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Tuesday, October 4, 2011

New & 'Improved'

We're surrounded by people who think 'new and improved' is always the way to go. A change, here a tuck there, a small move of just this one thing, but it always leads to something else.
Now let me say upfront that I'm not an anti-change person! I don't mind change at all. In fact sometimes I incite change. What I object to is change for change's sake, rather than for a good and logical purpose.
One of the changes that still chafes years later is Best Food/Hellman's 'improvement' of their tartar sauce. For many years it was absolutely the best tasting tartar sauce. They improved it and now it's one of the nastiest.
Windows is another area of questionable change. Not so long ago I had a version (probably something like 6.723P) where I could easily copy or move files. I simply went to Windows Explorer, clicked on the file I wanted to move or copy, then clicked on the quick link to the left. A window popped up and I selected the folder I needed to move it to. It was done! Now I have to open two windows in Windows Explorer, size them so I can see both, in one window find the files I want, in the other find my destination folder. I can drag and drop, but I have to watch carefully to see whether the system is moving or copying. Invariably it's not going to do the one I want, so I have to copy back or cut.
Or I can save myself some 'trouble' by only opening one window, copying or cutting the file, then navigating to the folder I want. However, half the time I can't seem to figure out how to navigate simply. For some reason that drop menu that used to allow me to pick one of the folders above the one I'm in doesn't work, and half the time the back button doesn't either (I have no idea how to make them work when I want them to), so I have to go all the way up to Documents and navigate my way down to the folder I want. Now, since I'm trying to organize my files better, I have to navigate back to another folder, copy or cut again and then navigate back to that destination folder.
Yes, they sure improved Windows Explorer!
And don't even get me started on Facebook!!!!
So, the purpose to this rant? Everything can be changed, but not everything needs to be changed.
Change should not be made simply to make things different. It's a guarantee that when you do that, there's a good portion of the population for whom you will actually make things harder! Some changes actually devalue loyal fans/users/followers.
Don't be afraid of change, but before you implement that change, make sure it's really going to be a good change, and make sure you have a 'restrore' point in case you guessed wrong on the value of that change.

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