Every time I turn around, one or another of the web pages or Apps I use is revamped. \u201cImproved!\u201d They claim. \u201cRuined,\u201d in reality, for the users who figured out how to navigate the old program. Two of my banks did that to their websites and Apps during the past year. They hid some of the functions I use in new sub-menus, stuff that used to be in plain sight on the home page. That was one problem, but they also renamed some of them. The techies that design these things live on a different planet than old guys like me. I\u2019m pretty tech-savvy, yet the new programs bamboozle me. <\/p>\n
Microsoft was the first company to change and mess up their programs; it affected millions of users \u2013 which is why you might hear me mumble under my breath, \u201cI hate Bill Gates,\u201d every time I encounter a change on a computer program. I don\u2019t hate him, but I do hate how he made this process commonplace across the industry. <\/span><\/p>\n He\u2019s retired, but his legacy lives on. I used his \u201cWord\u201d program to write with since the 1980\u2019s. Every time it changed, which was just about every year, it was radically different, and confusing. He really put it to the test when he made us push \u201cStart\u201d to stop the program. I know he was messing with our minds with that one. <\/span><\/p>\n Over time they\u2019ve changed the Word program so many times I\u2019m a novice when I use it now. I can\u2019t figure it out when it used to be so simple. It\u2019s also become very bossy, correcting mistakes that aren\u2019t really mistakes. Half of the time I don\u2019t even notice that it changed something, making me appear more stupid than usual. <\/p>\n I think the trouble is caused when the design teams use each other to test the new (and improved) programs. Even when they get users involved in the test process, they won\u2019t allow old coots like me to participate. <\/p>\n