Why Apple and Google are struggling to design simple software
washingtonpost.com
Why Apple and Google are struggling to design simple software
1–10 of 73 posts
Re: Why Apple and Google are struggling to design simple software
#2As the on-site support of a group of older and disabled users (sight, hearing, motor, coordination, cognitive), the failures of Apple's traditionally highly accessible designs are quite familiar to me. I'd written my own rant a few months back after discovering (usability error) that Apple's online feedback form couldn't ingest the full thing:
Re: Why Apple and Google are struggling to design simple software
#3As far as I can make out, the answer this article offers is just "same reason everybody else struggles: it's hard".
Re: Why Apple and Google are struggling to design simple software
#4I'm gonna ask a different question - why Google is struggling to design useful software? It seems that every iteration of their every product loses functionality and is being dumbed down to the point of uselessness.
Re: Why Apple and Google are struggling to design simple software
#5Simple: The goal used to be create simple things that just work. Now its create thigs that push your platform.
As an example, to pick on MSFT: I thought hell froze over when I saw Word in the Android app store. Its a hugely wonderful word processor. I typed out a blog post and when to save, but... well I wasnt signed into sky drive. I managed to finagle my way around those prompts after 5 or so mins. Next time I opened Word, I got a message: "In order to continue to use Word, you must sign into a Microsoft Account". Really? The laws of the physical fucking universe make this impossible?
Needless to say, that crap is uninstalled. I already chose a cloud provider, I dont need yet another one, fragmenting my data storage.
Re: Why Apple and Google are struggling to design simple software
#6Balancing features and usability is one of the hardest problems product management has to face. Removing an existing feature is not a piece of cake, but companies are a bit too worried about it in my opinion.
Btw. don't think the Tesla comparison is fair.
Re: Why Apple and Google are struggling to design simple software
#7I'm gonna ask a different question - why Google is struggling to design useful software? It seems that every iteration of their every product loses functionality and is being dumbed down to the point of uselessness.
Can you share a few examples? Google seems to be leaning more toward "normal users" but I enjoy the software nonetheless.
Are you sure you are the intended user? Catering to a different userbase might be their intent.
Re: Why Apple and Google are struggling to design simple software
#8Simple: The goal used to be create simple things that just work. Now its create thigs that push your platform. As an example, to pick on MSFT: I thought hell froze over when I saw Word in the Android app store. Its a hugely wonderful word processor. I typed out a blog post and when to save, but... well I wasnt signed into sky drive. I managed to finagle my way around those prompts after 5 or so mins. Next time I open…
Winter is coming for Microsoft. The rise of mobile and the slow down of PC speed improvements means they are having a hard time delivering real value that people want to pay for and need to find a way to generate recurring revenue through subscription services. Witness the rise of Windows 10. How can they make money if you permanently own your software?
What if Moore's law stops and we're sitting here 10 years later with computers that are only a little faster on single core performance?
Re: Why Apple and Google are struggling to design simple software
#9Focusing on iTunes to argue that Apple can't design simple software anymore seems a little bit unfair, while on the other hand I understand that it might be the only Apple desktop software used by people who run on MS Windows.
But still, it really not representative of the Apple ecosystem IMHO.
3D Touch on iOS for instance is a state of the art demonstration of how to transparently and smoothly add a layer of functionality to an existing interface.
Re: Why Apple and Google are struggling to design simple software
#10Focusing on iTunes to argue that Apple can't design simple software anymore seems a little bit unfair, while on the other hand I understand that it might be the only Apple desktop software used by people who run on MS Windows. But still, it really not representative of the Apple ecosystem IMHO. 3D Touch on iOS for instance is a state of the art demonstration of how to transparently and smoothly add a layer of functio…
Yep, iTunes is a place where Apple tests new UI concepts against a rather complex data organizing problem, and its always been a bit of a hodgepodge of ideas.