Bryan Lunduke, who worked for Microsoft, and talks a lot about Linux subjects, made a good point in one of his Linux lectures that really opened my mind.
The "Who asked for this?" question. systemd having a full network stack and various other huge features instead of just being a better init script. With Wayland, and Mir, was anyone really going "OMG, X Windows sucks so bad. I really hate being able to stream a graphics shell over ssh on a system that was fast enough to use on a 486." I can't really do his arguments justice with my old man's memory, but the point is sound.
With Windows 8 Metro, or the Ribbon interface, or any of the other Microsoft failures... was anyone explicitly ASKING for this? Or, was it just some middle or upper manager type trying to justify his existence by pushing something his intuition told him would be "the future" with no science and user studies to back it up? Did the decision get made BECAUSE users complained, or, was the decision made, and any evidence contrary (such as research or users) simply thrown under the rug?
Are people DEMANDING lootboxes? Are people demanding DRM?
Are people demanding phones with shit battery life that are thinner and thinner and easier to bend? Or "notches" in their screens instead of full screens?
Where do these anti-features come from? I don't know. But I've at least started to ask the question "Who asked for this?" to help me identify those features and the examples are boundless.
1) The Windows 8 Metro interface was, in many ways, very good. The software architecture is also very good. It is fast, scales well, and works across device platforms more easily.
2) The ribbon was the product of intensive social science research. Users did not "ask" for computers in general. They had no idea what they could do until it was presented to them. The same is true here. People had a hard time with Office and it's many drop-down menus. The ribbon was created in response to this, and as part of their very extensive research on thousands of users, it was deemed easier to use.
The reality on the ground is Office is better than ever. Surface products are far ahead of Macbook devices in every conceivable way. Apple has become a joke charging $1,200 for their iPad Pro, which can't even be used to create a moderately complex, professional document. The rest of the industry sells nothing but 16:9 ratio laptops, which is insane. Desktops are dead, except for loser "gamers", who are a niche market.
Microsoft missed the boat when it came to the simplicity of the iPhone and apps store. They fucked up royally with so many versions of Windows Mobile. But, they have really taken the PC in an entirely new direction. I mean, the Surface Studio is AMAZING. There is nothing like it out there. Who asked for the Surface Studio? Fuck, I had never even THOUGHT of something like that.
Genetics explains why you look like your father, and if you don't, why you should.
