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Yahoo! and Google share in the ability to disappoint

Think Yahoo is going the way of the dinosaur because of Google's recent roll outs which make it look more and more like Yahoo? Don't be too sure.

But it only helps to irritate the masses when Yahoo!s get excited about the kewl factor and forget that bright shiny apps sometimes lack usability. Such was the case with the Yahoo! Local 4th of July Mashup.

This nifty app was presented to visitors at www.yahoo.com as the front-center feature on July 4th (US Independence Day). Launch it and wow! it looks kewl. but move the map to your city (it's a safe assumption you don't live in one of the cities on the app's short list) and it looks more like poop.

This is apparently a demonstration of what can be done but it's not actually doing it. So why place it on the front page? The end result is to feed the angst of people trying to stick with Yahoo!.

Usability should be prioritized far above the kewl-factor when making these placement decisions - unless trying to impress fellow developers while disappointing users are the objectives.


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