Do People Want Software With No Boundaries Or Rules (But Lots Of Patents)?
from the we'll-soon-find-out dept
Well, you can just hear the hype machine gearing up for this one. Expect plenty of talk around the web concerning the forthcoming release of NBOR ("No Boundaries Or Rules"), a software application that Denny Jaeger has apparently been working on for a decade. It sounds like an attempt to reinvent the user interface for how people deal with document creation. Of course, the article goes back and forth on whether this will be a brilliant new way of doing things, or a huge flop. The fact that one of the happy users says that it took her a good half an hour to figure it out does not bode well for the success of the product. The problem is that they're trying to replace a product that many people already consider "good enough". And, plenty of users freak out when you don't give them any boundaries or rules, as that also means there's no clear process, and they're not sure what to do with it. Also, while a "scaled down version" of the product will be downloadable for free, the full version will run $300, which puts it pretty high up there.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
Petty, I know...
How many Universal Tools are there in Blackspace?
We've kept this tool set small, but very powerful. NBOR Universal Tools include some very cool software "hammers," and what you do with them is determined largely by your own needs and imagination.
So how many categories of Universal Tools are there in Blackspace? There are seven:
1. Color
2. Recognized Objects
3. Arrows
4. Switches
5. VDACCs
6. Stair Objects
7. Known Words
Note: Color is selected in four Inkwells: (a) Onscreen Inkwell, (b) Free Draw Inkwell, (c) VRT (Virtual Recall Tool) Inkwell, and (d) Font Inkwell. There are three categories of Recognized Objects: (a) Objects that can have assignments made to them, (b) Objects that can automatically cause actions to occur, and (c) Objects that are devices. There are three categories of switches: (a) Mode Switches, (b) Operational Switches, and (c) Dyomation Switches.
Each of the seven Universal Tools categories listed above contains various members that share a commonality of overall operation while enabling specific actions or functions that are different. Each Universal Tools category and its members are discussed below.
Granted, some things that are extremely simple to use are extremely difficult to explain, but...well, I can't help but think that this might be a product that works in exactly the same way that the designer's brain works: it's intuitive and simple to use, just as long as you're the designer.
I'm sure that I'll download it anyway, but I'm not really optimistic about the potential here.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]