"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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