The Old Coot dreads “new and improved!”
By Merlin Lessler
Every time I turn around, one or another of the web pages
or Apps I use is revamped. “Improved!” They claim. “Ruined,” in reality, for
the users who figured out how to navigate the old program. Two of my banks did
that to their web sites and Apps during the past year. They hid some of the functions
I use in new sub-menus. Stuff that used to be in plain sight on the home
page. That was one problem, but they
also rename some of them. The techies that design these things live on a
different planet than old guys like me. I’m pretty tech-savvy, yet I get
bamboozled by the new programs.
Microsoft was the first company to change and mess up
their programs; it affected millions of users – which is why you might hear me
mumble under my breath, “I hate Bill Gates,” every time I encounter a change on
a computer program. I don’t hate him, but I do hate how he made this process
commonplace across the industry. He’s retired, but his legacy lives on. I used
his “Word” program to write with since the 1980’s. Every time it changed, which
was just about every year, it was radically different, and confusing. He really
put it to the test when he made us push “Start” to stop the program. I know he
was messing with our minds with that one. Over time they’ve changed the Word program
so many times I’m a novice when I use it now. I can’t figure it out when it
used to be so simple. It’s also become very bossy, correcting mistakes that
aren’t really mistakes. Half the time I don’t notice it changed something,
making me appear more stupid than usual.
I think the trouble is caused when the design teams use
each other to test the new (and improved) programs. Even when they get users
involved in the test process, they won’t allow old coots like me to participate.
The web-site revamp situation is even more exasperating
when the change is caused because the company I was a customer of is bought out
by another company. This happened to me last year; our local water company was
bought out twice. I can’t even keep track of who I’m doing business with which
makes it hard to find them on the web
and the old App doesn’t work at all. That’s a lot of crabbing, but I bet I’m
not alone. It’s why you hear old coots like me say, “Leave things alone.” We
hate change. (For good reason). The words I dread the most are, “our web page
(or App) won’t be available this weekend so we can install a new and improved
version. Oh no; here we go again!
Comments? Complaints? Send to mlessler7@gmail.com
No comments:
Post a Comment