[Discuss] Its not possible to make things easier for users

[david at thekramers.net (David Kramer)]

On 01/13/2013 12:52 PM, Rich Pieri wrote:
> On Sat, 12 Jan 2013 14:55:26 -0500 Mark Woodward
> <markw at mohawksoft.com> wrote:
>
> o/~ Freedom of choice Is what you've got Freedom from choice Is what
> you want
>
> Give Joe Consumer a one size fits all appliance and he'll be happy.
>
This.  And nice Devo, reference.  The chorus of that song also contains
"In ancient Rome
there was a poem
about a dog
who had two bones
He licked the one
He licked the other
He ran in circles
He is now dead"

(Ancient Music Counterpoint: Rush: "If you choose not to decide you
still have made a choice")

I remember stories when the US and India started trading very heavy in
consumer goods, they now had so many options in the supermarkets where
there were none before, that they would find shoppers completely
vapor-locked in the aisles because there was no discernible difference
between two or more options for something they wanted to buy.  And
that's food, not a computer.

It's very hard for us geeks to put ourselves in the mindset of the
common person who wants "a computer".  Or "a TV".  Or "a stereo".  But
that's what most people do.  But us geeks are just as vulnerable to this
problem; just from the other end.  When we buy one of these "one size
fits all appliances" and put hours and hours getting it to work the way
we want, cursing its lack of configurablilty, it's because we can't
understand why someone would build something like that, when in fact
it's what most people want.

Sadly, this ties in nicely with the recent, and very enlightening,
thread on the Gnome team.  Here's an interesting case of a company
trying to treat something that is typically thought of as "for geeks, or
at least geek wanabees", expending a lot of energy turning it into a
product more suited for the masses.  Personally I don't feel that's the
right way for Linux to gain more adoption on the desktop.  I'm very
happy using Kubuntu now and leaving that idiocy behind me.