I dislike the expression “blast from the past”, as if the fact that it rhymes with itself makes it somehow worthy despite the fact that “blast” hardly makes sense here, semantically. But, wow, the Evite photo viewer //stinks//. Is this still 1995?
* Maximum photo size appears to be 400 x 300.
* Uploaded mages are re-compressed at very low JPEG quality.
* Normal photo viewer does not use AJAX / JavaScript when going from one photo to the next.
* Website is slow.
* …So it takes several seconds to skip from each photo to the next.
* “Slide show” feature is faster at skipping from one photo to the next, but does not pre-load the next photo, so it still takes a moment.
* Ads are shown all over the place.
* Uploading requires Java applet.
* Photo viewer often renders random JavaScript code as visible on the body of the page.
On the positive side, it doesn’t matter if I have my eyes closed, because the resolution is so low that you can’t tell.
Evite has been sitting pretty for too long; they really should upgrade their technology. The problem is that the //name// is so evocative that it has virtually become part of everyday language, and there’s a lot in names. (“Add me to the evite!”, you say, using a word that’ll be added to the O.E.D. any day now, I’ll betcha.) Speaking of names, I don’t remember if I posted about this, but I firmly believe that Dukakis lost against Bush because… who would want a president named Dukakis? Say it to yourself. Dukakis, Dukakis, Dukakis. Now //Bush//, on the other hand, that sounds positively presidential. I’m so glad people follow their conscience(s) when they vote.
This isn’t different than eBay. eBay is a total POS but everyone uses it.
Evite got acquired in 2003. You know how most acquired company kind of just maintains the site and don’t do much to it? And they get people coming in by the virtue of just their brand name? Evite hasn’t done much since 2003.
I can understand that financially speaking, it doesn’t make much sense to spend money on something that’s already acquired/succeeded. So the lack of innovation… makes perfect financial sense, and I think a lot of MBAs and financialheads will say amen to this.
One can argue that a lack of innovation will mean the death of a company. On one hand, history has proven this to be true. On the other hand, most of the people who used to care about Evite and ran Evite, most likely already left. The only people running it are the people maintaining it. Yeah, that’s why it still looks so 1990s. In addition, plenty of sites tried to compete with Evite. Manvite. Socializ. MyPunchBowl. Eventful. ImThere. The list goes on and on and on. None have the traction Evite has. Evite is a common household verb, and it’s hard to topple it. So, I guess it’s here to stay, like eBay.
A successful competitor to Evite would have to play off the established brand name. For example, I could see “Zvite” being successful as a counter-culture response to everything that sucks about Evite. And Google could have Gvite, of course.
I don’t think that’ll ever happen (due to trademarks), but we can still hope, can’t we?
(Seriously, the ones you listed were the best they could think of? “Manvite”?)
This is also why e-currency like “flooz” and “beenz” never took off. There’s a lot in a name, and those just sound silly.
It’s //also// why we won’t collectively ever take a company with a “.biz” domain seriously. Hmm, I could go on…
Hey does this news make you happier?
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/09/15/tc50-cocodot-is-the-stylish-prettier-more-social-evite/
Cocodot? Coconot? Coconut? What does it mean?!
I don’t like the “targeted at women” angle. I guess you need a niche, but why create an artificial niche when you can just as easily target everyone? Assuming you //must// do that, why not also run the same backend engine with a different theme at a “manly” domain? Are they thinking this would dilute the brand?
Same name problem I keep talking about with the other site the article mentions, Pingg. Why two g’s? This says to me “latecomer to the game, domain name we really wanted was taken!”. It’s one thing when a word is misspelled in a cute way, but when it seems arbitrary (why two g’s and not two n’s) and doesn’t have meaning, the misspelling subconsciously says a lot about the brand to me.
When I think of a brand name or domain name, I try to imagine the buzz it could generate if it were advertised on TV. How many people would rather go to “ping.com” than “pingg.com”? How many would accidentally go to the former? And… Cocodot? How would you even go about creating a commercial to associate, in a lasting way, the name of the product with an image of what it actually //is//?
I’m sure it’ll be a cool site, though.
LOL u r phunnyy!!! I get the gist, people really care about names and such, and if you create something, it’s gotta be great. On the other hand, most businesses operate with people who just want to get money.
I guess that’s the difference between Apple and Dell. Steve Jobs spends a lot of efforts making sure that you get the Mac experience the moment you open up the box– they have engineers who make the unpacking very pleasant!!! Case in point the 24″ Mac LED unpacking was SUPERB. Easy to open, then you take the top off, unwrap, plug in, you’re ready. The package was really really nice and elegant. It smelled nicely. My Dell 2408 on the other was was a total piece of shit. It’s a bunch of styrofoam that got super messy when I tried to unpack. The instruction sheets look like they’re xeroxed. The cords were under wraps and TAPED on the styrofoam. UGLY. And don’t even get me started on the quality of Dell monitors. Total piece of shit compared to the Mac– color is off, turning brightness requires 7 key strokes into the menu, etc.
Most companies are like Dell. Get the specs out, sell.
You seem like you want to sell Apple.
Oh if misspelled stuff bothers you, check out a bunch of startups from Tech Crunch 50:
Insttant
Tingz
Alfabetic
Swype
Fotonauts
Everybody keeps saying that, but I’m a PC!
Oh, and all those companies are gonna //fail//!