Jan 2006
China Anniversary
We had a sushi lunch at Yoko's, then went home and watched a movie ("Kinsey", recommended) from our Netflix queue, then dressed up and went to Merenda for a swanky dinner.
We marveled at the fun we've had for the last two decades, and talked about the decades to come. I'm going to get a job in the space industry, and Anna will help make ends meet by playing poker online.
Check in again in twenty years and see how we've done.
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OK, that's all right, then
In our last episode, I was made very angry by the Gizmo Project's new feature that tricks you into sending out their spam. I placed a strongly-worded complaint into their help desk ticket system, and I just received a reply.
So there you have it. They're really really sorry, they know they made a terrible mistake, and they're going to spare no expense to fix it as soon as humanly possible. Chris was so concerned with letting me know ASAP that he couldn't spare the time to spell-check his message. How thoughtful!
Also, they're sending me a $20 gift certificate for Applebee's as a thank-you for bringing this to their attention. Gosh darn it, those Gizmo guys really do care, don't they?
Or not.
Doug:
obvioulsy, the "tell-a-friend" wizard was not intended as a trick.
We have considered changing the default behavior to be having all the contacts unselected, and then allowing people to either select them individually, or have some kind of "select all" button. We will most likely do this in a future version.
Chris Lawrence
Gizmo Project Support
http://support.GizmoProject.com
So there you have it. They're really really sorry, they know they made a terrible mistake, and they're going to spare no expense to fix it as soon as humanly possible. Chris was so concerned with letting me know ASAP that he couldn't spare the time to spell-check his message. How thoughtful!
Also, they're sending me a $20 gift certificate for Applebee's as a thank-you for bringing this to their attention. Gosh darn it, those Gizmo guys really do care, don't they?
Or not.
Gizmo Project suddenly turned evil!
I've been using the Gizmo Project software since it was called SIPphone, and have always loved it. Free phone calls over the Internet, whee! I was able to figure out how to call my sister's Vonage number for free, too.
Anyway, it's just been getting better and better.
(cue ominous music)
Until now.
(thunder crashes, organist goes wild, etc.)
The latest release includes a wizard that purports to take contacts from your Address Book and add them to your Gizmo contact list. Cool. I tried it out and here's what I saw:
Looks pretty innocent so far. Note the human interface violation — no default button. Small potatoes, but much worse is to come.
(cue ominous music again)
After clicking the Continue button, the following dialog comes up:
(thunder crashes, organist goes wild again, etc.)
Suddenly we're no longer importing contacts.
We're EXPORTING SPAM!!!
(monster roars, villagers scream, etc.)
Now here's where I made my mistake. I didn't fully read the dialog box, and didn't realize that the whole focus of the operation has changed from sucking in addresses to spewing out email. The only way forward is the Continue button.
(cue ominous music)
Which I clicked.
(divers alarums, etc.)
The next thing that happened was a progress bar and a dialog that said something like "Spewing Gizmo spam to all the people in your address book that trust you to know better and who have received numerous chastisements from you over the years to NOT send chain letters and other spams". Shocked, I clicked the Cancel button, but apparently I wasn't quick enough.
(the music stops)
(narrator's voice echoes throughout the castle)
I HAVE SENT GIZMO'S SPAM, WITH MY RETURN ADDRESS ON IT!!!!
(heroine shrieks, organist sprains his wrists, etc.)
I sent them a nastygram and am also going to send a message to MacInTouch about it. They really need to fix this, and quickly.
In the meantime,
(music swells to crescendo)
Citizens Beware! This could happen to YOU!!!
Okay, that was a little over the top. But seriously, I'm really really angry with those guys. Bad programmer, no biscuit. Go and read your Human Interface Guidelines from Apple. Then fix the program. Then come back for your biscuit.
Only then will I resume recommending Gizmo Project to everyone around me.
Anyway, it's just been getting better and better.
(cue ominous music)
Until now.
(thunder crashes, organist goes wild, etc.)
The latest release includes a wizard that purports to take contacts from your Address Book and add them to your Gizmo contact list. Cool. I tried it out and here's what I saw:
Looks pretty innocent so far. Note the human interface violation — no default button. Small potatoes, but much worse is to come.
(cue ominous music again)
After clicking the Continue button, the following dialog comes up:
(thunder crashes, organist goes wild again, etc.)
Suddenly we're no longer importing contacts.
We're EXPORTING SPAM!!!
(monster roars, villagers scream, etc.)
Now here's where I made my mistake. I didn't fully read the dialog box, and didn't realize that the whole focus of the operation has changed from sucking in addresses to spewing out email. The only way forward is the Continue button.
(cue ominous music)
Which I clicked.
(divers alarums, etc.)
The next thing that happened was a progress bar and a dialog that said something like "Spewing Gizmo spam to all the people in your address book that trust you to know better and who have received numerous chastisements from you over the years to NOT send chain letters and other spams". Shocked, I clicked the Cancel button, but apparently I wasn't quick enough.
(the music stops)
(narrator's voice echoes throughout the castle)
I HAVE SENT GIZMO'S SPAM, WITH MY RETURN ADDRESS ON IT!!!!
(heroine shrieks, organist sprains his wrists, etc.)
I sent them a nastygram and am also going to send a message to MacInTouch about it. They really need to fix this, and quickly.
In the meantime,
(music swells to crescendo)
Citizens Beware! This could happen to YOU!!!
Okay, that was a little over the top. But seriously, I'm really really angry with those guys. Bad programmer, no biscuit. Go and read your Human Interface Guidelines from Apple. Then fix the program. Then come back for your biscuit.
Only then will I resume recommending Gizmo Project to everyone around me.