Users. They just don't realise it until the computer gets in the way of them doing what they want.
I've been ranting for years about usability, task-centered design, blah, blah. I know just how hard it is to get right too. But both FLOSS and proprietary software are generally abysmal at this sort of thing.
Nat seems to be catching on to what usability is really all about:
"It was interesting to watch this video and instantly realize that the 'Send / Receive' button is all about how Evolution works and not about what the user wants to do. I've been staring at that button for five years, and never realized it was wrong until I saw that video."
So I just hope more people make this intellectual leap. Everywhere, you see examples of the inside-out design, where the implementation is exposed - warts and all! - all the way up to the interface. This is one of the most pervasive errors in design, and it is only getting worse, with more features crammed into every new release.
Imagine: you are designing a VCR remote control. Does the user really care that it is reading an analog signal from a helical scan magnetic head, with the tape running at 2.1cm/sec? Do you have a separate button to engage the heads? A dial to adjust the variable speed motor? Another dial to adjust the helical rotation speed to match the tape? Do the users really care how it works inside? Do they need to know in order to use the player?
Or do they just want to "watch the movie"?
The importance of ASP.
It is rather amusing to hear people make such reckless assumptions about their users without any *audience analysis*. There are probably developers who will read this story and become defensive, trotting out empty arguments about how "...common sense should've told 'em what the send/receive button is for..." Some might even claim that "the interface IS intuitive/obvious to the user."
To some, this might seem rather elementary, but my experience has taught me that having a strategy is critical to the writing process. Even if what you have written fails to connect with the audience in the manner you intended, your strategy should help justify your course of action.
Finally, whether you are just trying to convey a new idea, or have some other effect, it is crucial to have a well-defined purpose to what is written. When this is absent, the user may be left confused, or worse yet, more frustrated than they were beforehand.
So, there it is. Audience. Strategy. Purpose. Learning these concepts could keep you from wasting a very precious resource - time.