From Pip Coburn's AlwaysOn article:

At first, this was just funny to me - especially since Kelly (not his) and I got married not so long ago. But as I read, I thought more about one of my favorite topics, Usability.

I bought Kel an iPod+HP this month so that she would have something for her now-longer commute since we moved. Because I already had iTunes on my computer, I expected to be able to just plug it in and go. No such luck. (Granted, I had tweaked the install substantially, so I can't really blame Apple) However, even after uninstalling the version I had (newer than the one on the disk that came with the iPod) and reinstalling it, it still didn't work. I had to uninstall again and use the one on the disk. 5 reboots later, I was ready to go. At which time, I tried to move stuff to the iPod. Not easy when the library on the computer is bigger than the iPod can handle - so hard to choose.

Long story - short point: If Apple and HP can't make something foolproof working together, the PC as we know it is too complicated. And tech in general is too hard to use.

I can't really guess how many hours I've spent working on my computer - not doing things on the computer, but actually trying to fix/tweak/modify/build it. I actually enjoy it, but that doesn't mean that I want to spend 30 minutes trying to figure out why the wireless isn't working only to have it miraculously come back to life without my knowing why.

Enough for now - enjoy the article

For Better, For Worse, But Not for Tech-Support

For Better, For Worse, But Not for Tech-Support
Pip justifies his "admin-avoidance" lifestyle, and explains the draw of an article that might as well be titled "10 Reasons to Hate iPod."

Pip Coburn [UBS Investment Bank] | POSTED: 01.25.05 @00:28
On July 28, 1990, when Kelly and I got married in New York City, we vowed to stick together "in sickness and in health" and "for richer or for poorer" and a number of other "good times and bad times," but there was never any mention of gutting it out together through the grotesque IT problems that would certainly befall us in the Digital Age.

Accidental omission?

I have my doubts... there may have been untold wisdom at work.

Last week's blog centered around the 611 viruses that "tech geek" found on Kelly's Acer Tablet PC. You may have wondered why I—as a Global Tech Strategist—would let Kelly's machine become hostage to such villainous activity. As a Global Tech Strategist, I certainly have a duty and an obligation to solve and handle all tech-oriented issues facing my own physical or virtual household, no...?

Lol... No way!

Kelly is on her own, here.

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As folks this past week whose patience and interest I am grateful for—like Maureen O'Hara, Melanie Wyld, Tam Dell'Oro, Adam Devito, Adam Lashinsky, Paul Pangaro, CJ Maupin, Steve Hayden and a bevy of clients in San Francisco—can attest, I can focus for hours on issues surrounding the Change Function, Total Perceived Pain of Adoption, and BioCost, and can also romanticize how wonderful the world was when Brian Sipe and Bernie Kosar quarter-backed the Cleveland Browns non-stop forever... but my attention span/patience for expending time on solving tech problems—mine or others'—is about a nanosecond. And I gear my life as best I can to avoid getting sucked into the fray.

I want technology to work.

I like playing snow football with my kids on the weekends—pretending to be Brian Sipe or Bernie Kosar even now at age 39—or going to the movies with Kelly and other things normal humans do. I do not want talk with "tech geek" or install anti-spyware.

Yuck!

As I travel, I have no desire to learn the intelligent lighting system at the San Francisco Mandarin hotel. I just want the lights in my room to go on and go off. I don't want to figure out the complexity of a high-end microwave. I don't need an extra button on it that says "popcorn." The fewer choices the better. I don't want to change batteries in my headset at work. I don't want to read a short/easy manual.

I don't want any of it.... Much like Walt Mossberg, I want technology to work seamlessly and I don't want downtime.

I almost bought Kelly a BlackBerry at Christmas. You know, my favored little companion.... Why not let Kelly in on the new world? And then I woke up to a few things just in time:
· First, $49.95 per month through Verizon is a lot to spend without knowing if Kelly really wants to get sucked into the ugly world of adult attention deficit disorder. Perhaps having only one psycho communicator/connector in our marriage is a part of the formula for success....
· Second, we use text messaging a ton and that seems to do the trick for the two of us in many, many instances.
· Most importantly, I do not want to be Kelly's IT department.

See, when she buys an Acer Tablet PC I feel no obligation to pitch in as IT administrator. None. But it would really be bad form to give her the gift of a BlackBerry and then look the other way when myriad BlackBerry issues arise.

"No, No, No, No, Kel, you call Verizon."

Bad form....

Why do I adore BlackBerry? High "crisis" and low "total perceived pain of adoption."

High "crisis" for me—I like cleaning my inbox on the fly, knowing that I am current, and through BlackBerry I send maybe 75 well-placed e-mails a day on the fly to stay connected while on the road. I rarely check e-mail on my laptop or desktop anymore. I have more home in home-time.

And Blackberry provides a "Low Total Perceived Pain of Adoption."

How so? Well, as a UBS employee, any time I have a BlackBerry issue—and there are quite a few—I ask Fazia to hand my valiant little pal over to the IT staff to fix it, and voila, it comes back, and away I go again. Near zero downtime. RIM has reduced total perceived pain of adoption of enterprise BlackBerry. My IT staff reduces my pain. But in the consumer space, I would be Kelly's IT staff and, again, no thank you! In sickness and in health, sure, but sitting on hold waiting for the helpdesk to grace me with their presence? No way.

Will I be able to hold out forever in my "admin-avoidance" life strategy?

Of course not.... But you companies out there can help me out and also lure me into more and more tech indulgence if you are interested.

Here is what the change function says:
Change = f (crisis vs. total perceived pain of adoption)

"So what do you want companies to actually do if they grok your change function?"

If you are able to identify my "crises" before I do, I am deeply indebted. BlackBerry—and its long-ago predecessor, Motorola's PageWriter—have given me mobile e-mail for the past seven years, and I thank you. I am deluded but happy in thinking my life is better for it.

If you are able to reduce my total perceived pain of adoption, I will buy more tech gadgets as well.

And the best way to do that has nothing to do with Moore's Law of price reduction and lower prices and all, but rather everything to do with simpler, sharper, easier, clearer, more lucid design and dramatically improved, bug-free, hassle-free, "admin-avoidance" reliability. I do not wish to be a guinea pig. I want tech to work.

The broader market at large is thinking along similar lines. The Analogist world is generally terrified of tech and looks for reasons to justify resisting the societal calling and peer pressure to adopt a "digital" lifestyle. I noticed that this month's issue of Cigar Afficionado—no, I don't smoke cigars—had a cover story "What you should know about iPod before you jump in!" or some such headline. Not sure what iPod has to do with cigars, but apparently it's an affinity group issue.

What issue might such an affinity group have? Geez, maybe, let's see... how 'bout feeling stupid about, and being afraid of, tech. Home and Garden might run a similar story.

Do cigar-smoking Analogists want to read an article describing how they are stupid for not adopting iPod? Nope, cancel subscription. Do they want to read an article that helps them justify why they haven't adopted iPod and other tech foolishness without 'fessing up that they are just plain scared of the stuff?

Oh, yeah! This is a great Analogist feel-good article that could be re-titled: "Why tech stinks and you shouldn't feel bad about not wanting to use any of it even though the world will soon roll right over you if you don't jump in."

Catchy title? Nah. Tad lengthy.... "10 reasons to hate iPod" works much better, as my contact at AlwaysOn, Nina Davis, might readily agree.

So, Kelly, after nearly 15 years of marriage, I look forward to another 60, and if we can avoid clashing over fixing your Tablet PC, I think we stand a pretty good chance.

"There is too much needless complexity in the world, he argues. Technology was supposed to make our lives easier, has taken a wrong turn. In 20 years we've gone from the simplicity of MacPaint to Photoshop. While the first fostered a creative explosion, the second gave birth to an industry of how-to books and classes. And such complexity is commonplace, Dr. Maeda says. Despite the lip service paid to 'ease of use,' 'plug and play,' and 'one-click shopping,' simplicity is an endangered quality in the digital world, he adds, and it is time to break free from technology's intimidating complexity...."
- Jessie Scanlon, quoting John Maeda, associate professor of media arts & sciences at MIT Media Lab




"and the day came
when the risk
to remain tight in a bud
was more painful
than the risk
it took to blossom"
- Anais Nin




Pip Coburn is a managing director and global technology strategist in the technology group of UBS Investment Research. Mr. Coburn is responsible for integrating the research efforts of 120 technology and telecom analysts worldwide.