It seems like everything is weird these days, especially anything electronic ... which is a lot of products every day.
Why are they so complex? "Hey, our cell phone is taking pictures, sharpening knives, mowing the lawn, paying off your bills, directing your car and cooking dinner, all of that according to the voice!" Give us a break!
Unfortunately, the reason many electronic products are full of features is that it is cheaper to add features to it! Do we as consumers really need or need those services? That is a completely different question. Generally, the answer is no. But manufacturers add, in many cases, just to be able to advertise that they have more features.
It is very expensive to carefully decide what features are most wanted and to design products to get rich with features, but it is simpler and easier for people to use. That is why this important step is often short-lived.
Ever had trouble finding out how to set up your VCR? Have you ever thought that maybe it is not really your fault? It is the fault of the engineers who designed the user interface in the product. And do you think they are bad? Try using a combination VCR-DVD player!
There is a second reason why manufacturers continue to suppress questionable features in products. In the case of products such as cell phones, sales have declined because most of the people who wanted them have them. Therefore, phone manufacturers continue to add features to try to find the ones that encourage people to buy new phones. They are always looking for the best new feature that people will agree to buy a new phone for.
Similarly, digital camera manufacturers are constantly coming out with cameras with extra megapixels. Two megapixels, then 3.2, then 4.0, then 5, now 6, 7, and even 8. Do consumers need 7 or 8 cameras? Not at all. By taking snapshots or sharing photos online, a 3.2 megapixel camera is more than enough. Really.
Why, then, do producers continue to expand capacity? It's as we said above: 1) so they can advertise that they have it, and 2) try to get people to put their old camera on the shelf and buy a new one.
Our advice:
It helps to take a closer look at the features offered in your favorite products. Do not think that a product with many features (or high numbers) is a better option. Usually not, it is very difficult to use! Also, there is a lot that goes wrong.
BLOATWARE
There is something similar in the software. It is called "bloatware". Programs full of features, especially those that are not essential to the core purpose of the software, carry this moniker.
When I was in the software industry and working on the next versions of software products, programmers would sometimes come and say, "Well I can add a feature — and that with only 100 lines of code," or such a number. That’s not much, as a software program can contain hundreds of thousands of lines of code. But often it was a feature that users of that software did not need. Playing as a consumer lawyer, I would ask why such a feature would be needed. If the answer was no, I told them to stop. More often than not, though, those features make it software products, and they often exaggerate unnecessary features. Bloatware.
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