Networking’s UX victims
Our perception of nirvana is impacted mightily by current conditions. For people who live in third world countries, for example, merely having running water or reliable electricity can be a life-altering boon. Meanwhile, those of us who are more accustomed to the creature comforts of life consider slow internet or a poorly seasoned meal worthy of public scorn (even if we add the hashtag #firstworldproblems).
So how is the current state of networking impacting its user base?
A new normal
Perhaps the most insidious effect of poor conditions is that prolonged exposure can actually cause us to reset our baseline for normal. When we are subjected to extended periods of great or even long periods of suck, we adjust our expectations.
In networking, this means that our current normal has been forged through diligent neglect of actual user experience for decades. It’s not so much purposeful behavior by the incumbent networking players so much as placing focus elsewhere. For at least the last few decades, the future of networking has always been defined by the next protocol or knob. That is to say that the focus for product development has always been about bolstering device capability.
With the focus Continue reading