iChat, Update, and User Experience

Mac OS X update 10.5.7 was released yesterday. I was listening to the Mac OS Ken podcast and heard that among all the changes was a mention of an update to iChat.

My immediate thought was, "Could they possibly have fixed that @#% connection bug??" I previously wrote about it here; sometimes I can video chat with people, often I get the "connection declined" error repeatedly. Sometimes it'll manage to connect. Frustrating, frustrating, frustrating...until I got tired of swearing at it and installed Skype, sent a message to my wife to download and install Skype on her system as well, and it Just Worked (tm).

I pulled up an article on Macworld's site that discussed the 10.5.7 changes. The author found that yes, there were changes made to iChat, but from the sounds of them they were cosmetic (although it seems he couldn't find the changes when he checked between 10.5.6 and the updated system).

Disappointing, but I guess I wasn't too surprised.

That got me to thinking...after all the hassle I had before, would I want to use iChat again now that I have Skype working?

This is an issue with the User Experience, something so many people just can't seem to grasp as a concept. I have bad memories of iChat, and I eventually got so fed up with it that I found my own solution that works well in my situation. I may use iChat if the issue is fixed, but I'm always wary of it and the only reason I'd go back is if I don't have time to get some new user to download and install Skype but rather use the software pre-installed on their Mac.

If you work in technology, especially in support, you cannot underestimate the importance of the user experience. Yes, users do dumb things. Yes, users make you want to stab yourself with a dull spoon sometimes to make the frustration go away. But the users make up the community with which you interact on the webbertubes and if their user experience sucks, you're going to have problems with your product's reputation, your company's reputation, or if you're a sysadmin, your users with find their own solutions and ignore you because to them you're an incompetent boob not worth listening to. They also will hate you for not listening to their issues and addressing their needs.

Thus leading to more frustration for you having to support them, leading to resentment, leading to more sales of Dilbert books.

Unfortunately technology today is about compromise. This issue with iChat has been ongoing for quite some time and a lot of people are having to deal with it and are left to find their own workarounds. Because of the many things Apple does do right combined with the alternatives...Windows? AAAHH! Linux? Most users would rather poke their eyes out than have to deal with various tech issues related to using Linux on their own...the Mac is still the best value for usability and system stability (and security) for the average home user.

There is a caveat. As a geek, we take our warts very seriously. We don't forgive when our favorite things are blemished and we feel we're wronged. This annoyance is not something that will be easily forgiven, and the longer we're ignored over an issue the more vocal people will become about hating you for it. Worse, you have a competitor that has a solution that works. So what's the holdup, Apple? Why can't you get this right when some left-field startup managed to have a cross-platform solution with your features...video, audio, text chat...that just works?