UI are just a form of communication after all, and could be thought of in terms of protocol implementation.
A mentor (of sorts) years ago in a standards working group addressing communications for support systems proposed that a comm. protocol design should consider four aspects. (1) Syntax specify symbols and their arrangement. (2) Semantics specify how symbols are interpreted.
(3) Intra-message context specifies the 'rules' for using symbols within a specific message format(i.e., reg. expressions). (4) Pragmas (otherwise called "Shared Knowledge"), this is the toughest to tie a meaning to, and yet is the essence for effective communication. Basically it deals with commonality of experience. This is the point to which above the discussions point and contains the answer to the original question. This is the principle that the UI designer is designing to... . In other words, ask the potential users what they what to do!
A comment on the presumed advantage held by ISPs providing VoIP phone service over third-party VoIP/PSTN providers (such as Vonage)may not be as great as it may seem. This view is based on the sunk cost yet to be recovered for network facilities left over from the DOT com explosion. Network bandwidth is fairly cheap and the acceptance of VoIP using trunking could be an apporpriate use of excess bandwidth.
I agree that the Cable ISPs could realize an advantage over Telco DSL operations - but not because of they are required to cannibalize POTS and short-range long-distance revenue. I believe that it's more likely that the "last-mile" monopoly may be finally broken in favor of the Cable service providers (as opposed to ISP) and the traditional TELCO infrastructure isn't able to compete with the features provided by the 'value added" ISPs. The resulting decrease in use of LEC services will increase the cost of an already outdated facility infrastructure in rural as well as urban areas.
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UI are just a form of communication after all, and could be thought of in terms of protocol implementation. A mentor (of sorts) years ago in a standards working group addressing communications for support systems proposed that a comm. protocol design should consider four aspects. (1) Syntax specify symbols and their arrangement. (2) Semantics specify how symbols are interpreted. (3) Intra-message context specifies the 'rules' for using symbols within a specific message format(i.e., reg. expressions). (4) Pragmas (otherwise called "Shared Knowledge"), this is the toughest to tie a meaning to, and yet is the essence for effective communication. Basically it deals with commonality of experience. This is the point to which above the discussions point and contains the answer to the original question. This is the principle that the UI designer is designing to... . In other words, ask the potential users what they what to do!
A comment on the presumed advantage held by ISPs providing VoIP phone service over third-party VoIP/PSTN providers (such as Vonage)may not be as great as it may seem. This view is based on the sunk cost yet to be recovered for network facilities left over from the DOT com explosion. Network bandwidth is fairly cheap and the acceptance of VoIP using trunking could be an apporpriate use of excess bandwidth. I agree that the Cable ISPs could realize an advantage over Telco DSL operations - but not because of they are required to cannibalize POTS and short-range long-distance revenue. I believe that it's more likely that the "last-mile" monopoly may be finally broken in favor of the Cable service providers (as opposed to ISP) and the traditional TELCO infrastructure isn't able to compete with the features provided by the 'value added" ISPs. The resulting decrease in use of LEC services will increase the cost of an already outdated facility infrastructure in rural as well as urban areas.