Jednoduchost vs. rozšiřitelnost

Tohle je dobrý postřeh:

Two of Silicon Valley's truisms are increasingly in conflict with each other, and you can see the battle at Google.

The first is that to make software that is really powerful and easy to use, you take out all but the most essential features. Apple has been the leading advocate of this method. Google, too, has often, but not entirely consistently, tried to introduce products where the complexity is under the hood, not in the screens that users see.

The second very popular idea, competing with the first, is that software and Web sites can be made far more useful if they are opened up to additions and modifications from others. Firefox browser plug-ins and Facebook social networking applications are two examples of this approach.

The conflict is obvious. A community of developers can enrich software with creativity, fun and all sorts of utility. But it is virtually impossible for a mob to keep it simple.

Ano, je to neslučitelné. Patřím také k těm, kdo se chytli a okamžitě si některé z těch experimentálních novinek v GMailu zapnuli. Zdá se, že bychom často měli uvažovat přesně opačně: co vypínat, neinstalovat, nepoužívat. Dokonce ani nevyzkoušet.