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Originally Posted by DaleReeck
I hear what you are saying and I agree for the most part. But I do have to say, I recently visited some iPod forums to scope things out as I just got a 60gb video iPod myself and a lot of the problems I was reading weren't very different from PDA forums. Issues with bad hardware, bad firmware, bugs, corrupt media files, third party accessory issues, desktop software errors and syncing problems were common, with both newbies and experienced users alike. You'd swear you were in any typical PocketPC or Palm message forum. I have to question how much easier and simpler iPods are to a standard PDA. Just because an iPod can do less than a PPC doesn't necessarily mean its easier to use.
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Problems exist - I'm not denying that. But consider how much easier it would be for Apple or Microsoft to universally patch a problem, add functionality, and create common documentation if there was just one type of hardware to worry about. It's done with the iPod, and it's done with the Xbox 360 (over Xbox Live). Look at the Pocket PC and you have multiple OEMs and multiple devices - and at times, half of them couldn't care less about fixing problems (e.g., X50/X50v + Windows Mobile 5.0 upgrade).
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Originally Posted by DaleReeck
To be honest, I think the tech industry coddles users too much. Even an average joe can read a manual. But too many people are afraid to learn anything new. If they can't figure it out in five minutes, they don't want to be bothered. They have no patience whatsoever. The tech industry spends so much time catering to these people that innovation is slowed IMO.
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Actually, I think the tech industry isn't cuddling users enough. For the past 9 months, I was working as the Chief IT Officer of an Australian and New Zealand medical conference. One thing I learned is that no matter how easy a task may seem, and no matter how clean and simple a user interface may be, you cannot expect first-time users to know what is going on. They need to be guided, and even manuals fail to do this sometimes with all the jargon that is used. A tech illiterate isn't going to want to open a manual and read all this stuff about MP3s and DRM. It has to be simpler than that.