IP: WAP vs. cell phone users

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

> To: dave () farber net
> cc: lauren () vortex com
> Subject: WAP vs. cell phone users
> Date: Mon, 28 May 2001 10:53:33 -0700
> From: Lauren Weinstein <lauren () vortex com>
>
> Greetings.  As far as I'm concerned, surveys suggesting that "WAP is too
> confusing" or somehow responsible for poor user interfaces are missing the
> point, and may be getting caught up in what seem to be almost religious
> arguments about the protocols involved.  Such arguments are not
> really productive in terms of the goal of creating useful applications.
>
> Blaming WAP for an unsatisfactory cell phone e-mail interface is like
> blaming the "C" programming language for the complexity of VCR controls.
>
> As far as most programmers are concerned, WAP is fundamentally simply a set
> of extensions to HTML for cell phones.  WAP is far from perfect.  There are
> numerous aspects of its design that could have been done differently to
> significant advantage.  However, WAP itself does not dictate the detailed
> design or layout of program interfaces or internal operations.  Of course,
> inept or misguided programmers working in any language can create an
> application (or for that matter an entire operating system) that will be a
> horror for its users.  The fact that so many cell phone applications are
> confusing and poorly designed is simply a reflection of the overall sorry
> state of design and programming in general.
>
> When I couldn't find any off-the-shelf cellular e-mail programs that I
> considered reasonable, I rolled my own from scratch, building a WAP-based
> system in Perl that interfaces to my mail via IMAP, using the
> straightforward "mh" e-mail command model.  Works like a charm.
>
> Could WAP be better?  Yes.  But when it comes to the problems people
> are having with cell phone applications today, WAP isn't really the issue.
>
> --Lauren--
> Lauren Weinstein
> lauren () pfir org or lauren () vortex com or lauren () privacyforum org
> Co-Founder, PFIR: People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org
> Moderator, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com
> Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy



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