Software definition
The software refers to computer instructions or data, which can make electronic storage (from Webopedia definition), which is a definition given by computer scientists based on software, when computer scientists wear white coat, in laboratory Serving those era of everyone, they do, they talk about instructions, bytes, coding, however, now, we will never look at the software like this, in our discussion, they are:
Word: "You send me the document." QQ and MSN: "Leave a QQ / MSN, find a chance to talk again." Skype: "Mom is not to talk to me, but also said this quite It is easy to use "; legendary:" I am 55-zone white tower ... "Google:" You will know it in Google "; ......
For the software used by usually, the user does not inform any instructions and data (do not believe you to find a personal question online), with the development of the software, gradually go deep into our work and life, our concern is, software, What can I do for us? Can you help yourself get a job task? Can you communicate online with your friends? Can you get new knowledge? Can you provide an entertainment experience?
At the beginning of the "Software for USE" of Larry Constantine, the author pointed out: "All Software Systems Are Tools" (P5); in "About Face2.0", mention "this ideal interaction is not A Dialog-It's More Like Using A Tool "(Chapter 9). For all software systems, all software systems are tools, ideal interactions are not dialogue, more like use tools, software is not a deep concept, just tools, this is the general software user to define it. The user does not care what data is it, how is it built, even, not care about the software itself, if a software has a magical power, just read a sentence or enter a string of strange code Write an article, rank the version according to the ideal format, then it will be much successful than Word.
("Harku Horse collapse ~", the document is completed, this interaction is much better.)
For tools, its role is to expand people's ability, helping people to complete their tasks, people can't use a fin nail, but you can use a hammer as a tool, people can't use hand, but you can use a syringe as a tool (Milestone Scientific) The company uses software on the syringe, and their WAND anesthetic injection system is controlled by software, and provides accurate anesthetics, which can achieve almost painless effects when injection, avoiding unevenness in hand-working, not in place, this It can be truly a very good software / tool.). Since it is a tool, the software should have a tool's gesture, they should be quiet, should be hand, should really help.
The website is also a tool, such as Google we are familiar with:
Users should care about what they want to search, and can be arbitrarily expressed, Google will list the results it searches, and the results found are quite valuable. In this process, it receives input, search, display, no extra dialogue and action, users don't have to know the details of the search, so Google has become our favorite search tool, and affects generation of search engines with their own behavior (at least In China, Baidu, a search has become very similar to Google). There are also some software, as a whole as a tool, horse tiger, can complete the main tasks, but in interaction with their interaction, there are some places that are not tools, like a single sign.
Take a look at the example below, an e-commerce website, when the user wants to buy a book, encounter a friendly dialog box (still unfriendly, use the honor "you"), in addition to add more In addition to determining, the entire shopping process has been interrupted: Figure 1, the website is not logged in with the dialog of the website, and no matter what his purchase request.
There is also a website has improved, no pop-up dialog, but turned directly to the login page. During this process, the selected item has disappeared from the page.
This is not the behavior of a friendly tool, it seems to be said: "Don't worry about your book, I have to know who you are!" This is the system is to ask the user, but the user is here, isn't it for his book?
The software is no longer distant mysterious, it returns to the original location of the tool, this is an inevitable phenomenon, because the user's demand for software will get more and higher, if not used, he will remember in your heart (have a chance to change Also one), and the change in the software industry is happening, for example, we have now rarely see the "Printer Dispatch" prompt of the center of the screen, but an automatic, automatically disappearing prompt box plus the status icon; Many software begins with memory capabilities, remember what we have entered before; Gmail is also automatically added to contacts (Foxmail has not yet doing this).
