Fear and Loathing Online: Do people really want Xanadu?

[Joseph Osako <scholr1@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/10/20/gates_interactive_tv_obsession/

Articles like this are increasing make me wonder: do people actually *want* 
real hypermedia, and would they use it if it were available to them? Look 
at the web: it is popular largely because it is relatively *static*, and 
even that popularity is waning. Click a few times, maybe type in a URL 
(though I've run into plenty of users who don't even know that it is 
possible to even do that; indeed, the AOL browser doesn't have an address 
bar by default, IIUC) and you get something that is pretty much 
indistinguishable from a glossy flier, or a newspaper article. Even simple 
interaction, like a menu bar, often throws users, I've found. Most don't 
want anything more than a faster way to read a newspaper or a mail-order 
catalog, it seems, and virtually *no* one wants to have to actually put any 
effort or thought into it - not even programmers, it seems. Thoughtfully 
designed interaction simply can't compete with mass-media crap, because the 
majority of users want to have everything handed to them without any 
effort. Xanadu may well be doomed, not because it isn't better, but because 
in the final analysis, it is simply more than most people want to bother with.

Sorry for such a down note, but I've been working tech support again, and 
it's a bit disturbing how little effort most people want to put into 
things. Now, a lot of that comes from the fact that current systems ask far 
too much from people, and promise more than they can provide; but I'm 
seeing a lot of people who find the idea that they have to *any* effort 
into *anything* offensive. Just doing a search, or sending e-mail, often 
elicits grumbling. It's *not* just that the current software does these 
thing poorly; it's that they want it all to be there without even that much 
effort. It's as if they were complaining that their refrigerator doesn't 
bring cook their food and bring it to them in the living room when they 
want it, immediately and without having to be asked. They don't want 
hypertext; they want magic. And the last thing, the very last thing, they 
want to have to do is *learn* anything. Maybe that's the real reason Xanadu 
won't catch on - it's all *about* learning and thinking and growing, things 
most people apparently respond to with fear and loathing.
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