brucec@tekecs.UUCP (Bruce Cohen) (09/23/83)
Here's a suggestion made by a friend of mine who can't submit articles
to net.cog-eng.
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Replied: <<21-Sep-83 09:02>>
From: tekecs!tektronix!ogcvax!omsvax!mjm
To: ogcvax!tektronix!tekecs!brucec
Received: from ogcvax.uucp by tektronix ; 20 Sep 83 18:26:11 PDT
Subject: User Friendly Software
Date: Tue Sep 20 17:48:01 1983
Gee, I like the concept of "user-friendly" software
so much that I've considered going one step further
and developing a family of "user-affectionate" software.
For example, at the end of a long compile the user sees
the message:
"Was it good for you, too?"
(Well, the all night hackers would probably like the idea....)
Marjie Myers
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I think that an environment variable called $RELATIONSHIP should be
used to determine the amount of affection in the system messages. One
doesn't want one's computer becoming too familiar early in the
relationship, for fear it would think one cheap.
Bruce Cohen
UUCP: ...!teklabs!tekecs!brucec
CSNET: tekecs!brucec@tektronix
ARPA: tekecs!brucec.tektronix@rand-relaysamir@drufl.UUCP (09/26/83)
Your humorous remark regarding "user-affectionate" software has more meaning than you may think. Computer-novice people, when they start out with computers, describe them as "rude", "unfriendly" and "curt". And also I have heard remarks like "it (computer) doesn't like me!". For computer-novice people, I would rather have the computer be "affectionate" than "curt". And as they become more comfortable with computers a variable like $RELATIONSHIP can change the interaction. These are my personal opinions. Samir Shah AT&T Information Systems, Denver. drufl!samir
minow@decvax.UUCP (Martin Minow) (09/27/83)
Several years ago, a financial reporting system was implemented in two Swedish banks. In one, which had a cold, autocratic, managment structure, the workers liked the non-judgmental character of the error messages. In the other, which was democratically managed, they disliked the distant, unfriendly (but identical) messages. Reference: Att Arbeta med Terminalen, Liber Foerlag, Sweden. Martin Minow decvax!minow