I have come to the view that computers are not supposed to work. We all claim to want computers that do work but it's like raising taxes; what we say we believe in and what we actually vote for are two different things.

  • Designers don't want computers to work because that means engineering only the safest, most limited set of features. This is boring and doesn't let you make exciting performance claims.
  • Manufacturers don't want computers to work because they are competing on price so they need to hire cheaper designers and cut corners on testing and QA.
  • Retailers don't want computers to work because you didn't buy the extended warranty.
  • Developers don't want computers to work because then they would have to use standards compliant APIs instead of rolling their own (see designers).
  • The media doesn't want computers to work because the back four pages of every magazine is Q&A and the lead story every month is "How to fix your computer".