Trent Ruble's Blog: The Other Way It Is - Posts Tagged "user-friendly"

I have to admit I'm a Trekkie and can't wait for the next Star Trek movie to come out. I love to see all the possible (and not so possible) technology on display. But one thing I've noticed is that, contrary to present day technology, it all works and everyone knows how to use it without having to get the user guide out.

Even today's computers are almost miraculous in their abilities. Without them, I certainly wouldn't be able to present The Other Way It Is to the world each week! But, they are also the most user-unfriendly mass marketed items in the history of man. When attempting to perform even simple tasks the machines frequently fail; whether it's because of user error (over-complication), bad programming, excessive security or equipment malfunction. I often wonder when there will be an all out revolt among frustrated users.



In addition, I suspect that the computers we are being sold are designed to have a short lifespan thus requiring frequent upgrades. This is because new programs require faster computations than recently purchased computers can provide. The same is true for the internet. I can remember when DSL was a huge improvement over dial-up and with it one could view anything online. Now DSL can no longer keep up with the massive content being forced through our phone lines and is fast becoming obsolete. The bad news is that, if we upgrade, we'll soon be facing the same problem again. Compare this to my 24 year old convertible which is still serving us well.

It seems that the complexity of modern technology defeats its very purpose. I can remember a story told to me by my father about my grandfather. He said that Grandad told him he felt the world and all the modern (1960s) technology was passing him by. Dad said he didn't really understand at the time because he had no difficulty with 60s technology. However, in the 1980s, when the cars of the time started to come equipped with complicated emission controls and computers, he began to understand. Now my dad is totally out of the loop and doesn't even own a cell phone or home computer.

Well, now it's my turn. When I grew up I could go into anyone's home and operate their telephone or television, which were about all the high-tech offerings of the day (1970s). But now, I can't even fully understand my own gadgets. It's a good thing I still have a teenager in the house. And, to make matters worse, the current technology is so complicated that even the I.T. guys don't fully understand it. I am reminded of this every time my newest computer upgrade makes life worse instead of better.

All of this represents an arrogance among the information technology industry, as opposed to the "bend over backwards for the customer" attitude we find elsewhere. This becomes quite apparent when one contacts them for help.

And the scourge of the modern world? Passwords! It wouldn't be so bad if I could select my own password. But, for security purposes, many of them must be changed frequently and must contain an upper case letter, a number, a character, and must be so many characters long and you can't use any of the ones you've used before, etc... I'm on password overload!

The key to the success of future technology...make it user friendly!