Articles
They will become easier to use in order to be as commercial as possible. Large swathes of people are not even semi-computer literate.
Phillip Haran
I suppose it is inevitable but I am uneasy about not having to think any more.
Mike Ward
Making machines easier to use will need to include safeguards to prevent unintended consequences. There will have to be robust testing of machines and their user interfaces.
Richard Bossom
Improving technologies to make them more user-friendly will broaden their application. The key will be in identifying the risks and control measures required.
Dan Marsh
Go back 30 years, to when AutoCAD was a complex system which needed experienced operators, and compare that to nowadays where you have systems which send designs directly to 3D printers and can be used by anyone who can click an icon. Take away human understanding and simplify the system too far and you get products which don’t work.
Jon Brabbs
We need secure systems before we open the gates to potential problems.
Richard Young
Toasters never toast bread the same amount. Maybe AI will replace human I, but until then complicated interfaces are the order of the day for complicated machines. Let’s make a toaster that always toasts bread the right amount, and then worry about the rest.
Tristan Cliffe
Machines becoming better than humans in certain tasks and taking over is a scary thought. A much better future is humans and machines working collaboratively.
Evangelos Chatzivagiannis
Given the difficulty of working out how to use the in-car electronics, they’ve got a long way to go.
John Thorogood
Perhaps our machines will take over the world, and we can control the machines, so in the end us engineers rule the world!
Tim Mitchell
I’ve spent three years working on implementing a new enterprise software package, and it definitely isn’t easy to use!
Steve Watkins
Before my toaster gets more bells and whistles, I would like it to better perform the basic function! Consumerisation very often means adding worthless glitz to ordinary or inadequate devices.
Brian Hark
Absolutely. Computers that are easy to use promote more users finding more applications and more solutions.
Craig Hobson
Humans need to lead, not be driven by their creations. Ships and cars should not be left to their own learned responses.
Andrew Luce
A good user interface costs money. We get what we pay for and it seems that many of us are prepared to put up with dross.
Justin Greenhalgh
Consumerisation of machines, like judgement day, is inevitable. Cue Terminator theme.
Simon Donald
The reliability of many computers and devices is no better than of cars 60 years ago. It is often necessary to fiddle about to get computers to work correctly: a chore.
Les Pook
Why would I want anything to be as difficult to use as smartphone apps?
Martin Roberts-Jones
I don’t classify a smartphone as easy to use if I can’t see what’s on the screen in daylight and have to charge it once a day.
Keith Thomas
By all means use robots for dangerous jobs, but why make the human redundant? I look forward to many years of driving my car and thinking for myself.
Martyn Ralph
This leaves more of society at the mercy of the few who can understand the increasing number of layers between the action and the simple user interface. It also stifles creativity, only allowing the user to do what the developer intended.
John Ovenden
We have just had a central-heating system fitted with a combi boiler. My toaster is definitely easier to use than the new control system.
Bill Gibson