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This attitude is at the root of why software is so much worse than it could be. "It's the users' fault" as a real root cause is borderline non-existent, because
by happytoexplain 2y ago
This attitude is at the root of why software is so much worse than it could be. "It's the users' fault" as a real root cause is borderline non-existent, because it can always be obviated in the software, even though the kind of talent that can do that for complex systems is exceedingly rare.
- TeMPOraL 2y agoI disagree. The dominating attitude today is that users are idiots and too dumb to use anything they can't master in 30 seconds from first exposure, which has a nice side effect of cutting out a lot of functionality from the scope. The result is, for example, 20 startups going after any given idea, each spending years refining a slightly different take on a useless set of simple features. (Actually, many of such products can be made better by replacing them with an Excel sheet, which is a big part of the reason why people who actually need to get shit done end up using Excel.)
- Karliss 2y agoI would say that the problem with excel is that it makes two contradicting assumptions which is a red flag for bad design. "it is user's fault for not knowing how to use the tool" and "user is lazy idiot who won't setup the cell types themselves". Its a little bit of convince of not having to set cells as numbers in a program that is use mainly for crunching numbers, but having basic auto detection text/numbers would have covered 90% of use, the remaining 10% is unique for each user and trying to guess that is as likely be helpful as making things worse.
- nitwit005 2y agoThis is users using software in a way the designers never expected, decades after it was designed. Those users then chose to ignore warnings about using it. Newer programs like Google Sheets have better default behaviors. They have free access to it.