Jacks_Software Good

These are dark days for software programming. The masses scream for stability, ease of use and features. The business heads demand AJAX, JavaScript affects and quick development. Computer repair has turned into snake oil. And worst of all, people are scared to do anything on their computer outside of the normal routine. Thus guaranteeing that they never learn more.

Software and computers in general continue to make great strides regularly. But nothing is perfect yet. So I pose the question: "As a software programmer, what is the greatest good you can do?" This is an effort to find possible solutions. Lets begin.

The number of Windows users is clearly falling, and the number of MAC users is now the highest I have seen in my professional career. So what is causing this trend? You can go into usability benefits, stability benefits, or even the simplicity in purchasing an MAC. Personally, I think it is Windows it self thats finally driving people away. MAC did not get better, Windows got worse. Microsoft spent many years coming up with a successor to Xp and people did not like it. Issues inside the company at the time is most likely the culprit. But when they realized they made a mistake, they did the classic Microsoft move of putting a band-aid on it and moving on. Sometimes thats enough to keep going but I think this band-aid wont last. I still see Xp underneath.

Digging a little deeper now, lets point out likely reasons for the conversion from Windows to MAC.

1) New user interface

Learning something new is not a favorite past time of Windows users. To make the upgrade from Xp to the Vista/7 family you needed to learn what a whole bunch of new icons did and where to find things. If people are already going to learn something new, why not learn a new OS with better usability.

2) Additional complexity

The bulk of Windows users do not like to explore features or extra menus. This is similar to the user interface problem. This is what is so appealing to most people about MACs. Generally there is one way to do something and it is only a single button.

Based on these findings it seems like the people moving to MAC are simply not Microsoft's target market. So who is Microsoft targeting? The most obvious answer is business. But first, lets digress a little more into operating systems.

I usually don't mind fixing computers for friends and family. I have the knowledge and I am not going take advantage of them like mainstream computer repair companies (more on that later). Somewhere along the process though, I get asked why it can't be easier. And that is a completely legitimate question. Why can't computers be simple?

Originally, the benefit from computers came in their flexibility. The more it can handle, the more valuable it became. These days though, I am coming across more and more people who only use two or three programs on their computer. These people don't need to change their font size, theme colors, window decoration, folder locations, or map network drives. You can remove functionality for these people and they wont be affected at all. Then there is the problem of hardware failure. The common computer user does not know the symptoms of a hardware failure. And the computer isn't too keen on informing them either. So why are they using the same operating system as the more advanced users? Because there is no operating system out there for the masses like this. Computers are not for the common people, no matter what Microsoft or MAC tries to tell you.

Cell phones have been a booming market for a while now. Evolving from the intelligence of a calculator to full operating systems. Ever since I had my first cell phone I wanted to write my own programs for it. Today thats not only possible but has become a major marketing point for newer cell phones. Many companies are competing for this ground: Microsoft, Palm, Apple, and Google. The most successful currently is Apple. Why is that?

I think it was a perfect storm of hardware, usability, simplicity and features. The iPhone was the right product at the right time. Is there anything we can learn from this? Yes, or else I would not of brought it up. Software is not a hopeless cause. Occasionally I hear some complaint about the iPhone but that is insignificant to how many people are happy with theirs.

The most effective use of computers these days is in the realm of business. It always has been. And the addition of the personal computer only served to strengthen that hold. In general business is good for advancing society. However there is one consent problem that never seems to go away with business. In the end it is all about money. This has lead to things such as: adding lead to paint, or putting Chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) in products, or selling parasites as weight loss or even selling cars with minor flaws that kill people. In this case, business is at fault for poorly written software. This is why Windows is commonly referred to as unstable. Microsoft could of used it's resources to make it stable, but having it work most of the time is a lot cheaper then having it work all the time. In my opinion, this is where most people's frustration with computers comes from. The best software these days is open source. Because most people who work on it are not looking for a paycheck, they are looking for something useful.

Then you flip that coin around, and look at all the people who put their heart and soul into a piece of software and only got 4 months of pay out of it. The software is now making wealthy fat men more wealthy and fat. And the author of this software is looking for work again. I can't think of an artist or author who does not see the fruit of their labor.

And it gets worse when you look at people who fix computers for a living. I have hear numerous stories of how people have put computer repair companies to the test and they failed miserably. Some of the simplest problems are declared unsolvable or the most long drawn out process is used to ultimately accomplish nothing.

In the end, I think most business are not helping when it comes to the greatest good and software.

What can be concluded from all this? From my observations, software is too complex for you average user. And a business is not going to come up with a solution.

Now we come full circle to the question which I intend to answer: "As a software programmer, what is the greatest good you can do?". There is a need right now. A need for software to satisfy the masses. Is filling that need the greatest good though?