"... in my book if a user interface component is non-functional it should be grayed out or not there at all. " Actually I find this quite interesting. While o

"... in my book if a user interface component is non-functional it should be grayed out or not there at all. " Actually I find this quite interesting. While of course I agree with you in terms of "what is good UX," things get interesting when you consider GX---Group Experience, or the experience of many users. I realize it's not fun to have one's own (probably arbitrary) reduction of privileges philosophizer about, but it's still interesting to me. So much of our UX thought is built around "help the user at just about any cost." It's interesting to think about different situations.