Making movies is like making software?

Posted under A Geek Dad's Life, Blog Posts, Software Design

I recently “harshed on” the new Zune 2.2 desktop software. It is interesting just how “close” they came to getting it perfect.  As predicted, I have now grown completely comfortable with the new software and now find it quite neato.  It is BETTER than the old Zune 1.0 desktop software by leaps and bounds.  Here are the things that I love about the v2.2 update:

• Duh.  Podcast Subscriptions.  The subscription process is solid, and the downloading logic is equally well-baked.  Bravo.
• The Zune device syncs back to desktop software to report “what has played” and will automatically mark the track(s) as “played” in the desktop software.  As such, it will automatically load the next item(s) onto your Zune.
• If you don’t finish listening to a podcast, the Zune device places a bookmark where you left off in a long podcast.  When you come back to it after sync’ing or listening to something else, the device prompts you to resume.  Finally.  Wicked awesome.
• I can watch video podcasts.  Yes, we all know that it was an obvious “missing feature” in version 1.  Still, VH1 Best Week Ever is the best thing ever… ever.

Still, the very small gap between “perfect” and the new version 2.1 software felt bigger when I first tried it.  That’s the irony of software. 

Making software is much like a movie; A great movie is only 2% better than a crappy movie.  If you can overlook the “dingers” in an otherwise-good movie, you might grow to love it for its good moments.  When I see a crappy movie created by a group of talented actors and directors, I ask myself “could that have been fixed with some pickups and some editing?”  The answer is usually “yes.”

An important advantage to writing software vs. making movies: With software, you can release updates!