Screenshot, Source: economist.com
Here is a Economist article on the importance of ease of use and the cost of unusable or complex IT-technology.
Abstract:
THE computer knows me as its enemy,” says John Maeda. “Everything I touch doesn’t work.” Take those “plug-and-play” devices, such as printers and digital cameras, that any personal computer (PC) allegedly recognises automatically as soon as they are plugged into an orifice called a USB port at the back of the PC. Whenever Mr Maeda plugs something in, he says, his PC sends a long and incomprehensible error message from Windows, Microsoft’s ubiquitous operating system. But he knows from bitter experience that the gist of it is no. (…)
The question is whether this sort of technology can ever become simple, and if so, how. This survey will analyse the causes of technological complexity both for firms and for consumers, evaluate the main efforts toward simplification by IT and telecom vendors today, and consider what the growing demands for simplicity mean for these industries. A good place to start is in the past.
related link:
Full Article @ Economist
