December 9th, 2003

Scoble's rant on UI defaults

Robert Scoble posted an entry in his Longhorn blog on the subject of what the UI defaults should be. It sure has stirred up a lot of controvery. I may pick at the remarks over the upcoming days, but for now I posted responses to two of the comments he kicked up.

We recently did a survey of users of all abilities. Beginners, intermediates, experts: The number one complaint all of them had about the user interface – 30% of all respondents mentioned this, evenly spread across all categories – was “Too many icons on the desktop.” So it’s not just beginners. Experts also don’t like the clutter. (Yes, I was surprised by the results, too.)

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Raymond has been involved in the evolution of Windows for more than 30 years. In 2003, he began a Web site known as The Old New Thing which has grown in popularity far beyond his wildest imagination, a development which still gives him the heebie-jeebies. The Web site spawned a book, coincidentally also titled The Old New Thing (Addison Wesley 2007). He occasionally appears on the Windows Dev Docs Twitter account to tell stories which convey no useful information.

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