atw: Re: Microsoft and usability
- From: Craig Hadden <craig_john_hadden@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: atw <austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 3 Jun 2005 14:34:53 +1000 (EST)
Allan wrote:
> [Microsoft] go to some trouble to create icons for
> the key applications, and then they change the darn
> things in just about every release.
That hadn't struck me as a problem, but I see what you
mean.
> The whole point of icons is fast,
> effortless recognition.
I absolutely agree.
Mind you, once again I think it's _far_ from just a
Microsoft problem.
I can't think of any similar software whose icon stays
the same from one version to the next. (For instance,
consider FrameMaker, Acrobat, Firefox, Thunderbird,
WinZip, Dreamweaver, RoboHelp...)
I think it's part of the whole "upgrade mania" thing
-- software companies emphasise that their products
change over time (and therefore users "need" to
upgrade) by giving them a new look and a new version
number (or slightly different name, the current trend
being XP/MX/CS/yawn).
I assume that even Mac users suffer from a very
similar problem when it comes to changes to icons (and
the UI in general) over time.
Regards,
Craig
===== My e-mail address is:
===== craigh(at)attachesoftware(dot)com
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