Comments on: The origin of Ctrl-Alt-Delete

By: » Random Acts of Linkage #118 ::: Subversive Influence

» Random Acts of Linkage #118 ::: Subversive Influence — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 14:06:09 +0000

[…] one more – the origin of Ctrl-Alt-Del (via): Categories: Unfinished Reading | Tags: contextless-links, random-acts-of-linkage, […]

By: Revue de web: Il est Barack Obama | Smabite Votre Actu

Revue de web: Il est Barack Obama | Smabite Votre Actu — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 14:43:01 +0000

[…] la tete a faire une animation avec les repertoires que l’on peu colorer sous Mac OS. L’origine du Ctrl + Alt + Suppr, pour ceux qui comprennent l’anglais. Une galerie de coussins trÃ©s originaux, de snimaux des […]

By: Ron, just another designer » Origins of CTRL ALT DEL

Ron, just another designer » Origins of CTRL ALT DEL — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 06:28:05 +0000

[…] has a post about the origins of the CTRL ALT DEL keystroke origins. I remember when I first saw this video […]

By: Tomas Melin

Tomas Melin — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 17:23:44 +0000

Genetic algorithms are used extensively in optimisation and in aircraft design. -Check out Daniel Raymers work on different culling processes on:

http://kth.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2:9120

By: Harry Brignull

Harry Brignull — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 14:22:51 +0000

I see what you mean, but I wasn’t advocating using natural selection in the absence of good design principles and practices. That would be silly.

If you try to apply the essence of natural selection to human-driven design, you have to decide what alternatives to build, what KPIs to monitor, how to monitor them, when to kill them off, and most importantly, how to achieve useful results within months, not millenia. That’s pretty much what User Centred Design aims to do, and I know you advocate that as a process :-)

By: Rob Gillham

Rob Gillham — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 14:09:19 +0000

Very interesting article, Harry. However, evolution is perhaps the right analogy, but for the wrong process. Dawkins famously described evolution as a ‘blind watchmaker’ as he rejected the idea of a guiding intelligence behind the evolution of successful species: it takes many unsuccessful mutations dying off to create one successful mutant, not terribly intelligent.

Thus I have often thought that too much UI design already resembles evolution, based as it is on the Darwinian principles of natural selection in the wild.

In the same way that architects inflicted their 1960s ‘experiments’ in modern living on the landscape, designers have often seen it as their right, nay their duty, to spew forth thousands and thousands of UI variants onto the marketplace, just to see which ones work. We are only just beginning to see Darwinian principles at work, as designers begin to twig that products with strong UI’s perform better.