---

Here are a few conversations that went on (mostly in my feverish imagination) illustrating the consequences of our diminishing attention spans, and their exploitations.

Google offices, a few months ago

-       You see, the process is very streamlined.

-       Is it?

-       The user clicks ‘buzz’, gets a screen of privacy options, then a screen of his contacts to choose from.

-       You say?!

-       Ok, maybe it’s not that streamlined.

-       Is it.

-       I guess we could just start up with some defaults.

-       You say?

-       And pick all contacts as defaults, it will be ok for most people.

-       Is it…

Apple offices, a few months ago

-       You see, sir, we have great plans for the iPad. We’ll add multitasking, drag and drop, an SD slot, flash support, a camera – two, in fact, and we’ll write an open SDK for it!

-       No, no, no, no, double-no, and big no.

-       What? But the new UI, it’s almost ready, we have a new concept that will re-re-re-invent the whole market.

-       I. Want.

-       Yes?

-       An iPhone.

-       Right…

-       Only

-       Yes…?

-       Bigger.

-       Bigger, sir?

-       Bigger.

-       Not, say, better, with more features, re-re-re-revolutionizing-

-       You have an iPhone, right?

-       Of course, sir.

-       Don’t you think it’s great?

-       Why, yes, sir!

-       I want it to be like the iPhone… only bigger.

-       Right on it, sir.

Microsoft offices, a few months ago

-       We have this smart copy-paste feature.

-       Which part of KISS did you fail to understand?

-       No, it’s really cool. It has a history, adapts to the destination, synchronizes, offers suggestions-

-       SUGGESTIONS? SUGGESTIONS?! We don’t want another clippy the sodding office paper clip on our hands, that’s the last thing we need now!

-       But most testers said-

-       Let me see that! Ha! 20% said it was “confusing at start”, and 40% said they “could have done without it”. Forty percent!

-       But-but-

-       Look here – the Windows 7 Phone Series will have NO copy-paste! None! Code it out, NOW!

RADVISION offices, a few months ago

-       You see, the VC240 interface is much simpler than that of existing endpoints. We got great reviews on it.

-       Yes, I see. Just dial and send. All the options are tucked away in menus.

-       No interface like it. Great reviews.