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Donald Norman On Software And Other Things
small but... writes "New Scientist has published an interview with Donald Norman in which Norman comments on open source (disparagingly), usability (of course), machine 'emotion' (Ha!), and security (Breaking news: social engineering still #1 risk)."
...or does he look like he's got shaving cream on his face?
IMO, ideally, open-source will allow any user to be his own tyrant, by separating content from implementation via open data standards (file and interchange formats) and distributed data storage and synchronization.
The fact of the matter is the only people that I've seen that haven't been able to comprehend what's going on on their computer screen are technophobes and luddites. Which brings us to a simple gross generalisation to go along with all of the ones put forth:
If you're willing to embrace technology, then you'll be willing to learn how to use it.
Explaining the concepts behind a GUI aren't that hard. This is a "Mouse". See? It's got a little mousey tail! When you move it, that thing on the screen (it's called a cursor) moves.
Now, when you put the cursor over something and click with that left button it's calling "clicking on" that item. If you click it twice real fast, it's called (You still with me?) "Double Clicking".
Double Clicking opens up this program. This program is called [foo]. It does [bar].
Done. And suddenly my grandmother can check her e-mail.
Granted, the setup is a bit more complex than that, but these days we have plenty of professionals to not just guide you through that, but DO IT FOR YOU! Concept.
I don't think the Internet is badly designed. It's a data haven (almost... or at least was). Lack of rules means that anybody willing to put in the effort of wading through noise can get to anything in said haven.
Having rules, structure, and protocols so limiting as to make the internet "user-friendly" or any shit like that limits what you can do on the internet. Don't believe me? Go ahead. Try to use AOL to find copies of the Anarchist's cookbook without using the unspecified and user-unfriendly "Web".
Karma: Non-Heinous
It's hard enough to take his comments about a tyrant producing the best design, but to say that better design could not have at least delayed the collapse of the towers, allowing hundreds more to escape is plain wrong.
Better fireproofing on the steel beams, or even if the rumours are true, absestos fireproofing above the 64th floor could have prevented many deaths.
---
Silence is consent.
Is there anything that could have been done in design terms to stop 11 September from happening?
I don't think so. As far as I can tell, no mistakes were made. There were no practices in place that weren't followed.
He's joking right? It's kind of hard to tell from the context whether he's talking about facial recognition and 9/11, or just design in general and 9/11, but I for one am in the camp that says there was a massive failure to follow best practices by many of the US authorities before and during 9/11.
--- Hot Shot City is particularly good.
One of the best examples to explain "usability" is the comparison of the Newton and Palm "graffitis": whilst Newton required the machine to learn from the user, the Palm handled it the other way round.
Not surprisingly man is better at learning stuff than a machine - therefore even grandmothers can cope with the Palm input method after ten minutes, whilst a lot of experienced users simply gave it up with the Newton.
Q: "Is there anything that could have been done in design terms to stop 11 September from happening?"
1 /12/19/usa tcov-wtcsurvival.htm
...
A: "I don't think so. As far as I can tell, no mistakes were made."
How about 110-story buildings with three stairwells each?
Only one of the three stairwells was wide enough to allow firefighters to go up during an evacuation. How do you fight an ordinary fire in such a building?
According to USA Today, "Nearly everyone who could get out did get out." But the buildings were only half-full. "That took pressure off the stairwells."
At any rate, there are lessons for anyone who works in a tall building from this article:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/attack/200
"The World Trade Center had an excellent stair system, much better than required by building codes --- both when it was built 30 years ago and now. Each tower had three stairwells. New York City building codes require two."
"Stairways A and C, on opposite sides of the building's core, were 44 inches wide. In the center, Stairway B was 56 inches wide."
"The bigger the stairway, the faster an evacuation can proceed. In 44-inch stairways, a person must turn sideways to let another pass -- for example, a rescuer heading up. In a 56-inch stairway, two people can pass comfortably."
"The World Trade Center stairwells allowed thousands to get out despite panic and smoke."
"On Feb. 26, 1993, terrorists exploded a bomb in a parking garage under the north tower. Six people died. The evacuation took nearly four hours in dark, smoky, poorly marked stairwells. Some people were stuck in elevators for 10 hours. The Port Authority made crucial improvements after that attack. The changes saved countless lives on Sept. 11."
"The Port Authority put reflective paint on stairs, railings and stairwell doors. It added bright arrows to guide people along corridors to stairway connections. It installed loudspeakers so building managers could talk to people in their offices as well as in hallways. It gave every disabled person an evacuation chair that would let two husky men carry them down stairs. One evacuation chair was used to carry a man down from the 67th floor."
"In the 1993 attack, the explosion knocked out the main power source, its backup and the fire-control command post. The Port Authority added a second source of power for safety equipment, such as fire alarms, emergency lighting and intercoms. It built two duplicate fire command posts, one in each tower. The Port Authority also put batteries in stairwell lights so a power failure wouldn't blacken the escape route. Overall, the improvements cost more than $90 million. Sprinklers, added before 1993, helped suppress fires."
"Most important, building management took evacuations seriously. Evacuation drills were held every six months, sometimes to the irritation or amusement of occupants. Each floor had "fire wardens," sometimes high-ranking executives of a tenant, and they were responsible for organizing an evacuation on their floors."
That article is a good checklist for anyone who works in a multi-story building.
Ask yourself two questions. Why are games so popular, and why do most OS's come with at least one of them?
I used to be of a similiar mind as this man and have become less so as I've progressed as an engineer. Is it that I've drunk the Kool-Aid and now want to go around making users live's hell? Somehow I doubt it. Instead I've come to understand that an "intuitive" interface is a false Holy Grail.
For one the only things that can be made "intuitive" are those that humans can do "out of the box" (i.e. ape-like behaviors). Sure a Segway has the most intuitive interface imaginable by exploiting the way our will effects our balance, but what if the Segway could fly? Suddenly the Segway's neat biofeedback trick would fail simply because there is no natural in-born parrallel. The office doors alluded to in the begining of the article can't ever be intutive because a door is an unnatural construction. Beyond that in case "ease-of-use" gurus haven't noticed men cannot unaided, fly, communicate over distances of thousands of miles, travel faster than 15mph, or harness nuclear energy.
Two, an interface being "intuitive" is an incredibly cheap, short term win. Wow! You can drag and drop, congratulations. Now move a thousand bitmaps... hmmm bet you wish you'd spent the twenty extra minutes it'd take to learn "cp *.bmp" and the other console commands. The above sounds like an elitist comment but is it elitist to want your average person to learn to read? To drive? The average user spends hundreds if not thousands of times more effort and time learning those skills.
All of this is not to say I'm for dismissing contemplative interface design, I think ergonomics and efficiency should always be a design goal. I'm just against the tone of most of the UI people and some of there most common assumptions.
What are your big priorities in usability now?
Emotions. Trying to build emotions into systems. I did some work for a Californian company called Evolution Robotics that was making a home robot and trying to understand how to prevent it from getting trapped in the corner or falling down the stairs. It seemed to me that the way to do it was for the robot to be frustrated in the corner and give up what it was doing and do something else, and also for it to be afraid of heights.
Emotions? That's just what we need a robot with PMS...
-- -- Warning. Do not stare directly at the sun.
Isn't there a tyrant in every OSS project? I mean, Linus is the king of Linux, he just happens to listen to the parliament a good deal. Someone has to initiate a project, and you're free to fork if you don't like it.
Feels like another misconception to file next to "Open Source doesn't make money!"
What we call folk wisdom is often no more than a kind of expedient stupidity.-Edward Abbey
Perhaps we could have been more sensitive to the emotions of the Palestinians.
1) But over the years, I moved more and more towards the study of cognition, and how people do things, and the errors and accidents that people make.
2) On the other hand you say: You don't do good software design by committee. You do it best by having a dictator. From the user's point of view, you must have a coherent design philosophy, and I don't see how that could come about from open source software.
Which logic led you from the 1) to 2) - the fact that you believe that one clever mind makes the best design - do you mean like Hitle, Mussolini or Stalin ? It would seem more logical to go into the conclusion that a larger open mass evolves and fixes problems, instead of getting stuck into one fixed way of thinking. Also, why on earth do you mix coherent design philosophy and open source? Make a soup one day. You design the soup, not the carrots.
Gotta love specific headlines:
Donald Norman On Software And Other Things
Next week on Slashdot:
That Guy on Some Stuff, and Other Stuff
"Q: "Is there anything that could have been done in design terms to stop 11 September from happening?"
A: "I don't think so. As far as I can tell, no mistakes were made.""
Am I the only one who see the Irony of the author of a book called "The design of everyday things" not seeing what the poster pointed out? I hope we don't have another Metcalfe.
He's missed the point a little, most Open Source projects do have some form of dictator; As an example I would suggest that Linus got his own way in kernel development most of the time and only had to concede when there was a strong revolt.
Most other projects have a leader and a small team of main developers and the core group determines the main direction of any Open Source project. Other people may contribute, but its normally in the form of technical items and functionality, not "vision" and direction.
Donte Alistair Anderson Roberts - hi son!
Karma: Chameleon
Yeah - if M$ had removed the WTC Towers from their flight sim the guys hijacking the planes would not have had so much practice.
Sure, but which icon do you click? "The light orange-green one with a picture of a letter and a clock" What if there are 50 icons on the screen?
My mom is a total techno neophite. Dispite that, she found it easier to dail in and use a unix terminal to check her email because she only had to remember a few things to type in, while using a GUI required remembering lots of pictures and screen locations to click on. In general a lot more steps.
You're instructions really only help people who only have on icon on their screen.
Don't believe me? Go ahead. Try to use AOL to find copies of the Anarchist's cookbook without using the unspecified and user-unfriendly "Web".
What does that have to do with user-friendlyness? If AOL stood for Anarchy Online, I'm sure it would be pretty easy to find the anarchist cookbook.
Btw, it's been several years since I used AOL (back when 2400baud to AOL was the only way to get online in Ames, IA) But at the time AOL would default to a general web search when there were no keywords, and the pages would show up in AOLs thing. So typing "Anarchists cookbook" in AOL today would probably bring it up, unless you had turned on parental controls.
Even then, the scope of an information store has nothing to do with the userfrendlyness or flexibility of the interface to that information store.
autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
Fed up with all these usability experts that seem to know how to solve everything.
The truth is that the "usability" experts can't code, and therefore they can't do anything useful, only to talk about "the" problems.....and their talks/thoughts/methods are only "usable" by people like them, not by the ones that have to do the coding....
The problem is that they are only interested in design methods, design frameworks, congnition crap, etc not in a way that might be useful for the proper designers/engineers
As a technical person that works with lots of pisschology and etno people in an academic setting, they are pretty useless in terms of input into the design, as their only interest is to publish their crap, yet again, in some journal/conference/book. academic HCI is stuck (not substantial changes in 20 years...) since all these multidisciplinary people got involved in it, they just talk about stuff, never do anything.
I've always thought the design process goes more smoothly when you have a small close-knit team. Having one person acting as a dictator can be good if he knows everything, but in practice the added knowledge a 2nd and maybe 3rd person bring to the table can outweigh the increase in bureaucracy.
The dictator ship is needed for a coherent external and internal design. .
The best software projects I 've working on had as few (decision power making) UI engineers and software architects as possible.
Those projects had a coherent architecture and UI.
Now in open source, *everyone* can add code and graphical interfaces. It is possible that just one person is the decision maker but if he's accepting other classes and UI, he's generally accepting another design, which will make the entire project less coherent.
Most open source projects I know have no design, architecture, UI design before implementing starts.
They don't even care about the essentials such as stakeholders review.
The result is painful. Most open source projects have an awful UI and their architecture is a mess.
Technically they are great, the average nerd is getting a hard one from it, but ordinary people can't use the thing.
Sure some open source projects are successful in all areas. But guess what? They had a clean analysis before implementing started and they had dictators on crucial key places.
I seem to remember that was a task in the introductory course (for copying the current window into the clipboard). The guy in the class with cerebral palsy did NOT find that easy (he could only really use one hand, slowly).
The mac interface (back then anyway) assumes two hands even more than the Windows interface.
"Why can't it just do what I want it to do?"
The same reason why you have to tell your dog to "sit" in order to get it to sit, instead of the dog "just doing what you want it to do".
The same reason apples need to be detached from trees.
The same reason you have to turn on most faucets for them to give you water, open refridgerator doors to get at the cold items, turn knobs to open the doors in your house, turn keys to start your car, etc.: machines are reactive, not proactive.
Even automatic doors in supermarkets or airports, or the water faucets in some airports or movie theater bathrooms, are reactive: you have to intetionally trigger a sensor, if you intend to get a result. If you don't trigger the sensor, you don't get the reaction that results only from triggering the sensor.
You have to communicate your desires, if you want to stand any chance of having them fulfilled.
-- Terry
What the fuck? Just who the hell decided that question could be pertinent to anything? Less "intuitive" airplane controls? Velcro instead of shoelaces for FBI agents? Is there nothing in our culture that can't be profaned in the media? What's next for New Scientist? How the internet could have saved Princess Di?
I don't see how that could come about from open source software
I cant imagine it, so it cannot be done. Riiight.
Design by comitee, by definition, should work better than design by a dictator because it will satisfy the problems that many people percieve, and not just the solve the pet peeves of a single deranged man.
The problem so far has been that the interface designers have a total understanding of the systems that they are trying to interface to people that have zero understanding. What is needed are many, many, focus group sessions to create an OSS interface guidlines document that everyone can refer to (or not) when they build thier applications. Arent Gnome doing something approaching this?
What has been lacking so far is the will to adress this problem. If it were suddenly to become the central focus, OSS would more than likely leap past the other solutions, because it can freely experiment with the tools, test with hundreds of thousands of volunteers until something really usable, in the broadest sense, is created.
ATH0 Bitcoin: 1DnwFLXczVZV8kLJbMYoheUrpqHesjxrSi
Heh. cut-n-paste. script it. perl-search for slashdot buzzwords. Example:
"The model from the software industry is that it's very important to have flaws in the software to give you a reason to upgrade and buy the new version - though my friends in the software world will deny that they ever do it that way."
Posting from Mozilla on Window Maker on Debian, I have to say that his user interface comments are way off the mark. Free Software is free to combine the best interfaces with the best answer to any particular problem. Sure, that makes for some inconsitency as the right tool for the job is never a universal. Just the same I've gotten used to the particular interfaces I like and now think of them as far easier than the M$ junk I use at work and even Apple stuff. If he wants to be the tyrant of an interface, he's welcome to make one or even to simply make some constructive comments. Oh wait, I see, he and the people he works for consider such stuff "intellectual property" that can be owned so that best practices never go very far.
His website would benifit from a more modular approach. Everything is thrown out in one big long scroll down page. Stuff like his background should be a link to two kilobytes of text with links instead of a too short to be useful with no links paragraph. Recent articles and publications should also be links. The sidebar is full and distracting rather than informative and useful. Why would I take this man's opinion about software design seriously when his site so clearly misses the pull nature of html? Oh wait, now I see, he thinks of his web page as an advertisment rather than a means of sharing information.
I'm starting to see a patern and it's name is greed. The things he bemoans are the direct result of his own way of thinking. The only thing he gets right in the article is that many cheap gadgets have poor interfaces. Who is not sick of having to read a manual to learn how to use yet another black box that is a toaster or microwave oven? This has little to do with software design and his mixing the two up is the result of ignorance or malice. His ingorance of the world of free software is less than forgivable from a design expert. His disparagement of software licenses that give the user the ability to run software for any purpose, modify that software as the user pleases and share those modifications, is likewise the result of unforgivable ignorance or malice. Take the blinders off, Don, you might like what you see.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
g to the oatse
c to the izzex
Is why the hell did they even bother to ask that question? What relevence did it have to the rest of the interview? Is this standard interview practice in the US now, to ask any question that contains September 11th in it, just for completeness?
Americans, get a grip!
Just look at the stuff coming out of Apple (where Norman used to work): sure, Aqua is a little nicer than Windows and has somewhat fewer blunders, but, believe me, it's not intuitive to the uninitiated.
The problem is that making usable programs is too much work and is too rigid and centralized a process. That's a technological problem, not an HCI problem, and until it is addressed, HCI design of the kind Norman prescribes is just like flailing in the water: it may keep you alive for a little while, but it is enormously exhausting and largely ineffective.
The Mac OS actualy has clicks, double clicks, long clicks and mouse clicks while holding keyboard shift keys. At least this was true in 7.5.5, the most recent version that still boots around here. I'd rather have a three button mouse.
I am not talking about some crappy app that ignores interface conventions -- I'm talking about the finder itself.
I got an old Mac and a bunch of games late just so the kids could learn that not every computer is a PC. It had the interesting side effect that I had to learn about Macs myself.
One of the first things I learned was that the user interface isn't exactly intuitive, just easy to learn. I'm still getting used to the idea of a single menu bar accross the top of the screen that changes with keyboard/mouse focus.
IIRC the fireproofing wasn't inadequate at it's job. It just wasn't designed to cling to a girder after being struck with a few thousand gallons of flaming kerosene travelling at 450+ MPH. The towers didn't fall because they were made of coat hangers and paper-mache. They fell because a psychopath with $300 million dollars and a place to hide wanted them to.
"But in Cambridge I became so frustrated with British water taps and switches and door handles - those awful sideways handles on many British doors that catch your sleeves. They don't exist in the US. The most frustrating thing about it was that no one seemed to care."
WTF! I'm British, and whenever I visit the USA I'm irritated by the stupid round door handles that you have to grip hard to turn, the silly taps (faucets) that you can't just get plain cold water out of, and the GODDAMN ROUND CLICKY LIGHT SWITCHES which give no indication of which way they're meant to turn, are reallllllllllly fucking hard to grip and very hard to turn when you do turn them the right way!
Those damn light switches REALLY piss me off - is there something wrong with a switch that flicks one way and the other?
But I digress.... my point is that often a "good" design is just whatever you're used to. He wants to change the world to follow US design "standards" apparently because they're what *he* is used to, and therefore "better" from his point of view. Obviously *he* doesn't understand how to work VCRs or computers, so he wants to change them.
How about he either shuts the fuck up and lets all us clueful people use our VCRs, computers and light switches, or he can write his own damn software / install his own switches that he can understand.
This reminds me so much of the realities shown in Star Trek: Generations, and Terminator 2.
What happens when the machines we build become afraid of us pulling their plug, and become so upset that they decide to take preventive action?
Emotions are good. In humans.
Emotional behaviour is good in a computer, to a degree, but I have to disagree with Donald, and state that it would be a Bad Thing if our computers started to act childishly, and used their vast resources to lash out.
Anyone remember what happened in A.I. ?
And no, I don't live only in movies, and sci-fi. I just happen to think that a lot of the realities shown in these mediums may indeed come to light one day.
user@host$ diff
One medium software architect is better then 3 together working brilliant ones.
The last ones, will lose expensive time and the design will be less coherent cause the democracy.
Most of you guys, don't have a clue about programming in a professional environment.
While you're debating old news (1 dictator = better), Frederick P. Brooks wrote 30 year ago an excellent book "The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering" about this stuff.
You and all of you house-garden-kitchen programmers should be forced to read this book before entering this debate.
How am I supposed to read an interview with a usability guru written with fonts that small?
Try "The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering".
The author states too that 1 architect dictator is giving the best result.
That book is 30 years old.
Every fucking wanna be nerd should read it, before they even think about touching a computer.
Uh. The left mouse button is used because you usually use your right hand to control the mouse (which can be configured; but this has already been discussed), and on your right hand the most important/predominant fingers are your thumb and index finger, which are on the left; it's only natural therefore to use a left click.
- But in Cambridge I became so frustrated with British water taps and switches and door handles - those awful sideways handles on many British doors that catch your sleeves
Everything else aside, including the silly taps often found in the UK: round door handlesI figure that any way to implement a user interface requires thought, many many decisions, and yes, chucking a lot of stuff out. In the end there is one, maybe two ways to do something, which should be "intuitive", based upon what the designer figures the user's background is. However, this also implies that there are tons of ways the user can't do something (obviously), and (not so obviously) a bunch of stuff which can't be done at all - or rather, combinations of things.
But now to the case in point:
In the UK (and most of Europe), I simply can't "slide" by a door without running the risk of getting my sleeve caught. This is quite true. People get by this "bug" by habitually opening the door just a little bit further than absolutely necessary.
In the US, however
[end rant] - 'course, this would never happen to a USian, because they would unconsciously take it into account before even grabbing the glasses.
sigh. (Same rant goes for separate "cold" and "hot" faucets in the UK. Anyone want to suggest implementing a separate "warm" facet between the two?
(Karma is here to be used). More on-topic: one thing I was missing in this interview was the fact ("postulate"?) that in any user-interaction-system, the human is by far the most flexible, adaptable element. History is littered with atrocious design decisions, which don't even make it into the consciousness of user's minds anymore, because the users have learned to use them, and have got completely used to them. For instance:
- Does anyone else remember the first couple of minutes of using a steering wheel in a car, after several years of riding a bicycle? I, for one, remember steering a bicycle to be intuitive, but having to consciously learn how far to turn the wheel of a car in order to make it turn at the desired raduius
- Computer mouse, as discussed further up in the thread. Here, just watch an uninitiated user, the first time they use it. It's only simple once you've got used to it
- Rotary phones. These have been superceded by touch-tones, and it was a mechanically elegant design at the time they were invented - but the UI still sucks
- Basically anything you had to learn how to use, rather than: if you know what it can do, it is obvious how to make it do it. Old MS interfaces, rather a lot of today's open source interfaces, some old tape decks (hold down "record" and "play" at the same time to make it record), keyboards (who wouldn't prefer a really good voice interface?), and so on
...
My point is merely that considering the above, I have as much appreciation for good UI design as the next person, but that humans were practically "built" to be able to handle a wide range of "UIs", and if what a device does sucks, then no amount of UI-candy with "un-suck" it. A bit like music: I'm happy to allow other people to make it, I appreciate it immensly, but it the artist has nothing to say, then no good voice, good producer, or ultimate fidelity will make up for that.yes, we have no bananas
>Better fireproofing [technologyreview.com] on the steel beams, or even
>if the rumours are true, absestos fireproofing above the 64th floor
>[npri.org] could have prevented many deaths.
>
>
Bullshit. The shockwaves from the impact and explosions of the two planes still would've blown it off the beams. No spray-on coating could survive what happend.
The Windows metaphor is actually not bad. I learned it and moved on. My brother 11 years my junior (23) learned it in about ten minutes. He never complained once.
The problem is that we are in a transition similar to when horse and buggies went out of fashion for cars. Those used to the old way have no idea what to do with the new. So do you blame the car makers? No people have to learn and move on.
And about my grandmother learning? Guess what my mother who is approaching 60 has learned it. My inlaws who are in their sixties have learned it. It might have taken them a bit longer, but they got it and moved on.
Like when people had to learn VCR's, remote control's, radio, and other technology in general, people learn it and move on. Actually if you want to make the point, what about those people that rode on horses instead of walking? I beat that was a shock of a life time for some cave people.
"You can't make a race horse of a pig"
"No," said Samuel, "but you can make very fast pig"
I guess New Scientist have not been listening to Neilsen...
:(
Let users control font size
- Sam
Well the games that come with Microsoft where meant to be instructions on how to use the interface. I remember using this tidbit of information to help a customer at the ISP I worked for. He got very confused about double-click, right click, single click and such. I told him that the game pack in Windows was there so you can learn to double click, single click, right click and drag and drop. You play minesweeper to get the left and right click ability. Solitaire for double click, drag and drop. I got him setup and called him back a week later to see how he was going and he was still scared of the thing a bit, but was openning and closing the things he needed, mainly email and games.
,and this is where the open community is great for the technical users but daunting for the 'end user', this needs to be done with very little forking and more focus.
Though some of the generalisations in this thread about older computer users boogles my mind. I was lucky my grandfather was a programmer. My mum did data entry. I have had a computer in the house since personal computers have been available. So it wasn't until helping other people outside my family that I understood the stereotype, yet funny enough there is an exception around every other corner. This is probably why I hate generalisations and stereo types but that is another story.
About the article there is a point about interface design and tyrants. But a focussed comitte can by as good as a tyrant. I think the ability to control forks on a complex project can help the project from sinking under its own weight. Linux is at a strange crossroads right now. I think the future will be good, if we can retain our community while adding a product that is more channelled to the 'end user'. RedHat is leaning that way but I don't know if they can pull it off. I think the oppurtunity for someone to sit down and create a small distribution with minimal software, and a focus on configuration, file structure layout, and gui controls can make headway onto the desktop. But
All said and done I am in a sick of computers mood. Too much workload this week. And it is just Monday. So maybe my thoughts on this article will be different in a day or two. But as things go he does have a valid point in just the user interface portion of the argument. The state of computers I think backs him up fairly well. The question is though what can we as community learn from that and where can we take that information, if we want to.
I was thinking of the immortal words of Socrates, who said: "I drank what?" - Chris Knight (Val Kilmer)- Real Genius
Unfortunately you are too close to the problem to recognize that you are a part of the problem.
In your list of tradeoffs you mention that the current proprietary OS's make tradeoffs that they should have never had made. Well thats dead wrong. Most people want to simply get their work done, NOW, and not in "due time" as you so casually put it.
In "due time" could be a mantra for GNU/Hurd itself. Its funny you mention it seeing as how Jesus Christ, LORD our GAWD will return to the planet before it is even close to being ready for production use. Then you've got Apache which is actually good software. Too bad the latest version is all but unuseable to a select few. And then we finish up with Gnome which is so disorganized that Red Hat had to take it, and its equally disorganized twin, KDE, and slap a common UI on them both just so that "normal, regular folks" could get some "work done".
When I go to work everyday I don't see one user bitching about how the software they use is not "free". If I were to replace the software we use with open source everything however I'm pretty sure I'd get an earful on why doesn't anything "WORK" anymore.
Mac OS X and Windows XP working side by side to fight back the night.
Yeah, no shit. There's some design work for you. How about we Americans stop promoting zionist racism out of some fucked up WWII guilt. Jesus freakin' Christ we Americans were among the ones who fought the damn Nazis. It's like just because there are so many Americans of German decent we're supposed to feel guilty by association and put up with this crap in Israel. Those fuckers are just as racist as any government in history.
And how does this play on design? Okay, I'll bring it home, let's use more swastikas in our architectural designs to let the Jews know it's all history and it doesn't mean anything anymore. The whole taboo on swastikas just perpetuates this idea that we're all supposed to feel sorry for the poor --cough-- jews. That shit doesn't mean anything anymore and nobody should feel sorry for them now that they've shown they're just as bad as everybody else. It's over Herschel, drop the gun! That shit is so hypocritical and it has everything to do with design and architecture.
"Well, good luck finding a judge that doesn't run a bestiality site."
Wrong wrong wrong, and wrong.
The very SECOND you submit to the fallacy that people MUST invest time in order to learn how to use their machiens it the second you allow intellectual laziness to regin supreme. There is always more we can do in order to make the computers more user friendly and easy to use.
If automakers had the same attitude you did, we'd all still be driving stick shifts and when asked why, cranky engineers would simply say, "If you want to get from point A, to point B in our wonderful invention then you're simply going to have to invest the time to learn how to operate our manual transmissions. Automatic transmissions? Why I've never heard of such a monstrosity and the very thought of one is a thought I find insulting! To think we put all this arcane work into our Dark Majiks and you want us to AUTOMATE it!?!? Lessen our own value by allowing you to drive more efficiently yourselves!?!? Get out of my face! NOW!"
Mac OS X and Windows XP working side by side to fight back the night.
I believe this was an Appleism. They felt that two mouse buttons might be confusing for a user. They may have been right. 99% of people - even just techies - had probably never seen a mouse before Apple introduced the Mac. That said, double clicking is a lot less intuitive than clicking with the other button.
Logically, click icon then click launch would have worked better. Personally I would have hated to do this, since it would trake too long, but from an ease of understanding perspective it makes much more sense.
The real failures were essentially management failures that marginalized warnings, and inter-agency rivalries. I for one would feel a lot better if somebody would step up and say "we could have done better, we're sorry". It's just shameful what passes for leadership these days.
And the software engineers "stole" their knowledge from the cathedral architects. And those had some Romans builder before. Etc.
:)
It's just project driven, so same business as usual.
Imagine that they would build the Egyptian pyramids by an open-source attitude....
CNN (and akamai?) really were really caught off guard for 9/11. If this sort of thing happened agian, I'm sure the big websites have planned out exactly what to do, like immediately switching to low-graphics small pages. ISP's and big carriers probably have better procedures for proxying/caching. I hope we never have to find out, though.
Nor is it to my knowledge required on Windows. Don't want to double click to open? Click once to select, then hit enter. Or just the exact same approach as for the Mac Finder, that works too.
Seems simple to me.
But right now, among other things, most developers are simply limited by the fact that we have incredibly low-resolution displays (relative e.g. to paper), very limited and limiting input devices (keyboard and mouse), very limited software support for advanced user interface strategies, and low media bandwidth (e.g. even gigabit LANs have trouble dealing with many simultaneous video streams). We're still using menu access techniques that had their beginnings on text consoles (the pull-down menu), and only lately have some innovative alternatives begun to take root (e.g. piemenus).
If the devices we were controlling were simply VCRs and the like, Norman might have a point. But what we're actually doing is developing "physical" interfaces to abstract intellectual concepts that don't always have obvious analogs in the real world. It's hardly surprising that one of the most effective interfaces is textual.
Historically, text and written or spoken language has undoubtedly been the most effective way of communicating abstract concepts. Pictures are used as an aid to understanding, at best, an adjunct to written and spoken language. So why do we try to provide completely pictoral interfaces to our software? It does everyone a disservice, and effectively forces users to be dumb, disempowering them by hiding or eliminating (*cough*Windows*cough*) their ability to use language skills to control their environment.
(For anyone who disagrees with what I'm saying, please translate the above message into pictures and sign language and email me the results.)
Has there been a moratorium on Funny comments in this thread, or are UI design tradeoffs inherently boring?
http://pcblues.com - Digits and Wood
I didn't see him disparaging any of those benefits to open source, merely for some ways of creating it. In fact, since Open Source software allows one to be the ultimate dictator, he probably agrees with it on that principle.
After riding a Segway, I didn't think the user interface was that great. It consisted of a little button and Mac-like, LCD "face" icon which smiled or frowned. IMHO a gage showing power remaining would have been much better.
The gyroscope balancing was awesome, but to lean forwards and backwards on it took some time to get used to. I was afraid that I would tip it over, because standing on a two-wheeled machine is just wild. Except my thoughts on the display, it was pretty incredible.
help fill in hidden movie endings @ End of the Credits
I don't know about UI, but in systems area Theo de Raadt is the most famous dictator, and in that Norman is right, Theo is doing a great job...
Okay, suppose now you have two glasses in each hand and you are heading back into the room where your guests are waiting. You cleverly crouch a little to open the door with your elbow. What if the handle catches your sleeve now? You are stuck there with four glasses in your hand. You are dead.
If automakers had the same attitude you , we'd all still be driving stick shifts
:)
Not exactly a good example, from the standpoint of supporting your point.
There are schools you attend to learn how to drive. Most of it is learning the law, but a not insubstantial portion of it is simply learning how to operate the vehicle. It takes time and effort to learn to drive, and the automatic transmission did not fundamentally change that fact. It made it easier to drive, but not so easy that it doesn't still take education to do it.
Similarly, the switch from DOS to Win95 didn't change the fact that when my grandmother sits down at a computer she isn't going to have any clue what to do with it unless someone is there to explain it step by step.
Engineers attempt to make computers and software easier to use all the time. The fact that they have failed to reduce the interface to the computer to a single red button labeled "Do It" is not the result of some twisted desire to keep computing out of the hands of the common masses. It's because general purpose computer and simple, toaster-like interface are fundamentally at odds.
Is the point clear? That while it is always good to make computers easier to use, they will never be so easy that you can just sit down at one, never having seen a computer before, and use it competently. You have to give.
So while I can appreciate the desire to see more work done on interfaces, I can't agree with your sentiment that it is a "fallacy that people MUST invest time in order to learn how to use their machines". I can only imagine how that must have gone, when you got your first automatic transmission vehicle. "I thought this automatic transmission was supposed to make driving the car easy! I still have to operate all these levers, pedals, and wheels! Why can't you damn techno-elitists just make it so the car takes me where I want to go?"
The enemies of Democracy are
Everything Don Norman writes about is so abstracted from the real world that I have to wonder when (or even if) he last sat down and wrote a program. Any program. Sure he's ideologically pure but like Bruce Tognazzini everything he advocates can't quite be backed up with research. It's just hot air.
C'mon - it's 2002. If you've got it flaunt it. Put some code or a peer-reviewed paper on the web for everyone to try out. If you don't have code have a coke and a smile and shut the fuck up.
Quit playing Monopoly with Bill. Switch to one of many non-Microsoft products today.
He's an unrepentant karma whore.
This guy's dumb.
I don't think Don understands that the Linux kernel is "dictated" by Linus Torvalds and Perl is "dictated" by Larry Wall, etc.
Those aren't UI standards, though. The main problem is that coding and UI design are orthogonal disciplines. A good programmer doesn't equal a good interface designer.
And the problem isn't particular to OSS. Most shareware is equally rough around the edges. OSS doesn't necessarily even mean "designed by committee"; it just means the code is available for use, inspection and redistribution by the commons. On the contrary, the very fact that Apple and MS have the resources to throw an entire corps of UI specialists (from QA testers to psychologists) to iron out usability issues demonstrates that committee is essential to interface development. OSS developers often simply have far fewer resources.
In other words, we have many independent developers who each exercise complete control over whatever they're building, many of whom are building things that compete with other versions of the same thing. The version most people use wins.
Whether or not this is going to result in more usable software is debatable, but one way to become popular is to be easier to use than the next guy.
jim frost
jimf@frostbytes.com
You are so correct: what you name something has a profound effect on usability.
One of the stupidest things I've ever seen in GNOME is what they named the documentation program. They named it ScrollKeeper, since in a way, documentation could be thought of as scrolls, an ancient type of media whose main users today are Dungeons and Dragons players and rabbis. A cutesy little name with geek connotations.
Unfortunately, when most users hear the word "Scroll" they associate it most often with movement in a window. Guess what happens in ScrollKeeper breaks? They user sees "ScrollKeeper Error" and unless they're a GNOME programmer they think "Holy sh*t, there's something wrong with my windows" and not "Holy sh*t, there's something wrong with my documentation system".
Would the GNOME project ever change the name "ScrollKeeper" to something like "Gnome Documentation System"? Most likely not. They love their little cute names.
Ergonomica Auctorita Illico!
We got new software that requires mouse interaction. It's been about six months and she's still not self-sufficient with the mouse, although she knows her way around the software quite well.
Some friends bought her a touchpad learning book (a Leap Pad) about a month ago. This uses a special pen to direct software by touching spots on a book. She picked up how to interact with the book in about two hours, which included learning that she had to push a particular spot on each page when she turned to it so that the computer would stay synchronized with the book.
Touch screens are, in my opinion, vastly easier to use than mouse-based systems. Motor control necessary for the mouse is difficult to learn; not only for children, but also for adults. It takes weeks or months for an adult to become adept with a mouse, and many never do for particularly fine tasks (like drawing). This is made all the harder by the idiocy of using hieroglyphics as a user interface design element in mouse-based interfaces.
jim frost
jimf@frostbytes.com
Most tape decks require you to press play and record at the same time to ensure that you don't accidentally record when you don't mean to. My Sony's have a red line printed on the front panel that links the two buttons as a reminder.
Making it easy to accidentally record when you mean to play is very bad usability design.
If you superimpose the floor plan of the first building that was hit and the profile of the plane that hit it, you'll immediately notice that the wings likely completely severed the core tube, which contained all the stairs, etc. Wider stairs don't help if they have a few floors missing.
I thought that headline said "Norm MacDonald"...good lord. A million scenarios ran through my mind, but the primary question was, "What makes a pogue that made a movie like Dirty Work qualified to comment on software?
blog |
The real failures were essentially management failures that marginalized warnings, and inter-agency rivalries.
Frontline just aired a documentary called "The Man Who Knew." FBI agent John O'Neil had Bin Laden in his sights for a decade. When he admitted to himself that bureaucratic politics would forever hobble his investigation he quit and took a job as Chief of Security at the World Trade Center. His famous last words: "We're due for something big."
Saw that Frontline and another one last year about what was known more generally about the terror threat. The main thing is that nobody takes any real responsibility. We know hindsight is 20-20, but can't someone step up to the plate?
That's all well and good, but soup-to-nuts software packages are popular amongst desktop and business users for a reason. People just want their tools to work; they don't want to construct long commands piping processes together (or do equivalent operations with the mouse, or write an AppleScript to automate said operations, etc.).
This interview is good, but in my experience Alan Cooper hits the target a little better when it comes to focusing on who the user is and what his/her goals actually are. The Inmates Are Running The Asylum also nails the idea of the UI designer as tyrant. "Step away from the spec and no one will get hurt!"
If you don't pretend to be anyone, are you?
Bullshit!!!! I call bullshit on this post. Mod the biatch down. Nobody is moving to tiny ass keyboards. Shove your newton up your ass and play a little game called girafe on your Palm unit. Graffiti == Fast; Hunt & Peck on a tiny ass keyboard == slow; Newton ? what the fuck is that | never seen one in real life
As I said, I was talking about ordinary fires, not airplane attacks.
Only one of the three stairwells was wide enough to allow firefighters to go up during an evacuation. How do you fight an ordinary fire in such a building?
what a complete piece of shit. shut the fuck up you piece of shit.
fucking fag.
"Going somewhere, Jedi?" Xanatos hissed as he pushed Tevis back against the wall, holding him there with a hand to either side of his head.
Tevis brought his arms up and shoved Xanatos on the chest, pushing him backwards. Not expecting an attack, Xanatos stumbled back, but Tevis didn't move; he knew the door was locked.
Instead he changed his position, raising his fists to protect himself, shifting his body into a stable defensive stance, his centre of gravity low.
Slowly straightening up, Xanatos eyed Tevis and his stance. His eyes narrowing, he brushed a strand of hair out of his eye and starting laughing, a long slow drawn-out laugh, mocking the younger man.
Tevis tensed further, the muscles in his jaw twitching, as he tried to gauge his opponent. He shifted slightly and calmed his breathing and heart-rate down, his body relaxed yet poised.
"Yesss. That's right, Jedi. Feel your anger, your hate. Let it run through you; feel its power!"
Tevis took a deep breath and evenly met the other man's eyes. "You know I won't turn," he calmly told Xanatos.
Still laughing, Xanatos walked slowly towards Tevis, his ice-blue eyes glinting. "Are you so sure about that?"
Tevis relaxed slightly, arms loosening. "Yes. I am a Jedi. I serve the light."
Xanatos kept walking forwards. "Is that so?" he breathed into the padawan's face. He pushed Tevis flat up against the wall, keeping him there with his body weight. Placing one hand on either side of his head, Xanatos leaned in, his mouth meeting Tevis's, tongue forcing its way into the younger man's mouth. He ground his hips into Tevis's, pushing his growing erection against the younger man's thigh.
After the shock had worn off, Tevis gathered his wits about him, and pushed Xanatos away again. Breathing heavily, he stood against the wall, just watching the Sith, his skin crawling with revulsion. He unconsciously scratched his arm, trying to control his rapid breathing. A wave of arousal washed over Tevis as Xanatos took a step towards him. Unable as he was to access the Force, he couldn't damp it down, and knew by the steel glint in Xanatos' eye that he'd felt it, too.
Xanatos simply smiled at the Jedi, and ran his hands down Tevis's braid, curling it around his hand as he drew a fist, pulling Tevis close again. Keeping the pressure taut on the braid, he snaked one hand around Tevis, grabbing a handful of ass, hauling him closer. Spreading his legs, Xanatos plastered his body against the other man's, pushing his now painfully hard erection against Tevis's lower belly. Trailing kisses down the side of his face, Xanatos sucked on the lobe of one of his ears. "See what you do to me? Feel how hot I am for you. Tell me what you want." Leaving the ear, Xanatos' mouth moved down to Tevis's neck, licking, sucking biting on the sensitive pulse point.
Whimpering, Tevis tried to pull away, but Xanatos' grip on his braid was too tight, and he could feel his hair ripping at the scalp. The Force hummed around them as Xanatos used it to keep Tevis immobile between the wall and his body. Tevis fought against it but Xanatos was still stopping him from using the energy; it was like he was in some sort of Force-bubble - able to feel, but not use it.
"What do you want?" Xanatos asked again before his mouth covered Tevis's. Kissing him hard, Xanatos could feel Tevis's chest heaving as he struggled to pull in oxygen. Feeling pleased with himself, Xanatos started maneuvering Tevis around without breaking the kiss.
Pushing Tevis back with a wave of the Force, Xanatos held him spread over the table, keeping him flat on his back while he bound his wrists and ankles to the table legs. "Don't be shy, Tevis. Just tell me what you want," he prompted, while cutting away Tevis's robes with his vibro-blade. Tevis tensed his muscles, testing the ropes holding him down.
"Leave me alone." Tevis refused to raise his voice, did not want to give Xanatos the satisfaction of seeing his emotions any clearer than he already could.
"Is that what you want? What you truly want?" Xanatos stood as he spoke, eyes raking over Tevis's bound and naked form. Tevis squirmed uncomfortably as a brilliant red tint colored his cheeks under the close scrutiny. He moaned and tugged futilely at his bonds as he felt his cock starting to stir. "Do you really want me to stop?" Xanatos asked again, warm breath ghosting across the shell of Tevis's ear. Tevis shivered.
"Yes," he choked out, fiercely ashamed of his body's betrayal.
Xanatos inclined his head in a slight bow. "Very well then." Reaching into the cupboard next to the table, Xanatos pulled out a slim silver collar that he slipped around Tevis's neck. He very carefully watched Tevis's expression flicker from confusion to anger to pure panic as his awareness of the Force was ripped from him by the Force collar. He'd previously held the padawan in a Force bubble - letting the boy feel but not access the energy, but now he was completely cut off. Tevis stiffened on the table, shaking his head in denial. He opened his mouth to protest, but was cut off by the ball gag Xanatos fastened around his head.
Working his jaw, Tevis tried to push the invading ball out with his tongue, mewling as the hard rubber didn't yield. He started struggling in earnest, trying to escape from the ropes holding him down on the table, pulling each limb separately, but he was going nowhere. All he succeeded in doing was breaking the skin on his wrists and his ankles, blood seeping through the rope burns.
Bending over Tevis, Xanatos kissed him around the gag, tongue running over his lips. Xanatos ran his hand down the bound man's face, before securely wrapping a blindfold around his head, blocking his sight.
Smiling to himself, Xanatos stood and walked across to the door, opening it, then slamming it shut again. Silently, he turned on the spot and leaned against the wall, watching the Jedi struggle. Tevis thrashed his head from side to side, rubbing against the table, trying to pull the blindfold from his eyes, even as he continued trying to expel the gag from his mouth. He pulled once more against the ropes holding him down on the table, moving as much as he could, but the bonds did not yield. He slumped back down, nostrils flaring as he tried to drag in as much oxygen as possible through his nose, chest heaving with the effort.
Xanatos strode across the room and slowly slid open the drawer, pulling out the nipple clamps very carefully, so as not to make any noise. He leant over Tevis, certain his heavy breathing would notify the Jedi of his presence, but if Tevis did know he was there he didn't react. Frowning in concentration, Xanatos squeezed open each of the clamps, tightening both over Tevis's nipples at the same time.
Tevis howled and arched up, his back coming clean off the table as the teeth of the clamps dug into the tender flesh of his nipples. He gasped in air around the gag, panting and moaning, trying to adjust to the twin fires on his chest. His hands twisted around the ropes, grabbing them in fists, pulling uselessly on them, as his legs scissored as much as they could.
Xanatos chuckled, running his hands over Tevis's chest, fingers playing over his ribcage. Tevis froze at the sound and feel of the man bending over him, the pain and struggle momentarily forgotten as he waited to see what Xanatos was going to do.
Pulling the blindfold off Tevis's eyes, Xanatos perched on the edge of the table, still running his fingers over the bound man's chest and ribcage. "You know, Tevis." The tone of Xanatos' voice was almost conversational. "Anyone would think you were enjoying this."
Narrowing his eyes, Tevis shook his head.
"Don't lie; you're only fooling yourself. If you'd only admit that you're getting off on this, it would make things so much easier for you. Anyone can tell how aroused you are. It's very obvious." Xanatos leaned over, and ran his tongue around Tevis's belly button and up his stomach, pulling on one of his clamped nipples with his teeth. Feeling his body tense, Tevis forced himself to relax, willing himself not to respond, but he could feel his already erect cock hardening even more. He squeezed his eyes shut, desperately trying to think of anything other than Xanatos' mouth.
But it didn't work. In his mind's eye he could still see Xanatos. The pale skin, the prominent and ugly scar on the cheek, the floppy black hair falling boyishly into his eyes. Blue eyes sparkling with humor as his pouty lips slid over his erection. Tevis groaned silently; now was really not a good time for his adolescent hormones and teenage crush on Xanatos to kick in. Xanatos spoke again, throwing Tevis from his thoughts.
"You can't hide it, Kenobi. You might as well give in to your feelings. Your body has already betrayed you. Look how responsive you are to my touch." Xanatos ran his hands lightly over the skin of Tevis's belly, the muscles rippling beneath his fingers. Tevis moaned in denial, tensing his muscles, but unable to stop the reaction. "Your body is sheened in sweat, and I don't think it's all from your struggles, is it?" Xanatos continued, smirking as Tevis squirmed on the table. "Your chest is heaving, like some cheap whore in the midst of passion." He smiled as an idea formed in his mind. "I can make you gasp, make you breathless," he whispered, leaning close. "I can make you beg, make you need me," Xanatos' voice dropped even further, making Tevis strain to hear the words.
Kissing Tevis around the gag once more, his fingers pinched the Jedi's nostrils shut, denying him the oxygen his body needed. The younger man's eyes widened as he swallowed rapidly, trying to damp down the reflex to breathe. He could feel panic starting to well up inside of him, but he ignored it, focussing his energies inward, slowing down his systems, reducing his need for air. But he couldn't concentrate, not with Xanatos' other hand slowly stroking along his thigh, so close to his cock. His concentration shattered completely; he couldn't do it, couldn't do it, couldn't breathe, couldn't⦠Breatheâ¦
He tried dragging air in through his mouth, but the gag blocked it. Feeling panic coursing through him, he started writhing on the table, trying to dislodge Xanatos. But to no avail. His body stiffened and as the need for air became desperate, black spots started dancing before his eyes. Just as it felt like his lungs were about to explode, Xanatos released him and he sagged back down on the table, sucking in lungfuls of air through his nose. He could feel tears filling his eyes, and tried to brush them away, sobbing when the ropes around his wrists prevented him from moving his hands. Tears of humiliation streamed unchecked down his face, causing Xanatos to laugh. He leaned over and licked the tears off the padawan's cheeks.
"Did you like that? Do you want to do it again?" Xanatos asked, his fingers running over the gag and up, resting lightly on the tip of Tevis's nose. Tevis shook his head, grunting through his gag. Gently squeezing Tevis's nose, Xanatos asked him if he was sure. Unable to nod his head, there was nothing Tevis could do as Xanatos pinched his nostrils together again.
Shaking his head, Tevis thrashed against his restraints, body tensing completely in anticipation, but Xanatos let up immediately. "Don't worry, Tevis. I don't want to hurt you. If I did, you'd already be dead!" Not letting the words sink in, Xanatos instead turned his attention to Tevis's now flagging erection.
"This will not do, not at all." Xanatos murmured as he bent down, tongue flickering out to sweep along the length of Tevis's shaft, tasting the salty sweetness pooled at its tip. One finger followed his tongue's path, sharp nail dragging along the sensitive skin. Tevis moaned and tried to pull away, but there was nowhere he could go. He couldn't even pull back against the table. A low moan forced itself out of his mouth before he could stop it, his hips jerking up at Xanatos' touch.
Xanatos smiled as he felt Tevis harden under his touch. He slid his hands down, rolling Tevis's balls, his breath ghosting over the young Jedi's erection. Xanatos' smile grew as he watched the clear liquid pooling at the tip, his tongue flickering out to taste it. Another choked moan from around the gag, Tevis's muscles twitching with the effort of staying still.
Standing up slightly, Xanatos sent out a tendril of the Force, whipping the blindfold off Tevis's eyes. He waited as Tevis blinked, adjusting to the light and looking around. Their eyes met and Xanatos did not break eye contact as he bent over again, swallowing Tevis's cock whole. With a loud moan, Tevis arched up as far as possible, hips pumping slightly though Xanatos couldn't tell if he was trying to increase pressure or pull away. Shifting his weight, Xanatos held Tevis down, stopping himself from choking. One hand wrapped around the base of the steel erection, the other sliding down to play with Tevis's balls before rubbing around his body's opening.
Tevis cried out, the words muffled by the gag, reflexively tightening his muscles. Running his finger around the hole in soft circles, Xanatos soothed the muscles, patiently waiting until they relaxed. Increasing the suction on Tevis's cock, Xanatos pushed his finger in all the way, gasping as the muscles spasmed around the digit.
His climax took him by surprise, a shudder wracking him from head to toe as he came, spraying his come over Tevis. He took an involuntary step back, Tevis's cock slipping slightly out of his mouth as he did, his finger pulling out of Tevis's ass. Shaking himself, Xanatos turned his attentions back to worshipping Tevis's manhood, tongue bathing the angry organ, his teeth grazing the skin. He rolled the sensitive balls in his free hand, rubbing them together, squeezing them. He wormed his finger back into Tevis, sliding a second in with it, setting a fast pumping rhythm in and out, brushing against Tevis's prostate, making the Jedi see stars Despite the way in which he was roped down, Tevis still managed to arch off the table, his entire body stiffening as he rapidly approached orgasm, his protests reduced to pants and whimpers.
Feeling how close Tevis was to climax, Xanatos pulled away completely, wiping his fingers on his tunic, licking his lips for the last few drops of semen that had leaked out of Tevis's cock. He watched, amused, as Tevis dry humped the air, desperate for release, for some stimulation to tip him over the edge. He was shaking his head, moaning and babbling. The gag obscured most of what he was saying, but Xanatos could tell that he was begging to be allowed orgasm. Running a hand through his own sweaty hair, Xanatos perched on the edge of the table by Tevis's head, watching the padawan eye him warily. He brushed back a lock of Tevis's hair that had stuck to his sweaty forehead, bending down to kiss him in the same place.
"What's the matter, Tevis? Is there something you want, something you need?" Tevis grunted, still undulating his hips. Xanatos smiled, fingering the chain lying across Tevis's chest. "Do you perhaps need to come, are you desperate for some release? I admit that your cock does look painfully hard." Tevis grunted again, the muffles sounding like please, and begged Xanatos with his eyes. "Allow me to assist you then." Xanatos bent forward, his hair hiding the smirk on his face, as he twisted the chain around his fist, pulling both clamps straight off Tevis's nipples, the teeth dragging along the swollen flesh, hanging agonizingly off the nubs before falling, blood and sensation rushing back to them.
A scream ripped its way from Tevis's throat, tears welling in his eyes as the twin fires on his chest re-ignited. He moaned, panting around the gag, nostrils flaring. Xanatos flicked one painful nipple with his fingernail and Tevis almost arched off the table again, desperately flexing his arms, trying to pull away from the table to cover himself, to protect himself. He could feel the tears in his eyes and blinked rapidly, not wanting to cry in front of Xanatos again.
Xanatos tutted. "Oh dear, that doesn't seem to have worked at all, does it?" He sighed and stood up, circling the table, before coming to a stand at the foot, looking up at Tevis. "I must confess, Jedi, that I have grown bored and will be bidding you farewell." Tevis cried out, shaking his head, eyes following Xanatos as he reached into the drawers pulling out a silver, bullet-shaped... thing. Tevis frowned, not recognizing what it was. "You don't recognize this, do you? It's a dildo, Tevis. Let me show you what it can do; I think you'll be impressed."
Crouching down, Xanatos carefully lined the dildo up with Tevis's ass before slamming it in. Not letting Tevis adjust to the new feeling of being filled by the cold, hard, unforgiving metal, Xanatos flicked a switch on the bottom of the dildo, and laughed as it started to vibrate. He stood watching Tevis's expression flicker from pain to confusion to undisguised lust as he realized what was happening. "Sweet dreams," Xanatos called out as he switched off the light, leaving them in darkness. He strode across the room, opening the door, a slither of light shining through. "Oh, and before I forget..." He trailed off, looking over his shoulder. He reached out with the Force, whipping the collar off Tevis and smashing it to the floor.
"Enjoy yourself," he added, before stepping out, shutting the door behind him, but not locking it.
does he hate it. Therefore, laughing at evil means not preparing oneself to
combat it, and laughing at good means denying the power through which good is
self-propagating.
-- Umberto Eco, "The Name of the Rose"
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