Every couple of years Microsoft will come forward and really make the play that they've learned from past experiences, and they finally have gotten religion with user-centered design. Well, allow Joel Spolsky to differ on that point.
You see, in creating the shut-down feature for Windows Vista, MS has thrown nine, count them, NINE, choices in to the mix. In addition to two icons representing power-off and lock, users get to go with "Switch User," "Log Off," "Lock," "Restart," "Sleep," "Hibernate" or "Shut Down." Oh, yeah, that's exactly what people have been begging for.
With a set of choices like that, it's pretty clear which usersMicrosoft paid attention to in designing Vista – IT professionals, whocare about that level of nuance, instead of the millions of consumerusers who out-number business users.
That said, it's an interesting complaint to raise, because Apple isn'tdoing that much better than MS right now for off-button choices. Thereare presently four ways to shut down in OS X from the Apple menu: ShutDown, Restart, Sleep and Log Out. In the proud tradition of Apple'searlier days, is there a cheaper, faster, simpler solution using fewerparts? Spolsky has some suggestions, but I think they would irritate meif things were so fully simplified. How could turning a Mac off be madebetter than it is right now?
Choice = Headaches [Joel on Software]
Via BusinessWeek
