The real question is: what is the value of an application. Is it the algorithm behind, or the user environment provided by the application. For most applications, the expected level in terms of performance and memory footprint reaches only "good enough". But what makes the difference is indeed the user perception of the application, that is the documentation, the online support, automatic upgrades, ergonomic, etc. In brief: how much the application takes care of the user.
In this perspective, the algorithm is secondary. It needs to be "good enough", since the user won't feel it directly. Years ago, it was different. Machine resources were most important to care about, and only a good algorithm could cope with them. The user interface was at his beginning and expectation in this domain stayed quite low. Today it's different, web technology asks for "instant customer care" and "attractive interface". For example, what makes a good web browser ? A fast and efficient html renderer or an optimized user interface ? IMO, I'm satisfied once the page can be be rendered in less than half a second and I start looking at how easy it is to manage and use bookmarks, plugins, and the overall ergonomic of the browser.
Note also that usually creating an algorithm is a job for one smart person, although it requires a full team to build up a good user environment, including tech writer, ergonomic people, QA, support, etc. Maybe it's difficult to find the person who is able to invent the best algorithm, but it's also very difficult to hire such an heterogeneous team and obtain a successful product at the end.
No comments:
Post a Comment