Slashdot Mirror
Microsoft Hires GUI 'Design Guru'
overpayd writes "ZDnet is reporting that Microsoft has hired 'user interface guru' Bill Buxton to work as a senior researcher. Will this move help focus the design teams for Vista, Office, etc? From the article: 'My sense is that Microsoft is in transition from an engineering-led company to as much a design-led company ... There are more designers at Microsoft on any single team as there were, not too long ago, in the entire company. It's a wonderful change.'"
title: Microsoft Hires GUI 'Design Guru'
slashdot misleads again.
he is not a GUI design guru, he is a human-machine interaction guru.
this article has no direct relation to GUIs.
i can handle the dupes, but it's very bad practice to post misleading information
(hint to Zonk: READ the article before posting).
Marge, get me your address book, 4 beers, and my conversation hat.
Okay, I'm done reading about three articles about Bill Buxton. Sounds like a bright and interesting guy.
Now, the litmus test, which Microsoft repeatedly fails, will be whether Microsoft cares or is willing to listen to this guy and his ideas. In my opinion, Microsoft's hiring of high-profile talents or personalities in the past has been more for:
The last great creative mind I remember at Microsoft was Nathan Myhrvold, and I can't remember any great contributions from him.
As for Burton's quote about the move and Microsoft:
Microsoft always has been and always be a Gates/Ballmer-led company, and that's not about engineering, and that's not about design. Waxing eloquent about his new employer is quaint, but Burton sheds no light on Microsoft's intentions or future directions. If history serves, no changes are in the offing.
This is news, but it isn't big news, and it isn't very interesting news.
TFA is remarkably uninformative. Do not bother with it, if it becomes slashdotted.
This article (PC or people--who's the boss?) has an interview with him today.
Bill Addresses his Microsoft transition on his home page: http://www.billbuxton.com/
He is cited in the Wikipedia article about Human-computer interaction.
Have you Meta Moderated t
As far as I can tell, engineering is trying to create a solution for a problem.
Design, on the other hand, extends engineering by trying to figure out the problem first.
For things like bridges, the problem is fairly self evident: There is a gap or chasm to cross. It is synonymous to design or engineer a bridge.
Airports, on the other hand, are much tougher problems to tackle. You don't engineer an airport, you design an airport.
Maybe a better way to put it is: Designers work around the requirements of people. Engineers work around the requirements of the problem.
If you have a designer involved, the engineers will have already taken into account the requirements of the people. If you don't have a designer around, then the engineers have to fake it and come up with ad hoc solutions to meet the unexpected needs of the people you are trying to help.
GPL Deconstructed
As someone who has personally seen Bill Buxton speak, and also as someone who has had HCI (Human Computer Interaction as the field is actually called) training, I can say that for once the Zonk is not totally wrong.
I agree he should have read the article before posting, but it's also not correct to say he has no direct relation to GUIs. He speaks very much of design and how to make proper GUIs. In fact he actually teaches design at his university.
A big part of HCI is GUI design. How could it not be? After all how do most humans interact with computers?
To quote Bill Buxton:
"Not only should you get the design right, but more importantly, you should get the right design."
He is most certainly a guru of design, and that includes GUI.