SQLFusion blogs

Reuters had interesting statistics to share with us earlier this morning: "complexity causes 50% of product returns". The article was mentioning a research from Elke den Ouden, from Netherland on consumer electronics.

The most interesting part of this study is the fact that a person will spend up to 20 minutes trying to understand how a device works before giving up. The other interesting part of the study is the reaction from product developers and product managers who found themselves quite astonished by the difficulties encountered by users with their devices.

This issue - I bet - could be witnessed not only in the consumer electronics world, but also in the software world. Indeed I have seen many people struggling with software - from Windows, to Word and Excel - and most didn't even have a choice to return those software (we are not employable today, if we don't know how to use Word and Excel).

This study concluded that better product definition is key to solving complexity. Some companies are great examples of what should be done to make software easier from Apple (Mac OSX, Ipod software, etc.) to 37signals (Basecamp, etc.). You'll notice that none of those two examples are providing Open Source software. Nonetheless, I believe that Open Source can help tremendously the software industry in simplifying software through the intense exchange between developers and users.

I believe that product complexity is a stigma of the lack of interaction between a technician / inventor and end-users. In many ways Open Source communities have this problem, since this is mostly developers who get involved in an Open Source project rather than end-users. But I hope that as Open Source software - with Linux (KDE), Firefox, Wordpress, SugarCRM opening the way - is reaching more and more non-technical users, those users will add their piece to Open Source software development by leaving valuable feedback in terms of usability. As result it will help Open Source developers improve users experience with software rather than add endlessly cool features - and hopefully provide better and more usable software than closed source software.

And to give a bit more substance to that idea, you should take a look at Neil McAllister excellent article: "Community development breathes new life into old gadgets" in Infoworld. Open Source helping software and gadgets become simpler, it is already happening.

A software solution developed by SQLFusion, the first AJAX based online site building software, branded "Drag drop Site Builder" offered to web hosting companies is getting media coverage in the WHIR (Web Host Industry Review), the Web hosting's premiere daily news provider, a reference for the web hosting industry.

Here is a excerpt of the article:

"SQLFusion's product, Drag Drop Site Creator (dragdropsitecreator.com), uses PHP and Ajax technology to display page and database components in a Web browser for creation and modification." (click here for the full article)

I received earlier today a message from my oncle, on which several people were copied. It informed me that if I receive a call from "A C E" my SIM phone card would be wiped out and that if I got a phone message telling me to call back the phone number "06 07 74 52 41" (my uncle is French :) ) my phone bill would jump to the roof. Furthermore he asserted that one of his good friend (that he named in his e-mail) assured him after contacting Nokia, Erikson, Sagem, Motorola and so on that the rumor is true...

Such a warning could seem quite scary...I decided I would never pick up my cell again!

BUT... WAIT A MINUTE...

Careful as I always am, I decided to do a bit of research to double check the facts. I diligently went to google, searched for "ACE hoax" and found the following article: Mobile phone hoax or this one Virus Information ACE - Mobile Phone Hoax for instance (Notice the "Type: Hoax" written in those reports).

Confident that my search would unveil other comforting news, I decided to search in Google again "06 07 74 52 41" and found the following articles: Piratage portables,
Type: Rumeur,Statut: Faux

As a conclusion, I will probably repeat what many have already said before me, but can always serve those who are not yet familiar with what the web can bring us in terms of misinformation. We don't need to go as far as Descartes and consider everything around us is potential illusion - even if so it might be true, quite frankly :) - but if we all complete some fact checking, that can spare us some worries... as well as spam, spyware or virus spreading. And the best tools for fact checking are search engines (Google, Yahoo!, MSN search... ordered according to my personal preference) and sites like Hoaxbuster.com

For those who would like to go even more in depth, there is also this interesting article: Better Read That Again: Web Hoaxes and Misinformation

Finally, for those of you who are ready to make the big jump and figure out what is or is not illusion as Descartes did, all you have to say is "Tabula rasa"...

SQLFusion announced the release today of the first online site building application ever built with "AJAX" technology. This online web site builder, called Drag Drop Site Creator, is available at dragdropsitecreator.com. It is intended primarily for web hosting companies, which offer Drag Drop Site Creator as an additional service to their hosting customers.

AJAX, which stands for "Asynchronous JavaScript And XML" has been highlighted recently in Gmail, Flickr, Zimbra and many "Web 2.0" applications, and is made evident by their outstanding speed and ease of use. Indeed, AJAX-based applications look almost as if they reside on the user's machine, rather than across the Internet on a separate server. Drag Drop Site Creator pushes this technology a step further by allowing users to build entire web sites within their web browsers. They do so with an intuitive point, click and drag mechanism for any web site elements, such as text, pictures, forms and even additional web applications. It is especially suitable for individuals and small to mid-sized businesses, which can build full featured web sites without technical expertise or personnel.

SQLFusion claims that with Drag Drop Site Creator, web hosting companies are now able to offer a powerful web-based application to their customers. Philippe Lewicki, SQLFusion's CEO, says that "Drag Drop Site Creator is probably the most breathtaking software a web host can provide to his customers today. Any web host can now offer a service which competes with what the largest web portals and service providers are offering. Actually, web hosts will be able to offer a technology which is ahead of what those web portals are currently offering. They give their customers a way to build custom, full-featured websites in a way that is truly intuitive and accessible to any non-technical user of any age, 7 to 77". Mr Lewicki adds, "Drag Drop site creator is also a fantastic tool to differentiate a web hosting offer in this tremendously competitive marketplace. It allows web hosts to manage hundreds of user accounts seamlessly and build custom plans matching each category of customers they target."

With dozens of web hosting companies currently offering Drag Drop Site Creator to their customers along with their standard hosting services, SQLFusion is already bringing extra value to web hosting services. After receiving the Editor's Choice award from Webhost magazine buyer's guide last July, SQLFusion intends to move ahead and build an even stronger network of web hosts, providing its technology to any business or individual that needs a web site.

About SQLFusion

SQLFusion, LLC is a U.S. company based in Lawndale, in Southern California. Its founder, Philippe Lewicki, developed the first online database Form Manager in 1999. Fueled by this early success in creating web applications, SQLFusion has developed an advanced online web authoring tool with Drag Drop Site Creator as its leading product.