Perhaps the most terrible example of all user experience (UX) an application/program can give to users, is to shut down the program when the user is in the middle of working. Case study: Windows. I just got auto-updated.
In Windows 7, there is a small window that pops up that says the computer will restart in 15 minutes, in order to install updates. After that message is postponed, it doesn't pop up in the front any more. In my multiple monitor setup, I don't always pay attention to all of them. There is just typically one main monitor I work with. My current work involved having about 20 tabs in a browser open and a few more large RAM-hungry application, so I didn't want to have to re-setup my workspace. So, I was able to postpone the auto-update a few times. But, when I was really into my work on one monitor, the auto-shut-down prompt I assume was ominously counting down on my other monitor, behind everything. In the middle of typing, sudden the document disappears. There goes all the work (if I was working in a program without autosave).
I am a UX designer and have many recommendations to improve this "feature" in Windows 7. I'm glad my biggest recommendation is taken care of in Windows 8: Make the death prompt more visible. Just having that one change would save me from more trouble.
I understand where Microsoft and other companies are coming from. They want to make sure that updates are installed so that users are protected from even worse virus/malware attacks. I'm sure they've done their research to learn that many people unfortunately don't install the updates in a timely manner, if at all. So, in order to protect users from worse troubles, Microsoft has by default decided to be more aggressive in getting the updates installed.
I had to throw in that "by default" in the last sentence because I know there is the option to disable all automatic updates. But, good UX and good customer service wouldn't put the blame on the user/customer. If the user does something "wrong", then it is only because the application allowed the user to do so.
Bonus: Here's a copywriting tip: Never have long chunks of words/paragraphs.
~ Danial Goodwin ~
Showing posts with label ram. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ram. Show all posts
2013-12-24
2013-12-15
Error: The Windows Phone Emulator wasn't able to ensure the virtual machine was running
Here's just another problem that I experienced while trying to create a Windows Phone app. It didn't come up last night for my last app. So, I figured out that I was running too many things at once for my 4GB RAM laptop. Or, should I say, Windows was running too many things? The one differentiating factor between last night and tonight was that tonight there was a "Windows Maintenance in progress". But, it wasn't too bad. I just closed out every other program I had open, including the Dropbox sync and I was able to continue opening the Windows Phone WXGA emulator so that I could take screenshots for the store.
Here's the full error report:
~ Danial Goodwin ~
Here's the full error report:
[Window Title]Windows Phone Emulator
[Content]The Windows Phone Emulator wasn't able to ensure the virtual machine was running:
Something happened while starting a virtual machine: 'Emulator WXGA.danial' could not initialize. (Virtual machine ID C3F3456A-1234-ASDF-87GH-ABD23456GG90)
Not enough memory in the system to start the virtual machine Emulator WXGA.danial with ram size 1024 megabytes. (Virtual machine ID C3F3456A-1234-ASDF-87GH-ABD23456GG90)
[Close]
~ Danial Goodwin ~
2013-01-28
Food is Memory
Computer literate people will know that there are many different levels of computer memory -- more than just RAM and hard drives. As I was preparing my after-dinner snack (delicious Churros cereal), I thought that the food that I eat and have in my apartment is highly analogous to memory in a computer. I will succinctly explain the analogy from fastest to slowest memory.
Registers - Chewed food, ready for consumption
L1 Cache - Food in mouth
L2 Cache - Food in spoon
GPU - Food in bowl (Either eaten one spoonful at a time or gulping it down(parallel processing))
RAM - Food in box
Flash - Food in my room
Solid-state drive (SSD) - Food in the pantry
Hard drive - Food at the grocery store
Tape - Wherever food is before the stores
Cloud - Food that is still on the farm
~ Simply Advanced ~
Registers - Chewed food, ready for consumption
L1 Cache - Food in mouth
L2 Cache - Food in spoon
GPU - Food in bowl (Either eaten one spoonful at a time or gulping it down(parallel processing))
RAM - Food in box
Flash - Food in my room
Solid-state drive (SSD) - Food in the pantry
Hard drive - Food at the grocery store
Tape - Wherever food is before the stores
Cloud - Food that is still on the farm
~ Simply Advanced ~
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