Useability and Design

Of all the people, Sprint sends a new phone to Joel Spoelsky to try out their service! What were they thinking... I am sure some heads rolled there. Spolsky really ripped into them. Big time. I don't want to spoil your fun. Read it for yourself. It's a bit lengthy. But it's awesome.

Speaking of useability, where are windows apps going? Recently the apps are having a mind of their own. Skype for example. I uncheck the option to start skype when windows starts. You think it cares? No Sir. It's a tease option. And I hate having to click three times to close these apps. Apps like skype, instant messaging, etc., They have just a close option in the Menu. When you close, they shrink to the task bar. Then you click on right mouse button and click exit. And then they ask you again if you are sure! Jeez!!

And couple of days back, I installed the new yahoo messenger with voice. I normally keep an eye to exclude the extra apps they throw in. I don't remember seeing any option. Today I had to uninstall 3 or 4 apps that Yahoo Messenger installed. Why do you need an app in your machine for webmail? And why is yahoo offering tabbed browsing feature to IE. I mean - why bother!