[asciimov]

> I don't think this is a foregone conclusion, and it's easy to say this and sort of throw your hands up and go "oh well, woe is me" but it's kind of a cop out, no?

The problem is that as we get older, we tend to value our time differently. Learning a new interface just isn't as important to us as spending that time doing something enjoyable.

Imagine if car companies randomly update the way you drive a car overnight every 7 or 8 years. You go out one day, and suddenly instead of a steering wheel and pedals you have a stick with paddles, then a few years later its changed to something that looks like an oar. Eventually you too might say to hell with it.

[codalan]

The irony is that if a vendor can't provide a consistent experience every time, why should I remain loyal to that vendor on the next update?

If Windows is going to change their user interface every other year, why would I relearn their UX-du-jour when I can just re-learn once on a Mac and be good for a few years (if not longer)?

If I use hosted Gmail and my UI changes every other month, it just tells me that I should host elsewhere where the UX is more stable.

If you abuse users long enough with this everchanging, constant-beta UI nonsense, you are just telling them to move on to a platform that isn't so unstable, where you only have to learn the UX once, not every X months.

[pc86]

> The problem is that as we get older, we tend to value our time differently.

> Eventually you too might say to hell with it

I agree 100% and that's even kind of my point. You're choosing not to care about that stuff, which is fine (honestly, probably even healthy at a certain point), but it's not as if there is some biological imperative that as you age you are less able to use technology.

[tmnvix]

> You're choosing not to care about that stuff, which is fine

I think the problem is that this is only fine in a world where we aren't forced to rely on these things.