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

[richb at pioneer.ci.net (Rich Braun)]

All that talk about cars and smart-phone marketshare led me to two thoughts:

1)  Back in the days when "regular" gas meant leaded, my mom got a car as part
of a divorce settlement.  Riding in her car on a weekend home from college,
she pulled up to a gas pump and filled up with "unleaded".  I looked at her
and ask, how long have you been doing this?  You realize you're killing your
engine, don't you?  The valves will melt!  She'd been doing this for the
several months since my dad gave her the car.  Alas, it was too late:  the
valves were already too far gone and the motor died just a few weeks later.

In an effort to make pumping gas more user-friendly, manufacturers had the
forethought to make the nozzles and filler spouts smaller on (newer) cars that
required unleaded, so the car owner couldn't make the mistake of putting
leaded gas in one of these new-fangled unleaded-only cars.  Unfortunately this
didn't prevent neophyte used-car owners like my mom from making the opposite
mistake.  Score one for the manufacturers, in her case, because they won the
opportunity to sell her a new car. ;-/

2) Market-share, like so many statistics, lies in how you quote the stats.  At
my last employer, we were kind of the Apple of online male-dating sites:  the
biggest market-share as measured in dollars.  Over time about 30 (probably
more by now) competitors have emerged, some of which claim more users.  But
first-mover advantage meant that my (now former) employer had already gobbled
up the people who were actually willing to /pay/ a monthly fee for service
(like all those fanboys who stand in line outside retail stores for reasons
that mystify me):  the newer companies have to get by on the scraps of
advertising dollars.  So I would ask:  if you're owner/shareholder of a
company claiming leading market-share, which would you rather have?  The
biggest number of customers, or the biggest number of dollars?  Kudos to
Samsung for gaining customers, but IMHO they still have catching-up to do.

-rich