Wozniak: Software Lost Its Human Focus

by , 1:20 PM EST, December 8th, 2005

Apple Computer co-founder, Steve Wozniak, thinks software manufacturers have lost their focus on the needs of users, according to an interview with The Cardinal Inquirer. The early days of the Macintosh, he feels, offer a model for developers to follow.

Mr. Wozniak commented "I would try to take us back to the early Macintosh, the failed Lisa-type thinking of philosophies that the human is the center of the world and the computer gets designed around that person."

He feels that even Apple has lost its focus, noting that the original core group of Mac developers are gone, and the group that developed Mac OS X is not the same one that developed for the Lisa and original Mac.

The problem is that the big developers aren't creating applications with the needs of users in mind, and there is a lack of consistency in interfaces. The small developers are the ones producing quality products now, he says.

Despite his frustration with Apple's software, he's still a Mac user, and is please with Apple's products. Apple's products are the trend setters, he noted, and all work together very well.

Large software developers, however, have left Mr. Wozniak frustrated. He thinks developers need to return to consistent, simple, obvious interfaces. "I wish we could go back to that, because we had it and we lost it."