My Dot See, Eh?

Today I received an email from family that would usually be considered good news for most people but, in my case, is a stark reminder of failure. My recently married brother is now a father. His wife gave birth just a few hours ago to a healthy and happy baby girl. This is, of course, good news. I wish them all well. That said, this makes me the last person in the family over the age of 17 that does not yet have any children.

Over the last few months, Google has been rolling out a +1-style redesign across a number of its web properties. As with any change, this has resulted in a number of people to take to their soap box and scream bloody murder¹. I don't blame anyone for complaining about the new layouts, as many Google properties have gone from being data-packed screens of ill-design to content-light screens of blocks and white space, but there are always options available.

Until recently, I was a heavy Google Reader user. I'd be on the site for several hours a day, consuming RSS feeds like there's no tomorrow. The site was densely packed, Java-heavy, and allowed me to quickly move from article to article, starring the ones I wanted to read more in depth later, or write a blog response about later. The old Google Reader wasn't beautiful by any stretch of the imagination, but it worked very well on just about every screen resolution … which is not something we can say about the current design. Now, instead of using the website, I do everything through Byline for iOS. The only time I load the web page itself when I want to add or remove a feed from the list (which is maybe once a month at most).

The amount of technological advancement experienced across many of the wealthier nations over the last century has been nothing short of astonishing, with the rate of advancement and adoption increasing exponentially towards the seemingly-impossible vertical line. Thanks to this incredible level of prowess people are doing more, learning more, and living longer. Every year systems, both digital and analog, are getting better and faster. Organizations are far more efficient than ever before. People are far more entertained than ever before. Manufacturing is far more streamlined than ever before. This is truly a golden age. But have we progressed too far, too quickly?

Software companies around the world have been incredibly busy creating new ways for regular people to work with information, pass time while commuting, or keeping in touch with people all over the world. For the average person who is looking for simple programs to help them keep track of expenses or record thoughts, there has never been a better time. Not only has the software market started to mature, but so have people’s tastes and expectations. That said, there is one specific market that seems to have been forgotten over the last few years: business software.