Microsoft wants part of the Ajax action

The term Ajax -- "asynchronous JavaScript and XML" -- is right up there with extreme programming as the trendiest way to do software development. Now, Microsoft is jumping on the Ajax wagon. A framework called Atlas will bring the merged fat/thin functionality, such as in Google Maps or Web Outlook, to both ASP .Net 2.0 and Visual Studio 2005. The big question is whether such software is useful or if it's inherently limited to your web browser's functions.

For more about Microsoft's plans:
- read this Microsoft Watch article

Visual Communication Questions

Source: http://www.lukew.com/ff/entry.asp?197

Q: Do you have any advice on how I can communicate the design decisions I’ve made to stakeholders who all seem to have an opinion about my designs? How can I convince people this is the right design solution?

A: From my experience there are only two things you need to do. Understand both the business and user goals of the application. Then use the language of design to explain how you are meeting those goals.

Taking the time up front to really research and understand end users and business needs enables you to speak directly to consumer expectations and stakeholder objectives. You need to know what your design is trying to accomplish: who is it for? What does it do? And why does it matter?

You can then explain how you’ve applied the principles of perception and visual communication to achieve those goals. For example “Our research has shown that this information is what most users are looking for on this page. As a result, it has the most visual weight (achieved through a strong contrast with the background) on this screen.” Outlining how visual design decisions enforce the relationships between content and guide user actions tends to remove the subjectivity inherent in many design reviews.

Q: How do I know if I have the right visual hierarchy in my designs? Do I need to test it?

A: As Jim Leftwich has pointed out: “It is very definitely possible to perceive and extrapolate user needs and develop successful interfaces without extensive user research, if one is adept at understanding generalized patterns.” This applies to visual communication as well. Understanding the foundational principles behind visual design enables you create effective designs without extensive testing.

That said, there is “no such thing as a bad usability test” -you can always learn something. As a result, testing a visual design can yield some valuable insights. However, there are a few guidelines for getting the right data from these types of tests. Asking users “do you like option a or option b?” rarely provides any useful information. Consider instead asking users to provide a few adjectives they’d use to describe the design or ask them to walk through a specific task. This process will help inform whether or not the visual design is effectively supporting user needs.

Orlando pulls the plug on free downtown WiFi

This is the problem of Wi-Fi: there is no enough user. This is one of the reason why my tiny wi-fi service company failed.

Although the internet has entered into the double digit age, people still doesn't feel that they need it anywhere anytime. And even in US, lots of people never use the internet.

When the internet will become the necessity like food? We don't know...

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As free municipal WiFi services spring up around the world, Orlando has taken its system down. City officials say the service, which was closed last Sunday, was too expensive to run for its limited number of users. The pilot program was originally scheduled to last six months, but the city kept it running for 17 months. According to Orlando officials, only about 27 people a day took advantage of the service. That wasn't enough to justify the $1,800 the city paid every month to operate the system, which was designed to support up to 200 people at a time. The service may return, officials say, but only if they can find a way to expand the service beyond a few downtown blocks and get an outside company to shoulder the cost.

For more on Orlando's failed WiFi service:
- read this Associated Press article

Mauritius world's first unwired WiMax nation

Looks to be a great vacation island. Maybe I should think about working from there, so I can enjoy the nice beach and great environment over there :)

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The tiny (very tiny: 100 sq.mi., 1.2 million people) Indian Ocean island nation of Mauritius is about to become the world's first country to deploy a complete nationwide high-speed wireless network. The government calculates that the new network will make the beautiful island a hub of cyber business activity, expanding the small nation's economy beyond tourism and fishing. Navini nomadic broadband wireless access will offer covergae of the entire island, part of it rather mountainous and rugged, addressing the residential, business, and recreational needs of the island's population and year-round visitors. The deployment will take advantage of next-generation 802.16e-based WiMax.

Navini's system is a non-line-of-sight (NLOS) WWAN solution featuring smart antennas. The technology provides a wide range of coverage, extending miles from the base station. Since it is a zero-install solution within the area of NLOS coverage, customers will have no problem to get it going. In conjunction with this island-wide WiMax deployment, the government of Mauritius announced it was becoming an e-government: By the end of the year every Mauritian will be able to conduct any and every business related to the government online and wirelessly throughout the country. Citiziens ordering services on-line will be able to access these services the same day the service is ordered. The entire network is being installed by ADB Networks the main Internet Service Provider in Mauritius.

For more on Mauritius' move:
- see this gizmag's report
- the Mauritius government's e-government | cyberhub pages
- ADB Networks website

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