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Full Description
This non-technical book discusses the annoyances and dangers we encounter every day when using computers. Written with delightful wit and humor, as well as the insight of an experienced insider, it rips into the design of software much as Atul Gawande's Complications exposed the practice of medicine. Its basic message to ordinary people having problems learning or using their software is this: It's not your fault! It's not because you're dumb! Aimed primarily at casual users of software, the book tells readers what they should expect from their software and how to make their voices heard so that they receive it. The book explains the mindset of the programmers behind our software: how they're different from the rest of us, and how they're similar. It looks at the decisions programmers have to make in building their system or application, and why they make the choices that they do - choices that too often leave us scratching our heads, or worse. But the book is not just a funny rant. It shows what all of us ordinary users need to know, and can do, to make our interactions with computers less frustrating. You needn't become a programmer to become a smarter and cooler user. You do need to read this book.
Contents
Acknowledgments xiii Introduction 1 Chapter 1Dummy? 9 Where We Came From 10Why It Still Sucks Today 11Control versus Ease of Use 13I Don't Care How Your Program Works 15A Bad Feature and a Good One 19Stopping the Proceedings with Idiocy 23Testing on Live Animals 26Where We Are and What You Can Do 28Chapter 2: Tangled in the Web 31 Where We Came From 32How It Works 34Why It Still Sucks Today 37Client-Centered Design versus Server-Centered Design 40Where's My Eye Opener? 46It's Obvious-Not! 52Splash, Flash, and Animation 56Testing on Live Animals 59What You Can Do about It 61Chapter 3: Keep Me Safe 65 The Way It Was 66Why It Sucks Today 67What Programmers Need to Know, but Don't 71A Human Operation 77Budgeting for Hassles 80Users Are Lazy 83Social Engineering 87Last Word on Security 92What You Can Do 93Chapter 4: Who the Heck Are You? 97 Where We Came From 97Why It Still Sucks Today 98Incompatible Requirements 99OK, So Now What? 106Chapter 5: Who're You Looking At? 119 Yes, They Know You 119Why It Sucks More Than Ever Today 122Users Don't Know Where the Risks Are 125What They Know First 127Milk You with Cookies? 129Privacy Policy Nonsense 138Covering Your Tracks 140The Google Conundrum 141Solution 145Chapter 6: Ten Thousand Geeks, Crazed on Jolt Cola 149 See Them in Their Native Habitat 149All These Geeks 150Who Speaks, and When, and about What 153Selling It 158The Next Generation of Geeks-Passing It On 161Chapter 7: Who Are These Crazy Bastards Anyway? 169 Homo Logicus 170Testosterone Poisoning 171Control and Contentment 173Making Models 175Geeks and Jocks 177Jargon 179Brains and Constraints 181Seven Habits of Geeks 183Chapter 8: Microsoft: Can't Live With 'Em and Can't Live Without 'Em 189 They Run the World 189Me and Them 190Where We Came From 193Why It Sucks Today 195Damned if You Do, Damned if You Don't 199We Love to Hate Them 203Plus ca Change 207Growing-Up Pains 211What You Can Do about It 214The Last Word 220Chapter 9: Doing Something About It 223 1. Buy 2242. Tell 2293. Ridicule 2324. Trust 2335. Organize 237Epilogue 241 About the Author 243
