through the steps and count the clicks for the fastest possible order…

My notes:

Click “Find Store” — FOUND AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE IN THE FOOTER MENU
Input your zip code and click “Search” — takes you to a google maps embed with a bunch of stores, and your approximate location as a tiny map pin. The store I want is highlighted. Why don’t they just take me to the order page and highlight the name of the store somewhere in there? Put the food in front of me for God’s sake!
Click “Online Ordering Available” under your desired store (If this link does not appear under your desired store this store does not currently offer online ordering) — did it
You may view the menus and specials from here
If you are a new user to online ordering click “Register as a New User” located on the right hand side of the page — I pre-registered to make this short(6 clicks at the end of this step)
Input all information and click submit — skipped – I clicked order now
Click “Add New Delivery Address”, input your information, and click “Add Address”–even if you click “returning user”, you still have to confirm the address or enter a new one. Another page, another click.
Click the bubble next to your address and select “Order Now” next to your store —Did this (7 clicks now)
Select “To-Go” or “Catering” — what she doesn’t mention is the landing page has all of the pizza stores that are close to you. Didn’t I already pick a place? Why am I confused again? Which store? Why does this page exist? Couldn’t the “bubble” in the other page have been a “To Go”, “Pick up” or “Delivery” choice box at that point, skipping this and the next step entirely? Wait a minute! I click “catering menu”, and get one item for delivery, but.. No way to even order it. Where the hell am I? I’m hitting the back button…(10 clicks)
Select “Pick-up” or “Delivery” — arrrggghhhhh… I hit the “ORDER NOW” button…. THERE is the “To Go/Catering” and “Pickup/Delivery” radio button groups. and then I am prompted to CONFIRM THE DELIVERY ADDRESS ONE MORE TIME… I click on the ASAP button. Three clicks on this page…
Select your expected time (“ASAP” or select a specific date/time) see above — I can finally see food to order.
Choose your items. Use the left hand navigation bar to help you find your favorite products.–the “aspx” extension on the page was a dead giveaway. OF COURSE the screen doesn’t render in Firefox well (see attached screen shot). I’ll see if I can get through this… (we’re at, I don’t know 15 clicks? more? Lost count…)
When your order is complete: To finalize an order you must click the yellow “Edit/Complete Order” button, and review your order to ensure it is correct.
Then on the next page click the yellow “Proceed to Checkout” button.
The final page will confirm your order has been submitted and have details of your order including restaurant, order type, and expected time/date. — I get to confirm my address one more time! They want to make damned sure that I’m getting my pizza!

And the number of clicks is:

More than 30.

Below find the menu screenshot:

Another MS developer forgets to test cross-browser functionaliity....

My suggestion to help would be:

Plaster Order now everywhere, with a zip code entry in the “portlet”.
At that point you should know where it’s going. The landing page should have the name of the restaurant plus a possible alternate. It should also have one set of radios for catering, etc. GO TO THE FOOD NOW.
Choose the food
Confirm the order, and have a returning user login or address form with an optional sign up on one page.
You now have the order and the address. One page to collect the money with the order posted and back button to get to the order and edit it if need be
Enter credit card information and confirm the order. Send the email

Hmmm. There’s a Chinese restaurant across the street…

6 Oct 10 by Danilo

eCommerce Usability FAIL…

I actually received a reply:

My name is M***** C****** and I currently work in the online ordering department. I was wondering if you could tell me exactly what happened so that I can better assist you with this problem.

So naturally I replied back:

I could not get to an order button. Kept having to go to main screen, then identify state, city, etc. Please put a zip code finder on the home page, then an order now button on the landing page. The landing page I found myself on had PDF downloads of the menu and coupons, but I couldn’t find an order button

And today I finally got another reply after about a week:

I have complied a step by step instruction guide to order online. I sincerely hope this helps! We at J****’s Pizza® want you to be just as excited as we are for online ordering.

If you have any questions or concerns please do not hesitate to contact me.

The instructions follow:

Click “Find Store”
Input your zip code and click “Search”
Click “Online Ordering Available” under your desired store (If this link does not appear under your desired store this store does not currently offer online ordering)
You may view the menus and specials from here
If you are a new user to online ordering click “Register as a New User” located on the right hand side of the page
Input all information and click submit
Click “Add New Delivery Address”, input your information, and click “Add Address”
Click the bubble next to your address and select “Order Now” next to your store
Select “To-Go” or “Catering”
Select “Pick-up” or “Delivery”
Select your expected time (“ASAP” or select a specific date/time)
Choose your items. Use the left hand navigation bar to help you find your favorite products.
When your order is complete: To finalize an order you must click the yellow “Edit/Complete Order” button, and review your order to ensure it is correct.
Then on the next page click the yellow “Proceed to Checkout” button.
Then on the next page complete your payment information and click the yellow “Submit Order” button.
The final page will confirm your order has been submitted and have details of your order including restaurant, order type, and expected time/date.

There is also a helpful guide at the top of the page listing steps 1, 2, 3.

When you order has been submitted you will also receive an email with the subject “Online Order” proceeded by the location you have ordered from. The email will resemble a receipt detailing the store and order information.

So, being hungry for dinner, I thought I’d go through the steps and count the clicks for the fastest possible order…

My notes:

Click “Find Store” — FOUND AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE IN THE FOOTER MENU
Input your zip code and click “Search” — takes you to a google maps embed with a bunch of stores, and your approximate location as a tiny map pin. The store I want is highlighted. Why don’t they just take me to the order page and highlight the name of the store somewhere in there? Put the food in front of me for God’s sake!
Click “Online Ordering Available” under your desired store (If this link does not appear under your desired store this store does not currently offer online ordering) — did it
You may view the menus and specials from here
If you are a new user to online ordering click “Register as a New User” located on the right hand side of the page — I pre-registered to make this short(6 clicks at the end of this step)
Input all information and click submit — skipped – I clicked order now
Click “Add New Delivery Address”, input your information, and click “Add Address”–even if you click “returning user”, you still have to confirm the address or enter a new one. Another page, another click.
Click the bubble next to your address and select “Order Now” next to your store —Did this (7 clicks now)
Select “To-Go” or “Catering” — what she doesn’t mention is the landing page has all of the pizza stores that are close to you. Didn’t I already pick a place? Why am I confused again? Which store? Why does this page exist? Couldn’t the “bubble” in the other page have been a “To Go”, “Pick up” or “Delivery” choice box at that point, skipping this and the next step entirely? Wait a minute! I click “catering menu”, and get one item for delivery, but.. No way to even order it. Where the hell am I? I’m hitting the back button…(10 clicks)
Select “Pick-up” or “Delivery” — arrrggghhhhh… I hit the “ORDER NOW” button…. THERE is the “To Go/Catering” and “Pickup/Delivery” radio button groups. and then I am prompted to CONFIRM THE DELIVERY ADDRESS ONE MORE TIME… I click on the ASAP button. Three clicks on this page…
Select your expected time (“ASAP” or select a specific date/time) see above — I can finally see food to order.
Choose your items. Use the left hand navigation bar to help you find your favorite products.–the “aspx” extension on the page was a dead giveaway. OF COURSE the screen doesn’t render in Firefox well (see attached screen shot). I’ll see if I can get through this… (we’re at, I don’t know 15 clicks? more? Lost count…)
When your order is complete: To finalize an order you must click the yellow “Edit/Complete Order” button, and review your order to ensure it is correct.
Then on the next page click the yellow “Proceed to Checkout” button.
The final page will confirm your order has been submitted and have details of your order including restaurant, order type, and expected time/date. — I get to confirm my address one more time! They want to make damned sure that I’m getting my pizza!

And the number of clicks is:

More than 30.

Below find the menu screenshot:

Another MS developer forgets to test cross-browser functionaliity....

My suggestion to help would be:

Plaster Order now everywhere, with a zip code entry in the “portlet”.
At that point you should know where it’s going. The landing page should have the name of the restaurant plus a possible alternate. It should also have one set of radios for catering, etc. GO TO THE FOOD NOW.
Choose the food
Confirm the order, and have a returning user login or address form with an optional sign up on one page.
You now have the order and the address. One page to collect the money with the order posted and back button to get to the order and edit it if need be
Enter credit card information and confirm the order. Send the email

Hmmm. There’s a Chinese restaurant across the street…

6 Oct 10 by Danilo

eCommerce Usability FAIL…

I actually received a reply:

My name is M***** C****** and I currently work in the online ordering department. I was wondering if you could tell me exactly what happened so that I can better assist you with this problem.

So naturally I replied back:

I could not get to an order button. Kept having to go to main screen, then identify state, city, etc. Please put a zip code finder on the home page, then an order now button on the landing page. The landing page I found myself on had PDF downloads of the menu and coupons, but I couldn’t find an order button

And today I finally got another reply after about a week:

I have complied a step by step instruction guide to order online. I sincerely hope this helps! We at J****’s Pizza® want you to be just as excited as we are for online ordering.

If you have any questions or concerns please do not hesitate to contact me.

The instructions follow:

Click “Find Store”
Input your zip code and click “Search”
Click “Online Ordering Available” under your desired store (If this link does not appear under your desired store this store does not currently offer online ordering)
You may view the menus and specials from here
If you are a new user to online ordering click “Register as a New User” located on the right hand side of the page
Input all information and click submit
Click “Add New Delivery Address”, input your information, and click “Add Address”
Click the bubble next to your address and select “Order Now” next to your store
Select “To-Go” or “Catering”
Select “Pick-up” or “Delivery”
Select your expected time (“ASAP” or select a specific date/time)
Choose your items. Use the left hand navigation bar to help you find your favorite products.
When your order is complete: To finalize an order you must click the yellow “Edit/Complete Order” button, and review your order to ensure it is correct.
Then on the next page click the yellow “Proceed to Checkout” button.
Then on the next page complete your payment information and click the yellow “Submit Order” button.
The final page will confirm your order has been submitted and have details of your order including restaurant, order type, and expected time/date.

There is also a helpful guide at the top of the page listing steps 1, 2, 3.

When you order has been submitted you will also receive an email with the subject “Online Order” proceeded by the location you have ordered from. The email will resemble a receipt detailing the store and order information.

So, being hungry for dinner, I thought I’d go through the steps and count the clicks for the fastest possible order…

My notes:

Click “Find Store” — FOUND AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE IN THE FOOTER MENU
Input your zip code and click “Search” — takes you to a google maps embed with a bunch of stores, and your approximate location as a tiny map pin. The store I want is highlighted. Why don’t they just take me to the order page and highlight the name of the store somewhere in there? Put the food in front of me for God’s sake!
Click “Online Ordering Available” under your desired store (If this link does not appear under your desired store this store does not currently offer online ordering) — did it
You may view the menus and specials from here
If you are a new user to online ordering click “Register as a New User” located on the right hand side of the page — I pre-registered to make this short(6 clicks at the end of this step)
Input all information and click submit — skipped – I clicked order now
Click “Add New Delivery Address”, input your information, and click “Add Address”–even if you click “returning user”, you still have to confirm the address or enter a new one. Another page, another click.
Click the bubble next to your address and select “Order Now” next to your store —Did this (7 clicks now)
Select “To-Go” or “Catering” — what she doesn’t mention is the landing page has all of the pizza stores that are close to you. Didn’t I already pick a place? Why am I confused again? Which store? Why does this page exist? Couldn’t the “bubble” in the other page have been a “To Go”, “Pick up” or “Delivery” choice box at that point, skipping this and the next step entirely? Wait a minute! I click “catering menu”, and get one item for delivery, but.. No way to even order it. Where the hell am I? I’m hitting the back button…(10 clicks)
Select “Pick-up” or “Delivery” — arrrggghhhhh… I hit the “ORDER NOW” button…. THERE is the “To Go/Catering” and “Pickup/Delivery” radio button groups. and then I am prompted to CONFIRM THE DELIVERY ADDRESS ONE MORE TIME… I click on the ASAP button. Three clicks on this page…
Select your expected time (“ASAP” or select a specific date/time) see above — I can finally see food to order.
Choose your items. Use the left hand navigation bar to help you find your favorite products.–the “aspx” extension on the page was a dead giveaway. OF COURSE the screen doesn’t render in Firefox well (see attached screen shot). I’ll see if I can get through this… (we’re at, I don’t know 15 clicks? more? Lost count…)
When your order is complete: To finalize an order you must click the yellow “Edit/Complete Order” button, and review your order to ensure it is correct.
Then on the next page click the yellow “Proceed to Checkout” button.
The final page will confirm your order has been submitted and have details of your order including restaurant, order type, and expected time/date. — I get to confirm my address one more time! They want to make damned sure that I’m getting my pizza!

And the number of clicks is:

More than 30.

Below find the menu screenshot:

Another MS developer forgets to test cross-browser functionaliity....

My suggestion to help would be:

Plaster Order now everywhere, with a zip code entry in the “portlet”.
At that point you should know where it’s going. The landing page should have the name of the restaurant plus a possible alternate. It should also have one set of radios for catering, etc. GO TO THE FOOD NOW.
Choose the food
Confirm the order, and have a returning user login or address form with an optional sign up on one page.
You now have the order and the address. One page to collect the money with the order posted and back button to get to the order and edit it if need be
Enter credit card information and confirm the order. Send the email

Hmmm. There’s a Chinese restaurant across the street…

9 Dec 09 by Danilo

Ubuntu Karmic Koala 9.10 Where’s my SD Card?

I’ve had one heck of a hard time getting the SD card to mount on my Ubuntu Karmic Dell Precision 90 laptop. Not a thing. Searched through the forums and found a solution that worked for me. Now the SD Card mounts on my Dell Laptop just fine. Just takes a quick command-line call and a cut-and-paste into “gedit”. Once the edit is made, close and reboot, and the SD card problem with your Ubuntu Karmic Koala is gone!

First, at a command line, do:

sudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/options

Then, in gedit, cut and paste:

options sdhci debug_quirks=1
ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: i386
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.04
Package: linux-image-2.6.28-6-generic 2.6.28-6.17
ProcCmdLine: User Name=UUID=e309fb14-05db-4e9a-b137-c6bf63eeb6a4 ro quiet splash elevator=noop
ProcEnviron:
SHELL=/bin/bash
LANG=it_IT.UTF-8
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.28-6.17-generic
SourcePackage: linux

Save the file, then reboot.

Your SD Card should show up.

9 Dec 09 by Danilo

Ubuntu Karmic Koala 9.10 Where's my SD Card?

First, at a command line, do:

sudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/options

Then, in gedit, cut and paste:

options sdhci debug_quirks=1
ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: i386
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.04
Package: linux-image-2.6.28-6-generic 2.6.28-6.17
ProcCmdLine: User Name=UUID=e309fb14-05db-4e9a-b137-c6bf63eeb6a4 ro quiet splash elevator=noop
ProcEnviron:
SHELL=/bin/bash
LANG=it_IT.UTF-8
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.28-6.17-generic
SourcePackage: linux

Save the file, then reboot.

Your SD Card should show up.

3 Nov 09 by Danilo

Test Driven Development — How to start with a test

Test driven development is mystical to anyone that hasn’t done it from the ground-up. It’s almost like riding a bike; you really don’t know how easy it is and how much fun you can have with it until you get up and going. When the training wheels are off, it then becomes a brand new world full of possibilities.

I have been writing unit tests for years. Having come to the Java game later than most of my colleagues, I really like to make sure that everything I commit to my various development communities are well-tested and as clean as I can make them. Unit testing has allowed me to verify this in two different ways. First, it guarantees that what I’ve writting works, and more importantly, it makes me keep my code simple. Frankly, if I start writing a test and it becomes a dependency-driven, closely-coupled to the implementation monster, I can pretty much guarantee that the code is going to be the same. I’ll try to refactor this and use my tests in this manner as a guage for it’s quality. Continue reading →

17 Oct 09 by Danilo

Ubuntu Karmic Koala (9.10 Beta) Buggy Touchpad Behavior

I recently upgraded my Dell Precision M90 Laptop to Ubuntu Karmic Koala. I’m running it standalone, no Windows anywhere. When I upgraded using “apt-get upgrade” my touchpad didn’t work. Nothing. The touchpad was completely disabled. I assume that this is a problem on M70’s, ect.

Found a fix after searching for two days — in case you’re having the same problem, here it is.

Open a terminal (if you don’t have a mouse hooked up, use Alt+F2). then “su” and give the root password (I tried doing this with sudo and still didn’t have enough permission. I “think” you need to be root). At the prompt, type:

echo options psmouse proto=exps > /etc/modprobe.d/psmouse.modprobe

At the next prompt, type”

reboot

Your touchpad will come back up after rebooting.

Update 11/12/09

I did an apt-get upgrade just after the release was announced. It killed my NVidia driver and would boot up “once in awhile” in recovery mode. I finally got frustrated and downloaded and burnt a DVD on my Mac, wiped the disk on my Dell and reinstalled the thing. It’s working fine now — there was no bugginess in the touchpad, etc…

Ubuntu changed a lot of stuff in this release. I find it almost similar to Mac’s move from OS9 to OSX, except that Mac “warned us” that this was a big move. Ubuntu rushed this release to coincide with Windows 7 and frankly they really dropped the ball on the message, the QA and the overall polish of the product. Thank God I never trusted it enough to leave anything important on the Dell. I’ve got Macs for that all over the house that are as stable as the Pyramids. Snow Leopard was a “bug fix” release. They’ve come a long way from the pre-“Jaguar” days. Ubuntu should take note.

Funny thing is, I actually like using the Ubuntu more than the Mac, but then again, I like writing Python code in front of the TV with a cocktail…

23 Sep 08 by Danilo

A Simple “Restlet” Demo application

I’m assuming that if you’re here you already know the basics of REpresentational State Transfer. I’m also going to assume that you’ve looked at all the goodies at the Restlet community site. Further, I’m thinking that you want a quick start guide to show you how to implement it. The following tutorial shows how I “found a home” with Restlet, what worked for me, and hopefully something that will work for you, too.

The Restlet API is a Java framework for the REST architectural style. The Noelios Restlet Engine (NRE) is available as the reference implementation, as well as several extensions to the API and to NRE. Continue reading →

As the Dude Abides…

Moto Guzzis, eCommerce technology, good food and friends, etc.

Enterprise Development

Dell ASAP Software. @FAIL @UNBELIEVABLE FAIL

eCommerce Usability FAIL…

eCommerce Usability FAIL…

eCommerce Usability FAIL…

eCommerce Usability FAIL…

Ubuntu Karmic Koala 9.10 Where’s my SD Card?

Ubuntu Karmic Koala 9.10 Where's my SD Card?

Test Driven Development — How to start with a test

Ubuntu Karmic Koala (9.10 Beta) Buggy Touchpad Behavior

Update 11/12/09

A Simple “Restlet” Demo application