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Re: [News] [Rival] Microsoft Office 2007 Gets an 'Upgrade', Drops the Loathed Ribbon

  • Subject: Re: [News] [Rival] Microsoft Office 2007 Gets an 'Upgrade', Drops the Loathed Ribbon
  • From: "jim" <jim@xxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Tue, 28 Aug 2007 03:24:14 -0400
  • Bytes: 6001
  • Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.advocacy
  • Organization: BellSouth Internet Group
  • References: <2240001.kJoGnA36Z1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Xref: ellandroad.demon.co.uk comp.os.linux.advocacy:554766
"Roy Schestowitz" <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message 
news:2240001.kJoGnA36Z1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Partners Fix Up Office 2007 and Windows Vista
>
> ,----[ Quote ]
> | On Friday, Addintools, based in Hai-nan, China released Classic Menu for
> | Office 2007, after more than six months of beta testing. The user 
> interface
> | enhancement does what Office 2007 can't: Revert to the Office 2003 look 
> and
> | feel.
> `----
>
> http://www.microsoft-watch.com/content/channel/partners_fix_up_office_2007_and_windows_vista.html?kc=MWRSS02129TX1K0000535
>
>
> Recent:
>
> Why Microsoft's ribbon sucks
>
> ,----[ Quote ]
> | Bottom line, I have a lot of respect for Microsoft and many of the
> | outstanding people that work there (e.g. Bill Buxton).
> |
> | But the new ribbon sucks.
> |
> | I've been using it daily for months (Word, Powerpoint, Excel), and I
> | consistently stumble on the same functions over and over again. I doubt 
> I
> | will ever master it. And I'm an interface designer!
> `----
>
> http://www.dexodesign.com/2007/08/why-microsofts-ribbon-sucks.html

This does bring up a simple question that can be asked of many Linux arenas 
as well as of Redmond...  Has no one read Steve Krug's excellent book "Don't 
Make Me Think"?  It is primarily about web UI design but is just as relevant 
to desktop UIs.

People are searching like never before for SIMPLE applications.  Take a look 
at some of the simplest apps on the web and you will see millions of users 
(like the annoyingly simplistic Incredimail application that has over 
20,000,000 users) downloading and using simple, fun apps to accomplish their 
goals.  The tools that offer everything under the sun pale in comparison 
(with the exception of suites imposed on users at work - like Microsoft 
Office).

Most people (NOT most of those in this newsgroup - when I say most people, I 
mean people with lives, people who use IT as a tool not as a lifestyle) 
don't eat, breath and sleep technology.  They eat out at nice places, go on 
vacations, find girlfriends, have sex, get married, have children, go 
fishing, go hiking....in general, they live life.  They don't give a damn 
about knowing HOW PCs (or software) works.  They see PCs and related 
software as tools to make their lives easier.  And, easy is what they will 
adopt over functionality virtually EVERY TIME.

They do so, no because they are stupid or ignorant.  They do so because they 
have different priorities than geeks and gurus do.  They have lives (we've 
all read about those).

We (the geek crowd that program and develop all this stuff) have lost sight 
of the fact that PCs are not life.  They are simply tools to help make more 
time to actually live life.

While the Outlook folks at Redmond are busy cramming in over 150 different 
setting into Outlook 2007 (even one of their coders told me Outlook 2007's 
settings are looking more like a 747 cockpit than a PC screen) normal Joe's 
are simply wanting to send a damned email - and maybe an attachment before 
going out to have a beer with real people in a real bar.

Programmers are writing programs for programmers.  And, that, my friends, is 
where we are going horribly wrong.

With very few exceptions (programming tools come to mind), programs should 
be written for NON-PROGRAMMERS.  As far as that goes, for non-PC people.

Let's take this "ribbon" (more like red tape if you ask most users) for an 
example.  Why, in the name of all that is Holy, couldn't Microsoft simply 
adopt a menu system like those used in most browsers?  Simple menus with a 
bar to place your favorites.  This type of menu is well known and well 
understood by everyone.  And, it allows a certain amount of customization 
that can put your favorite commands right on the toolbar, or in a Favorites 
drop down menu, and it doesn't set the whole application on its head from a 
user standpoint.

If you want more poeple using your software, make it simpler (and maybe even 
a little fun) - NOT more complex.

If you want more programmers to write for your OS (thus making it more 
popular and a bigger threat to Redmond) make programming simple, even fun.

Whether we like it or not, prgramming is not rocket science.  Neither are 
most tasks that people use PCs for on a daily basis.  Making them so only 
alienates the users we so desperately seek to help and puts us right back 
where we started - designing the "next big thing" in hopes of attracting 
users to our project.

The answer is simple.

jim
 



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