TidBITS#646/10-Sep-02
=====================
Frustrated by task-management tools? Matt Neuburg reviews Sciral's
Consistency, which brings a new approach to managing tasks that
lack specific schedules or strict deadlines. Also this week,
anyone thinking about marketing software should read Mike Diegel's
behind-the-scenes look at what's necessary. Jeff Carlson compares
four iPod cases, and we note the releases of iCal, Watson 1.5.5,
Font Reserve 3.1, BBEdit 6.5.3, and QuicKeys X 1.5.3.
Topics:
MailBITS/10-Sep-02
Making a Case for iPod Cases
A Not-at-All Foolish Consistency
Marketing Software, Part 1
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MailBITS/10-Sep-02
------------------
**Apple Releases iCal; Announces Mac OS X-only Booting** -- At
Apple Expo in Paris, Apple today released iCal, the company's
simple calendar application announced at Macworld Expo in July.
iCal provides an attractive Aqua interface, supports multiple
calendars, and allows for calendar sharing via a WebDAV server or
via .Mac (which can also publish calendars so they can be viewed
in a Web browser). The program is free and is a 6.3 MB download,
but keep in mind that it requires Mac OS X 10.2 Jaguar and can
send email invitations only with Apple's Mail.
<http://www.apple.com/ical/>
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=06880>
The other noteworthy announcement from Apple is that starting
in January of 2003, all new Macs will boot only into Mac OS X.
Older applications will remain accessible via the Classic
environment. The announcement is no surprise - we've all known
the day was coming when new Macs would cease to be able to boot
into Mac OS 9 - so if you were thinking about buying a new Mac
and need the capability to boot into Mac OS 9, you might want
to buy something in the next few months. [ACE]
<http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2002/sep/10macosx.html>
**Watson 1.5.5 Adds Google, Amazon Plug-ins** -- Karelia Software
has released Watson 1.5.5, its utility for easily gathering
information from the Web that offers more features than Apple's
otherwise-similar Sherlock 3. New in this version is the
capability to perform Internet searches using Google, along
with a module that helps you find and purchase products from
Amazon.com. The ZIP Code lookup utility has also been improved,
and Watson is now fully compatible with Mac OS X 10.2 Jaguar.
It's often easier to use Watson instead of a Web browser to
look up information such as movie times, flight schedules, eBay
auctions, and more. Watson 1.5.5 is a free update to owners of
Watson 1.5 and later, and is available as a 2 MB download. An
individual license to use Watson beyond its two-week demo period
costs $30; a "household" license costs $40. [JLC]
<http://www.karelia.com/watson/>
**Font Reserve 3.1 Released** -- When Font Reserve 3.0 was
released as DiamondSoft's first attempt on the Mac OS X fortress,
it couldn't handle Mac OS X fonts, such as .dfonts, .otfs, and
Windows .ttfs - rather a serious limitation for a font management
utility. (See "Font Reserve Moves to Mac OS X" in TidBITS-620_.)
Now an update, version 3.1, fills that hole; it's a 10.2 MB
download. Font Reserve 3.1 is Jaguar-compatible and manages
all Mac OS X font types. Auto-activation now works too: when
a document is opened by just about any Mac OS X application,
if it uses any fonts that are in Font Reserve's database and
aren't active, Font Reserve activates them transparently. Those
who favor Font Reserve's centralized approach to font storage
and its database-like features that make finding and navigating
even huge quantities of fonts easy will be delighted to see at
last a Mac OS X version that truly works. It's free for owners
of version 3.0, $30 for owners of previous versions, $50 for
owners of ATM Deluxe and Suitcase, and $90 for new users. [MAN]
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=06751>
<http://www.fontreserve.com/support/downloads.html>
**BBEdit 6.5.3, QuicKeys X 1.5.3 Add Jaguar Compatibility** -- Now
that developers have had more time to work with the shipping
version of Mac OS X 10.2 Jaguar, applications are being updated
to address various compatibility issues. Last week saw updates
to Bare Bones Software's BBEdit and QuicKeys X, both free to
registered users. BBEdit 6.5.3 is a 7.7 MB download; QuicKeys
1.5.3 is an 8.9 MB download. [JLC]
<http://www.barebones.com/products/bbedit.html>
<http://www.barebones.com/support/bbedit/bbedit-notes.html>
<http://www.cesoft.com/products/qkx.html>
<http://www.cesoft.com/downloads/qkx/qkx-153-readme.txt>
Making a Case for iPod Cases
----------------------------
by Jeff Carlson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Apple took a lot of flak from many people - including me - about
the iPod's initial high price of $400. Although the snazzy MP3
player was certainly well designed, other devices, such as the
Archos Jukebox, boasted more storage and lower prices. However,
when I finally broke down and bought my own 5 GB iPod, I realized
that the specs tell only part of the story; the real secret to
the iPod's success is its size.
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=06608>
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=06521>
Attentive TidBITS readers will note that just as Adam can be
obsessed about data backups, I'm obsessed with the size of
devices: laptops, Palm devices, and now the iPod. I use it far
more than I expected I would because it's so easy to carry around.
I find myself listening to it when I'm working, even when it's
just as easy to use iTunes on my PowerBook, so I can continue
to listen to music as I walk around the house or office.
However, the iPod's smooth, minimal design can also be a drawback:
I either have to carry it in my hand or put it into a pocket
(which isn't always comfortable, and increases the chances of
scratching up the exterior) when I'm on the move. Exercising also
becomes a bit of a hassle: I like to keep my hands free when I go
running, and running clothes seldom offer good pockets. Clearly,
I wasn't the only person longing for a better solution, which is
why several companies now sell iPod cases. After doing some online
research, I contacted three manufacturers and asked to try their
iPod cases. I also managed to look at Apple's new iPod case, which
ships with the 10 GB and 20 GB models.
**iGlove** -- Like the iPod, the iGlove from Software & Things was
designed with simplicity in mind. It's a one-piece black leather
pocket that the iPod slides into from the top, with a circle cut
out of the front for access to the iPod's controls. A plastic
window protects the iPod's screen; a leather-covered metal belt
clip is mounted on the back. The iGlove's stitching faces outward,
which provides a tighter fit for the iPod and also offers a few
millimeters of shock-absorbing bumpers around the edges to help
protect the iPod during a fall. My only irritation with the iGlove
is that the raised stitching around the circular controls makes me
have to use my fingernails to press the buttons around the iPod's
scroll wheel. The iGlove costs $27; a model without the belt clip
is available for $25.
<http://www.softwareandthings.com/>
**XtremeMac iPod Case Bundle** -- With four different bundles of
iPod accessories, XtremeMac wants to make sure you and your iPod
are covered no matter what your needs. Each of the four bundles
contains a case for the iPod, a swivel-style belt clip (like those
frequently used with cell phones), and a mesh pouch for holding
the iPod's earbud headphones; this basic package costs $30. For
$40, you also get two adhesive-backed swivel mounts for clipping
the iPod to a wall, desk, or monitor case, and a neck lanyard for
wearing the iPod like a Macworld Expo admission badge. The $50
Essentials bundle, which is what I received, adds a charger that
plugs into your car's power adapter. And finally, the $90 Ultimate
bundle includes all of that plus XtremeMac's iShare earbud
splitter, a set of audio cables, and an audio cassette adapter
that lets you route the iPod's music through your car's tape
player and speakers.
<http://www.xtrememac.com/foripod/case_bundles.html>
If you're looking for case variation, XtremeMac offers 16
different styles, from colored leather to suede to denim to
camouflage (including a style that comes with a place for a
small photograph). An oval hole at the top of the cover provides
enough room to open the large front flap without unplugging the
headphones; this becomes important time and again, because you
can't do anything else on the iPod without lifting the flap.
However, I like that the flap is flexible enough so that I can
pull it all the way around (sans headphones) and lay it mostly
flat against the back while the iPod is connected to my PowerBook
via the FireWire cable.
<http://www.xtrememac.com/foripod/casecolors.html>
To protect the iPod's face, the case uses a sheet of clear
plastic with the required circle cut out to access the navigation
controls. It took me a bit of fidgeting to match the circle with
the controls, but because the plastic is fairly thin, the controls
are easy to use even when the iPod isn't perfectly lined up.
The swivel-style belt clip is very secure, requiring that you
insert the case's round knob into one of the included swivel
mounts at a 90-degree angle; to release the case, you rotate to
the same angle and push a button that unlocks the mechanism. When
attached, the case can spin freely. I ended up using the belt clip
mount most often; the lanyard is a clever alternative, but I found
the iPod too heavy to carry around my neck.
I wasn't able to use the car adapter to charge the iPod because
my car is apparently one of the few American vehicles that doesn't
have a cigarette lighter or charger. And while the small mesh bag
sounds like a good way to store your earbuds, the opening was just
small enough that it was annoying to get the earbuds in and out of
the case. Also, the bag clips to the side of the case, which made
the whole package feel more bulky than necessary.
**Super Dooper iPod Case** -- This ballistic nylon flip cover
case, by WaterField Designs, nicely solves the problem of what
to do with the iPod's headphones: a pocket on the underside of
the case's cover has a wide opening to store the earbuds without
adding much to the bulk of the overall unit. The pocket is soft
to protect the iPod's face, which is otherwise uncovered, unlike
the other cases I examined.
<http://www.sfbags.com/PRODUCTS/iPOD_INFO/i.htm>
However, I'm not as impressed by a slit in the top that provides
access to the iPod's inputs. It's a narrow eyelet, which means the
FireWire port and Hold switch are always partially covered. This
is good news for people with 5 GB and early 10 GB iPods that lack
a FireWire port cover, but in practice I find it irritating. You
can use the FireWire cable's end to push aside the "eyelids," but
it's unnecessarily cumbersome. Worse, it makes the Hold switch
tough to toggle, a feature I use all the time to make sure I don't
accidentally skip a song by bumping the iPod.
The rest of the Super Dooper iPod case is fairly well done, with
Velcro patches at the bottom to hold the flip cover in place and a
swivel-style knob that clips into an included belt clip. The back
is made of a tight mesh that allegedly helps dissipate the heat
generated by the iPod (I've never noticed it as a problem), and
also lets some of the device's mirrored rear finish shine through.
Although actually putting an iPod into the case can be a bit of a
challenge - an "escape hatch" (WaterField's terminology) opens to
slide the iPod into place - once secured, the iPod enjoys a snug
fit. The $40 Super Dooper iPod case comes in three colors: red,
blue, and white.
**Apple's Designer iPod Case** -- There's no polite way to say
this: unless you buy an iPod with the case included, steer clear
of this overpriced add-on. There are no openings to access the
iPod's controls (presumably because the 10 GB and 20 GB iPods
also come with Apple's iPod wired remote control), and I've heard
reports of the attached clip mechanism breaking easily. Apple
offers it for $40 - alone, not with the remote control - which
is $40 that you could better apply toward buying more music.
<http://www.apple.com/ipod/specs.html>
**Case Closed** -- After I purchased my iPod at last January's
Macworld Expo in San Francisco, one of the first people I showed
it to was frequent TidBITS writer Chris Pepper, who lifted his own
scuffed and scratched iPod and said, "Get a case." Of the three
cases (since Apple's fell out of the running quickly), I find
myself alternating between two. The iGlove is a great general-
purpose case for tumbling around in my bag and when listening
to the iPod at my desk; I like its protection and open access to
controls. However, when I'm exercising, I take advantage of the
XtremeMac's swivel mount and belt clip (which attaches acceptably
to my running shorts) and all-enclosed design. Not only is my
iPod still in good condition, it's much easier to carry around
everywhere I go.
PayBITS: Did Jeff's comparison help you pick out an iPod case?
Show your appreciation to Jeff with a few bucks via PayPal.
<http://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=jeff%40necoffee.com>
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A Not-at-All Foolish Consistency
--------------------------------
by Matt Neuburg <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Consistency, from Sciral, does one thing and does it well. Its
interface is pleasant, original, and crystal clear. It's utterly
simple to use. And it's inexpensive shareware. In short, this is
my kind of program.
<http://www.sciral.com/consistency/>
Consistency is a cross between a calendar or scheduling program
and a to-do list, with a difference. It isn't about things that
occur on fixed dates, and it isn't about things that occur only
once. It's about things that recur, and that you'd like to have
recur with a certain regularity - though perfect regularity is
not completely necessary.
A good example is watering plants. Some of my plants like to be
watered about twice a week - about every fourth day, though it
isn't a disaster if they have to go for five or even six days
without watering. I have other plants that can stand being
watered much less frequently. In situations like this, I have two
problems. One is that I'd like to be reminded when it's time to
water each kind of plant. The other, which is really the flip side
of the first, is that I can never remember when I last did any
watering. So I want both a record of the past and a sense of
what deadlines are coming up in the future. That's just what
Consistency gives me.
Another feature of this situation is that my deadlines are
flexible; and they are flexible in two ways. First of all, as
I said before, if I miss watering my four-day plants by a day or
two, I haven't really missed a deadline at all; this is a deadline
with some width, as it were. Second, it's a recurring deadline
that needs to be self-adjusting: whenever I do happen to water my
four-day plants, be it on the fourth or fifth or sixth day, or if
by chance I have to water them a day early, or even if I miss my
deadline completely, I want the reckoning to the next deadline to
start from when I actually did the watering, not from the previous
deadline. Consistency gives me that too.
Consistency's interface is a grid of colored squares. Every row is
a task, labelled at the left. Every column is a date, labelled at
the top. The date labels are inserted automatically, but the task
labels are up to the user, and when you create a task you also
specify the minimum and maximum number of days you'd like to have
elapse between recurrences. When you perform a task you double-
click on the square for that task and that date, and a black
circle appears in the middle of it. The squares to the right
of that square now recolor themselves, as follows:
* The squares between the performance of the task and the first
day on which you'd like the next recurrence are purple.
* The squares representing the range of days on which the next
recurrence should take place are green, except for the last
one which is yellow.
* The squares beyond the yellow square, indicating a missed
deadline, are red.
Each day, of course, "today" moves to the right, and so you
pass through the colors - first the purple, then the green (and
yellow). The object of the game is to avoid arriving at a red
square; before that happens, you should hopefully have performed
the task again and double-clicked it to record this fact, thus
inserting a new set of purple, green, and yellow squares, and
pushing the red squares off to the right once more.
Thus, the colors of the squares in the future alert you to
how soon a deadline is coming and how serious that deadline
is getting. Meanwhile, the colors of squares in the past don't
change, so by looking backwards you can see how often you
performed a task and whether this ever involved missing the
deadline completely. Consistency is thus both a reminder and
a log.
That's basically all there is to it, but there are a couple of
nice extras. First, it's possible that after a while a task's
deadline range will change. For example, in winter my plants may
need watering much less often. Consistency accommodates this; you
can't change the past, of course, and you wouldn't want to, but
for the future you can change a task's deadline range, and a tiny
white square appears in the day you did this, to signal the point
where the new range starts. Second, some tasks have no deadlines;
in my case, sweeping the house or doing a laundry are good
examples. A task likes this hasn't enough regularity to it to
make a deadline meaningful, but I still find it useful to keep
a log of the times I've performed it. Consistency accommodates
this too: a task can be "inactive," in which case all its squares
are gray, but the black circles show its past performances.
[Adam here. Matt has perfectly described the main thrust of
Consistency right now, but I think it has even more promise for
the future. I'm currently using it to track my main projects so
I don't have to worry about forgetting to put in some time on
each one regularly. But I still have to track traditional tasks
in another application so I can have one-time, scheduled, and
repeating events, plus reminders. What I'd like to see in a
future version of Consistency is a second level of task, where
the second-level tasks would be traditional task types. When you
mark a second-level task as done, that action would percolate up
to its top-level task, marking it done as well. Options could
include reminders, concealment of completed one-time tasks, and
ignoring of weekends for work-related tasks. Though I like and
use Now Software's Now Up-to-Date as a calendar, Consistency's
rethinking of how a task manager should work has helped me
better juggle all the projects I keep in the air, and these
small changes would make it even more valuable that way.]
Consistency is a simple, elegant little program; I'm delighted to
have it in my world, and it has proven genuinely helpful to me.
You might feel the same way, so take a look.
Consistency runs only in Mac OS X and is a 1.4 MB download. It's
$25 shareware; if you don't register, the only penalties are a
reminder when you start up the program and a restriction to five
tasks per document.
<http://www.sciral.com/download/>
PayBITS: Want to thank Matt for turning you on to Consistency?
It's easy - just send a couple of bucks his way via PayPal.
<http://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=matt%40tidbits.com>
Read more about PayBITS: <http://www.tidbits.com/paybits/>
Marketing Software, Part 1
--------------------------
by Mike Diegel <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
So you've built what you think is a great application. All your
Mac-using friends think it's cool. Your beta testers tell you that
it works. All you've got to do now is post it to VersionTracker
and Download.com and you can quit your day job, right?
Don't do it. Not yet, anyway.
You may have an application, and it might be truly useful (rather
than a candidate for MacHack), but you don't necessarily have a
product or, more importantly, a _solution_. What's the difference?
A pencil is a product, but it's not a solution. Sure, you write
with a pencil, but you can't do anything with that pencil if you
don't have a pencil sharpener and paper. So until those items are
in the mix, you don't have a solution.
As a software developer, you're probably more comfortable building
your software than marketing it. While there's nothing wrong with
creating software to "see what I can do with a Mac," you'll need
a marketing perspective before you'll successfully sell your
application as a solution.
**Three Dangerous Assumptions** -- Developers, like anyone
else who creates a product, can be susceptible to dangerous
assumptions, which, unless examined closely and continually,
can doom the product to failure. Perhaps more than most,
developers need to avoid falling into three traps.
* Trap #1: The product will sell because the creator thinks it's
a good product. What matters is the customer's point of view; an
application's cool factor in no way guarantees its success. Keep
in mind that there are ways to convince the customer it's a great
product, which we'll look at in the second part of this article.
* Trap #2: Customers will buy a product because it's technically
superior to the competition. You don't have to go very far to
see how this one plays out: Windows has 95 percent of the market.
The Mac OS has 5 percent. 'Nuff said.
* Trap #3: Customers will agree with you that the product is
great. Maybe, maybe not. You can't ever assume that.
Taken together, these three assumptions often can lead to equally
false beliefs, such as the product being so cool and so great that
it will sell itself, or that you somehow will be able to insulate
your product from any competition. The history of software is
littered with the corpses of applications and companies, big
and small, that have perished under such lofty ideas.
**Improve Your Odds** -- So, how can a developer increase the
admittedly long odds that a new product will succeed in the
marketplace? You need to ask yourself a series of questions and
be reasonably sure that you have solid reasons, backed by market
research, to believe your answers are real and true.
First, who will buy the product, and what problem will it solve
for them? You may think that because you're developing Mac
software that the whole universe of 25 million Mac users is
your market. That's unlikely to be true. For example, I consulted
for Sustainable Softworks, a developer of Macintosh networking
products and utilities. If you have only a single Mac, you don't
need a networking application. If you don't have an Internet
connection, you don't need a firewall or software to optimize
that connection. Sustainable Softworks' products were therefore
applicable to only a specific galaxy within the Mac universe.
Further, you need to think in terms of your addressable market.
What portion of those 25 million Mac users can you actually
reach? How will you reach them? Do you have an ad budget? Can
you write effective press releases and do you know where and
how to distribute them? Also, a significant portion of the Mac
market is overseas. Can you communicate to those users in their
language(s)? If you can't do those kinds of things, your
addressable market will shrink.
Let's say you've identified a real problem that your software can
solve for users. Congratulations! You've made a significant step
forward. But there are often multiple solutions to any problem,
and you need to understand how users are solving that problem
today. Are there workarounds that, while inconvenient, may not be
sufficiently inconvenient to cause the user to want to spend money
on your solution? Always keep in mind that people will tell you
what they want, but will spend money only on what they actually
need. The toughest part of your job is figuring out what they
need.
If you can offer a better, faster, and/or cheaper solution to a
problem, you have a good chance of being successful - but you must
be able to prove it. For example, email is clearly better, faster,
and cheaper than a fax for getting a document into another
person's hands. A fax, while it often was more expensive than
using regular postal mail, obviously was faster than the post
office.
On the other hand, for years the primary claim of many Mac
products was that they would somehow make you more productive.
That's a tough thing to quantify. You need to consider how you
will demonstrate to the customer that your solution is better,
faster, or cheaper than what they're doing now.
The next questions to ask yourself relate to how you will sell
the product. What will be your distribution method? Will you
sell online? Will you do only electronic distribution, which is
cheaper, or will you offer the software on CD-ROM, which seems to
be favored by more people? Do you need a network of salespeople or
resellers? Who is your target market? Consumers, small businesses,
network administrators? All of these issues contribute to how
you'll sell your product.
You also might need to consider an ancillary question: Can you
survive financially while you build your customer base? The time
period during which a market adopts a new product varies with each
product, but consider this: Innovators are those who are the first
to purchase any new product. Most experts believe the innovators
make up about 2.5 percent of the market. Early adopters (about
13.5 percent of the market) are the next to purchase, followed
by the early majority (34 percent), late majority (34 percent)
and then the laggards (16 percent).
Finally, how will you differentiate your product in the market?
Most developers think in terms of features. Fair enough. Many
customers say things like, "I wish I could [insert action here]"
and developers respond to that. But remember that, while features
are important, customers actually respond to the benefits of those
features, not to the features themselves.
For example, look at Apple's Mac OS X box, which touts Aqua, a
feature. Aqua's benefits include being "intuitive for new users",
and "powerful and customizable for professionals." The Finder is a
feature; its benefits, Apple claims, include helping you "quickly
navigate and organize gigabytes" of various types of data. You may
or may not agree with that claim, which points to the importance
of being able to convince users that what you say about your
product is true.
Before you can successfully differentiate your product, you
must fully understand your competition. Once you've done that
research, you can begin to craft your marketing message and value
proposition - how your product will benefit the user - to suit
your target market(s). That message may vary depending on what
stage of the adoption curve - the phases in the process of
deciding to make a purchase - the customer is in at the time
the message is delivered.
**Set Phases on Sell** -- Every buying decision a customer makes
goes through six distinct phases, though some phases may take
place simultaneously. The first stage is awareness, where the
customer learns about your product. The second is the information
stage, during which the customer gathers information about the
product and develops an interest in it. The third phase is
evaluation: the customer envisions using the product, and also
considers alternatives.
The fourth phase is the trial phase, where customers might
experiment with the product itself, but also tests it for "social
acceptability" - the customer is interested in what others think
of the product and what friends and acquaintances might think of
her if she buys and uses the product. Phase five is full-scale
adoption. The customer has bought it and uses it. The final phase
is reinforcement, where the customer is continually reminded that
she in fact made a good buying decision.
The process of getting a customer to buy the product includes
a combination of appeals to logic and emotion, delivered through
either impersonal media (the mass media such as print, broadcast,
or the Internet) and personal media, which include friends,
experts, opinion leaders, and the like. In the second part
of this article, I'll talk about how you can make those appeals
with a good marketing plan, and also include examples of sales
successes.
In the meantime, I'd encourage you to check out the following
Web resources for more information on marketing software: the
Product Development and Management Association; the University
of California, Berkeley's Software Product Marketing page;
the Silicon Valley Product Management Association; and the
Association of Shareware Professionals
<http://www.pdma.org/>
<http://www.iwl.com/SPM/resources.html>
<http://www.svpma.org/resources.htm>
<http://www.asp-shareware.org/>
[Mike Diegel is a strategic marketing and public relations
consultant specializing in helping small businesses and other
organizations use the Web more effectively.]
<http://www.emortals.com/>
$$
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