Universal, Ubiquitous, Useful
I once read that we should measure all technology adoption by comparing it to the success of the telephone. Not the small, rectangular device in near you now, or on which you are possibly reading this, but the old type of desktop, fixed line telephone. So successful was it and so widespread that it's shape and UI became universal. Whether a telephone had a rotary dial or push button, it was ubiquitous, useful and universal. Telephones truly changed our lives and therefore the world and that definition, three “U” test, still applies today.
Very few pieces of technology are truly universal. For example, not everyone has a microwave at home and in our office today, the two we have work in slightly different ways and with different power functions. The outcome is the same, but the UI is different and that can be a challenge which alters the UX.
However, in the software rather than hardware world, features are frequently copied by competitors to enhance usability and improve productivity. Patent wars notwithstanding, generally this results in an improvement to the UX. That's why despite all the rivals, PowerPoint is still the world leader for creating presentations - the version with today's O365 offering is far more feature rich than the version MS paid just $15m for in the 1980s.
Feature creep can cut both ways however and I personally dread a new version of Word messing up the tool bar, when all I really need is basic functionality of the Doogie Howser era WordPerfect variety. (Google him if you’re under 30).
Some stuff though is really useful, and turning back to those ubiquitous black rectangles that we euphemistically still refer to a “phones”, I remember a time when the early iPhones and Galaxy’s couldn’t “cut, copy, paste” – when sending a number on to a friend meant jumping between screens and retyping stuff. It was a big omission from devices that were seeking to mimic desk top PCs and it took Apple until the iPhone 3G to fix. Cutting and Pasting is an invaluable part of what used to be called the “desktop publishing” experience but is now just boring old work. It’s also something that I think perfectly fits the definition of tech as “ubiquitous, useful and universal”.
You’ve probably never heard of him, but the inventor of this feature died this week – goodbye Larry Tesler – your innovation changed the way the world works.I once read that we should measure all technology adoption by comparing it to the success of the telephone. Not the small, rectangular device in near you now, or on which you are possibly reading this, but the old type of desktop, fixed line telephone. So successful was it and so widespread that it's shape and UI became universal. Whether a telephone had a rotary dial or push button, it was ubiquitous, useful and universal. Telephones truly changed our lives and therefore the world and that definition, three “U” test, still applies today.
Very few pieces of technology are truly universal. For example, not everyone has a microwave at home and in our office today, the two we have work in slightly different ways and with different power functions. The outcome is the same, but the UI is different and that can be a challenge which alters the UX.
However, in the software rather than hardware world, features are frequently copied by competitors to enhance usability and improve productivity. Patent wars notwithstanding, generally this results in an improvement to the UX. That's why despite all the rivals, PowerPoint is still the world leader for creating presentations - the version with today's O365 offering is far more feature rich than the version MS paid just $15m for in the 1980s.
Feature creep can cut both ways however and I personally dread a new version of Word messing up the tool bar, when all I really need is basic functionality of the Doogie Howser era WordPerfect variety. (Google him if you’re under 30).
Some stuff though is really useful, and turning back to those ubiquitous black rectangles that we euphemistically still refer to a “phones”, I remember a time when the early iPhones and Galaxy’s couldn’t “cut, copy, paste” – when sending a number on to a friend meant jumping between screens and retyping stuff. It was a big omission from devices that were seeking to mimic desk top PCs and it took Apple until the iPhone 3G to fix. Cutting and Pasting is an invaluable part of what used to be called the “desktop publishing” experience but is now just boring old work. It’s also something that I think perfectly fits the definition of tech as “ubiquitous, useful and universal”.
You’ve probably never heard of him, but the inventor of this feature died this week – goodbye Larry Tesler – your innovation changed the way the world works.