All I need to know about Windows, I learned from a taxi.
See that photo to the right? NYC’s taxis run Windows. Booyah. Fatal Windows Errors… I’ve seen them in airports on the departure/arrival displays and I’ve seen them in the windows of realtors where they display rotating slideshows of available properties.
User experience isn’t really magic. It’s common sense combined with an ability to see the truth, however difficult or uncomfortable that may be.
Check out this tweet from my Colleague JP Morgenthal:
In the middle of watching a movie while on elliptical, Windows decides to apply updates and shutdown.Really?!! #MSFT get a clue, follow APPL
Microsoft doesn’t understand consumers, it’s clear and maybe not so important for them. People, I suspect, always figured that computers were just annoying. It’s the way the computers are.
Apple’s showed us an alternative. In fact, and while Apple’s not perfect, it’s noticeable in how frustrating Windows is in comparison. I firmly believe that a great service experience is by definition most brilliant when you don’t notice it. That is, until in a similar situation you have a much worse experience.
It makes you realize just how frustratingly uncommon good experience is to find, and how important it is to our well being.
Imagine if Apple creates that same awakening in the enterprise?