Engineers – think it will catch on simply because it’s possible
Economists – think it will go mainstream when it’s cheap enough
Marketers – are sure it will explode if they spend millions marketing it
But the most important thing is that it will not catch on before it’s user friendly and easy to understand!
eirikso 
Ignoring, of course, the automobile and almost everything having to do with the personal computer (operating systems, home networking, complex role-playing games, etc.)
Or if it’s easy to understand how much your life might be better if you use it (especially if someone else has told you about their life-altering experience with the item).
When ease=of-use-goes-wrong
You are so right and yet so often your point is completley ignored by perfectly inteligent people.
So who will save us? Technical Support department? Or is it everyone who should figure this out? Or are you making the point that it will never happen?
Of course there are exceptions. The Windows operating system being one of the most obvious.
Still I think many of the new web based services we see right now is an example of usability.
YouTube did not make it possible to publish videos on the internet, it made it user friendly and easy to understand.
Will this website break on through?! I think so, it allows the users to decide what is good content, not a search engine Optimization.
TallStreet.com
If TallStreet gains a lot of users it could be valuable, but this is a chicken-and-egg situation… Right now, what’s in it for me? I tried a couple of searches. TallStreet didn’t give any results so I left. Why should I come back?
Sometimes you don’t have to be user friendly and easy to understand. Sometimes just being the first to solve a problem or provide a new experience is enough. Style and Design are important too. The IPod proved that.
The iPod has it’s fair share of usability as well! 🙂 But I agree that style and design is important. Call it feeling, mojo or lust… Some people would call the iPod sexy, and sexy is always good.
Warum setzen sich neue Technologien durch?…
Weils mir gefallen hat (und einfach war), habe ich mal was aus einem anderen Blog übernommen. Die Fragestellung:
‘When will a new technology break through?’
Techniker sagen:
‘Es wird sich durchsetzen weil, weil Etwas möglich wird…
Yea, we know Tall Street has alot of work to be done and users to get in on it, but once that gets going, we believe it will be something very valuable for the internet and users using it, as well as website owners.
What do you mean it won’t explode if we spend millions marketing it?
Someone spent millions marketing Super Audio CD…
I know. It is crazy but I can understand why those conspiracy crazies can get all hyped up.
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