Linked List: June 25, 2008

Wednesday, 25 June 2008

AppleInsider: ‘Apple Memo Coaches Employees on iPhone 3G Launch Questions’ ★

AppleInsider:

Should a customer ask whether it’s true that iPhone 3G activation will have to take place in the store, then inquire about buying one without in-store activation, retail staffers should say: “I don’t have any details at this time about activation.”

Bill Gates on the iTunes Music Store (PDF) ★

Another 2003 email from Bill Gates, this time about the then-just-launched iTunes Music Store:

Steve Jobs’s ability to focus in on a few things that count, get people who get user interface right and market things as revolutionary are amazing things.

This time somehow he has applied his talents in getting a better licensing deal than anyone else has gotten for music.

This one is less amusing but more interesting than the aforelinked Windows usability rant. What’s clear in this one is that Gates was smart enough to recognize immediately that Apple had struck a very good deal with the music labels, and that it put Microsoft in a bad spot. (Remember that at this time, iTunes was Mac-only; the Windows version didn’t appear for another six months.) His description of what happened, what Apple did, why this is bad for Microsoft, it’s all spot-on. But Gates doesn’t know what to do in response.

Five years later, the iTunes Store has sold five billion songs, and Microsoft still doesn’t have an answer.

2003 Bill Gates Email on Windows Usability ★

Todd Bishop is republishing a few gems from the archive of Bill Gates’s email messages that were turned over during various lawsuits against Microsoft. Here’s one from 2003, where he excoriates the experience of downloading and installing Windows Movie Maker:

So I gave up and sent mail to Amir saying - where is this Moviemaker download? Does it exist?

So they told me that using the download page to download something was not something they anticipated.

His criticism of the experience is astute, but as Dan Benjamin remarks, at times it seems he’s downright unfamiliar with how Windows XP works.

‘The Website Is Down’ ★

Funny movie with a clever presentation, by Josh Weinberg.

BusinessWeek: The 10 Commandments of Web Design ★

My thanks to BusinessWeek for mentioning DF in its “10 Commandments of Web Design” (see #6, “Thou shalt worship at the altar of typography”).

Do What You’re Great At ★

Good advice for Yahoo from Dave Pell.