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Radical Simplicity: Transforming Computers Into Me-centric Appliances (Hewlett-Packard Press Strategic Books)
 
 
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Radical Simplicity: Transforming Computers Into Me-centric Appliances (Hewlett-Packard Press Strategic Books) (Paperback)

by Frederick Hayes-Roth (Author), Daniel Amor (Author)
4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)

List Price: $29.99
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Editorial Reviews

Review
Hayes-Roth and Amor have provided a long-needed, essential book for the technology and business strategists who will provide the services. -- Donald A. Norman, Northwestern University and the Nielsen Norman group, Author of The Invisible Computer

Today's computing tools force people to adapt to them, rather than doing what people really want. This book shows how. -- Hal Abelson, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT

Product Description
This book is about change. Me-Centric computing will revolutionize how we approach computing and appliances of all types. In fact, we won't have to approach them at all. In some cases they will "know" what it is we want them to do. In this book, technology and business strategists learn how to make me-centric computing work for them. Until recently, the growth of computer usage has been driven primarily around the ability of computers to crunch numbers, handle text, and edit documents and slide presentations. Computers in the backroom were invisible to us. Productivity gains were modest initially and probably reached diminishing returns some time ago. The world is about to be turned upside down, however. This new technology is called "me-centric" because it fits into the individual's life in a natural way, conforming to preferences and requirements, taking orders, and performing a variety of delegated tasks. In me-centric computing, every appliance becomes part of my environment, my team, my extension. I get increased power, save time, have more fun, do fewer menial tasks because the vast power of computers, communications, and software is working in concert to do my bidding.

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Product Details

  • Paperback: 368 pages
  • Publisher: Prentice Hall PTR (February 25, 2003)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0131002910
  • ISBN-13: 978-0131002913
  • Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,446,863 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

More About the Author

Frederick Hayes-Roth
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Customer Reviews

5 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.6 out of 5 stars (5 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Designing a Me-Centric World is cool!, March 27, 2003
By Matthias Blendheim (Palo Alto, CA USA) - See all my reviews
This book talks about a radical change in IT. It shows how computers should be programmed. Not in a tool-centric way, but in a user-centric way, meaning that not the functionality is the main focus, but the usefulness of the system towards the user. In many cases, you can see systems that are full of features everyone and nobody needs. If these systems would only provide the functionality that I need at a given time, it would reduce the complexity of that system and would enable me to do my work faster. By connecting all sorts of devices and services, it is possible to create new me-centric service chains that can give better value to me.

The book provides a lot of good ideas how this can look like in the future, but also shows what is necessary from a development point of view to make this happen. Technical, social and business aspects are introduced and enable the solution architect for a new product/service to make it me-centric.

A must for product development!

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars The right approach - computers do it for me, March 18, 2003
By Billy Henderson (Vancouver, Canada) - See all my reviews
Although it may seem simple, so far computers did not actually do work for us, the did the work instead of other tools. Word ist just an electronic typewriter, but did it write the text for me? No! The next generation of computers will be different. They will actually do work for us, they will make their own decisions and execute predefined work tasks in an intelligent way. Sounds spooky? Maybe, but if you trust your secretary, you should also trust your computer. Hayes-Roth and Amor show us how this brave, new world may look like. Very interesting read, indeed!
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5.0 out of 5 stars Great book on technology, May 28, 2003
By Frank Schoch (Frankfurt, Germany) - See all my reviews
Roth and Amor provide a great book on how to simplify technology. If we do not try to simplify it, it will become unmanageable in the future. The book shows what the problems are and how to solve them. Unfortunately, production was weak and there are some figures are not very well readable. Please change this in the reprint.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Designing a Me-Centric World is cool!
This book talks about a radical change in IT. It shows how computers should be programmed. Not in a tool-centric way, but in a user-centric way, meaning that not the functionality... Read more
Published on March 31, 2003 by Matthias Blendheim

4.0 out of 5 stars The right approach - computers do it for me
Although it may seem simple, so far computers did not actually do work for us, the did the work instead of other tools. Read more
Published on March 9, 2003 by Billy Henderson

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