Simplicity - Why and how

Yeah, I don't know many systems where I can genuinely say "these guys failed because they provided too many features". It's more of a case that making it without a myriad of features is possible.

What attracted my attention was this:

If any of your users have to stop and ask for help, you’ve done something wrong. Nobody ever wants to have to contact support.

I have found it a great advantage to work at a small shop, where developing and support is shared amongst the same people. The Nth time a user has the same query or hits the same problem, you know this is something you really have to sort out.

Facebook is a really interesting counter-example. They have done an excellent job of empowering their users - their users feel like they know how Facebook works and can show or tell other people how to use it.

Facebook is also not gun-shy when it comes to trying out new things and occasionally getting them wrong. Part of the reason there are so many "1,000,000+ against Facebook charging money!!1!!" groups and things like that is that Facebook users feel like they can actually cause change. Giving users a platform for their complaints is a tremendously useful customer happiness tool.