It's true, the businesses rarely specifically ask for new or updated GUI's. It's just that, given the choice of product (A) and product (B), looks will be taken into account, especially if performance-wise the two products are similar. So in the end it is the business that requests the change!
You use Office as an example of an application where the GUI changes weren't required. I'd say different - they did provide something that people want: office users are upgrading from one version to the next and then to the next and so forth. So much so that Office is virtually the standard of ergonomic, efficient GUI design. Everyone's comparing GUI's to Office! I admit, I did course the new ribbon interface in Office 2007 when I first started using it but after a few documents edited and a few emails written I got used to the new GUI and started seeing it's benefits. I don't want the old GUI back. You may think that Office users are superficial, not-very-knowledgeable users. I'll say I don't care: I'm not in this business just for fun, I also want to make some $$$ (and hopefully have fun on the way). If my users would ever compare my GUI to any other GUI, I'll make sure my GUI is more efficient AND better looking. And I'll admit, I am upgrading my GUI's! I've got one application that started life as a small Borland C++ application for Win 3.1, it was first upgraded to Delphi + Win'95 looks when time came. The looks were revised over time (with Office being the major influence). It then got a Win XP look and I'm now considering a brand new Vista color schema, complete with an new set of graphics. My application is selling ok, and I'm not loosing existing customers (and that's not because my application doesn't have competition, it has lots of competition!) IMHO, unless you're developing specialty software for a narrow market, you ether follow GUI trends or you get left behind. It's that simple. -- Cosmin Prund > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:delphi-talk- > [EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Peter Laman > Sent: Monday, June 25, 2007 1:18 PM > To: 'Delphi-Talk Discussion List' > Subject: RE: Good morning Delphi question > > My experience with business customers is rather that they sick and > tired of > the ever changing user interfaces that don't bring real improvements to > their everyday work. It seems to me that most user NEEDS concerning the > UI > have already been met, all that's being met now is the WANTS of a very > small > group of gadget maniacs. Some people stick to MS Office 2000, because > all > that came after that really didn't bring anything usefull to them. O > yeah, I > know the new features and benefits, but many people simply don't need > them > and especially the user interface 'improvement' I find rather > confusing, > simply too much. Even in the 2000 version they started with that weird > feature of not showing all menu options at a time, a feature I have to > hastely switch off over again with each new installation. > > So I agree with the contributions below that state businesses don't ask > for > fancy interfaces. So who does? It's the ones who wish to sell new > things. > It's like what supermarkets do when the rearrange the locations of the > various products. They do that because they want me to see and buy > things I > never bought before. But I, the customer, don't want it, because I want > to > do my shopping as quickly as possible and buy the things I need, not > more. __________________________________________________ Delphi-Talk mailing list -> Delphi-Talk@elists.org http://www.elists.org/mailman/listinfo/delphi-talk
