GUIs 'forced' on people (was Re: Here's something to consider.)

From: Allison J Parent <allisonp_at_world.std.com>
Date: Sat Sep 19 18:16:37 1998

< If you have free reign and unlimited budget, what you're doing is *NOT*
< engineering.

Ah, gak another generalization. It does take out the challenge though.

< Good engineers want to ship a product that customers will actually use;
< the greatest satisfaction an engineer ever has is seeing or hearing
< customers use the product. While it is an ego boost to hear customers

!You bet! ;) I've done a few.

< praise the product, most of the best engineering goes completely unnotic
< When was the last time you drove across a bridge and thought "Wow, the
< engineers did an awesome job on this bridge."? (At most, people might t
< "Wow, this is a pretty bridge.")

What people notice is that gee it does save me 20 minutes getting there.

A few will notice it as something to look at like Golden Gate or the
Verizanio Narrows Bridge.

< Any bozo with a EE degree could have built a computer roughly comparabl
< in capabilities to the Apple II using many hundreds of chips and costin
< thousands of dollars. A good engineer could have done it with few enou
< chips to make it affordable. An excellent engineer did it with almost
< no chips, and made it not just affordable but also elegant. Ford would
< have been proud to see it.

Go back to Good, Fast, Cheap. Innovation is the product of careful
compromize.

I'm also a pilot and In aeronautical engineering given 100hp engine of
nominal weight you can make a fast bird that can't carry anything or
a very slow one that can and everything inbetween. Somethings however
are not possible despite innovations in materials.

Allison
Received on Sat Sep 19 1998 - 18:16:37 BST