They say no one should see how sausage or laws get made, and I feel the same
is true for software.

Imagine a windowless room in a nondescript office building. Inoffensive tan carpet lines the floors, fluorescent lights hum softly overhead, and 20 seated Microsoft employees flank a rectangular folding table in the center of the room. On the table rests a Windows PC, and at its helm, a slack-jawed cipher punches blindly at the controls in a vain attempt to carry out a task requested by the team leader.

“OK, here’s the next exercise: transfer a photo from this digital camera to the PC and then upload it to the Internet,” says the leader.

The observers—members of Microsoft’s User Research Group—diligently note each click, key press, and hesitation, hoping they’ll learn the answer to the industry’s big secret: why do so many people find computers difficult to use?

With this system, Microsoft has uncovered many startling facts about PC users over the years, and the software you use has been changed accordingly. For instance, people new to computers apparently have a hard time with the concept of overlapping windows. (Did I say “startling?” I meant “idiotic.”) So now we have the Glass interface with translucent borders that sort of show stuff underneath, AeroSnap, which pulls windows to the edges of your screen as you drag them around, and a new Alt-Tab window which makes all your windows vanish if you hesitate too long. Of course, most people new to PCs figure out the concept of stacking windows after about 10 minutes of fiddling, so are these gizmos effective solutions to a genuine usability problem, or just glitzy affectations included to give those still using XP a compelling reason to upgrade?