[OT] Microsoft Office's New UI Blazes Some New Trails for Us

[jbv]

Scott Rossi a *crit :

> Actually, there is a difference: not how things *should* look but how things
> *can* look.  Again, the premise is that users are more comfortable modifying
> existing designs/layouts/templates, rather than starting from scratch.  The
> template designers are giving users a starting point, which they can either
> choose to use as is, or modify to their liking.
>

IMHO this is the kind of approach that works perfectly
on paper, but not so well in real life...

Let's take the example of electronic music devices (synths,
rhythm-boxes, etc). Since the mid 80's most of them come
with numerous presets, but also with editors...
I've been in touch with many musicians between the early
80's to the late 90's and I must say that very few of them
took the time to learn how to program / edit / modify...
Most of them seemed to be satisfied with presets, and used
to sell the device and buy another (brand new) one once they
got tired of the presets.
It is true that UIs of this kind of gear were rather crappy (tiny
LCDs), but anyway the vast creative possibility of some synths
were really worth the effort of reading the manual and try to go
beyond the presets (for example additive synthesis with the
K5000).

I afraid that providing too many templates might lead to
lazyness for users, and in the end every document / layout / etc
might look the same, just like every piece of electronic music
sounds the same these days...

JB