Google's secret weapon: simplicity

Rediff/Fast Company ^ | December 14, 2005 | Linda Tischler

[xcamel]

Damn, She's a cute one!

[Hardastarboard]

how it is that all the things that were supposed to make our lives so easy instead made them more complex. Why is so much technology still so hard?

Because "C" engineering students get jobs, too. Because all the money goes to marketing and not enough to product development and prototyping. Because product changes so fast to keep new product rolling out to keep the revenue rolling in that they never have time to make stuff work right.

Want more?

[invoman]

hmmm... good article.

Try navigating their PPC system though....

[Mamzelle]

The complexity of ebay finally drove me away--just got so tired of too many graphics and being tied hand and foot to paypal.

And passwords. I get so sick of online retailers allowing you to almost complete a purchase, then demanding that you set up an account with a password--or no transaction. I'd immediately cancel, use the phone and make the transaction over the phone and cost them some employee time.

[RTINSC]

Computers will bring a paperless society. LOL

[ScreamingFist]

I hit the power button. The picture disappears, but the TV is still glowing a creepy blue that will haunt my dreams if I don't make it go away. I try the TV button. Nothing. The cable button. Nothing. What the %$*&?? I kick off the blankets and trudge over to turn off the miserable box at the source.

Errr....right. My 68 year old mother (with a little help) bought a universal remote, programmed it and tossed the stereo, vcr, DVD and TV remote aside. She knows when to hit the TV/Video button and how to bring up the separate video sources from different inputs........so she can play through the stereo. Me thinks this women is a technological boob.

[Malsua]

Someone had a slogan. One button, no manual. I think it was AT&T in the late 80s, early 90s. We need more of that now. I loathe screens all jacked up with garbage so much that it's distracting.

[rawcatslyentist]

Arrrrrgggghhhhh..... She's a Ginger Kid!!!!!

[Mr_Moonlight]

I subscribe to the KISS approach (Keep It Simple, Stupid) .. (and boy would I love to kiss Marissa ;) ... but otherwise, she has it exactly right, let all the complex stuff happen in the background while keeping the inital interface simple to use. If one needs to delve into more nuts-n-bolts levels, that too is available but isn't the first front end interface.

I'm reminded of the time a decade ago when audio equipment went from analog controls to digital (pushbutton) menu controls ... people were outraged(!!!), it was way too complex .... we wanted simple "knobs" to turn the volume up or down, and we wanted simple knobs or buttons for other mundane functions, we didn't want to have to navigate thru a whole bunch of menus in order to do a simple task. Eventually they started to get it right again, and "knobs" made a big comeback on that equipment ... thank goodness :)

[Leo Carpathian]

Huh???

[sarasmom]

She is right!
When a customer who is an expert in another field calls me and wants a solution to an issue they are having in operating equipment that I am an "expert" in, they want a simple series of directions to resolve the problem.
If they get someone like me on the phone, I will tell them which button(s) to push, and generally resolve the problem in less than three minutes, along with a few shared wisecracks bemoaning complicated manuals that mean nothing to the actual end user.
If they get an actual engineer on the line...
Apple was winning the consumer end user computer wars until:
1. IBM started using Windows, and every component was compatible with everything else.
2. Apple hired a bunch of high priced business majors with "5 year retirement plans" to "increase business", and began the rule of thumb for Apple that if you wanted to add features to your system, you had to completely trash the old one, and start fresh.

[CharacterCounts]

Google's secret weapon: simplicity

Same goes for Free Republic.

[Baraonda]

"We demand more and more from the stuff in our lives--more features, more function, more power--and yet we also increasingly demand that it be easy to use."

We're not demanding more and more; they're stuffing more and more trash down our throats, and the sheeple are paying for it.

[Frank T]

"Mayer is a tall, blond 30-year-old with two Stanford degrees in computer science and an infectious laugh. She's also Google's high priestess of simplicity, defending the home page against all who would clutter it up."

Why does this personal information matter?

[SamAdams76]

I get so sick of online retailers allowing you to almost complete a purchase, then demanding that you set up an account with a password--or no transaction.

I suppose it would be too much for you to realize that retailers have you use a password for your own protection.

[ScreamingFist]

That could lead to bespoke products--a cell phone, for example, with 30 features for Junior, 3 for Gran. "You can't make the world simpler unless you can get in touch with design," he says, "and the only way you can do that is to get in touch with designers."

This is true. I could sell 200 cell phones right now, if they just worked like a '60's dial phone. 60-90 year old people don't give a hey about...text messaging, pictures, email nor anything else...they just want to make a phone call. It took me three hours to get through the bologna and explain to my mom that she could just dial the number. And most old people are addicted to the "press 1 for your daughter" mentality. If the phone loses memory, they're screwed. Get a clue designers.....the market is huge.

[cantweall]

The article is forgetting one small thing...simplicity is nice but google's search engine has been tested to be superior to all others. THAT is the reason google has the largest search engine market share!

[Freedom4US]

"Eventually they got it right again."

I'm not so sure. If you look back at the old Zenith ads from the 1940's , car radios were new, and a big deal. The volume control was controlled with a foot switch much the same as bright/dim headlights of the same era. The whole point was to remove the radio operation from maintaining good visuals to the outside, which is what the driver is supposed to be doing.

Today no matter how good a driver I am, I have to watch out for any number of morons, I suppose, downloading and watching porn on their screen, reading e-mail, text messages cell-phones, applying makeup or golly knows what.