by Dave | Aug 11, 2010 | Improving Apps
Lately there’s been a lot of commentary about Canonical’s new package that they’ll be using to count computers using Ubuntu for an OEM partner. As that last comment clearly said, people need to calm down about this. Even if they were tracking users...
by Dave | May 6, 2010 | Improving Apps
Yes- I knew it would be here eventually! The FOSS community answer to the MacUpdate, MacZot, and MacHeist bundles: The Humble Indie Bundle Their spin on the bundle idea is that you can choose how much to pay and even then can choose how those funds are apportioned....
by Dave | May 5, 2010 | Improving Apps
You may not love Sid Meier’s Civilization games but I do- have for years. So when I saw this I knew I had to mention it. Sid talks about the psychology of game design and I’ll summarize his points from this article. Recognize that the player is an...
by Dave | Jan 28, 2009 | Improving Apps
How often do you contact users of your app? No, I don’t mean your developer mailing list. Not even your “user help” mailing list. How often do you send an e-mail to your users- just to say hi and give them a hug? Here’s a great example. Things...
by Dave | Apr 24, 2002 | Improving Apps
Last time we talked about bizarre names in open source software. This time we’re going to address how to fix it. What constitutes a good name for software? Last time, we mentioned a trend to include within the app name a reference to the programming language...