atw: Re: OT: Microsoft and usability
- From: "Allan Charlton" <Allan.Charlton@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 03 Jun 2005 13:12:29 +1000
I find myself agreeing with Craig. Sort of.
I don't find the Mac easy to use, but that might be because I've become
used to a scroll mouse and a few other Microsoft niceties. The Mac
advantage is the integrity of the relationship between a drawn object
and its representation on the screen.
However, I take issue with Microsoft on usability grounds. They go to
some trouble to create icons for the key applications, and then they
change the darn things in just about every release. The whole point of
icons is fast, effortless recognition. I don't have to scroll through a
list of file names if there's a recognisable icon I can click.
I acknowledge the argument that changes of icons display which versions
of the required software are installed on your PC. I don't accept that
argument because I don't believe many people have multiple versions of
Word on one PC. A few crazed souls might, but not the majority of us.
Every time Microsoft changes the icons their value decreases.
Maybe I pay too much attention to Jakob Nielsen. :-)
Allan
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