I use both Mac and PC platforms and believe both add several good things to the computing world. However, I’ve got a bone to pick with they way Mac’s handle zip folders and the way Windows does. When you click on a zip folder on a Macintosh, the OS auto unzips the folder archive and off you go. On a PC, Windows prompts if you’d like to unzip the folder, to which you are presented with the option of doing so, or you have to manually do it. What? What else would a person want to do with a zip folder? Just to make sure it has archived contents?

Software is changing. It is giving users more ways to access information. It pushes content to them rather than forcing the user to “go” get it. It thinks intuitively and tries to understand the quickest way to get what the end user needs. That’s smart usability.

What other instances of poor software usability are you aware of?