This week's Economist Magazine features a brief article on page 14, "In Praise of Techno-Austerity" that gets at the heart of what I have always believed about technology; its too complicated. Features upon features muddle functionality as vendors engage in a technological “arms race.” My TV has 20 setting enabling one to watch television in shades from black and white to sepia. Who the hell watches TV in sepia? The article makes the point that Apple, a company that prides itself on elegant simplicity, recently became the most valuable technology company, and that this is partially due to the broad usability (and simplicity) of its products. Manufacturers are now taking queues and beginning to streamline their offerings as customers are experiencing “feature fatigue.” Furthermore, simpler products, from netbooks initially designed as cheap laptops for developing countries to the Tata Nano car, are seeing robust sales in developed nations as customers want simple products.
I applaud this move towards simplicity and only wish that Microsoft would eliminate its 2007 offering, and re-launch 2003.
The original article can be found here: http://www.economist.com/node/16321516
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