Dethroning the False God of User Experience Design
My first personal computer was an Osborne 1. It came with not only a CP/M operating system, but copies of SuperCalc, WordStar and two versions of the BASIC programming language: both CBASIC and MBASIC.
I even convinced my Dad to buy one of these things, and he happily used both SuperCalc and WordStar for years to put together spreadsheets and documents for his real estate business.
While these devices seem ancient and massively underwhelming by today’s standards, the acquisition of a computer such as this arguably represented the single greatest leap forward in the history of personal computing. It’s hard to picture today, but before this individuals had to put together spreadsheets by hand, and add up columns of numbers using a calculator, and produce letters and other documents using a typewriter.
The Osborne 1 was released in 1981. It would be nine years later before Steve Jobs would conclude that a computer is like a bicycle for the mind. And it would be midway through the 1990’s before Donald Norman would popularize the phrase “user experience,” leading to the idea of UX design, and the role of UX designer, and the eventual enshrinement of the notion that users need to have their experiences with computers designed for them by cadres of highly trained specialists.
