Murray Lesser wrote in a message to John Thompson:

 ML>     I tend to avoid Web sites, in general, because I find 
 ML> dealing with them is a frustrating experience, mostly due to 
 ML> poor design.

Yeah,  some of the guys that put that stuff together ought to be made to try
and _use_ it,  maybe...

 ML> Given the choice between ordering catalog merchandise on the 
 ML> Web, or calling with an 800 number and talking to a person, 
 ML> I'll take the telephone every time!

You mean there are still companies out there that you can call where you
actually get a _person_ on the other end of a phone call?  I didn't think
there were any left!

 ML> I imagine that I am not the only one who has reached this 
 ML> conclusion. 

That's for sure.

 ML> According to a recent survey, the use of on-line banking is mow 
 ML> decreasing, rather than continuing to increase as expected. 
 ML> Apparently, the Average Idiot Home User is also finding it 
 ML> harder to do business on the Web than some merchants expected 
 ML> it to be :-(.

I'll bet that this is exactly the same phenomenon that came around in the
early days of personal computers,  when there was some truly awful stuff out
there.  And,  just like then,  somebody who's got the right marketing savvy
stands to make a *pile* of money at it.

The ones that really get me are those that say you need to be running certain
software to get at them,  whether it's an anti-M$ bias showing by asking for
netscape,  a M$-bias showing by asking for IE,  or the site's designer so
wrapped up in their own ego trips that they *insist* that you be running the
latest version of stuff,  whether it be the browser,  java,  assorted
plug-ins,  or whatever the case may be so that they can "show off their
stuff"! 

--- 
278/111
2433/225