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Users hate change

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Re: Users hate change

#11

Post by nemacol »

tmikaeld wrote: post #4

I just think of Microsoft when I read these. Every time they change something in Windows, they never take the old thing away but instead keep both. Which means there's a myriad of ways to get to the control panel. And there's multiple variants of the control panel UI... Outlook is another good example, there's 3 different UI's where we can add/remove accounts. Result: New users use the new (default) UI, old users use…

The real kick in the beans from MS is the new UI lacks anything beyond basic functionality in the new UI. For example, Win10 (1803) Mouse settings you can modify: Left/Right handed, Scroll Wheel lines, Scroll inactive windows when you hover.

For every other change you have to click "Additional mouse options" and are taken to the old UI.

MS Win10, and to a lesser extent Server 2016-19 has increased the number of clicks it takes me to get to the thing dramatically.

In 7 I relied heavily on the search feature - it was wonderful to type "Programs and" hit enter and get to the page I want. Today they have hidden (in win10) those old UI screens.

It is frustrating.

I would accept the new UI if it had feature parity, but it can't even perform the most basic tasks (mouse pointer speed for example).

Edit - Spelling.

Re: Users hate change

#12

Post by dgzl »

empath75 wrote: post #8

This is just curmudgeonliness backed by nothing at all. You probably shouldn't do major redesigns with no real benefit to the user (I'm looking at you, reddit), but if you're adding or improving functionality, then feel free to incrementally improve your site constantly. People will get used to constant small improvements and will miss them if they stop. Users don't hate change, they hate arbitrary change that forces…

I agree with you in general, but I think you're missing a subset of users who can keep up with smaller incremental changes but specifically don't, which over time can eventually make them feel lost.

This describes my relationship with Facebook. I've always generally understood how Facebook works and used to be a power-user. Over time as the new little features didn't apply to me, I found that my own interest had been crowded out and the environment felt entirely different, which further pushed me away. At this point I have very little confidence in my ability and understanding of Facebook.

Re: Users hate change

#13

Post by flohofwoe »

Rainymood wrote: post #10

I love how the author shouts from the rooftops the following >This argument is both incredibly entitled and terribly egocentric (...) While this whole post reeks with entitlement and egocentrism - but from his perspective, so that is OK! To me, it feels like the author is incapable of empathising with a larger user base than himself and only thinks about his benefit and how the changes affect him and how he uses the…

...with most big software products, you can't really "vote with your wallet", because they have a monopoly. They may even have "earned" that monopoly status because once a long time ago they were really good, and this was the reason they became successful.

But there's a certain type of mediocre-yet-charismatic people (call them bullshitters), which attach to such successful products like leeches, and the downward spiral begins.

Re: Users hate change

#14

Post by dade_ »

flohofwoe wrote: post #5

My pet theory is that every software product has a "peak version". Before that peak version, the product is not yet in a complete state, and it is fairly obvious, both for the developer and user, what features are missing. Once the peak version is reached, new features are not added because they improve the product, but to justify selling the product again to existing customers, and to 'keep the team busy'. Instead o…

There should be an award of shame for this and I nominate Visio 2003.

Re: Users hate change

#15

Post by DougN7 »

flohofwoe wrote: post #5

My pet theory is that every software product has a "peak version". Before that peak version, the product is not yet in a complete state, and it is fairly obvious, both for the developer and user, what features are missing. Once the peak version is reached, new features are not added because they improve the product, but to justify selling the product again to existing customers, and to 'keep the team busy'. Instead o…

Keeping bean counters shouldn’t be the goal, but everyone does like to keep eating. What do you suggest for keeping the business healthy while not making things terrible?

Re: Users hate change

#16

Post by TeMPOraL »

Rainymood wrote: post #10

I love how the author shouts from the rooftops the following >This argument is both incredibly entitled and terribly egocentric (...) While this whole post reeks with entitlement and egocentrism - but from his perspective, so that is OK! To me, it feels like the author is incapable of empathising with a larger user base than himself and only thinks about his benefit and how the changes affect him and how he uses the…

> To me, it feels like the author is incapable of empathising with a larger user base than himself and only thinks about his benefit and how the changes affect him and how he uses the product.

I disagree. "Users hate change" is a meme that's generally accepted in the industry; the post applies empathy to dig into the reasons why it seems that "users hate change".

> Customers have the ultimate power: voting with their wallet. You don't like it? You go to the freaking competitor!

"Voting with your wallet" in a non-commodity market doesn't work. Doubly so if we're talking about complex products with complex feature sets, making each essentially an unique animal. Triply so if the "feature" of "not mindlessly messing with the UI/featureset" is impossible to predict ahead of time.

Re: Users hate change

#17

Post by _nalply »

My wife has handicaps (deaf and cerebral palsy). She gets nervous and mistrustful if something has changed. She hates updates and asked me why the companies can't let the software alone.

She has a point. Updates and nagging dialogs have a cost which is higher for non-IT people. Imagine your old neighbor being confused if he should allow that update or not and being stressed about because these update requests don't stop coming in.

Re: Users hate change

#18

Post by ChrisSD »

nemacol wrote: post #11
tmikaeld wrote: post #4

I just think of Microsoft when I read these. Every time they change something in Windows, they never take the old thing away but instead keep both. Which means there's a myriad of ways to get to the control panel. And there's multiple variants of the control panel UI... Outlook is another good example, there's 3 different UI's where we can add/remove accounts. Result: New users use the new (default) UI, old users use…

The real kick in the beans from MS is the new UI lacks anything beyond basic functionality in the new UI. For example, Win10 (1803) Mouse settings you can modify: Left/Right handed, Scroll Wheel lines, Scroll inactive windows when you hover. For every other change you have to click "Additional mouse options" and are taken to the old UI. MS Win10, and to a lesser extent Server 2016-19 has increased the number of click…

The old mouse UI is due to third party software that adds their own interface on top of it. Microsoft do want to move away from it but they don't want to break backwards compatibility.

Re: Users hate change

#19

Post by mung »

Adobe should read this and understand it. Veteran users of Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign get updates that change the default way of doing something and they don’t even provide a UI to change back. Don’t fix long-standing bugs, just change something that didn’t need changing. That and the major performance downgrades to support unwanted features.

Re: Users hate change

#20

Post by bobbylarrybobby »

nemacol wrote: post #11
tmikaeld wrote: post #4

I just think of Microsoft when I read these. Every time they change something in Windows, they never take the old thing away but instead keep both. Which means there's a myriad of ways to get to the control panel. And there's multiple variants of the control panel UI... Outlook is another good example, there's 3 different UI's where we can add/remove accounts. Result: New users use the new (default) UI, old users use…

The real kick in the beans from MS is the new UI lacks anything beyond basic functionality in the new UI. For example, Win10 (1803) Mouse settings you can modify: Left/Right handed, Scroll Wheel lines, Scroll inactive windows when you hover. For every other change you have to click "Additional mouse options" and are taken to the old UI. MS Win10, and to a lesser extent Server 2016-19 has increased the number of click…

Feature parity
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