Google Analytics 2 – good software, bad service

Can I complain on the defects of a freebe? And the one that overall is fantastic, unmatched and has great value?
I mean renewed Google Analytics engine. The software is fantastic overall. So much that I was frustrated some parts are not as good as the others.

Eny Analytics solution has 2 unequal parts, data gathering and data analysis. Gathering is tranditionally a step child. That is because you only should establish it once. It is the reports and analysis are constantly changing.

GA2, the new incarnation of reporting part, is fantastic. Interactvie maps, pie charts, fannels and goals, yada yada. Marketing guys sallivate over it, and for a good reason. The product is good, and for the price, it is well, fantastic.

On the web, gathering is more tricky then traditional, database driven systems. Google Analytics gather info about a page visit by asking you to attach their javascript file, and place a code snippet on every page. Once the page is loaded, the google code is executed, and the small call is made to the google site, and the call has the id that programmers pasted on every page, and a lot of more information Google provide javascript gathers about the page from the inside, so to speak.

Google gives you more. To dig deeper you can attach calls to GA functions to internal page events. That requires a little explanation. Normal GA call does not need any parameter. That is because GA javascript knows the page name, URL and everything else. Subpages are not known to GA, and it is not easy to place them insdie page-oriented reporting system. GA’s solution is simple and genious. The same call CAN have a parameter – a page name. So I can tie the call to a button click, give “fake” page name to it, and then watch GA stats for how many clicked this button.

Then there are funnels. A fantastic feature where you describe the successsion of pages a user needs to visit on their way to the goal. GA then shows the abandonement rate on every page – allowing you to debug the process.

Here is exactly the point where I was (still am) frustrated. For the simple cases GA gives you web based help. Once you want to become creative, and track more complex scenarios, you are out of luck. I am sure it is possible to do what I want(optional steps in the funnel) but I could find the instructions nowhere.

I asked on the forums. GA has several. No reply.

I tried to find their support. Well, surprise, they don’t provide any – insted they list partners who do. I can understand that, GA is a free product, but understanding does not solve the problem I have.
Support partners, most are in USA, and none is in Israel. I weighted relocating to california just for that, but decided against it for the time being.

What shoud I do? My wife says she never share my worries about software problems i have -she says there was never a problem i did not eventually solve. I fail explaining to her that sometimes “eventually” does not cut it. This one I have a deadline for.

There are two books on GA2 coming out. I’ll buy them and read them, but I need them now, and they are not even printed yet.

That is how I end up having a revolutionary, well done and free of charge product, and I spend so many e-inc complaining about it. What is wrong with me tonight

Silverlight cements Microsoft’s world domination

Microsoft Silverlight is the new technology that, as my crystal ball tells me, will ensure Microsoft domination of web, just as it does the desktop.
I came to this realization not only because I have seen Silverlight spects and examples, but because two more tiny events happen. One, I took a look at Google Analytics. Two, I spoke with a buddy of mine who develop rich web applications in Flex.
Here is how these 3 independent events lead to my realization.
DHTML (HTML +DOM+client side Javascript + Ajax) is difficult to develope and results are mostly quite ugly.
Flash (Adobe Flash, was Macromedia Flash), on the web, equals beauty. Take a look at http://www.coolhomepages.com/, a site I track for more years I care to remember. All the most beautiful pages are flash. It has not always been this way. Flash was a niche technology for a while. It is a commonplace now. One would work hard to find a browser with no Flash Player plug-in installed.
Flash wins because it is vector based, has ability to manipute objects over time, looks the same on all browsers and has scripting langauge built in. Flash is binary which means compact. Flash, however, was always a designer tool, not a programmer’s one. So they thought hard and came up with Flex, a different take on the same technology, geared for programmers. Well, as my sources tell me, it is a relative flop. At least one developer says – it is still hard to develop and debug.
Everybody still does just that.
So why not like it? Mostly because it is difficult to develope for, but also because it is proprietary. Still , SVG+SMIL javascript animation, went nowhere. Maybe because of size (SVG is XML) or may be because designers are used to the superb Flash tools. O maybe everyone is used to Flash, kind of locked in. I’d guess it is also because of Flash ubiquity. SVG still means plugins install for most users.

Google is one web force to be reconed with. And Google did it all in DHTML. Spreadsheets. Writely. Even calendar, where Flash would make things so much more pretty. I thought it is forever. Not any more. Google Analytics 2.0, out about 2 weeks ago, have flash based timeline, and world map. And boy it is beautiful. I praise Google for great application and also being able to break up with tradition. What it spells for DHTML is another matter entirely.

Flash seems to be ruling. This however will soon change.

Microsoft came with Silverlight. Silverlight it is vector graphics (XAML) plus C# as programming language, .NET as a framework, open and scriptable object model and Microsoft backing. Via windows updates, Microsoft will place Silverlight to any number of PCs out there in no time, so market penetration will not be an issue. Vector xml is nice. What makes the world of difference is that Microsoft understands what is the key to world domincation – developers.

Balmer was shouting “Developers Developers Developers” and he was right. Still is. Web era does not change anything and if it does it is still in favor of developers. Distribution of app has just become all too much easier, so your operations are much cheaper now. No more printed materials or even CD sleeves to buy.

Microsoft knows how to care for Developers. That is why .NET is Delphi ( Joel puts it brilliantly in http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/Our.NetStrategy.html) Delphi was better for developers then VB, and they got Anders. Visual Studio is a marvel. IntelliJ is better, but costly and VS is now free. Adobe/Macromedia was always about designers. Flex just proves it once again.

So once Microsoft gives me a great environment (Orcas next iteraton of VS) , great framework .NET and convenient langauge C#, not to forget a mirriad of 3rd party controls that inevitably pop up , and I’ll crank out rich web clients like dosen a day.

Microsoft does try to do something for designers – after all somebody has to design the front, and the tools are decent. No match for illustrator or photoshop or flash, merely passable. And it is not going to steal the design acclaim of Flash sites. But it will make ticket ordering applciatons and flowcharters and god knows what else pop up like crazy, games, education titles you name it.

People rob the banks because that is where the money is.
Eyeballs is internet money. And they’ll be after applications. Don’t show me the current usage facts – there are not too many rich applications on the web yet. Give silverlight some time, not too much, and you’ll see.

Later addition: an interesting post on the same subject
http://segala.com/blog/microsofts-silverlight-end-of-flash-supremacy/