How Microsoft misunderstands the concept of user research (& how Apple doesn’t) • Hacker News Board

Re: How Microsoft misunderstands the concept of user research (& how Apple doesn’t)

#51

Post by openbear » Mon, Sep 05, 2011, 5:34 PM UTC

camtarn wrote: post #30

pooriaazimi wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Finder is not all about beauty. What I like most about Finder (which makes me cry every time I have to use Windows) is QuickLook. It's SO much easier to quickly glance at a document than anything WE has to offer. I personally hate ribbons, but I think for the average user they are great, and much easier to use. So I'm not defending Apple here, I'm just saying that It's not all about beauty or slickness; Finder is als…

QuickLook is a brilliant power user tool which I wish Explorer had - but, like many of Finder's features, it's hardly discoverable without either hearing about it first, or being willing to press random keys to see what they do (which many computer users are very unwilling to do.)

>> it's hardly discoverable without either hearing about >> it first, or being willing to press random keys to >> see what they do

I agree that the hotkey for it is not very discoverable, but the default layout for the Finder toolbar has a button for Quick Look (it's in his screenshot, the one that looks like an eyeball).

Re: How Microsoft misunderstands the concept of user research (& how Apple doesn’t)

#52

Post by Mavrik » Mon, Sep 05, 2011, 5:48 PM UTC

nhebb wrote: post #39

kenjackson wrote: post #7

Actually this blog post I think is a perfect example of how "designers" in the large don't get it. The ribbon was largely maligned for Office too by the web intelligencia, but as someone who spent time in the enterprise both consulting and selling apps, the ribbon is generally loved by its users. The people who hate the ribbon are the people who use OSX. Try giving Word 2003 to anyone who has spent any time with Word…

While I generally agree with what you've written, I still think it's odd that Microsoft has never included many features in Explorer that are the main selling points for 3rd party file explorers, e.g. dual pane view, bulk rename, toolbar customization, and so forth. I understand that Microsoft may not want to undercut ISV's, but easy access to file operations should be intrinsic to an operating system.

Probably because the userbase of 3rd party file explorers is so marginal it's not worth alienating less tech-savvy users.

The common theme from OldNewThing blog is that they usually don't cater so much to power-user audience, since power-users mostly aren't happy with what MS offers them and go for 3rd party tools anyway.

Re: How Microsoft misunderstands the concept of user research (& how Apple doesn’t)

#53

Post by masklinn » Mon, Sep 05, 2011, 5:55 PM UTC

iaskwhy wrote: post #32

masklinn wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> That said I think both Apple and Microsoft have not found the optimal solution but instead seem to be stuck in local maxima. The Finder is not a maxima in any search space. It's always been terrible (where always == since OSX was first released) and it has not significantly improved over time. As to Windows's explorer, I've find it regressing over time: I have not found 7's explorer to be superior to 2k/XP's under…

On the upside you have the amazing breadcrumbs... I do prefer Windows 7's explorer to any other version before.

> On the upside you have the amazing breadcrumbs...

The only use I've had so far for them was confusing me as to how I could edit the address bar to jump to an arbitrary location. I've yet to use these things at all, although I don't mind them much.

Same as the finder's path bar (or the contextual crumbs menu on finder titles), checked out, never used.

Re: How Microsoft misunderstands the concept of user research (& how Apple doesn’t)

#54

Post by pooriaazimi » Tue, Sep 06, 2011, 12:19 AM UTC

m_eiman wrote: post #35

pooriaazimi wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Finder is not all about beauty. What I like most about Finder (which makes me cry every time I have to use Windows) is QuickLook. It's SO much easier to quickly glance at a document than anything WE has to offer. I personally hate ribbons, but I think for the average user they are great, and much easier to use. So I'm not defending Apple here, I'm just saying that It's not all about beauty or slickness; Finder is als…

Finder is also powerful, but in its own ways (only if it had tabs...) TotalFinder to the rescue! http://totalfinder.binaryage.com/

Yes, I've used TotalFinder from beta 1! It's fantastic. I was hoping Apple would add some of its greatness in Lion, but...

Re: How Microsoft misunderstands the concept of user research (& how Apple doesn’t)

#55

Post by kenjackson » Tue, Sep 06, 2011, 12:36 AM UTC

nhebb wrote: post #34

spooneybarger wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

'web intelligencia'? i think you could have made your point without a cheap us against them anti intellectualism aside.

I didn't take that as an anti-intellectualism slight. People who write tech pieces on the web, be it on blogs or tech publications, are more computer savvy than the the majority of computer users. If you don't believe this, go watch the Google on-the-street video asking people what a browser is ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4MwTvtyrUQ ). I was one of those power users who hated the ribbon when it was introduced i…

Which Excel add-in do you sell? I've spent a fair bit of time programming Excel (VSTO), and am considering selling an add-in, but don't know how big the actual market is (especially without an app store).