On Mon, 11 Sep 2000, M. Edward Wilborne III wrote:
[...]
> > There have been discussions of doing this before, but just think of the
> > security implications of that.
> > --
> > Brian Mathis
>
> It should be an option. I'd rather have the feature and decide to use it or
> not to use it, than to be told I can't have it because it poses risks.
>
> Ed
Yes, this is often the view that many developers have about products.
However, adding more options doesn't really help, here's why:
1. It confuses users. In theory, the people developing the system (Palm,
Inc.) know what the "right" setting is for most users. Asking users what
the setting should be, when most of them should be choosing "option a",
doesn't really help anyone.
2. It makes developer's lives harder. If your developing an app that
relies on this option being enabled, and the user can turn it off, you
need to find a way to do it if it's disabled as well. In turn, your code
becomes more complex, bigger, harder to maintain, etc., and in reality,
there's really no reason for it to be that way. If you force the 5% who
might change the option to use it, now you know that 100% of the users
have it enabled.
3. I think 1 & 2 are pretty good.. :)
Kind of related to this...
I made an observation recently that there aren't too many apps out there
that perform a simple "checkbook" function. However, there are many that
provide a very complex way to manage your money, with all sorts of
accounts, etc.. I wondered why this is.
In thinking about it a little bit, I came to the conclusion that it's
because a simple "checkbook" app isn't very challenging to write. The
temptation to throw in more features becomes very great for something so
simple. It's all those other features, however, that keeps most people
from using them.
--
Brian Mathis
Direct Edge
http://www.directedge.com
--
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