Off: pop up killer software

[Millennia]

Is this group moderated?
What counts as 'off topic' and what counts as just 'boring'?

Have added this conversation thread, to my spam blocker exclude list.

Most people think hydrogen is the most common element in the universe.
Actually, its stupidity.
(Not a direct quote, but still FZ)


----- Original Message -----
From: "Paul Mather" <paul at GROMIT.DLIB.VT.EDU>
To: <BOC-L at LISTSERV.ISPNETINC.NET>
Sent: Thursday, March 18, 2004 3:35 PM
Subject: Re: Off: pop up killer software


> On Wed, Mar 17, 2004 at 10:16:41PM -0500, John Majka wrote:
>
> => I would have to agree with this sentiment.  There are lots of computer
dorks
> => out there insisting on this or that browser, but you can only use those
if
> => you have loads of computer knowledge--"user friendly" isn't something
> => considered in the least by these applications, which is exactly why
they are
> => marginalized and used only by those more or less in the computer
field...
> => few others can use or understand them.
>
> I would respectfully suggest this is a myth fostered by a lack of
> practical experience.  (Alternatively, would you care to name some of
> these computer dork-endorsed browsers?)
>
> For example, Mozilla is functionally identical to Netscape---a browser
> that predates M$IE and was (and still is) used by many non-technical
> people.  Firefox is functionally very similar to the WWW browser
> aspect of Mozilla.  (It is basically just a different underlying
> implementation.)  Opera is very easy to use, and very fast.  Some
> non-M$IE browsers support additional concepts not found in M$IE, like
> tabbed browsing.  But, it has been my direct experience that
> non-technical users do not find such concepts innately difficult.  (In
> fact, they welcome the features, in my experience.)
>
> Most non-technical people do not maintain their own computer systems,
> especially in the workplace.  So, "user friendliness" (if you mean it
> to include installation, too) is a bit difficult to assess, because
> someone else does the heavy lifting in ensuring the system continues
> to run smoothly.  As an aside, kiosk and embedded applications can
> have the dreaded "unusable" Unix behind them, putting paid to the de
> facto myth that anything using Unix is not "user friendly."
>
> User friendliness is affected hugely by ones prior knowledge.  In
> other words, tasks will be easier if they map onto the way your brain
> is already accustomed to doing them.  M$ committed a MAJOR usability
> faux pas, for example, when they introduced the concept of menu hiding
> in M$-Office, where least-recently used menu options are omitted from
> a pull-down menu, and are only revealed if you wait long enough or
> click on the chevrons at the bottom to reveal the entire menu.  This
> approach (amongst other things) destroys spatial locality used by the
> brain to locate menu options quickly, because they, um..., keep moving
> about from where you remembered them to be.
>
> So, M$IE will be "user friendly" (despite its lack of useful features)
> if that is all you are used to (or what you are largely used to).
> Similarly, if you are raised on Opera, it will be "user friendly" and
> other browsers may seem strange and unnatural if you try and switch to
> them after having used Opera for a long time.
>
> A case in point is a non-technical friend I have who prefers to use
> Netscape.  She had me put it on her machine at home and
> (clandestinely) at work.  Why?  Because she finds it more "user
> friendly" than M$IE.  Why?  Because she is "used" to Netscape.  Why?
> I suspect because her use of WWW browsers predates the existence of
> M$IE, and so she never developed the brain patterns for the M$IE way
> of doing everything.  (She first started using the WWW with Mosaic
> [remember that?], and then went onto Netscape and has used it ever
> since.)
>
> The thing she finds annoying is that she has to have M$IE on her
> system, because things like Windows Update will only work with M$IE.
> I keep having to remind her, "no, you can't get rid of it" every time
> she asks me why it is still there.
>
> Finally, you have to remember that, historically, M$IE copied a lot of
> the functionality/user interface of other browsers like Netscape to
> gain market share and acceptance.  So, to decry those other browsers
> as not "user friendly" when they share a common usability lineage with
> M$IE is a bit odd.  I guess I don't know, then, what you mean by the
> term "user friendly."
>
> In the end, the *real* reason M$IE is used by a lot of people is
> because M$IE is used by a lot of people.
>
> (Even Rich admitted that.)
>
> Cheers,
>
> Paul.
>
> e-mail: paul at gromit.dlib.vt.edu
>
> "Without music to decorate it, time is just a bunch of boring production
>  deadlines or dates by which bills must be paid."
>         --- Frank Vincent Zappa