
UX is 90% Desirability - revorad
http://www.getfinch.com/finch/entry/ux-is-mostly-desirability/
======
aridiculous
I'm usually not a grinch -- and I'm currently in a good mood. But this article
is just wrong, inside out.

How many times do we (Apple users who have no particular allegiances) have to
say this: Apple products aren't winning because they're 'desirable'. I'm
taking 'desirable' to mean socially hip, because otherwise this whole article
amounts to saying someone likes something because it's likable. Duh.

Apple UX is dominating because they understand what users expect to happen
when they interact with the device. The red herring that distracts most of the
(good and bad) criticism of Apple is the 'look'. The aesthetic design is the
icing on the cake, and quite frankly it intersects with the usability a lot,
but it's not why the consumer is switching to Apple.

I'm not a fan boy. Every day I wish some other company would come out with a
quality and usable laptop that fits my life so I don't have to advertise my
allegiance to Apple (the exterior) to the pubic. I have an interest in NOT
buying Apple. Similar to a lot of hipsters, I have weird neuroses about being
judged in public for having something popular. Yet hipsters are still on their
Macs. There's got to be something else at work besides the Apple brand,
because believe me, these things are too popular to be hip at this point.

Does it piss me off that a 19-year-old girl has a MacBook Pro for Facebook and
Word, while I make due with MacBook for much more demanding tasks? Yes. I
agree with people who say that many users are paying too much for things they
don't need. But I'd argue that a person who just doesn't want to be hassled is
at least justified in paying the up-front markup price of an Apple machine.

Being good at design doesn't mean it looks pretty. It means you thought out
your product enough to make users have an easy time. And the days of releasing
crap stuff out to ignorant consumer and huge inefficient businesses is
dwindling for a number of societal reasons including a younger workforce, open
source, the success of web-based smaller business, and so on.

I have no problem with you using a home-built linux box or anything you feel
comfortable with. In fact, if you can do that easily and enjoy it, that's a
great situation and you probably saved money. But I can't recommend to anyone
I know to buy a Windows machine: It's simply an inferior product with fewer
advantages.

If that offends you, I'm sorry. But look at the stats: Do you really think the
tremendous amount of consumer Apple growth is simply due to its hip appeal? If
that's the case, every person I see outside an office building is hip at this
point.

Phew. Sorry for the rant.

~~~
ZoFreX
> It's simply an inferior product with fewer advantages.

As someone who splits their time fairly evenly between OS X, Windows, and
Linux (and a little BSD for funsies), I cannot disagree with this statement
more. They all suck. Every OS has crippling flaws that would drive me away if
it weren't for the fact that they all have flaws, and they all have
advantages, and none is inferior or superior overall.

Also: quit worrying about what people think of you for your choice of
hardware/software. Worrying that people will think your purchases are trend-
driven and so considering options that are less than optimal for you
personally is every bit as bad as being a fanboy, it's the exact same
fallacies at play.

~~~
aridiculous
1) I agree with what you're saying about them all having flaws. But I merely
said Windows machines are inferior. I never said Mac machines are absolutely
ideal.

2) The worrying about what people think part was said sort of tongue in cheek.
Hyperbole to demonstrate a point ;) I'm not about to actually make decisions
based off of this observation.

------
athesyn
Desirability amounts to only instant gratification at best. Once you commit to
even getting on a path of development;

If your base is to only attract at first glance, you'll probably going to
damage the clarity and depth of your user-experience.

~~~
gry
"If I am correct, the use of a product based on modelessness and monotony
would soon become so habitual as to be nearly addictive, leading to a user
population devoted to and loyal to the product."

\- Jef Raskin, The Humane Interface

