Happy to be back in Sweden

All those beaches, all the sun, all the nice people, all the good Singha, all the shopping, but there is nothing like home (the office to be honest) when it comes to speed..

"It's the user experience, stupid"

Does software needs to look ugly?
Relevant question, because most of them actually do!
However, this may change faster then expected according to the article below.

'It's the user experience, stupid'    ZDnet, 8th of May 2006
'A friendly face of business software'    BusinessWeek, 3rd of May 2006

"Good design is becoming more than a nice-to-have feature. Thanks to slick Web sites like Amazon.com, people are coming to expect software that takes no or little training to use."

There is a never ending list of Property Management Software, but have you ever seen a well designed one?

Get Real wtih 37 signals

37signals is a much hyped company in Chicago (read about their passionate user rating here) . But keep an eye on them if you're into product development and Internet.

For a background of the firm read the Salon.com article "The next web revolution".

However, it's not the company or even their products that caught my interest.
It's their philosophy, which includes;

• less is more
• design first (then code)
• find people who are enthusiastic
• don’t try to find “tricky” ways to get more cash. Earn it.

To find out more about the hilosophy, read their blog 'Signal vs Noise' or even better, download their book (no hardcopy) for 19 USD. Excellent and straightforward reading. Like their products.

Software as a Service (SaaS)

I have never really felt to happy with calling a webbased service for ASP (application service provider) since that is for me what it was in 2000, a client/server software distribuated using, for example, Citrix to a webbrowser.

SaaS (Service as a Software) is better name for the services of the future. Something that is build from scratch for the web.

Where I found the acronym;
'Software as a service: The next big thing?'   (An article in InfoWorld 20th march 2006)

The power of mobile working

The last week I've been working from the island Bequia in the Caribbeans.
Sure beats the Stockholm office!

Brought my laptop, conntected it to a WiFi network and I'm able to reach all the digtal material, technical environments, emails and everything else. Add to that the Skype services and it easy to be effecient on the road.     

Talking about telecommuting, here is the reason why it is not taking off;
''In an era when so much of our communication is electronic, the value of a face-to-face meeting has actually intensified, since the phone and e-mail have become routine while a meeting reflects the importance of the person or topic.''
According to a study presented in the Pikenet Dispatch (17th januari 2006) found here.
More pictures from the stay in Bequia?
See me and my wife's site (in Swedish).