Flutterby™! : ease of use

Via Camworld, The Ideology of Ease asks how we push users beyond "ease of use", exploring issues that many of us have been screaming about for a while: "...the drive to make computers easy to use has made it possible to use a computer without knowing how to manipulate the files located on it. While this doesn't have a huge consequence for day-to-day computing in a single location, my experiences with NWE students make clear that the absence of generalized knowledge (in this case, file management) can be very disempowering. and Ultimately, the ideology of ease, perhaps because of the financial interests of those who benefit from it, is instrumental in the maintenance of a "digital divide" of computing into digital "haves" and "have nots." Because ease is structured as an end in itself, not as a means to an end, those who embrace ease may not be able to move past it -- insuring under-achievement. So when a programmer screams and hollers about a user interface change, they're probably just a little more foresightful than you, and are doing it for your own good. And when they cave and say "well, okay", that's akin to the parent in the grocery store buying a candy bar in response to a toddler's tantrum.