Chapter 2 begins with a quote by William H. Gass:
Simplicity is not a given. It is an achievement, a human invention, a discovery, a beloved belief.
It is from this starting point that Virginia Tufte masterfully dissects Gass’ construct above to reveals its underlying literate complexity. I always knew that writing isn’t simple, and I was glad to see the craft so well organize-ed.
2/ organize, books 
(1) Sep 30, '06
A mini-review of LOS appears in today’s LA Times Discoveries Section. I 
it in visual form before the link turns into digital dust.
I’m 10 years away from getting my postcard in the mail from AARP. AARP is formerly the “American Association of Retired Persons” so the image you might conjur up (like I once did) is that AARP is a sort of rickety-rackety kind of organization. Surprise! It turns out that AARP is more wired than most Internet powerhouses out there.
I recently visited their newly completed state-of-the-art video production facilities (HD-everything) and was interviewed regarding LOS for their Web channel. It’s not often that you’re jealous of the gizmos at grandpa’s house …
Wherever I go, folks quote to me Einstein’s,
“Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not one bit simpler.”
So I went on a quest to search for more of these today. Einstein headlines this short list where the real gem there in my mind is Whitehead’s crafty,
“Seek simplicity, and distrust it.”
Mr. Whitehead was clearly from the school of hard knocks when it comes to trust as I once learned.
More on the good and bad of simplicity is here as quotes, poems, and lyrics.
A quote that epitomizes the feeling of an inventor is by one of the fathers of computing Dennis Ritchie,
“UNIX is basically a simple operating system, but you have to be a genius to understand the simplicity.”
This chest-beating quote is surrounded by a set of more humble quotes here.
Finally in the quest for a simpler way to access more quotes on simplicity, and hopefully as a way to gain your trust in the event that you don’t agree with Mr. Whitehead, I worked up a simple hack to get the most out of your click:
Much has been said about Moore’s Technology Adoption Curve and the difficulty of getting consumers to “cross the chasm” to achieve success in the marketplace. Today I was wondering whether the simplest solution to help consumers make the jump across the chasm is to just focus on ensuring that your product embodies simplicity. This may seem like a simplistic answer, but it does help to explain why products with simple operation, simple concept, simple marketing message do manage to succeed.
Perhaps the more question is what happens after the early and late majority adopts the product? Consumers bore of the simplicity of the device and desire more. Complexity is sprinkled over the product to enhance the emotion-al attachment to spice up the relationship. Does simplicity pull them in initially for the first date, and then complexity reels them in further to make for a steamy relationship?
Some stay wed to their devices/objects forever; others go looking for a new fling. differences is a good thing.
5/differences, 7/emotion, howto (8) Sep 16, '06
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