A favorite quote of mine from The Humane Interface: An interface is humane if it is responsive to human needs and considerate of human frailties. There is a t

A favorite quote of mine from The Humane Interface: An interface is humane if it is responsive to human needs and considerate of human frailties. There is a temptation as a designer/programmer to present the world with MY PERFECT VISION of what a piece of software should be like. Nothing wrong with that, as far as experimenting with and presenting new ideas. But a mindset that produces better software is one of serving the needs of the users. Of course there is an entire profession in identifying the "needs" and studying the "users". But the mindset: "we build tools that enables users", is the first step. Far more insidious and destructive to the general computer experience has been the rise of businesses, whose entire purpose is to produce software that exploits it's users. I don't know the solution to this phenomenon but I find it repulsive and strive to avoid this software as much as I'm able. Raskin's dedication for the above book: We are oppressed by our electronic servants. This book is dedicated to our liberation. Might have been tongue in cheek then but feels disturbingly serious now.