Imagine if every Thursday your shoes exploded if you tied them the usual way. This happens to us all the time with computers, and nobody thinks of complaining.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Computers often fail in frustrating, avoidable ways similar to a hypothetical shoe explosion, yet users accept this as normal.
- In plain terms
- We tolerate bad computer design because it happens so often.
- What can you take from it?
- Poor usability becomes invisible when it is ubiquitous.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- What tech problems do you accept without question?
- How could your tools work better?
Another view
Not all computer issues are design flaws; some are unavoidable technical limits.
More from Jef Raskin
It would be wonderful if we could just tuck in a few loose ends and change a handful of details of present systems to have them work properly. Unfortunately, w…
Permalink to quote #2 Right now, computers, which are supposed to be our servant, are oppressing us.
Permalink to quote #3 I am only a footnote, but proud of the footnote I have become. My subsequent work - on eliciting principles and developing the theory of interface design, so t…
Permalink to quote #4
Related quotes
I've spent my whole life worrying about the human-computer interface, so I don't want to suggest that what we have today is even close to acceptable.
Nicholas NegroponteNicholas Negroponte quote #7 Buying the right computer and getting it to work properly is no more complicated than building a nuclear reactor from wristwatch parts in a darkened room using…
Dave BarryDave Barry quote #1 I was gonna get a candy bar; the button I was supposed to push was 'HH', so I went to the side, I found the 'H' button, I pushed it twice. Fuckin'...potato chi…
Mitch HedbergMitch Hedberg quote #1