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Why Software Sucks... and What You Can Do about It

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ISBN-10: 0321466756

ISBN-13: 9780321466754

Edition: 2007

Authors: David S. Platt

List price: $29.99
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Description:

This non-technical book discusses the annoyances and dangers we encounter every day when using computers. Written with delightful wit and humor, as well as the insight of an experienced insider, it rips into the design of software much as Atul Gawande's Complications exposed the practice of medicine. Its basic message to ordinary people having problems learning or using their software is this: It's not your fault! It's not because you're dumb! Aimed primarily at casual users of software, the book tells readers what they should expect from their software and how to make their voices heard so that they receive it. The book explains the mindset of the programmers behind our software: how…    
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Book details

List price: $29.99
Copyright year: 2007
Publisher: Addison Wesley Professional
Publication date: 9/21/2006
Binding: Paperback
Pages: 288
Size: 6.00" wide x 9.50" long x 1.00" tall
Weight: 0.946

David S. Platt runs Rolling Thunder Computing (http://www.rollthunder.com), an education and consulting practice. He is the author of six previous books, including Understanding COM+, published by Microsoft Press, and is a frequent contributor to MSDN�, the Microsoft Developer Network. David lives in Ipswich, Massachusetts, with his wife, Linda, and his daughters.

Acknowledgments
Introduction
Who're You Calling a Dummy?
Where We Came From
Why It Still Sucks Today
Control versus Ease of Use
I Don't Care How Your Program Works
A Bad Feature and a Good One
Stopping the Proceedings with Idiocy
Testing on Live Animals
Where We Are and What You Can Do
Tangled in the Web
Where We Came From
How It Works
Why It Still Sucks Today
Client-Centered Design versus Server-Centered Design
Where's My Eye Opener?
It's Obvious-Not!
Splash, Flash, and Animation
Testing on Live Animals
What You Can Do about It
Keep Me Safe
The Way It Was
Why It Sucks Today
What Programmers Need to Know, but Don't
A Human Operation
Budgeting for Hassles
Users Are Lazy
Social Engineering
Last Word on Security
What You Can Do
Who the Heck Are You?
Where We Came From
Why It Still Sucks Today
Incompatible Requirements
OK, So Now What?
Who're You Looking At?
Yes, They Know You
Why It Sucks More Than Ever Today
Users Don't Know Where the Risks Are
What They Know First
Milk You with Cookies?
Privacy Policy Nonsense
Covering Your Tracks
The Google Conundrum
Solution
Ten Thousand Geeks, Crazed on Jolt Cola
See Them in Their Native Habitat
All These Geeks
Who Speaks, and When, and about What
Selling It
The Next Generation of Geeks-Passing It On
Who Are These Crazy Bastards Anyway?
Homo Logicus
Testosterone Poisoning
Control and Contentment
Making Models
Geeks and Jocks
Jargon
Brains and Constraints
Seven Habits of Geeks
Microsoft: Can't Live With 'Em and Can't Live Without 'Em
They Run the World
Me and Them
Where We Came From
Why It Sucks Today
Damned if You Do, Damned if You Don't
We Love to Hate Them
Plus ca Change
Growing-Up Pains
What You Can Do about It
The Last Word
Doing Something About It
Buy
Tell
Ridicule
Trust
Organize
Epilogue
About the Author