The Invisible Computer: Why Good Products Can Fail, the Personal Computer Is So Complex, and Information Appliances Are the Solution

By Donald A. Norman

Book Overview

From "Science Finds, Industry Applies, Man Conforms" (motto of the 1933 Chicago USA World's Fair)--to "People Propose, Science Studies, Technology Conforms" (Donald Norman's person-centered motto for the twenty-first centuray). Technologies have a life cycle, says Donald Norman, and companies and their products must change as they pass from youth to maturity. Alas, the computer industry thinks it is still in its rebellious teenage years, exulting in technical complexity. Customers want change. They are ready for products that offer convenience, ease of use, and pleasure. The technology should be invisible, hidden from sight. In this book, Norman shows why the computer is so difficult to use and why this complexity is fundamental to its nature. The only answer, says Norman, is to start over again, to develop information appliances that fit people's needs and lives. To do this companies must change the way they develop products. They need to start with an understanding of people: user needs first, technology last--the opposite of how things are done now.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0262140659
• ISBN13: 9780262140652
• Release Date: September 1998
• Publisher: Mit Pr
• Length: 340 Pages
• Weight: 1.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.5" x 1.0" x 6.5"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

All CIO should change the plicy for the PC.

All CIO should change the policy fot the PC. Many people waste many time to manage the complexed PC. If there is a simple computer, we can make happy. It is sad taha there is no simple computer. ps. "Being analog" is a title of section 7, and a part of Japanese version title of this book. If we can do analog, we will be happy.

The book is a revelation

this book is a good possesion. especially bcoz of its price tag.

Required reading for Every CIO

As usual Don Norman brings absolute logic and clarity to the ever confusing IT world. ---This book should be required reading for every CIO ---- Pure unadulterated 1 million % LOGIC. --- Worth its weight in Gold, like all his other great works

Well-argued perspectives on the future of PC design

Donald Norman offers a no-holds-barred attack on the present state of personal computer design and marketing. He also offers a solution the the problems of PC complexity: Information Appliances. While I do not neccessarily agree with all of the criticsm hurled against the PC, The Invisible Computer is so readble that I find myself open to Norman's vision of the future.

If you want to take a step back from using PCs.......

A very good book, in a very easy to read style. The author makes a number of good points about why PCs are such pigs to use. I've personally always felt that PC stood for "pig computer". I have always believed that where we are today with computers is where the automobile was in the early 1900's. Back then, you had to be part machinist, part chemist, part electrician, part mechanic, to run and keep your auto running. Today, you have to be part OS expert, part networking expert, part hardware hack, and part wizard to run and keep your computer running. The author uses a number of excellent models to show in the past how technology has disappeared to make our lives easier today. Thanks for a very good book.