The end of dumb software

It seems the world is turning toward simple software that just “does” and stays out of our way.

We’ve been bleating about this for a couple of years now.

The combination of Gareth building software for the financial community wanting to use it “tomorrow” and my experience of selling complex stuff people would never use led us down the path of Front Office Box.

For a long while now it’s seemed we couldn’t persuade others on the subject.  But now some real thought leaders are starting to say the same things, albeit more eloquently.

A couple of days ago in Keep Software Simple, Stupid we referenced the awesomely impressiveGarry Tan of Posterous.

Around the same time we announced the new version of Front Office Box in A New Style of Business Software trying to explain our version of Garry’s “adding to the experience by subtracting”.

Today we’re over the moon being able to reference the King of Communication in the Information Age - Seth Godin.

Here’s what Seth said in his blog.

The end of dumb software

In the age of rapid cycles and connected data, how long are we going to have to settle for dumb software?

Here’s the detail screen from iCal. If I write a long text to go with an appointment, the only way to see the whole thing is to hit “edit.”  But I don’t want to edit it, I just want to see it.

If I try to schedule an appointment for 2 pm, it requires me to not only hit the 2, but also select pm. I have never once had a meeting at 2 am. Shouldn’t it know that?

When I type in someone’s name, how come it doesn’t know that this is someone I know, correspond with and meet with often? Why isn’t it connected?

I have tens of thousands of people in my address book. Some of these folks were put there ten years ago and, alas, are dead or long gone. Do I really have to go through and delete people manually? Why isn’t my address book smart enough to sort the list in reverse order of use, so I can see records I haven’t encountered in seven years first and start from there? Or, better, why doesn’t this address book hook up with other address books of trusted peers and automatically correct and update?

The people who make desktop software are making themselves obsolete. When you start developing on the web, your default is to be smart, to interact and to be open (with other software and with your users). Desktop software (like Word) is insanely unaware of what I do, why I do it and who I do it with. Right now, the desktop folks have the momentum of the incumbent. Not for long. Time to hurry.