All of the above has been stated by Donald Norman (former Apple Fellow and now member of the Norman [Jakob] Neilsen Group).
Course Don Norman's new thing is Internet Appliances and the industry is gradually catching up. It makes a lot of sense, Don's fond of talking about the interface of doors and the like, the interface of any/ever computer/os is too hard and not intuitive, by building computer controlled appliances/tools with discrete functionality, the task of creating a sensible interface is a lot easier/actually achievable.
Linux UIs suffer from lack of consistency amongst applications and the proliferation of too highly customisable window managers that never seem to get to a 1.0 release (Linux is stable but the window managers aren't... to the user [who views their computer as a tool, not a forver hackable toy] this translates to an unstable computer/os).
My concern with OS X is that Apple has lost so many of it's UI scientists (Don Norman, Brenda Laurel, Tog, Jeff Raskin, etc...) that the Aqua interface is going to break so many ui design principles in the interests of looking cool. Hopefully Aqua 2 will get rid of the candy and Apple will have the sense to bring back some of its old ui team.
As far as I know some/all Coke machines ARE on the net. I have a friend who works in Atlanta, home of both hot summer weather and Coca Cola and his company works entirely for Coke wiring up and maintaining connections. By querying the vending machines they can work out when they need to be restocked.
People need to read Uncle Robin's ace hacker pimp tips on Slashdot (check it out - there are some great replies to this somewhat misguided post) before they can git down and git giggy!
Seriously I think it comes down to changes in society, the availability of birth control and China's 1 child per couple law probably has had a significant impact too.
Bringing up kids is hard work. It takes a lot of effort and resources. People in Western countries realise this and are waiting to have children later in life and are having fewer children.
I think this is a good thing. In the past people were having children when they weren't ready. Today people try to be prepated.
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All of the above has been stated by Donald Norman (former Apple Fellow and now member of the Norman [Jakob] Neilsen Group).
Course Don Norman's new thing is Internet Appliances and the industry is gradually catching up. It makes a lot of sense, Don's fond of talking about the interface of doors and the like, the interface of any/ever computer/os is too hard and not intuitive, by building computer controlled appliances/tools with discrete functionality, the task of creating a sensible interface is a lot easier/actually achievable.
Linux UIs suffer from lack of consistency amongst applications and the proliferation of too highly customisable window managers that never seem to get to a 1.0 release (Linux is stable but the window managers aren't... to the user [who views their computer as a tool, not a forver hackable toy] this translates to an unstable computer/os).
My concern with OS X is that Apple has lost so many of it's UI scientists (Don Norman, Brenda Laurel, Tog, Jeff Raskin, etc...) that the Aqua interface is going to break so many ui design principles in the interests of looking cool. Hopefully Aqua 2 will get rid of the candy and Apple will have the sense to bring back some of its old ui team.
As far as I know some/all Coke machines ARE on the net. I have a friend who works in Atlanta, home of both hot summer weather and Coca Cola and his company works entirely for Coke wiring up and maintaining connections. By querying the vending machines they can work out when they need to be restocked.
People need to read Uncle Robin's ace hacker pimp tips on Slashdot (check it out - there are some great replies to this somewhat misguided post) before they can git down and git giggy!
Seriously I think it comes down to changes in society, the availability of birth control and China's 1 child per couple law probably has had a significant impact too.
Bringing up kids is hard work. It takes a lot of effort and resources. People in Western countries realise this and are waiting to have children later in life and are having fewer children.
I think this is a good thing. In the past people were having children when they weren't ready. Today people try to be prepated.