Archive for March 2007

Just received an announcement from Adobe regarding the release of Photoshop CS3 (Creative Suite 3) in spring 2007. The company is releasing two editions: Photoshop CS3 and Photoshop CS3 Extended. When I read the announcement, I thought about the many web-based photo editing applications that have come out. Of course, their features aren’t as extensive as Photoshop’s features.

Then this morning, I read an article in The Dallas Morning News (may require free registration) about web-based applications vs. boxed software. The article even mentions Adobe and the company declined to comment. Apparently, Adobe will release a free streamlined version of Photoshop online.

With Google and many developers releasing free web-based applications for word processing, spreadsheets, photo editing and flowcharting, how will that impact the boxed business? For one thing, boxed software doesn’t require access to the Internet to use. Using web-based applications also means being at the mercy of the hosting service. What if it’s down? What if it goes out of business? What if security gets compromised?

We also don’t know if free web-based will stick around long enough (somebody has to pay for hosting and storage) or if they’ll go from free to fee. So I wouldn’t write off boxed apps just yet.

Remember the fax? People thought it’d be dead by now and many of us still rely on it.

Two simple writing tips

**Stop with the Overdone Modifiers**

On Writing Well taught me to cut the use of modifiers such as “really,” “very,” “so,” and “quite.” I save those for when I *really* mean something It’s amazing how many articles I’ve edited that abused these words that they lose meaning.

**Using Only in Sentences**

An Ode to Only shows how the placement of “only” in a sentence can change meaning. For example:

She was the only child who sang in the talent show.

She was the child who only sang in the talent show.

The first one indicates no one else sang in the talent show. The second one implies others did more than sing. The advice is to “place ‘only’ as close as possible to the word or phrase it modifies. The article cites examples of reputable newspapers misuse of “only.”

Imagine how different the James Bond movie, For Your Eyes Only would be had it been “For Only Your Eyes” or “Only for Your Eyes.” All three say the same thing with the sentence having one phrase to modify. But these two don’t “sound” as good as the original title.

Things are slowly returning to normal around here except instead of cleaning up after a big family even and being tired, most of my family is out of town. It’s just the little guy and me. It’s not easy to get work done with him around and saying, “Play your game.” Talk about not feeling guilty about playing games!

The funny thing is that he picks up things from the games and learns new things. He LOVES Virtual Villagers. This is a 3 1/2-year-old who can’t read yet. He says, “Click Detail,” “Click Puzzles,” and so on. I’ve been playing this one for a few weeks and am close to finishing it. I check my tribes a couple of times a day, so it’s not time consuming. It’s a good game for those who can’t spend a lot of time playing, but can check in daily. So I thank Mark of TheDiamondGames for making it possible to play games again without guilt.

Lots of work to do, so I’ll just point to the latest game review: Chicken Chase.

Feeling clucky?

Two words describe this game: Clucky insanity! No matter how insane and crazy things get in a level, Chicken Chase is simply fun and addicting. I wanted more of it even though I didn’t care for the bonus rounds where I had to protect my chickens from the evil ravens who tried to steal them.

Unlike the many games that require the player to reach a specific goal for each level in order to advance to the next, Chicken Chase mixes it up. For example, Diner Dash and Flower Shop give players a specific monetary goal to reach. Chicken Chase goals include collecting X number of X-colored eggs, earning $X, collecting X number of specific-colored gems, and raising X number of X breed of chicken.

Chicken Chase isn’t part of a story or adventure, so those with little time available will find this one easy to play a little bit at a time without worrying about remembering the story or feeling pressured to finish the game to find out how the story ends.

The instructions don’t give many hints on how to make something happen faster. For example, how to make red gems the fastest way possible. At first, I wasn’t happy with the lack of instructions, but then as I improved in game play — I appreciated figuring this out on my own as well as other tricks.

The kids love watching this one. They weren’t interested in some of the other games I reviewed. I was working on my computer when my three-year-old said, “Play that game. Play chickens.” Hey, who can feel guilty about playing a game when he asks?

The bonus rounds in Chicken Chase were the only thing I didn’t enjoy. Every bonus round was about protecting the chickens from the ravens. Shooing off ravens was my least favorite thing to do — but then how else can the game be challenging? Oh, there were also wolves sneaking in. So not only did you have to watch the sky for swoopin’ ravens, but also the ground for attackin’ wolves.

I’d like to see more variety in the bonus rounds in Chicken Chase 2. It wouldn’t surprise me to see a sequel to this game. Maybe this game is actually the sequel for Insaniquarium — instead of fish and seahorses, you have chickens and roosters. Instead of aliens and sea monsters, you have ravens and wolves. This one is as insane as Insaniquarium and fans of the fishy game should enjoy going clucky.

What’s next? Cat ‘n Dog Chase? Bring it on. Of course, developers shouldn’t just try to copy the style of these two games and change the characters. The two games have subtle differences that make them more endearing.

Download the game.

Joel on Software has an excellent article that gives seven steps to remarkable customer service. Joel shares the things he learned about customer service that gets people to “remark” or talk about it.

He makes a very important comment about doing two things when fixing any problem. One, fix the problem. Two, resolve the problem so it doesn’t repeatedly become a problem.

I love the suggestion that helps avoid asking a customer a “duh” question that makes them feel stupid like “Is X plugged in?” I have an outlet where things fall out of it easily no matter how I try to adjust things. So it’s not a stupid question, but a precaution to check the simplest things because things can come unplugged after time. A vacuum turned off one of the surge protectors.

Joel tells a story about Lands’ End. I can tell you a story about the company, too. My daughter’s rolling backpack tore up on the bottom from her dragging it. Lands’ End has a lifetime guarantee on the backpack. The company replaced it with no questions asked even though the backpack was over a year old. This remarkable service has me talking about it, doesn’t it?

Once I did an abstract that wasn’t my best work. Even though I loved the book that I abstracted, sometimes I don’t click with an assignment. That’s what happened with this particular book. Another time, I must’ve been sleepwalking when I posted an entry as it had a couple of problems. I gave my clients discounts (one refused to take it).

I treat my clients as if they’re coworkers. When someone gets sick or has a family emergency, I check in with them and send cards. One client sent an email with sincere thanks for the card. I’ve been working with Hank Stroll of InternetVIZ for over six years. We met in person for the first time last weekend when he flew down from Minnesota for a special family event (which is why I haven’t posted much lately). We had a wonderful time meeting and talking.

Good Experience tells how JetBlue went out of its way with customer service.

What excellent customer service have you experienced or given customers?