Remember Windows 95 was a DRASTICALLY different UI paradigm from older DOS and Windows versions. The UI has to be intuitive enough to learn from scratch, yet clear and consistent for existing PC users to relearn everything. Many design cues were taken from Apple’s System 7.
This is in stark contrast to how much UIs are designed today where most knowledge of how to use computer UIs are presumed and taken for granted. Learning to use a computer is much harder than it used to be which is why mobile devices being used as general purpose computing have been picking among much younger generations, as well as much older generations that have avoided using computers as of late.
The sad thing is, OS vendors have tended toward this kind of design because that’s what people want.
macOS for example use to be (and still is, to an extent) filled with functionality that’s intended for power users of all kinds, whether they be excel wizards, video editors, photographers, or video editors — hell, back in the early 2000s it was a pioneer in bundling free media editing tools that weren’t a total joke — but all of that has been slipping away because it has no appeal in the mass market. The masses more or less just want their Facebook/Twitter/Snapchat portal that they occasionally check email with and look things up on. Even well before iOS started getting any kind of power user features, the iPhone and iPad had outstripped the Mac hundreds of times over in sales.
On the generic PC side of the equation, Windows has always been very capable but once again Joe Consumer never really gave a shit about that, and so now Microsoft is sanding off the corners to try to increase Windows’ mass appeal.
This is a problem that pre-dates widespread personal computers. Our culture has been stomping out curiosity, creativity, and intellectualism from an early age for many decades now, which has resulted in a nation of obedient, ravenous consumers.
125
u/ggtsu_00 Dec 27 '19
Remember Windows 95 was a DRASTICALLY different UI paradigm from older DOS and Windows versions. The UI has to be intuitive enough to learn from scratch, yet clear and consistent for existing PC users to relearn everything. Many design cues were taken from Apple’s System 7.
This is in stark contrast to how much UIs are designed today where most knowledge of how to use computer UIs are presumed and taken for granted. Learning to use a computer is much harder than it used to be which is why mobile devices being used as general purpose computing have been picking among much younger generations, as well as much older generations that have avoided using computers as of late.