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People like 37signals and web designers should stop talking which software sucks. Especially Enterprise software. This group of people have no idea or whatsoev

People like 37signals and web designers should stop talking which software sucks. Especially Enterprise software. This group of people have no idea or whatsoever the requirements of an enterprise software. All they know is how to create a beautiful websites. I'm not saying that sarcastically, I like beautiful websites. But this group of people judge the quality of the software from the UI perspective; if UI == sucks then software sucks. They believe that a wonderful UI == best quality software. That may be true but it's a wrong generalization. Not to mention that web-designers and 37signals NEVER work on any enterprise software. They simply work on small projects because it's their specialty.

rglullis 19y ago
It is not about the UI. It is a matter of usability and general design. A friend of mine works in a company that develops airport traffic control software. More than one time I heard him say how the features that are pumped into the software are not features that are wanted by the users, but by managers that are responsible for buying the software. In telecommunications, where I have a little more experience, it is similar. Things that we were supposed to work on are not the things that people required. I spent a whole year on a team of 15 SDEs developing a bunch of "features" that would never be seen or used, but that had to be developed if you want to have a Class-5 Phone Switch that complies with Brazilian regulations.
- akkartik 19y ago
  Useability suffers with scale. When the designer caters to the needs of many it is hard to please everyone. But it's more than that: when he caters to the needs of many it becomes less important to please any of them. Instead he can focus on bureaucracies that 'represent' them. Of course, when I refer to 'him' I am completely ignoring the tragedy of the commons dragging down every any large-scale enterprise[1] over time. Enterprise software is just an extreme example of these two phenomena. [1] no pun intended.
jkush 19y ago
Project tracking IS enterprise software kind of stuff. 37Signals does it very, very well. They make it look just another "small project", because that's what enterprise stuff should be like.
- hello_moto 19y ago
  I used both Basecamp and SharePoint. I chose Sharepoint in any given day. Mind you I'm not the only person that dislike Basecamp. http://www.whybasecampsux.org/ http://www.whybasecampsux.org/ NB: My current office uses Basecamp but I never bothered to open it unless there is a message for me.

rglullis 19y ago

It is not about the UI. It is a matter of usability and general design. A friend of mine works in a company that develops airport traffic control software. More than one time I heard him say how the features that are pumped into the software are not features that are wanted by the users, but by managers that are responsible for buying the software. In telecommunications, where I have a little more experience, it is similar. Things that we were supposed to work on are not the things that people required. I spent a whole year on a team of 15 SDEs developing a bunch of "features" that would never be seen or used, but that had to be developed if you want to have a Class-5 Phone Switch that complies with Brazilian regulations.

akkartik 19y ago
Useability suffers with scale. When the designer caters to the needs of many it is hard to please everyone. But it's more than that: when he caters to the needs of many it becomes less important to please any of them. Instead he can focus on bureaucracies that 'represent' them. Of course, when I refer to 'him' I am completely ignoring the tragedy of the commons dragging down every any large-scale enterprise[1] over time. Enterprise software is just an extreme example of these two phenomena. [1] no pun intended.

jkush 19y ago

Project tracking IS enterprise software kind of stuff. 37Signals does it very, very well. They make it look just another "small project", because that's what enterprise stuff should be like.

hello_moto 19y ago
I used both Basecamp and SharePoint. I chose Sharepoint in any given day. Mind you I'm not the only person that dislike Basecamp. http://www.whybasecampsux.org/ http://www.whybasecampsux.org/ NB: My current office uses Basecamp but I never bothered to open it unless there is a message for me.