Products have become too complex. Even after a couple of graduate degrees from MIT, I find it hard to navigate software products, gadgets, websites, search engines. Perhaps it is an early on set of senile dementia, so I was pleased to see a couple of articles and events that point to the return to simplicity:
1. Sergey Brin, Co-founder of Google recently wrote about focusing on simplicity. See: http://money.cnn.com/popups/2006/biz2/howtosucceed/index.html
2. Business Week published and article on simple products for puzzled seniors only. The article talks about simple cell phones with no email and other frills, printers that periodically dial out to your email address and print your emails. Although the article is for Seniors Only, I would generalize it to a large community of folks that would like to see simpler things. See:
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/nov2006/tc20061129_628050.htm?sub=techmaven
Call me a hypocrite as I dream of simplicity while I type my blog on a chilly Sunday evening in Boston. Shouldn't I be simplifying my life and reading a book instead of staring at a screen and typing a blog for strangers.
