Making the Easy Things Hard

Steve Ballmer has announced again that Windows next generation operating system Vista might be delayed past the January 2007 date set the last time he announced it was behind schedule. At the rate Vista keeps getting delayed, we’ll all be driving hover cars, running Mac OS XX before the install of the Vista update. Part of the delay, I’m sure, is that Microsoft hopes to make Vista as easy to use as the Mac OS, which as you know people that love it just can’t stop talking about how easy it is to use.

It is with those users in mind that I’m sure the Microsoft engineers have implemented this seven step process to remove a shortcut from your desktop. Mac users are mostly at their own mercy when deleting an alias (Mac lingo for a shortcut). The two step method involves dragging the alias to the trash and then emptying the trash. Those that keep the trash warning on, of course, have an additional step confirming they do in fact want to delete the trash. I don’t know how many times I’ve deleted an alias (or any other file) and, only moments later, been horror struck when I realized I wasn’t quite sure I wanted to do that. Thankfully for Windows users, they have engineers who have obviously determined through rigorous testing that most users appreciate the security of being asked five times before deleting a file.

It’s hard sometimes to explain to a person the joy of using an operating system that just seems to work right, like the Mac OS (not that it doesn’t have its shortcomings). When you can look at examples like this, though, it is hard to imagine that even the most die-hard of Windows fans could look at you with a straight face and tell you this is a good thing. While I could go on and on about Mac’s vs PC’s, this is more about how making something as simple as possible is almost always, without fail, the best way to go. If the website or application you’re working on only needs two screens, then by all means just build those two screens. Don’t try to plan for every conceivable thing you might or might not need later.

The best way to make your users happy is not to frustrate or burden them with unnecessary stuff. Stuff can be anything, not just a series of dialog boxes asking if you really, really, really want to do that thing you just told me you wanted to do. I like to approach almost every project by seeing what can be removed to begin with, rather than what else can be added. This applies to everything from the number of pages on a website to the number of fields on a contact form. You can always add more later when you really understand the need for it. Taking things away, after the fact, is always harder.