That's a reasonably good article. I wish it went more into the specifics of how iDrive works. I can't say I agree with Jef Raskin's analyses of how all of his perceived problems can/should be fixed.
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It's the park distance monitor in the front bumper telling us the car is smack up against some shrubbery in the driveway of Raskin's rustic Pacifica, California, home. As Raskin backs away from the bushes, the monitor continues to beep, though at a diminishing pace. "How hard could it be," Raskin asks, "to program the system to know that you're starting up from where you previously parked and don't need the proximity warning?... "
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The environment changes. Let's say little Timmy drove his bike into the driveway and left it behind daddy's 3000+ lb. 745i. Better yet, let's say you left the garage door open and someone else closed it. It's not unheard of for someone to get into their car without checking to see if their garage door is open or closed.
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There's no reason that the car can't automatically go into neutral whenever you stop.
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Except that 90% of the time that you come to a stop, you're immediately going to go back into 1st, not park.
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"Why distinguish between AM and FM?
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Because they're two difference bands, guy. How is the user going to know how to get to one or the other? You
could make AM simply higher than the top of the FM tuning range, but you're still going to have to distinguish between the two. If he's arguing for one navigation menu instead of two, it makes sense. Otherwise, I don't get what his point is.
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There's no reason they couldn't use the same simple interface they have on MapQuest, where I just type in the address and it gives directions to me."
Should the car have a keyboard, to make that possible? "Why not?" he asks. To illustrate, he mock-types on the flat, easily accessible surface atop the steering column.
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NO. I do not want my fellow drivers typing out commands in their cars. Jesus Christ. Better voice recognition software is what's necessary.
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"There are too many menus. You should be able to use an interface habitually, the way you do the brake and the accelerator, which never change their positions or functions. An interface user's gesture or motion should elicit the same response every time.
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Yes. I fully agree with this.
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"They are designing the cockpit strictly to ergonomic guidelines. They have seven displays, because this is the most that a pilot can hold in his mind. We have eight menus," he laughs, "because we think our customers are more intelligent (than pilots)."
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I think he'd stop laughing if he read some of the comments on this board.
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"The people who designed the interface, we didn't need 700 functions. We always discussed whether we need this function or that function, because it would have made it for us much easier to build a simpler system. But OK, if our marketing department says we need it, we design it in."
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DESIGN FOR FUNCTION. DESIGN FOR FUNCTION. DESIGN FOR FUNCTION. ARAGHRJSRG72348234H123S.D...F..
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