Brain scan confirms: Vista blows


Microsoft has applied for a patent for some mind-reading technology. See here. They’re going to use this technology to design user interfaces. They say they need to do this because simply listening to people doesn’t work. Reason? “Human beings are often poor reporters of their own actions,” the company says.

In other words, “People keep telling us that Vista sucks. So we’re going to start probing their brains until they tell us what we want to hear.”

It’s classic Borg, isn’t it? Naturally it’s much more sensible to create some wacky complicated system to trace brain activity and then translate that into user interface ideas. (See photo of system in action above.)

Beastmaster, listen up. The whole world is telling you that the new Office apps are too complex and scarier than Rosie O’Donnell in bicycle shorts. The whole world — inlcuding your PC maker business partners — is telling you that Vista sucks. You don’t need to scan your users’ brains. You need to scan your developers’ brains. And rewire them to be less frigtarded.

See a typically sharp piece on all this nonsense by Nick Carr here.

(Photo: Frank Shaw, DSM-IV.)