It seems like everything is so complicated these days, especially anything electronic which is more and more products everyday.
Why are they so complex? “Hey, our cell phone takes pictures, sharpens knives, mows the lawn, pays your bills, steers your car, and cooks dinner, all by voice command!” Give us a break!
Unfortunately, the reason so many electronic products are stuffed with features is that it is relatively cheap to add features to them! Do we consumers really want or need those functions? That is an entirely different question. Often, the answer is no. But the manufacturers add them, in many cases, simply so they can advertise that they have more features.
It costs a lot more to carefully determine what features are most wanted and to design products so that they are feature-rich, yet easy and intuitive for people to use. That is why this vital step is often shortcut.
Ever had trouble figuring out how to program your VCR? Did you ever think that perhaps it’s not really your fault? It’s the fault of the engineers who designed a lousy user interface to the product. And you think they are bad? Try using a...