[makecheck]

This article is somewhat misleading, in that of the 15 things listed, only the bottom three are identified as unique to free software.

Indeed, some of the most disgustingly unusable stuff I have ever seen has come from companies, not only Microsoft but "enterprise" people, groups that should have a vested interest in software quality.

A problem I didn't see listed, is that the people acquiring software may not care. Many of them absolutely don't. I've been in organizations where the people in charge of getting stuff don't have a clue what "features" or misfeatures are actually impacting the usability of the people they are supposed to serve. They don't ask, they don't factor it into the buy/download decision, and no one seems to trace the resulting productivity problems back to them.

[culley]

actual work conversation from last week...

me: "Yes, but will this new software reduce the time it takes folks to do their jobs."

them: "I don't know."

me: "Do you know how long it takes them to do it now?"

them: "umm... no."

you hit the nail on the head in that the people making the buy decisions don't consider usability.

[akd]

You can reduce the time it takes someone to do something, without knowing how long it takes them to do. That's what I'm working on right now.

If you make everyone's computer 100% faster, you know that you're delivering a net benefit, even if you're unable to quantify it (it's certainly not 100%).