Subject:
A User's Bill of Rights
A Computer User's
Manifesto
Do computer users have any
rights?
On September 28, 1998, Business Week technical
columnist Stephen H. Wildstrom asked his readers the following questions: "Did
you ever get so angry with your computer that you wanted to take a baseball bat
to it? Have you ever been stumped by some error message that bore no
relationship to anything in the manual or the online help? Have you ever been
cold in winter?"
In this article, Wildstrom presents a user’s bill of
rights, developed by Dr. Claire-Marie Karat of IBM’s Thomas J. Watson
Research
Center in Hawthorne, N.Y.
A Computer User's Manifesto
http://www.businessweek.com/1998/39/b3597037.htm
--------------------------------------------------
Computer Users are Mad as
Hell
At the end of the above article, Wildstrom asked for
responses from his readers. He introduces his following column on the subject
with "The flood of messages started as soon as my Sept. 28 column, 'A Computer
User's Manifesto,' hit the streets." In one statement about reader responses,
he
says "The Bill's first article--'The user is always right'--drew much ire from
software developers." See if you agree.
Computer Users are Mad as Hell
http://www.businessweek.com/1998/42/b3600052.htm
--------------------------------------------------
This Manifesto 'Hit a
Nerve'
Responses continued to pour in, and Business Week
printed more user comments about usability.
This Manifesto 'Hit a Nerve'
http://www.businessweek.com/1998/42/b3600053.htm
--------------------------------------------------
Reference Material
If you are looking for still more comments
(approximately forty more responses in this article), here is additional reader
feedback on usability and the User's Bill of Rights. Many letters agree with
previous responses, and some offer additional ideas on software
improvement.
More Readers Who Say 'Right On!' or 'Hold
On!'
http://www.businessweek.com/1998/42/b3600054.htm
