Gawker: valleywag, joel spolsky

Hacker finds Microsoft Office file formats actually make sense

Paul Boutin — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 01:38:42 EST

Software developer and essayist Joel Spolsky went dumpster-diving into Microsoft Office's intractable file formats, the curse of freedom-loving Unixtards like me. Spolsky's findings? The formats were designed to make Office run fast on 20-megahertz CPUs with 1 MB of memory, yet to also remember all the options set on each file by years' worth of menu-addled Office applications. This is great news — it means someday I may get Word 2007 to stop unchecking my template options on me every. Single. God damned time.

How to demonstrate software, the 100-word version

Nicholas Carlson — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 20:00:11 EST

Maybe you went to last night's Web 2.0 Social Networking Tech Meetup in Chelsea. Put on by the same people who hosted New York's first Lunch 2.0 last month, the event was a fine stage for a wantrepreneur to turn the corner. Presenters Snooth, Buddy Media and Convos, however, tripped over themselves in trying to display their wares. Fortunately, Joel Spolsky is here to help with a post titled "How to demo software." It's an excellent how-to, except for its length — 2,483 words. Here's a readable 100-word version.

Go to London, Toronto, Seattle, Austin, or Boston. Silicon Valley finds tech demonstrations boring. Get the nicest venue. Look for libraries, museums, and universities. Get a room the right size. OK if people have to stand in the back. Get a high-ceiling room so everyone can see. Serve coffee. Play upbeat music loudly. Give people name tags. Cover the place in logos (brochures, pens, pads, and banners). Dress just better than your audience. Set the screen to 800x600. Unscrew the lights shining on your screen. Lock the doors until ready. Make the demonstration a story. Have the protagonist almost solve the problem, then the necessary boring stuff and then the protagonists solves the problem. Say important points two ways. Tape yourself. Review. Let the demo evolve.

(Photo by soylentgreen23)

Julia Allison breaks up with her nerd boyfriend

Owen Thomas — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 13:04:53 EDT

How typical: Julia Allison, the New York dating columnist and TV personality, has broken up with her boyfriend, Vimeo founder Jakob Lodwick. By blog post. And email. Yes, she has, at last, become one with the byways of Silicon Valley. Gawker has the blow-by-blow. So why should anyone on this coast care? Only to note the spread of our unfortunate social mores eastward. The Allison-Lodwick relationship, according to her email, was sexless. The couple, instead, bonded by talking about blogging and business plans. Lodwick never even had a chance to unseat ~~software blogger Joel Spolsky~~ Michael Pryor, the business partner of software blogger Joel Spolsky — yes, he's the one she wrote about — as the ultimate object of Allison's carnal attentions. (Photoillustration by Gawker)