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[Peter Cannon]

On Thursday 24 Jun 2004 13:03, sparkes wrote:

> You don't buy an ornament for what it does you buy it for what it is 

You bloody Philistine
an ornament fills you with euphoric beauty it enhances your surroundings 
macking a mud hut into a palace.

> this is why the better 
> craftsmen will smooth off the bottom, pride in the form that is created.
> A figure with a rough bottom is just as useful as one with a smooth bottom
> it's just less pleasing to you when apreciated from certain angles, it
> doesn't stop being a valid expression of someones taste in interior design
> but a bad interface does stop good software from working where a bad piece
> of software can not be fixed by polishing the bottom ;-)

Now you see this is the crux of your problem you are happy to forgoe quality 
in favour of functionality, there is an argument for that train of thought 
however only you (and one day hopefully I) can stand by that ethos that is 
because you have the knowledge and capability to use the imaginary 
application regardless of the graphical front end but that stand point is not 
defendable when placed in the context of world wide exposure this is because 
there is and always will be a higher proportion of Non experts hence a good 
usable front end is a pre requisite for most apps.

> Now you are talking my language.  I have been a professional programmer
> for almost 10 years and in that 10 years I have met thousands of other
> programmers.  Out of every 10 programmers you hire only one has a clue
> when it comes to usable interface design.  The company that developed the
> software is run by engineers and employs engineers.  They can't see the
> software is crap because they can only see it doing the job it was
> designed for.  They need to hire at least one more team member and listen
> to them when they arrive on the scene and attempt to fix all the problems
> they have.

Well whoopty bloody doo we finally agree on something, 
I agree with every single word we have the same issue here all the engineers 
and the gaffers for that matter are shit hot when it comes to hardware and 
software get them to quote or give a sales orientated overview and they are 
crap.

The times I've had to clean up the cockups where they have quoted cost price 
not taken things into account for costing purposes etc etc.

Every one should take especially note of your suggestion have a non techie 
member ideally a sales or marketing background individual as they know how to 
package / present an idea or product 

> I'm being a bit flippent there but we might impulse purchase with our eyes
> but hard business people work out what they need from a product and good
> looks aren't top of the list (normally, there are the odd execptions that
> prove the rule, all swans arn't white and neither are all interfaces)
> perhaps you just have a knack for turning hard nosed businessmen into
> impluse purchasers and that's why you see it this way? 

Nope there are not many impulse buyers left (apart from kids and immature 
adults with too much money) these days most businesses you speak to cry that 
they haven't any money its not like the good old days back in the 80's (come 
back loads of money all is forgiven).

OK lets do the sales funnel!

Mr A Buyer wants Workstation running linux and he says (notice I said he says) 
he can spend £800.00.

You wheel out your techie who has been hunched over a terminal in the backroom 
making noises that have got you very worried about the carpet!

Your techie gives Mr A Buyer a swift one two on the functionality and what it 
can do. The workstation is a plain cumbersome box but meets all his 
requirements except a lot of the apps are text based.

Mr A Buyer starts umming and arrring so you show him another worksation with a 
TFT flat screen see through case blue neon backlight water cooled CPU and 
some cheesy eye candy desktops but it is £80.00 more (even though 90% of the 
parts are exactly the same.

He will bite your hand off!

Why!

Because the £880 box looks sexy he can show it off to his mates it looks more 
expensive than the price he paid and because it looks better than the £800.00 
unit even though they both do the same job.

Here's one you can try just to prove my point about buying with your eyes

Pop a can of bear into your mates hand (don't let him drink it) tell him about 
it "It tastes fantastic, what a head, its very strong etc etc talk for 
between 1 and two mins then while talking reach over and take it out of his 
hands (take being the operative word) while looking at his face.

I guarantee he will look crest fallen because he had ownership and you have 
taken it away, then hit him with "Its only £1.50" his wallet will be out in a 
flash because he wants it back.

The above doesn't work all the time and is better suited to ipod and so on, 
you know boys and toys

> but from an > engineering point of view it has to work before it can look 
nice and if
> the budget only covers one or the other you have to go for working
> everytime.

I agree :-)


-- 

Regards

Peter Cannon

peter at cannon-linux.freeserve.co.uk

"There is every excuse for not knowing!"
"But there is no excuse for not asking!"