Date: Sun, 28 Sep 1997 23:49:58 -0600 (MDT) From: Wes Peters <softweyr@xmission.com> To: Peter Korsten <peter@grendel.IAEhv.nl> Cc: chat@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Microsoft brainrot (was: r-cmds and DNS and /etc/host.conf) Message-ID: <199709290549.XAA22472@obie.softweyr.ml.org> In-Reply-To: <19970928162256.26698@grendel.IAEhv.nl> References: <19970927143934.ZN26834@uriah.heep.sax.de> <199709272127.OAA11524@usr08.primenet.com> <19970928101941.03210@lemis.com> <19970928162256.26698@grendel.IAEhv.nl>
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Peter Korsten writes:
> P.S. Speaking of cars, now _that's_ a user interface that really
> sucks. To get it moving, you release one pedal with your foot
> while pushing another one down. If you want to stop, you push
> down a third pedal and, at the right time, also push down the
> first. If you don't do it right, your cars stops and you have
> to restart it. Couldn't they have invented something less
> braindead in the last 100 years? A sidestick and drive-by-wire?
> (I know, planes and motorcycles have an even more stupid UI.)
Yeah, this is called letting the technology bleed through the UI.
Tognazzini railed on this a lot in his first book; he give the analogy
of a hotel lobby. If you walked into a hotel to encounter the greasy
workings of the elevator shafts, laundry, and kitches, you'd probably
run right back into the street. Instead, you typically encounter a
large open space (which deadens sound) and quite, attractive people to
help you on your way to your room.
Computer interfaces *should* be like this also; the ugly underlying guts
should not bleed through into the user interface. Common users
shouldn't have to know the format of an ISDN RR, or an HINFO RR, they
should just be able to specify that this computer is a "FreeStation 233"
running "FreeBSD 2.2.5", and that mail bound for it should be sent to
"mail.freenix.com."
--
"Where am I, and what am I doing in this handbasket?"
Wes Peters Softweyr LLC
http://www.xmission.com/~softweyr softweyr@xmission.com
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