Eye Candy

Quick note on a blog with some very interesting notes on how people react to eye candy. Check it out at "A List Apart".

When I was much younger I strongly disliked the Macintosh running MacOS. From the technical viewpoint, it was horrible...the multitasking model was horrible, the memory management was horrible...all it really had was a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get...it used graphics at a time when the average computer used text commands to work and Windows was just beginning to catch on) interface that appealed to non-technical people.

I stand by my arguments from back in the day. I was later validated when Apple ended up throwing MacOS out altogether and adopting the UNIX-based OS X. If you needed something a little more rock-solid and reliable, the MacOS Macintosh wasn't the platform to use.

This article has some interesting points, however, on how design affects us psychologically. My view has always been (in the case of technology) that once the basics are met...fix the memory management, fix the security, fix the multitasking model, etc...eye candy and ease of use are differentiating factors. After all, a Ferrari isn't useful if you can't start it!