HCI and Microsoft

A few weeks ago, just before class, I wished to print a copy of my white paper for my presentation. I went to the one of the PC stations in the computer cluster of the grad school, opened up my document in the spiffy new Windows application and tried to print the document. With the new version of word, with seemingly no drop-down menus from which to chooses actions, I spent some time trying to understand the new interface before me. I finally saw an icon that seemed like a good candidate for print. I clicked on it and expected a dialog-box to pop up to walk me through the usual steps to print a document or I expected to at least see a window pop up confirming that the document had indeed been sent to the printer.
Since neither of my expectations were met and certain I had zeroed in on the right button, I continued to click on the icon. I sat there puzzled: why is this not working? I scanned over all the other icons one more time to be sure I was indeed on the right button. No other icon seemed appropriate, so I clicked a few more times. I finally asked for help. Someone suggested, "Well, did you check the printer? Maybe it has printed already." Skeptical but willing to follow any lead, I went to the printer and - lo and behold! - not one but a gazillion copies of the document were spewing forth from the machine. I simply could not believe it. I was furious!!!!!!!!! How could Microsoft change such a fundamental rule of computer interaction and not warn me? I interpreted the computer's silence as inaction, as non-activity. No confirmation, no print-out. As you all know, I printed enough copies for the class and then some, so I asked for a response from the bloody application at least 10 times and each time nothing. Just think nationwide the number of schmucks like me who have wasted literally reams of paper over this changing of game rules with no warning. Of course, I have learned from this but at what cost. The potential for waste is mind-boggling.

Perhaps the application was so fast that a dialog box did pop up confirming printing but popped up so quickly it was not apparent to a mere mortal's vision. If that is the case, Microsoft should have foreseen the problem and programmed a box that would linger. In short, Microsoft failed to consider some very basic concerns in creating its human and computer interaction; HCI is the acronym for "Human and Computer Interaction."

As we interact with technology, we are constantly evaluating whether or not the interaction was user friendly. While these assessments can be made in matter of moments, acting on these value judgments depends on many circumstances. If a user has a negative experience at a particular site on the web, the user will generally migrate to another site. Age is a factor in this decision-making process: younger generations who are tech savvy and therefore less patient with poor interface make these decisions far more quickly than older folks who are not as tech literate and not as aware of a less than optimal interaction. In a case like the one above or in a work environment, users sometimes have no choice but to put up with poor interface. This is unfortunate. One can only hope that the industry will eventually see the value of HCI, adopt the best practices in HCI development and strive to create optimal user interaction. With Microsoft dominating the market as it does, that hope seems dim.

Promote HCI whenever you can,
Laura