…can often be perceived as much as an art as a science but there are certain patterns and phrases that reproduce from project to project: -

Image thanks to Office365.

1. This bug doesn’t reproduce in my Development Environment. The flip side of this is, “It’s a known bug”: when either of these are uttered you can pretty much assume a unicorn just died… horribly.
2. Automated testing will solve all our testing issues and find all the bugs.
3. We have a zero tolerance attitude to bugs.
4. Unit testing? We don’t need that here, it only slows things down.
5. Who is Manuel Testing?
6. Can you please stop talking to the developers about bugs? It stops them working.
7. We invented Agile but we have a unique blend of it with Waterfall and bits of CMMI.
8. No, no, no! I’m telling you. It’s a feature not a bug.
9. Why do you need to understand how the customer will use the software? You’re Testing not Product or Sales.
10. We maintain a proprietary Bug Tracking System we built on top of Excel.

But my all time favorite for real world testing albeit not software testing is:

Here’s your bulletproof vest. If it doesn’t work then bring it back and we’ll exchange it.

Think … about … it. (This really happened to me).

The Warptest POV

Whilst these are amusing to encounter they are also warning signs particularly for the Software Testing professional who works on projects. It is beyond importance to be aware of the work culture and management buy-in / comprehension of what Testing entails, why a specific tool or methodology is being recommended and whether all your efforts will result in a positive change or not.

When I was doing my certification as a Scrum Master the group were asked the best response to this scenario:

Your team are working successfully and to schedule based on their commitments. A manager walks in and takes two members of your team away mid-sprint. When you discuss changes to the schedule due to loss of resources the answer you get is, “We expect you to cope and meet the deadlines regardless”.

Many of the class came up with creative responses involving negotiation, refactoring schedules etc. but the Agile Coach giving the class responded,

“You are all wrong. You update your resume.”

There are software testing jobs like any other jobs that you simply shouldn’t take unless you are prepared for failure on the way.

Sometimes it is possible to pull a testing rabbit out the hat but it requires a strong team and most likely a high level of collaboration from the Developers you are working with.

Is this something unique to Software Testing or have you encountered this elsewhere?

The post Software Testing and Sh_t You Don’t Want To Hear appeared first on Warptest.

… And with it TechCrunch throws an absolute wobbler and decides that this is the Lumia PureView Killer.

Their title “Samsung Just Killed Nokia’s ‘True PureView’ Windows Phone And It’s Not Even Unboxed Yet” drew my attention and so I hit the link in Twitter.

I didn’t need to so much as scroll to see the image of the Galaxy S4 Zoom which for all intents and purposes looks like a point and shoot camera which apparently has a phone built in.

With thanks to YouTuber Tracy80sGirl for the clip

Apples and Pears

My suggestive title aside I decided to see what it feels like to treat a point and shoot as your phone: -

1. I really hope my jeans pocket stretches back to original shape and thankfully I didn’t accidentally hit the zoom button when it was in there; the rest I leave to your imagination.
2. Yes, there needs to be an equivalent term to Glasshole for people who walk around talking into a point and shoot camera.
3. I have more comments from my brief behavioral testing run but let’s progress…

With thanks to Samsung Mobile Press for making images downloadableClick to view slideshow.

TechCrunch’s article indicates that “serious” photographers will take a point and shoot form factor camera over Nokia’s Lumia PureView whilst at the same time deriding the comparison of Samsung’s 16 Megapixels versus the PureView’s 41 WHOPPING Megapixels as nerdy. Sounds like someone wants to have their blogging cake and eat it too.

The bulky argument cancels itself out because both phones are bulky in different ways. The Galaxy S4 Zoom protects the zoom lens housing by building a protruding base to the phone across the whole width whereas the Lumia has a consistent form factor except for the bubble shape of the lens housing.

I will say one more thing regarding technical spec. TechCrunch, anyone who is remotely serious about taking photos will see one thing that differentiates the two lenses: -

Who’s got a Carl Zeiss lens?

The Warptest POV

In a nutshell the Samsung looks good for what it is but the Nokia looks better. The promise of the competitive technical specs of 10X Zoom versus WHOPPING Megapixels may cancel each other out.

Really it comes to this, do you want Windows Phone 8 or Android 4.2 (Jellybean)? Whichever, you had better make sure you have unlimited data and unthrottled bandwidth for uploading these undoubtedly large photos or simply sending resized copies until you can use a wifi connection.

Sorry to burst your bubble TechCrunch but I don’t think Nokia is under much threat from this specific model especially when you factor the promise of Lumia’s low light abilities, Wireless recharging and some amazing proprietary apps.

So whilst I may be happy to see you Samsung Galaxy Zoom, you won’t be in my pocket.

How about you?

The post Is That A Samsung Cam-Phone In Your Pocket Or…? appeared first on Warptest.

Whilst the Xbox One design and feature list is extensive I can’t help but think that stealing the Surface design would have been a unified brand sort of idea but nonetheless I like the look of the thing a lot.

What’s It All About?

For those not in the know the new Xbox has an extensive and varied feature list and is so much more than just a Game box:

• Skype. Yes finally Skype has arrived on Xbox. Wait for those big screen group Skype video calls with all your henchmen as you plot your next campaign for global domination (or just a call to Mum, Dad and all the family).

…with thanks to Youtube user AustinPowers900 for the clip

• Integration with TV set-top boxes
• Live television and Blue-ray DVD’s as well as your friends trending entertainment
• Yes the UI is brand consistent with a strong hat tip to Metro oops, New Windows UI and Windows Phone’s awesome Zune desktop app.

• Kinect remains an integral and strong part of the Xbox experience and those of you who are frequent visitors know that I believe Kinect should be onboard every Microsoft device. By the look of things the Xbox One Kinect is a superhero in its own right.

• Games are going to be a strong part of Xbox obviously and this section alone deserves its own post. I’m not going to reinvent the wheel when you can read all about it on NeoWin. Suffice it to say that if you are a gamer Xbox One should be making you drool right now.
• Multiple Operating Systems for management of the Entertainment Center or Games.
• Hybrid TV and Gaming: it seems that the boffins took a leaf out of SyFy‘s groundbreaking Defiance, a TV Show that combines with a massive online multiplayer gaming experience. Remedy’s Quantum Leak will go one step further by having what happens in the game interact with a TV Show inside the game itself.
• Snap is essentially multitasking or running more than one app on Xbox One concurrently
• Voice control: run Entertainment functions with your voice and switch between them.
• All this and more…

The Warptest POV

All in all Xbox One is a powerhouse in terms of features and technical spec. It is poised to dominate the household entertainment market and Microsoft have addressed user concerns by ensuring that it is not always on or connected to the Internet full-time.

A Twitter and Facebook friend today expressed concern that as usual much of the added value of Xbox One would be lost as it was America-centric i.e. revolving around services like Netflix and Hulu. We got into this discussion and I referenced one of my posts from May 2010 about the need for disruption in the international TV industry; I believe it’s early days but I have high hopes.

We have already seen incredible social Startups like Stevie who are bringing new ideas to the table and Amazon, yes Amazon who have both movie viewing from the cloud but also have founded their own TV studio and are creating their own shows and movies to be viewed online. All this adds up to different facets of disruption but facets that are somewhat more acceptable to the established order than pirate sharing.

IMHO the Xbox One adds up to a potentially disruptive technology in its own right that will stimulate further growth and innovation in the field of entertainment. In its FAQs Microsoft explains that they are working towards solutions that will not limit these services to America only. I’m really interested to see what the Developers out there are going to do with it too.

One thing’s for sure it’s going to be entertaining. Don’t you think?

The post Xbox One It’s Not About Gaming It’s About Disruption appeared first on Warptest.

Microsoft has a beautifully designed product line and right now, after going hands-on at Microsoft’s Build 2012 event, only Asus has tempted me with their Windows 8 touch enabled alternatives. In fact I defy you to go hands-on with the Surface and not be impressed by the look and feel from materials to UX.

Even so I haven’t made the leap and bought a Surface yet. If I was going to buy one of the existing alternatives it would have to be the Surface Pro and I’m a sucker for larger hard drives but I’m hesitating and not just because of budgetary concerns.

What Am I Waiting For?

The truth is my 14″ Dell Laptop is still working and as important as it is to me to actively use new technology like touch enabled Windows tablets or laptops I can get a quick fix for now at the local computer stores.

The real reason though is that I (like many others) am speculating that it’s worth the wait to see newer and smaller Windows 8 Pro Tablets arrive on the scene. Even Acer whose CEO, JT Wang ripped into Microsoft last August over Windows 8 and Surface is fully onboard with smaller Windows Tablets. Earlier this month Amazon accidentally leaked an out of stock Acer Iconia W3 8.1 inch Windows Tablet.

The expectation is that a slew of 7 to 10 inch Windows Tablets are coming later this year.

What Is It Good For?

In a nutshell ask anyone with a pocket tablet like the iPad Mini or a Nexus. Which brings us to an important question, which mini Tablet would I choose?

The Warptest POV

I’m expecting (and I have no hard evidence to support this) to see amongst these a mini Surface Tablet and that would be my choice. The question though is will it be a pure Tablet or a Phablet? More important, if there is a mini Surface Phablet which flavor of Windows will it run?

Can we expect a full blown Windows 8 Pro Phab with phone functionality built in? I asked Microsoft if there was phone functionality coded into Windows 8 Pro or RT via Twitter but didn’t get an answer yet.

Perhaps the only conceivable alternative for me would be if Asus made a version of their Padphone with Windows onboard.

Regardless of which of these we get to see I’m hoping the boffins at Redmond work hard to find competitive prices for these devices.

What do you think?

The post The Surface I’m Waiting For appeared first on Warptest.

Yesterday Facebook was featured in two major stories:

Firstly the blogosphere went wild over the news that they are once again in advanced negotiations for the purchase of Israeli social traffic navigation startup Waze.

Secondly they announced new features being added to Facebook Home on Android and hitting 1 million downloads.

Yes there is a connection…

It hasn’t taken that long a time for Facebook Home to get to their 1 million downloads but not everyone is pleased to have Facebook takeover the start screen of their Smartphone. For those not clued in Facebook Home is just that, a Facebook Start Screen when you turn on your Smartphone. Right now it’s on Android and Microsoft were fast to point out that Windows Phone did this from the get-go anyhow.

If they manages to acquire Waze they have an incredible and much needed popular App with a huge user base to build into the next iteration of Facebook Home.

The Missing Link

To truly realize the ROI of buying Waze it can’t just sit there; there needs to be some degree of intelligent automated behavior. Facebook Home needs to react to environmental changes in the physical world around the phone.

Zuck and team should be taking a long, hard look at Israeli Startup IFTTT who wrote the rulebook on this for web applications and Microsoft (specifically the Israel R&D division) who released an Android App called on{X} last year. This is a rule based App that detects a condition and responds with the appropriate rule running.

In Facebook Home’s case what’s needed would be something like this use case:

If Accelerometer or GPS detect motion > footspeed then activate Waze from Facebook Home.

Warptest POV

Whatever the truth is about Facebook acquiring Waze, I definitely wish Waze good luck and hope that Facebook realize that simply trying to dominate the Start Screen real estate on Smartphones is not a mobile strategy. It’s firing the first salvo.

What do you think Facebook will do on mobile next?

The post The Key To Facebook Mobile Strategy Is… appeared first on Warptest.

#Trending is the first unofficial Twitter Music App and it’s on Windows Phone. Amazingly the App Developer also made it Windows 7.x compliant so double hat-tip from me.

#Trending comes in the usual two App flavors, paid and free. So far I’ve been using the free version. I had read it doesn’t work in all regions and was pleasantly surprised to see I could use it in Israel.

What Does #Trending Give You?

#Trending puts the music that is trending on the new / coming soon Twitter Music service on your Windows Phone.

When I go to the link for Twitter Music I get the Coming Soon screen so it’s tough to test how well the App delivers but it works for me and I get a rapidly built queue of music through my phone.

#Trending plays a 30 second sample of the song, enough to decide if you like it. The really nice feature on Windows Phone is the ability to turn this into a ringtone. The App Developer does request,

“Please make sure you have purchased the content before setting as ringtone from windows phone music store.”

If you decide to make an In-App purchase then #Trending makes a Marketplace Search for the artist and music you chose.

The Warptest POV

What’s not to like? The App works well and whilst it doesn’t cache the next song for when you go places without reception it also is very easy on battery life; I used it on and off during the day on my HTC Titan the rest of the time it was running in the background.

I’m interested to see how Twitter Music will work, for now I’m giving #Trending a recommend.

The post #Trending Launches Twitter Music On What Phone? appeared first on Warptest.

Mine is a Windows Phone 7 and I have been wrestling with this post for over a week.

Over the last weeks I have seen some amazing new Apps appear on the Windows Store only to see they were all exclusively for Windows Phone 8. It’s not so much denying me these apps that annoys me it’s the bloody-minded stupidity of whoever at Microsoft is in charge of growing Windows Phone adoption.

Let Me Explain…

I could simply be one of the loyal Microsoft consumers who spent their hard earned cash on Windows Phone 7 only to discover that we were being shunted aside for Windows Phone 8 but I love my phone.

Whilst it is frustrating and bothersome to see incredible apps like Facebook Beta (developed by Microsoft), Star Trek Into Darkness and a slew of others marked as not compatible with my phone

What gets me is the short-sightedness:

• Apple’s iOS6 is compatible with: iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPod Touch 4^th Gen, iPad 2
  Android 4.2 is compatible with a remarkable variety of older phones including the Samsung Galaxy SII
  

Why is this relevant? Because unlike Windows Phone 8, Google and Apple realized the importance of not tying success completely to hardware specifications.

Market Shares Flushed Down The Drain

Microsoft often cites web use statistics company Netmarketshare so I went to see what they could tell me about market share by version in mobile. Mobile OS share by version was not comprehensive but when I looked at current stats for “Mobile Browser Share by Version” this is what I saw: -

*IE9.0 Mobile runs on Windows Phone 7.x ; IE10 Mobile runs on Windows Phone 8
Data from Netmarketshare.com current to April 2013.

Based on this Windows Phone 7.x has 2 ½ times as much market share as Windows Phone 8 ?!??

The Warptest POV…

If the key to platform growth is through App adoption and you want App Developers to create Apps for your platform then why would you block all those Windows Phone 7 consumers from downloading and installing your Apps?

I went to Twitter to see what some of the Developers who are creating Apps for Windows Phone had to say.

The answer I got (arguably) was “easier to develop for Windows Phone 8 and more in-App features available”.

One other person told me “It’s all about Lock Screen – app interaction.” Windows Phone 8 was designed to share a common code base with Windows 8 but in addition the Lock Screen was to allow Apps to interact and display dynamic, real-time data. Needless to say this was a feature not included in the Windows Phone 7.8 upgrade.

I had an epiphany over coffee. I had been discussing the pros and cons of branching software for a project I was testing and it occurred that if the Windows Store can detect your phone version then why is there no IF..THEN..ELSE to allow the Store to provide the correct version for your phone?

Of course this would require developing an additional branch of your App, one where features for Windows Phone 8 like Lock Screen are not available but let’s face it, Microsoft who develop Apps like the new Facebook Beta aren’t doing this. If they aren’t setting the gold standard why should anyone else do it? Is it even easy to do this in the latest Windows Phone SDK? (The link is to a basic explanation of versions on MSDN)

Then I stumbled across an article published April 22^nd 2013 on “How to target multiple versions with your app for Windows Phone“, again written on MSDN. This is an excellent article that explains all the options for doing this. So why isn’t this being done or even encouraged?

It seems that some bright spark in Sales and Marketing feels it more appropriate to give a swift kick in the collective family jewels of Windows Phone 7.x consumers than to find a solid strategy for encouraging multi-version targeting of Apps. Clearly they believe that these loyal early adopters will eventually break down and upgrade to Windows Phone 8.

At the end of the day my next Smartphone will probably be a Windows Phone 9 or Blue but I hope that in the meanwhile Steve Ballmer decides that this marketing policy is an act of lunacy and he doesn’t want to write off the potentially larger market share of Windows Phone 7.x consumers. My advice Steve,

1. Ship whoever came up with this to Microsoft North Pole. What were they thinking?
2. Find a constructive way and incentivize Windows Phone 7.x consumers to upgrade. You are offering discounts for Windows XP to Windows 8 upgrades, why not here?

One might extend the Star Trek analogy and say that Windows Phone 8 is The Next Generation, which I guess would make Windows Phone 7 the Original Star Trek with Kirk and crew in all their glory.

The post Windows Phone Made Me Yell “Khaaaan!” appeared first on Warptest.

For all the frantic stories about a drastic slowdown in PC sales so far in 2013.

By providing a tool for maintaining a stable and more robust PC that can boot at optimal speed, Soluto has possibly extended the usable life of many PCs that otherwise frustrated owners might have replaced. However, the slowdown may only be until Windows XP reaches end of support next year.

All grown up …

The awesomely good App for managing your PC frustrations is all grown up and going into the workplace.

Soluto‘s CEO sent an email out to registered users and no doubt this accompanied a conventional and social media blitz.

The PC management and maintenance App that makes keeping your PC speedy and stable a doddle is to quote Soluto CEO, Tomer Dvir,

“…launched our new service for IT managers in small businesses and IT service providers.

The new service includes some awesome new features such as remote access, chat, asset management and extended reports, and can really help IT pros to become more productive and provide a better service.”

For The Uninitiated…

Soluto has been through a couple of major iterations. Originally Soluto was a client application, installed on your PC that allowed you to: -

• Reduce boot time by pausing or delaying unnecessary items that run at Startup.
• Receive real-time notification when an application crash occurs / recurs and offer information on the problem.
• Manage browser add-ons and remove those slowing down your browser.
• Add applications on your PC that Soluto does not recognize to its PC Genome (By adding this information Soluto applied a neat crowdsourcing solution to creating a comprehensive knowledge-base and thus the user who adds the app pays it forward to other users also using that software).

Next big iteration Soluto went to the web and it allowed management of those features on your or 4 other PCs via the web interface and all for free. In addition Soluto added the feature of (popular) 3^rd Party Software update by remote.

The Warptest POV

I have been using Soluto since the earliest version came out. The move into the business market is eminently logical. It was either that or form a strategic alliance with OEMs to deliver Soluto pre-installed on PCs or branch out into the Smartphone/Tablet markets.

Soluto is not just incredibly functional and replaces a couple of other tools that IT professionals may be using but it comes in what may be the most eye-catching and user friendly UI you have ever seen. The free consumer product seems to be among one of the best tested I have seen in a long time and in all my time using Soluto I have only twice reported issues to their Support who responded promptly.

The pricing for Soluto for up to 10 users is incredible value for money and to my knowledge they were one of the first Windows 8 Apps released so they have you covered for all currently supported PC Operating Systems.

If you are an SMB and want to reduce antacid consumption, swearathons and the like in your IT department then I would be seriously considering making the jump to a more efficient way of managing your work PCs.

Finally, if you are interested in signing up for Soluto then click here

Disclosure: hitting this link will take you to Soluto’s site but is also part of a competition they are running. Soluto will award an iPad Mini for the user with the most sign ups. So you can help yourself and help me too.

The post Soluto May Be Why PC Sales Are Slowing appeared first on Warptest.

Like it says below, “How do you envision your product success?”

So if your product is in development and you are either uncertain how to give it the testing it deserves or you don’t have the resources then drop me a line.

Don’t let your software, web site, web or mobile app fail for lack of optimal testing.

The post Are you testing? appeared first on Warptest.

Vine launched with much fanfare as a shareable micro-video app with expectations of rapidly becoming the next big thing for iOS.

Subsequently they added embed functionality and job postings on the Vine site seem to indicate that an Android version is coming soon.

Love it, or Hate it?

The sentiments have been mixed on Vine from what I’ve read online. As you know I’m a Windows Phone user so my daily access other than for testing is limited with iOS but from what I’m seeing some love the medium and others positively loath it.

Where Have We Seen it So Far?

The mainstream use cases are limited but an outstanding example was new movie The Wolverine, based on the popular Marvel Comics character. Below is an incredible first look mini-trailer made with Vine showing Hugh Jackman reprising this role.

Subsequently we saw Bryan Singer post a Vine from the set of the new X-Men movie showing preparations for shooting and some familiar faces from previous X-movies.

 The Warptest POV

Video is a tricky thing. Not everyone has it on their website and not everyone does it well. There are a lot of factors that can mess things up but Vine minimizes some of these risks by dealing in snapshots which minimizes all that pesky post-processing.

In a way this is a natural extension of micro-blogging and the 140 Characters of Twitter and as it is a new app we are still at the stage of “I’m eating my sandwich” / “Having a shower” stage that Tweeps indulged in back in the day.

The fact is that whilst movies can use Vine nicely we are still at the discovery stage for using this app as a mainstream tool for engagement. To those who hate it I would suggest you remember the bet posed to Ernest Hemingway; tell a story in 6 words:

“For sale: baby shoes, never used.”

If Hemingway was around today wouldn’t he be using Vine to tell his stories? One thing is for sure, I’m looking forward to installing the Windows Phone Vine App when it eventually launches.

The post Vine, Hate It? Not Wolverine, Bub. appeared first on Warptest.