Hand Waving Woo Woo

Hand Waving Woo Woo

I don't have a lot of respect for anyone who makes a product of any degree of complexity, and fails to put significant effort into a manual. As in, RTFM.

The revolutionary, paradigm breaking parts will be very hard to explain without demonstrations. But the parts that aren't? They should be explained, clearly and concisely. And they shouldn't lie, by commission, or omission.

Unfortunately, that is the single greatest flaw in every software product that I've ever used. And the current emphasis on paradigm shattering whizz bangery, and rapid, iterative development, makes a virtue out of that very sin. But it's lazy, and contemptuous of a user's time and energy.

I've enjoyed meeting some folks on Google+, and seeing what they've shared. But for me, G+ is getting worse, and not better, and I think it's because G+, like Facebook, only views me as an adjunct to advertising revenue, and not really as a customer.

I pay for webhosting, and I have a lot of choices about what I get, and what I can do with it. Unfortunately, that's not Google's business model, and it is likely to eventually run me off.

Comments

  1. Rick Wayne (Author)August 31, 2016 at 1:51 PM

    The problem is, we're not the customer. We're the product. We don't pay. Advertisers pay.

    Until people embrace a fee-for-service platform, shit like this (and Faceplant) is what we'll get.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Drew McCarthyAugust 31, 2016 at 2:16 PM

    Even when we're (I'm) the customer, it doesn't always work that way, but I agree, in principle, anyway.
    I'd pay Google $10 a month for Gmail, Google Drive, and Google Plus... IF Gmail was fully IMAP compatible, AND they quit screwing around with the interfaces for the shiny hell of it, and IF they took me out of the advertising harvesting. But that ain't going to happen, is it?

    ReplyDelete

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