uWink Inc. (UWKI)

[the big guy]

I would disagree with you to some extent. I am a software guy as well, but more on the management side. I am an anomaly int he industry because I expect things to work well. If they don't, I get pissed off. Not always popular in the software business, because often things do not work well, and many of the geeks who work in the business just come to expect things to be that way. They get complacent and accustomed to it. The best example of this I can think of is the tendency to ship software that is not fully tested. The users end up debugging the thing. Microsoft has a bad rep for this. i am no longer trying to make sense of the chaos, having moved to a more stable business.

Anyway, I digress. This guy sounds like a long-haired programmer type that is maybe not being objective and making the most of a few problems. The restaurant maybe did not know he was going to write an article. As a customer you have got to expect that there will be the odd problem... should not be a big deal. Things do break. should not be allowed to get in the way of the customer experience. He is making a big deal of it.

However, if uWink expects to thrive they had better make sure things work well, and not just be another software company with a flakey product. My impression up to now has been that uWink is taking it's time and executing well. making sure things work, doing piloting, etc. And certainly they have had that first store up long enough to get it right. This should not be the norm or even common. That is why this article surprises me. I think it is just an unexpected anolmaly.