software development is a craft
I just watched a thought provoking video about interaction design which likens software development to a craft.
Perhaps it’s my own craft background whispering in my ear, but I think this guys got a point.
Archive for February, 2008
seasons
I have noticed, in the last few days, a number of emails marketing one thing or another to me (mainly software) which all have highly specific seasonal messages in them.
Last week, for example…
February usually brings cold temperatures, overcast skies, and a bit of boredom;
And today, the 15th of Feb here in Oz…
Happy Valentines Day! We love our community, thanks for being part of it!
I understand that these are attempts to personalise communications and give me the warm fuzzies, but being in Australia, where the seasons are reversed (it’s been hot and humid here in Melbourne, which *is usual* for February), and we are a day ahead of America (Valentines was yesterday), I find it irritating to be marketed to in this way.
The internet makes us all part of a global community, and marketers who assume that everyone lives in the same timezone/hemisphere as they do just reveal their small mindedness.
This is up there with my other pet peeves of web sites that don’t say what currency their products are listed in ($19.95 in what currency? AUD? USD? SGD? HKD? or one of ~20 other countries?), and sites that don’t include their country as part of the contact details (how many High Streets are there?). I’ve seem some sites that don’t even say what state they are in. I assume these are American sites as they seem to be the worst offenders.
If a business is only interested in customers from their own neighborhood, then they don’t need a web site: just put up a sign.