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Software registration schemes; the good, the bad, the ugly
I've worked on a number of consumer products in my career, some with registration schemes, some without. What is the purpose of a registration scheme? Are people trying to prevent piracy? Are they trying to keep the honest people honest? Or is there some other motivation? For me, it is about motivating people to purchase the software when the demo has expired (in my shareware world). With some of my products, people use it, like it, and forget that the software is even working, so they forget to register. A registration scheme here has proven to be quite effective on my NotifyMail program. I had another program called PhotoCapture that had no registration scheme (I was young and dumb) and asked people to send me a postcard if they used it. I know it was used on various websites back in the day, but only got a handful of cards. That method clearly didn't work.
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Scared waterless
Yesterday I replaced our reverse osmosis system as the one we had was costing me something like $200 per year to replace the filters. The previous owners of our house installed probably one of the most expensive systems they could find and to top it off, the replacements filters had to be ordered. So I picked up a GE Profile Smart Water system from Home Depot where the replacement filters are about $40 every six months so not only is it half the price per year, I can get the filters right from the local store.
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What happens when technology fails?
The other day when I was in Los Gatos for work, I stayed in a nice hotel that had electronic locks on all the rooms with what looked like no manual bypass. I went back to my room one of the days I was there and my key didn't work. I went to the front desk and asked to get a new key; the system wasn't working to generate a new key, so I had to be let in the room by the front desk clerk. He used an electronic master key. What would have happened if the master key didn't work? Would all the rooms unlock (I'd hope not)? How would people get in? Later when I went to get a new key, the system was working again, but I wonder how my card key got deactivated. Hmmm.
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What's that growing out of your ear?
More and more I see people with Bluetooth headsets hanging on their ears when they're walking around and even when they're eating. I think that this is extremely rude and completely unnecessary. However, people feel the need to talk on the phone wherever they happen to be. Bluetooth headsets are fine for the car and when you need to be handsfree, but it doesn't have to be a permanent fixture on your ear.