August 22, 2002

6:42 AM

"Know it well, for it is on this day that we fixed the bug that prevented one from attaching files with apostrophes in the filename. We are living in the best of all possible worlds." Oddpost engineers channel Dave Eggers in one of the most entertaining customer support blogs ever. Oh wait, it's the only one (that I've seen). Are there others?
posted by luser (14 comments total)

Sorry 'bout the munged 2nd link there. Oddpost.
posted by luser at 6:48 AM on August 22, 2002

Ever had one of those days when you open up an email, and for some reason the font of the entire Oddpost user interface suddenly changes? Well that's fixed.

hehe. it's really the attention to the little things that counts.
posted by phmk at 6:52 AM on August 22, 2002

Other CSVs should work, but Palm's CSV is not supported because they chose to NOT FOLLOW THE RULES. If you must import a Palm address book, use their vCard format to get it into Outlook, then export CSV from Outlook, then import it into Oddpost, then spit nickels and crawl on your belly like a lizard.

priceless...
posted by machaus at 7:00 AM on August 22, 2002

You know, we're really starting to wonder about this relationship. We just give and give and give. What have you done for we lately? Oh, that's right. You gave us $30. Our mistake. No no. You're right. That's more than enough. But we digress.

Thanks - it is good to see people enjoying themselves like this.
posted by yhbc at 7:08 AM on August 22, 2002

Superb. I have about seven different email accounts that are used at least semi-regularly - one at work, three for different bits of website work, one free yahoo.co.uk account, and two still working from university - and all work happily through Outlook and POP and all are free. And yet now I am very very very close to dolloping $30 in the direction of OddPost just because it looks so very cool and fun. God knows what I'd do with it if I had it...
posted by humuhumu at 7:20 AM on August 22, 2002

There used to be an Event Log that was sent out by the IT guys at the end of their shift at the last place I worked. (That's a train wreck of a sentence, but I ain't gonna rewrite it.) Since I wasn't technically in IT I wasn't supposed to see it, but, as a programmer, I liked to know what was going on and knew where to find it. By far the most common problem was something called "Error Code 7," as in "Someone in marketing was had problem with speakers. Error Code 7, fixed." When I finally asked someone what Error Code 7 stood for, they said "User Had Insufficient Intelligence".
posted by Shadowkeeper at 7:53 AM on August 22, 2002

Eggers remains alive, so far as I know, so channeling him would be rude and possibly violate the Convention on Human Rights. Voltaire, on the other hand ...
posted by dhartung at 7:54 AM on August 22, 2002

From the FAQ:

But what about Netscape? And Opera? And IE 4.0? And the Mac!?
None of those platforms have a big enough share of the browser market to justify the engineering costs of bringing Oddpost to them. If that situation changes, so will our development plans. In the meantime, we’re focused on making the best possible product for the majority of machines surfing the Web.

Complete. Utter. Bullshit.
posted by Cerebus at 8:11 AM on August 22, 2002

Complete. Utter. Bullshit.

Please provide more details Cerebus. You seem to feel that you know Oddpost's business situation better than the owner/operators.

Are you saying that producing a cross browser DHTML application such as Oddpost is no more expensive or time consuming than targeting only the most popular platform?
posted by srboisvert at 8:25 AM on August 22, 2002

Complete. Utter. Bullshit.

hahahahaahahahahha.... excuse me while I wipe a tear from my eye cerebus, but most web users aren't web designers, don't code in HTML, and have never heard about any of those websites you linked to, or any of the issues that they talk about.
posted by insomnyuk at 8:31 AM on August 22, 2002

srboisvert: Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying.

insomnyuk: Yeah, I know, but that's part of the problem isn't it? If user's don't know they can't demand.
posted by Cerebus at 8:34 AM on August 22, 2002

Side note, srboisvert-- They have the gall to complain about Palm's CSV implementation not following the standards, as quoted above. Pot, meet kettle.
posted by Cerebus at 8:36 AM on August 22, 2002

We discussed OddPost's cross-platform issues (and their entertaining technical writing) in April 2002. Just FYI.
posted by kirkaracha at 9:13 AM on August 22, 2002

When I finally asked someone what Error Code 7 stood for, they said "User Had Insufficient Intelligence".

I'm working tech support this summer (the stories I have!) and we have a similiar idea, only we yell out "Code AOL!" when we get a brain-deficient user. Thank god for the mute button.
posted by krunk at 9:15 AM on August 22, 2002