[Discuss] Its not possible to make things easier for users

[richard.pieri at gmail.com (Rich Pieri)]

On Mon, 14 Jan 2013 09:41:26 -0500
Matthew Gillen <me at mattgillen.net> wrote:

> I don't think that's quite right.  It's not that people don't want 
> choices, it's that they don't want to make choices where they don't 
> understand the options, and there is a high learning curve (esp. when 
> options interact with each other in non-trivial ways).

It's not that Joe doesn't understand the options. It's that Joe sees no
point to them.

When Joe goes to the gas pump he sees three numbers that don't mean
anything beyond "expensive shit", "cheap swill", and "the stuff in
between". Joe pushes the button he can afford and fills the tank.

Joe sees the music ripper the same way: push the button that makes his
music fit on his shiny thing and fill the tank. Offering him an array
of codecs and quality settings and what-not is unnecessary. They just
get in the way and make the computer hard to use when it should be as
easy as pumping gas.

-- 
Rich P.