It's not anti-technology - it's anti-bad design
That is to say, it's pro-good design. I love my iPod. I love the Ambient Orb device. I love the little forms in TurboTax that automatically fill in the slashes when I type in a date. I especially love that, if I type a slash in those fields, it just takes it and lets me continue - no error messages, just anticipation and understanding of "what I meant, not what I said".
So, the point is, if technology is here to help us, let's spend our money on that which is helpful, not on that which sucks. If you find yourself having to log in to every newspaper site you find, use bugmenot.
I suffered from MLS this weekend. I was trying to hook up my VCR. You heard me. I wanted to record part of the Rose Bowl from my Time Warner TiVO to a tape, so I could then give the tape to my parents, who want to burn a DVD of it. I must have spend 300 hours of my life back in the 80s trying to figure out exactly how to do this kind of stuff. Now that information is all gone, and I have to relearn it. It was bad enough the first time.
Don't even get me started on PowerPoint.
MM
So, the point is, if technology is here to help us, let's spend our money on that which is helpful, not on that which sucks. If you find yourself having to log in to every newspaper site you find, use bugmenot.
I suffered from MLS this weekend. I was trying to hook up my VCR. You heard me. I wanted to record part of the Rose Bowl from my Time Warner TiVO to a tape, so I could then give the tape to my parents, who want to burn a DVD of it. I must have spend 300 hours of my life back in the 80s trying to figure out exactly how to do this kind of stuff. Now that information is all gone, and I have to relearn it. It was bad enough the first time.
Don't even get me started on PowerPoint.
MM
posted by Marcus at 9:25 AM
2 Comments:
I have an example that's the antithesis of your TurboTax example. At work we have a global phone directory, in Microsoft Excel, of all the names, phone numbers, telephone extensions, blah blah blah, of everyone in the company. One tab for each branch. Excel has this handy feature where you can format cells in different ways, and one of them is 'phone number' in standard US formatting ( (area code) xxx-xxxx). "Great!" you might say. "Perfect for my phone directory!"
Of course, you have to know this when you're typing in the numbers and type just the digits. If you put any formatting and punctuation in them whatsoever, it won't change them retroactively. HOW IS THAT HELPFUL TO ME?
Yeah, I'd say that qualifies. Boy am I going to have a giant post on the day I feel like griping about Excel. Just grab a cup of coffee and prepare to get nothing done when you see it.
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