I got an email in the inbox recently that hit close to home with one of my beliefs for software and usability. In a nutshell, my pet peeve is when software experiences feature creep and goes above and beyond a users expectations – more importantly – their need. You may consider this an advantage but I don’t.
In words from the 37signals gang:
Our products do less than the competition — intentionally.
Everyone loves simple tools that help get the job done and then get out of your way.
Join us and say goodbye to bloated software
Now to the email, titled “Just say no”:
I don’t want to diefy Steve Jobs. I’m sure the man is mean in all sorts of ways. But he does know how to say no. And we should celebrate that. His saying no—over and over and over—is what’s lead to elegant software, a rugged OS, and an interface that is seamless with the ‘outerface’ of their hardware. Even without the stories of him yelling ‘no’ to sloppy design (and I use that noun in the broadest sense), you know, as people who have to design stuff everyday, that saying no is way harder and more complex than saying yes.
Now, I don’t want to villify Bill Gates. I’m sure the man is nice in all sorts of ways. But he does not know how to say no. Ever since Microsoft reached their apex of desktop domination—and Bill had more money than he could stuff under his mattress—the company has never said no. They didn’t say no to WebTV, to Passport, to MSN, to Vista—they never say no. They say yes. They say yes, and then they say ‘yes, more.’ And, as people who design things everyday, you know what happens when you say yes and nod your head. Features add up. And as features add up, happy-shiny-people make happy-shiny-suggestions on how to ‘integrate’ those features to ‘maximize’ the system’s ‘robustness’. And soon nothing makes sense, things don’t work—all goes to crap.
Strategy is not saying yes. Strategy is saying no and keeping focus. Remember that when you’re stuffed in some tiny beige boardroom with everyone nodding their head saying ‘yes’ (because they’re tired and they want to go home). Remember that when that lump in your throat is getting bigger and bigger and your heart is pounding faster and faster and you are dying to say ‘no’. You must say it. You must say it because no one else will. Oddly enough, in a room full of smart people, people don’t say no. So you are really, at the end of the day, the only one that can say ‘no’. You are really the only one with that power. And if you exercise that power, you have every reason to believe you will not wake up the next morning looking like Steve Balmer and sucking real bad.
Now, if Microsoft could just drop the feeling they need to be backwards compatible to Windows 95 this would be a start. Much like when Apple released OS X, and now switching to the Intel Platform, why not just give those who need it an emulator or virtual environment where they can run their legacy software.
Seriously; Windows XP with a minimum of 256MB of RAM and ~2Gb minimum install (after security updates) is a little extreme is it not? Given the basic functionality we all need in an OS I can’t see where the other 1.5Gb is coming from. I can see it now, Vista will ring in with 512MB RAM recommended and ~3GB install. Sure these resources are “cheap” but that’s not the point here.
Feature creep and backwards compatibility has done us all in and my guess is the simple and elegant software we’re seeing from 37signals, google and even apple will eventually doom Microsoft and all their money.
- Windows Vista
- Microsoft Vista: Not ‘People Ready’ – A classic case of “Less is more” or should I say “More is less”
- Vista debut hits a delay
- What’s Really Behind the Windows Vista Delay?
- Mac OS X
- Less as a competitive advantage: My 10 minutes at Web 2.0
- Complexity causes 50% of product returns
- Every time you add something you take something away