Why click n? drag IT may elude us

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Missing the boat

Boy, you have hit the nail on the head. I have a little more to say in general about this.

I have to say that the producers of programming tools/software such as Microsoft, Borland, Sun, Macromedia, and IBM (and others)...etc have so far missed the boat on providing the ability of "normal" or even "power" users to use any programming tools.

Think about your "normal" baseline neighborhood user. They surf the net, they do e-mail, they IM, they do homework, they do research, they manage their contact/address books, they do their family tree stuff, they using mapping software for directions, they create artwork, they may create a outside deck or landscaping plan, they manage home finances, they make a calendar, they use reference programs such as dictionaries, they use training programs for learning music or languages, they print and FAX things, they play games, they manage and organize personal information, they store and display/play digital pictures and music, they occasionally use a loaded suite such as MS works, MS Office using mostly spreadsheets, presentation software and word processors.

To them the computer is like a microwave. Cooking some kinds of veggies or popcorn in a microwave is good, easy and saves time, but I wouldn't want to cook a whole roast in it when I have a regular oven or an outside grill. Why? Because it tastes better that way, it may take longer, but the results are better.

Oh, and here is the kicker...they outnumber the "savvy" and "power" users, by quite a large margin (lets guess-timate 10 to 1). If you are a programmer, you are out numbered by even a larger margin (lets guess-timate at least 100 to 1). I?m sure someone has a study on this somewhere or maybe not.

Oh, and a couple of other things;
If they are currently using Microsoft Windows they don?t want to try anything else such as a Mac Os or Linux. (Go ahead, take a poll). You may get some of them to budge when bringing up price, but go ahead and take away Microsoft Windows from them and see what happens.

They cannot program their computers to do anything and are typically unaware that they could if they wanted to. Their computers are basically being used as storage devices, with some content creation and viewing. Again, it?s easy to create content today, what would be your ?guess-timate? of the percentage of programming tools for end users versus content creation or viewing tools? 98% content, 2% programming?

Sure there are some that want to program, or may have a need where they know a computer can help them perform it, but there is no easy starting point. Watch the look on a "normal" user's face when you show them an "easy" programming language tool such as VB.net or Java.

From a business users perspective, in my opinion, the reason Microsoft Access is so popular, is because since about version 2.0 (back in the day), it became very easy to "program" it. By only using wizards you could build a form, with controls, without coding one line. In fact, you could build and share an entire application without coding one line! Finally some power users and normal users could create a program (albeit within the MS Access wrapper) and translate their business process, requirements and data into an application without any help from any IT source or programmer! What a concept! There are other programming type tools that also fit into this, such as Filemaker, Hyper Studio, Hypercard...etc.

Sure, these kinds of applications had problems. A power user and normal user could lay out tables, keys and relationships in a manner that would make a current DBA cringe. But there was a far more powerful force at work here, people became empowered. Using buckets of money, they bought millions of copies of software, making the software producers rich.

In the heady days of the late 90?s, the IT organization came into power via finance organizations and squashed this rebellion using the ultimate weapon of cost and holding shields such as ?scalable?, ?standards?, ?business case? and ?ROI?. But there were still some rebels that squeaked through. This certainly impacted your business?s IT department. Ask your DBA, web master or IT manager about the time they were "forced" by the business owners to manage a non-IT user?s application or bring it online. The business owners didn't care about the needs of IT, they simply stated "it works for us; this is what we want? and occasionally stated that ?they didn?t want IT screwing this one up?. Oh?My?Gosh, the thought of it! Although IT organizations stated that they would manage IT, what they were not prepared to do, was to be enablers. In some corporate cases, this was addressed and acted upon. In others, it wasn?t.

So back to the Microsoft's, IBM's, Sun?s. Macromedia?s and Borland?s (and others) who are currently missing the boat. Based upon the heady days of the late 90?s they have given up on the normal consumer type user. They feed them applications, not programming tools. They have given in to the IT organizations who must manage cost, via manageability, via time, via resources. This has ostracized the majority of computer users from programming.

There is one major change from the heady late 90?s, and that is the IT organization is no longer the sole holder of the title ?digital glitterati?. The normal users have learned quite a bit since then. Every one of them probably has their own home computer (not always the case in the late 90?s). If the IT organization doesn?t help them, they have learned to how to fly under the radar of the IT organization to get things done the way they want them done (ever just find a server in someone?s office). Why? The IT organization won?t do what they want them to do. In the end, IT organizations are not perceived to be a corporate amenity, or a corporate department such as HR or finance. They are perceived to be enablers, and when IT organizations fail at this job, the groups they serve are quite honestly disappointed and discouraged from further use. The ?business? people then pull up their boot straps and find ways around it.

Hey, these power users and normal users don't want to know anything about a function or an array. They don't need or want to write any code at all. They don't need or want anything too complicated to use. They don?t care about platforms. They don't want to attend training to learn to programming unless they absolutely have to. They don't need to be able to program a computer to fully integrate two separate datasets on separate servers. They don?t need the .50 caliber machine gun to hunt squirrels. To start out on version 1.0, just giving them ability to some simple things would be fine. (Maybe without the ability to do some potentially very dangerous things) They can then just build it, or build a prototype to show the IT organization how they want something to work.

Programming to them is this simple and probably event driven. There are icons and buttons, when I click on them, I want it to do this or that (play a sound, open another form/page, and do something with data). I want to see a list of choices of what I can have this button, or control do, I don?t want to look at separate reference document to figure this out, or be made to memorize anything. When I do this, I am creating something for me or someone else who I may want to share this with (not just via a web page). I may use my own content, which may be text, music, pictures?etc. And hey by the way, I?ve got this cool Pocket PC thing; can I do something with that? Drag and drop might work out fine, or a wizard, whatever makes it easier. The closest thing I?ve seen non-programmers do to attain this is use MS PowerPoint as a ?programming tool?. Now, I want to be clear that I don?t think that we are talking about Microsoft?s ?Bob? here for programming?or maybe I am. I think the difference is that hey, maybe if I learn enough, if I stay interested, I may want the ability to code in the future, or the company that produced it will add more features. Lastly, it should be fairly inexpensive to buy, or be part of my operating system.

Talk to a good programmer. Ask ?What?s interesting about programming?? When you drive that discussion to the end point, programming is a creative process; it is art to a programmer. I bet that you won?t hear the words ?scalable?, ?standards?, ?business case? and ?ROI?.

Sure there are technical hurdles which involve learning (a pain in the butt), and you have to deal with users (a really big pain in the butt) but there is something inherently interesting in the process of creation and using a computer to do something for you. It is empowering. I created it. It does something really cool. It contains content that I have created or found. I can share and show it.

If you are a programmer, and you have created a program for a non-technical someone, there is something inherently satisfying in helping someone realize their visualization of the end result. That feeling you get when they say ?Wow?! ?Let me show this to my boss right away?!

Selling the ability to program, to programmers, is selling features (which is in part, ease of use, for programmers, not non-programmers) and manageability. Selling the ability to program to non-programmers is selling what makes programming cool and easy. This is the point that Microsoft, IBM, Sun, Macromedia?s and Borland (and others) are missing for the normal user.

Don?t get me wrong, there are some companies out there that are making some strides. Softwire?s tools comes to mind (although you still need a copy of traditional programming language), and there is a bevy of shareware type tools such as Mediachance?s multimedia builder software.

What they lack is what the Microsofts, IBMs, Suns, Macromedias and Borlands (and others) have, which is a solid foundation and reputation in creating and supporting programming languages. It is disappointing.

Remember, these are the normal users that out number all the other ?technical? users. Remember, this is an extremely large customer base that is waiting. Someone may be in the position to make buckets of money.

Posted by: informationworker   Posted on: 07/02/04 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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