Sometimes simplicity is just too simple
by Alan Zisman (c)
1999. First published
in Vancouver Computes,
February
1999
Have you seen Apple?s TV spot for its iMac computer?
The one where the
camera lingers behind a typical PC, focusing on the rat?s nest of cords
and cables, then moves to the back of an iMac, with just a few cords,
in
a tidy bundle.
It easily makes the point?the average computer (both
Mac and PC) is
a complex mess. Not something you want on display in your living room,
and with a seeming complexity that scares off a large number of
potential
users.
You never hear of Toaster User Groups, the way
computer users join (PC
or Mac) User Groups.
There?s a lot of appeal in the toaster model?just pop
in the bread,
push it down, wait a moment, and there?s the toast. Not much in the
computer
world offers this kind of simplicity.
Still, there?s a reason why our computers don?t offer
a toaster-like
ease of use? all my toaster does is make toast.
But let?s think about all the things we use our
computers for.
Right now, I?m typing this article on my computer. At
the same time,
I?m using Real Audio to listen to the Sunday gospel show live on Radio
Free New Orleans, letting my computer replace a short wave radio, and
bring
me news and music from around the world.
With the All-in-Wonder video card (from Toronto?s ATI
Technologies),
I can watch TV on my computer, save still and video clips, and even
capture
a program?s closed-captioning into a sort-of screenplay. Software lets
the computer wait in the background until a program mentions a topic
I?m
interested in, and then start capturing the text.
Other software that came with my sound card (Creative
Lab?s SoundBlaster
Live!) lets me compose music on my computer, or plug in a MIDI
keyboard,
play music live, and have the computer create sheet music right on
screen.
Of course, my computer can be used as a game system,
and having added
a 3D video add-on card, (the now long in the tooth Diamond
Monster
3Dfx card in my system), the graphics can approach those of a dedicated
(and much more expensive) video arcade system.
I can display on-screen slide shows of snapshots taken
with my digital
camera. Scan pictures and text, and convert text into editable word
processor
documents. Edit photos (from whatever source), altering history or
creating
fantastic pseudo-realities.
My computer can listen to my mumblings, and once again
output reasonably
coherent text.
On a more prosaic level, it keeps track of the income
and expenses related
to writing these articles, and arranges them in a way that keeps my
accountant
and Revenue Canada happy. It combines text and graphics to produce
clear
and attractive assignments for the children I teach, and lets my own
children
combine text and graphics to produce far more attractive homework and
projects
than I could at their age.
Then there?s all the things we?ve started doing
on-line, from watching
space launches to reading government reports, to chatting with friends
and strangers, to gambling, checking whether the Bank of Canada is
holding
money for us in abandoned bank accounts, to booking holidays to escape
February?s gloom.
Does your toaster do all that? I think not!
Yes, computers can be made simpler. Apple?s iMac (like
the one my editor
bought) shows one way it can be done?but its clean design is, at least
in part, achieved in trade for some of the functions I can get with my
add-in cards and tangled mess of cables. And computer software can
disguise
a lot of the complexity that is happening behind the scenes. Too often,
simplicity again comes at the cost of lack of options?but the best
software
offers users a variety of ways to work?letting users add functions as
they
need them.
Besides, in my house, the mess of cables is hidden
behind the desk.
Unless you?re filming an iMac commercial, once I?ve plugged them in, I
don?t have to ever think about them again. When you?re doing something
complex, and especially when you?re doing a bunch of complex things, a
bunch of cables is a pretty low price to pay.
And bringing us back to the world of household
appliances, it turns
out that computers, with their large displays and alphanumeric
keyboards
are actually easier to use than at least some of our widely-used home
gadgets.
Not many of our computers have the clock continually flashing 12:00,
like
a large percentage of VCRs, for example.