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Comment by dorfuss | Hacker News Reader

I would simply say: there are too many changes in the interfaces.

And I agree with that - every new device and operating system changes things, and most often those changes are not necessary. I am not talking about functionalities, but UI.

I am not sure there is any value added in the UI changes between Win 95 and Win10. I am still using the good old WinAmp and TotalCommander which still have not changed by pixel in the last 10-15 years. Once you get used to certain technology, even if it is uncomfortable at the beginning, should not be re-designed and forcefully imposed on users.

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One of my good friends has repeatedly said that "consistency is the most important feature." Even I, as a 20-something, struggle to be effective in any windows product with flat design and keep installing windows 7 on every new overpowered PC I build.

I think another problem is the fact that there are multiple interfaces to every product. For example, Google Drive has the desktop website, the desktop app, the mobile site, and the mobile app.

Or the fact that competing products have different design patterns. Coming from an Android background, even I become functionless if given an iphone, despite the fact that I've been using a macbook pro for years and have multiple ipads.

on the meta level: Older people don't understand what is an operating system, is it different from Office? Or between an Icon and a Program. It's truly amazing that they actually can do something on the computer.

And yet, you also have the opposite: those who started with MS DOS (or Altos if they were better off), and who sit there screaming at Windows 10 for trying to tell them how they should do something, rather than letting the user make the decision. (Buried options in Control Panel, can only use the Registry Editor for other things)

My dad reaches for C whenever Windows hides another feature, because the backwards compatibility of the Win32 API makes it easier than the PC Settings/Control Panel divide, and features continually getting harder to find.

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