I'm sorry if I've already spammed you, but at least the last few
paragraphs are new, today, written for an Amazon review.
Dick
Enclosure: Must read book offer and analysis
Book
Jef Raskin's new book, The Humane Interface, is just out and everybody
who cares to understand why computers are so hard to use, and how to
fix them, should read it. I've spent two or three years pressing Jef
to finish the book. He did, eight times. I've marked up manuscripts in
detail, noting flaws and unclarities which Jef has fixed beautifully.
The biggest rewrite recently removed the personal stories which I loved
and thus could not tell him to remove; others did that.
I believe that the book will make you a much better critic of computer
systems. Further, it's liable to change the face of computing, quite
literally. Jef did that before. He invented the Macintosh.
Offer
I'm so sure that you'll want to keep the book that I'm offering to
purchase the copy that you bought if you don't want to keep it. I'll be
happy to pay twice what you had to pay if you'll explain a bit about
why you decided not to keep it.
Jef has a summary at www.JefRaskin.com along with other goodies.
Please write me about this book when you get a chance.
Analysis
When you analyze what Jef has done, you see that this is a magnum opus.
First, he gathers the most relevant material from cognitive psychology
and other fields. That would be enough for a good textbook.
But he goes further. He unifies the concepts and even recreates the
formulas to show how closely related they are. And he creates new
formulas to capture more of human interface considerations in
mathematically precise form. And he shows exactly how to apply those
formulas to real situations. That would be more than enough for a truly
great textbook.
But he goes further. He describes a system which behaves as though a
dozen or so of the axioms of humane interfaces were respected. And he
describes a real, commercial system which used many of these ideas,
complete with screen shots. You wouldn't believe the rapidity with which
untrained executives can become fully trained and competent with a huge
hospital information system, so I won't say. Read the book. Now.
But if such dramatic improvements are possible in that context, consider
the effect on the information economy if computers became that easy to
use and friendly in general. The entire economy would take off like a
rocket! Everybody would smile when they think of their computer.
Wish
So I want someone to call his bluff and contract with him to create a
humane system. He seems to think he knows how to do it in about a year.
If such an angel were truly beneficent, she would then put the result
under Larry Wall's Artistic License. Now who will give him the million
dollars to test whether Raskin really can deliver a truly humane
interface that people can actually learn and use?
Dick Karpinski dick@cfcl.com The world's largest leprechaun. |=|:-}=
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