The Invisible Computer: Why Good Products Can Fail, the Personal Computer Is So Complex, and Information Appliances Are the Solution

315 Pages·1998·9.3 MB·English

by  Donald A. Norman

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WHY GooD PRODUCTS CAN FAIL
THE PERSONAL COMPUTER ls So COMPLEX,
AND INFORMATION APPLIANCES ARE THE SOLUTION
The Invisible Computer
Booksb y Donald A. Norman
Textbooks
Memory and Attention: An Introduction to Hun:an Information Processing.( First edition,
1969; second edition, 1976.)
Human Information Processing.( With Peter Lindsay. First edition, 1972; second edition,
1977.)
Scientific Monographs
Models of Human Memory. (Edited, 1970.)
Explorationsi n Cognition. (With David E. Rumelhart and the LNRR esearch Group, 1975.)
Perspectiveso n Cognitive Science.( Edited, 1981 .)
UserC enteredS ystemD esign: New Perspectivese n Human-Computer Interaction. (Edited
with Steve Draper, 1986.)
General Interest
Learning and Memory, 1982.
The Psychologyo f EverydayT hings, 1988.
The Design of EverydayT hings, 1990. (Paperback version of The Psychologyo f Everyday
Things.)
Turn SignalsA re the Facial Expressionso f Automobiles, 1992.
Things That Make Us Smart, 1993.
CD-ROM
First Person:D onald A. Norman. Defending Human Attributes in the Age of the Machine,
1994.
The InvisibleC omputer
Why Good ProductsC an Fail,
the PersonalC omputerI s So Complex,
and Information AppliancesA re the Solution
Donald A. Norman
The MIT Press
Cambridge, Massachusetts
London, England
First MIT Pressp aperback edition, 1999
©1998 Donald A. Norman
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any electronic
or mechanical means (including photocopying, recording, or information storage and
retrieval) without permission in writing from the publisher.
This book was set in Stone Sansa nd Stone Serif by Wellington Graphics.
Printed and bound in the United States of Amedca.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publicatior Data
Norman, Donald A.
The invisible computer : why good produ,:ts can fail, the personal computer is so
complex, and information appliances are the solution
Donald A. Norman.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-262-14065-9 (he: alk. paper), 0-262-64041-4 (pb)
1. High technology industries-Marketin9 2. Human-computer interaction.
3. Human-centered design. I. Title.
QA76.5.N665 1998
004.16-dc21 98-18841
CIP
Contents
Preface vii
1 Drop Everything You're Doing 1
2 Crowing Up: Moving from Technology-Centered to
Human-Centered Products 23
3 The Move to Information Appliances 51
4 What~ Wrong with the PC? 69
5 There Is No Magical Cure 89
6 The Power of Infrastructure 113
7 Being Analog 135
8 Why Is Everything So Difficult to Use? 163
9 Human-Centered Development 185
10 Want Human-Centered Development? Reorganize the
Company 203
11 Disruptive Technologies 231
vi Contents
12 A World of Information Appliances 247
Appendix Exampleso f Information Appliances 263
Notes 273
References 285
Index 291
Preface
Thomas Edison was a great inventor but a poor businessman. Consider
the phonograph. Edison invented it, he had better technology than his
competitors, and he did a sensible, logical analysis of the business.
Nonetheless, he built a technology-centered phonograph that failed to
take into account his customer's needs. In the end, his several compa
nies proved irrelevant and bankrupt.
Sound familiar? Today's PC business has a number of parallels. Look at
ease of use. The early phonograph was too complicated for office use.
"Persevere," early users were told, "it only takes two weeks to master." It
took a hundred years for the phonograph to evolve to the state it has
reached today. It has been modified so thoroughly that all of the under
lying technologies differ and even the term phonographi s seldom used,
being replaced by tape deck,c assetter ecordera,n d CD player.B y analogy,
the computer industry is in the era of 78 rpm shellac phonograph
records-it still has a long way to go.
A major goal of this book is to hasten the day when the technology of
the computer fades away out of sight, and the new technology that
replaces it is as readily accepted and easy to use as a cassette tape re
corder or CD player. The problem is that whether it be phonograph or
computer, the technology is the easy part to change. The difficult as
pects are social, organizational, and cultural.
Today's technology is intrusive and overbearing. It leaves us with no
moments of silence, with less time to ourselves, with a sense of dimin
ished control over our lives. But all this can change. Now we are trapped
viii Preface
in a world created by technologists for technologists. We have even
been told that "being digital" is a virtue. But it isn't: People are analog,
not digital; biological, not mechanical. It is time for a human-centered
technology, a humane technology.
The personal computer is perhaps the most frustrating technology
ever. The computer should be thought of as infrastructure. It should be
quiet, invisible, unobtrusive, but it is too visible, too demanding. It
controls our destiny. Its complexities and frustrations are largely due to
the attempt to cram far too many functions into a single box that sits on
the desktop. The business model of the computer industry is structured
in such a way that it must produce new products every six to twelve
months, products that are faster, more powerful, and with more features
than the current ones. The result is that the entire industry is trapped by
its own success, trapped into a cycle of ever-increasing complexity from
which it cannot escape.
It doesn't have to be this way. but the current paradigm is so thor
oughly established that the only way to change is to start over again. In
this book I show how to make a new start, how to start with simple
devices-information appliances-then slowly establish this new para
digm as the natural successor to today's complexity. The proper way, I
argue, is through the user-centered, human-centered, humane technol
ogy of appliances where the technology of the computer disappears
behind the scenes into task-specific devices that maintain all the power
without the difficulties.
This change requires a new attitude. For manufacturers, it requires a
new approach to the development of products, hiring people with hu
man-centered skills in addition to those with technology-centered ones,
changing the product process, perhaps restructuring the company.
The original title of this book was Taming Technology,f or that is
the goal. Then the title changed to lnformation Appliances,f or that is the
method. Now it is The Invisible Computer,b ecause that is the end result,
hiding the computer, hiding the tedmology so that it disappears from
sight, disappears from consciousness, letting us concentrate upon our
Preface ix
activities, upon learning, doing our jobs, and enjoying ourselves. The
goal is to move from the current situation of complexity and frustration
to one where technology serves human needs invisibly, unobtrusively:
the human-centered, customer-centered way.
TheL ifeC ycleo f Technology
The purpose of this book is to take a realistic look at the world of tech
nology, the better to understand why good products can fail and inferior
products succeed. I take a close look at the reasons the personal com
puter came to be so complex and how that complexity is so intertwined
with its heritage that only a complete rethinking of the fundamental
ideas can change it. I believe that there is indeed a solution, the develop
ment of information appliances. Information appliances hold great
hope and promise, but the path toward adoption is treacherous, a
minefield full of fierce competitors. The existing technology, the per
sonal computer, exerts a deadly gravity well that prevents the unwary
from escaping its pull.
All technologies have a life cycle, and as they progress from birth,
through troubled adolescence, and on to· maturity, their characteristics
change. During this life cycle, the customer segment varies, starting
with the early adopters, those technology enthusiasts who nurture the
fledgling early products and help them gain power and acceptability. In
the early days of a technology, the engineers rule. Each successive new
product boasts of improved technology: faster, more powerful, better
this, better that. Technology rules the day, guided by feature-driven
marketing.
When technologies mature, the story changes dramatically. Now the
technology can be taken for granted. The customers change and they
want different things. Convenience and user experience dominate over
technological superiority. These new customers are late adopters, people
who wait for the technologies to mature, to prove themselves and to
provide value for their money, value without hassle. Late adopters are