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Subject:RE: The Myth of Seven, Plus or Minus Two From:Goober Writer <gooberwriter -at- yahoo -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Thu, 4 Dec 2003 05:24:08 -0800 (PST)
> > But you assume that by designing for the majority
> that
> > you are giving the majority what they want, which
> is
> > never (or hardly ever) the case.
> >
>
> Why not?
You don't design a product with what people want in
mind. You design a product with a solution to a
problem in mind. What people want and what people need
are two completely different concepts, and should
never, ever, tango together.
For example, and I'm theorizing here ONLY...
For years now, a slight majority of FrameMaker users
have WANTED multiple undo. Adobe has not provided it.
My guess as to why is that there is too much
processing overhead (not to mention programming time)
in putting in a multiple undo feature. This would
result in compromised speed when using FM with, say, 8
changes in the current session's history. So, users
WANT multiple undo, but they don't NEED a decrease in
performance.
Also, take Word. It certainly wasn't designed with
what most users WANT in mind. How many people who use
Word WANT section breaks, outlining features, and
such? The NEED for these features was not to satisfy
the majority, but to give a minority of power-users
additional functionality to do their jobs better.
Market demand isn't based on WANTs, it's based on
NEEDs. People WANT everything, and most times, they
don't WANT what they really NEED.
=====
Goober Writer
(because life is too short to be inept)
"As soon as you hear the phrase "studies show",
immediately put a hand on your wallet and cover your groin."
-- Geoff Hart
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