Pilot to Copilot...

Joel Spolsky, the CEO of Fog Creek Software (or some mailbot) asked me for my experience with Copilot. This was my reply.

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It's a fact. I am a Mac user. My Dad, who lives in a far-off city has a PC, because his friends all told him they can help him fix his PC when it breaks, but if he gets a Mac, he will be exiled and left alone on an iceberg of cold-shouldered hatred and loneliness to die while futilely clicking on icons that look like backlit ju-jubes. Who knew? But while I enjoy working on my little pretty Mac, I know all the tips and tricks to make sure that Windows users never really know that I am on the same network as them, sharing their DHCP service, and printing directly to the printers instead of going through the Windows printer queue. They always look at me funny when my printout comes out first. Don't tell them.

Since my Dad does little other than run Eudora and IE on his PC, his needs are few, until his Windows buddy told him he should switch from IE to FireFox to avoid all those nasty viri that would email his bank account to Russia and send him 500lbs. of unwanted caviar while extracting several thousand dollars from his chequing account. (We spell it that way in Canada - cheque, not check, 'cause we like the French people). But when I directed him to our new family web site with animated pictures of nerdy grandchildren, the website informed him that he was an idiot, and would probably be happier being exiled to go sit on an iceberg. Or at least that he needed a newer version of Firefox.

No problem, he thought, "I can do this. I don't have to call in a favor from my tech-savvy coffee buddies, surely I can download my own copy of the latest Firefox." So my Dad, confident and in full possession of his faculties, who has written copy for hundreds of radio and tv commercials, and narration for dozens of award-winning documentary films, simply typed www.firefox.com into internet explorer and downloaded the newest version of Firefox. What could be simpler?

But, lo and behold, the web site complained AGAIN? How could that be? The son (that would be me, aren't you following?) then received a cryptic email - can't see images of grandchildren, web site bad. must not be windows-compatible. you are a bad son for putting your pictures on a web site that only your elite and stuck-up mac-friends can see and leaving your poor pc-using parents without a way to see our own grandchildren - what kind of son are you? (Actually I am embellishing a bit, perhaps it's just what I imagine was between-the-pixels)

By this time, sweat is emerging on my brow, and my hands are shaky. I tested the site on Mac Safari and Firefox, and Windows IE 7 and Firefox just to avoid that problem. How could I have failed at so basic a task?

Then I made a crucial mistake. I picked up the phone. Never do this. Repeat after me. Never, ever pick up the phone to call someone less tech-savvy than yourself to engage them in dialog as to how to fix a technical problem. Why not? Because voice communication is to technical problem solving what megaphones are to trench warfare. Wrong tool. Many deaths and sore throats will ensue.

Nonetheless, I picked up the phone and called my Dad. I asked him to tell me the version of Firefox he was running. He said it was the latest. "Dad, do me a favor, find the menu item Help, and pull it down to see "About..." and tell me what it says". "Version 2.1. but I don't understand, I downloaded the newest version a week ago?" "Dad, is there an icon on the desktop that says Setup.exe" "Well, there are a lot of things on the desktop, do you mean the Firefox logo with the little arrow?" "No. Hang on. Let me think about this."

So you know Joel, because you are the CEO of a major respected technical organization, and have been in the geek trenches for years, what happened. Everyone reading this knows what happened. If you don't have a plausible theory as to what happened you have to turn in your geek cred badge and you will never, ever be asked to work at Fog Creek. But it doesn't matter. I sat on the long distance phone call, ticking off minutes, while I calculated how long and how likely I was to succeed at getting my Dad to:

a) understand the Windows Download Run/Save dialog
b) find the location on disk that the installer got saved to
c) run the installer
d) ensure that the desktop icon pointed to the newest install, not an old one, or be some orphaned phantom, stuck on an iceberg

Too long, and too frightening to consider. It's time to pull out the big guns. "Dad, I want to try something, and need your help. There is this program called Copilot written by this company I respect that is made for exactly this purpose, and I'd like to try it out 'cause I think that will be simpler than trying to explain to you the things you need to do to install the Firefox upgrade." "Why do you have to do that, I've already downloaded the latest version?" "Because you not only have to download it, you also have to install it, although since you already have an older copy, it should upgrade it instead - see what I mean?" "Why didn't it upgrade it by itself?" "Dad, it's software - never ask why" "Well, OK, what do I have to do?"

And now, dear Joel, having had the patience to wade through all that preliminary bio-fluff we will come to the question you so innocently asked me today, "How is it (Copilot) working for you?" Because, your 15-day free trial is almost over and you might want to subscribe, (going on my own thoughts here) so that we can have a nice annuity stream and g-d knows - once you've fixed your Dad's PC, you'll probably want to take control of his machine what, 3 or 4 times a day! No, just kidding. The pricing policy is very nice, and the DayPass option will be perfect for the occasional times he gets into a pickle.

But the problem we had with Copilot is that is is too symmetric. Face it, there is big imbalance of power here, and I am ok with the fact that I want to do this mitzvah, this good-deed, and will pony up some time and $ to do it, but I want my experience to be powerful but fast, while I need my Dad's experience to be simple and painless.

Sadly Joel, it was not.

Now I can't even recall all the details of what happened, but that should be a pretty good indicator itself that there is work to do here. My side worked as I'd expect. I download a little app, ok the java stuff that happens, approve its install, and choose a license option. I took the 2-minute free-drive cause I thought it would involve less effort and time - true.

Not so smooth on Dad's side. To start, he really appreciated the big buttons at copilot.com - Receive Help or Help Someone. That was good. He typed in the code I told him into the field, blithely accepting the terms of service (I'm sure they're fine Dad, I trust Joel), and installing the application (Do you really trust these guys? Are you sure this isn't a virus? - It's all good Dad, I've met the guy, Joel. He's Jewish and kind of chubby. I trust him. "Ok, it's on your head if this kills my computer.") But then - the pause. "Do I want a free 15-day trial of Copilot? yes!"

NOOOOO! See, I didn't really want to have him have to do that. 'Cause then he has to go back to Eudora, and wait for an email and click on a link or type a code, or whatever. I wanted his side to be seamless - once he says "Yes, I trust whatever applet you are about to install on my one PC that is my gateway to the world and if you screw it up I will be upset but my son-who-vouches-for-you said I should do it" is done, he should just sit back and watch me move the cursor from afar. I want to pay for us both, or why does the person receiving help need think they need to have a license at all? I'm used to dealing with this stuff, it's exactly that that I'm trying to save him from, and here copilot is making getting help more complicated instead of easier.

Any way he got his email, clicked the link, got his license, and my copilot screen lit and changed from "waiting for connection" to seeing his desktop in full remote-access glory.

"See, I can move your cursor around, isn't that cool? then proceed to minimize some windows so I can see what's going on. "Uh huh. Wait - I see this icon "FirefoxSetup.exe" should I click on that?" YES! So he clicked it himself, and we watched Firefox install, properly replace the old version, and remove or replace the desktop icon, just like a good installer should. Tried the photo website again. There it is! "Am I seeing your website now with all those pictures?" "Yes, Dad, that's our family photo website" "Nice. What, did you gain a little weight over Chanukah?" "Ya, ok, you're up and running, talk to ya later," and hung up the phone. Then Copilot told me my 2-minute trial was up.

So, I think you could improve the user experience of Copilot by making it even simpler for the person on the receiving-help side to be talked through a simple install of the help app, even if that simplicity costs more, and puts a greater burden on the giving-help side to do techy things.

I'm going to visit my Dad in a couple weeks. I'm thinking I'll install Copilot OneClick....