Microsoft are about to introduce their most important product for years, Windows 8.  It is a new, common platform/interface to be used by phones, PC’s and tablets, so that users have a common experience regardless of platform.  They are taking a leaf out of Apple’s book in this and there is little wrong in learning from a company that seems to be able to little wrong a at present.  They are even launching their own brand of tablet, à la iPad, the Surface, it’s killer feature is that it  has an optional keyboard and is meant to be very good for creating, rather than merely consuming content.  I have heard mainly very good things about all of these developments.  However, there is one big issue that is much talked about; they have completely changed the way people interface with Windows, and done away with the Start button that most of us use as our route into using our PC’s.  True this can be put back (see below), but it begs the question, is the technology the master or the servant?  Do we want to change our work patterns to conform to their design, or should their design be malleable enough to do it the way we prefer?

Of course this a question of Change, and as I have recently changed from Blackberry to Android, I have been asking myself this a lot.  Is there a better way to do what I do, or can I find software that will allow me to configure the platform the way I want.  Of course we shouldn’t reject the idea that there maybe a better way of working, but patterns and habits are Nature’s way of helping us to be efficient and good software design does not intrude, it enables.  That is one reason why Apple has been so successful, because it has managed to make most of its designs appear simple.  Of course, this simplicity is illusory, but most of us aren’t interested in how things work, simply that they do.  I have to say, that after a couple of weeks of wrestling with the various configurations and potential apps, I am pretty pleased with how I have been able to configure my new Galaxy S3, and I certainly feel that I can do more things, more quickly because of it. 

So, sometimes a change is good for us, and sometimes we just know the quickest easiest route and the technology companies just need to enable us to use it.  As new technology is introduced, so new possibilities are born; things like the GPS can give us a whole new set of options whether we are walkers, drivers or fleet operators.  This challenge of making interfaces easy also exists when we are designing our processes and procedures. These should make it simple for staff and more importantly customers to deal with us and never get in the way.   I have recently chosen not to do business with a number of sites that just make it too fiddly to do business with them.  Make sure your business is a pleasure to do business with!

Resources:

1. Windows 8 Start key