Once Again Dvorak Nails It
- 17
- Add a Comment
John C. Dvorak is one of those writers who is better at representing what I am feeling about something technical almost better than I can. With the long career he has had, he truly has seen it all. He is very quick to articulate the problems, and when it happens, the high points, of new software, and delivers comment free of fluff, making any choices in selection easy by his comparisons.
An article in PC Magazine highlights this, where he let’s his readers know what they are in for, with the new revision of Office, why, and how it is related to Windows 7.
Microsoft Bob Rides Again
Some people actually refused to upgrade to Office 2007. They’ll be even more turned off by Office 14, the next iteration of the Suite. And Windows 7’s new UI? Forget it!
I should have written this column when Office 2007 was introduced. Back then, we all got a good look at a changed user interface that, to me at the time, seemed like nothing more than change for change’s sake. Microsoft had to do something to look as though it was still working on these old products—software that rolls out as “newer and better” every three to four years.
There are some people who actually refused to upgrade to Office 2007. They’ll be even more turned off by Office 14, the next iteration of the Office Suite.
The company has moved VP Julie Larson-Green into the guru position in charge of Office 2007 and Windows 7; it was said to be her initiatives that made Office 2007 so unique and different. And Microsoft claims that Office 2007 was the hit of the Vista era. Larson-Green, who on various YouTube videos looks like the lost Judd sister, is spearheading a new user experience for Windows 7 designed to make computing more intuitive. In the olden days we would call this “dumbing down.” The question always arises, do we need to make computing more intuitive? And a second and bigger question is, intuitive to whom? This is the real problem.
I watched an old Microsoft video highlighting some of the new Office 2007 features and was immediately struck by the comments posted below: All the commenters said (on cue) things like “Wow!” and “I want this!” But the kicker was this comment: “Wow! I’m floored. We’ve been hearing so much about MS Research—it’s about time we see the research that goes into an actual product. Finally, a program that me AND my father can use. It seems THAT intuitive. Congrats, Office team.”
Since Channel 9 is actually a Microsoft promotional site, I always wonder about this sort of comment. I noticed no skepticism anywhere. But let’s assume it’s real. The line “AND my father can use” stands out like a sore thumb.
It harkens back to a couple of fateful episodes in the history of the PC. The most obvious is the “intuitive” Microsoft Bob, a product that has actually been removed from Microsoft’s corporate timeline. Bob was flawed and considered a terrible product because it was targeted at adults—even oldsters and fogies—rather than at kids and newcomers to computing.
There is an incessant need among computer makers to cater to elderly users who have zero interest in computers or computing. The commenter suggests that his father would now miraculously mange to use a simple word processor after all these years, something that’s phenomenal as far as he is concerned. I’m thinking to myself, “Who gives a crap?”
When Microsoft Bob was rolled out at CES some years back (it was during the Windows 3.1 era), I asked an older showgoer who was slack-jawed at the demo if he was a computer user and what he thought of Bob. He said he didn’t know too much about computers, but this might convince him to give it a try. I knew then that Bob was toast: Gimmicks aren’t the way you get people to use computers. It never has been, it never will be.
People use computers because they are constructive in their daily lives, period.
Microsoft Bob was a gimmick. I’m thinking the “ribbon” interface and the other changes for Office 2007 were just gimmicks, too. I’m reminded of the push-button transmissions Chrysler and others tried to promote in the 1950s.
The other product that comes to mind with the same disastrous results was a word processor released by WordStar in the days of DOS. It was called Easy, and I hated it. The product manager told me that Easy wasn’t for me, but designed specifically for people who didn’t use computers. I still laugh to myself over this sales pitch. If someone doesn’t use computers, he probably doesn’t have a computer, so why would he buy any software, let alone this new word processor? Predictably, Easy flopped.
Fact is, people buy software for its features and power not for its ease of use or “intuitiveness.” I still recall being baffled as to how to save a file when I first used Word 2007. Why hide the functions that you often use? I’m trying to get some work done, not play hide-and-seek with an app.
That said, a program should be easy to use, and I think Microsoft Word in particular has set an already good standard. These new versions are gussied up—for what purpose? So Dad will finally use a computer? Who cares about Dad? If he’s not interested in our little toys and can find no use for them by now, then so what?
In the next Office Suite, I’d like to see not intuitive gimmicks but killer AI. How about a contextual spell checker? For example, using Word today I can type, “This sentence makes no cents.” The sentence should read, “This sentence makes no sense.” Is there a suggested correction highlighted? No! Neither the grammar checker nor the spell checker found “cents” to be a problem. That’s a problem indeed.
But instead of fixing this sort of problem, Microsoft goes for the flashy new UI and hopes to get Dad interested in computing.
The misguided adventure of Microsoft Bob all over again.
With one article, Mr. Dvorak has said what I’ve been trying to point out for a while. His much wider audience will hopefully get more traction than my comments on ZDNet, where people like Ed Bott, hardly the unbiased observer (he is writing a book about Windows 7, and is certainly motivated to see few changes from the way it currently stands, as that makes his writing job easier, and the success of 7 assures the success of his book), states repeatedly that Windows 7 is actually being translated from stone tablets that dropped from the sky.
While many will like the changes in Windows 7, simply because the product does not say Vista, few of the fanboys are willing to entertain that idea – their blindness is further shown when total acceptance of all things new in Office is voiced. Others who will adopt are simply in search of something shiny and new, yet those people are apparently blind to their motives.
The last 3 paragraphs of the article show what should be important, but Microsoft seems to find that too hard, in the same manner they found the object oriented file system once promised in Vista, to implement.
§
whitespace
whitespace
whitespace
whitespace
17 Comments
Topics about Microsoft » Once Again Dvorak Nails It ~ Revelations From An Unwashed Brain
April 23rd, 2009
at 12:03am
[...] the oracle placed an observative post today on Once Again Dvorak Nails It ~ Revelations From An Unwashed BrainHere’s a quick excerptThat said, a program should be easy to use, and I think Microsoft Word in particular has set an already good standard. These new versions are gussied up—for what purpose? So Dad will finally use a computer? Who cares about Dad? … [...]
Topics about Last-words | Once Again Dvorak Nails It
April 23rd, 2009
at 12:41am
[...] Your Dallas Cowboys Blue and Silver Report put an intriguing blog post on Once Again Dvorak Nails ItHere’s a quick excerptJohn C. Dvorak is one of those writers who is … And a second and bigger question is, intuitive … to use a simple word processor after all [...]
Topics about Microsoft » Once Again Dvorak Nails It
April 23rd, 2009
at 1:13am
[...] FreeThinker’s Web put an intriguing blog post on Once Again Dvorak Nails ItHere’s a quick excerptMicrosoft Bob Rides Again Some people actually refused to upgrade to … PC Magazine,Microsoft,taking to task,Windows 7,Office [...]
Topics about Microsoft » Once Again Dvorak Nails It (via lockergnome network)
April 23rd, 2009
at 8:09am
[...] The IT Nerd placed an interesting blog post on Once Again Dvorak Nails It (via lockergnome network)Here’s a brief overviewOnce Again Dvorak Nails It… [...]
leftystrat
April 23rd, 2009
at 4:07pm
We practically had this discussion at work today. Were you listening in?
Gee, MS - what about the millions of people who already use the software? Make it more difficult for them to use - that’s a really bright strategy!
Crisatunity
April 24th, 2009
at 11:39am
I think its awesome that you can have a complete disregard for copyright law. Just because you give credit does mean you can just paste it here verbatim.
Fort
April 24th, 2009
at 11:43am
I like my Office 2000, it does the job. Just like Win7, I don’t see anything I need/want from Office 14 (14!!!) that’s a must have feature. Or Vista. XP works fine. Office 2000 works fine.
Maybe they ought to work on pricing?
EthR
April 24th, 2009
at 12:06pm
I love the ribbon. It is an excellent move forward in usability. Kudos to Microsoft. Features are much more upfront and it take fewer clicks to get things done.
the oracle
April 24th, 2009
at 1:23pm
EthR, what you don’t seem to understand is that for each person that feels as you do, I can show at least five that don’t see it as a good thing.
Perhaps if they had started this way, but they did not - and most of the people who have been using the products (some form of Office, other than 2007) see it as an annoyance at best.
Nick Allain
April 24th, 2009
at 2:37pm
If you loved John’s article so much, you should link to the original and refrain from reposting the entire thing. Generally speaking, writers are reviewed based on their article views. While your personal blog may be rather small, it’s important that you hold yourself to some sort of journalistic integrity.
EthR
April 24th, 2009
at 8:04pm
the oracle, no one I know has ever wanted to go back after spending a short time learning the new interface. It’s like anything, you get out what you put in.
the oracle
April 24th, 2009
at 8:33pm
EthR, that assumes that the new interface is judged to be better in some way.
The ribbon interface is simply a crutch, and takes up too much screen space. Simply because monitor sizes are larger does not mean that people want to use the same applications taking more room on the screen. I use a larger monitor to get more windows on the screen, and I suspect many othes are like me. Think of it this way - do you think many people run a 22″ LCD at the equivalent of 800-600 resolution, or at the native resolution of 1680 X 1050.
To a person, all I know that depend on these applications each day, and used them for say, 6 months before the release of Office 2007, absolutely hate the ribbon interface.
That doesn’t even speak to the slowing of the way things work due to all the underlying garbage added to Office 2007.
I’m thinking you’re probably very young - learn this, and you’ll be better off - not all things new are necessarily better.
Gary Greene
April 25th, 2009
at 1:26am
There is also the very real UN-learning curve that is at odds with allowing it to be liked too. When a computer user has been using an application (be it an OS, office suite, you name it…), most have a difficult time getting around the unlearning curve since they are adept at the older way of doing things.
Take for instance my roommate. He grew up with DOS and used WordPerfect for DOS. He moved to Linux a while back, and while there are very powerful GUI tools out there, most of his day on a computer is in a CLI running either Midnight Commander, irssi, or elinks. Why? Because that’s what he’s comfortable with.
EthR
April 25th, 2009
at 6:49am
“I’m thinking you’re probably very young - learn this, and you’ll be better off - not all things new are necessarily better.”
You know what they say about assumptions…
I am 39 years old. I’ve seen and done it all.
Do you really think Microsoft would have made the change if their usability studies had indicated a user revolt? It hasn’t happened.
But this is turning into a religious debate now and those are unproductive.
the oracle
April 25th, 2009
at 7:28am
EthR,
“I am 39 years old. I’ve seen and done it all.” Fine, we’ll call you Metheuselah from now on.
~
Do you know anyone who has ever participated in a usability study for Microsoft? A while back, I asked anyone, who had ever participated in any one, at any time, for Microsoft to please respond. No one did.
I interact with quite a few people, and I have not come across a single person who has admitted to being a part of a MS usability study. And I’ve been working with, and on, computers for a few months short of 20 years.
I have also traveled to different states doing this, lest you might think I live in some podunk town, never getting out into the wider world.
My point is, I think these usability studies are held almost entirely within the halls of Redmond - hardly a representative sampling of the public at large.
Beyond that, why do you think that since I wrote the original article, the miraculous advent of the XP mode for Windows 7 has appeared. Obviously, your conclusions are all wet, as Microsoft knows that many businesses would not change, due to the bad design choices they’ve made.
EthR
April 25th, 2009
at 7:40am
I have an invite sitting in my Inbox for a usability study from Microsoft’s development tools group. *shrug*
But this is all anecdotal.
In my original comment I wasn’t trying to convince you or anyone else that they are wrong. I was only sharing my experience with Microsoft’s UI changes and it simply happened to be contrary to yours.
“lest you might think I live in some podunk town”
I’ve been in enough internet discussions to know better than to do that.
the oracle
April 25th, 2009
at 9:19am
EthR, actually, it’s my fault entirely - I should have fully qualified what I said. I meant to say ’studies on the operating systems’, because I have also participated in other studies from Microsoft.
However, I also have spoken with others in the same studies in which I participated (Hotmail, Windows Live Essentials), and we all felt that nothing that we said, other than bugspotting, was ever given any regard. Sometimes I know that even the bugspotting, as I have noted in these pages, has been disregarded.
To me, Microsoft is one of those companies that focusses on the majority (read 51%) and never bothers to try to get the majority higher. It always pushes for more profits, but does so by raising prices, not by raising customer satisfaction beyond a certain, predetermined (and known only to them) level.
Again. my opinion, but shared by many i personally come in contact with.