Advice for Developers: Make Common Usage Easy

Ken Hendrickson writes "Thomas Sowell has some fantastic common-sense advice for software developers from the viewpoint of an ordinary user: Make it easy to do what almost everybody wants to do. I don't believe he uses Free Software; that means that Microsoft is not satisfying their customers, and Free Software can perform better than Microsoft even in the ease of use area!"

Comments

RPGSC

[mfh]

I've been saying we need to focus on software standards compliance for some time, and while my focus has been related to RPG games, it does apply to other software. Role Playing Games Standards Compliance (RPGSC) is something I think can help develop a core philosophy behind the way these games are developed, from paper, rough drafts, story boards, all the way to the final product. RPGSC is still in development, and we hope to encompass the possibilities for every RPG game, to get the final products performing the way the audience wants, and the developers hope for to save time and money.

Perhaps the answer is to set up a non-profit system for governing software standards? I think there are many archetypical rules that could be applied to any software package, without circumventing proprietary rights or stepping on any toes. But it takes teamwork, and the desire to produce quality at the industry level. This means side-stepping rigorous competition tendencies and focusing on the overall good of society -- something that hasn't happened quite yet. When corporations learn that this method leads to better profits and happier customers, we'll see a shift in that direction.