Thank you for the feedback, Halley.  John's insights are also a great read.  This is a great example of the *opposite* of what I was asking about yesterday - how do we positively effect emotions through computer interactions.

Halley - what does the work "easy" mean for you?  From your description, you have an expectation of very limited interaction necessary to receive a good or service.  Should we (Microsoft) be saying, "Here's some new stuff.  If your stuff is working to your satisfaction, don't get the new stuff.  If you want the following things (list of stuff to follow), then install the new stuff.  If there's other stuff you want from us, please let us know."

I think the Media Center Edition of Windows XP is going to teach us a lot about meeting your (collective) expectations.  Comcast never asks if they can upgade my cable box - they just do.  And that's ok with me.  I get more stuff as a result.  It seems like folks want to have a closer relationship with their PC, since we suggest you store your pictures, home movies, etc on this appliance (all things that affect emotions).  Should we ask, "Are you okay with us adding stuff to your PC automatically, or do you want to be more involved in the process?"

 

halleycurve.jpgWell, one of my favorite bloggers, John Porcaro from Microsoft Marketing has created a revised "Technology Adoption Life Cycle" (see Crossing the Chasm) with me featured as the last, most belligerent, impossible, onery, dense, thick-headed user imaginable. I even beat out the laggards and the skeptics! Thanks, John! I do deserve to be in my own private technological chasm!

Read my rant over here about upgrading my Windows Media Player. Just the word "upgrade" makes me break out in hives. Nothing is ever easy -- no matter what they promise.

Call me crazy, but I want things to simply work -- and work simply. My two favorite technologies are McDonalds and FedEx. At McDonalds, you give them money for a hamburger -- they give you a hamburger. At FedEx you hand someone money and a package you'd like them to get to someone else who lives somewhere else by 10:00AM the next day -- they give the package to that guy the next day by 10:00AM.

[Thanks to Geoffrey Moore's Crossing The Chasm for the original version of this graphic.]



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