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Comment by ajessup | Hacker News Reader

I like Chris' writing, but putting aside from the (pretty > prowess)? argument, I don't feel he has correctly mapped cause to effect here.

The reason that UX has become more critical for certain classes of software is because (a) consumers rather than business have become the predominant driver of spending for desktop computers over the last 15 years, and (b) because the web and app stores removed distribution and sales channels as competitive advantages, leaving price and experience.

Product design is now more important, sure, but it's because the playing field has been flattened and because more consumers are buying. NOT because of some broader macroeconomic trend that can be applied to all markets.

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In Crossing the Chasm, Geoffrey Moore elucidates the critical fact that when selling a product whose economic buyer and end user are not the same person, you must sell differently to succeed. He is right and there's a reason that book is like a bible for tech entrepreneurs.

That said, this fact of life when selling to enterprises is what caused me to permanently exit the enterprise software space. Success requires you to make crappy software.

Fortunately the SaaS-ification of enterprise has allowed the enterprise world to mitigate this problem by allowing the actual end users of products to also be the economic buyer through their monthly budget.

I consider SaaS delivery to be a wonderful financial innovation. I agree with parent that this change isn't due to macro changes in buyers but rather innovations in pricing and channel which align incentives in a positive way.

I encourage all of us HN'ers to continually challenge ourselves to find innovative ways to align incentives for maximum value creation. It's good for society and tends to be even better for profits.

Don't forget touch. In the last 5 years we've moved from a world where most computer interaction happened with a monitor on a desk and a virtual mouse pointer. Now many consumers user smartphones as their primary computer - which they hold in their hand and touch with their fingers. This made the computing experience more emotional and personal and there the "experience" part of the software a lot more important.

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